Monstrous crimes remembered

Twenty-five years ago this week, more than 1,700 Palestinians were slaughtered in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla in 48 hours of carnage while Ariel Sharon watched from a safe distance. Most victims were women and children. An Israeli commission of inquiry concluded that then defense minister Sharon was "indirectly" and "personally" responsible, but far from being punished for this despicable crime, he would still rise to the top and become prime minister of Israel. Franklin Lamb notes that it is considered "the bloodiest single incident of the Arab-Israeli conflict and a crime for which Israel will be condemned for eternity". (Counterpunch: "A Letter to Janet About Sabra-Shatilla"), (Aljazeera: "Sabra Shatila recalled")

All of those who perpetrated the massacre, the hundreds of Phalange and Haddad militia, escaped justice, because they acted on the orders of the Israeli government. Survivors are still haunted by the memories 25 years later and most still live in refugee camps. 45,000 people still live in Sabra and Shatilla today. But many Lebanese, let alone people around the world, have never heard of Sabra and Shatilla. Therefore it is imperative to keep the memories alive and remember the victims.

Ian is free!

The BBC's Gaza correspondent Ian Jonhston was finally released after 114 days in captivity. For a couple of days his live had seemed to be seriously in danger, as his kidnappers, the “Army of Islam”, belonging to Gaza's Dogmush clan threatened to kill him if their demands were not met. At one point they showed Ian in a video wearing a suicide belt. Calls from all over the world went unheeded. But in Gaza itself, something fundamental had changed.

Hamas had driven out the corrupt and treacherous Fatah elements and gained total control of the strip. Hamas wanted Ian Johnston to be free, because he had been the only foreign correspondent reporting from Gaza. Hamas began to heighten the pressure on the Dogmush, surrounding their stronghold and arresting its members. If the Dogmush had killed Johnston, Hamas would probably have eliminated the whole clan. Hamas showed that it had total power in Gaza and could wield this power to achieve its ends. Ian Jonhston was freed and warmly received by prime minister Ismail Haniyah. Hamas, the movement accused by the E.U. and the U.S. of terrorism, had freed a Western hostage. Foreign minister Mahmoud Zahhar (of the only legitimate Palestinian government headed by Ismail Haniyah) said security would be extended, so that foreign journalists would be free to work objectively.

Hamas surely scored a major propaganda victory, showing itself to be a responsible movement, capable to provide security and defending the rights of its people.

While Ian Johnston should never have been kidnapped in the first place and deserved to be set free a long time ago, let's not forget the tens of thousands of Palestinians kidnapped by the Israeli state and still languishing in its prisons. They are also held illegally, but the demand to set them free is a mere whisper compared to the worldwide outcry to secure Ian's freedom. (CNN: Freed BBC reporter: 'It felt like I was buried alive')

Olmert & Abbas

As a “goodwill” gesture, Israel is to release 250 Fatah prisoners. The only reason is that it hopes those 250 Fatah members will go and fight against Hamas to further damage the struggle of the Palestinians. Now, all of a sudden, Israel, the U.S. and the E.U. are willing to disburse millions of dollars to the Fatah government to bolster it against Hamas. (Aljazeera.net: Abbas: Time for 'serious talks')

The conference of the leaders of Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority (or what's left of it, unable to represent the Palestinian people) is just a big show. Even after the expulsion of Hamas from the Palestinian government, Israel is not willing to resume peace negotiations for the simple reason that it does not want peace. If there is peace, Israel cannot continue to grab Palestinian land. That is the only thing the Zionists want and peace is an obstacle to the land grab.

The Palestinian people is once more being betrayed, this time by Mahmoud Abbas and its Fatah movement. Fatah has degenerated into nothing more than a police force in the service of the Zionists.

Now look at Gaza. Since the victory of Hamas, order has been restored and life can return to normal. Of course it will be very difficult to establish a viable economy, since all border crossings are closed. Even so, under these extremely difficult circumstances, Hamas will try to protect the Palestinians and their dignity.

There is indeed the danger that extreme Muslim groups will try to impose a strict Islamic order, but that is certainly not what the Hamas leadership has in mind.

Hamastan

Hamas has gained control of Gaza and expelled Fatah from the strip. Some say Palestine will break up in two “states”: Gaza dominated by Hamas and the West Bank dominated by Fatah. There are now two Palestinian governments. The U.S., European countries and Israel are accusing Hamas of executing a coup. While the situation is indeed confusing, a few things are not that difficult to comprehend.

The Hamas government was formed after democratic elections in January 2006, pushed by the U.S. but – according to Washington – won by the wrong party. The Bush administration is only supporting democracy if its henchmen are elected, otherwise the losing party is allowed to launch a coup to make it clear to the voters that they made a mistake. Under Zionist pressure, all aid to the Hamas government was stopped.

It is also certain without any doubt that the U.S. is supporting Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, providing weapons and financial assistance. Let's ask a straight question: who is fighting for the rights of the Palestinian people: Fatah or Hamas? The U.S. is propping up the Zionist regime and Fatah at the same time. Guess who will be the losers? Israel's prime minister Ehud Olmert is calling on his “friend Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) to take the opportunity to exercise his authority”. Do the Palestinian people need any more guidance as to whom they should support?

Next question: Is Hamas a bunch of Islamic extremist fanatics? No they are not, they are providing social services, helping the people and standing up for the rights of the people. The secular Palestinian resistance movements such as the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine did the same in the 70s, but the West did not support them, because it viewed them as “terrorists” and “communist sympathizers”. Now they are weak and cannot constitute the main force for the liberation of the Palestinian people. Fatah has degenerated into a bunch of corrupt politicians on the payroll of Washington.

Do not believe the rotten propaganda emanating from Washington, Jerusalem and European capitals. Fatah will lose because it betrayed the Palestinian people. Whomever supports them is supporting traitors. It is Hamas which deserves our support. Even non-believers should support Hamas and Hamas will welcome their support, because it is fighting for the rights of the Palestinian people.

(The Independent: Robert Fisk: Welcome to 'Palestine'), (AlJazeera.net: Hamas tightens control in Gaza), (CNN: Hamas seizes second Fatah base), (The Times: Analysis: the future is bleak for Abbas).

Six days in June

Today marks another important anniversary. Forty years ago, Israel attacked its Arab neighbors, and occupied the Sinai, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the West Bank in the Six Day War. (The Guardian: Six days of war, 40 years of failure)

On the first day of this unprovoked, preemptive war, Israel almost totally destroyed the air forces of Egypt, Jordan and Syria. In the next five days, its ground forces would significantly expand the territory of the Zionist state and bring a million Palestinians under its occupation. Its swift triumph proved to be a cursed blessing. In a peace deal with Egypt, Israel gave back the Sinai, but 40 years later it is still occupying the other conquered territories and that includes Gaza, as the Israeli army is still launching attacks and incursions to murder the Palestinian people. As philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz pointed out “justice and occupation are not compatible”. Today, injustice and occupation continue.

Forty years after a blatant and illegal land grab by the Zionists, after innumerable U.N. Security Council resolutions, the Zionists still occupy the land and Western governments, Russia and China are doing nothing to drive them back. But the peoples of the world are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Palestinian people. Their resistance will triumph and the state of Israel will disappear from the map, to be replaced by the democratic state of Palestine, a Muslim state where a minority of Jews will be protected and will be able to profess their religion.

So this is Christmas...

"A very merry Christmas, and a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one, without any fear
War is over, if you want it, war is over, now..."
(John Lennon, part of the lyrics of 'Happy X Mas')

Well, John, unfortunately, war ain't over yet... Baghdad, Ramadi, Kandahar, Bethlehem...

And so Bush, the war criminal, visited the wounded soldiers... Who does he think is responsible for their lost legs and bandaged heads, their weeping wifes, girlfriends, sons and daughters? And did he ever visit the morgues in Baghdad, the dead and wounded Iraqis who have been slaughtered as a result of the American invasion?

And let's not forget Bethlehem! Israel's Wall of Apartheid is strangling Bethlehem, 65% of its inhabitants are unemployed and its employees have not been paid for four months. And nobody cares... The Catholics and the Pope celebrate Jesus, while the people of Bethlehem suffer under Zionist occupation.

The Archbishop of Canterbury did accuse Bush and Blair of endangering the lives of thousands of Christians in the Middle East (The Times: Christians suffer for Iraq, says archbishop). But did he offer a solution? Did he call for a boycott of Israel?

Bethlehem 2002. A Palestinian pregnant woman was trying to get to the hospital, bleeding heavily on the back seat of a car. An Israeli soldier looked at the blood and laughed! (The Independent: 'What would happen if the Virgin Mary came to Bethlehem today?') Since then 36 babies have died because their mothers were detained during labor at Israeli checkpoints. And some idiots still do not let us compare the Zionists to the Nazis...

Meanwhile, 'Christian' Bush signed a law to block U.S. aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian government and Islamic Hamas is spending 50,000 dollars on Christmas decorations in Bethlehem. The Hamas Minister of Finance wished “our Christian brothers a happy Christmas”.

Israel (let's say this gently at Christmas time) must be dissolved and replaced by the People's Republic of Palestine, where Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and atheists can live in peace.

Apartheid in Palestine

My views on the Zionist occupation of Palestine are well known. I frequently compare the Zionists with the Nazis and the situation in Palestine with South African apartheid. Even former U.S. President Jimmy Carter now agrees with the latter in his latest book and has been lambasted by all the defenders of Zionist Israel, which includes all mainstream American publications.

Comparing Zionism with Nazism usually elicits opposition. It would be exaggerated and 'over the top'. Although both -isms are racist. Nazism is racism towards all non-Aryans, primarily Jews and gypsies. Zionism is racism towards all non-Jews, primarily Palestinians and Arabs. Zionists and Nazis both want to create more Lebensraum for their chosen people.

Today I had dinner with a retired Belgian journalist who has traveled extensively in the occupied territories, something which I unfortunately never had the occasion to do. I have no first hand knowledge of the Middle East, but I have read tens of books on the subject. My friend has himself written a few books on the situation in Palestine/Israel and confirmed that yes, Nazism and Zionism are not that far apart.

The truth is spreading, despite the Zionist clampdown on free speech.

Dump this U.S. lackey!

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called for early Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections (Aljazeera: Abbas calls for early polls). He was elected in early 2005 and the Hamas government was elected in January this year. This 'cohabitation à la Française' didn't work. Fatah and Hamas have fundamentally different policies for attaining Palestinian statehood: two states or one state.

The Hamas government was democratically elected, but because it doesn't recognize the Zionist state of Israel the U.S. didn't like the result of the democratic process and supports a strongman who wants to sell out the rights of the Palestinian people. Abbas has no right to call early elections but instructed by his masters in Washington he is doing so to try to topple Hamas.

If elections take place, the outcome may be completely different: a Hamas president and a Hamas government. This will mean the end for the corrupt Fatah clique. Whether it tried to kill Prime Minister Ismail Haniya remains a mystery, but it might turn out to be the case.

The U.S. wants to break at all costs a strong Palestinian resistance against Israel. Condoleezza Rice is asking Congress for tens of millions of dollars to strengthen Abbas to ensure he emerges victorious. Washington is giving Abbas a poisoned pill as strong as polonium-210.

The Palestinians will know for whom to vote to safeguard their rights.