israeli's are so scared of another holocaust they are willing to put it on someone else.
there is no question israel is violent. there is no question israel is brutal. th3ere is no question isreal's are ruthless. yeah its been bad, but what's the timeline here? how long is it gonna take the jews to get over the holocaust?
The holocaust is just an excuse. The Zionists began laying claims on Palestine at the end of the 19th Century, long before the holocaust.
Michael Neumann:
'Zionism was from the start an ill-considered and menacing experiment in ethnic nationalism. Neither history nor religion could justify it. The Jews had no claim to Palestine and no right to build a state there. Their growing need for refuge may have provided some limited, inadequate, short-term moral sustenance for the Zionist project, but it could not render that project legitimate. The mere fact of later suffering cannot retroactively convert a wrong into a right: my attempt to usurp your land does not become legitimate simply because I am wrongly beaten by someone else, far away, when my project is near completion. Nor did the well founded desperation of the Jews during the Nazi era provide any justification for Zionism; at most it provided an excuse. If someone is murdering my family in Germany, that does not entitle me to your house in Boston, or my "people" to your country. All Jews fleeing Hitler were indeed entitled to some refuge. One might even suppose that it was the obligation of the whole world, including the Palestinians, to do what they could to provide such refuge. But this is not the whole story.
For one thing, those with ample means to provide refuge, and those who are responsible for the need, have by far the greater share of responsibility. The Palestinians fell into neither category. Even more important, there is an enormous difference between providing refuge and providing a sovereign state. No amount of danger or suffering requires this, and indeed it may conflict with the demand for refuge. Simply to control one's own affairs isn't always the safest alternative. Arguably, for instance, the Jews were safer in the United States, where they are not sovereign, than they ever were in Israel. This is not only a fact but was always a reasonable expectation, so the need for refuge is also no basis for Zionism...
If there are any great lessons to be learned from the Nazi era , they are to watch out for fascism, racism, and ethnic nationalism. Supporting Israel hardly embodies these lessons.'
so jews are ruthless by nature? i don't buy it. they have been dealt a shitty hand and are using that hand to do unto others, so to speak. there's a reason for everything.
Where in that piece does he say that Jews are ruthless by nature? He doesn't. Those are your words.
so what's the reason? i offered a solution as to why jews are so terrible to their neighbors, i thought you had another reason.
The reason is Zionism, which promotes ethnic nationalism.
Not all Jews support Zionism. In fact many Jews are outright opposed to it, such as Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Michael Neumann, and these guys: http://www.jatonyc.org/
Jews Against the Occupation
Our Mission
Jews Against the Occupation is an organization of progressive, secular and religious Jews of all ages throughout the New York City area advocating peace through justice for Palestine and Israel. Our points of unity are as follows:
NO OCCUPATION IN OUR NAME
We as American Jews reject the Israeli government assertion that it is "necessary" to subjugate Palestinians for the sake of keeping Jews safe. We assert that security can only come from mutual respect, and that the occupation of Palestine is only worsening the position of Jews in the Middle East and around the world.
RESTORE HUMAN & CIVIL RIGHTS
The Israeli military fires bone-crushing rubber bullets and live ammunition at unarmed Palestinian civilians engaged in peaceful protest, failing to distinguish between peaceful and violent resistance. The Israeli government has been demolishing Palestinian houses and crops in the Occupied Territories, while allowing Jewish settlers -- many of them American -- to illegally occupy the same land.
END U.S. AID TO ISRAEL
The U.S. government provides more aid to Israel than to any other country—the vast majority of this is for military purposes. Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have propped up the occupation and fueled the Israeli government’s war machine (as well as disguising the occupation’s true cost). This aid must end.
STOP ECONOMIC ATTACKS ON PALESTINE
The Israeli government has attacked the Palestinian economy by: closing Palestinian banks; imposing extreme taxes on business; withdrawing operating licenses; destroying industrial equipment; bulldozing farmland and banning fishing; restricting workers' movement; controlling the export of Palestinian goods; closing the borders of the Occupied Territories; and refusing to fund infrastructure like water and electricity -- even in Arab villages within Israel.
LET PALESTINIANS RETURN HOME
Thousands of Palestinians were driven out of their houses and off of their farms during and after the creation of Israel. They must be allowed to return to their homeland.
ANTI-SEMITISM VS. CRITIQUES OF ISRAEL
Jews Against the Occupation stands firmly against anti-Semitism and racism in all its forms. We see our historical struggle against anti- Semitism--a cornerstone of European white supremacist ideology--as inherently linked to all struggles against oppression. We therefore stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom.
Judaism is a cultural and religious identity, which must not be equated with Zionism, a political movement. Criticism of the state of Israel, its policies, or the idea of a Jewish state does not by itself constitute anti-Semitism. Dismissing critics of Israel or of Zionism as "anti-Semitic" is a means of stifling debate and masking the impact of the occupation.
so what's the reason? i offered a solution as to why jews are so terrible to their neighbors, i thought you had another reason.
The reason is Zionism, which promotes ethnic nationalism.
Not all Jews support Zionism. In fact many Jews are outright opposed to it.
i realize that.
zionism has roots in tragedy. that's my point.
Ilan Pappe - The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine:
'...the more critical view today sees the Zionist drive to settle in Palestine, instead of other possible locations, as closely interwoven with nineteenth-century Christian millenarianism and European colonialism. The various Protestant missionary societies and their governments in the European Concert competed among themselves over the future of a 'Christian' Palestine that they wanted to pry away from the Ottoman Empire. The more religious among the aspirants in the West regarded the return of Jews to Palestine as a chapter in the divine scheme, precipitating the second coming of Christ and the creation of a pietist state there. This religious zeal inspired pious politicians, such as Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister during the first World War, to act with even greater commitment for the success of the Zionist project. This did not prevent him from supplying his government at the same time with a host of 'strategic', rather than messianic, considerations for why Palestine should be colonised by the Zionist movement, which were mostly infused by his own overriding distrust of, and and disdain for, 'Arabs' and 'Mohammedans', as he called the Palestinians.'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bro ... 75395.html
'No person fearful of being a victim can be rewarded with special rights or special powers. If we -- Americans, Israelis, everyone -- want to deserve our freedom, we must agree to live in a moral world where people are responsible for themselves. And just as we cannot be punished for the things that our parents did, so the crimes we commit can never be justified by the things our parents suffered.'
Ilan Pappe said it wow/. well i'm not convinced. and huffington post, nice. but to think tha'ts gonna change my mind you must be out your mind, as maynard puts it. byrnzie i agree with everything you post, fyi. why you're pushing me on this i have no idea.
Once again it's made perfectly clear by the Israeli's that they have zero interest in a peaceful settlement and are only interested in building more illegal, racist 'facts on the ground'. The Israeli leadership clearly holds the Americans in utter contempt. The U.S is Israel's lap-dog.
'...The chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the decision represented a rejection of a proposal by the Quartet of Mid East negotiators - the US, the EU, Russia and the UN - for new talks between the Palestinians and Israelis, expected to be made officially on Friday.
"With this, Israel is responding to the Quartet's statement with 1,100 'NOs'," he said.'
Ilan Pappe said it wow/. well i'm not convinced. and huffington post, nice. but to think tha'ts gonna change my mind you must be out your mind, as maynard puts it. byrnzie i agree with everything you post, fyi. why you're pushing me on this i have no idea.
Ilan Pappe said it wow/. well i'm not convinced. and huffington post, nice. but to think tha'ts gonna change my mind you must be out your mind, as maynard puts it. byrnzie i agree with everything you post, fyi. why you're pushing me on this i have no idea.
1,100 new homes on their land. About time they start building again.
their land??? how do you figure that?
Apparently some Jews lived in the region 2000 years ago, so therefore these people from America and Russia, e.t.c, now have a claim to all of Palestine.
Just like how the Nazis tried to justify their claim to all of Europe.
1,100 new homes on their land. About time they start building again.
their land??? how do you figure that?
Apparently some Jews lived in the region 2000 years ago, so therefore these people from America and Russia, e.t.c, now have a claim to all of Palestine.
Just like how the Nazis tried to justify their claim to all of Europe.
well based on that im going home to ireland. see y'all. :wave:
hear my name
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, several right-wing factions in the Israeli Knesset argued that Israel should annex West Bank settlements as punishment for the recent Palestinian bid for United Nations membership.
The letter was signed by Likud chairman Ze’ev Elkin, Shas chairman Avraham Michaeli, Habayit Hayehudi chairman Uri Orbach, and the leader of the National Union faction Yaakov Katz.
The right-wing leaders urged Netanyahu to impose sanctions on the Palestinian Authority, cut aid money, gradually annex the entirety all West Bank settlements, accelerate settlement construction, cancel PA officials’ VIP ID cards, and prohibit any Palestinian construction on Israeli Defense Force controlled land.
This kind of pressure has apparently manifested into policy already, as Tuesday also saw the announcement of a major new settlement expansion in Gilo, one of the “ring neighborhoods” created in territory conquered by the Israeli military in 1967, which will include 1,100 new housing units...
In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, several right-wing factions in the Israeli Knesset argued that Israel should annex West Bank settlements as punishment for the recent Palestinian bid for United Nations membership.
The letter was signed by Likud chairman Ze’ev Elkin, Shas chairman Avraham Michaeli, Habayit Hayehudi chairman Uri Orbach, and the leader of the National Union faction Yaakov Katz.
The right-wing leaders urged Netanyahu to impose sanctions on the Palestinian Authority, cut aid money, gradually annex the entirety all West Bank settlements, accelerate settlement construction, cancel PA officials’ VIP ID cards, and prohibit any Palestinian construction on Israeli Defense Force controlled land.
This kind of pressure has apparently manifested into policy already, as Tuesday also saw the announcement of a major new settlement expansion in Gilo, one of the “ring neighborhoods” created in territory conquered by the Israeli military in 1967, which will include 1,100 new housing units.
someone has to stop these people. :twisted: :twisted:
i have a bad feeling that this is going to start another war. 97% of the international community disagrees with settlement expansion, yet israel keeps doing it as a "fuck you" to the rest of the world..i have a feeling that this can only end badly. israel is not going to stop doing these things, so someone is going to have to make them stop.
how about someone do the completely symbolic step of sanctioning them at the un?
excuse me while i choke from laughter....
"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry." - Lincoln
Well we know that Israel wants the entire land, we support Israel, we give them money, weapons..we even stroke their egos and rub their balls. "Special relationship" "will support Israel no matter what".
We need to stop doing these things for the Zionist State. We also need to ask why we do these thing for them, looking at AIPAC (Israeli Lobby). You can't become president without going to AIPAC and confessing your love for Israel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0zJtWLf1us
and Obama? When directly asked about Israeli human rights violations by a Florida College student..He makes a joke about someone in the crowd (as someone posted), talks about how good Israel is, mentions Hammas and speaks highly of Netanyahu, but never answers the question.
How do Israel's apologists justify the occupation and the illegal racist settlements again? Oh yeah, they say the Jewish-only settlements from places like America and Russia are built for security reasons. (Because placing men, women, and children on the front line of an occupying power on land stolen from your avowed enemy is the way to ensure their security, right?)
Economy minister Hasan Abu Libdeh says that Palestinians are prevented from achieving their potential
Harriet Sherwood in Ramallah
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 29 September 2011
Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza deprives the Palestinian economy of almost £4.4bn a year, equivalent to about 85% of the nominal gross domestic product of Palestine, according to a report published in Ramallah .
As well as its detrimental effect on the Palestinian economy, the "occupation enterprise" allows the state of Israel and commercial firms to profit from Palestinian natural resources and tourist potential, the report said.
"No matter what the Palestinian people achieve by our own efforts, the occupation prevents us achieving our potential as a free people in our own country," said Hasan Abu Libdeh, economy minister in the Palestinian Authority, introducing the report on Thursday. "It should be clear to the international community that one reason for Israel's refusal to act in good faith as a partner for peace is the profits it makes as an occupying power."
Without the occupation, the Palestinian economy would be almost twice as large as it is and would be able to reduce its dependence on donor funding from the international community, according to the report.
Compiled jointly by the economy ministry and the independent thinktank Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem, the report was the first attempt to quantify the annual cost of the occupation to the Palestinian economy. "The total cost which we have been able to measure was $6.897bn in 2010, a staggering 84.9% of the total estimated Palestinian GDP," it said.
"The majority of these costs do not have any relationship with security concerns but, rather, come from the heavy restrictions imposed on the Palestinians in the access to their own natural resources, many of which are exploited by Israel itself, including water, minerals, salts, stones and land.".
The report broke down the $6.9bn figure into components, including the blockade on Gaza ($1.9bn), water restrictions ($1.9bn), natural resource restrictions ($1.8bn), import and export limits ($288m), restrictions on movement ($184m) and tourism to the Dead Sea ($143m).
The occupation "imposes a myriad of restrictions on the Palestinian economy. It prevents Palestinians from accessing much of their land and from exploiting most of their natural resources; it isolates Palestinians from global markets, and fragments their territory into small, badly connected 'cantons'," the report said.
The blockade of Gaza placed severe restrictions on imports and exports, on which the economy was highly dependent. Electricity and water production was unable to meet demand from industry and agriculture owing to damaged infrastructure and a shortage of parts and materials. Shelling had destroyed physical assets and infrastructure.
Restrictions on the import to both the West Bank and Gaza of goods deemed as "dual use", such as chemicals and fertilisers which Israel says could be used in the manufacture of weapons, had severely affected manufacturing and agriculture.
Limits on movement for both goods and labour within the West Bank through roadblocks, checkpoints and diversionswere a critical economic constraint. The report compared the distance of direct routes between West Bank towns and cities and the routes Palestinians are required to take. For example, the distance between the city of Nablus in the north of the West Bank and al-Jiftlik in the Jordan Valley was 36 miles (58km) by the most direct route, but the route Palestinians were forced to take was 107 miles (173km), adding significantly to the time and cost of each journey.
Restrictions on Palestinian access to the Dead Sea meant a loss in income from the extraction of minerals and salts, and from tourism, from which Israel benefited economically. Dead Sea beauty and skin care products, manufactured and marketed by Israeli companies, were worth $150m (£96m) a year, the report said.
Israeli businesses also profited from mining and quarrying in the West Bank. West Bank water resources were diverted to Israeli settlements, industry and agriculture. Israel took 10 times as much water from the three West Bank aquifers as the Palestinians, the report said.
Around 2.5m trees, including olive groves, had been uprooted since 1967 for settlements, infrastructure and the separation barrier. The report estimated the average annual production of a mature olive tree at 70kg, worth around $1.1 per kilogram.
Palestinian farmers had lost land or could no longer access it. "Six hundred and twenty thousand settlers [in the West Bank and East Jerusalem] cultivate 64,000 dunams of land. Four million Palestinians in the West Bank only cultivate 100,000 dunams," said Abu Libdeh. One dunam is around 1,000 square metres.
"As we prepare for statehood we want to build a sustainable and viable Palestine which is economically feasible, environmentally sound and socially legitimate," he said. "With Israeli restrictions on access, mobility and resource availability, a viable Palestine is impossible. To make Palestine sustainable, the occupation has to end."
Meanwhile, the Palestinian leadership said on Thursday there were "encouraging elements" in the statement issued by the Middle East Quartet last week in an attempt to get the parties to return to talks. "We call on Israel to announce its commitment to the principles and points of reference [the statement] identifies," said senior official Yasser Abed Rabbo, speaking after a meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's executive committee.
"We consider the Quartet's reference to the obligations of the Palestinian and Israeli sides under the Road Map and the call to avoid provocative acts as a clear call for a definitive halt to settlement activity in all its forms, which is an encouraging sign."
The Israeli cabinet met on Tuesday to consider the statement but was unable to agree on a response.
Case study
Pal Karm Company for Cosmetics, located in Nablus, sells cosmetics and skin care products in the local market and exports to Israel. Glycerin is an essential raw material for the company. Israel has banned the entry of glycerin into the Palestinian Territory since mid-2007. Ever since then, the company has been unable to sell skin care products in the Israeli market because the Israeli health authorities require glycerin to be part of such products. The company estimates its losses at 30% of its sales in the Israeli market for this product.
US Congress blocks £128m in aid for Palestinians
Palestinian Authority accuses Congress of holding back aid to punish Mahmoud Abbas' bid for UN statehood
The Palestinian Authority has accused the US of "collective punishment", after the US Congress blocked $200m (£128m) in aid in response to President Mahmoud Abbas' bid for UN statehood.
The decision to freeze the payments was reportedly made by three congressional committees on 18 August, before Abbas' planned bid for statehood recognition at the UN the following month.
The funds, intended for food aid, health care, and infrastructure projects, were supposed to have been transferred within the US financial year, which ends today. The Obama administration is reportedly negotiating with congressional leaders to unlock the aid.
"It is another kind of collective punishment which is going to harm the needs of the public without making any positive contribution," Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib told the Independent.
"It is ironic to be punished for going to the United Nations."
USAid has already started scaling back its aid operations in the West Bank and Gaza, and there are fears it may be forced to end all humanitarian work and distribution of financial support to the Palestinian Authority by January.
There are also fears the move could lead to a security crisis in the Palestinian territories.
"Security co-operation with the Palestinians is excellent at the moment and we do not want to jeopardise that," a senior Israeli military official official told the Independent.
Republican Gary Ackerman, member of the House sub-committee on the Middle East and South Asia, told a meeting of representatives and leaders of Jewish organisations outside the UN headquarters on Monday that "there may need to be a total cut-off of all aid to the Palestinians for pursuing this course of action which is very dangerous and ill advised."
Former president Bill Clinton recently warned Congress to leave the issue of aid to the Obama administration. He said: "Everybody knows the US Congress is the most pro-Israel parliamentary body in the world. They don't have to demonstrate that."
A UN security council panel on admitting new members to the UN met to discuss the Palestinian bid for the first time on Friday. After the meeting, Lebanese UN ambassador Nawaf Salam said the committee unanimously agreed to hold further meetings next week.
"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry." - Lincoln
Comments
Where in that piece does he say that Jews are ruthless by nature? He doesn't. Those are your words.
The reason is Zionism, which promotes ethnic nationalism.
Not all Jews support Zionism. In fact many Jews are outright opposed to it, such as Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Michael Neumann, and these guys: http://www.jatonyc.org/
Jews Against the Occupation
Our Mission
Jews Against the Occupation is an organization of progressive, secular and religious Jews of all ages throughout the New York City area advocating peace through justice for Palestine and Israel. Our points of unity are as follows:
NO OCCUPATION IN OUR NAME
We as American Jews reject the Israeli government assertion that it is "necessary" to subjugate Palestinians for the sake of keeping Jews safe. We assert that security can only come from mutual respect, and that the occupation of Palestine is only worsening the position of Jews in the Middle East and around the world.
RESTORE HUMAN & CIVIL RIGHTS
The Israeli military fires bone-crushing rubber bullets and live ammunition at unarmed Palestinian civilians engaged in peaceful protest, failing to distinguish between peaceful and violent resistance. The Israeli government has been demolishing Palestinian houses and crops in the Occupied Territories, while allowing Jewish settlers -- many of them American -- to illegally occupy the same land.
END U.S. AID TO ISRAEL
The U.S. government provides more aid to Israel than to any other country—the vast majority of this is for military purposes. Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have propped up the occupation and fueled the Israeli government’s war machine (as well as disguising the occupation’s true cost). This aid must end.
STOP ECONOMIC ATTACKS ON PALESTINE
The Israeli government has attacked the Palestinian economy by: closing Palestinian banks; imposing extreme taxes on business; withdrawing operating licenses; destroying industrial equipment; bulldozing farmland and banning fishing; restricting workers' movement; controlling the export of Palestinian goods; closing the borders of the Occupied Territories; and refusing to fund infrastructure like water and electricity -- even in Arab villages within Israel.
LET PALESTINIANS RETURN HOME
Thousands of Palestinians were driven out of their houses and off of their farms during and after the creation of Israel. They must be allowed to return to their homeland.
ANTI-SEMITISM VS. CRITIQUES OF ISRAEL
Jews Against the Occupation stands firmly against anti-Semitism and racism in all its forms. We see our historical struggle against anti- Semitism--a cornerstone of European white supremacist ideology--as inherently linked to all struggles against oppression. We therefore stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom.
Judaism is a cultural and religious identity, which must not be equated with Zionism, a political movement. Criticism of the state of Israel, its policies, or the idea of a Jewish state does not by itself constitute anti-Semitism. Dismissing critics of Israel or of Zionism as "anti-Semitic" is a means of stifling debate and masking the impact of the occupation.
zionism has roots in tragedy. that's my point.
Ilan Pappe - The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine:
'...the more critical view today sees the Zionist drive to settle in Palestine, instead of other possible locations, as closely interwoven with nineteenth-century Christian millenarianism and European colonialism. The various Protestant missionary societies and their governments in the European Concert competed among themselves over the future of a 'Christian' Palestine that they wanted to pry away from the Ottoman Empire. The more religious among the aspirants in the West regarded the return of Jews to Palestine as a chapter in the divine scheme, precipitating the second coming of Christ and the creation of a pietist state there. This religious zeal inspired pious politicians, such as Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister during the first World War, to act with even greater commitment for the success of the Zionist project. This did not prevent him from supplying his government at the same time with a host of 'strategic', rather than messianic, considerations for why Palestine should be colonised by the Zionist movement, which were mostly infused by his own overriding distrust of, and and disdain for, 'Arabs' and 'Mohammedans', as he called the Palestinians.'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bro ... 75395.html
'No person fearful of being a victim can be rewarded with special rights or special powers. If we -- Americans, Israelis, everyone -- want to deserve our freedom, we must agree to live in a moral world where people are responsible for themselves. And just as we cannot be punished for the things that our parents did, so the crimes we commit can never be justified by the things our parents suffered.'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15085308
Western powers angered as Israel agrees settler homes
27 September 2011
'...The chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the decision represented a rejection of a proposal by the Quartet of Mid East negotiators - the US, the EU, Russia and the UN - for new talks between the Palestinians and Israelis, expected to be made officially on Friday.
"With this, Israel is responding to the Quartet's statement with 1,100 'NOs'," he said.'
Not pushing, just clarifying.
their land??? how do you figure that?
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
Apparently some Jews lived in the region 2000 years ago, so therefore these people from America and Russia, e.t.c, now have a claim to all of Palestine.
Just like how the Nazis tried to justify their claim to all of Europe.
well based on that im going home to ireland. see y'all. :wave:
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
ireland sounds nice.
In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, several right-wing factions in the Israeli Knesset argued that Israel should annex West Bank settlements as punishment for the recent Palestinian bid for United Nations membership.
The letter was signed by Likud chairman Ze’ev Elkin, Shas chairman Avraham Michaeli, Habayit Hayehudi chairman Uri Orbach, and the leader of the National Union faction Yaakov Katz.
The right-wing leaders urged Netanyahu to impose sanctions on the Palestinian Authority, cut aid money, gradually annex the entirety all West Bank settlements, accelerate settlement construction, cancel PA officials’ VIP ID cards, and prohibit any Palestinian construction on Israeli Defense Force controlled land.
This kind of pressure has apparently manifested into policy already, as Tuesday also saw the announcement of a major new settlement expansion in Gilo, one of the “ring neighborhoods” created in territory conquered by the Israeli military in 1967, which will include 1,100 new housing units...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/ ... PQ20110927
http://news.antiwar.com/2011/09/27/isra ... i-leaders/
i have a bad feeling that this is going to start another war. 97% of the international community disagrees with settlement expansion, yet israel keeps doing it as a "fuck you" to the rest of the world..i have a feeling that this can only end badly. israel is not going to stop doing these things, so someone is going to have to make them stop.
how about someone do the completely symbolic step of sanctioning them at the un?
excuse me while i choke from laughter....
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
We need to stop doing these things for the Zionist State. We also need to ask why we do these thing for them, looking at AIPAC (Israeli Lobby). You can't become president without going to AIPAC and confessing your love for Israel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0zJtWLf1us
Why is that?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0ZIJdN05QE
and Obama? When directly asked about Israeli human rights violations by a Florida College student..He makes a joke about someone in the crowd (as someone posted), talks about how good Israel is, mentions Hammas and speaks highly of Netanyahu, but never answers the question.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oniFAoHg ... re=related
Proved wrong once again, with this weeks latest developments regarding settlements and the UN meetings.
Meanwhile...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/se ... an-economy
Israeli occupation hitting Palestinian economy, claims report
Economy minister Hasan Abu Libdeh says that Palestinians are prevented from achieving their potential
Harriet Sherwood in Ramallah
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 29 September 2011
Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza deprives the Palestinian economy of almost £4.4bn a year, equivalent to about 85% of the nominal gross domestic product of Palestine, according to a report published in Ramallah .
As well as its detrimental effect on the Palestinian economy, the "occupation enterprise" allows the state of Israel and commercial firms to profit from Palestinian natural resources and tourist potential, the report said.
"No matter what the Palestinian people achieve by our own efforts, the occupation prevents us achieving our potential as a free people in our own country," said Hasan Abu Libdeh, economy minister in the Palestinian Authority, introducing the report on Thursday. "It should be clear to the international community that one reason for Israel's refusal to act in good faith as a partner for peace is the profits it makes as an occupying power."
Without the occupation, the Palestinian economy would be almost twice as large as it is and would be able to reduce its dependence on donor funding from the international community, according to the report.
Compiled jointly by the economy ministry and the independent thinktank Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem, the report was the first attempt to quantify the annual cost of the occupation to the Palestinian economy. "The total cost which we have been able to measure was $6.897bn in 2010, a staggering 84.9% of the total estimated Palestinian GDP," it said.
"The majority of these costs do not have any relationship with security concerns but, rather, come from the heavy restrictions imposed on the Palestinians in the access to their own natural resources, many of which are exploited by Israel itself, including water, minerals, salts, stones and land.".
The report broke down the $6.9bn figure into components, including the blockade on Gaza ($1.9bn), water restrictions ($1.9bn), natural resource restrictions ($1.8bn), import and export limits ($288m), restrictions on movement ($184m) and tourism to the Dead Sea ($143m).
The occupation "imposes a myriad of restrictions on the Palestinian economy. It prevents Palestinians from accessing much of their land and from exploiting most of their natural resources; it isolates Palestinians from global markets, and fragments their territory into small, badly connected 'cantons'," the report said.
The blockade of Gaza placed severe restrictions on imports and exports, on which the economy was highly dependent. Electricity and water production was unable to meet demand from industry and agriculture owing to damaged infrastructure and a shortage of parts and materials. Shelling had destroyed physical assets and infrastructure.
Restrictions on the import to both the West Bank and Gaza of goods deemed as "dual use", such as chemicals and fertilisers which Israel says could be used in the manufacture of weapons, had severely affected manufacturing and agriculture.
Limits on movement for both goods and labour within the West Bank through roadblocks, checkpoints and diversionswere a critical economic constraint. The report compared the distance of direct routes between West Bank towns and cities and the routes Palestinians are required to take. For example, the distance between the city of Nablus in the north of the West Bank and al-Jiftlik in the Jordan Valley was 36 miles (58km) by the most direct route, but the route Palestinians were forced to take was 107 miles (173km), adding significantly to the time and cost of each journey.
Restrictions on Palestinian access to the Dead Sea meant a loss in income from the extraction of minerals and salts, and from tourism, from which Israel benefited economically. Dead Sea beauty and skin care products, manufactured and marketed by Israeli companies, were worth $150m (£96m) a year, the report said.
Israeli businesses also profited from mining and quarrying in the West Bank. West Bank water resources were diverted to Israeli settlements, industry and agriculture. Israel took 10 times as much water from the three West Bank aquifers as the Palestinians, the report said.
Around 2.5m trees, including olive groves, had been uprooted since 1967 for settlements, infrastructure and the separation barrier. The report estimated the average annual production of a mature olive tree at 70kg, worth around $1.1 per kilogram.
Palestinian farmers had lost land or could no longer access it. "Six hundred and twenty thousand settlers [in the West Bank and East Jerusalem] cultivate 64,000 dunams of land. Four million Palestinians in the West Bank only cultivate 100,000 dunams," said Abu Libdeh. One dunam is around 1,000 square metres.
"As we prepare for statehood we want to build a sustainable and viable Palestine which is economically feasible, environmentally sound and socially legitimate," he said. "With Israeli restrictions on access, mobility and resource availability, a viable Palestine is impossible. To make Palestine sustainable, the occupation has to end."
Meanwhile, the Palestinian leadership said on Thursday there were "encouraging elements" in the statement issued by the Middle East Quartet last week in an attempt to get the parties to return to talks. "We call on Israel to announce its commitment to the principles and points of reference [the statement] identifies," said senior official Yasser Abed Rabbo, speaking after a meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's executive committee.
"We consider the Quartet's reference to the obligations of the Palestinian and Israeli sides under the Road Map and the call to avoid provocative acts as a clear call for a definitive halt to settlement activity in all its forms, which is an encouraging sign."
The Israeli cabinet met on Tuesday to consider the statement but was unable to agree on a response.
Case study
Pal Karm Company for Cosmetics, located in Nablus, sells cosmetics and skin care products in the local market and exports to Israel. Glycerin is an essential raw material for the company. Israel has banned the entry of glycerin into the Palestinian Territory since mid-2007. Ever since then, the company has been unable to sell skin care products in the Israeli market because the Israeli health authorities require glycerin to be part of such products. The company estimates its losses at 30% of its sales in the Israeli market for this product.
US Congress blocks £128m in aid for Palestinians
Palestinian Authority accuses Congress of holding back aid to punish Mahmoud Abbas' bid for UN statehood
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oc ... lestinians
The Palestinian Authority has accused the US of "collective punishment", after the US Congress blocked $200m (£128m) in aid in response to President Mahmoud Abbas' bid for UN statehood.
The decision to freeze the payments was reportedly made by three congressional committees on 18 August, before Abbas' planned bid for statehood recognition at the UN the following month.
The funds, intended for food aid, health care, and infrastructure projects, were supposed to have been transferred within the US financial year, which ends today. The Obama administration is reportedly negotiating with congressional leaders to unlock the aid.
"It is another kind of collective punishment which is going to harm the needs of the public without making any positive contribution," Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib told the Independent.
"It is ironic to be punished for going to the United Nations."
USAid has already started scaling back its aid operations in the West Bank and Gaza, and there are fears it may be forced to end all humanitarian work and distribution of financial support to the Palestinian Authority by January.
There are also fears the move could lead to a security crisis in the Palestinian territories.
"Security co-operation with the Palestinians is excellent at the moment and we do not want to jeopardise that," a senior Israeli military official official told the Independent.
Republican Gary Ackerman, member of the House sub-committee on the Middle East and South Asia, told a meeting of representatives and leaders of Jewish organisations outside the UN headquarters on Monday that "there may need to be a total cut-off of all aid to the Palestinians for pursuing this course of action which is very dangerous and ill advised."
Former president Bill Clinton recently warned Congress to leave the issue of aid to the Obama administration. He said: "Everybody knows the US Congress is the most pro-Israel parliamentary body in the world. They don't have to demonstrate that."
A UN security council panel on admitting new members to the UN met to discuss the Palestinian bid for the first time on Friday. After the meeting, Lebanese UN ambassador Nawaf Salam said the committee unanimously agreed to hold further meetings next week.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."