Lidt Guf fra zionismens side,
som er helt lovligt at udrydde et andet folk
for at gøre "israel" større.

Lidt billeder af, hvordan man dannede
"israel" staten og hvad vesten var med til.
Det, som de kalder for "demokrati" host host''

Her er hvad Tv2 og vesten's nyheder kan lære noget af.
Vis det frem, kom frem i lyset,
hvor på jorden lægger huset.
Taget fra des folk, som ikke kan få nok.
Blod fra zionismen's død, som for dem er rar
for at bevar staten "israel" som de nu har-
Hvor et andet folk lider af undertrykkelse
skabt af forbandelse.

Palæstina vil aldrig dø'
og aldrig være noget ny.

"israel" vil være nyt så
nyt at jeg kan huske mit sidste spyt.

Hvorfor når den hvide mand dræber civile ikke også kaldes terrorirst?

Hvad kalder man en kristen der er terrorist?

Hvorfor kalder man så en Muslim, som er terrorist for islamist?

Er det fordi kun Muslimer er "terrorister"?

Hvorfor besætter den hvide mand de muslimiske lande?

Hvordan vil Danmark have det hvis den mørke Muslim mand besætter DK?

Sandheden startede ikke 11/9 langt fra. Sandheden vil den hvide man lægge skjul på.

Hvorfor kan folk glemme når 1000 af os bliver dræbt, men ikke glem hvis man dræber èn hvide?

Hvornår vil den hvide mand stoppe at besætte lande og tag lande?

Hvor er retfærdigheden henne?

Hvorfor må vi ikke forsvar os?

Hvordan kan det være at hvis vi gøre det så bliver vi kaldet for terrorister/Islamister?

Hvorfor bliver man terrorist?

No justice, no peace!

Den 8. november 2006 gennemførte slyngelstaten endnu et granatangreb mod flygtningelejren Beit Hanoun i Gaza. Flere end 19 civile palæstinensere blev dræbt - næsten alle kvinder og børn. Massakren skete da israelske tanks åbnede ild mod huse i lejren. Den blev fordømt i den arabiske verden og af EU. Slyngelstatens udenrigsminister Perez kaldte angrebet et «uheld».

***

Israels fascistiske vice-premierminister Avigdor Lieberman krævede i 2006 alle palæstinensere i Israel og i Palæstina udryddet!
Nice, fedt og i kalder Palæstinænserne for terrorist?
Og i kalder israel for Demokratisk land????

"[O]ne day we will expel you [Arab MKs] from this house, and from the national home of the Jewish people ... We have to drive you out, as well as everyone else who took part in yesterday's unruly, reckless and treacherous anti-Israel diatribe."

Balad Chairman MK Jamal Zahalka responded by calling Eitam a "racist" and a "madman". Guess who was ejected from the debate?

Avigdor Lieberman MK, Chairman of Yisrael Beiteinu and former strategic affairs minister under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, speaking in a Knesset debate today:

"[A] new administration will be established and then we will take care of you [Arab MKs] ... today we have a government made up of wimps. Believe me, this is temporary, just as you are temporary here."

According to Ha'aretz, the above statement from Lieberman "failed to spark a large debate within the plenum".

As Palestinian citizens of Israel are threatened with expulsion, the illegal colonisation of the West Bank continues:

'The Jerusalem municipality plans to build 400 new homes in the eastern part of the city, a spokesman for the municipality said Monday...

The Housing Ministry said Sunday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had approved the renewed construction an estimated 750 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Givat Ze'ev near Jerusalem.'

Explaining the construction, Olmert's spokesman said: "The project was approved by previous governments, and Olmert approved its resumption because it meshes with government policy". Which tells you all you need to know.

Meanwhile, 29 Palestinians, including a journalist, were kidnapped from the West Bank today, and 22 Palestinian students were killed by Israeli forces in the past week. (All those Israeli apologists in the UK who righteously bluster about "academic freedom" whenever anyone tries to do something to oppose the occupation are presumably working on a statement as we speak.)

Of course he was roundly denounced as a racist by all, and rightly so. But when Lieberman declares,

"We can't accept the assymetry of a Palestinian state without a single Jew, and Israel becoming a binational state with more than 20 percent minorities",

is he really being so outlandish? Was not the maxim, 'maximum Jews, minimum Arabs' the guiding principle behind the foundation of the State of Israel? Is Lieberman not simply taking Zionist ideology - which called for the creation of a state composed overwhelmingly if not homogeneously of Jews in an area populated primarily by non-Jews - to its logical conclusion? The fact is that Palestinian citizens of Israel are widely viewed as a "problem" (as Ehud Olmert unashamedly described them) to be tolerated, at best, and are certainly not seen or treated as equal members of society. The primary difference between Lieberman and many of the more moderate Zionists, then, would appear to be that Lieberman wears his racism on his sleeve.

Columnist Rami Khouri warned more than a week ago that Bush's visit to the Middle East may intensify the cycle of violence, and he is partially vindicated by today's bloodshed in Gaza. But partially is as far as I'm willing to go -- Bush didn't cause the problem in Gaza and it will be there long after he leaves office. The role his regional visit played in today's outbreak of violence is debatable, however it's interesting that American wars in the Middle East are blamed on Israeli influence over the US Congress, and Israeli wars or escalations are blamed on Bush. Apparently neither country can act on its own initiative. Predictably, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leaders Khaled Mashaal and Mahmoud Zahar (who lost his son in today's attack) pointed the finger at Bush for the escalation in violence with no mention of the role played by daily Qassam fire at Israeli towns in the western Negev. In an interview with AFP from Damascus, the exiled Mashaal stated, "This crime is the ugly fruit of Bush's visit to the region. He has incited the Zionists and has exerted pressure on the Palestinian side to become more hardline against Palestinian dialogue." But some analysts argue that Israeli escalations, rather than being urged and conducted in cohorts with the desires of the Bush administration, are actually being carried out in order to thwart Bush's Middle East peace initiative, lest it lead to the formation of a Palestinian state. For the sake of his legacy Bush would like to see this succeed before he leaves office. As early as yesterday there was talk of a right wing rebellion from coalition parties within the Olmert government over talks on "core issues," (update: Avigdor Liberman's far right wing party, Yisrael Beiteinu, has left the coalition) and the Israelis were reportedly very unhappy with the U.S. decision to go through with the sale of JDAM bomb kits (Joint Direct Attack Munitions) to Saudi Arabia even though these satellite guided smart bombs are said not to be as smart as the ones Israel is getting. The United States needs its Sunni Arab allies to counter Iranian influence in the region, but bolstering these allies is causing an uncomfortable rift with Israel.

Don't you wish sometimes that politicians would just set aside the their differences and join hands to work on making the world a better place? Isn't that why they wanted to work in public service to begin with?

Avigdor Lieberman, the heavy hitting leader of Israel's Yisrael Beiteinu Party, is laying aside his political guns and partnering with Arcadi Gaydamak's Social Justice Party to promote Israeli Arab volunteering.

Promoting National Service for Israeli Arabs

Yisrael Beiteinu has just donated $128,600 to promote Israeli Arabs' participation in Israel's National Service. Reports from the Arab community assert that 76% of Arab youth would like to volunteer, but don't know how to go about it. There is very little precedent and what with Israel's often hostile perception of Arabs, it's hard to get started.

Lieberman states: “These people need to feel wanted here in Israel and not the other way around… the volunteering issue is a crucial one, this kind of volunteer work can bridge gaps between Jews and Arabs and carries a positive message.”

Growing Number of Israeli Arabs in National Service

The number of Israeli Arabs in the National Service (Sherut Leumi) is growing: 2007 has the highest numbers of participation yet. Israeli Arab enlistment has grown almost 100% from 2006 to 2007 with 600 Arabs now serving in Israel's 12,000 person force. Volunteers typically serve the community directly, working in schools, community centers, hospitals, nursing homes, and other social institutions.

Resistance from the Arab community is high and potential volunteers face expected challenges. Ha'aretz reports:

Still, many Israeli Arabs oppose such volunteering, calling it an attempt by the Jewish establishment to blur the Arab-Palestinian identity of the younger generation and "Israelize" them. Another claim is that the state is using the national service to indirectly recruit Arab youth for a kind of military service.

Who Serves?

The question of national service-- be it military or civil-- is one that is gaining momentum in Israeli society. The Ivri Committee is expected to announce full compulsory service for all Israelis in their January meeting (currently only 75% of Israelis serve).

Mandating national service will necessitate an expanded and more inclusive approach, given that those who choose to serve in Sherut Leumi are very different than those who choose mainstream military service. National Service volunteers are predominantly women, and often religious, although there are many others who defer military service for a wide array of reasons.

Learn more about National Service: "Serving, but Not in the Army" (15 Q & As from YNetNews).

Lieberman's Political Reputation

Before concluding, I must add a note about Lieberman to the uninitiated. All else being equal, Lieberman is best known for two things: his outstanding support from Israel's Russian community and his overwhelming reputation as being anti-Arab. He has previously been accused of: "racist declarations and declarations that harm the democratic character of Israel."

How Should We Think About This Donation?

In light of Lieberman's persona, how should we think about this donation?

Whatever Lieberman hopes to gain from this donation and a possible alliance with Gaydamak, increasing Israeli Arabs' ability to volunteer for Israel will only bring good things. We can be grateful for that.

Recommended Reading

• "Israeli Megaphilanthropist Arcadi Gaydamak Hits the Polls with Social Justice Party"

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"Israel is capable of dealing with the Iranian threat on its own, said Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman yesterday to the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee.

Israel has the capability to deal with the Iranian threat, even in the worst case scenario in which our friends throughout the world stop dealing with the threat and we are left on our own," he said.

Lieberman warned that "unless Iran is contained and it is blocked from achieving its goal, the minute it acquires non-conventional weapons the entire Middle East will enter a mad arms race and it is therefore the obligation of the Western world to block Iran."

The minister said the sanctions against Iran were effective and have shocked the Iranian economy that is being managed by 50 to 60 families holding monopolies.

"Lieberman said that sanctions should be directed at those families by restricting their travel and limiting their banking transactions.

He expressed hope that the sanctions would bring about a collapse of the Iranian regime.
Lieberman, who recently returned from a visit to Russia, said Moscow would not oppose stiffer sanctions against Iran at the UN Security Council.

"Russia and Israel are on one side of the barricades. I think Russia will back harsh sanctions against Iran," Lieberman said in an interview published in the Kommersant newspaper yesterday.

Russia's position regarding Tehran has changed lately, the Israeli minister said. "Everything keeps changing. Russia was to start shipping nuclear fuel to Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, but it has not done so," he said.

"The ideology professed by Iran does boils down to the elimination of Israel alone. It conveys a totally different approach to life," Lieberman said."

“What [Labor leader] Amir Peretz did this morning is to swing an enormous ax at the tree called Zionism,” said Tartman, a member of the right-wing Yisrael Beitenu party, referring to Peretz’s January 11 designation of Labor lawmaker Ghaleb Majadleh as minister of science, sports and culture. “We need to drive out and destroy this evil from our environs…. The State of Israel is a Jewish state that is supposed to be ruled by Jewish values, with a Jewish regime and Jewish sovereignty.”

Tartman’s comments sparked outrage across the political spectrum from politicians and commentators who called her views racist and compared them to the outlawed doctrines of the late Meir Kahane. “The Zionism of Herzl, Jabotinsky and Begin always advocated the integration of Arabs who are loyal to the state in all of its institutions,” said Knesset member Michael Eitan of the opposition Likud party. Eitan demanded a formal Knesset debate on Tartman’s “racist comments.” “No believer in equality and democracy can accept them being on the agenda,” Eitan said.

But after a week of furious public debate, it wasn’t clear which side was winning. Outraged Labor Party lawmakers demanded an emergency party meeting to discuss quitting the coalition if Tartman’s party and its fiery leader, Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman, weren’t ejected. But no such meeting was scheduled. Yossi Beilin, head of the left-wing Meretz party, called on the attorney general to open a criminal investigation under Israel’s anti-racism laws. But no probe was announced.

In fact, Majadleh’s nomination wasn’t even brought to the Cabinet for approval when it next met, January 14. Under the Kadima-Labor coalition agreement, Labor is entitled to name the science minister, subject to Cabinet approval. The prime minister, however, sets the Cabinet’s agenda.

In the interim, a string of similar incidents has riveted national attention, training a spotlight on the depth of Israel’s divisions. A homemade video that aired on national television this week showed a Hebron settler verbally abusing a Palestinian girl with shockingly crude language — something that a police representative said was commonplace in the troubled West Bank city. The incident was recorded by a relative of the Palestinian teen, Raja Abu-Aysheh, 18, with a video camera given to the family by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, in order to document settler abuse. Settler leaders said they would begin to give out cameras so that their side of the story could be told in a similar fashion.

Meanwhile, leaders of a settler-led party, the National Union, announced the formation of a new youth movement to educate secular Jewish youth toward such “national” values as annexing the West Bank and Gaza, creating a Palestinian state in Jordan and stripping West Bank and Gaza Palestinians of political rights. National Union Knesset member Aryeh Eldad said he is frequently approached by high school students who favor “transfer” but are uncertain how to express their views. “I want to teach them the Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel, not to Arabs,” Eldad said.

And in the mostly Orthodox town of B’nei Brak, just outside Tel Aviv, fliers appeared on walls in recent months, announcing a religious ban on renting rooms to Arabs, mostly from nearby universities.

Israeli Arabs responded with a mixture of alarm and anger. “If these racist ideas got here, it shows that it is spreading throughout society, that the Lieberman ideology is gaining momentum and it’s very worrying,” said Ragheed Haddad, president of the law school’s Arab student union at the Ramat Gan Law School.

Knesset member Dov Khenin of the Arab-Jewish Hadash Party appealed to the attorney general to open a criminal investigation against the flier’s authors. That has yet to happen.

“We have an illness of racism in Israeli society,” said Khenin, who serves as chairman of the Knesset’s human rights committee. “Like any illness if you don’t treat it, it grows and spreads. That’s the situation now.”

But while liberal protests mounted over the signs of ethnic tension, public comment on mainstream news Web sites appeared to be running about 3-to-1 against the liberals and in favor of Tartman and her allies.

Ironically, the political maneuver that touched off the storm, the naming of a new science minister, was a direct result of Tartman’s party joining the coalition government last fall. The entry of Lieberman, who is known for his anti-Arab rhetoric, prompted then-science minister Ophir Pines-Paz to quit the Cabinet in protest. Majadleh, a Labor backbencher, was one of the few party leaders to support Pines-Paz’s decision.

“Lieberman wants a Jewish country with no Arabs,” Majadleh then said. “So we cannot legitimize him by sitting with him.”

Last week, however, Majadleh was calling his Cabinet appointment a “milestone” for Israeli Arabs and a rebuke to Lieberman.

Even more ironic, Majadleh’s nomination drew criticism from left as well as from right. Pines-Paz himself called the appointment a “stinking maneuver” by Peretz to woo Arab voters in advance of a May party primary. Some critics said that Majadleh, a high school graduate, was unqualified to oversee Israel’s science and technology budgets.

As for Lieberman, Tartman’s party leader, he said that he had “nothing against” a Muslim Arab joining the Cabinet, but he denounced the timing as a political maneuver that proved Peretz was unfit to serve as defense minister. He did not, however, criticize Tartman.

Lieberman’s standing got a boost this week when the visiting American secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, found time to meet with him during a brief visit to the region, just two days after Tartman had made her statements. Such a meeting is not part of the standard protocol for Rice’s visits here.

It is that sort of legitimization from above, critics say, that hurts efforts to combat ethnic incitement. “In the past, these people would be thought of as extremist,” said Fred Lazin, chair of the politics and government department at Ben-Gurion University. “Now they aren’t even being asked to leave the government.”

C.a.r.d {Citizens Against Racism and Discrimination} Source: The Jewish Daily Forward

MK Esterina Tartman, leader of the Knesset faction of Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu, objects to Peretz' decision to appoint an Arab (boo, hiss!) as a minister. Lieberman agrees, and has called upon Peretz to resign over the incident.

Luckily, these loonies appear to be on their own on this one - Likud MK Michael Eitan "rejected with disgust Tartman's racist pronouncements", whilst Meretz leader Yossi Beilin called on Labor to condition its participation in the Coalition on the expulsion of Yisrael Beitenu. Labor MK Nadia Hilo said, "If they are acceptable to Yisrael Beitenu, then it should leave the government. Arab citizens did not receive citizenship through the grace of Yisrael Beiteinu", whilst MK Magali Wahaba of Kadima spoke of his "regret that there are still people who instead of speaking of cooperation, continue to speak in a racist tone." "Such people must be removed from our midst," he said.

The sad thing is, despite the universal condemnation, it is highly unlikely Peretz will give up power and remove Labor from the coalition (something he should have done months ago) and so we will be faced with the prospect of continued cooperation between Labor and the disgusting racists of Yisrael Beitenu. Sickening.

For the past few days my intention was to write a follow-up post to my week in Turkey because I wanted to describe the amazing things I saw in Istanbul on my second (sunny, non-snowy) day walking around the city. Of course, since I returned home to Beirut so much has happened, which must be dealt with before moving on to my tourist adventures.

Everyone in the media seems to be all a buzz with the election results in the U.S. While certainly I think that the changes in the House and Senate are a good sign in that they seem to be a vote against Bush, I don't think that it represents anything hopeful for the part of the world I care most about, the Middle East. The Democrats historically, and currently, have always had a far more Zionist base than the Republicans. While at this particular historical moment there are many Christian Zionists who could be added to the mix making those lines of demarcation a bit muddier, I don't see any significant signs of hope. What plans do the Democrats have for Iraq? To partition it into three provinces? This is one plan I hear floated and while it makes me hope that at least Kurds might have their own space, instead it seems more like it could offer a future that is still bloody that looks more like India/Kashmir/Pakistan. And while it may give many of us a great deal of pleasure to see Rumsfeld resign from his post in shame, is Robert Gates any better? This is a man who is at least partially responsible for the problems in the region from his days when he was involved in arming Saddam Hussein, the Muhajadeen in Afghanistan, and Iran during the Iran/Contra scandal. But I love the irony and timing of Daniel Ortega being elected President while all of this other stuff is going down!

In other news, back home here, I had the great pleasure of attending yet another CASAR lecture last night. I can't say it enough: it's so amazing to be a part of an academic program that brings in interesting scholars every week. Robert Fisk recommended this speaker, who used to live and teach in Iraq and who spoke about U.S. policy in the war on terror, and I had a lovely dinner with these and other interesting scholars from AUB. Fisk's article in The Independent a couple of weeks ago, by the way is a must read as it seems each week we learn more about the illegal weapons of mass destruction that Israel used on Lebanon last summer. One of the interesting stories Fisk and our lecturer told last night was about Fisk traveling through the South of Lebanon during the war and calling this professor in Baghdad asking what the news was there. She replied that it was very quiet as they were all watching the news of what was going down in Lebanon. Indeed! The same was true in Palestine as well.

Of course, the worst news of the past week that seems to get worse every day since June (and arguably before that as well) is the news from Ghaza. The news of the massacre in Beit Hanoun is just devastating. I cannot believe that the world continues to let this go on and no one does anything about it. Where is the UN Security Council on this? Where are the UN forces protecting people in Ghaza from Israel? Why are they only deployed in Lebanon? Of course, Lebanon continues to witness Israeli aggression at its southern border because Israel still remains firmly ensconced on Lebanese soil--and in Lebanese airspace for that matter. I keep hoping that French and Indian anger (from the UNIFIL forces) will translate into military action against Israel. All of this is set against the backdrop of one of the most extremely fascist leaders of Israeli society who recently joined the government. Avigdor Lieberman--I wonder if he's any relation to the Zionist *?!@ who just won reelection in Connecticut?--is one of the most extremist people to enter Israeli politics of late; this is a man who openly (as opposed to behind closed doors like the rest of the Knesset) advocate things like ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. I'm not sure how much of this is making it into U.S. news, but each of these items is creating an even scarier picture for this reason--if that is even possible. At least the Palestinian students at AUB held a demonstration against the Beit Hanoun massacre yesterday. They staged a sit in on the front steps of the main student union building during the lunch break. While it wasn't extremely well attended, it was good to see students doing something. Definitely a change from students (or anyone for that matter) in Jordan when things like this go down in Palestine.

After all this news that's been consuming me this week I do want to say something about my last day in Turkey. It was great to be able to get a sunny day to walk around the city and see other areas. I headed for Tophane first on the tram, which was yet another fabulous public transportation system that took me from the Aya Sofia/Blue Mosque straight to this neighborhood on land. I did want to take a boat ride up the Bosporus while I was there, but it was just too cold. I went straight to the Istanbul Modern, the main art museum in Turkey and it was unbelievable amazing. Not only was the main exhibition of Turkish painters and sculptors wonderful, but I also happened upon a second exhibit there. The Venice Biennale, which normally is only held in Italy, was held jointly this year with Istanbul so I was able to see this unbelievably brilliant provocative exhibition of art work. The exhibit began with a Guerilla Girls series of posters (from which this piece above was taken). There were other new posters they've created since I last saw their work including one that is a take off on the terrorist threat level warnings that was quite funny. There was also a really interesting artist's exhibit, outside the museum as well, from Pascale Marthine Tayou from Camaroon. He created a piece called "Plastic Bags" that is an environmental commentary on excessive consumption. Inside there was a similarly interesting installation piece called "The Bride" by Joana Vasconcelos; her installation was an enormous chandelier that went from floor to ceiling (in a warehouse space) that was made entirely of OB tampons. There was yet another piece dealing with over-consumption entitled "Breath" which was film media; you walk into a room and Nikos Navridis' images of a heap of garbage invade the dark room, but only on the floor and you feel dizzy as you walk over a pile of garbage, as it is moving against you. He based the video installation on Samuel Beckett's play Breath. But out of all these artistic images my favorite was without a doubt Emily Jacir's video installation "Ramallah/New York". You sit on a bench watching two television screens next to each other each one showing images that are contextually similar: a travel agency, a hair salon, a shwarma stand, a convenient market, and it forces you to think where each activity is taking place--and let me tell you, it's difficult! I'd love to see this exhibit tour the U.S. (middle America, that is!) as it was very powerful.

I spent the rest of the day walking along the shore, where there were more sculptures along the shoreline and I eventually reached Dolmabahçe Palace. I guess on some level this space served a similar purpose as the Topkapi Palace, but it was by far inferior to it. I'm sure it's just an aesthetic preference, but I just don't go for this ostentatious neo-classical architectural style. It was so ornate and so over the top that it almost felt stifling to be inside. This palace is also newer than the Topkapi Palace as its buildings were completed in 1856. Perhaps it was especially overwhelming to see this gold-laden space after spending time in the sparse yet elegant Istanbul Modern. But the walk around this area was especially lovely on this particular day as there was also a marathon going on and runners completed their finish line very closet to the Dolmabahçe. There is so much more I would have loved to visit in Turkey, especially the eastern part of the country, but that will have to be saved until next time.

"The source of the conflict here is not territory, it is not occupation, it is not settlers. It is a clash between two people and two religions.