Taking Protest to the Streets

Veterans and military families will lead the March 20, Washington, DC demonstration against war as more organizations and individuals connect the dots of racism, poverty and war.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/

Veterans and military families speak out

Veterans and military families are joining with tens of thousands of others who will be marching on Washington, D.C., on Saturday, March 20. 

If you are a veteran, active-duty service member or a member of a military family and would like to join the veterans, active-duty service members and military families contingent, click here.

[...]  We must continue the struggle. We must be louder than ever, as you will hear many tell us to shut up and go away. Don’t tell the public the truth that there has been no change … that we should not challenge the leaders of our country because they are now labeled Democrats rather than Republicans. As we have fewer voices, we must be louder now than ever before.

Read the entire release here:  http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/01/16/veterans-and-military-families-speak-out/

The group ANSWER is coordinating the demonstration:

All out for the March 20th March on Washington!

People from all over the country are organizing to converge on Washington, D.C., to demand the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan and Iraq.
On Saturday, March 20, 2010, there will be a massive National March & Rally in D.C. A day of action and outreach in Washington, D.C., will take place on Friday, March 19, preceding the Saturday march.
There will be coinciding mass marches on March 20 in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The national actions are initiated by a large number of organizations and prominent individuals. To see a list of the initiators, click this link. 
We will march together to say “No Colonial-type Wars and Occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Haiti!" We will march together to say "No War Against Iran!” We will march together to say “No War for Empire Anywhere!”
Instead of war, we will demand funds so that every person can have a job, free and universal health care, decent schools, and affordable housing.

http://answer.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=m20_homepage

Gagging Truth on Google

I knew something was up. The interruptions were too frequent and now my paranoia is confirmed. However, I'm not quite ready to jump into the "zionist inspired policies" rant until more info is available. There are lots of reasons why certain powers wouldn't want Uruknet on line, and lots going on behind the scenes. Flee speach! Flee speach!

GOOGLE GAGGING AGAIN ~~ URUKNET REMOVED COMPLETELY
June 19, 2008 at 7:33 am
One of my Associates, Uruknet.Info, is once again the victim of Google’s zionist inspired polices. Just a month ago, the co-founder of Google was in Israel to ‘celebrate’ its 60 years as an occupying power… he obviously was inspired by his visit as his Company’s policies seem to have shifted even more to the right than they were before his trip.
Uruknet has been hacked, taken of Google News indexing and now, the latest… taken off Google completely. How can this be done? We really don’t know, but we do know that Google has refused to respond to the thousands of requests by readers to reinstate Uruknet on Google News. They came up with a response after weeks only to the site itself where it “reasoned” that Uruknet was “only” an aggregator. All of us know that it is an exceptionally important aggregator, but it is far more than that! It contains original material, has editorial choices and space for commentary and it presents for an international public much material that otherwise would not be translated or disseminated.
Without being listed on Google, as much as we detest Google for its arbitrary blocking that many of us have had to undergo, losing readership in the meantime, we are able to admit that for a news site to not be listed AT ALL on Google means that NO ONE at all findstheir articles on a simple search. This includes archived material. This is something that we find unacceptable and it demands that all of us try to do our best to take action to change this situation as soon as possible. Uruknet serves an important role on the Internet, it is one of the few sites where the truth can be found about the Iraqi War and the occupation of Palestine.
Friends in our Blogging Community are presently discussing plans on how to combat Google’s policies. I will keep you all posted on what those plans are. In the meantime, this post is just to make you aware of the situation in general. If anyone has ideas, please post them in the comments, anything that can help us will be appreciated. You can also email me at the address found in my links (About DesertPeace). I also urge my readers to cross post this message so that a real campaign can get underway to stop censorship at Google.
Thanks.
Mary Rizzo contributed to this post.

http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/google-gagging-again-uruknet-removed-completely/

UK Site Sets Up Israeli Boycott

Unfortunately, the information below only applies to products sold in the United Kingdom. There are pages and pages of references and links to other sites, initiatives, educational sources, even a section providing a historical frame for the crises.
Keep an eye on the goods bar code:
Israel's country prefix is 729.
This website has been set up for two main purposes:
- To help people who want to boycott produce from Israel and illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, by providing sources of information about companies, products etc.
- To act as an educational resource... many people have not the foggiest idea of the war crimes, human rights abuses and flagrant breaches of international humanitarian law that are regularly committed by the Israeli Government and its armed forces (the IDF) in the what remains of Palestine. The many links on this page will lead you to valuable sources of information.
Lest there be any doubt on the subject, this site is not anti-Jewish. Many of the sites linked to on this page are run by Jews and/or Israeli citizens who are at the forefront of efforts to secure peace and justice in the Middle East. We are opposed to the Likud Government that is in power in Israel today, however we are not anti-Israel, on the contrary, we believe that it is only through the delivery of peace and justice for all citizens of the region that Israel can prosper in the long term.
As soon as Israel reaches a just peace with the Palestinian people within the framework of international law we will call an end to this boycott.
http://www.mylinkspage.com/israel.html
In fact, I've had my own ad hoc boycott going on for a while, but not regarding Israel. Whenever I start aimlessly browsing for things I probably don't need, I look at the label. If it says, Made in China, I say out loud--but not necessarily loudly, "Made in China," and put the object back. It's most effective if I keep my affect completely neutral. People haven't a clue what I'm doing or why, but they'll be thinking about it, especially next time there's a report about China and American debt.

Carter Decries Israeli Atrocities in Gaza

Carter meets Hamas political chief
Jimmy Carter, a former US president, has met Khaled Meshaal, the exiled Hamas leader, in the Syrian capital, despite strong opposition from Tel Aviv and Washington.
The controversial meeting was being held at a Hamas office in Damascus and attended by Musa Abu Marzuq and Mohmmed Nazzal, senior figures from the Palestinian movement.
Carter arrived in Syria on Friday and held talks with Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, before meeting Meshaal.
[...] On Thursday, Carter met a delegation of Hamas leaders from the Gaza Strip in Cairo and held talks with Husni Mubarak, the Egyptian president.
Speaking to the media, Carter defended his meetings, calling them necessary in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The former US president also described Israel's siege of the Gaza Strip as a crime and an atrocity.
He said Palestinians in Gaza were being "starved to death", receiving fewer calories a day than people in the poorest parts of Africa.
"It's an atrocity what is being perpetrated as punishment on the people in Gaza," he said. "It's a crime... I think it is an abomination that this continues to go on."
Carter said that US attempts to undermine Hamas have been counterproductive.
His meeting with leaders of Hamas, a group he insists must be included in peace negotiations, has angered many in Washington and Israel, who call the Palestinian group a "terrorist" organisation.
[...] Israel has meanwhile sealed off the West Bank and Gaza for 10 days as it prepares to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Passover.
Tanks and soldiers moved into position at the crossings following the shutdown that took effect early on Friday, barring Palestinians from the occupied territories from entering Israel.[...]
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AAE23DE4-60F5-4A05-B2B8-949E9E60FF67.htm

EU Parliament VP Calls for Justice in Gaza

PRESS RELEASE, BY LUISA MORGANTINI
(GUE/NGL) Vice President of the European Parliament
Why is there no protest when a former US President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate is denied entry to Gaza?
20 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have been killed, and in the Gaza Strip people continue to die. The International Community and EU must work for a cease-fire and an end to the siege. Rome, 17th April 2008
"While the Israeli Government continues its policy of isolation and collective punishment towards the Palestinian civil population in Gaza, it has also prevented to a former Head of State to visit the Gaza Strip. This unprecedented decision was adopted in the case of Jimmy Carter, former US President and 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner. Carter has always declared himself a sincere supporter of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement, based on the creation of two people and two states, and has denounced the policies of Apartheid.
Moreover, Carter was a mediator in the 1978 Camp David negotiations; the first agreement signed by Israel and an Arab State, Egypt. If this decision had been made by any other country, it would have provoked a real protest in the international media. Meanwhile, the situation in the Gaza Strip becomes more desperate every day: the International Community and the European Union must work for an immediate cease-fire and toward an end of all acts of violence. Once again, the price is paid by the civilian population.
Each military action that involves civilians, as was the case yesterday in the Gaza Strip, must be condemned in adherence to International Humanitarian Law.
In addition, essential services are nearing collapse due to a lack of fuel supplies. This is the result of Israel's April 9th decision to cease the fuel distribution to Gaza, although today the fuel supply only for the Gaza's only electric power station was reopened. In a press release yesterday, 8 UN Agencies denounced the fuel restrictions because they endanger the basic needs of the civil population. PMRS, one of the major NGO's providing health services in Gaza and the West Bank, has also launched an appeal regarding the immediate "humanitarian disaster" and is at risk of having to suspend all its activities. A statement by the Popular Committee against the Siege of Gaza (PCAS, part of the ongoing campaign in Gaza, www.freegaza.ps) says that more than 85 % of private vehicles and more then 65% of sanitary transport vehicles are unusable because of the lack of fuel.
Palestinians in Gaza are denied the most basic necessities and the possibility to lead a dignified life. Once again the Palestinian population is suffering from massive collective punishment, explicitly illegal under International law. Yesterday, Physicians for Human Rights, an Israeli NGO, and the Campaign for the end of the siege in Gaza (www.end-gaza-siege.ps) denounced the DCO's (Israeli Defence Coordination Office) umpteenth refusal to allow Palestinian medical patients to enter Israel or the West Bank for medical care and treatments. Since the siege started 133 Palestinians have died as a result of these kinds of refusals and today 1,562 patients are waiting to leave Gaza for urgent medical care.
On April 13th for the forth time Islam Alassouli, a 4 years old child from Khan Younis was not allowed to pass the Eretz crossing into Israel for a bone marrow transplant. He received no explanation for the refusal.
The kind of transplant needed by Islam is impossible in Gaza's hospitals: because of the total closures imposed by Israel, elaborate medical equipment is unavailable and even vital medicines are nowhere to be found.
The International Community and the European Union have no more excuses: they must intervene immediately, in a stronger and more effective way, for the immediate opening of all of Gaza's border crossings (according to the obligations of an occupying army under International Law), and for an immediate cease-fire by both sides.

Change Can Come

All text & photos are from:

GI SPECIAL 6A18

Gaza: This Is What Liberation Looks Like

We Feel A Little More Free Today.
It's A Good Thing For The Gazans To Be Able To Breathe

An Egyptian soldier, left, makes no effort to stop Palestinians from Gaza flooding across the border with Egypt, breaking the Zionist siege.

Jan 23 By IBRAHIM BARZAK
Associated Press Writer [Excerpts]

On foot, in cars and in donkey carts, tens of thousands of Gazans flooded into Egypt on Wednesday through a border fence blown up by militants puncturing a gaping hole in Israel's airtight closure
of the Gaza Strip and giving a boost to Hamas.

In a shopping spree that was both festive and frenzied, Gazans cleared out stores in an Egyptian border town, buying up everything from TV sets to soft drinks to cigarettes.

As waves of people swarmed through the destroyed barrier -- some estimated the crowd in the hundreds of thousands -- Egyptian security forces lined up on one side of the border and Hamas forces lined up on the other side.

None of them interfered in any way, and it appeared Hamas militants actively participated in the border breach.

A Transformative Moment Of Respect
An Egyptian riot police hand signals respect for liberated Palestinians at the breached border between Rafah, southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, Jan. 27, 2008.
(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

"This is My First Time Out of Gaza"

Gaza's falling wall changes Middle East map for ever
The tide of humans pouring over the frontier from Gaza into Egypt for days has now become a vast convoy of carts, cars and lorries. Peter Beaumont joined the jubilant throng who watched as the borders of a conflict that has lasted for generations were crossed.
The Observer, Sunday January 27, 2008
They came and went in lorries and gas tankers, in flatbed trucks loaded with cattle and sheep, in coaches and mini-buses, loaded by the dozen in the backs of trucks, all shuttling across Gaza's southern border. Four days ago they went on foot like refugees, but yesterday for the first time the trucks drove through and it felt like an unstoppable momentum had been reached.
[...] Ameera, 24, texts her husband to ask if there is anything he wants brought back from Egypt. 'Oh!', she says suddenly in a quiet, happy voice, surveying a pretty vista of open fields, without walls or boundaries that cannot be crossed without risk. 'This is my first time out of Gaza.' http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2247566,00.html
Here are two pictures with different stories. One shows an orderly cue of cars waiting to cross the border, the other shows chaos and fear. Below is another side of a day in Gaza.

Show Solidarity for Peace Soldiers

Ben Kogan could have had an easy life. He could have kept his mouth shut and accepted the status quo. Instead he listened to his conscious and will walk into prison to protect his belief in human rights FOR ALL. Now it's our turn to help him. Please take a stand to help those who cannot speak for themselves.
CO Ben Kogan sentenced to 21 days in military prison
[By: New Profile, 08/01/2008]
Ben Kogan, a pacifist conscientious objector, was sentenced to 21 days in military prison for refusing to serve in the Israeli army. Ben appeared before the military Conscience Committee in December, but was rejected.
Please send Ben letters of support (preferably postcards or by fax) to his prison address:

Ben Kogan
Military ID 5376779
Military Prison No. 6
Military Postal Code 01860, IDF
Israel
Fax: ++972-4-8692884

It is recommended to send letters of protest on Ben's behalf, preferably by fax, to:

Mr. Ehud Barak,
Minister of Defence,
Ministry of Defence,
37 Kaplan St.,
Tel-Aviv 61909,
Israel.
E-mail: sar@mod.gov.il or pniot@mod.gov.il
Fax: ++972-3-6976218 / ++972-3-696-27-57 / ++972-3-691-69-40 / ++972-3-691-79-15

For those of you who live outside Israel, it would be very effective to send protests to your local Israeli embassy. You can find the address of your local embassy on the web.
http://www.newprofile.org/showdata.asp?pid=1208&language=en
Here is another opportunity to provide a nonviolent solution in Israel and Palestine:Combatants for Peace
We are a group of Israeli and Palestinian individuals who were actively involved in the cycle of violence in our area. The Israelis served as combat soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces and the Palestinians were involved in acts of violence in the name of Palestinian liberation.
We all used weapons against one another, and looked at each other only through weapon sights; however today we cooperate and commit ourselves to the following:
We no longer believe that the conflict can be resolved through violence.
We believe that the blood shed will not end unless we act together to terminate the occupation and stop all forms of violence.
We call for the establishment of a Palestinian State, alongside the State of Israel. The two states can exist in peace and security beside each other.
We will use only non-violent means to achieve our goals and call for both societies to end violence.
http://www.combatantsforpeace.org/

Now Zionists Divide Christian Land and Limit Their Movement

FROM SAM / RAMALLAH

Stop Israel before it's too late

Karin, MUNICH - AND A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING

January 18, 2008

Dear friends,

Gaza is burning. Gaza is cold. Gaza is in the dark. Maybe you can sleep. I can't!

Below is an important statement on how Israel's denied entry policy is affecting the church community here, in the holy land.

Also, I pass two interviews with me, one audio on a US radio show, and the other a print one.

Lastly, I pass a picture that was on our local Arabic newspaper's front page yesterday. It shows an Israeli solider, part of the 4th most powerful military force in the world, dealing with those habitual Palestinian terrorists.

One can only imagine what world view this young boy will have when he reaches 21 years old.

Stop Israel before it's too late,

Sam

http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=40239&s2=19

There is an object on the ground but the boy has his back turned. Was he playing with it before the soldier came along? Is he ashamed, scared, angry? I can only hope the soldier used a kind tone of voice with a reassuring gesture to say go home. Let us hope.

And so now, citizens, please read how the Zionists are starting to treat Christians like the Palestinians. Could it be the Christian community sees the horrors of the Zionist regime?

Restrictions by Israel on Christians Threatening the Future of the Church

by Fr. Firas Aridah

The Israeli Ministry of Interior decided to limit the entry of holders of valid visas to "one entry" or "no entry". Initially, this measure was meant to prohibit entry to those coming from "enemy countries". Now however, it includes Jordanians and Egyptians as well, the only two Arab countries who signed a peace agreement with Israel; among those holders of visas being restricted are priests, religious men and women, seminarians and other church personnel.

What may seem a normal restriction imposes grave consequences:

- The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which includes Palestine, Israel and Jordan, will be divided, as Jordanian priests and church personnel will not be allowed to move between Jordan and Israel/Palestine. The same applies to the Custody of the Holy Land, the Melkite Church and the religious congregations.

- Seminarians at the Latin Patriachal Seminary in Beit Jala, most of whom are Jordanians, will not be allowed to visit their families for Christmas, Easter or any other occasion including family emergencies. If they do visit them, they will loose their residence visa. Applying for a new visa while they are outside the country, according to the new Israeli regulations, will take 3-4 months. Jordanians can leave the country, but re-entry is not guaranteed.

- Jordanians, and other Arab priests, have to stay in the country without leaving it, and when their residence visa expires, they have to leave the country, apply for a new visa before they can go back to their parishes and ministries. The waiting period can be 3-4 months, with no guarantee they will obtain it. The whole work and life of the Church is in jeopardy by this policy.

- If Israel continue with the new regulations, the consequences will be dire: 1. by June 2008, the Catholic Church will loose many of its clergy, many of whom are Jordanians; 2. the Seminary, founded in 1852 and which formed all the clergy and bishops of the Latin Patriarchate (256 since 1852), will be closed; 3. and many parishes will be left priestless.

These new restrictions are added to the already existing ones:

- We witness long delays and complicated bureaucratic procedures to obtain visas for the personnel the Church needs for its work; the refusal to give or renew visas without any explanation. The freedom of the Church in the matter is stated in the Fundamental Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Israel in 1993, and never ratified by the Israeli Parliament (the Kenesset).

- Palestinian priests are not allowed to enter Israel or Jerusalem; they may be given "permits" by the Israeli military authorities, restricting the entry points, the duration of their stay, restricted hours, no use of a car, being subject to humiliating search on checkpoints, and canceling the permits any time or with the frequent closures "of the Territories". This restriction does not allow any normal pastoral work or any participation at the religious ceremonies in the Holy Places or the monthly meetings/spiritual retreats at the Latin Patriarchate.

- Palestinian Christians, as it is the case of all Palestinians, are not allowed to go to Jerusalem and/or visit the Holy Places. When new restrictions are imposed on the pastors, seminarians and the Church personnel, the life of the Church will be gravely affected. What is needed now is for Israel to:

- respect religious freedom;

- respect the status of the Holy Land as the center of the life of the Church;

- respect the freedom of the Church to exercise her pastoral work;

- respect the engagement taken in the "Fundamental Agreement" with the Holy See;

- allow the Church personnel to move freely, by simply giving them "Multi-entries" on their residence visas.

If the restrictions continue, the future of the Church in the Holy Land is gravely threatened.

God bless you

Yours in Christ

Fr. Firas Aridah

Parish of Our Lady Mother of Sorrows - Aboud, West Bank

http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=40239&s2=19

Chomsky, Interrupted?

The following two reports are just a dip into a growing pool of information about the Israel lobby AIPAC and Noam Chomsky’s role promoting their power by minimizing and/or diverting attention away from it.
WANTED
Who killed the anti-war movement?
By Gabriele Zamparini, Wednesday, October 03, 2007
http://www.thecatsdream.com/blog/2007/10/wanted-who-killed-anti-war-movement.htm

The Chomsky/Blankfort Polemic
"The anti-war movement has failed"

Silvia Cattori interviews Jeffrey Blankfort in this reprint of the Feb. 23, 2006 issue of Voltairenet.org. Mr. Blankfort is a US journalist and radio producer.

... all Americans pay their taxes and thus support Israel. And this is an American issue. And by putting it out that Jews are the leaders, that Jews, anti Zionists Jews are doing this, what it says to non-Jews is: “they can do this [criticize] because they are Jewish”. It has been tried, so far it has been a failure.

So when I speak, I speak not as a Jew, but as a human being.

http://www.voltairenet.org/article136002.html