Ken O'Kefee's new The Middle East Show

Ken O'Kefee is working on behalf of David Ike on a new international television broadcast that has the potential to revolutionize the world and the foundation of news reporting. I wanted to share this excellent premiere of Ken's new program, "The Middle East Show."

PALESTINE, Not Just a Name!

                                                                          Palestinians 

                                                          No more, a bunch of refugees;

                                                                         Palestinians

                   Not a mere oppressed and dispossessed, struggling for survival

                                                                         Palestinians  

                A symbol of courage, determination, endurance and inspiration

                                 for every bullied individual and every oppressed nation

                                                                          Palestinians 

                                                        Holders of the torch of justice, 

                                                                  Seekers of freedom 

                                                              professors of endurance 

                                                                  Teachers of dignity 

                                                                  Callers to humanity,

                                                    Longing for an egalitarian society

                                          Seeking liberation from a ruthless minority 

                                       Of  predatory, oppressive warmongering elite

                                                                       Palestine

                                            No more, a mere geographical location 

                                                                      Palestine

                                No longer a decaying chapter in a book of history

                                                                         Palestine 

                                                                 A poignant story, 

                                                                A beautiful vision,

                                                               A passionate cause,

                                                              An exquisite poem,

                                                             A Melody of freedom

                                                            An inspirational idea, 

                                                               A moral concept 

                                                 that could never be destroyed

Nahida - Exiled Palestinian

Human Rights Council To Investigate Settlements

by Saed Bannoura

The United Nations Human Rights Council said that it will be investigating the implication of Israeli settlements on the rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank. Israel condemned the announcement, and said that the UN Fact-Finding Mission will not be allowed into the country.

The UN reported that the Council appointed a three members fact finding mission that will investigate the effects of Israel’s settlements on the Palestinians in the West Bank, including in and around occupied East Jerusalem.

Professor Richard Folk, a UN expert, submitted a report on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, and stated that Israel’s illegal settlement construction and expansion policies has continued to accelerate with at least 3500 units under construction in 2011, the UN reported.

Folk stated that settlements are not only illegal under International Law, but their ongoing expansion is a serious violation of Security Council resolutions.
Furthermore, Laura Dupuy Lasserre, head of the Human Rights council, urged Israeli to cooperate with the fact finding mission.

"I have decided to appoint three individuals to carry out the independent international mission of inquiry which will investigate the repercussions of Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.

The names of these experts are Ms. Christine Chanet, of France; Ms. Unity Dow, of Botswana; and Ms. Asma Jahangir, of Pakistan. Ms. Chanet will act as the chair of his mission of inquiry. Ms. Chanet, Ms. Dow and Ms. Jahangir, are highly qualified for carrying out this important task which has been entrusted to them, by the Council. Each one of them has a long winded history and experience of impartial, objective work in the field of human rights”, Lasserre said.

The commission is expected to present its findings in a report that will be discussed at the Human Rights Council in March of 2013.

Israel on the other hand was angered by the report and said that members of the fact finding commission will not be allowed into the country.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Yigal Palmor, stated that this fact finding commission will receive no cooperation from Israel, adding that commission members “will not be allowed into Israel and the territories”.

Palmor claimed that the very existence of the commission “symbolizes the inherent distortion of facts”, and “characterizes that Council’s treatment of Israel and the hijacking of important human rights agendas of non-democratic countries”, Russia Today reported.

There are more than 500.000 Israeli settlements living in the West Bank, including in and around East Jerusalem. Israel’s settlements are illegal under International Law, and under the Fourth Geneva Convention to which Israel is a signatory.

 Source

Can Americans be murdered by the Israeli government with impunity?

by Paul Woodward on June 3, 2010

For several days, Israel has been able to contain some of the fallout from the flotilla massacre by withholding information about the dead and injured. The object of this exercise has clearly been to slow the flow of information in the hope that by the time the most damning facts become known, the international media’s attention will have turned elsewhere.

But the dead now have names and faces and one turns out to be a nineteen-year-old American: Furkan Dogan.



Dogan is alleged to have been shot with five bullets, four in the head.

Does the Obama administration intend to investigate the circumstances in which one of its citizens was killed? Protecting the lives of Americans is after all the most fundamental responsibility of our government.

Dogan’s death was presumably instant, but according to Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal there were others on board the Mavi Marmara who died because Israeli soldiers refused to treat their injuries.

“After the shooting and the first deaths, people put up white flags and signs in English and Hebrew. An Isreali [on the ship] asked the soldiers to take away the injured, but they did not and the injured died on the ship.”

Crimes have been committed and since the suspects all acted under the direction of the Israeli government and its defense forces and took place on international waters outside Israel’s area of legal jurisdiction, “a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation conforming to international standards” — a demand made by the UN Security Council with the support of the Obama administration — cannot be conducted by the Israeli government or a commission appointed by them. An investigation conforming to international standards must also be an international inquiry.

Source