Quote of the Day: Free Palestine Edition

Litbrit made this great image. Politico reports he Senate just approved $225 million for the Israeli Iron Dome defense program. I support Israel's right to defend their civilian population from Hamas rocket attacks. The question is who defends the Palestinian civilians from Israeli drone attacks.

Cable news media should show photos like this to Washington politicians that falsely make the claim that Israel is going out of its ways to not target civilians. Israel shelled a United Nations school being used as a safe haven for Palestinian evacuees. Attacking a United Nations facility is a clear violation of international law. The United Nations has condemned Israel for the attack.

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which operated the school-turned-shelter in the Jabalya refugee camp, said it had gathered evidence, analyzed bomb fragments and examined craters after the attack. Its initial assessment was that three Israeli artillery shells hit the school where 3,300 people had sought refuge.

“I condemn in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces,” said Pierre Krähenbühl, the UNRWA commissioner-general. “This is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced.”

The Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gone insane. Could you imagine the United Kingdom, Sweden are France attacking a U.N. facility. Israel isn't a democracy. Palestinians don't have a vote because they live under a government that has implemented a decades long apartheid policy.

Louie Gohmert Is Too Crazy For Government

Rep. Louie Gohmert is batshit crazy. Gohmert is advocating for starting war with Iran. Gohmert's reason is the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

“It is time to bomb Iran’s nuclear capabilities,” Gohmert concluded. “It is time for the United States, if we are not going to stop Iran’s nukes, then let Israel do it. A friend will not put another friend in this kind of jeopardy.”

Gohmert is conflating the Gaza conflict with Iran's nuclear program. Raw Story reports that Iran is complying with the International Atomic Energy Agency agreement.

As agreed under a so-called Joint Plan of Action reached in November, the Islamic Republic has cut half of its stock of 20-percent enriched uranium down to five-percent purity.

The rest was being converted into uranium oxide.

Tehran also refrained from enriching above the five-percent level at any of its nuclear facilities, the IAEA report said.

Gohmert has no idea about the current state of Iran's nuclear program. Yet, Gohmert is advocating for war with Iran. People look at Gohmert as a clown and mock him. I find the man's stupidity to be scary and dangerous.

Florida Congressionial Delegation Don't Care For You If You Are Palestinian

Tariq Abu Khdeir is a 15-year-old Tampa resident and Palestinian-American. Khdeir was pinned down and repeatedly kicked in the head by Israeli police in East Jerusalem.

Max Blumenthal reports that Khdeir was jailed in a Russian compound. According to Khdeir's family, he was beaten again while held in the compound.

According to Israeli police, Khdeir was involved in a violent protest. Police allege that Khdeir threw molotov cocktails. Khdeir denied participating in the protests to ABC News. If the allegations by the Israeli police are true then why hasn't Khdeir been charged.

Khdeir's family lives in Rep. Kathy Castor's district. Blumenthal reports that Castor's office has been less than helpful.

While sources close to Abu Khdeir's family say Castor's staff has treated the family with respect even as they rebuffed their demands, a distant relative who visited Castor's field office in Washington D.C. to plead for help said she was "yelled out, intimidated, and insulted" by a staffer.

Despite my repeated requests for an interview, members of Castor's staff have refused to discuss the case with me.

In a private letter to Abu Khdeir's family, Castor pointedly stated that she had not called for the teen's release and return to the US. Instead, she assured them that she "requested for Tariq to be provided with the appropriate and needed medical care and for [her] to be kept apprised of any plans of his return to the United States." In a separate letter to the US consulate in Jerusalem, Castor merely stated that she would "appreciate being kept apprised of any plans for the return of Tariq and his parents to the United States."

Rep. Dennis Ross accused Khdeir of being guilty without complete facts.

Though all of the facts surrounding the incident remain somewhat unclear," Ross wrote, "it is widely reported that Tariq was participating in a protest in Palestine in response to the kidnapping and murder of his cousin, a Palestinian teenager."

Sen. Bill Nelson has not issued a statement on Khdeir.

Khdeir gives a more detailed account to the Washington Post.

Assuming that Khdeir was involved in the protests it still doesn't explained why Israeli police continued to kick him in the head after he was already restrained.

Can Castor, Nelson or any other member of the Florida Congressional delegation look at that video and say the police force used was justified. Members of the Florida delegation rather do nothing for a constituent than risk being attacked for being anti-Israel. Leadership is about doing what is right. Leadership is not living in fear of the next two Fox News cycles.

Here Comes the AIPAC Lobbyists

Anyone who says that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) doesn't have political influence in Washington is either living in denial or lying. AIPAC is sending 250 lobbyists to Capitol Hill to convince Congress to support military action against the Assad regime in Syria. Haaretz reports on the lobbying effort.

"We plan a major lobbying effort with about 250 activists in Washington to meet with their senators and representatives," an AIPAC source said on Saturday.

For obvious PR reasons, AIPAC doesn't want action against Syria to be seen as an Israeli issue. That might be in part to Israel's lobbying effort for the Iraq war. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair admits to concernd for Israel factoring into invading Iraq.

"As I recall that discussion, it was less to do with specifics about what we were going to do on Iraq or, indeed, the Middle East, because the Israel issue was a big, big issue at the time. I think, in fact, I remember, actually, there may have been conversations that we had even with Israelis, the two of us, whilst we were there. So that was a major part of all this."

It is brilliant lobbying and foreign policy, on the part of Israel, to get the United States to fight Israel's enemies. If policy-makers in the United States keep getting letting themselves be suckers then you can't blame the Israeli government from taking advantage.

Live Blogging the DNC: Robert Wexler

8:03 Rep. Robert Wexler makes the case that President Obama more likely to go to war with Iran than Mitt Romney. I think think America is yearning for another war in the Middle East.

8:05 Shorter Wexler: going to war for Israel makes Obama's dick hard. Mitt Romney is a pussy version of a hawk.

Side note: Wexler is a supporter of both Obama and former Gov. Charlie Crist.

Rick Perry Advocates Nuclear War in Middle East

Rick Perry's Israel policy (or lack of) has become more scary. Perry would support Israel launching a nuclear preemptive strike against Iran. Perry is so stupid I am not even sure he knows what he is saying. This is an example of how the neoconservative movement has taken over the Republican Party. Don't believe. Perry told Sean Hannity about his advisers.

You know, I have some great foreign policy conversations with Liz Cheney and with John Bolton, I mean, people who actually understand intimately where these countries are.

Apparently, Perry's qualification for foreign policy advisers is being good at geography. Liz Cheney has zero foreign policy experience. John Bolton advocated for blowing up the United Nations.

"If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost ten stories, it wouldn't make a difference."

The sick irony is Bolton later attempted to get confirmed as U.N. ambassador. Bolton's confirmation could not get passed a Republican-controlled Senate.

Perry's foreign policy advisers are the daughter of a vice-president Dick Cheney. Cheney was so unpopular in 2008 that he did not appear at the Republican National Convention. Bolton flirted with running for president. The result was Bolton becoming a punchline. Perry has surrounded himself with advisers too radioactive for Republicans.

This leads to a bigger problem. Perry's recent bizarre speech in New Hampshire leads me to believe the guy is crazy. Perry now publicly advocates for Israel starting a nuclear WWIII in the Middle East. This goes beyond pandering to the base. There is something seriously wrong with Perry.

Marco Rubio's Neoconservative Foreign Policy Worldview

Senate candidate Marco Rubio runs on a neoconservative foreign policy that helped Republicans lose the last two election cycles. Rubio claims President Obama has made the world and Israel more dangerous.

The Obama doctrine of appeasing our enemies, alienating our allies, and delegating our national security to the international community may have won Obama a Nobel Peace Prize, but it has made the world a more volatile and dangerous place. The administration has turned its back on the decades-old-post-World War II system of alliances that previous presidents, Republicans and Democrats alike, built and nurtured. The result has been chaos. Today our allies look at America and the future of America and the future of U.S. foreign policy as a proverbial jump ball, with unprecedented uncertainty about where America will stand. Israel is a paticularly striking example of what is wrong with President Obama's approach to foreign policy.

Exactly how has Obama undermined post-World-War II alliances? President Bush was famous for his go it alone approach. The countries that either would not commit resources or pulled out of the Iraq war was staggering.

"The burdens of this century can not fall on our soldiers alone," Obama said at West Point. "Our adversaries would like to see America sap it's strength by overextending it's power."

Anyone who is sane would know that Bush didn't spend 8 years attempting to build friendships with the international community. The United States staunchest ally Britain rejected Tony Blair's commitment to Iraq and thew him out of power. Kendall Myers worked at the State Department during the Bush years. Myers said the Bush administration's relationship with Europe was "disappearing before our eyes."

Myers described how Bush showed no respect for Blair's commitment to the invasion of Iraq.

"It was a done deal from the beginning, it was a one-sided relationship that was entered into with open eyes... There was nothing, no sense of payback,no sense of reciprocity."

Is that Rubio's idea of maintaining friendships?

Bush and Blair had a private meeting on January 31, 2003. Bush and Blair agreed Iraq would be invaded; regardless on whether weapons of mass destruction were found or a second United Nations resoltion. Despite several leaked Downing Street Memos and historical facts: Rubio believes Iraq was invaded to promote democracy.

America doesn't invade Iraq because it wants to turn Iraq into a colony. America isn't going into Afghanistan because it wants to make Afghanistan a colony. America by and large, sends its young men and women off to die on foreign battlefields almost for other people's freedom and for freedom around the world.

Rubio's lack of knowledge of history is staggering. The United States didn't invade Afghanistan to turn the nation into a democracy. The Afghanistan war was a response to the al-Qaeda attacks on September 11, 2001. The Iraq war was sold on the danger of Saddam Hussein posssessing (nonexisting) weapons of mass destruction. If there is any doubt that Rubio has an allergic reaction to history then this quote should convince you otherwise.

America is pretty much the only military power in human history that has not used his power to conquer land and grow it's terrotory.

Is Rubio aware that the United States took land from Native American Indians and Mexico? I sincerely hope Rubio is aware that the ancestors weren't born in America.

In Rubio's speech to Republican Jewish Coalition; he stated his support of the naval blockade. The Israelis goverment's latest ploy will not punish Hamas or Hezbollah. All that will be accomplish is starving the Palistinian population. In 2000, the Vatican warned of hunger in the occupied terrotories. A 2008 photo essay showed long lines at the few Palistinian-owned bakeries. The blockade is only making the situation worse and helping the standing of Hamas with the Palistinian people. But the goal of the Israeli government isn't to win the Palistinian people over.

Rubio can't equate that not letting civilians starve isn't supporting terrorism. The international community isn't protesting the blockade because they don't want Israel to defend herself. The international outcry is because the Israeli government is attempting to starve people to death. More likely, Rubio doesn't know the reasoning behind the blockade. Rubio was clueless about the U.S. military not wanting offshore drilling off the coast of Florida. If Rubio isn't aware of what is going on in his home state then don't expect him to study up on Israel.

Quote of the Day

""Reaching out to the Muslim world may help in creating an environment for peace in the Middle East, but we must insist as Americans that our policies be firmly grounded in the beliefs of the Judeo-Christian tradition upon which this country was founded."

House minority whip Eric Cantor, speaking to Christian Zionists.

Jon Chait suspects Cantor is advocating the United States should back Israel based on religious commonality.

Cantor is saying that Israel deserves America's support merely because of its Jewish quality. So if, say, Israel were to become a fascistic state bent on the destruction of its neighbors*, then the case for the U.S.-Israel alliance would be no less strong, because of a shared religious heritage. It's a rancid, illiberal, primitive way of thinking about foreign policy.

Cantor listens to Britney Spears. To suggest Cantor has a foreign policy worldview is giving him too much credit. Cantor was pandering. The fact a member of the Republican Congressional leadership advocates basing America's foreign policy on "Judeo-Christian tradition" and not national interests is troubling. Pandering or no pandering.

Obama Meets Netanyahu

President Barack Obama's meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not go well. Netanyahu told an aide Obama is "childish and stupid." Obama is many things. The Ivy league graduate known for never losing his cool is not "childish or stupid." Publicly, Obama and Netanyahu were reserved towards each other. Netanyahu said he is willing talk peace with the Palestinians. He avoided any mention of a Palestinian state.

Privately, Netanyahu told Obama the only way to achieve peace with the Palestinians is to deal with Iran. America Pro-Israel groups made the argument toplling Saddam Hussein would bring peace to Iraq. This was the prediction of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

Loyalists: Many Fatah and Palestinian Authority officials still support Arafat in whatever he wants, or at least will do nothing against his will.

Militants: A group with a big base of support in Fatah believes that a violent revolution against Israel is the way to obtain an independent state and everything else they want. Many of these people are ready to work with Hamas toward this end.

Moderates: The smallest group has concluded that the intifada is a failure and must be ended, wish to reduce Arafat's power and are willing to try to negotiate a compromise peace with Israel. And even Abu Mazin has his heart set on a "right of return" which would probably make a peace deal impossible.

Netanyahu made repeated efforts to change the subject of a two-state solution. Privately, every time Obama brought up a Palistinian state, Netanyahu changed the subject to Iran. Many neoconservative-leaning politicians buy this bunk. "[T]he path to future success for Israel will not be an easy one, and there will be a number of difficult issues. Foremost on many minds, is, of course, Iran," Sen. John McCain said.

Obama made it clear the building of new Israeli settlements has to stop. The settlements encroach on Palestinian terrotories and become occupied by Israeli religious zealots looking for violence. The settlement building in Hebron has been a disaster. Israeli soldier Mikhael Manekin has come forward to talk about Hebron.

Obama on the building of new settlements.



OBAMA: Now, Israel is going have to take some difficult steps as well. And I shared with Prime Minister the fact that, under the road map, under Annapolis there’s a clear understanding that we have to make progress on settlements, that settlements have to be stopped in order for us to move forward. That’s a difficult thing to recognize, but it’s an important one. And it has to be addressed. I think the humanitarian situation in Gaza has to be addressed.

The Israelis approved the builing of a settlement in the northern West Bank on the eve of Netanyahu's visit to Washington. The Israelis haven't built a settlement in that part of the West Bank in 26 years.

Israelis and Palistinians know the only way to achieve peace is a two-state solution. Factions on both sides go out of their way to point blame elsewhere instead of taking responsibility. The Israeli government can find new Arab countries to blame. (See: Syria) Hamas can can recite anti-American rants to help their fundraising. That isn't going to end the occupied territories or violence. Ever.

Yahoos rising

In the Israeli election, it looks like the Likud rightist Benjamin Netanyahu has split the results with Kadima's Tzipi Livni. Livni was an instigator behind the recent Gaza Crisis, so it's not like her party is a great choice, but when compared to a Netanyahu administration... We might be looking the Israeli version of a neoconservative on steroids. Especially since Netanyahu has the best chance of working a power sharing agreement in the Knesset to become Prime Minister:

To get the president's mandate to form the next government, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has fewer seats than Tzipi Livni, will need to lock-down a majority of Knesset members, which means a coalition of:

Likud+Lieberman+Shas+various ultraOrthodox and ultraNationlist parties.

This he can almost certainly do, and, given his victory speech, intends to, although Lieberman and Shas despise one another.

Don't expect peace talks in the Holy Land any time soon. Meanwhile, I'll be rereading this in my free time.

George Mitchell To Be Named Middle East Envoy

This is Barack Obama's best pick yet. The President will name George Mitchell Middle East envoy. Mictchell has a stellar resume.

Antitrust lawyer - Justice Department
U.S. Attorney for Maine
Federal judge for District of Maine
U.S. Senate Majority Leader

Mitchell's foreign policy accomplishments are equally impressive.

Michell negotiated Belfast Agreement. The compromise allowed power sharing between the British, Catholic and Protestant Irish. The Presidential Medal of Freedom and Liberty Medal were awarded to Mitchell.

Other notable facts: Mitchell served as Disney's Chairman of the Board. Major League Baseball hired Mitchell to investigate the steroid scandal. The former Senator served in the Red Sox front office. Currently, Mitchell is the Chancellor of the Queen's University of Belfast.

No other Obama appointee has a resume to match Mitchell's. This is a fantastic appointment.

Update: Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, makes a politically foolish statement.

“Sen. Mitchell is fair. He’s been meticulously even-handed,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. “But the fact is, American policy in the Middle East hasn’t been ‘even handed’ — it has been supportive of Israel when it felt Israel needed critical U.S. support.

“So I’m concerned,” Foxman continued. “I’m not sure the situation requires that kind of approach in the Middle East.”

Besides Foxman's lack of political tact: Foxman wants a peace broker that will allow Israel to crush the Palistanians. Mitchell was brought on because of his success delivering peace in Northern Ireland. Not help continue war in the occupied territories.

Occupation 101: Hebron

Occupation 101: Hebron from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

JD Lasica reports on the physical barriers that separate Israelis and Palestinians. Permits are requied for Palestinians to walk the streets where they live. Israelis and Palistanians walk a bizarre maze to go through different checkpoints.

Mikhael Manekin, co-founder of Breaking the Silence serves as a tour guide for Lasica and Naomi Schacter. Breaking the Silence is a human rights group made of former Israeli soldiers. Hebron has Western Israeli settlers and Palestinians. Manekin explains the settlers are hardcore religious extremists that came to Hebron to take over the town. The settlers use the children for vigilante violence. Children can not be held accountable under Israeli law.

Breaking the Silence documents the experiences of Israeli soldiers in occupied territories. Soldiers have come forward to discuss how dysfunctional the occupation is. Manekin recounts how he was ordered to kill any Palistanian breaking the curfew.

Calls For Gaza Cease Fire

A European ambassador told Haaretz's Barak Ravid the Eurupeans have no love for Hamas. What Israel needs to worry about is their shrinking political capital.

"Make no mistake," he said. "I understand why you embarked on the operation in Gaza, and many of my colleagues also understand and even support it, but a few days ago you started to cross red lines."

The ambassador continued, reiterating his support and his love for Israel. "We too would like to damage Hamas, we too would not sit by quietly if they were firing rockets at us," he said. "It was clear to us that innocent people would be hurt in any operation in Gaza, and we were prepared to accept that up to certain limit, but in the past few days it seems that your action is getting out of control, and the harm to civilians is tremendous."

It seems the Israeli government has gotten the message.

As well as Ms Livni's trip to Washington, Israeli ministers also held late-night talks on Egypt's latest mediation bid.

Meanwhile, Hamas has been invited back to Cairo on Friday for more talks, an official told the Al-Jazeera network.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told the BBC that Israel wanted a prompt end to the violence.

"The diplomacy now is in high gear. Hopefully we're entering the final act. We want this to be over as soon as possible," he said.

"The minute we can be sure that the solution will not be a band aid... the minute we can understand that the situation will be a sustained peace, then we're going to go for it."

Hamas is not interested in ending hostilities. Hamas sees Israel losing international support and and to continue the war. The Israelis want to destroy Hamas. The Israelis believe they can wait when international opin is favorable.

Gaza Strip War

The New York Times has an interactive map of the day-to-day conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza Strip News

International Solidarity Movement supplied the Guardian with footage of the aftermath of the Israeli air raid. The town of Rafah was heavily battered from bombing.

In other news: President-elect Obama intends to have back-channel talks with Hamas.

The move to open contacts with Hamas, which could be initiated through the US intelligence services, would represent a definitive break with the Bush ­presidency's ostracising of the group. The state department has designated Hamas a terrorist organisation, and in 2006 ­Congress passed a law banning US financial aid to the group.

The Guardian has spoken to three ­people with knowledge of the discussions in the Obama camp. There is no talk of Obama approving direct diplomatic negotiations with Hamas early on, but he is being urged by advisers to initiate low-level or clandestine approaches, and there is growing recognition in Washington that the policy of ostracising Hamas is counter-productive. A tested course would be to start ­contacts through Hamas and the US intelligence services, similar to the secret process through which the US engaged with the PLO in the 1970s. Israel did not become aware of the contacts until much later.

The Bush policy of not talking to Hamas hasn't worked. I am not sure Obama's attempts at dialogue will be anymore productive. Hamas does not want an independent state, living peacefully with Israel. Hamas wants the destruction of Israel. The Europeans, Canada and Australia recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization. Where is the middle ground?

Hamas has become extremely popular in the occupied territories for providing social services. The corrupt Afafat regime failed to take care of the Palestinian people. The first thing Obama needs to do is get the Israelis and Palestinians away from the other's throat. Clinton was good at that. President Bush told Colin Powell: "I don’t see much we can do over there at this point." We see what Bush's lack of interest has done to Israel. Obama appears to be engaged. That is a promising start.

Joe the Wingnut Reporter Moron

I hate to write about this because I know the entity responsible is only doing this for attention, but.. One of their plans is working, at least. And that is Pajamas Media's plan to become 200% more retarded by the end of the year. That type of retarded growth is tough when you have Glenn Reynolds, Allahpundit, and Michelle Malkin under your belt, but PJM's newest acquisition may put them over the top -- from "retardedness" to "fucktardedness", even! Yes, the shameless wingnuts in charge of PJM have hired Joe the Plumber to be a war correspondent in Israel.

To show you the knowledge he has of the situation, let's revisit one of Joe the Plumber's proudest moments from last year. After claiming that an Obama presidency would mean the death of Israel, JtP went on friendly territory -- Fox News -- to defend his fucktardedness statements. But watch (at 1:20 into the video) when Shep Smith asks, "Joe do you, uh, know Barack Obama's positions on Israel?"


That's a pretty simple question which Joe the Braindead Moron Plumber could not answer. In fact, his reply -- urging voters to do their own research (even when he hadn't) -- is so pathetic that it mine as well be a Palin interview.

But I'm sure that Pajama's Media is proud as a pig in shit to hire a man who knows absolutely nothing about the Middle East to be a "war correspondent" there. After all, it gives them attention which is all that these vainglorious bastards want. But instead of being thought provoking to get attention, PJM takes the low road by hiring a darling of wingnut creation who has constantly lied and doesn't know shit about shit on anything. Good going, retards -- I'd say you're 199% towards reaching your goal.

Who's in control?

[Crossposted from Talk Radio is Stupid]

Ran across an interesting report in my Twitterfeed today. Al Jazeera Gaza (AJGaza) had two reports on a brief ceasefire three hours ago...

Report 1:

The Israeli military confirms it has paused military operations in #Gaza for a period of three hours to allow Palesti nians to access aid.

Report 2:

Hamas says it will not fire rockets into Israel during the same period of time, Al Jazeera's corre spondent reports.

One might say, "Great! At least they agree to something!" But not so fast. Here's a third report from AJGaza:

One rocket and two mortars fired from #Gaza by Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, thirty minutes i nto hostility pause.

So a 180 minute truce lasted all of 30 minutes because of Hamas... Maybe.
Reading news like this makes me wonder who's really in control of the Palestinian military operations (if you can even apply such a grand title to a Mickey Mouse system of rockets) in Gaza. The first update says that Hamas and Israel agreed to the brief ceasefire, but the third update says the Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades were firing rockets. While the Qassam Brigades are commonly regarded as the military wing of the Hamas party, has anyone considered the notion that they could have autonomy from Hamas? If the latter is true, then even the Palestinian government Israel claims to be fighting against is more complex then they have presented.

Second thought: These reports also mean that Israel refuses to let any humanitarian aid in unless the rocket fire stops. Since Israel full well knows that innocent civilians have been harmed as a direct result of their rockets, not giving those citizens access to medical aid which they need puts to rest any notion that Israel isn't targeting civilians. Anyone who argues to the contrary is an idiot (and we sure have a lot of those people around, unfortunately). And isn't holding back humanitarian aid breaking some international laws? It's like Israel hasn't respected international law since the year of their formation, 1948! Oh wait, I'm not being sarcastic. Oopsie.
Third thought: Israel may have broken the ceasefire, too. Here's a tweet from a Palestinian in Gaza from 2 hours ago:

the occupation bombed my home and iam fin e #gaza

This tweet was posted a couple of hours ago, but it could be in response to the fact that he hadn't tweeted in a couple of days.. Meaning his house could have been bombed in the past two days and not two hours. It's still surreal, though, to receive communiqués whose house was just bombed. Maybe Israel thought his house contained one of those famous Hamas terrorist cells. Boy they recruit young.
Click here if you want to be even more appalled.  That should tell you who's really in control.

Honesty and peace, they go hand in hand. And without one...

For the past eight years Bush has used the "Blame the Beaten Wife" argument against Palestinians, so his implementation of it again in his radio address today isn't surprising. Likewise, maybe this part of is speech isn't surprising, either, but I think it's worthy of closer inspection:

He expressed concern about the humanitarian suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza, but again blamed this on Hamas.

"By spending its resources on rocket launchers instead of roads and schools, Hamas has demonstrated that it has no intention of serving the Palestinian people," Bush said.

The assumption here is that the Palestinian people are free to live their lives how they wish and build a society. You have to be pretty ignorant of history to believe this, but Bush is talking to Americans here... So we have a lot of people who believe this.

I could whip out the traditions arguments against Bush's assertion: Israel's economic blockade of the Occupied Territories: controlling how much water and electricity they do (and don't receive), continually taking their land, building walls around their society that separate the territories from the rest of the world, etc. And all of that is important, but first we need a visual representation of oppression.



Here's a colored map of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where most Palestinians live. The dark green spots show the parts of the territories which are nominally under the control of Palestinians. As you can tell, the areas that Palestinians "control" in their own territory is startlingly fragmented -- how could anyone even claim that Palestinians are free to build their own society when they are given so little land build upon?

And where it's not dark green? Could be an Israeli-only highway, could be Israeli settlers who are surrounded by the IDF for protection. Last July, a Guardian reporter went to a West Bank town (which I would surmise to not be in a dark green zone) and made a must-see audio slideshow of how differently Palestinians and Israeli settlers are treated there. The slideshow gives you a personal view of all the traditional arguments: land and water control, electricity, checkpoints, etc. Is this the Palestinian freedom that Bush speaks of? Is he kidding?

As for the dark green spots, some will point out that all of Gaza is dark green because Israel moved all of its settlers out of there. So they're free, right? I think the past couple of weeks have given us an answer to that question -- an indisputable fact that only a stubborn idiot would protest against.

Which brings us back to Bush.

One wonders what Bush's motivations are. With less than 20 days left in office, does he have any motivation left? Does he actually believe what his speech writers tell him to say even though it can easily be debunked by a blogger with half an hour to kill? Is Bush actually that stupid? Or is Israel holding a gun to Bush's head, telling him that they'll spend billions on arms from Russia instead of us if he doesn't pimp their public relations points about how war against Palestinians is an awesome thing? Though interesting to ponder, we won't know the answer for quite a while (if ever, depending on how many documents the Bush administration shreds on its way out the door).

What is important to note is that, whether or not Bush knows he's lying, he's not helping. By arguing that Palestinians are free and choose to be terrorists, Bush does not honestly assess the dire situation the Palestinians live under every day. How can a peace process even begin when one side isn't represented honestly?

Thus, the cycle of violence continues. Thanks Bush. Please be sure to fuck the hell off on your way out, you warmongering fucking asshole.

Placing the latest Israel/Gaza violence into perspective...

Robert Fisk (h/t mattthebastard):

Ever since 1948, we've been hearing this balderdash from the Israelis -- just as Arab nationalists and then Arab Islamists have been peddling their own lies: that the Zionist "death wagon" will be overthrown, that all Jerusalem will be "liberated." And always Mr Bush Snr or Mr Clinton or Mr Bush Jnr or Mr Blair or Mr Brown have called upon both sides to exercise "restraint" -- as if the Palestinians and the Israelis both have F-18s and Merkava tanks and field artillery. Hamas's home-made rockets have killed just 20 Israelis in eight years, but a day-long blitz by Israeli aircraft that kills almost 300 Palestinians is just par for the course.

Amnesty International:

This is the highest level of Palestinian fatalities and casualties in four decades of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The escalation of violence comes at a time when the civilian population already faces a daily struggle for survival due to the Israeli blockade which has prevented even food and medicines from entering Gaza.

So this latest Israeli hissy fit bout of violence may be unprecedented (since 1948, at least). And speaking of the Israelis blockading aid, the Guardian reports...

Israel accused of ramming Gaza aid ship

The Free Gaza Movement said its vessel, the Dignity, was intercepted by several Israeli vessels as it was heading to the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli aerial bombardment since Saturday.

One gunboat rammed the Dignity on the port bow side, causing heavy damage, although no one was hurt, the group said.

"[The Dignity] is taking on water and appears to have engine problems," the movement said on its website. "When attacked, the Dignity was clearly in international waters, 90 miles off the coast of Gaza.

As for the origins of this current crisis, it's tough to know where to begin... But, as OpenLeft points out, some blame should be given to the Bush administration since it was them who helped bring Hamas into power (ironically enough):

Vanity Fair has obtained confidential documents, since corroborated by sources in the U.S. and Palestine, which lay bare a covert initiative, approved by Bush and implemented by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams, to provoke a Palestinian civil war. The plan was for forces led by Dahlan, and armed with new weapons supplied at America's behest, to give Fatah the muscle it needed to remove the democratically elected Hamas-led government from power. (The State Department declined to comment.)

But the secret plan backfired, resulting in a further setback for American foreign policy under Bush. Instead of driving its enemies out of power, the U.S.-backed Fatah fighters inadvertently provoked Hamas to seize total control of Gaza.

But, as we all know, the real question is how many anti-Arab, pro-death trolls will this post rake in? Fuck talking about reality! Meanwhile, the bodycount mounts... And Arab leaders still don't know what the hell to do. (Well, except for the Egyptians, who seem content with shooting at Gazans at the border and not opening up their hospitals to them. Classy.) But to be fair, Bush doesn't know what to do either -- he won't even cut his vacation short because of the crisis. Which is also classy.

What's up, Gaza?

We often hear about the violent side of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict because that's more sensational, but we're subjected to much less about normal, day to day life there. So what's normalcy in Gaza right now?

Smuggled through tunnels from Egypt, sheep were not selling well in a Gaza market on the eve of a Muslim holiday in which the animals are slaughtered and their meat is donated to the poor.

'People here are just watching one another and nobody is buying,' complained sheep merchant Omar Fuji. 'The prices are higher because we had to pay a $100 fee to the tunneller on every sheep that came through.'

And why aren't Palestinians buying the sheep?

'It is a difficult Eid [holiday]. There are no salaries, no cash at banks. Electricity is cut most of the day,' said Ezzel-Deen Abu Amira, a 42-year-old civil engineer.

Some 77,000 Gaza employees have not received their November pay and banks have been shut since Thursday because they do not have enough money to operate. Israel cut off imports of cash and other goods this month as cross-border violence rose.

And thus we see normal, day to day life in the Gaza Strip. Some people call news like this anti-semitic; others call it "context".