Mahmoud Abbas: the Second Coming

One could be forgiven for thinking de facto President Mahmoud Abbas seemed like the second coming since Jesus of Nazareth not only by the reception he was given at the UN General Assembly when he spoke there on Friday but by the reaction throughout his speech from crowds amassed in West Bank cities.

Abbas’ speech, calling for admission of Palestine as a full member state of the United Nations, was surprising in that it was unusually strongly worded and lacked the usual skirting of core issues regarding the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Characteristically, Abbas’ public addresses to audiences reflect the interests of the Palestine Authority (PA) and not of the Palestinian people, highlighting the importance of negotiations with Israel to achieve any lasting peace agreement as the sole tactic, effectively undermining resistance in all of its forms to the occupying regime.

At the UN, Abbas used terms like “ethnic cleasning”,“al-Nakba”, “apartheid policies” and “racist annexation Wall”. To the short-sighted and the outsider, the speech was indeed befitting of being a historical platform to voice the issue of Palestine. It encapsulated the suffering the Palestinians have endured for 63 years, from the horrors of their ethnic cleansing in 1948 to the unbearable life under the continuous settlement building which aids the apartheid and racist policies that are inherent in every aspect of Palestinians’ lives.

The speech also mentioned Gaza, which is still suffering under siege and from air raids that account for extra-judicial killings. It was a perfect speech, succinctly and without being overly garrulous capturing Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and making Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech sound like the incessant whining of a spoiled kid.

Or was it? The stalwart speech certainly diverted some of the initial skeptical views on the PA’s bid for statehood. For the indifferent, it won their support, and for those opposed it either strengthened their opposition or cracked their resolve. Talk now isn’t about whether the UN bid for statehood is detrimental or beneficial; it has now come to optimistic discussions of what this bid could do for Palestinians.

The argument is now about how the “internationalization” of the Palestine/Israel conflict is a good thing because it is rarely that the world fixes its attention on this small country except when there is bloodshed and misery, and this attention can now be channeled into genuine support for an end to the Israeli occupation.

“A very good speech”

Issa Amro, the director of the Hebron based Youth Against Settlements, was animatedly expressing his approval of Abbas’ speech in between sips of mint tea.

“It was a very good speech,” he told me. “He [Abbas] didn’t leave anything out. He talked about the Nakba, the Naksa, the prisoners, the settlements…it was a speech that was comprehensive of what every Palestinian wanted to hear.”

I asked him about the reaction of the people who had gathered in Hebron’s city center to watch the speech on a large screen. Mainstream media focused their attention primarily on the reaction in Ramallah, where jubilant crowds were celebrating as if they had already been granted statehood.

“The mood was positive. You know, people in Hebron are mostly Hamas supporters, but they were smiling throughout the speech. Thousands of people were present, which is something very rare in Hebron since we barely have large protests or gatherings.”

I pointed out that the proposed statehood bid was based on the 1967 borders, and that partitioning the land wasn’t going to work in the interests of most Palestinians.

Amro looked at me solemnly. “Listen, you think we’re ever going to forget about Haifa and Yafa? Of course not! But first, we have to gather what we have and then work toward regaining the rest.”

A risky approach

Settling for a two-state solution, no matter how temporary, has drastic consequences. Under the title of “State,” Palestine can be attacked by Israel not as an occupied territory (which carries its own legal implications as the Geneva Convention clearly stipulates that the occupier must protect the occupied), but as an equal.

But this is all theoretical of course. The West Bank and Gaza will not be granted statehood as the US president, with re-elections on the horizion, vowed to veto it. In the midst of renewed blind faith in the bid, Palestinians have forgotten or simply ignored the question of the PA’s legitimacy in carrying out such an act.

Legal expert Professor Guy Goodwin clearly pointed out that the PA is a “subsidiary body meaning it cannot break away from the parent body [the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)], assume greater powers, or establish itself independently from the PNC [Palestinian National Council]. It is only competent to carry out powers conferred to it by PNC.”

The PA’s control is restricted as it has “limited legislative and executive competence, territorial jurisdiction and limited personal jurisdiction over Palestinians not present in areas it is allocated accordingly.” The problem of representation, in which the six million Palestinian refugees in the diaspora could lose if the PLO, recognized and toted as the sole legitimate representative body for Palestinians everywhere (the diaspora, the 1967 occupied territories, the Palestinians living in the 1948 areas) wasn’t such a big deal anymore as Mahmoud Abbas graciously received standing ovations.

Abbas “never popular”

Mahmoud Abbas was never popular with the Palestinian people. Even before his presidency and during his tenure as Prime Minister, the late PA chairman Yassir Arafat was open about his suspicions of Abbas, accusing him of “betraying the interests of the Palestinian people.” Arafat’s associates added to the suspicions by pointing the finger at Abbas, saying he conspired with Israel to keep Arafat under siege in Ramallah during 2002.

It’s not just his lack of charisma either. Abbas never bothered to conceal his frank collaboration with Israel. Whether it was acquiring the services of the Israeli Shin Bet security forces to travel around the West Bank, or having previous knoweldge of and supporting Operation Cast Lead, or calling on Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit whilst neglecting to mention or at the very least equating Shalit with the eight thousand Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails.

Nor has Abbas been shy about coordinating security efforts with Israel under the guise of avoiding Palestinian confrontations which could end up in violence but which in reality serve the Israeli settlers’ interests more and simultaneously undermines unarmed popular resistance.

Most importantly there were the leaked Palestine Papers, which exposed the length Abbas and the rest of the unelected PA negotiating team were willing to concede the rights of the Palestinians, specifically the Right of Return, and the lands given away for the same “horrific picture of the settlement campaign” he articulated in his speech.

For all these reasons, the Palestinian street never thought much of Abbas where he paled in comparison with the inflated symbolism of Yassir Arafat. With his “historic speech” Abbas may satisfy himself with the knowledge that he has crept up the ladder of icons, cementing his legacy as the (autocrat) who laid the application for a Palestinian statehood at the UN’s feet.

The negotiations between the PA and Israel did not start last year in September. That was the timeline given in Abbas’ speech. No, the negotiations have been going on for almost two decades, and while it is nothing short of absurd for Israel and the Quartet, specifically the outraged US, to self-righteously lecture on, nay demand a return to negotiations as the only way to reach a peace settlement, they can rest assured that that it is what Abbas had in mind the whole time.

He wants to use the tactic of going to the UN as leverage that would put the ball in his court once he restarts negotiations, something he has promised to do over and over. Nelson Mandela once said that “only free men can negotiate” and these failed talks between the PA and Israel which have come at the expense of Palestinians and the increasing loss of their rights only give the illusion to the outside world that the relationship is between two partners, two equals, not the occupier and the occupied.

Enthusiasm without analysis

The supporters present at the Muqata’a compound in Ramallah today were bused in from the surrounding villages, most of which support Abbas’ Fatah faction, and other parts of the West Bank. They are lacking in knowledge of the implications and consequences of the PA’s UN bid for statehood, and have become desensitized to the situation on the ground which translates into a positive reaction at face value regarding the subject of Palestine receiving international attention.

This much was clear from my interviews with a number of people representing different aspects of society in Ramallah. They all wanted a state on the 1967 lines, “to be accepted as a country like the rest of the countries in the world”. When asked about the refugees from the 1948 areas (the parts of Palestine on which Israel was established in 1948), they reiterated that no state would be meaningful if the Right of Return was not implemented. When I pointed out this contradiction, most were confused.

Issa Amro indicated that the issue now is trusting the PA. Given its history of corruption and collaboration, this seemed a bit naïve. I believe in a one secular state for all, Muslims, Christians, and Jews. That however, is kryptonite to Zionism whose adherents sees the conflict not as a war or religions, as it slyly paints, but rather as battle of demography over geography.

A long way to go, but hope remains

Accepting the millions of refugees back into Palestine on a human rights approach would mean that the Israeli Jews would become a minority, and fuel the hysterical hasbara notion of “driving the Jews into the sea.” Yet we have a long way to go. The only Israelis who are not morally horrified by a one state solution where Palestinians are treated as equals and where none of this Jewish superiority based on Messianic revelations exists are the anarchists, those completely against the system.

Still, hope remains. The whole UN statehood drama could provide an opening for the Boycott, Divesment, and Sanctions movement to grow even more and become more popular, as it seeks to end Israel’s impunity and hold it accountable for all of its atrocities committed against the Palestinians ever since the months leading up to Israel’s independence.

It is a grassroots movement, similar to the one in Apartheid South Africa, and along with supporting the unarmed popular resistance, the steps for achieving peace, justice and equality in the country become even closer.

As published on Electronic Intifada

Settlers Write Racist Graffiti on BZU Walls

On Friday morning around 2am, settlers made their way to up to Birzeit University and spray-painted racist slogans on the walls just outside the West Gate.

Below are the translated phrases under each picture, taken from the university's own Facebook page.

Jews: Let us win

Revenge

Ramat-migron, Revenge, Jewish underground

Wait for the revenge, murder.

Ramat migron, revenge is king, price tag, [a nasty word about the prophet Muhammad pbuh]

The miscreants also left their marks in the town of Birzeit, as they attacked and vandalized the main mosque with racist graffiti.

The university's website has condemned this "cowardly criminal" act. Students have questioned the presence of the university guards, but the guards reassured everyone that the culprits did not manage to get inside the campus itself, adding that the property remained untouched.

Having just got off the phone with one of the guards, it remains to be seen whether the culprits can be identified as settlers or not. The dean of the university has issued a gag order on the incident for the time being, meaning that all faculty members and employees within the university are not allowed to share any information they might have to avoid wild rumors from circulating. Whoever they are, they got into a single car and left the premises at around 2:30 am.

This act of vandalism has all the markings of a settler attack. It is is the latest in a series of upped settler antics anticipating the PA's nonsensical UN bid for statehood, after settlers torched a mosque in the village of Qusra near Nablus and attacked a faculty member of Bethlehem University with rocks while he was driving. A student from the same university was also attacked, and after escaping her car through the passenger door to appeal to the Israeli soldiers nearby for help, she was told to return back to her car. Today, settlers in Hebron attacked a family's tent and set it on fire, with the father still inside.

Israeli-American journalist Joseph Dana noted correctly, in light of a recent settler attack on the IOF's military base (which incidentally also had the words 'price tag' sprayed) that these transgressors are "one of the most dangerous and volatile elements on the ground" and that in order for the state of Israel to be taken seriously by the international community, it must curb its "rogue settlers." Yet the Israeli army only seeks to further fan the flames by training and equipping settlers with heavy duty weaponry in order to prepare them for any Palestinian protests that might turn 'violent', dubbing the move Operation Summer Seeds. It is no secret that settlers largely behave with impunity and have the assured protection of the Israeli Occupation Forces. Settlers are usually armed and harass neighboring villages, more often than not lands they've expropriated from the Palestinians, by setting olive groves and fields on fire or by physically assailing the villagers.

Not a word of condemnation either from Israel or its sycophantic brother the PA has been issued regarding these recent settler attacks. One thing is for certain though: these attacks will only increase throughout the month and with no accountability on the settlers' side, a simple 'heads-up' for the Palestinians simply won't do.

All settlements in the West Bank are illegal.
There are over 280,000 settlers in the West Bank (not counting East Jerusalem).
There are more than 180,000 settlers in East Jerusalem.
In total, that makes almost half a million settlers, a mammoth obstacle for any sustainable peace.

Hundreds of Foreigners Plan to Visit Palestine

They answered the call of 15 Palestinian civil society organizations where they will take part in a week full of activism. Unfortunately, the only Palestine they'll be able to see is the West Bank. And this is such a hard thing for us to write, because what do you call a Palestine that was taken over by Zionists with the full backing of a superpower and used violent methods to systematically ethnically cleanse, or drive over half of the indigenous population to mostly neighboring countries which created more problems which then culminated in a huge diaspora problem, and that "move" was so sudden and expected at least on that indigenous population's side to last no more than a few months, which meant that the homes and villages and towns of these people, complete with furniture and clothes and assorted knick-knacks were either readily taken over by Jewish immigrants or razed to the ground for commercial reasons (shame on ANY Palestinian, especially those who get all giddy about finally acquiring the special permit to visit Jerusalem and then buy overpriced clothes from the Canyon Mall, which is built on the demolished site of the Malha village), and so with the complicit nature of the international committee a new astonishingly racist state, fodder for the white man in the west, came into being and then other complications were mixed in such as that new state's absolute right to every inch of Palestine plus a part of Egypt plus Jordan plus Syria plus Lebanon plus Iraq based on messianic revelations in an ancient text ET CETERA ET CETERA. The five hundred+ villages and eleven urban neighborhoods that were wiped out of any traces of the Palestinians exist in this new state as national parks, christened settlements, or "historic" sites of Israel. The two state solution is dead and buried under mounds and mounds of mockery, subcontracted occupation, and yellow negotiations, so jumping ahead to the optimistic future a bit, what will this one state be called? Israel/Palestine? Palestine/Israel? Did Gaddafi have it right when he proposed to name the country "Israfil?" Israel is a reality of course, but that doesn't make it any easier to call villages and cities and towns in their Judaized names (Yafa>Yafo, Akka>Akko, Aelia/Beit Salem/Al-Quds>Yorshaylim..) or refer to our grandparents' homes as part of Israeli territory. Listen here to Invincible's song 'People Not Places.' It's all about legitimacy.

Nevertheless, these foreigners who also go by the dangerous incriminating name of pro-Palestinian activists, number between 700 to 1500, and are due to arrive with peaceful intentions this Friday July 8th at the Ben Gurion airport, where they will clearly inform the Israeli authorities that they are here solely to visit the Palestinian territories and will stress on the part that the only means through to them is via this airport since Israel controls all border crossings and restricts the freedom of movement for Palestinians and other solidarity activists.

The reaction from Israel has been hilarious and unsurprising. Netanyahu wasted absolutely no time in growling out that these activists (he was just a breath short of calling them terrorists or terrorist sympathizers) are a threat to Israel and undermine Israel's right to exist. His responses to anything pro-Palestine are boring; is there anything in his book that doesn't undermine Israel's right to exist? The flotilla must be stopped because they will give Khamas nuclear warheads to annihilate Israel. Yawn. Couldn't he have livened up his statement by adding a creative twist, something about how these activists are disguised as peace-loving humanitarians but are in reality a special elite force of the Shinossad (Shin Bet + Mossad), planning to infiltrate the Palestinian territories in order to take down whatever germinating popular resistance against Israel? And then, let your imagination run wild in planning out different scenarios for why the Shinossad are to be met with such hostility.

Despite the activists stating their peaceful intentions, they are still treated by Israeli security forces as bomb strapped hooligans. Apparently, being a pro-Palestinian activist automatically means that one must be a raving, violent lunatic with murderous intentions, a bit like a watered down version of Baruch Goldstein. All the activists are interested in is going through the passport control room, stating "We are here to visit the Palestinian territories" and then proceed out of the airport, into their buses and taxis, and off to said Palestinian territories. But no, everyone is in hysterics, Israeli public security will establish a special operations room in the airport in honor of those provocative terrorist sympathizers, with "representatives from the Foreign Ministry, the Aviation Authority, the Internal Security Ministry, police representatives, Prime Minister's Office officials and others" to officially monitor, hassle, interrogate, and deport said wannabe camel-jockeys.

Israel, in a major breakthrough, identified more than 300 of those activists and put little black circles next to their names. Which then led to deceased security in the airport, because the Israeli Transportation Ministry twisted the arms of the countries the activists are flying out from who barred them from flying to Israel.

Point is, the democratic state of Israel is shaking. After one pillar gets knocked down, the others will follow. And not because of a 99.9% unlikely Iranian war or the Khamas tinpot homemade rockets, but because of its own increasingly desperate self-destructive attempts to save its image and reputation of a Jewish-made land of milk and honey with beautiful liberal minded people and fine upholding standards on every societal level. It seems that it's obvious to everyone except neo-cons and crazies that this tactic is in fact achieving the opposite effect and is polarizing Israel even more. The international community is slowly rousing from its bogged down silence and are engaging in more solidarity and awareness events to showcase Israel's impunity and atrocities.

We don't think that the hundreds of activists will be allowed through. Maybe a hundred, a couple hundred. Maybe fifty. What are the chances for this flytilla to succeed more than the second flotilla? We don't know. We do know that Israel needs to get with the program, cease its occupation and apartheid policies, stop its fascist methods to discredit anything that doesn't come with a WE LOVE ISRAEL hard-on, and to breathe.

Is peace still on the table, anyone?

May 15th and the Third Palestinian Intifada

Every year for the past 62 years, there has always been a Nakba commemoration day. May 15th marks the Israeli "War of Independence Day" at the expense of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians that were displaced, expelled, and ethnically cleansed from their cities, villages, and homes in the most brutal manner. Some fled for fear of experiencing the same fate that Deir Yassin underwent, where over one hundred men, women, and children were murdered on the spot. Others were threatened, forcibly evicted, and were either placed on trucks that took them to the Jordanian/Lebanese borders or were told to walk there under the unbearable heat with inadequate food and supplies and no shelter. Many died on the way. Others made their "temporary" homes in the nineteen refugee camps in the West Bank, and the eight in the Gaza Strip.

Every Palestinian is familiar with the Nakba, as it still lives on in the collective memory, passed on from generation to generation, where land deeds and rusty keys are the most prized possessions. 700,000 refugees, over half of the original Palestinian population, have escalated 63 years later into a 6 million problem. Israel continues to systematically deny these facts and figures, disseminating lies through their hasbara machine that these Arabs left on their own accord and free will, but for how long? Especially in such glaring evidence? Writing on newly obtained statistics that show how Israel revoked residency rights of Palestinians (up to 140,000) up until the time of the Oslo Accords, Gideon Levy writes how the spirit of ethnic cleansing is still very much alive and kicking in the democratic state of Israel, all for the purpose of transforming the land into a purely Jewish only state.

"This is an absolute refusal to allow the return of the refugees - something that would "destroy the State of Israel." It's also an absolute refusal to allow the return of the people recently expelled. By next Independence Day we'll probably invent more expulsion regulations, and on the next holiday we'll talk about "the only democracy."

This year, the 63 third commemorative year of the Nakba, is surrounded by so much hype and fanfare. Bolstered by the geopolitical changes in the Arab world, and drawing upon loud support from the resuscitated Egyptians as a result of their spectacular revolution, this Sunday promises to be something memorable. Egyptian youth have called for a million man march to the Rafah border to show their support and solidarity with the Palestinians, and Jordanians and refugees in Lebanon have pledged to do the same on their side. But guess who has the audacity to rain on the Egyptians' parade... Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal. He called for the Egyptian youth to refrain from marching to the border, citing fears of "unwanted military confrontation" and not wanting to place Egypt in direct conflict with Zionism when they have their own problems to sort out. Given that Hamas shot any diaphanous shred of credibility by announcing its favor in the two state solution, Meshaal's comments are seen as nothing less than traitorous. Imagine Mahmoud Abbas or any of his henchmen saying that. Speaking of which, the PA has banned anyone from demonstrating on Sunday next to checkpoints and settlements.

63 years, and Palestinians are not in any way closer to giving up their right of return.


And again, Ben Gurion's "The old will die and the young will forget" couldn't be further away from the truth. IMEU has come up with this great initiative where second or third generation refugees in a one minute video talk about their parents/grandparents' Nakba memories.

This year, Israel passed a law forbidding anyone inside of Israel to commemorate the nakba since apparently it's a criminal offense. This from the Palestine Monitor:

Palestinian schools inside the Green Line have already experienced signs that portend increased censorship. According to an Alternative Information Center report, officials from Israeli Ministry of Education visited Palestinians schools on Land Day, 30 March, requesting that school officials send the Ministry a list of teachers and students that were absent that day.


This act of intimidation was received as a reminder to schools that the Ministry of Education is in fact watching their political activities.


The Follow-Up Committee on Arab Education, an Israeli organization founded in 1984 to advocate for and protect Arab education in Israel, have vocalized their opposition to the law and dedication to Palestinians’ right to observe national days that form cultural and collective memory.


In the past, Palestinian schools have worked with their mayors and local councils to develop lesson plans, activities and video screenings to memorialize the Nakba. Since the passing of the “Nakba Law,” FUCAE is working with legal organizations, Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Adalah, to understand how Palestinian schools will be able to recognize their historical narrative without incurring heavy fines.

On Friday, protests were held in Cairo and Amman and Gaza and the West Bank. Israeli security was tight, and one youth from Silwan died early this morning from a gunshot wound to his stomach. In the areas around East Jerusalem particularly, clashes took place between Palestinians and the Israeli forces, resulting in the arrest of 34 people.

And now onto the Third Palestinian Intifada. It all started on Facebook after getting inspired by the Arab revolutions. Fans numbered almost 300,000 when Facebook decided to pull the page after a couple of whiners were concerned about the anti-Semitic message the page was giving out. In its place, dozens of the Third Palestinian Intifada pages appeared. We don't know how exactly this proposed intifada will pan out, but Mahmoud Abbas is determined that no intifada will happen under his festering reign, stating that anyone who wants to carry out "armed resistance" should do so away from the Palestinian people. Some people just don't know when to stop sinking so low. We checked out the Facebook page for the intifada, and it included a long-winded mission statement in Arabic that outlined the cause and effects of the first two intifadas and and what the aspirations for the youth or anyone partaking should be and how that in turn should develop and shape their personalities with regards to social, economic, political, cultural, organizational, and gender related issues. From a quick skim, we saw no information about how this imminent third intifada will be implemented.

Matthew Cassel clarifies what will happen on May 15th, which looks like the normal procedure for previous May 15ths. The third intifada is a day where:

...Palestinian activists, political factions and non-governmental organizations, are participating in various coordinated actions to protest Israeli occupation and call for the right of return for some six million Palestinian refugees. The significance of this date is that it is Nakba day — the day Palestinians annually commemorate their ethnic cleansing from Palestine as British forces departed in 1948 and Zionist forces took over much of the country to establish Israel.

We really do not want to belittle the events/actions that are going to take place tomorrow. While it was heartening to hear Jordanians from the village of Karameh shouting "The people want the liberation of Palestine"/"A-sha3b yureed ta7reer falasteen" and even more so that the Egyptians are putting together convoys to effectively break the siege of Gaza once and for all, here in the West Bank we can't but help feel that all this hullabaloo will result in crushing disappointment, much like the one experienced on March 15th. In fact, we have already bet that around three thousand people will show up around the Manara square and other landmarks in the West Bank cities, instead of the hundreds of thousands who are participating rigorously in debates on Facebook pages, posting links and pictures and YouTube videos in a frenzied manner.

Here's what we think will go down tomorrow:

• Congregation of disappointing amount of people
• First half hour characterized by emphatic chanting, waving of flags, fist-pumping, etc
• Adrenaline flows as there seems to be genuine feelings of nationalistic pride
• Attempted sabotage by the united political factions
• Blaring loudspeakers play nationalistic songs over and over again as people begin to lose interest and walk away
• Unleashing of Ramallah perverts, who make sardonic and immensely witty jokes about liberation of Palestine
• We cry
• Go home, turn on the news, watch youth who demonstrated at Qalandia checkpoint get tear-gassed and maybe a procession of a martyr or two 

Keep in mind, we made this list not because it's the prototype of what usually goes on in (PA approved) rallies/demonstrations or to be called useless slags who keep on moaning about the incompetence of any type of Palestinian leadership that lacks that stimulating factor, but rather so we can be proved horribly, magnificently wrong. A couple of months ago, there was on article on the al-Jazeera website that asserted that no revolution is likely to take place in Syria anytime soon because of these so and so factors.

We'll be there around the Manara square tomorrow, but this time with no high hopes or expectations. May 15th will be yet another commemorative year, but this won't explode or even ignite the fuse for the Third Intifada. The youth seem to know what they want (an end to division, an end to occupation, liberation of Palestine, calls for democratic elections, etc) but their problem lies in their means to achieve these goals. Again, with March 15th on our minds, copying the tactics of Egypt and Tunisia was not enough. March 15th didn't bring about the reconciliation of Hamas and Fateh. The geopolitical circumstances in surrounding Arab countries did. May 15th will be another year, another day of remembrance, a devastating and amplified reminder that 63 years have gone by, where over 500 villages and 11 urban neighborhoods were completely destroyed and now have thriving Israeli infrastructures built upon the ruins. 

Vittorio Arrigoni, Rest in Peace

Thanks to Carlos Latuff for this gem.

Words cannot express our rage and horror at this brutal murder of Palestinian Italian activist. Yes, he was a Palestinian, so passionate was he about exposing Israel's occupation and helping the other Palestinians in Gaza.

Rest in Peace Vik. Gazans certainly knew your worth. Unfortunately, so did the "Salafi Israelis".

Refaat Alareer describes how these Salafis are manipulated by Mossad/CIA websites, acting out their orders. This may sound extreme to a person with a sprinkling knowledge of the whole conflict and who will no doubt accuse Alareer of being one of those conspiracy theorists, but that doesn't make it less true.

Mohammed Suliman, who has an excellent blog, writes his thoughts on the debacle.

We can't form our own words, so we're resorting to linking to other expressive posts.

A few days ago we bitterly noticed how Ramallah held a silent protest for Juliano Mer Khamis's murder while there was barely a whisper of anger about the nineteen people killed in Gaza. Salam Fayyad stuck his nose in this matter, publicly condemning Juliano's murder while remaining mum about the killings of civilians in Gaza. The spotlight only shines on internationally known activists whereas Palestinians are lumped together as a numerical monolith.

We realize now that this is a nuanced subject. Juliano and Vittorio are granted media (social or not) coverage and recognition not only because of the work that they did, but because they were representative of the non-representative Palestinians themselves. Their voices were heard. And for that, they had to be silenced.

Singing the Praises of Ayman Mohyeldin

Early on during the Egyptian Revolution, we were enamored with dear Ayman. Julian Assange who? Move over there, it only took us about a month before we found ourselves agreeing with Robert Fisk assessment that Assange was indeed a man who entitled himself to a great deal of self-importance.

Ayman's clear cut analyses and top notch reporting has led us to discuss his physical status and jacket choices, which made our parents permanently switch back to the Al Jazeera Arabic channel instead. Still, it was nice while it lasted, and his being half Palestinian doesn't hurt his case at all.

A couple of interviews we eagerly lapped up before we remembered that the crush had faded:

The Daily Beast talks to him about...stuff.

This New York Magazine query stirred the feathers of a few righteous people because Ayman mentioned their silver fox Anderson Cooper. Somehow they automatically took it to be a diss on Anderson's part. Eh.


Oh, and apparently our knack for putting links here and there isn't going to end anytime soon.

• One man's brutal account of what the army did to him as he tried to enter Tahrir Square with medical supplies ( in Arabic).

• We've seen this before on many articles, but this one sums it up pretty nicely. The winners and losers of the Revolution.

• Love Jon Stewart. This is the world's reaction accordingly.

Egypt I Want to Have Your Babies

Question. Is Husni Mubarak still the president of Egypt?
Haha, got you there.

18 days. Millions upon millions of people. Egypt is reborn. There is absolutely no point in trying to capture the phantasmagoric elations shaking the country all around. Viva la revolution. May the dead rest in peace, those who sacrificed their lives for freedom. The sheer willpower of Egyptians. Their immense love and pride for their country. Their enviable united stance. The world salutes you.

The Guardian has more pics.

LISTEN TO THAT CROWD. That's the sound of millions getting their inalienable rights back.

I fear I've become somewhat incoherent-still caught up in the celebratory mood! I never thought I had it in me-a thousand ear-splitting ululations piercing the next hour and half since the news reached me. I had religiously followed the revolution unfolding in Egypt, cramming an average of ten hours a day of TV, and then a few more reading up articles and first hand accounts and watching videos online. I am desperately sleep deprived, my eyes have never been so googly, and I have completely neglected my university studies these past two weeks. Of course, it's not like Egypt was counting on me for anything or benefiting  from my hawkish obsession with news updates, but it just felt right. So I'm reduced to just posting links about everything and anything, my favorite being the youtube videos of course.

Army's role? This isn't something that should be downplayed or ignored, even if the army promised to oversee the next few months of Egypt while the country sorts itself out.

Tamer Hosni fail. Oh how we all laughed at him. He so resembles the beetles from A Bug's Life.

Rest assured neocons. No Islamist country. But that doesn't mean you can stop shitting yourselves with fear, especially when you realize that 11/2/11 is the 32nd anniversary of the Iranian revolution. I'm pretty sure the Glenn Becks of the world will find the insidious connection.

Please do not fall under corruption again. Learn from the mistakes of other countries.

Wael Ghonim went missing during the early stages of the revolution. He is so emotional. Yet sincere.  His interview on the Arabic Dream channel is better, because it captures the raw moments after his release, where he breaks down a few times, confesses that he had not slept in 48 hours, and reiterates over and over again that the protesters are the true heroes, not him.

Clayton Swisher, dissed as a former CIA agent by Looney Bin Erekat, writes this.

Tariq Ali quotes Nizar Qabbani in his congratulatory article. The prophecy indeed has been partly fulfilled.

Ali Abunimeh: the revolution is far from over.

I've shed a few tears every Friday, just absorbing the sight of millions on TV praying, displaying their covetable faith, and then listening to their uproarious unified chants against Mubarak and his regime. I cried a bit too when I saw this fantastic video-a compilation of the notable videos of this Revolution. One of the best parts was when the woman screaming for the young men to protect Egypt and they all surrounded her and kissed her hand. Dang, tearing up again.

Another amazing video.

Sout Al Huriyeh. The Sound of Freedom.

Egypt, you amazing upholding nation of people power, take a bow.

Mubarak Sends Disrupting Camel-Jockeys

Ghazwit Uhud: Down with you infidels!

Around two thirty pm, I received a text from my mother, who texts in both languages: سلمات هجموا البلطجية, the thugs came out. My initial reaction was, Shit. I was in class, and still had an hour left. Mubarak's speech last night was fatuous at best. But it was also ominous. I had a feeling that there was going to be some bloodshed tomorrow, no matter on what scale it was on. After millions of people protesting peacefully with only verbal vitriol aimed at the regime, Mubarak's "I will die on Egypt's soil" rah-rah foreshadowed that events would unfold differently the next day. I was itching to get back home. The university has been completely apathetic to the ongoing changes in Egypt ever since the first Day of Anger. You can't even find students discussing the situation in either surreptitious or enthusiastic groups. The Palestinian Authority backed television (it seems incongruous to say "state" television) has been pretty quiet too, bringing silly soap operas instead of news coverage. I've been coming straight home after classes since last week or so, plopping myself down in front of Al Jazeera, absorbing the inflamed masses with exhilaration, with my laptop on my knees. This position would be kept for hours. I don't think I've opened a book since, because James Joyce and Robert Burns are so trivial, so extraneous.

One shouldn't call those pro-Mubarak supporters demonstrators. They came with one mission and that was to disrupt the peaceful protests, to incite fear and acts of violence, and to disperse the protesters away from Tahrir square. They're to be called thugs, or baltagia in Arabic. The West Bank has its own fair share of thuggery too. Beefy jerks with one track minds who when given the green light, know no mercy whether their victims be women and children or the elderly. It's obvious, from the tactics used, that they were both trained and supplied by the same system-thank you Uncle Sam. In Egypt, there are rumors that these pro-Mubarak supporters were bribed, and that shouldn't surprise anyone. One old lady, shriveled and dressed in black, shouted "Long Live Mubarak!" displaying her one yellow tooth. People like her, conspicuous by their tattered shoes-if they had any- and ragged clothing, most likely came from the Ashwa'iyat areas in Cairo, the most destitute neighborhoods in the country, where those lucky to have houses are furnished with corrugated tin roofs. Seventeen dollars must have felt like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow for them.

I have no idea who Mubarak is trying to fool. For the first time in Egypt's history, there is a true people's revolution going on. They want the tyrant OUT, and they want a democratic government chosen by the people, for the people. The US can learn a thing or two about this concentrated people power. And that's the beautiful thing about it all, the revolution is comprised from human beings from all walks of life who want to overthrow the despotic system and create a new constitution, a new government that best serves their interests. No more hogging up of power, no to hereditary rule, and no to foreign dabbling. The protests have not witnessed any burning of Israeli or USA flags. Islamists (what a stupid made up word) are not pulling the strings here. A future democratic Egypt has no reason to war with Israel. It might give the Israelis an incentive to war with them, but Israel's known for its barbaric distortions of peace. The siege on Gaza will no longer be, but wait--weapons are being smuggled in! Bibi has thrown his weight behind Mubarak, and small wonder since the Nazi ideologue is apparent here: The brutal repressive and oppressive tyranny over 80 million people in order to secure the lives of the 6 million Israeli Jews, because they're better than everyone else. That the 80 million should even dare to think of protesting is unthinkable, unwanted. That protests have actually gone on in full force is disastrous. The Israeli government has always been the Israelis' worst enemy. They resort to fear-mongering tactics instead of promoting genuine peace with the first neighboring Arab country to recognize its existence.

Back to the thugs aka the secret popo. They came in droves, riding Lawrence of Arabia style on camels and horses, armed with machetes and sticks and knives, yelling out their cries of undying loyalty to Mubarak. They set buildings on fire, and climbed up on the roofs to throw petrol bombs and Molotov cocktails down onto the crowd. Close fighting took place between the thugs and protesters, rocks were raining down. They caused mayhem and chaos, which is Mubarak's way of saying, "I am the stabilizing force. Without me, chaos is only the beginning." No one is falling for that. He needs to change his strategies. Obama needs to come up with new ones.

Protesters have seized police ID's from some of those thugs and presented them to cameras, for the whole world to see. Hundreds are reported wounded, with the make shift clinics around Tahrir square overwhelmed. I'm not sure how many people died, the official number isn't out yet. The peaceful, carnival like atmosphere changed into a war zone for a few hours today. And all of this just to buy Mubarak some time to properly "transition" power to a government that will agree and abide to the US's demands and policies. al Baradei who? I don't trust him at all. He seems like another US puppet waiting in the wings. The opposition groups have already met and agreed to a coalition government.

I don't think I've necessarily said anything new here. Powerful images are seared in my mind, particularly the one with Egyptians wrapped in white burial shrouds, symbolizing their willingness to die for freedom. The chants of the peaceful crowd are tattooed to my brain, yearning to yell them out outside my home. But I can't even do that, thanks to the sulta. Before I launch into the usual harangue about that idiotic failure, enjoy these links.

More from Ahmed Moor about today's events.

Freakin amazing pictures. Here's a teaser:

Palestinian poet Tamim al Barghouthi

Don't you ever make those mistakes...ever!

Twitter Revolution? Oh you fools. Great Interview.

Reaction from Gaza youth.

It is not the most amazing video on the internet, but it comes close.

Robert Fisk on the Million(s!) People March

Seems like Hosni Mubarak is determined to leave Egypt humiliated. Today marked the point where it was too late for him to make a gracious humble exit.

This Revolution is Being Televised

Al Jazeera English: Live Stream - Watch Now - Al Jazeera English

We are witnessing history. It is only a matter of time before Mubarak steps down. Ydoom ilsha3b ilmasri!

USA are all in a dither since Egypt is a key ally (read: protector of Israel) in the region. It receives 1.3 billion dollars in military aid from the US annually, and shares the special border with Gaza. We can't help the grins on our faces. Yemen and Jordan (against the government, not the monarchy, but baby steps Jordanians) seem to be following suit. Oh, this is so on!

Meanwhile, enjoy these few translated pages from the "Egyptian Activist's Action Plan" brochure that were distributed on Friday

The 5th day of events here, and enjoy the pics, courtesy of Al Jazeera.

New Benches

Birzeit University has around 8000 students, and yet there are only about 10 benches scattered throughout campus, which means that the majority of students spend their four years of education sitting on the ground, the steps of buildings, and on pavements. This semester we noticed at least ten more shiny new benches sprouting up here and there. About time, we thought. The university milks us dry and suddenly they start acting more considerate. A closer look at the benches however, show that they are presents from various Palestinian companies, such as Jawwal, Trust Insurance, and Abbasshole's son's company Wataniya.
The benches are all green. That means Hamas is involved somehow. And you'd think that that's sarcasm, but the Fateh supporters honestly do believe that anything associated with the color green is automatically Hamas.

Sometimes we worry about graduating with a drastically low number of brain cells than when we first reluctantly enrolled.

We just had to get away from the Palestine Papers, even if that meant a trivial post. Quick summary-  Erekat describing the Right of Return as a "bargaining chip" ignoring the millions of refugees in inhumane camps in Jordan and Lebanon. Robert Fisk spells out the obvious in this article, and its all been about a power struggle, or total wipe out of one party to be king of vaporous domination. There's been zero reaction from the student council, whether to accuse Al Jazeera of a smear campaign undermining the ruling power of the PA (honk!) or to ostentatiously offer up their blood for the long preserving life of Abbasshole, God save the despot.

The Hamas student party haven't organized anything either. We're relieved, because then they would have just pointed out vociferously and needlessly the PA's collaborative agenda and how they mercilessly were willing to sell out their own people, who they claim to represent yada yada. And then the Fateh party would have jumped in, and after a screaming match of "TRAITOR! AGENT! YAHOODI!" both sides would have taken the good ole route of fisticuffs, resulting in 12 students of the Hamas party being arrested and thrown in PA jail cells indefinitely, and several serious injuries on the Fateh students' part. Instead of working to dispose of the salata, the two rival factions, who everyone is sick to death of, resort to the thing they do best: pointing fingers at each other, while the Palestinians continue to suffer the seemingly irrevocable mistakes of their unrepresentatives.

Conflagration is Not the Way, Apparently

Well. Self-immolation certainly does not have the same desired effect in other countries.

Egypt witnessed a man igniting himself to expostulate the lack of rights he suffers at the hands of the government.

Algeria has as many as four people setting fire to themselves.

Mauritania had one man attempting death by burning as a means of protesting his tribe's mistreatment at the hands of the government. 

Shared Experience About Gaza

Abu Yazan on the first day of the massacre:

"That day I was walking in the street with a friend of mine in the middle of Gaza City…we were laughing at some jokes he was saying…and all of the sudden we heard the roaring of the Israeli F16s…It is normal in Gaza to hear such things, so we did not pay much attention to that, we kept moving with our jokes….Then with a glance, an explosion happened in a police station that was around 150 meters away from us.. We went running to the place when another explosion took place followed by a third, then a fourth, a fifth, we didn’t know what was happening but we didn’t hesitate to keep on going to the first place bombed…We had our hands over our ears because the explosions never ended, it was very loud to the limit you think that you are the one being hit with those rockets."

Read the rest here:
http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/12/27/abu-yazan-%e2%80%93-the-27th-of-december-a-day-i-will-never-forget/

An article by the BNC concerning the two year anniversary.

Happy New Year!

This week marks the last one of classes before our finals start on Saturday. However, we've been enjoying a couple days off due to the Ministry administered strike on Monday and the Islamic new year (hijra) today. That's 1432 years since the prophet PBUH first made the journey from Mecca to Medina.

And since we're in such a reflective mood, here's what's been sweeping the world this week:

Something small called Wikileaks. Thousands of classified private US documentations have been made public to the entire world, which of course is doing wonders to the US foreign relations. See what they think of world leaders here, and read the brave founder of the website, Julian Assange (great name!) answers to the public's questions. The US have gone on a haters' mission to besmirch Assange's reputation therefore his credibility and/or to see him safely behind bars, and/or...assassinated. The besmirching has already begun-the ridiculous accusations of rape and other sex offences committed by him during his last visit to Sweden in August. The case has highly conspicuous political undertones, and today Assange was refused bail and will remain in custody until December 14th, where he will continue to refuse his extradition to Sweden. One of the six people ready to offer him surety was film maker Ken Loach-who earlier this year boycotted the Melbourne International Film Festival because of its sponsorship from Israel-and was willing to offer 20 thousand pounds in bail. Stay strong, be safe.

The raging wildfire that has consumed Mount Carmel in Haifa was finally put out on Sunday after leaving more than 40 people dead and thousands of evacuees. Israel's poorly unprepared forces were no match as it pleaded to countries all over the world to aid them (since the neighboring countries supposedly loathe them), but they needn't have feared as the imbecilic PA fire-fighters lost their balls and strapped on their boots to help. Because Israel would do the same for us huh. As always, we are astounded by the new levels of depravity that the PA sink to. The best Israel can do as to find who the culprit is is to arrest four teenage boys, boohoo. Anyway, we liked Gilad Atzmon's take on how the JNF's plans to "reclaim" the land back in the 1930's came and bit Israel right on the ass last week.

Several Latin American countries have recognized Palestine's right to exist. Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay (due next year)-thanks, you're about 60 years too late. Unsurprisingly, Bibi and his cronies are not too happy with those decisions, muttering something about how this will upset the balance of peace negotiations or some crap like that.

Old man Abbas has threatened to dissolve the PA if the settlement freeze doesn't get extended yada yada yada. Empty threats, silly notions, must be all those blue pills he's been munching on. And no this piece of news doesn't warrant a link.

Never Forget

Today marks the 28th anniversary of the massacre of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.

No justice, no peace. No accountability, no amity.

Who can ever erase the grotesque images of charred and mutilated corpses of the children and the elderly, the young women and men?

Ariel Sharon, that brain coma is too good for you.

Read Robert Fisk's account right after the aftermath.

This article was written 8 years ago, commemorating the 20th anniversary.

Dr Ang Swee Chai has written her own account here.

And the youtube videos here and here.

Never forgive, never forget.

Looney Tunes

Dangerous Lunatics aren't the ones locked up in padded rooms with their mobility fixed due to their tightly strapped in straitjackets. No, they are leaders of social/religious/community centers, preaching hatred and intolerance to their flock of sheep, gesticulating ferociously while frothing madly at the mouth. With handlebar moustaches. Enter Pastor Terry Jones. Please, we are so sick and tired of hearing and seeing his mug on our screens. There's a link here and a link there and oh, there's another one also. Goodbye, sayanora, we didn't care before we sure as hell don't care now. Just one of those get-famous-quick schemes:

Recipe for Presupposed Disaster:

One bigoted man of God

30 person congregation

One outlandish "shockingly" zealous idea

Media

Reaction of notables

Dump them all in a transparent mixing bowl, and pour the bothersome media awareness generously while whipping it all together. Result? A creamy load of shit that just made Martha's newest cookbook for the addition of the dabbling of the President of a superpower country.

Terry. Oh Terry. Your plan to seek fame and recognition has worked, because instead of belittling your crazy ideologies and antics by ignoring you like the unlovable punk you are, the powerful force of the media decided otherwise. No, they decided to thrust you right in the limelight, garnering outcries and condemnations and protests and best of all...INTERVIEWS! Although, had your plan actually worked out, these interviews would have turned into vicious hate mail and a public flaying of your skin, because your extremist views would have set off a chain reaction of other extremist views, and hey, first it was the Twin Towers, next it could be..Sarah Palin's Alaskan Russian-viewing house. Over and done with.

Next we have the equally unlovable punk that calls itself Glenn Beck fighting for the, nay, restoring the honour of Americans. But is he really all that he seems to be? (Sorry to ruin it, but yes.)

Oh, oh! The whole Ground Zero Mosque fiasco!

1) It's not a mosque

2) It's not built at the site of Ground Zero.

Oh, so it must be more fear-mongering and vilification of the Muhamadets! Those pesky conservatives!

The army of stupid is rising, Tea Partiers are taking over the woooooorld!!

(PS, masturbation is a SIN!)

Our first teenage crush, Jon Stewart, has called for sanity! What we wouldn't give to be able to go to this one..

This Past (Past) Week

Where oh where have we been these past two weeks? Where were we, as self-professed football fanatics, when our team choice won? Where were were to gently mock Iker Cassillas' blubbering tears? And to capitalize on the moment by spamming our blog with Dahhvid Villa's mug

plastered all over? Shit, that's not gonna stop us.

All higgedly-piggedly like. Look at that face, bless him. The Ayrabs here celebrated like there was no tomorrow, honking yelling skidding along in their cars all night. Guns were brought out and shots fired in the air, and in Jordan, land of moronic people, one of these shots caught an old woman who died on the spot. Only Arabs...

Where were we when we missed the first lady of Arabic hip hop Shadia Mansour's private party at the Snowbar? Our Good Shit/mazzika section is all about hip hop, the sound of revolution etc etc etc, so how could we miss an opportunity like this? Oh well. By the way, Shadia's music is pretty amazing. She has a lovely voice that can switch to cutting edge lyrics in a second.

EU foreign policy cheif Catherine Ashton visited Gaza, humanitarian aid ships from Libya were refused access to Gaza's waters, and Gaza's borders with Egypt are open indefinitely, perhaps a sign of Mubarak's impending death? That's where our summer vacation will be! Fingers crossed.

Today starting from 8 AM fireworks punctured the periwinkle sky at rapid succession. The Tawjeehi results, which are the end of year results of 12th grade students and not high school elections as one foreigner explained sagely, are out and the names of the students who passed are in the newspapers. On campus, there were groups huddled around pouring over the long columns of tiny names, seeing whether their siblings/cousins/relatives/neighbors/friends/enemies passed or not, and just what their exact average is. One girl was passing out knafe! Mabrook/mazel tov, let the crazy nights and crazier parties begin. Our headaches are starting from now.

Lowkey was detained at Ben Gurion Airport Tuesday for half a day before being released. Wherever he's going, we're clawing our way to hang on to his coat tails.

A small meeting commenced today concerning the Right to Education conference taking part on the 27th and 28th of July. The aim is to build a global network of students concerned with the education rights of Palestians living in the Occupied Territories. We've signed up for this, and some 40 international students are expected to join in. Spread the word!

Links and Rants

Jon Voight. Better known as the guy who gave his Y chromosome that begot the former sexy Angelina Jolie (for us, she lost her appeal after having/picking up so many babies). He's 71, white, male, loaded, and a northern American. His contacts may include Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh, and all the other racist Tea Party goers. He, as any other sane person, is not happy with Obama and the way the president is running the country. He, like any other sane person, wrote a letter to express his opinions and frustrations, addressing the problems that in his opinion Obama is responsible for. Fair enough, after all this is the President who has no problem in ordering the assassination of US citizens on foreign soil, denies habeas rights to suspected terrorists, and loves being an ass in general. But back to Voight's letter, of which the content is unsurprisingly insane and full of poppycock.

"You will be the first American president that lied to the Jewish people, and the American people as well, when you said that you would defend Israel, the only Democratic state in the Middle East, against all their enemies," Voight wailed. "You have done just the opposite. You have propagandized Israel, until they look like they are everyone's enemy-and it has resonated throughout the world. You are putting Israel in harm's way and you have promoted anti-Semitism throughout the world."

Hm, we remember Obama at the Cairo conference a couple years back vowing to uphold the Arab countries' interests and values while serving to improve relations with the US. So, yeah Obama is a certified liar, but that's just another term for a politician. Ok time to break it down.

"The only Democratic state in the Middle East." Bitch please. Refer back to the wonderfully insidious (ok, it's actually pretty docile) website theonlydemocracy.org . But then Voight can't have known about the fact that this Democratic state has no internationally recognized borders? And that it is an occupying force devastating the lives of millions of measly Palestinians? Or that it harbors nuclear power? And that it gives automatic citizenship based on Religion and religion only? And that it is a Jewish state whose rights are exclusive to Jews, and not say, Palestinian citizens of Israel? What a flawed concept hmm.

"You have propagandized Israel and they look like they are everyone's enemy..." How exactly? By exerting the minimal pressure regarding the on-going illegal settlement building in Jerusalem and the West Bank? Oh how can we say that, this minimal pressure is not at all standardized political hogwash, a poor pantomime for the world. This minimal pressure was the cause for US-Israeli relations to reach the lowest point ever! Perhaps, by this minimal pressure, the world got a glimpse of what Israeli claims itself to be and what it is in reality. Oh, the demonization!

Ok, we can't be bothered with the rest, but of course it is all Obama's fault for promoting Anti-Semitism when the world took to the streets protesting loudly at the Israeli attack and murder of civilians aboard a humanitarian ship 3 weeks ago. You know, sarcasm aside, it partly is his fault, after all his administration continues the American tradition of supplying Israel with 3 billion dollars in military aid. But then, Obama isn't the one that gave the order from Canada to go ahead with the flotilla attack. Nooooo that was someone called Netanyahu. Right, Jon Voight, you are a clueless deluded silly ignorant old man, and now we know the reason for Angelina estranging you. After Sean Penn's lauding of Hugo Chavez, the Conservatives sought to bring this upon us? Ha.

Gilad Shalit and Palestinian Prisoners. Shalit's parents started their march to Jerusalem on Friday commemorating their son's 4th year in captivity. They will stay at a protest tent erected a year ago and pressure the Israeli government to secure Shalit's release. This goes to show, more than anything, the incompetence and seemingly indifferent view of the Israeli government, who apparently are portraying that the release of Shalit is not in their best interests, in contrast to their repeated rhetoric and assurances. One soldier in return for the release of Palestinian women and children and 300 other detainees. No? Ok, no Gilad. This is the way it works. The torture and detainment of Palestinian children is of course illegal under international law, and when we hear that a child's testicles are being electrocuted by Israeli interrogators who sneer in the child's face "you will never be able to become a father" vitriolic rage renders us senseless. Dear oh dear, we wonder how that child's mother must feel? Aviva Shalit at least can be 'comforted' with the knowledge that her brave son was serving with the Lions and fulfilling his duty to his state, and not say, captured while loitering at some alley.

Gaza Electricity Blackout. Again and again and again, the only power plant in Gaza has ran out of fuel to operate and the tiny coastal strip is plunged into darkness once again. Gazans will now have to go 15 hours a day without electricity and depend on Israel and Egypt for some. Imagine going 15 hours a day with no TV, computers, telephones, refrigerators, hot water, etc. An EU contribution to fuel shipments to Gaza was transferred (intercepted more like) by the rotten PA, who cited budget constraints. How much more do they have to bend over backwards for Israel?

World Cup Ponderings. Why do people support the teams they do? Political motivation is the main reason according to our parents and their generation. Brazilian flags are seen everywhere, rippling from windows and cars and stores, and all because Brazil kicked out its Israeli ambassador. We won't lie, if Turkey had qualified we would have been behind them religiously. But you see...Spain does have delectable players who can actually play, and Argentina...well it's Argentina for God's sake! We were so happy USA got knocked out by Ghana, before a snapshot of a memory caused us to pause. Back in 2006, after Ghana had beaten some team, one team member celebrated by waving the Israeli flag in front of cameras. What a blow. We wish we had selective retainment dammit. Anyhoo, it seems only fair that the other colonialist power in the world should be defeated, so England, we are humbly awaiting your exit. To show our good sportsmanship, we won't delight at your red sun burned skin or your tears, because your poor judgement clouds the inevitable i.e. you should have had it coming. England winning the world cup? What next, elephants flying to the moon? Teehee!