Australia

June 4, 2011December 11, 2020

Chomsky vs The Asstralian

To keep it short, as I have no time to write with much-deserved contempt on the Australian’s perfidy today – my money is on Chomsky.

Here’s The Asstralian’s outrageous editorial against Chomsky being awarded the Sydney Peace Prize – Greg Sheridan is more perspicacious and peaceful? really? FFS!

Why was Chomskey awarded the prize?

We chose Professor Noam Chomsky for inspiring the convictions of millions about ways to achieve those universal human rights, which bolster peace with justice.

For more than 50 years he has been a world champion of freedom of speech, of the value of transparency in government and the need to challenge secrecy and censorship.

In his study of the political economy of human rights, he exposed state crimes, induced by US foreign policy, across South America, the Middle East and South East Asia.

With unfailing moral courage he has challenged abusive uses of power and the false claims made about democracy.

He has offended almost every establishment figure and institution: Chomsky is anathema to the Israeli government, was the only scientist or philosopher on the Nixon White House enemies list and the Soviet Union imposed a total ban on his works.

In his analyses of democracy and power he identifies the “manufacture of consent” by governments, corporations and the media.

Professor Chomsky has always argued that forces for change should be non violent.

Boycott the Murdercracy’s lies which support your exploitation by the ruling class – to obtain decent, reliable news, subscribe to Crikey online! Also recommended and freely available is Green Left Weekly, New Matilda and the ABC’s The Drum.

And here’s what the Asstralian whitewashes, the Israeli fascism which is rampant on the streets of Jerusalem:

Palestine ./ Israel Links

Israel army chief outlines new, more brutal doctrine against nonviolent protests
Ours is not to reason why – zionism’s addiction to bleats about security
Salah: 1 million Turks registered for Gaza flotilla
Jewish settlers assault Palestinian teacher

The witnesses said that the settlers kicked the woman, who was only saved by a group of Palestinian passersby, adding that the settlers tried to ignite a bigger scuffle.

Israel accused after Palestinian boys burned by mystery canister

The army does not deny leaving the devices, but would not identify them and suggested they were left over after training exercises. But the area where they were found does not feature on an army map of designated training areas and the canisters appeared new and unweathered.

A Shameless Secretary General versus Freedom Flotilla 2 Richard Falk takes well-deserved aim at imperial puppet, Ban Ki Moon:

‘In light of these surrounding circumstances, including the failure of Israel to live up to its announced promise after the attack in 2010 to lift the blockade, it shocks our moral and legal sensibilities that the UN Secretary General should be using the authority of his office to urge member governments to prevent ships from joining Freedom Flotilla 2.’

Israeli Soldiers Attack West Bank Anti-Wall Protests, Injuring Six Civilians
Israel’s Affirmative Action bill is reminiscent of Hungary’s anti-Jewish laws

But like in Hungary of 1920, so too in Israel of 2011, the spirit of the law is more important than the language, and everyone is clear on its purpose: to get rid of the Haredim and the Arabs. The state is the one that exempted them from mandatory military service and now wants to punish them for alleged “evasion.”

Manifest destiny and the ‘Wild West Bank’

Americans see in Israel their own preferred reflection of themselves. They see a lone, devout and free people on the edge of a vast continent full of dusky, hostile natives. Like the European colonists who settled North America, the destiny of this free people is to build a “city on a hill” on virgin land, a beacon of freedom and civilisation in a tragic world.

IDF gearing for next wave of Palestinian protests Israel is to shoot non-violent protesters who attempt to cross its non-existent borders: ‘While Israel will strive to avoid casualties, security forces will be able to open fire on anyone illegally crossing the border.”
Palestine supporters target Seacret

Phil Monsour addressed protesters gathered outside in the mall: “We will not be silent over the continuing oppression of Palestine. We have a message to politicians, to condemn Israel over its aggression against the Palestinians.

Get rid of Zionism

The “Land of Israel” is a phantasm. Withdrawing from “parts of it” is presented as a “concession” even by supporters of the move. But the only concession we needed to make, even back in 1967, was giving up the messianic claim that this is our land, from the Bible, and therefore we have a right to it. In comparison with this claim, the Serbs, with their preoccupation over the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, are rational, secular people.

Life is in no need of “ancestral rights.” Most of us were born here. That has no connection with the Bible, which for the most part is a very nice book. It has no connection with the prayers of the religious. We don’t need religion, either as a menu in a restaurant or as a strategic analysis.

Rally for Palestine: tear down the apartheid wall :

TEAR DOWN THE WALL!
End the occupation of Palestine!
Equal rights for Palestinians!
Right of return for Palestinian refugees!

RALLY: Sat July 9, 1pm
King George Square, city

Boycott apartheid Israel! Cut all trade ties!

An Unpalatable Truth : The Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism John Pilger: “Jonathan Cook and Charles Charles Clover, together with Umar Cheema, are the winners. It was impossible to choose.”

Who is Ben Nitay? a sleazy liar then, a sleazy liar now. ‘The only things that have changed since the following video was made is his name and his hairline, the message of hate remains the same.’

In a remarkable video from 1978, 28 year old MIT grad Benjamin Netanyahu debates whether there should be a Palestinian state created on the West Bank and Gaza. Netanyahu argues that such a state would have but one goal: to destroy the Jewish state of Israel.

Zionists’ ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Haifa exposed
Exonerating the ethnic cleanser, Ben Gurion

June 3, 2011December 11, 2020

Reconciliation Week 2011

Remember Eddie Mabo

Move on down the road
it leads to social justice
no more broken promises
Sing up Eddie Mabo.

Always blaming the victim
Still suffering curable disease
Time to end the genocide
remember Eddie Mabo.

Migaloo, keep your promises
cooperation or divided nation,
with the Land there’s hope
sing up Eddie Mabo.

Time for reconciliation
no more procrastination
move on down the road
remember Eddie Mabo.

Bureaucrats keep changing rules
for racist redneck fools
But Eddie Mabo knew the way
the true meaning of the Land.

Jinjirrie 1993

Eddie Koiki Mabo (c. 29 June 1936 – 21 January 1992)[1] was a Torres Strait Islander who is known for his role in campaigning for Indigenous land rights and for his role in a landmark decision of the High Court of Australia that overturned the legal fiction of terra nullius which characterised Australian law with regards to land and title.

@AboriginalOz It’s the last day of #ReconciliationWeek & exactly 1 year away from the 20th Anniversary of the Mabo Decision. 1 year to get the Vibe back! #

May 24, 2011December 11, 2020

Boycott Max Brenner – Don’t Buy Israeli Apartheid Action in Melbourne

Related Links

Paul Simon, Don’t Break Cultural Boycott Again!
Resist Obamanations: Ilan Pappe “Throw a shoe at Obama’s betrayal”: One can continue to boycott Israeli goods and cultural representatives in France, even if there is a new law against it. If Palestinians in Israel can defy Israeli laws against Nakba commemoration, insidious European laws and regulations should be ignored as well.
Festival bans Israel boycott supporters

In a statement provided by the Shalom Institute program director, Michael Misrachi, organisers said they decided to rule out presenters who advocated the boycott because it undermined the event’s engagement with Israeli academic and artistic institutions and their representatives.

”This is not about censorship, nor are we seeking to stifle dissenting views. Limmud-Oz is proud of the principles of pluralism and inclusiveness which guide us and Limmuds around the world,” it read.

Mr Misrachi confirmed Dr Slezak and Ms Porzsolt’s names were removed from the list of speakers on the event’s website following complaints.

Two other speakers have since pulled out of the festival in protest at the ban, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.

Ms Porzsolt, who said she would still attend the festival, told organisers in an email they had misrepresented the boycott, and asked them to reconsider.

”My proposed workshop was not even on BDS … The exclusion of me as a person for the ideas I hold generally, and not because of the topic of my workshop, smacks of excommunication,” it read.

The chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, Vic Alhadeff, said it endorsed the decision of the Shalom Institute.

Palestine / Israel Links

About 8 minutes into the archive, Rae Abileah speaks from hospital about need to rise up against war criminals like Nutanyahoo and perfidy of the vicious AIPAC thugs from the audience who assaulted her. No charges are being pressed against her.
Witness the Shocking Denial and Ignorance About the Occupation of Palestine by AIPAC Delegates
Americans protest Netanyahu AIPAC speech:
Constitution Committee Approves Bill Discriminating Against Those Who Did Not Serve in the Army
Complicity in Oppression: Do the Media Aid Israel?
MOVE OVER AIPAC: A view from the street
Another existential threat which frightens Israel : Palestinian infant close to death as Israel denies him medication
Netanyahu: Israel ready for painful compromises – If a thief is asked to return stolen property, is this a ‘painful compromise’ except to other thieves?
Tim Llewellyn, bias and the BBC
Netanyahu’s end game

There is a breaking point for Palestinian patience and Netanyahu is making sure that we reach it soon. Clouding the issues will not change the fact that millions of Palestinians in the territories are under occupation and siege. Their national aspiration for liberation has not died down nor will it recede. Netanyahu may have buried the peace process but he has brought back to life the Arab-Israeli conflict, this time in a changing Arab world!

May Nutanyahoo lose the end game and everyone win!
Izbat al-Tabib village resists land confiscation, demolition orders
Nadia Hijab: ‘Israel needs to be a state in which all citizens are equal’

Whatever outcome there is, whether one or two states in the land that was Palestine until the conflict began in 1948, all citizens must enjoy equal rights, whether, they’re Jewish, Christian, or Muslim, whether men or women. … Until President Obama is willing or able to use U.S. leverage with Israel to hold it accountable under the law, then Israel will continue to colonize Palestinian land, and the Arab world will continue to hold America responsible.

Protestor who disrupted Netanyahu in Congress attacked, hospitalized, arrested
To Friendly Crowd, Netanyahu Repeats Criteria for Peace

In the West Bank, Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian official, called the speech “a declaration of war against the Palestinians.”

“This is an escalation and unfortunately, it received a standing ovation,” he told The Associated Press. He noted that Mr. Netanyahu had rejected Palestinian demands on issues as central as future borders, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of refugees.

…
Mr. Netanyahu said that the Palestinian leader must do what he has done: “I stood before my people and I said, ‘I will accept a Palestinian state.’ It’s time for President Abbas to stand before his people and say, ‘I will accept a Jewish state.’ ”

He added: “Those six words will convince the people of Israel that they have a true partner for peace. With those six words, the Israeli people will be prepared to make a far-reaching compromise. I will be prepared to make a far-reaching compromise.”

@avinunu I am Israel, I expel you, oppress you, deny your history, accuse you of having a culture of hate, then demand that you recognize & love me.
Shir Hever: ‘The prospect of a democratic state in which Palestinians will be equal citizens is more threatening to the Israeli government than an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and because of that the Israeli government will implement, and has already began to implement, mechanisms by which to turn the PA into a subcontractor of occupation.’
Obama admin pleased that Netanyahu refuses to acknowledge Zionist racism
Disagreement is treason: VIDEO: AIPAC Attendees Say Jews Who Criticize Israel Are Traitors, Demand Loyalty To Netanyahu

May 19, 2011December 11, 2020

University of London Union Senate Votes to Support BDS

With a 10 to 1 vote in favour of BDS, the University of London Union Senate just remade history. The ULU was the first student union in the UK to support boycott of white South Africa and the largest student union in Europe has now built on its laurels, being the first to support BDS against apartheid Israel.

Here’s the historic motion:

Union notes:

1) to boycott is to target products, companies and institutions that profit from or are implicated in, the violation of Palestinian rights

2) to divest is to target corporations complicit in the violation of Palestinian human rights, as enshrined in the Geneva Convention, and ensure that investments or pension funds are not used to finance such companies

3) to call for sanctions is to ask the global community to recognise Israel’s violations of international law and to act accordingly as they do to other member states of the United Nations

4) that in 2009 the The Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa released a report stating that Israel was practising a form of apartheid in the occupied West Bank, (http://www.hsrc.ac.za/Media_Release-378.phtml)

5) that Israel continues to build a 8 metre high “annexation” wall on Palestinian land inside the post-1967 occupied West Bank, contravening the July 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice (the highest legal body in the world, whose statutes all UN members are party to) and causing the forcible separation of Palestinian communities from one another and the annexation of additional Palestinian land.

6) that within the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, Israel continues a policy of settlement expansion in direct violation of Article 49, paragraph 6 of the 4th Geneva Convention which declares “an occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into territories it occupies.” 6) that the Gaza Strip continues to face a suffocating siege from land, sea and air by Israel, and continues to suffer military incursions into the territory by the Israeli army

7) that Palestinians living in Israel continue to suffer third-class citizenship and are heavily discriminated against from healthcare, education, landownership and in many cases having ‘unrecognised’ villages completely demolished

8) that there continues to be millions of Palestinian refugees throughout the world who are racially discriminated against by not being allowed to return to their homes in Israel and the Occupied Territories, which is legally recognised under international law, including United Nations resolution 194.

9) that ULU and the NUS nationally adopted the call for BDS in the 1980s when it was called for by South Africans fighting racism and apartheid

10) that Ronnie Kasrils, the Jewish South African Minister of Intelligence said “The boycotts and sanctions ultimately helped liberate both blacks and whites in South Africa. Palestinians and Israelis will similarly benefit from this non-violent campaign that Palestinians are calling for.”

11) that the call for BDS has come from over 170 Palestinian civil society organisations, including student organisations, as well as organisations within Israel and across the global; and that the campaign is founded on the basis of anti-racism and human rights for all

Union Believes:

1) that unions should work to support the Palestinian people’s human rights and uphold international law

2) that BDS is an effective tactic, which educates society about these issues, economically pressures companies/institutions to change their practices and politically pressures the global community

3) that unions have a moral responsibility to heed the call of oppressed peoples, like we did so proudly during the BDS campaign to end South African apartheid

4) that the BDS movement has united human rights campaigners from different nationalities, races, religions and creeds across the world

Passed 10-1 in ULU – largest union in Europe, 20 universities and 130,000 students.

Union Resolves

(1) Institute thorough research into ULU contacts with investments and companies,including subcontractors, that may be implicated in violating Palestinian human rights as stated by the BDS movement

(2) Pressure University of London universities and affiliate students’ unions to divest from Israel and from companies directly or indirectly supporting the Israeli occupation and apartheid policies;

(3) Promote students’ union resolutions condemning Israeli violations of international law and human rights and endorsing BDS in any form;

(4) Actively support and work with Palestine solidarity organisations such as the BDS Movement, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, British Committee for Palestinian Universities , Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

(5) Affiliate ULU to the Palestine BDS National Committee and engage in education campaigns to publicize the injustice of Israel’s discriminatory policies against the Palestinians and its illegal occupation

Meanwhile, the National Union of Students in the UK has voted to support the principles of BDS.

Conference resolves:

1. To demand freedom for Palestine, calling for an end to the siege of Gaza and occupation of the West Bank and the right to return for all refugees.

2. To encourage unions to twin with universities in Palestine and to send an NUS delegation on future convoys to the Gaza strip.

3. To strongly condemn Israel’s siege on Gaza and actively campaign for it to be lifted in accordance with international law.

4. To support the Palestinians’ right to education by building links with students at the Islamic University of Gaza and other educational institutions in Gaza.

Related Links

ULU: Why We Voted for Boycott
London students see wave of anti-Israel activity – a lovely, satisfying zionist bleat in the JPost

In other dispatches, female human rights lawyer Meissa Irshaid, from the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, was assaulted and arrested by Israeli goons whilst advocating for protesters who had already been arrested. Such is Israel’s contempt for the rule of law.

Don’t miss the creative protest at the Lincoln Centre against the ethnic cleansing JNF.

Joseph Weitz, director of the JNF since the 1920s, said in 1940 with malice aforethought: ‘There is no way beside transferring the Arabs from here to the neighboring countries’. This vile zionist ethnic cleansing must end.

Boycott, divestments and sanctions action against Seacrets 14 may Perth 2011

Palestine / Israel Links

Sunday May 15, right of return protest at lebanese israeli border.
Jewish Donors Warn Obama on Israel : The sick US political system: Elite zionists remind Obama to cough up for the apartheid entity or his campaign funds will dwindle
Two brand-new videos from Palestinian march of return at Majdal Shams
New book shows how aid to PA ended up in Israel’s pockets
The “Slavery Law” and Beyond: New Bills Targeting Foreign Residents
Israel evicts two Palestinian families in Jerusalem – video
Nakba day: we waited 63 years for this : Karma Nabulsi : Like the rest of the Arab people who have taken their fate into their own hands – and in doing so provided lessons and models in the meaning of democracy and citizenship to the rest of the world for years to come – the Palestinians have demonstrated, quite perfectly and with great courage, what it is to be fully human, and how to hold on to one’s humanity in spite of more than six decades of violent oppression.
Israeli attaché expelled from Russia over spying allegations
Why Hamas has no need for Saatchi and Saatchi. :

Hamas leaders are neo-liberal capitalists, their economic policy no different from the orthodox economies of any other western nation. In fact Gazans’ ability to deal with enforced austerity and its resilient Big Society should be a model for the west. Ghazi Hamad, the Deputy Foreign Minister, delivered a message to Israelis – in Hebrew – calling for a truce after tensions rose dramatically in April. And in the last week Khaled Meshaal announced an acceptance of the 1967 borders – if that is not recognition of Israel, I don’t know what is – and yet another twenty-year Hudna (Arabic for truce).

Plans to erect 1,500 new settler homes in Jerusalem

WHO calls for

‘Israel to take down road blocks currently causing a shortage of medical supplies and treatment. The resolution also calls on Member States and NGOs to provide assistance to meet urgent health and humanitarian needs in the area.’
…
The treatment of Palestinians in Israeli jails was also mentioned, using several cases where men and women were denied medical treatment while in custody.

“The resolution calls for an end to the siege and a deconstruction of checkpoints, it calls for the provision of support for the Palestinian health sector from the international community, and it puts in place the framework for the Director-General of the World Health Organization to send a fact-finding mission to Palestine for a thorough investigation”

Obama to fund the Arab spring into neoliberal winter
Glenn Beck’s Absurd Jerusalem Rally: Why Religious Conservatives Are Obsessed With Israel
Netanyahu prepares Israelis for war Yossi Gurvitz looks at some worst case scenarios.
Racist zionist drivel in Haaretz: Palestinian refugees are a threat to Israel’s existence
Hasbaroids becoming desperate – cash grants, competitions and prizes presaged for new hasbara campaigns.
Full Text of Obama’s Middle East Speech
Making the Land of Israel Whole : Danny Danon
NPR at White House’s service in name of social media “conversation” on Obama speech

Other Links

Murderdoch’s minions bully Brown. Fair and balanced?
Osama bin Laden praises Arab Spring in posthumous message
New powers mean ASIO could spy on WikiLeaks

In the message released Wednesday, bin Laden referred to the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, but made no mention of those in Libya, Syria or Yemen.

“There is a serious crossroads before you, and a great and rare historic opportunity to rise with the Ummah (Muslim community) and to free yourselves from servitude to the desires of the rulers, man-made law, and Western dominance”.

In Egypt:

‘People are blaming the revolution for new oil crises despite this is not the first time it happens , in fact some people tend to forget in the past few years of Mubarak we have even more worse crises. Where was the revolution when people were actually killing each other to get a loaf of bread during the time of Mubarak !?’

Neoliberal debt moves to fuel the second wave of Egyptian Revolution already scheduled for May 27?

Police open fire to disperse more protests in north Afghanistan

Mr Baillieu has a bridge he wants to sell you : spoke about the bridge yesterday during a live chat with visiting talkback radio host Neil Mitchell in the Hargreaves Mall…. then ‘WIRADJERI and Yorta Yorta elder Alf Bamblett receives an award from the State Government this week for his work on indigenous justice in Victoria. ‘

Acknowledgement of Country.

Firstly, if ‘Acknowledgements’ are not, never has been and shouldn’t be mandated, then why did Ted feel a need to bring it up? Why did he feel this of all issues was relevant to point out?

Is he so self-absorbed that the only Aboriginal issues that are of interest to him are those which directly affect him? Not surprising to those who saw Headlines in March that read ‘Aboriginal women from Lake Tyers staging a blockade to protest against the state government’s administration of their community’.

May 15, 2011December 11, 2020

Remembering Al Nakba 2

Dramatic video shows Palestinians, Syrians entering Israeli-occupied Golan Heights
RT @avinunu: Reminder: UN Sec Council Res 497 (1981) declares Israel’s annexation of Syria’s Golan to be “null & void” http://is.gd/4DDQQ5
Interactive map of Palestine villages destroyed in Nakba

The ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist forces began in late 1947, so that by 15 May 1948, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had already been expelled from their villages and cities before a single soldier from any Arab army had intervened. The exodus from, for example, Jaffa began in early 1948 after Zionist terrorists belonging to the Stern Gang set off a massive car bomb destroying the Jaffa municipality building on 4 January (this is all well-documented in books by right-wing Israeli historian Benny Morris, among others). Many villages in the north of Palestine were also depopulated around that time.

Rightwing group publishes Nakba denial booklet
Occupation & Nakba: Interview with Ariella Azoulay & Adi Ophir
New video shows Israeli soldiers firing as mass marchers enter Golan
Pro-Palestinian rallies turn deadly on Israel’s borders : the ABC Radio Australia should be ashamed of its bias toward the zionist entity in this zioshillery.
Zionists’ ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Haifa exposed
Plan Dalet: Master Plan for the Conquest of Palestine by Walid Khalidi

‘Looking at what was happening on the ground during December 1947-15 May 1948 was teh first track we followed in examining the Israeli version of the events of this period; the second track was to challenge the Israeli lie of evacuation orders head on. If the orders were broadcast as the government of Israel, its top leadership and the Kimches et al. insisted, and if these orders reached hundreds of villages and a dozen towns causing their evacuation by hundreds of thousands, surely some tract or echo of these orders should be on record. The obvious place to look was the back files of the Near East monitoring stations of the British and American governments (the BBC Cyprus listening post and the CIA-sponsored Foreign Broadcast Information Service), both of which covered not only all the radio stations in the Near East, but also the local newspapers as well. I therefore checked the BBC monitoring archives at the British Museum, London, and published the result in my article “Why Did the Palestinians Leave?” (Middle East Forum July 1959). Not only was there no hint of any Arab evacuation order, but the Arab radio stations had urged the Palestinians to hold on and be steadfast whereas it was the Jewish radio stations of the Haganah and the Irgun and Stern Gang which had been engaged in incessant and strident psychological warfare against the Arab civilian population.’

Cheering Netanyahu’s Intransigence
Excellent history of Herzl’s zionism and British scheming: Victor Kattan “From Coexistence to Conquest”
The Population Transfer Committee: November 1937
By the close of 1937, the JNF-linked Jewish Agency had established the Population Transfer Committee, and in 1940, director of the JNF Lands Department Yosef Weitz wrote:

It must be clear that there is no room in the country for both peoples.… If the Arabs leave it, the country will become wide and spacious for us … There is no room for compromises … There is no way but to transfer the Arabs from here to the neighbouring countries, to transfer all of them, save perhaps for Bethlehem, Nazareth and old Jerusalem. Not one village must be left, not one [bedouin] tribe … For this goal funds will be found … And only after this transfer will the country be able to absorb millions of our brothers and the Jewish problem will cease to exist. There is no other solution.[89]

Land Without a People – by Michael Palumbo

‘There is no hope that this new Jewish state will survive,
to say nothing of develop, if the Arabs are as numerous as
they are today.” So spoke Menahem Ussishkin, at 75, one of
the oldest and most respected Zionist leaders. His audience
on the afternoon of 12 June 1938 was the Executive Commit-
tee of the Jewish Agency, which was considering a plan by
the British administration to divide Palestine between
Arabs and Jews. For decades there had been strife between
the two ethnic groups in the mandate territory and now the
British administration was considering partition as the
best way to end the conflict between the Jewish colonists
and the indigenous Arab population. But partition would
leave over 200,000 Arabs in the proposed Zionist state, and
the leadership of the Jewish community in Palestine was
grappling with the problem of how best to get rid of them.

None of the members of the Executive disagreed with
Ussishkin when he stated: ‘The worst is not that the Arabs
would comprise 45 or 50 per cent of the population of the
new state but that 75 per cent of the land is owned by
Arabs.’ This land was desired for the waves of Jewish immi-
grants who would populate the Jewish state. There were many
other reasons why the Zionists wished to get rid of the
Arabs. Ussishkin claimed that with a large Arab population
the Jewish state would face enormous problems of internal
security and that there would be chaos in government. ‘Even
a small Arab minority in parliament could disrupt the
entire order of parliamentary life.’

The Partition of Palestine: Decision Crossroads in the Zionist Movement By Itzhak Galnoor

In late 1937, a Population Transfer Committee was established in the Jewish Agency to prepare material for the hearings of the Woodhead commision. The main document suggested two goals: reducing the Arab population in the territory intended for the Jewish state, and freeing agricultural land for Jewish settlement. I talso contained a detailed plan for the voluntary transfer of about 100,000 Arab farmers to the Gaza district, Transjordan, and Syria. The committee found it very difficult to reach clear recommendations and made do with the general declaration that “the transfer of Arab population on a large scale is a precondition for establishing the state.”

A Critique of Benny Morris by Nur Masalha

Video: Tel Aviv exhibit features testimony by Nakba perpetrators

The Common Archive aims “to create an audio-visual online archive of Jewish executor’s testimonies of the 1948 crimes with cross references to testimonies of Palestinian refugees and other historical visual data (maps, photos, etc).”

Palestine / Israel Links

Palestine Papers: Why I blew the whistle Ziyad Clot:

The “peace negotiations” were a deceptive farce, whereby biased terms were unilaterally imposed by Israel and systematically endorsed by the US and EU capitals. Far from enabling a negotiated fair end of the conflict, the pursuit of the Oslo process has deepened Israeli segregationist policies and justified the tightening of the security control imposed on the Palestinian population as well as its geographical fragmentation. Far for preserving the land on which to build a State, it has tolerated the intensification of the colonisation of the Palestinian territory. Far from maintaining a national cohesion, the process I participated in, albeit briefly, proved to be instrumental in creating and aggravating divisions amongst Palestinians. In its most recent developments, it became a cruel enterprise from which the Palestinians of Gaza have suffered the most. Last but not least, these negotiations excluded for the most part the great majority of the Palestinian people: the 7 million-Palestinian refugees. My experience over those 11 months spent in Ramallah confirms in fact that the PLO, given its structure, was not in a position to represent all Palestinian rights and interests.

Israelis attack Palestinian funeral
Palestinian & jewish voices speak at Sydney conference for BDS against Israeli occupation & apartheid
Israel is not an island : The Arab Revolution is knocking at Israel’s door
Australia, where ‘human rights’ festivals ban protest art against Israeli oppression
Bloody Sunday as Israel kills 21 in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria
Israeli author Yoram Kaniuk asks court to cancel his ‘Jewish’ status
Arab Spring headaches for Barack Obama : “When Israel kills demonstrators is that the same as when Syria or Libya does the same?”

Other Links

Australia is now in the business of turning away refugees.
The “dodgy dossier” : the truth will out –

A top military intelligence official has said the discredited dossier on Iraq’s weapons programme was drawn up “to make the case for war”, flatly contradicting persistent claims to the contrary by the Blair government, and in particular by Alastair Campbell, the former prime minister’s chief spin doctor.

In hitherto secret evidence to the Chilcot inquiry, Major General Michael Laurie said: “We knew at the time that the purpose of the dossier was precisely to make a case for war, rather than setting out the available intelligence, and that to make the best out of sparse and inconclusive intelligence the wording was developed with care.”

His evidence is devastating, as it is the first time such a senior intelligence officer has directly contradicted the then government’s claims about the dossier – and, perhaps more significantly, what Tony Blair and Campbell said when it was released seven months before the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The Minister for Indigenous Affairs needs to be Indigenous
Existence, Validity, Recognition :

Recognising Indigenous Australians as the first Australians is set to become next great debate on the national agenda. Acknowledged as a “Once in 50 year opportunity” by Prime Minister Julia Gilard it is with reserved optimism and nervous anticipation I, like many Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians await the 2011 government proposal and subsequent 2013 Referendum. With only 8 of the past 44 constitutional amendments being successful, it will take a movement at the ballot boxes reminiscent of the 1967 Referendum in which more than 90% of Australians voted in favor of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders being recognised as Australian citizens.