tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72780113491736885502024-02-19T14:01:40.917+11:00Through Australian EyesThe ethnic cleansing of Palestine, from the viewpoint of a concerned Australian.Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.comBlogger121125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-1230014739359854912011-06-12T18:49:00.002+10:002011-06-12T20:06:39.705+10:00Everybody Loves a Parade<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMYhyphenhyphenztpR3xbpSPePqs_8HSi5Wb2EeMnk0D8jOpNoNzdbONc0DCNgla2ncH_3bdz3hStS0FyiUrm5xw-lqbVHjFPsPcYhjL-7rEB20MRjE9cSY2PAHo9-heIVeEs-zEVD_cdfEr80hxwo/s1600/hitler+youth+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMYhyphenhyphenztpR3xbpSPePqs_8HSi5Wb2EeMnk0D8jOpNoNzdbONc0DCNgla2ncH_3bdz3hStS0FyiUrm5xw-lqbVHjFPsPcYhjL-7rEB20MRjE9cSY2PAHo9-heIVeEs-zEVD_cdfEr80hxwo/s1600/hitler+youth+3.jpg" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvs5Do4rPn-mmSEemeL-jgpEb7L0XUdkADeP3gfmHZYlP0pBIFxta5KGgaOxMCpe5q0NLprbv8_TNLQl5x3oyxsuq2T4q0Kn7xYcXS47zO8AjexCpOARcamqq8DJo3GtaXvZEdJYqHq3U/s1600/orange+day+1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvs5Do4rPn-mmSEemeL-jgpEb7L0XUdkADeP3gfmHZYlP0pBIFxta5KGgaOxMCpe5q0NLprbv8_TNLQl5x3oyxsuq2T4q0Kn7xYcXS47zO8AjexCpOARcamqq8DJo3GtaXvZEdJYqHq3U/s1600/orange+day+1.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN7sQuT4IFqJkvHH3DwUP04DMG9au3hdyRl6hE-GgINHNRgNm_R4q2eRw2ipFqu1Sjm17sCz_BASV-FBq9vaSO0tsbTMrBZDHxtWjHiCLpuY7yK-htnjab6iaEd2j0Zvdw62PIyht3mXw/s1600/jeru+day+3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN7sQuT4IFqJkvHH3DwUP04DMG9au3hdyRl6hE-GgINHNRgNm_R4q2eRw2ipFqu1Sjm17sCz_BASV-FBq9vaSO0tsbTMrBZDHxtWjHiCLpuY7yK-htnjab6iaEd2j0Zvdw62PIyht3mXw/s1600/jeru+day+3.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Everyone, young or old, loves a parade</span>. <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It's a great opportunity to declare pride in your country, your religion or some political ideal.</span> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">If the route of your march takes you through enemy territory then so much the better - you can rub their noses in your strength and superiority.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Each year, on June 1st, Israelis commemorate the establishment of Israeli control over all of Jerusalem following their victory in the 1967 war. In what has been called "A state-supported display of racism and hatred" thousands of Zionists parade through the streets, singing and dancing, celebrating their victory. This year the parade received official permission to deviate through the Palestinian neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem and the Old City in order, it must be assumed, to further taunt and humiliate the indigenous inhabitants. Mobs of Israel's finest youth didn't disappoint: they congregated outside the mosque in Sheikh Jarrah chanting "Muhammad is dead", "Slaughter the Arabs" and "May your village burn down".</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The depressing footage can be seen on YouTube at: </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span>http://youtu.be/gTwWKdfi8G8</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlixCtAHyQrHAHt7_OgmnaRL1EAddM_b_JHanSYmNFLSMjt74jUxurjhqipmvnutzux_NQqU3k41M-5WyN28K6FKU8YI-1dwnWncGXJXhM1XC4Pmi1IvOYGGrk3bT9eYfKE_5DvOrquww/s1600/hitler+youth+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-12771129604591535152011-02-22T16:32:00.001+11:002011-02-22T16:35:19.825+11:00From Bil'in to Benghazi<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4J7GOcW6lfY9r_bynRwbeUG2UHcDoA7qI_qmqKC3u58YlF9yqlsAWoWomdc1ajyHyZw8tnRKwmXxAQ4_TzNCgFgKeZZGBLlQf7QFKZnEoDi8iU0YVQW8v3qkBfQwBJpAAmq5FPienCiM/s1600/Gaddafi+and+Burlesquoni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4J7GOcW6lfY9r_bynRwbeUG2UHcDoA7qI_qmqKC3u58YlF9yqlsAWoWomdc1ajyHyZw8tnRKwmXxAQ4_TzNCgFgKeZZGBLlQf7QFKZnEoDi8iU0YVQW8v3qkBfQwBJpAAmq5FPienCiM/s320/Gaddafi+and+Burlesquoni.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Good mates: Burlesquoni and Gaddafi (with Amazonian Guard).</span> </b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Reports are coming out of Libya that the city of Benghazi is under the control of protesters seeking to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, the vicious – some say deranged – ruler of that country.</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Surrounded by his 40-strong Amazonian Guard of supposed virgins and attended by his voluptuous blonde Ukrainian personal nurse, outfitted like a mediaeval potentate, Gaddafi is a figure of fun to many in the West. Yet his risible posturings and pronouncements should not blind us to the fact that he has, for 42 years, crushed all dissent in Libya with utter brutality. The death toll in Libya grows daily; the dead join their fellow Egyptian and Tunisian martyrs for whom the incentives of freedom and justice were more powerful than fear for their lives. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa the seeds of revolution against oppression are stirring. During their years of servitude under whichever dictator, king or unelected president was in power the people had an example, an inspiration, to which they could turn. For 43 years the Palestinian people have resisted the military occupation of their land by a foreign invader. From armed resistance to peaceful protest – both crushed with ruthless and disproportionate force – the Palestinian people have been a beacon to their Arab neighbours, indeed, to freedom loving people worldwide.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Last Friday the villagers of Bil’in in the Occupied West Bank celebrated the sixth year of their struggle against the Apartheid Wall and Israeli Occupation. Every Friday for the past six years people from the village, together with Israeli and international supporters, have marched to the Wall, behind which lies half the village lands, confiscated for Israeli colony settlements. (So blatant is the land grab that three years ago even Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled that the path of the Wall is illegal and must be re-routed. To no avail – not one inch of land has been returned to its owners.) The marchers are met by brutal force – arrests, beatings, water cannon and teargas are the usual methods employed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The village of Bil’in also has its martyrs. The most recent was 36 year old Jawaher Abu Rahma, who died of toxic teargas inhalation in January. She joined her brother Bassem, killed 18 months ago, shot at close range by an Israeli soldier while peacefully protesting. Across Occupied Palestine and in Gaza the killings go on but the thirst for freedom and justice is undiminished. The resistance continues, an example to the world.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">*<i> <span style="font-size: x-small;">For </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Robert Fisk's report go to: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk </span></i></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-75785762914634332822011-02-02T11:50:00.001+11:002011-02-02T11:53:17.584+11:00The Egyptian Miracle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlyPpE1A_PNolrcwd412cQV7n3Q2mucXs3AFAzm_PZixngoqvyesoHfwIdwrMR4etF1LQ_HLeEmk_qlRhJwghHUZt3ItAyDZootukv-4WVKdwX7M4X_8brhMSSQKAPU19Dbk_hAVb3HQI/s1600/Mubarak+and+Bush.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlyPpE1A_PNolrcwd412cQV7n3Q2mucXs3AFAzm_PZixngoqvyesoHfwIdwrMR4etF1LQ_HLeEmk_qlRhJwghHUZt3ItAyDZootukv-4WVKdwX7M4X_8brhMSSQKAPU19Dbk_hAVb3HQI/s320/Mubarak+and+Bush.bmp" width="320" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Two good old buddies holding hands in better times. One is history, the other feels the reins of power slipping, after 30 years of despotic rule, from between his clenched fingers.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Who could have predicted that the Egyptian people might depose this tyrant? Mubarak, the American puppet who has lived in luxury while his people have starved, propped up by a corrupt and vicious police apparatus, who sacrificed his country's honour for a shameful peace with Israel, feels the ground shifting beneath his feet. He is not yet gone, but his departure looks</span><span style="font-size: small;"> immanent.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">When asked to predict the future of Palestine/Israel, Uri Avnery, founder of Gush Shalom (the Israeli Peace Bloc), remarked that unforseen and wholly unexpected events sometimes occur, changing the course of history. In modern times <i>people power</i> has swept the Shah of Persia from his perch and toppled the Berlin wall; in each case the dreaded Savak and the Stasi, powerful and repressive secret police forces, proved powerless to halt the will of the people.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Can something similar happen in Occupied Palestine? Sadly, no. In Tunisia, Egypt and in East Germany the armed forces were, finally, unwilling to fire upon their fellow countrymen. In the West Bank and Gaza the Israel Defence (sic) Force has shown itself more than willing to punish dissent and unarmed resistance with brutal, uncommensurate force. To IDF soldiers these are not their countrymen but a subject, lesser people, underlings not deserving of the same human rights as Israelis.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Still, don't despair. Who knows what lies around the corner? These are interesting times.</span></span></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-35536397620310832552010-05-16T00:52:00.000+10:002010-05-16T00:52:33.769+10:00Mabrouk Wadi Rahhal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGNz20IrG9M87YI1s6wQKff6Mprdnd3iD6o-XzCM83rJ4j0ksKWE7IuWq6FYmD6V00TRQe2cHFAzl4A8g5MEFQl_RXKymsRk6gvMMighReVoCn5aDkzJqZqw7REbKSA2AS7RrXZbufsIk/s1600/Wadi+Rahhal+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGNz20IrG9M87YI1s6wQKff6Mprdnd3iD6o-XzCM83rJ4j0ksKWE7IuWq6FYmD6V00TRQe2cHFAzl4A8g5MEFQl_RXKymsRk6gvMMighReVoCn5aDkzJqZqw7REbKSA2AS7RrXZbufsIk/s400/Wadi+Rahhal+3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mabrouk Wadi Rahhal</b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Today, Friday 14th May, the small farming village of Wadi Rahhal, just south of Bethlehem, held its first demonstration against the theft of its lands by the massive Jewish colony/settlement of Efrat. In particular, the villagers were objecting to the planned encroachment of the apartheid wall to within 30 metres of the village school. Regular incursions by armed settlers and Israeli troops have not previously brought forth this kind of response from the village.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It is in this central region that the cancerous growth of settlements is most noticeable. Lands annexed to various settlements have come close to splitting the West Bank in two, making a future, contiguous Palestinian state an impossibility. The Wall, both built and planned, completely ignores the "Green Line", the previously accepted eastern border of the Israeli state.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Today's demonstration was organised by the National Committee of Wadi Rahhal and is intended to become a regular event. It was supported by villagers from nearby Beit Ummar, together with a small group of Israeli activists and Australian, Canadian and United States supporters from the International Solidarity Movement and the Palestine Solidarity project. A notable feature was the number of school children marching alongside their elders.</span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The well-organised group of 70 to 80 demonstrators marched to within metres of Efrat's present boundary, where they were met by a heavily-armed squad of Israeli Occupation Force soldiers. Leaders of the protest spoke in Arabic and Hebrew, announcing the peaceful and non-violent nature of the demonstration and appealing to the troops not to initiate a violent response. An international activist, speaking on behalf of the ISM, PSP and Israeli supporters present, affirmed their solidarity with the Palestinian people, who have endured 43 years of military occupation and called for three cheers for a Free Palestine. The demonstrators then dispersed, with no casualties suffered, ending a successful, peaceful and non-violent demonstration.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGNz20IrG9M87YI1s6wQKff6Mprdnd3iD6o-XzCM83rJ4j0ksKWE7IuWq6FYmD6V00TRQe2cHFAzl4A8g5MEFQl_RXKymsRk6gvMMighReVoCn5aDkzJqZqw7REbKSA2AS7RrXZbufsIk/s1600/Wadi+Rahhal+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>* Reporting live from Occupied Palestine</i></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-23905294054025265152010-05-06T19:44:00.000+10:002010-05-06T19:44:59.775+10:00Mosque gutted by fire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcqe3cXN8WLRhSaIVPzRcWXveKF3NMWK4NlJzP5qGt9YtD2H5eGO2y0Q6o0Ntr5SXxj6bmvmSGYingAlYWG-QH3npK3UQMjsx_Awwk2OiC_Fww9ytPlpRIcuuBuTsUt-n-TN76e6iyG_c/s1600/Luban+interior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcqe3cXN8WLRhSaIVPzRcWXveKF3NMWK4NlJzP5qGt9YtD2H5eGO2y0Q6o0Ntr5SXxj6bmvmSGYingAlYWG-QH3npK3UQMjsx_Awwk2OiC_Fww9ytPlpRIcuuBuTsUt-n-TN76e6iyG_c/s400/Luban+interior.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Mosque gutted by fire.</b><br />
<br />
The small village of Al Libban (Libban al Sharquia) sits in rolling hills planted with olive trees, approximately half way between Ramallah and Nablus. The villagers are simple fellahin - farmers - growing wheat and fruit in addition to their olive trees. The pride of the village is the central mosque, an impressive, large structure, built in 1977 and the only mosque currently in operation.<br />
<br />
That was, until the night of Tuesday 4th May when fire gutted the mosque's interior, destroying carpets, furniture, numerous Korans and the building's fixtures and fittings. The visitor now witnesses a scene of total devastation. The blackened walls, floor and ceiling have a nighmarish quality and it is hard to imagine that this was once a beautiful, light-filled and serene place of worship. Local children have attempted to assert their defiance by scrawling such slogans as "Allah Akbar" onto the blackened tiles on the walls.<br />
<br />
An Israeli Occupation spokesperson has suggested that the fire may have been caused by an electrical fault, a suggestion described as "a joke" by villagers. Situated as it is, close by the Jewish colony/settlements of Shilo, Male Livona and Bet El, Al Libban has long been the target of settler aggression and violence. Anothe mosque, in nearby Huwwara, has been vandalised in recent weeks, suggesting an emerging pattern of targeting mosques for desecration.<br />
<br />
The cost of repairing and renovating the gutted building has been put at 500,000 shekels (about AU$175,000) an enormous sum for such an impoverished community. Nevertheless, the villagers are determined to regain their mosque as a functioning place of worship, just as they are determined not to be driven from their homes and their lands by Israel's policy - and practice - of ethnic cleansing.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Reporting from Occupied Palestine</b> </div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-39499022245164428712010-05-05T18:14:00.001+10:002010-05-05T18:18:55.330+10:00Two little girls<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsat9ip6MCEsTM14w0ycloDtm15F7cPnU0k3jzV_5Oj24-QjaxAp-phzA35gV4xVzlD2M4WO6zM-sY-oxOHMq6jnk4XT5rT_XvdcsiXzJxKUuRFGw_-q9r8bsVNG6L65NqO5dt5A5HjlM/s1600/Grave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsat9ip6MCEsTM14w0ycloDtm15F7cPnU0k3jzV_5Oj24-QjaxAp-phzA35gV4xVzlD2M4WO6zM-sY-oxOHMq6jnk4XT5rT_XvdcsiXzJxKUuRFGw_-q9r8bsVNG6L65NqO5dt5A5HjlM/s400/Grave.jpg" width="400" /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The grave of Maasa and Janaa</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRVc2wKy4csH-eKfzW6LuvIcGj4Nns2slUW2DhrYIZ8AcbRRieWnW9c7OU4sRLnT-j_19jDFvLcflHGbMkzvS_fGIU8hAuXBlAiyketCiNQJJJsE90fzCsAQjou6HM6_hRR-nO1gBb7S0/s1600/Maasa+and+Janaa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRVc2wKy4csH-eKfzW6LuvIcGj4Nns2slUW2DhrYIZ8AcbRRieWnW9c7OU4sRLnT-j_19jDFvLcflHGbMkzvS_fGIU8hAuXBlAiyketCiNQJJJsE90fzCsAQjou6HM6_hRR-nO1gBb7S0/s320/Maasa+and+Janaa.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">"Shaheed"(martyr) poster of the sisters</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Reporting from Occupied Palestine</b></span> </span></span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">We stopped by the roadside at the spot where the two little girls had been killed. Their blood still stained the cushion on which they had been sitting, fragments of the military jeep which had rammed their father's tractor still littered the ground. Janaa Emad (8), her sister Maasa (5) and their brother Hussein (9) never saw what hit them as they waited for their father to take them from the family fields to their home in the small village of Al Ain al Baida in the northern Jordan Valley. Al Ain al Baida (the White Spring) is one of the few remaining Palestinian villages here. Its inhabitants scratch a living from what remains to them of their lands in this fertile and beautiful area. <br />
<br />
That April day Emad Fakha had taken three of his four children to help in the fields after school, something they enjoyed, a treat. The children had climbed into the "basket" on the ground at the rear of the tractor, ready to be lifted up. Emad was preparing to start the motor when an Israeli military jeep swerved off the road, at speed, and rammed into the tractor from behind. While Hussein was thrown clear and suffered only a broken leg, the little girls didn't stand a chance. With the body of one sister draped obscenely over its front bumper, the jeep reversed for five or six metres and then rammed once again into the tractor. What might have been a tragic accident is thus revealed for what it was - a cold-blooded murder.<br />
<br />
Their jeep undriveable and so unable to escape, the soldiers threatened Emad with their rifles. More soldiers arrived but it was 25 minutes before the Israeli police reached the scene. The soldiers claimed that it was "an accident", but Israeli citizen Eliazer Salam, from the settlement at Yama, who had witnessed the entire incident from his car, testified that the jeep driver had not applied his brakes at any stage and had, indeed, swerved off the road and accelerated into the tractor.<br />
<br />
The jeep's driver was arrested but there has been no news that he is to face any charges in a court of law. When I asked the family whether there would be an inquest (explaining that this was the usual procedure in Western, democratic countries) they didn't understand the term. They have no recourse to the protection of the law, as we know it. Far from protecting the civilian population of the territories which they occupy, as required under international law, the Israeli military brutalises and preys upon a helpless people.<br />
<br />
Recent similar incidents in the Nablus region - at Awarta and in Jenin - where Israeli military vehicles have been used to run down pedestrians and ram a civilian car, with fatal consequences, seem to point to an emerging pattern. The psychopathic tendencies of certain members of the Israel Defence (sic) Force have found an outlet.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, a single, small grave has been dug in the graveyard at Al Ain al Baida. It houses the remains of two small sisters, their severed limbs and bodies buried as one, together forever under the sun, clouds and rain of their beloved Palestine.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-36758898118162215282010-04-18T20:10:00.000+10:002010-04-18T20:10:00.277+10:00Bassem's Anniversary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKcgNJE0FAyizgbKORtk_VHHyZjYAHvUCjCaYkrNXsasnpZtWYo1pWUfwWAU-9jYZVLexZT9ebvMXlnfiz1IdcrqRGOufHvPxe7erKH46LY0oCDjIGAQiscGzVKiS3mRyX-863yCr5RWo/s1600/Bassem+banners.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKcgNJE0FAyizgbKORtk_VHHyZjYAHvUCjCaYkrNXsasnpZtWYo1pWUfwWAU-9jYZVLexZT9ebvMXlnfiz1IdcrqRGOufHvPxe7erKH46LY0oCDjIGAQiscGzVKiS3mRyX-863yCr5RWo/s320/Bassem+banners.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br />
Friday 16th April marked a special day in the history of Bilín's popular resistance to the apartheid wall which encroaches onto village lands. A year ago one of the leaders of the struggle, the much-loved Bassem Abu Ramah, was killed by a teargas cannister fired at short range by an Israeli soldier.<br />
<br />
The anniversary of his death was commemorated with marching bands and speeches remembering Bassem by local leaders and visiting dignitaries. When these eventually came to an end many villagers, accompanied by ISM and other international volunteers and a sizeable contingent of Israeli anarchists, and others, marched to the wall. They were met by a small squad of Israeli Occupation Force soldiers, who fired tear gas cannisters and rubber-coated steel bullets into the crowd. Being downwind, many of the marchers suffered from tear gas inhalation and the demonstrators soon dispersed.<br />
<br />
The Friday demonstration has become such an established event that it now attracts a variety of people seeking to take advantage of the opportunity it offers: small boys sell embroidered purses and other handicrafts, an icecream seller plies his trade and Big Cheeses from the Palestine Authority sometimes make an appearance. This Friday one dignitary was chauffered towards the vicinity of the wall in a shiny silver four-wheel drive, and back again after having suffered a mild affliction of tear gas. The rest, including women, children and the elderly chose a more traditional form of locomotion - they walked.<br />
<br />
While the villagers welcome any displays of interest or solidarity from representatives of their elected government (oops, hang on that's Hamas) there is a perception amongst some that the Palestinian Authority is merely a "second Occupation". </span>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-25157096735974732662010-04-15T15:47:00.001+10:002010-04-15T15:48:59.656+10:00Abu Dia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfjcesfYIaqguEiFXD07I_DVfQHyQcPdy-xrNQ9_-pQ4HRMOGJhnN3nPEBNsyjjgpzB0xGT4NKrB9JS8klCMLXWP-kudMFHyXJPfk1b4nkP7wH4p0AweGFA08NosRz5Z4ytGm51_9tsas/s1600/Abu+Dias+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfjcesfYIaqguEiFXD07I_DVfQHyQcPdy-xrNQ9_-pQ4HRMOGJhnN3nPEBNsyjjgpzB0xGT4NKrB9JS8klCMLXWP-kudMFHyXJPfk1b4nkP7wH4p0AweGFA08NosRz5Z4ytGm51_9tsas/s320/Abu+Dias+2.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>BRUTAL ATTACK AT CHECKPOINT</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Abu Dia, 50 years old , his weatherbeaten face a testament to a life spent working under the hot sun, lies on a farrsha in the living room of his house in the village of Tammun. For the past three weeks he has been able to move about only with difficulty, and in pain.<br />
<br />
Before dawn on March 14 he waited, as usual, at the Hamra checkpoint, together with a number of other agricultural labourers, to be picked up and driven to his work at the Jewish colony/settlement of Miswa, further south in the Jordan Valley of Occupied Palestine. He and his fellow workers earn 90 Israeli sheckels (around $30) for a day's work, for most of them their sole means of income. Of this, 30 sheckels goes on transport.<br />
<br />
Suddenly, seeing an approaching army jeep and knowing what lay in store, the workers began to run. Abu Dia, being older, could not make his escape and was seized by the soldiers, seven or eight of whom formed a circle while one of them knocked him to the ground and commenced to kick him senseless. They left him there and drove off. He was taken to a medical clinic in the town of Tubas, where he was diagnosed with a broken ankle and extensive bruising. The medical staff recommended that he be hospitalised but he chose to return home where, unable to afford medication or further treatment, he has remained until now, unable to walk and unable to work.<br />
<br />
Abu Dias, his wife and four children, face a bleak future. Poor villagers such as them depend on whatever employment they can pick up, especially now that much of their lands have been confiscated for the ever-expanding colonial settlements. Abu Dias has worked for many years at Miswa, where he is regarded as a capable and willing worker, but now he fears for his safety while waiting for his employer to pick him up at the infamous checkpoint, which has been the scene of other brutal attacks by sadists wearing the uniform of the Israeli Defence (sic) Forces.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Reporting live from Occupied Palestine.</i> </span>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-6692669066659056232010-04-05T04:20:00.005+10:002010-04-05T04:30:00.501+10:00Just Another Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH1HlMASMI6Ug4b3kDco_M-74G_vbhxtwfQK-jqgM2C_EHD6vG3nkWKwCtI7fDYKGUG0Btjth3rqN26BlzvabB8XVu9epwPqO767JIw0REwAbPCWqNGzwuz1S1l_t3vTFVVkSf5k3ywGc/s1600/Sheikh+Jarrah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH1HlMASMI6Ug4b3kDco_M-74G_vbhxtwfQK-jqgM2C_EHD6vG3nkWKwCtI7fDYKGUG0Btjth3rqN26BlzvabB8XVu9epwPqO767JIw0REwAbPCWqNGzwuz1S1l_t3vTFVVkSf5k3ywGc/s400/Sheikh+Jarrah.jpg" width="400" /><span style="font-size: large;"></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Sunday, 4 April</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Reporting from Occupied Palestine</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It is Sunday but, like every other day of the week, Nasser Ghawe sits with his wife and three small children on the street verge opposite his house in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. From the outside the house appears rundown but it is in a select area of the city, just around the corner from the American Colony Hotel, the USA consulate and the British Council.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Since 1956 the building has been home to the Ghawe family, refugees from the village of Sarafud, near Ramle. It was built by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) on vacant Palestinian land to house victims of the 1948 Nakba – the first ethnic cleansing of Palestine.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">In 1967 the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza came under Israeli military occupation. Five years later settler organisations commenced claims to gain title to the property and, in 2009, the Ghawe family received their first eviction order. Despite being able to produce documents dating back 110 years to Ottoman times, proving Palestinian ownership of the land, successive Israeli courts have found against the Ghawes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">In August 2009 a gang of settlers broke into the house and commenced smashing the furniture. The Israeli police supported their action. Indeed, the head of the police squad took the house key, kissed it and presented it to the settlers. The extended Ghawe family of 37, including 20 children, were arrested and detained for 6 hours before being evicted into the street. The settlers then moved in.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The family has maintained its vigil outside their home, summer and winter, since then. The tents they have put up have been pulled down sixteen times by the police, who have told the Ghawes that they are not welcome in Jerusalem and should move “To Jordan or some other Arab country”. Despite these vicissitudes the Ghawes, together with supporters from Israel and around the world maintain their vigil, knowing that the ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem cannot continue unopposed.</span>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-40183607187422141412010-04-03T17:49:00.003+11:002010-04-03T22:33:56.359+11:00Qaramat Bani Hassan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_eVB6JTvBwdPHxypxmDO39n0Td-t625fWlDpSvNCofX683LU8Wu9s9rBO-Trg54iiAj3UxjlGRSbXjCLfOc2y_lr-b8kIZTo62LVItCXa4SDnsjz8bCNLjSdIUFK7ZHm0RcZ9keXc0k/s1600/Qarawat+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_eVB6JTvBwdPHxypxmDO39n0Td-t625fWlDpSvNCofX683LU8Wu9s9rBO-Trg54iiAj3UxjlGRSbXjCLfOc2y_lr-b8kIZTo62LVItCXa4SDnsjz8bCNLjSdIUFK7ZHm0RcZ9keXc0k/s320/Qarawat+2.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Friday 2 April</span></div><span style="font-size: large;">Reporting from Occupied Palestine<br />
<br />
A group of internationals , including two ISM activists, joined sympathisers and supporters from Jerusalem and other parts of the West Bank in assisting the villagers of Qarawat Bani Hassan repair and rehabilitate the historic natural springs which lie in the nearby Wadi Qana. The springs which issue at the base of the wadi feed into a series of reservoirs cut into the stone, said to date from Roman times.<br />
<br />
From time immemorial they have been the source of water for those villagers without their own wells. Today the springs and their surroundings, a location of outstanding natural beauty, are the most important cultural heritage for the village. They also provide water for agriculture and shepherding.<br />
<br />
Situated between Ramallah and Nablus, Qarawat Bani Hassan has the misfortune to be surrounded by a number of settler colonies, including Nofim, Yaqir, Revava, Kiryat Netafim and the most recent and closest, Havat Yaáir. (This last one "appeared overnight"). Settlers routinely trespass onto village lands and two weeks previously, in an act of deplorable vandalism, emptied sacks of cement and steel mesh into one of the Roman-era tanks. This followed upon the previous dynamiting of a nearby cave which, too, contained a natural spring and pool. <br />
<br />
On this Friday the villagers and their supporters laboured under a hot sun to clean out the reservoirs, build dry stone walls nearby and bring the site back to its original condition. They were interrupted twice by groups of settlers from Havat Yaáir attempting to access the area. A confrontation was avoided only when the villagers returned to their work and ignored the presence of the intruders who, after a short time, returned to their colony on the overlooking hilltop. The presence of international and other observers armed with cameras undoubtedly deterred the settlers, on this occasion, from any further acts of vandalism.<br />
</span>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-12905328589364652292010-03-14T15:55:00.001+11:002010-03-14T16:10:10.730+11:00Assassination<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin0GZmirblFQuL3wo_1OoA2FqLPrJqHZVsrBeRSeKAC1kk-D3H6hRuFdorzi2fKzcWeRx8g3HUiGM4kQQoSruj_yjiLyPPmWfItpgvJqQXwHCE21TEK5eFYuDrabmvWbmGsn0ikxxAJ-Y/s1600-h/Yassin+child.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin0GZmirblFQuL3wo_1OoA2FqLPrJqHZVsrBeRSeKAC1kk-D3H6hRuFdorzi2fKzcWeRx8g3HUiGM4kQQoSruj_yjiLyPPmWfItpgvJqQXwHCE21TEK5eFYuDrabmvWbmGsn0ikxxAJ-Y/s320/Yassin+child.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Palestinian child with photo of Sheikh Yassin</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Australians still wait to hear Kevin Rudd or his Foreign Minister Stephen Smith condemn the murder of Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mahboub. Their focus continues to be on the use of three (oops, now four) forged Australian passports by the suspected killers linked to the Israeli spy agency, Mossad. As Patrick O'Connor pointed out on the World Socialist Web Site (wsws.org): "As far as the US and its allies are concerned, extra-judicial executions and so-called targetted killings now constitute a legitimate state activity and do not warrant comment, let alone condemnation".</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And it seems like it's not only our right wing politicians who have no problems with state-sanctioned murder. Paul Howes, national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, shares the blood lust and voiced his opinion: "That's why I'm proud that our nation has played a small, and accidental role, in the removal of the terrorist al-Mabhouh from our planet". Proud indeed!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The assassination of al-Mabhouh was the most recent in a string of political murders linked to Mossad hit squads and other Israeli agencies. The killing of Hamas's spiritual leader, the elderly, nearly blind, wheelchair-bound quadriplegic Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, in 2004, was a particularly bestial act. The helicopter gunship pilot who blew him into fragments also managed to take the lives of nine bystanders. Meanwhile, the killing of community leaders and activists in villages across the West Bank during late night incursions by the IDF (sic) continues with hardly a mention in the western press.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Just as human rights are not something which can be applied selectively (for instance, to Israelis and not to Palestinians) so too assassination is an unlawful, cowardly act, whoever commits it.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>See Barbara Heard, "The Complex Business of Assassination" in the <b>Palestinian Think Tank </b>(link at right).</i></span> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-9309638537256203072010-02-28T15:45:00.011+11:002010-03-04T09:33:01.470+11:00Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oy, oy,vay!<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhHEPc1WSFzx__iaUF0ZtYsxgp5MX1c7YPrOkx8Nw3EXVc1L0UPyKpGPhzk7uLGFfKJmmIoIdgAeF1t2f9ibitTrz_39BLe0-BhncidKsc-XXAmPoq0nyUok7tNj6nOWc5Orh9z-s3FBg/s1600-h/Israelis.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 233px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhHEPc1WSFzx__iaUF0ZtYsxgp5MX1c7YPrOkx8Nw3EXVc1L0UPyKpGPhzk7uLGFfKJmmIoIdgAeF1t2f9ibitTrz_39BLe0-BhncidKsc-XXAmPoq0nyUok7tNj6nOWc5Orh9z-s3FBg/s400/Israelis.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443150961076251458" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;">What is the world coming to? Three clean-cut young Aussies are named as persons of interest in the assassination of a "Hamas operative", Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, smothered to death in his hotel room in Dubai. Israel's Mossad is widely considered to have organised and carried out the murder. That great master of the spy genre, John Le Carre, couldn't have thought up a more twisted and sinister plot.<br /><br />Three of the suspected assassins carried Australian passports, in the names of Nicole McCabe, Adam Korman and Joshua Bruce. All are citizens of Australia and all have dual citizenship with Israel. None of them live in Australia, all live in Israel. All deny any knowledge of the illicit use of their (Australian) passports.<br /><br />Meanwhile, back in Oz, our erstwhile Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd (who famously declared that support for Israel is "in my DNA"), has complained about the use of fake Australian passports in this affair. To the best of my knowledge, however, he has failed to condemn the assassination for what it was - the state sanctioned murder of a political opponent. Seems like you can go around killing off your enemies, just don't use an Australian passport while doing it.<br /><br />Meanwhile, back in Israel, the war criminal Tzivi Lipni, she who presided over the Gaza Massacre, has voiced her opinion that the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was justified. Most Israelis seemed to agree; when polled, 87% of them went along with Mossad's actions.<br /></span><br /></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-85208705556504213112010-02-15T11:29:00.013+11:002010-03-04T09:25:26.585+11:00Human Rights Workers<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTIYbm6yHyWSKyZ1TZS0_uWb6mbIvzm6OQdeCivl18gsLC8coUQ7uS6GRss25BrU4IdREPBmL58-RnCCTHlU9wPGUWxKVOpGy9KFGauOOJcdKMfAxJwFtBNmgfJk5H4viC1nKQoK2gKf0/s1600-h/Bridgette.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 294px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTIYbm6yHyWSKyZ1TZS0_uWb6mbIvzm6OQdeCivl18gsLC8coUQ7uS6GRss25BrU4IdREPBmL58-RnCCTHlU9wPGUWxKVOpGy9KFGauOOJcdKMfAxJwFtBNmgfJk5H4viC1nKQoK2gKf0/s400/Bridgette.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438261061360460930" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Bridgette Chappell Photo AP</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Just as Israel attempted to hide its actions during the Gaza Massacre, it now moves to screen from the outside world its continuing human rights abuses in the Occupied West Bank. The arrest last week of the young Australian activist Bridget Chappell was just one of a number of arrests and deportations of international human rights workers, activists and observers in recent weeks. Israelis and Palestinians who have been active in their opposition to the ongoing theft of Palestinian land and property have also been subject to arrest and detention in increasing numbers.<br /><br />Israel has stepped up its efforts to deny entry to Palestine by anyone sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. It controls all entry points to the West Bank and Gaza (just as it controls every aspect of Palestinian life). While its blockade of Gaza is designed to starve the population into submission, the tightened controls on entry into the West Bank are an effort to hide its actions and the effects of its 42 years of military occupation from the eyes of the world.<br /><br />In a move worthy of the Burmese junta, Israel has now decided to cancel the work permits of foreign nationals working in East Jerusalem and the West Bank for such aid organisations as Oxfam, Save the Children, Doctors Without Borders and Handicap International. While it is still possible for individuals from these organisations to apply for tourist visas the Interior Ministry ruling now makes it virtually impossible for them to carry on their humanitarian work.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:78%;">Go to the Electronic Intifada (link at right) for Bridgette's article on the fate of Wael al Faqeeh, a human rights campaigner from Nablus.</span></span><br /></div></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-28409590182886631512010-02-01T16:46:00.006+11:002010-02-01T17:52:40.480+11:00Falasha<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguNU8wIBp5XHPtNq_LV0cs7rz0hEficVYj-iQWsIAwLgDTXLskXU_gN-nTYxTd9pc_YSVpvTGT8r767ds0xljrUzfTfmm4AsmkR13Br3DaYnGMTuKouyEIFzlBmAbezBWLbOBWLBbBUHc/s1600-h/falasha.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 357px; height: 275px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguNU8wIBp5XHPtNq_LV0cs7rz0hEficVYj-iQWsIAwLgDTXLskXU_gN-nTYxTd9pc_YSVpvTGT8r767ds0xljrUzfTfmm4AsmkR13Br3DaYnGMTuKouyEIFzlBmAbezBWLbOBWLBbBUHc/s400/falasha.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433150447206112386" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Australia's national broadcaster, SBS, recently screened "La Vis et Deviens" ("Live and "Become") a touching and sensitive movie about a young boy taken to Israel in 1984 during Operation Moses, the Mossad-inspired plan to relocate the Falasha, Ethiopia's Black Jews, to Israel.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> A Christian, the boy took the name Solomon, or Schlomo, as part of an assumed Jewish identity in order to flee the grinding poverty of life in Ethiopia. The movie tracks his life into young adulthood as he encounters love, kindness and also racist rejection in his country of adoption.<br /><br />Operation Moses and the later Operation Solomon, in 1991, divided public opinion in Israel. Many Israelis would not accept the Falasha's claim that they were Jews, descended, according to legend, from the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon or that they were the tribe of Dan, one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. (Indeed, DNA evidence finds no convincing links of the Falasha to Middle Eastern Jews, but confirms that they link to African Ethiopians.)<br /><br />Most of the Falasha, estimated at around 120,000, are now in Israel. They live alongside the hundreds of thousands of Russians who migrated in recent times, many of whom have similarly tenuous claims to being Jews. They may be joined shortly by a sponsored wave of Indians, whose claim to being Jewish is currently being asserted.<br /><br />Should this be a problem, the migration to Israel of such diverse and contentious minority groups, for compassionate reasons? Should they not be allowed to make </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >aliya</span><span style="font-size:100%;">, whereby any Jew, anywhere in the world, under the Law of Return (sic), may settle in Israel? All very noble stuff, one might think, until one reflects on the condition of the Palestinians, who currently comprise the largest refugee population in the world. Forced to flee from their homeland in the pogroms of 1948 and 1967, they are denied any right of return, let alone any compensation. Those who remain in the remnants of Palestine live under a brutal Israeli military occupation (and here I include Gaza).<br /><br />What the film-makers failed to reveal is that Israel's "Law of Return", together with its ongoing program of ethnic cleansing of the native population, is designed to do one thing: to alter the demographic status of Palestine in favour of an overwhelming "Jewish" presence.</span><br /></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-66116970264451400802010-01-26T17:24:00.007+11:002010-01-26T18:34:17.723+11:00Australia Day<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRwRDMNFnyd_g984-T6WNBkHCYiuV9MFBuNTMgeDC_1v0tcM70dLGqkd1mfQ9Ax5Quoppr8Gu_r9kpkIfJyvkCXoLpGpRbtib8rYIQ14CyzKX9TmWxZoeoq1stcXg-TDgdzlWBlYEVhvo/s1600-h/Aust+flag.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 263px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRwRDMNFnyd_g984-T6WNBkHCYiuV9MFBuNTMgeDC_1v0tcM70dLGqkd1mfQ9Ax5Quoppr8Gu_r9kpkIfJyvkCXoLpGpRbtib8rYIQ14CyzKX9TmWxZoeoq1stcXg-TDgdzlWBlYEVhvo/s400/Aust+flag.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5430931446412301698" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIBTrzqJj3p2CUpQ350hZgtqmdqk5zedHanSX6rPkPCK9fqn3_BWDL2QL86N0p6d8Q3d4x0cCHbimwOL7Bf5gtXGjRtaYxNHvj-dFfe2Fjf3G6wYtu4IQ5yI4AyvTwXRAI9vHfZoc0U7g/s1600-h/Two+flags.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 297px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIBTrzqJj3p2CUpQ350hZgtqmdqk5zedHanSX6rPkPCK9fqn3_BWDL2QL86N0p6d8Q3d4x0cCHbimwOL7Bf5gtXGjRtaYxNHvj-dFfe2Fjf3G6wYtu4IQ5yI4AyvTwXRAI9vHfZoc0U7g/s400/Two+flags.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5430930942867445922" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;">January 26 is Australia Day, our national day on which we commemorate the arrival of the First Fleet</span> at Sydney Cove in 1788 and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the entire eastern seaboard of Australia. To some it is a controversial occasion - they see it as a celebration of the destruction of indigenous culture by British colonialism.<br /><br />However, most Australians embrace the day as an opportunity to gather with friends and family, to go to the beach or out into nature, to share a barbecue, maybe to reflect on our good fortune in living in such a blessed, affluent country. If we have any pangs of guilt, they are assuaged by the thought that the colonial invasion took place over 200 years ago, when the strong oppressed the weak as a matter of course.<br /><br />One phenomenon which has gained traction in recent years is the flying of the Australian flag from little flagsticks attached to the roof or windows of the family car. I can't help but feel a little uneasy at this trend, at this seeming need to proclaim one's patriotism. Such displays are rife - 365 days of the year - in Occupied Palestine: blue and white Israeli flags fly from settlers' cars, from settlers' homes and from street-posts on settler-only roads throughout the colonised areas of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in a never-ending, arrogant display of possessiveness.<br /><br />This overt, in-your-face <span style="font-style: italic;">Australinity</span> (see <span style="font-style: italic;">masculinity) </span>coincides with an upswing in intolerance towards Australians of Middle Eastern origin, particularly Muslims. The fires were fueled during John Howard's years at the helm, but they show no signs of going away - it serves the interests of too many politicians, journalists and radio shock-jocks to emphasise our differences rather than what we have in common.<br /><br />Am I being too sensitive? Does this proliferation of flag-flying and flag-waving matter? I'm not sure, but it's up to all Australians to be on our guard against jingoism and ultra nationalism. After all, each and every one of us comes from migrant stock. (Of course, the indigenous Australians were here a lot longer.) This is still a lucky country. Don't let the haters take that away.<br /></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-89837601425294692172010-01-20T18:02:00.004+11:002010-01-20T18:32:46.521+11:00Haiti:Gaza<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ8PndGalDBPC2WVWDZHAns5pqBz5yuF1RJybk8bBTI-SCDYp6LJ1vfaqoKHlPOeVWNj4PPan1ce1mYRLBtDGyY1_oxnLMrIkeSqXpxqoaE0O6oSduswrCOfslZL47gYOyw1JYZ8Y6-0Q/s1600-h/Haiti+photo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ8PndGalDBPC2WVWDZHAns5pqBz5yuF1RJybk8bBTI-SCDYp6LJ1vfaqoKHlPOeVWNj4PPan1ce1mYRLBtDGyY1_oxnLMrIkeSqXpxqoaE0O6oSduswrCOfslZL47gYOyw1JYZ8Y6-0Q/s400/Haiti+photo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428714379964508626" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Natural disaster in Haiti</span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBkJgy8fyYfOZFGpx2Q9R03j0wHS2ugfzeUTeGldaGa9rCb6gv18xR_zU1xyxsEjetmKChB7jCxnZBItoU0ZhtrKOll_QPi6RbmlLDfVi5UthkH3MQljdI46Y4J8qtBFcx5g3TpcERNlA/s1600-h/img_3bd9204a06_gaza_neighbors_ruins_afp.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 390px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBkJgy8fyYfOZFGpx2Q9R03j0wHS2ugfzeUTeGldaGa9rCb6gv18xR_zU1xyxsEjetmKChB7jCxnZBItoU0ZhtrKOll_QPi6RbmlLDfVi5UthkH3MQljdI46Y4J8qtBFcx5g3TpcERNlA/s400/img_3bd9204a06_gaza_neighbors_ruins_afp.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428714225722576114" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Man-made disaster in Gaza</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Watching the news on our national broadcaster, the ABC, Australians learned that Israeli rescue teams were at the forefront of efforts to save Haitians trapped under the wreckage of their homes. Indeed, courtesy of the ever-efficient Israeli spin machine, the entire international community has been made aware of these wonderful humanitarian efforts.<br /><br />Did the supreme irony strike no-one else? Israel bombs the defenceless people of Gaza into near-oblivion and then prevents outside help from reaching them, continues its policy of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">starving the</span> survivors into submission, and then rushes doctors and aid workers halfway around the globe to assist Haitians? Forgive me for thinking that it was nothing more than a public relations stunt: compassion isn't something the Zionists are renowned for.<br /><br />Actually, the same thought occurred to Akiva Eldar, whose article, <span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"Israel's compassion in Haiti can't hide our ugly face in Gaza"</span></span> in the 18 January issue of Haaretz. Follow the link on the right.<br /><br />Spot on, Akiva.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-63340688987926580512009-11-27T14:59:00.010+11:002009-11-27T16:24:48.644+11:00A good joke<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgztUtmSDO0ChVGYtFzfl6_KaAZIN0Lwl37Bbl38oiMVBDdhgTl8SRFGsVmEE3K_OTJ-clEpDWvYkLp_7CJ0k56tqzGifpPvP77ODYl34OQbucYQB0HjLGwGtBFslC_VRdKY0dDd6gfmXs/s1600/Grinning+fools.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 272px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgztUtmSDO0ChVGYtFzfl6_KaAZIN0Lwl37Bbl38oiMVBDdhgTl8SRFGsVmEE3K_OTJ-clEpDWvYkLp_7CJ0k56tqzGifpPvP77ODYl34OQbucYQB0HjLGwGtBFslC_VRdKY0dDd6gfmXs/s400/Grinning+fools.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408650036859645730" /></a><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#551A8B;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Look at these two grinning monkeys! The war criminal Ehud Olmert sneaked into Australia and today visited the federal parliament, where he was "warmly welcomed" by our own PM, Kevin Rudd, and other polly sycophants in thrall to the Zionist lobby.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Olmert was prime minister of Israel at the time of the Christmas Massacre, in which he unleashed the fourth most powerful army in the world against the defenceless, trapped and near-starving population of Gaza. Before withdrawing, his Zionist wehrmacht had managed to kill over 1400 and wound 5,000 souls. Most of the victims were civilians and many were women and children. Moves are afoot to have him face an international tribunal to answer charges of war crimes.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It is no wonder, then, that he chose to sneak into this country, accompanied by no fanfare but by a sizeable security entourage. Outrage against this reprehensible creature is widespread amongst the Australian community and he would have faced an entirely different public reception if he had chosen to arrive in a less secretive fashion.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Please contact Australians for Palestine (click on link at right) for details of where to lodge your protest.</span></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-51465053710509956012009-11-24T09:32:00.005+11:002009-11-24T10:25:21.197+11:00Good guys<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicjZWVJdCp3FFbX9PezVyfSW3pHKx56T4GFrVgaB6iY89zWkLYsb7u1ILCsgZ6iDGNCCN8GuMm8NLAdcBlKpup2QxnJY6G5fVxKnCpjRqMdFGcFxxAzHNA3oC-gaA0aEVj-Q6amJjgd40/s1600/Shministim.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 306px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicjZWVJdCp3FFbX9PezVyfSW3pHKx56T4GFrVgaB6iY89zWkLYsb7u1ILCsgZ6iDGNCCN8GuMm8NLAdcBlKpup2QxnJY6G5fVxKnCpjRqMdFGcFxxAzHNA3oC-gaA0aEVj-Q6amJjgd40/s400/Shministim.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407430802652532050" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;">I have been urged to "say something positive" in this blog. Not so easy, when the lot of the Palestinians is becoming more desperate, day by day, and Israel continues its slide into fascism - as Gideon Levy observes, "Israel of 2009 is a spoiled country, arrogant and condescending, convinced that it deserves everything and that it has the power to make a fool of America and the world."</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If one can say </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">something </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">positive</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">about Israeli society it is this: there is a brave core of Israelis who speak out against the policies and actions of the state, who see the current course of events as being disastrous for both Israelis and Palestinians alike, whose moral decency will not allow them to stay silent. Many of them put their bodies on the line in defence of justice and truth.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">There are the Shministim, school leavers who face jail rather than serve in the army of occupation. Other young and idealistic Jews - some, but not all, from Anarchists Against Walls - stand beside the villagers of Bil'in and Ni'ilin week after week, protesting the theft of village land. Members of the human rights groups, Peace Now and B'Tselem, are tireless in their efforts to document human rights abuses. The women of Machsom Watch stand at checkpoints, monitoring the behaviour of Occupation Force troops. Ex-soldiers from Breaking the Silence reveal the abuses taking place in the West Bank. Jeff Halper's ICAHD (the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions) opposes and resists Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes. And then there are the Rabbis for Human Rights, ordained rabbis and students, whose consciences will not allow them to stand by while abuses of Palestinian human rights take place. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">There are others, of course, individuals of good character who speak out and stand up against the occupation. Unfortunately, they are a tiny minority in a country which is rapidly losing its soul. </span></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-82249224774956290492009-10-19T11:34:00.003+11:002009-10-19T12:17:06.526+11:00Shehada Street<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTezlXPOPkYTf46JHaLs99HIWCA7kBmrhrfcY7GlALmyGUonYMtOq6U8DBl-znS1kkOqnTm6cErqlGC2r84rqAx2CqMHfYVvdryclhyphenhyphenO_jtkYPUYH4aKobDLvxPKeIEVdEMTN4lTvFh20/s1600-h/Shehada+St.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 287px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTezlXPOPkYTf46JHaLs99HIWCA7kBmrhrfcY7GlALmyGUonYMtOq6U8DBl-znS1kkOqnTm6cErqlGC2r84rqAx2CqMHfYVvdryclhyphenhyphenO_jtkYPUYH4aKobDLvxPKeIEVdEMTN4lTvFh20/s400/Shehada+St.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394103440462317874" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Beautiful buildings, suffering a slow death.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><br /></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLbNZk0V5bdRTc1uv-46-NPggcppgTYXY2m2fRWnqK8Td_PvSYAKRZNS5YO_9sy4qwFOPE8VmL5AiFQTHVfhedeHpFnLUEqp-QtWUOSHPCrn55QLGx_y-aUuZ_Dul05Nrw0TQdlYdqC0/s1600-h/Jew-settler-in-Hebron-Palestine.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLbNZk0V5bdRTc1uv-46-NPggcppgTYXY2m2fRWnqK8Td_PvSYAKRZNS5YO_9sy4qwFOPE8VmL5AiFQTHVfhedeHpFnLUEqp-QtWUOSHPCrn55QLGx_y-aUuZ_Dul05Nrw0TQdlYdqC0/s400/Jew-settler-in-Hebron-Palestine.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394103181630883314" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">A young settler thug throws wine over a Palestinian woman.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Shehada Street, Hebron, once a thriving shopping destination, is now a place of fear. Because of its proximity to the ultra-orthodox Jewish settler colonies in Tel Rumeida it is a place to be avoided by the indigenous population, especially women and children. Physical violence and intimidation by Zionist thugs, with the passive encouragement of Israeli soldiers and police, is an everyday occurrence, part of a strategy to force Palestinians to abandon their homes. The Jewish holy day, Shabat, is especially feared as this is the day when young, frequently drunk, settlers go on the rampage.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Despite the presence of Christian Peacemaker Teams, the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program, the UN Temporary International Presence in Hebron, the International Solidarity Movement and other human rights groups - all attempting to offer some degree of protection to the Palestinian residents - the attacks go on. </span></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-5730179991616436402009-10-16T10:46:00.008+11:002009-10-16T11:54:57.307+11:00Architecture 2<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL5GQEJIcdpex_pm0aywAmmkLjrpoUO_z5alLJqhZTUoZmuzPSFy-cP6UtDT0IZ73lfxzqjN8fos7wqdKApWGOoMxbB7MaTgJELidpSX6LWsoyiR01Lxk1qvRbYe2riiLxfFyS_-2aAVw/s1600-h/flatiron+building+3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL5GQEJIcdpex_pm0aywAmmkLjrpoUO_z5alLJqhZTUoZmuzPSFy-cP6UtDT0IZ73lfxzqjN8fos7wqdKApWGOoMxbB7MaTgJELidpSX6LWsoyiR01Lxk1qvRbYe2riiLxfFyS_-2aAVw/s400/flatiron+building+3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392989211301793346" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">he Flatiron Building (detail), New York.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#0000EE;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2JmGumhl-68f7SX9cNf34oL7Vvm1fCgEaoMUNmjx6sIPZMi8PhEgD8fe11WCD_mIhyphenhyphenR4ia3noIK98uXi8frIzSb1DAVDVJhyphenhyphenNWzlRUCwxZ14uc9F7he69lkeHmmBYO-P4zPfLn6_j-tI/s1600-h/Hebron+boy.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 333px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2JmGumhl-68f7SX9cNf34oL7Vvm1fCgEaoMUNmjx6sIPZMi8PhEgD8fe11WCD_mIhyphenhyphenR4ia3noIK98uXi8frIzSb1DAVDVJhyphenhyphenNWzlRUCwxZ14uc9F7he69lkeHmmBYO-P4zPfLn6_j-tI/s400/Hebron+boy.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392977683370067474" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Unidentified building, Hebron (Al Khalil), occupied West Bank.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">A beautiful old building in Hebron (in the south of the occupied West Bank), unfortunately displaying years of impoverishment and neglect. Sandwiched between two converging streets, it is reminiscent - on a smaller scale - of New York's landmark Flatiron Building. Its graceful proportions, arched windows, supportive columns and loving attention to decorative details, place it within a tradition of fine Islamic architecture.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">At street level almost all of the commercial spaces remain closed and shuttered. Beginning in 1979 eighty six Jewish families seized properties in this part of the city, establishing settler colonies under the protection of a heavy Israel "Defence" Force presence. Nearby shops have been forced to close by the Israeli authorities or have been abandoned in the face of settler attacks.</span></div></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-79154302446813197862009-10-14T11:19:00.004+11:002009-10-14T12:55:52.027+11:00Architecture<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPtjFHNTogjZZmUhMM9VOTCEnmZPmTZqYdYwmf_i6EXVBT4Mg_46I6r8liO4YatNS4VTUrXGNeQdk1iPn1NMaJW1EW6GAVU-lKMTzAsuOPYlugvm86IlH4VxfZ4_vB0WHyhrO1cO2JbSc/s1600-h/little_house_300x250.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPtjFHNTogjZZmUhMM9VOTCEnmZPmTZqYdYwmf_i6EXVBT4Mg_46I6r8liO4YatNS4VTUrXGNeQdk1iPn1NMaJW1EW6GAVU-lKMTzAsuOPYlugvm86IlH4VxfZ4_vB0WHyhrO1cO2JbSc/s400/little_house_300x250.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392244004502210466" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Ad in Haaretz</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The online version of the English-language newspaper </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Haaretz</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">provides a good insight into Israeli mindsets, with viewpoints ranging from those of left-wing/humanists to Zionist megalomaniacs. The pop-up advertisements also tell a story - of Israel as a European enclave, culturally isolated from its Arab neighbours. The Ashkenazi may have appropriated Palestinian foods (hommos, flat bread, etc) as well as Palestinian land and properties, but their cultural mores are still those of Eastern Europe and the United States.</span></span></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This advertisement features a building, obviously of some age, built of the beautiful, cream Jerusalem stone in a style which was common throughout Palestine but which has, sadly, been eclipsed by less attractive concrete structures. One can see equally attractive examples of this architectural style in Ramallah, Nablus and Hebron, though many of them suffer from the neglect imposed by Israel's 40 year economic strangulation of the West Bank.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">One wonders who were the original owners of the "Little House Hotel"? Under what circumstances did it pass from their hands, and when? Where does the family live now? As has been said of Jerusalem, "every stone can tell a story".</span></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-73016877993348780322009-09-22T12:08:00.006+10:002009-09-22T12:54:29.180+10:00Gilad Shalit<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYCskP17NbAJd0DAaoNrCxFBtAdBLI6SRfBy526_XY6x1jCf7VEMsvzjoWb1c7l0i5X-Sm7YXF26fg8b6iww11Vbuk9mBS_IytJqjQBRyck1jHt5M5N5AMXfPyFaqPQytjSwBPtxEjUrg/s1600-h/Shalit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 340px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYCskP17NbAJd0DAaoNrCxFBtAdBLI6SRfBy526_XY6x1jCf7VEMsvzjoWb1c7l0i5X-Sm7YXF26fg8b6iww11Vbuk9mBS_IytJqjQBRyck1jHt5M5N5AMXfPyFaqPQytjSwBPtxEjUrg/s400/Shalit.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384108594796546898" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Most Australians would be hard pressed to name more than a couple of Israelis - and one of them is sure to be Gilad Shalit. The young armoured tanks corps corporal was captured in 2006 on the southern border of Gaza by members of the Palestinian armed resistance. Since then he has been held captive in a secret location somewhere in the Gaza Strip, while efforts to gain his release in a prisoner swap have come to nothing.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Israel currently incarcerates over 11,000 Palestinians in prisons within Israel, in harsh conditions and frequently subject to torture and medical deprivation. Many are imprisoned without charge, almost all are political prisoners. They include women, the elderly, community leaders, politicians and elected members of parliament (the moderate Marwan Barghouti, widely seen as a successor to Yasser Arafat, has been imprisoned since 2002 on trumped-up charges). More disturbing is Israel's practice of jailing children for demonstrating against the occupation, usually by throwing stones at Israeli tanks and armoured personnel vehicles.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The children of Bil'in are particularly at risk. Twelve of them have been imprisoned this summer alone. Stepping up their efforts to crush the popular resistance by villagers to the theft of their lands, the Israeli occupation forces now raid the village nightly, destroying property, terrorising the inhabitants and carting away the children and young men.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So, while I hope for Gilad Shalit's safe release, let's forget about him for a while - after all, he was a soldier on active duty, patrolling the open-air prison that is Gaza. Let's devote our thoughts and our sympathy for the 11,000 faceless and nameless Palestinians now rotting in Israeli jails.</span></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-18185764404826271102009-09-01T18:22:00.007+10:002009-09-15T17:29:35.311+10:00Edward Kennedy RIP<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8aMyTqxbK__4SLqLA_9JJPb112JqYVz_0ssJlQ3rOcz7FlkyAUX3WMc3-gtQkU6RceLf0X2GIaS0_2zlgFuG5uEX97BG3_egJo0nsDI_FOCh5YTw2UgNLhy6SP4oKuPdLNOPxkPk42vQ/s1600-h/Edward+Kennedy-thumb-250x166.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 166px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8aMyTqxbK__4SLqLA_9JJPb112JqYVz_0ssJlQ3rOcz7FlkyAUX3WMc3-gtQkU6RceLf0X2GIaS0_2zlgFuG5uEX97BG3_egJo0nsDI_FOCh5YTw2UgNLhy6SP4oKuPdLNOPxkPk42vQ/s400/Edward+Kennedy-thumb-250x166.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376646346900128162" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Our newspapers, radio and television news have been full of tributes to the late Edward Kennedy who, for over 40 years, championed progressive causes in the US Senate. His reputation in the mainstream media has been lily-white.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Yet this is the same man who, late one night in 1969, drove his car off a bridge in Chappaquiddick and left a young woman - not his wife - to drown. He returned to his hotel and made 17 phone calls to family and friends before finally, 10 hours later, notifying police of the accident. Despite ongoing allegations of a cover-up the young Senator, third son of the wealthy and powerful Kennedy clan, was never prosecuted for his behaviour that night.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">To many observers these were the actions of a man with no moral compass, preoccupied only with his self-preservation and advancement.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">More significant, I believe, was his unremitting support for Zionism and the state of Israel. This is, of course, a prerequisite for anyone, whether from the Left or from the Right, intent on a lasting career in US politics. (And, may I add, with no moral compass.) Kennedy was yet another victim of the powerful Zionist lobby which has tainted generations of US lawmakers.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>F<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">o</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">r</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">a</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">n</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">e</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">x</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">p</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">e</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">r</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">a</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">p</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">p</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">r</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">a</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">i</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">s</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">a</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">l</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">o</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">f</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">K</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">e</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">n</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">n</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">e</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">d</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">y</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">'</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">s</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> relationship with the Zionist lobby go to Franklin Lamb's article, "Burying Ted Kennedy with the Israeli flag" in the Palestine Chronicle. (Click on link at right).</span></i></span></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-13206440633335662232009-08-04T11:12:00.003+10:002009-08-04T12:08:08.155+10:00Bil'in: under the iron heel<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC1PEfn3dO1eX1Bs0SDcMzrKQ-kGiMEbbbhDZXDXLc7CttjWv4nqXeO9DDz7ZYB_Xx3giL6CV-D4MhViFGyo9CffzfJTQwW0PmMMAJ3Ki-X8fJ9gXNudGCriEZ5T8qtmWLevLnkMOXuNo/s1600-h/Emad+2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 253px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC1PEfn3dO1eX1Bs0SDcMzrKQ-kGiMEbbbhDZXDXLc7CttjWv4nqXeO9DDz7ZYB_Xx3giL6CV-D4MhViFGyo9CffzfJTQwW0PmMMAJ3Ki-X8fJ9gXNudGCriEZ5T8qtmWLevLnkMOXuNo/s400/Emad+2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365912307803565170" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Emad filming an Israeli incursion from the vantage of an olive tree.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">One night last week, in the early hours of the morning, my friend Emad Bornat was kidnapped from his house in the village of Bil'in, blindfolded, handcuffed and dragged for a kilometre to a waiting Israeli army jeep. He joins other villagers (25 in the past week alone) who have been imprisoned without trial and subjected to harsh interrogation techniques.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Bil'in has had over 60% of its arable lands stolen for incorporation into nearby Jewish settlements/colonies. Frustrated at four years of popular resistance by the villagers (supported by Israelis of conscience and international human rights workers) the Israeli Occupation Force has intensified its repression. While continuing to respond to the regular Friday demonstrations with disproportionate force - including the use of live ammuntion against peaceful protesters - storm troopers regularly invade the village at night, terrorising the population and kidnapping leaders of the resistance. So far, their attempts to crush the spirit of Bil'in has failed.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Fears are held for the safety and well-being of Emad. He suffered a life-threatening injury several months ago and requires access to medication. Conditions in Israeli jails are harsh for Palestinian prisoners: humiliating conditions, medical neglect and, indeed, torture have been regularly documented. While Western governments (including our own) remain indifferent to Palestinian suffering, people like my friend Emad will struggle to endure under the iron heel of a brutal Israeli occupation.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;"><br /></span></span></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278011349173688550.post-67694433617262082882009-07-28T10:25:00.005+10:002009-07-29T12:18:04.375+10:00Destroyers of Jerusalem<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGrhcfP7V3fkyl3PxEZ2mMxd4rp8-tOVAYQBwt9zCdu-M7MKQoPoMwsBL4BKv7RIad5Kqw6nCKUHNXOtorijX5gOoRdLofAPTaorCNBqRqBwqiTMlkkI8aF4nmJz4wd5kDAkAtPig8V8E/s1600-h/Jerusalem+walls.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGrhcfP7V3fkyl3PxEZ2mMxd4rp8-tOVAYQBwt9zCdu-M7MKQoPoMwsBL4BKv7RIad5Kqw6nCKUHNXOtorijX5gOoRdLofAPTaorCNBqRqBwqiTMlkkI8aF4nmJz4wd5kDAkAtPig8V8E/s400/Jerusalem+walls.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363300858284510098" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Jerusalem, the ancient walls.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:10px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Jerusalem - at least that part of it which has not been desecrated by Israeli destruction and development - is a beautiful city, one of the wonders of the world. It stands beside Venice as an architectural jewel. In 1967 the Old City and East Jerusalem fell into Israeli hands and the process of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian owners and residents began. It has continued ever since, despite worldwide condemnation.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Uri Avnery of <i>Gush Shalom</i> has referred to "The destroyers of Jerusalem - that brutal coalition of real estate sharks, fanatical Zionists, American millionaires and religious mystics". He might have added "aided by the government of Israel".</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">These reptilian creatures have redoubled their efforts to cleanse East Jerusalem neighbourhoods in recent times, forcibly expelling the native inhabitants, destroying homes and building apartments (for Jews-only) on confiscated land. President Obama voices his dismay and urges Israel to desist. Binyamin Netanyahu smiles his crocodile smile and treats him, and the world, as ever, with contempt.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:10px;"><br /></span></span></div>Hajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14675045544376353970noreply@blogger.com0