Israel should demonstrate good faith before Gaza cease fire

The idea that there should be a cease fire agreement between Israel and the resistance in Gaza before the Rafah and other crossings into Gaza are opened is difficult to understand, and defies logic. After 23 days of criminal murder and destruction of property, that resulted from Israel’s and its supporter’s wrong belief that Israel can accomplish through violence what it lacks the credibility to accomplish through negotiations, the resistance is again being asked to accept once again, the idea that Israel will abide by a cease fire agreement the terms of which include the opening of all crossings and the lifting of the illegal economic blockade being imposed upon Gaza. No one has explained why the people of Gaza should accept such an agreement. Why, after suffering 23 days of an illegal Israeli military assault that resulted from a dishonest process that included a fake cease fire agreement that was never intended to yield anything more than the time necessary for Israel to plan and to carry out its December 27th attack, should the people of Gaza be willing to enter such an agreement? There has been enough written by reliable sources, suggesting that as Israel was negotiating the previous 6 month cease fire through its ally Egypt, that it was in fact already planning the recent attack carried out against the people of Gaza. The attack left more than 1000 dead, mostly women and children, and thousands more injured. Israel destroyed Gaza’s already crumbling infrastructure, and also used banned and illegal weapons against the people. The crossings were not opened during the cease fire as agreed, and they were not opened during the war, not even to allow ambulances and medicines into Gaza, so why should the people of Gaza believe that they will be opened now?

It is more reasonable, considering that Israel must not be rewarded in any way for its criminal behavior and its violations of international law in Gaza, that before any agreed upon cease fire begins, the crossings into the Gaza Strip be opened for at least one month, and Israel be made to cover the cost of all needed fuel and other humanitarian aid up to an agreed upon amount, or over a certain amount of time. This agreement to compensate Gaza in part for the destruction that Israel caused during its 23 day war, along with the opening of the crossings would be a seen as a good faith gesture, and it would go a long way in restoring Israel’s credibility, which would strengthen the agreement. To date, Israel has never kept an agreement of any kind with the people of Palestine. It has instead used a carrot stick strategy, where Israel promises carrots, yet wages war hoping that through murder and intimidation it will force the people of Palestine to submit to its will, and voluntarily enslave themselves to Israel’s criminal occupation. It was this type of fear that caused the former President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmood Abbas to declare shortly after Israel’s attack, that the only hope for Gaza was to submit to Israel and to agree upon what he called peace, and what the Qur’an calls oppression.

If indeed the international community of people and nations are committed to the restoration of international law, and are willing to conform to the Geneva Convention prohibition against forcing or compelling a people living under a criminal military occupation to negotiate away their rights, this cease fire is where we must begin.
Israel should not be allowed ever again to use violence to gain advantages over the Palestinian people. Nor should it be allowed to use the appearance of negotiations to trick the Palestinian people into surrendering their rights, simply because the international community lacks the commitment or the will to uphold the law, and to demand justice for Palestine. Recent conferences and meetings that are supposedly aimed at arranging a resolution to the current crisis through a negotiated cease fire, might very well be the veils that are covering the true intent of Israel and its patrons to use a cease fire agreement to tie Gaza’s hands, while it carries out more violent attacks, including targeted assassinations against Hamas’s leadership. The only way to insure that this is not the case, and to prove that Israel and its patrons are not again attempting to benefit from Israel’s criminal Dec. 27 assault, using fear and threats of future attacks to coerce the people of Palestine into self defeating agreements, is to compel Israel to act first in good faith, and to end its violent attacks against Gaza, open the Rafah and other crossings into Gaza for a period of one month prior to the inception of the formal cease fire agreement, while agreeing to compensate the people of Gaza for some of the hardship and loss that Israel caused during its illegal 23 day war by covering the cost of food and humanitarian aide over an agreed upon period of time, or an agreed upon amount.

Any cease fire agreement that does not require that Israel perform good faith gestures to somewhat restore its credibility as a serious and realizable party to any agreement, will be nothing more than an agreement that is aimed at binding the people of Gaza to another unilateral cease fire, while Israel will not be compelled to keep its agreements, and just as before, while Gaza keeps its end of the agreement, Israel will be carrying out targeted assassinations hoping to remove the Hamas leadership, and imposing Mahmoud Abbas’s illegitimate authority over Gaza.

Of course it is reasonable for the people of Gaza to have a desire to avoid more of Israel’s disproportionate violence, knowing now that not only are the US and EU likely to permit Israel to attack Gaza again, but will also turn their heads as Israel returns to its illegal targeted assassination policy, and that many of the Arab and Muslim governments will join them in such a conspiracy. No one could fault the resistance for feeling pressured to accept any cease fire agreement that might hold off another “all out attack.” There is only one thing different that the resistance can rely upon now, that it could not possibly foresee from Gaza, and that is that the people of the Muslim world will not stand by and allow Gaza to suffer again as it did before. Also, there are Muslim governments who are prepared to condemn Israel, and even to take steps, using their stature to demand that the international institutions take action to prevent further Israeli aggression. Whereas before the US, EU and Israel were able to stave off any opposition to Israel’s lawlessness and violence, it is not likely that they would be able to silence or control a Muslim world that will likely erupt should Israel ever attack Gaza’s people again.

It is time to end Israel's criminal assault on Gaza

As the war rages in Gaza so called “moderate” Muslims and their Arab government counterparts are working feverishly to figure out how to reward Israel for its two weeks of carnage in Gaza. The idea that they should focus on ending Israel’s criminal onslaught is lost on these perhaps well intended, but misguided souls. All they can see is an opportunity for Israel to win, and for Hamas to be defeated. In their confused minds and amoral judgment, Israel may not have been justified in killing so many Gazans; still Hamas had no right to fight back. In fact, as far as many of them are concerned, Hamas has no right to even exist. Keep in mind that there is no record of these same people having ever called for a security force to protect the Palestinians. They have never made an effort to insure that the people of Palestine ever had a defender or a security force dedicated to protecting Palestinian rights and life. Now we know why.

Even if you attempt to bring to their attention the fact that negotiating behind the scenes with Israeli intelligence, and operatives while Palestinian children are being burned to death with white phosphorus, and Israel’s Lieberman is calling for an all out nuclear attack on Gaza, is wrong, they argue that the Palestinians cannot possibly win and so the only solution is to give Israel what it wants with a few concessions for Gaza, like an international pro-Israel peacekeeping force. To mention that Israel should not be rewarded for what it has done and should be stopped makes one an “extremist” in their lopsided view. Their objective is to end the war on Gaza by figuring out what it is that Israel wants, and seeing that Israel gets what it wants, in spite of the fact that what Israel is doing is a monumental crime that demands an international military response, similar to the NATO attack on Serbia that allowed the Bosnians relief from a similar onslaught, carried out against them for similar reasons by the late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

The only way to end Israel’s violence is for an international force to engage Israel militarily and force Israel to end its attacks on the people of Gaza. This should happen unless the Arab governments want to be faced with riots and revolutions the likes of which have never been seen in the Arab and Muslim world. As for the rest of the world, it seems reasonable to expect that as we stand by and do nothing while Israel continues to slaughter Palestinians that this will eventually result in all out attacks on Jews outside of Israel. This happened after Ariel Sharon’s massacres in the second intifada, and there is no reason to expect that the killing of Palestine will continue without there being some type of similar response.

There have been suggestions that Israel, fully expecting that at some point the international community, or that Muslims will act, has been threatening a repeat of the Masada. This is perhaps what has moderate Muslim and Arab governments working so hard to give Israel what it wants. It does not matter to them that Palestinians are also human beings with equal rights, and that it is wrong to sacrifice Palestinian life to save the lives of Israelis who are threatening to kill themselves unless the world stands by idly while they are allowed to kill Gaza.

Everyone already knows what happened to the Arab governments and the so called moderate Muslims who legitimize their treason and give them moral and intellectual sanction. We understand why they serve Israel. They have been tamed by the war on terror, which is what Israel and their neoconservative movement predicted. But what happened to the US? We have become an unrecognizable place where racial hatred has taken on new proportions, as has religious extremism and hatred. I guess we can thank the likes of John Hagee, Rod Parsley and Pat Robertson for our country’s flirtation with the dark side. Gone are our days as a beacon of light and hope for underdogs and the teeming masses yearning to be free. Those so called men of God are in fact prophets of hatred and death that have led the US and Israel to this juncture in history. They claim that they are espousing God’s prophecy when they call for nuking Palestine and death to all Palestinians, when in fact they are the mouthpieces for the Satan that has possessed them and driven them, and all of those who follow them, Jews and non Jews to absolute evil and madness.

It is time for the US and Europe to decide what they will do about the Holocaust taking place in Gaza.. The choice is not whether to allow Israel to continue, or to stop Israel’s criminal invasion and war on the people of Gaza. The choice is whether they want to stop it, or if they want the war to expand. The situation we are all in is that simple, and also that tragic.

Everyday is Ashurah; Now Gaza is Karbala

The story of Imam Ali's son Hussein and his death at Karbala is a story that touches the heart of anyone who hears or reads it. It is the story of a man, who like his father and grandfather before him had immense love for God, and God's creation. Whereas Imam Hussein is the grandson of the prophet Muhammad (sa), and was born to the prophet's daughter Fatima, and his first cousin Ali, himself an Imam and successor to the leadership of the Islamic community, Imam Hussein was not a conceited, or spoiled and selfish man, as many might expect that a person of such esteemed lineage might be.

According to Islamic history, Imam Hussein lived a quiet and simple life of service in Medina, aware of the controversy surrounding his family, and the role they might play in the growth of Islam, and in the leadership of the Muslim community established under his grandfather's and father's tutelage and guidance, along with other faithful men.

Unfortunately the rift that had occurred in the Muslim leadership following the prophet Muhammad's transcension of this life had not healed itself, and the assassination of Imam Hussein's father Imam Ali, and his brother Hasan had only worsened the situation. For some, even though the Caliphate continued, the question of legitimate leadership over the Muslim community remained unanswered.

Many Muslims were complaining about the Caliph Yazid's corruption, ill treatment and oppression, and many were also dismayed by the lack of character and lack of respect for Islam demonstrated by Yazid who was known for public drunkenness and debauchery. It was the pleas of the Muslim ummah for relief, for justice, and for Islam that called Imam Hussein to Karbala.

For the sake of brevity we will say that Yazid as Caliph raised a myriad of important questions regarding the legitimate leadership of the Muslim community, particularly since it had been argued and accepted by the Muslim community following the prophet Muhammad's transcension, that succession in the Caliphate could not be based upon blood lineage, even though God's promise to the prophet Abraham was that the prophethood and leadership of the monotheist movement would be the right only of his descendants, which suggests blood lineage succession, qualified by the Islamic character and suitability of any contender for leadership of Muslims. Even if Yazid escaped rejection as a blood heir of the previous Caliph Muawiya, Yazid's public and well known violations of Islamic law, and his open disdain for Islam, and oppression of Muslim people, disqualified him from holding the position of guardianship and leadership of Muslims that was the Islamic Caliphate.

For days before their deaths, Imam Hussein and his family and followers, who had set up camp at Karbala, were surrounded by Yazid's army and prevented from leaving. They were denied food, and water until they grew weak from starvation and dehydration. When Yazid felt finally that they were too weak to fight, he unleashed his entire army against Imam Hussein's family and 72 of his followers and killed them.

The story of Karbala is the story of a power usurping Satanic system of corruption and evil, represented by Yazid Ibn Muawiya, that employed as a tactic to destroy the legitimate authority of God conscience and righteous men over God's community of Muslims, the restriction of their movement, the denial of food and water, and later the denial of care for the wounded, even among the children. These righteous people, the family and supporters of Imam Hussein, were rushed upon in a final assault by Yazid's army, and brutality murdered and left to die on that battlefield. Imam Hussein's surviving family members were paraded to Yazid's capital, where the Imam's sister Zainab was chained and stripped of her Islamic covering.

Contrary to what Yazid had hoped for, a celebrated day of victory and consolidation of his power, the people, when they saw Imam Hussein's flag, and family, and heard Zainab's condemnation of Yazid, and her condemnation of the apathy and cowardice of the Muslim people, and her brother's brutal murder, they wept, screamed and fainted at the realization that the Imam, grandson of the prophet Muhammad (sa), and a righteous man, had been martyred so brutally for their sake, and for the sake of Islam.

The political backdrop of Karbala has lost much of its relevance to today's generation of Muslims, many who live in non Muslim countries, or in Muslim nation/states that are ruled by elected governments and monarchs. The Islamic caliphate has ceased to exist. Yet, the humanitarian aspects of the story continue to haunt the souls of Muslims until today, as we ponder the meaning of Imam Hussein's death, and the humiliating treatment that he and his family and followers suffered before their deaths at Karbala.

As we reflect upon what happened at Karbala, we should also reflect upon what is happening to the contemporary Muslim community today, and ask ourselves “why?” We must look out at the Muslim world, and see if there are any patterns that might suggest that there is a Karbala taking place in our time, and like the Muslims during the time of Imam Hussein, perhaps we are ignoring or failing to respond to the call to stand and to fight against the enemies of Islam, as they attempt to remove any semblance of Islamic authority from this earth, and who routinely deny Muslims civil and human rights that are recognized as the inalienable rights of other people.

Today, there is a place where a legitimate Muslim government was elected. There is a place where that government and the people who voted for them have been isolated and trapped, and are being denied food and water, just like at Karbala. Just as during the time of the Karbala massacre, today the people of the Muslim world complain about the corruption of their governments, their greed, repression and the deprivation of human and civil rights, and their collaboration with the enemies of Islam. In response to the cries of their people against the “Yazid's” of our time, the Islamic movements have competed for the restoration of the right of the Muslim people to Islamic inspired government.

Today, Karbala is in Gaza. Several years ago, this same tragedy played itself out in Algeria. This same story is also playing itself out in Somalia, and anywhere that a legitimate Islamic government, or Islamic movement attempts to establish itself through legitimate elections as a righteous authority over Muslim people, and are met with violence.

As we can see clearly in respect to Israel, and the support it receives from the Arab governments in its persecution and genocide being carried out in Gaza, this is not a matter of conflicting races, or differences in religion. The issue today, is as it was at Karbala is who has the right to authority, leadership and guardianship over the Muslim ummah? Is it Israel? Is it the US, or the UN, or the corrupt Arab governments that have helped and supported the US and Israel as their patrons and who assist them in killing, torturing, and eliminating through slow genocide, the Muslim and Christian people of Gaza?

Today, Gaza is Karbala. Where are the supporters of Abraham's covenant, and the right of the Islamic movements to exist, and to bid for the leadership of the Muslim ummah? Where is the so called “democracy” of the US and Israel? Where is the loyalty and the commitment to Islam of the Arab leaders who are today calling for normalized relations with Israel, while Israel is killing through ethnic cleansing and genocide the people of Gaza? Do they have a right to lead us, to control our wealth, to sell our lives for money and acceptance by the US and Israel as friends and allies?

The time has come for the Muslim people to take the responsibility to end the illegal siege on Gaza. We must act to save the people of Gaza, and to break the siege not only upon Gaza, but upon Muslims everywhere who have been denied rights, persecuted, murdered, tortured and humiliated all for the sake of eliminating the Abrahamic covenant that is the basis of legitimacy for anyone who bids to lead, or to hold any authority over monotheist people, and its heirs.

Today, it is our turn to answer the call of Imam Hussein. Who will go to Karbala? Who will stand with the 1.5 million people of Gaza who are being killed today because they voted an Islamic movement into power? Who will stand for the Qur'an which says that we must oppose those who kill and deprive people of rights, and who would starve innocent people to death because they don't share their opinion or world view?

Today, just as during those days of Karbala, the question is being asked in heaven and earth, who will choose the leaders of the Muslim people? Who are the legitimate leaders of the Muslim people? Who will save the people of Karbala?

US/Israeli war on terrorism is a war against the US Constitution and citizen rights

The US/Israeli war on terrorism is a war on the US Constitution and citizen rights
Anisa Abd el Fattah


Zionist columnist, and seeming Islamophobe Diana West wrote an article published by the Washington Times earlier this month, implying that due to my previous association with a pro-Palestinian think tank named UASR, that I am an Hamas operative living and working in the US on behalf of Hamas. West claimed that UASR's former Executive director Ahmed Yousef fled the US, fearing indictment in the Fawaz Damra case, suggesting not only that Yousef is a criminal of some sort, but that my association with Yousef implies that I am too. Ahmed Yousef, a US educated PH.D, is a Palestinian who was born and raised in the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza. He presently serves as Senior Advisor to the PA Foreign Minister.

West's article also mentioned Dr. Mousa Abu Marzook, a Palestinian, and a member of the Hamas politburo in Damascus. Marzook, was one of the founders of UASR four years prior to his association with Hamas. He did not begin his association with Hamas until after he had ended his relationship with UASR. After being detained in the US during the Clinton administration without charge, he was released from custody after Israel was unable, and unwilling to charge Marzook with any crime. Marzook was later deported from the US and released into the custody of Jordan. It was in respect to the Marzook case, which was heard in a New York district court under the jurisdiction of the present US Attorney General Michael Mukasey, that a US District court judge Kevin Duffy, wrote that it is the duty of the judiciary to act in concert with the foreign policy objectives of the Executive branch. This was the first neo-conservative challenge to the US Constitution's separation of powers doctrine, and also the first judicial attack on the idea of an independent judiciary, a hallmark of the Bush administration.

Fawaz Damra, who Diana West attempted to use as the the lynch pin, along with guilt by association to condemn Ahmed Yousef, is a Palestinian cleric who was detained, and later charged during Bush administration witch hunting, with lying on his immigration application. He was deported for checking a box on his immigration application, saying that he had never had any association with illegal, or terrorist organizations while in his native country. Damra had completed the application, and immigrated legally to the US prior to Clinton's illegal Executive order, classifying Hamas a terrorist organization. Clinton issued this order, even though the Geneva Conventions, in quite clear and unambiguous language protects the rights of people living under illegal military occupation to self defense, and resistance, even violent resistance. While the American Jewish community argued that the Geneva Conventions were created to protect Jewish life only, most scholars of international law agree that the Geneva Conventions aim to protect the lives, and property of all people, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity or nationality.

The United States is a party to the Conventions, having both signed and ratified the Conventions, having done so with the protection of US military and civilians during periods of armed conflict in mind. Unfortunately, no legal challenge has ever been presented to the Clinton order, asking if it is possible for a sitting president to issue an Executive order that not only violates international law, but that also criminalizes, and at the least violates treaties that the US is party to. Note that the violation of treaties signed by previous US administrations was also a tactic employed by the Bush administration, and even more ironic, it is one of the conditions that the US placed upon Hamas, that it recognize all previous PLO signed agreements and treaties.

Bill Clinton's willingness to violate the Geneva Conventions in order to remove the rights of Palestinians to defend themselves against what was already a brutal and vicious Israeli genocide and attempted ethnic cleansing, was part of his policy of US “unconditional support” for Israel. His criminal executive order effectively criminalized Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups, making Israeli targeted assassinations legal, since it was deemed part of the strategy and one of the tactics employed by Israel in its fake war against terrorism. By issuing his illegal Executive order, Bill Clinton sought to remove the human and divine rights of the Palestinian people by not only making acts of resistance against the Israeli occupation criminal, but also membership in any organization that had ever sought to defend or to protect Palestinian life against illegal Israeli aggression, and war crimes that were being carried out almost daily in Palestine with impunity.

While the implications and effects of Clinton's Executive order criminalizing Hamas are well known in respect to the rights of Palestinians to organize to defend their lives, and to resist the genocide being carried out by Israel with unconditional US support, and financing, few understood how that Executive order would effect the lives of American citizens here in our own country, who oppose the current US policy towards Palestine, and US unconditional support for Israel.

After West's article was published, my life, and even perhaps the lives of my family have been in jeopardy. Helicopters routinely fly around my home, almost daily someone is at my door, using various tactics to learn who lives at my address and at what time we are home or not at home. We receive constant telephone calls where people hang up after hearing my voice, or where they ask for various family members by name, in an attempt to determine who is at home, and when. We receive veiled death threats in the mail almost daily. These include offers for cemetery plots, and funeral insurance, etc. My son was forced to leave college because of being robbed and threatened almost daily on his trips to and from campus. When we advised the University about the threats to his safety they refused to do anything to help, and so he withdrew.

My family and I have been followed, and we have had strange incidents take place where our personal property has been vandalized. Perhaps the most startling and troubling offenses have taken place over the past few weeks, where we have been very obviously followed, approached by strangers with requests to identify ourselves, and just this weekend our telephone was temporarily disconnected late at night for no apparent reason. When we left home to go out for dinner, a car that set suspiciously at the end of our street made it quite clear that whoever was in the car was watching, and also following us. My bank illegally over drafted my account by refusing to make funds available even though the funds were deposited, causing checks to bounce, and adding fees until the account could not be redeemed. When the Zionist in America said that no one who opposed them would be allowed to have a home, a job,or peace, they meant that they would use their operatives to torment and to harass any American citizen that would dare to criticize Israel, or to challenge Israel's authority over our government and rights.

Praise God that we are not a timid people, and we are not living in fear. We do not believe that these people have any power over life and death, and we have put our trust in God, and God is sufficient. My reason for mentioning these incidents is merely to allow readers to understand that our government, and not only the Bush administration has been involved in an illegal war on dissent and resistance that is not limited to Iraq, or Afghanistan, and that began long before 9/11. It has not been limited to foreigners and illegal immigrants. It is also to point out that the criminal conspiracy against rights in our country includes possibly journalists, and others who hold what appear to be the most non threatening positions in our society, including schools, universities, libraries, and post offices, as examples.

The Jewish Defense League, the Jewish Organization, the Kahane settlers movements, which are funded by synagogues and churches here in the US, even though they are also deemed terrorist organizations, but not by Executive order, operate freely and openly in the US. Their mission is to harass, intimidate and to gather information on Americans who are pro-Palestinian and who criticize Israel, and to use that information as secret evidence and to prompt law enforcement to assist them in their efforts to deprive citizens of rights and to harass. Articles have also been published recently, after the suspected murder of the pro-Palestinian activist Riad Hamad in Texas, that our government, as part of Clinton's doctrine of unconditional support for Israel, gave the Israeli Mossad the go ahead to carry out targeted assassinations in the US, of pro-Palestinian US citizens. The Bush administration has been accused of giving Israeli communications and intelligence officers the go ahead to illegally wiretap US homes, and to carry out illegal surveillance on citizens for these same purposes. Can anyone explain what the Israeli intelligence has to do with Iraq or Afghanistan, if indeed these are the theaters for the war on terrorism?

That part of the so-called war on terrorism that is being carried out here in the US, began before 9/11. It is part of the war on terror declared by Benjamin Netanyahu, prior to, yet possibly including 9/11, that sought to accelerate the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestine, using unconditional US support, and our government institutions on behalf of Israel. Our government was used to round up, detain, interrogate and torture Palestinian and other Arab and Muslim foreigners living in the US who were either politically active, or orthodox in their practice of Islam, seeking information about back home, and also to prevent them from letting Americans know the truth about what Israel does in Palestine. Its aim in the US, is also to shut down US citizen dissent and opposition to US unconditional support for Israel, and to criminalize all criticism of Israel as either anti-Antisemitism, or material support for terrorism, and to use secret evidence as a pretext for harassment, intimidation, illegal wiretapping, surveillance and even murder of US pro-Palestinian, anti-war and anti-Zionist activists. Most secret evidence by the way, has historically been provided by the media.

It should be president elect Barack Obama's first priority to end this travesty of justice and the betrayal of the public trust that it represents. In his determination to restore our Constitution and the rights and liberties of American citizens that have been trampled upon by previous administrations who have seemingly collaborated with a foreign government to undermine the US Constitution, president elect Obama must reconsider US “unconditional” support for Israel and what that means, especially in respect to the rights of US citizens.

This article's emphasis on the US aspect of the war on terrorism is not to belittle the importance of the human and civil rights of none citizens that have also been trampled upon even though they are guaranteed under separate but equally legitimate doctrines of law. Rather it is merely an attempt to bring attention to the impact that the war on terrorism is having on the lives of American citizens here in the US, who like other Americans in our country's past, suffered similar government abuses, and injustices in their struggle for equal rights, protection under the law, and who won.

Israel must abide by ceasefire agreement and end illegal siege of Gaza

The Arab news is reporting that Hamas and Israeli diplomats met in Egypt this weekend to discuss the cease fire that came into effect approximately one month ago. It seems important to mention here that almost no one believed that the cease fire would last this long. Its success so far is due to the good graces of both the Palestinian resistance factions and Israel. Both sides have had to ignore some obvious violations of the cease fire agreement that was limited to Gaza and that does not include the West Bank.

In respect to Palestinian expectations and terms of the agreement, Israel’s refusal to end the year’s long economic siege of Gaza as agreed, poses the greatest threat to continued cooperation and calm. The Palestinian resistance factions made it clear during cease fire negotiations that their willingness to negotiate a cease fire did not result from anxiety over casualties caused by Israeli missiles or Israel’s routine and illegal military incursions. The Palestinian leadership in Gaza says it is compelled only by the desire to feed its people and to restore their human rights to have adequate food, water and health care. These are rights that are guaranteed under the Geneva Conventions and that are being illegally violated by Israel, aided by those countries who have with impunity denied the Palestinians these rights by cooperating with Israel to make the siege successful.

The siege is part of Israel’s grand strategy to ethnically cleanse Palestine. That alone should be sufficient cause for the countries of the world to stand against Israel, first in its application of the siege, and now in its violation of the cease fire agreement which states that the Rafah crossing, along with the other crossings into Gaza would be opened, thus ending the siege.

To those who would suggest that Israel’s other option is to carry out an all out military attack on the 1.5 million civilians who reside in Gaza, they should be advised that 1.5 billion Muslims will not allow it, and neither will millions of Arabs. If, as many pundits and analysts have detected, that the patience of Arabs and Muslims and other conscientious people, including many Jews, has worn thin in respect to continued Israeli violence against the Palestinians, there are no guarantees that Israeli military action will lessen demands to end the illegal Israeli siege. In fact it is likely that a return to violence will result in an even greater international outcry against Israel, the continued illegal occupation and the siege.

For their part, the resistance factions should perhaps continue to keep their end of the agreement and not return too quickly to missile attacks or other military acts of resistance in an effort to force Israel’s hand, or to punish Israel. As strange and counter intuitive as it may sound, the best approach for the Palestinians at this juncture might be to increase their appeal to the international community to call Israel to end its siege on Gaza, and to end the illegal occupation of Palestine. This will require increased diplomatic efforts in Africa, the Arab and Muslim world and Europe, and South America. These countries and peoples have leverage over the US that might outweigh the influence of American Jews and the Zionist Christians that have poisoned US foreign policy towards Palestine. Whereas it might be hard for any US policy maker to understand what benefit there might be in taking up the rights of Palestinians, they may be more sensitive to the moral appeal for justice, and human rights made by countries and peoples with whom the US desires trade and good relations.

Washington cannot change without change in US policy towards Israel

Talks of US and or Israeli attacks on Iran, along with the Democrat’s presumptive nominee for the presidency, Barak Obama’s remarks at AIPAC, that Jerusalem will remain Israel’s undivided capitol, are signs that nothing much will change in Washington’s foreign policy, no matter who wins the presidency. That’s bad news for the United States. The rest of the world is already preparing for at least 4 more years of US self destruction for the benefit of Israel. It’s only the US taxpayer who will be shocked to learn that the US has lost its hard earned credibility and its prestige over the years to accommodate a ghoulish Israeli penchant for death and destruction as public policy. The American tax payer will also be shocked to learn that our country’s foreign policy is based upon the irreligious and heretical belief that we can force God’s symbolic hand and bring about Armageddon so that a certain click of religious fanatics who wrongly call themselves Christians, can be raptured while the rest of us go to hell. It’s no secret to anyone now, that the US has been taken captive by a Judeo/Christian movement that is pretty much dictating US foreign and domestic policies, and also our country’s march to international isolation, condemnation and Armageddon, which by the way, includes the complete annihilation of Israel, not by Iran, but rather by the Judeo/Christian god who ever that might be, excluding Jesus or Yahweh, a/k/a Allah, a/k/a Jehovah.

The Judeo/Christian lobby, which consists of AIPAC, and also John Hagee’s pro-Israel organization and most of the Jewish American organizations worked successfully to co-opt the US media, and our legislature, and have and continue to use them both to carry out a campaign of defamation and vilification of Islam, Muslims, and Palestinians that makes McCarthyism look like a stroll in the park. Their influence over the executive branch of our government is also well known, which explains how Elliot Abrams, Condoleezza Rice and others at the US Department of State, and NSA can get away with scripting policies that underwrite genocide in Gaza, and nothing is said or done to stop them. The media will not facilitate a debate on the Gaza siege or anything related to US Middle East policy except whether or not we should negotiate with Iran and Hamas, which makes little sense since as the debate is ongoing, so is the genocide in Palestine, and the very real threat that faces Iran. So what’s to talk about, when we will stop killing and threatening, or when they will stop letting us?

Al Ma’an News is reporting from Palestine that PA president Mahmoud Abbas has called for a dialogue with Hamas that should begin immediately and without pre-conditions. According to Al Ma’an, the dialogue is aimed at unifying Palestine, and ending the animosity between Fatah and Hamas. It’s a wonderful idea whose time nearly passed. On the other hand, Fatah negotiator Saed Erakat reportedly said that all pre-conditions for the Fatah/Hamas dialogue still exist and that Hamas has failed in its attempts to administrate affairs in Gaza.

While Abbas is signaling that the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have reached their natural and predictable conclusion, which is probably more war, Erakat says that Palestinian negotiations with Israel must continue, which explains his conflicting remarks about the tentative Hamas/Fatah reconciliation, which if taken seriously, could hold the reconciliation off until Israeli violence escalates further, which will be too late. Erakat says the negotiations are the way to peace, and that peace and a two state solution are the goals. He obviously has not heard the credible and legitimate voices, East and West, Jewish and Gentile, who have stated, based upon historic evidence, that as far as the US and Israel are concerned, negotiations are the goal…period. Maybe Erakat is posturing to take the place of Abbas who will surely be pushed aside by the Quartet, and disqualified from negotiating with Israel by his desire to unite Palestine, and to end the divide and conquer policy that has only led to more talk, more illegal Israeli settlements, no cease fire and increased Israeli attacks in the West Bank and Gaza. Only a united Palestine can face the future that will be created for them by a Judeo/Christian controlled Washington DC, that will not be changed unless we can find a president who is willing and able to stand up to these forces and demand US independence, and who will reassert the first amendment of the US Constitution that prohibits our country from formulating public policies based upon religious laws or doctrines.

Bush’s willingness to adopt the brutally racist and fatalistic Judeo/Christian ideology that led us into an unnecessary war in Iraq that has bloodied US hands with the lives of over 1 million innocent Iraqis and more than 4000 of our own soldiers and Marines was achieved by isolating the executive branch, and surrounding Bush with Judeo/Christian pastors disguised as Middle East experts and family friends. These same people bribed and bought our Congress through Abramoff, and co-opted the media through suspect FCC regulations that allowed for media monopolies and the corporatization, and corruption of US media. It’s hard to imagine that any US presidential candidate or even a newly elected president will be able to dismantle, or purge this rouge government and its various estates in four years.

Barak Obama, who has opened a can of foreign policy worms with his AIPAC rhetoric, should be advised that he cannot change Washington without changing US policies. He must understand that ending the Iraq war is not merely a matter of withdrawing US troops, but includes US independence from Israel and its Judeo/Christian movement that is dragging the US towards Armageddon at the speed of light. Only international unity, and the cooperation and will to defeat this force will pull the world back from the brinks of World War III. So far, Obama has cried “change,” yet he increasingly sounds more like John McCain, and more of the same, and that does not bode well for the US or the Middle East, or the world for that matter.