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End
The Gaza Siege: Mahmoud Abbas Wants It Both Ways
16 June 2010 By Stephen Lendman
Millions worldwide demand it. So does the Arab League,
according to an Al Jazeera June 13 report quoting Amr
Moussa, Arab League secretary-general, saying:
"This blockade....must be lifted and must be broken
and the Arab League decision is very clear in this
regard."
On June 13, Moussa commented after visiting Gaza for
talks with Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh,
Haaretz reporting he's the highest Arab official to do
so since Hamas' 2006 election, after which an
Israeli/West embargo followed, then the June 2007
siege.
Moussa entered through Rafah after Egypt reopened it
following the Freedom Flotilla massacre, saying it
will continue indefinitely.
According to Haaretz:
"Palestinian and Arab League officials said (his)
visit (aimed to give) momentum to reconciliation talks
between Hamas and Fatah."
Hamas Health Minister Basim Naeem said it indicated
that "the boycott between Gaza and the Arab nation was
broken, (and that the trip would) be the start of a
practical plan to lift the blockade....once and for
all, in a complete and comprehensive way."
Mousa said he didn't come to support one political
faction over the other, but to meet Palestinians and
end their suffering, conditions in what UNRWA
Commissioner General, Filippo Grandi, calls the
"largest open-air prison in the world."
An outrageously different view came from New York
Times writer Ethan Bronner in his June 11 article,
headlined "Gaza Through Fresh Eyes," saying:
"For some, it's the relative modernity....For others,
it's the endless beaches with children whooping it up.
But for nearly everyone who visits Gaza, often with
worry of danger and hostility, what's surprising is
the fact that daily life, while troubled, often has
the staggering quality of the very ordinary."
Human rights activists and 1.5 million Gazans know
otherwise - decades of occupation misery, worsened by
the humanitarian crisis under siege, what none of them
call "ordinary," what no legitimate journalist would
ever say. None report for the major media,
specializing in disinformation and "junk food news,"
why Project Censored highlights a "truth emergency,"
especially about Occupied Palestine or Israeli
criticism, censored and not allowed.
Mahmoud Abbas Wants It Both Ways
On June 10, Haaretz quoted him contradicting himself
in two separate reports, first saying (after meeting
with Obama at the White House) he's against lifting
the siege because it would bolster Hamas, then
reversing himself, saying:
The Palestinians' main demand is "to end the blockade
on Gaza," adding he believes that "the entire world
stands with us....I don't have a passport or
nationality. I want my grandson to live a normal life.
This week I spoke by phone with one of Hamas' leaders.
Elections will be part of the reconciliation" process,
one he's used his position to subvert as a willing
Israeli-Washington agent against his own people.
After Israel's June 2007 siege, Tel Aviv and
Washington armed him to control the West Bank,
supplant Hamas in Gaza, and act as Israel's enforcer.
As a result, suspect everything he says about
reconciliation after years of confrontational
opposition. His roots aside, he's no Palestinian
friend. He's a quisling president, a duplicitous
self-serving liar, in office months beyond his term,
refusing to step down or call elections until "we (Fatah
and Hamas) sign an agreement," then he'll
"immediately" set a date, he says, what he's avoided
so far without authority.
ICRC Condemns the Gaza Siege
Saying it violates Fourth Geneva on June 14, the ICRC
harshly criticized Israel's siege for causing "acute
hardships," saying:
"The whole of Gaza's civilian population is being
punished for acts for which they bear no
responsibility. The closure therefore constitutes a
collective punishment imposed in clear violation of
Israel's obligations under international humanitarian
law."
ICRC's Gaza health coordinator, Eileen Daly, said "The
state of (its) healthcare system....has never been
worse."
The organization's West Asia head, Beatrice
Megevand-Roggo, explained the siege "is having a
devastating impact on the 1.5 million people living in
Gaza," adding that Israel's security concerns aside,
"Palestinians (have a) right to live normal, dignified
lives," what Israel willfully denies them.
ICRC also condemned the Flotilla massacre and Israel's
preventing Gaza's economic development.
Resisting the Occupation and Siege
Activists worldwide demand it, including the
International Solidarity Movement (ISM), committed to
"nonviolen(ce), direct-action methods and principles."
Co-founded by Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro in August
2001:
"ISM aims to support and strengthen the Palestinian
popular resistance by providing the Palestinian people
with two resources, international solidarity and an
international voice with which to nonviolently resist
an overwhelming military occupation force."
Words alone won't work, only popular direct action -
steadfast, redoubtable, international, and
strengthened by growing numbers worldwide in a
nonviolent struggle for "freedom, self-determination
and human rights," demanding the major media report it
accurately, spreading the word on their own, and
offering hope to a beleaguered, long-suffering people.
"The belief that non-violent direct action can
successfully challenge (Israel's) apartheid is a
cornerstone of our philosophy and message - we see, we
hear and we are with you," committed to liberation,
peace and self-determination, asking others to join
them.
The Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM) is ISM's
student arm, "an umbrella group of Palestine-related
groups, primarily on campuses, across North America."
Its aims include support for boycott, divestment and
sanctions (BDS), Palestinian self-determination, the
Right of Return, and ending US aid to Israel, most for
its military to wage war on the region and Palestine,
funded with US taxpayer dollars.
Dark Forces Against ISM and PSM
Stop the ISM.com is one, a pro-Israeli front group,
calling them terrorists like the PLO under Arafat, the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP),
Hamas, and others like them - resistance groups
struggling for liberation, not bogusly labeled
terrorists.
The group calls Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro "two of
the most disgusting human beings who would condone
murder while claiming they are 'peace activists.' "
Accusing them of "wish(ing) to see Israel destroyed,"
it labels Shapiro a product of his "dyed-in-the-wool
Stalinist parents....raised on a steady diet of Israel
hatred at home."
Acting as ISM "spokewoman," Arraf is accused of "control(ling)
propaganda media reports....endorsing and assisting
Palestinian terrorists in their anti-Israeli
endeavors...organiz(ing) demonstrations around the
West Bank, (and) frequently lectur(ing) and
recruit(ing) in the United States at fundraisers and
at anti-Semitic, anti-Israel conclaves."
The group also says ISM activists "serve as human
shields for armed Palestinian terrorists, (act as)
couriers for terrorists, and smuggl(e) explosives and
bomb-making materials into Israel for the PLO," the
same type propaganda Israel and Washington generate,
dutifully echoed in major Western media reports.
Stop the ISM.com calls the "totalitarian Arab world's
educational system (a) cesspool of hate brought to
American culture and shores via our colleges and
universities," saying ISM uses them to "recruit every
anti-American pervert and malcontent it can find....in
solidarity to destroy Israel and in the long run
America too."
They also attack the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA),
a former US senator, attorney general, Oakland mayor,
Edward Said, and two current congresspersons among its
founding advisors - a dedicated organization providing
aid to regional families, including food, medicine,
medical supplies, clothes, books, school supplies, and
toys, part of its charitable work, including
scholarships for Palestinian students.
Stop the ISM.com calls them a "terrorist-supporting
enterprise....claim(ing) to be raising money for
'charity' or children, then sen(t) to America's and
Israel's enemies to protract the War on Terror....MECA
collects and launders money for pro-PLO and (other)
groups all over the USA by taking in checks made out
to 'ISM-USA.' "
Sadly, many people believe it and support the group's
extremists, its site not naming them, apparently out
of shame. They also ignore horrific conditions in
Gaza, a frequent topic this writer addresses
accurately in articles and on air.
On June 14, the Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of
Movement provided a snapshot of a "paralyzed economy"
under siege:
-- before imposed, over 4,000 items entered Gaza
freely;
-- after recent Israeli softening, only 114, hundreds
of basic ones prohibited;
-- "a large Israeli (or Western) supermarket carries
10,000 - 15,000 items;
-- among ones Israel bans are vinegar, toys, cocoa,
chewing gum, paper and musical instruments, and
hundreds more common ones;
-- before closure, about 10,400 truckloads of goods
monthly entered freely, now down to about 2,300
carrying fewer goods;
-- before closure, 70 trucks a day carried Gazan
exports; since June 2007, only 259 left the Strip,
less than earlier exports in four days;
-- daily, about 30,000 trucks enter Manhattan for a
population slightly larger than Gaza;
-- for lack of power, 80 million liters of raw or
partially treated sewage are dumped daily into the
Mediteranean;
-- over 90% of Gaza's aquifer water is polluted;
-- Israel, admittedly, conducts "economic warfare"
against Gaza;
-- as a result, 80% of the population is aid-dependent
under conditions of extreme poverty, unemployment,
depravation, and no wonder, given Israel's extremist
government headed by a very unstable man.
Netanyahu on the Couch,
Out-of-Control
On June 8, author and dissident historian Michael K.
Smith headlined a Legalienation News Bureau article,
"Psychiatrist of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu Commits Suicide," explaining:
"Moshe Yatom, a prominent Israeli psychiatrist who
successfully cured the most extreme forms of mental
illness (schizophrenia) throughout a distinguished
career, was found dead at his home in Tel Aviv
yesterday from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot
wound. A suicide note at his side explained that
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who ha(d)
been his patient for the last nine years, had 'sucked
the life right out of me.' I can't take it anymore,"
he wrote and continued in Orwellian doublespeak,
saying:
"Robbery is redemption, apartheid is freedom, peace
activists are terrorists, murder is self-defense,
piracy is legality, Palestinians are Jordanians,
annexation is liberation, there's no end to his
contradictions. Freud promised rationality would reign
in the instinctual passions, but he never met Bibi
Netanyahu. This guy would say Gandhi invented brass
knuckles."
Yatom very likely was overwhelmed by his "waterfall of
lies, self-serving rationalizations, (and) a black
hole of self-contradiction(s)," causing him to become
depressed. A series of strokes followed - the first
after Netanyahu said the 9/11 attacks "were good," the
second when he compared Iran to Nazi Germany, and the
third after he called its nuclear program "a flying
gas chamber, (and that all Jews) lived permanently in
Auschwitz."
Elaborating in a diary, Yatom explained the emotional
toll it took failing to change such extremism, saying:
"The alibi is always the same with him. The Jews are
on the verge of annihilation at the hands of the
racist goyim and the only way to save the day is to
carry out one final massacre."
Below is an except from Yatom's unfinished book on
Netanyahu from a chapter titled, "Psychotic on
Steroids:"
"Monday, March 8. Bibi came by at three for his
afternoon session. At four he refused to leave and
claimed my house was actually his. Then he locked me
in the basement overnight while he lavishly
entertained his friends upstairs. When I tried to
escape, he called me a terrorist and put me in
shackles. I begged for mercy, but he said he could
hardly grant it to someone who didn't even exist."
Throughout its history, Israel has been belligerent,
lawless, and out-of-control, reigning terror on
Palestine and the region. Under Netanyahu, the danger
is global, given its nuclear and missile delivery
system capability, and stated intention to use them if
threatened, now under an extremist, very unstable
leader if Yatom's analysis is accurate. If he and
Obama escalate regional or global war, the Flotilla
massacre, by comparison, will look inconsequential.
A Final Comment
On June 14, Reuters headined, "Who's who on Israel's
committee on the Gaza flotilla raid," exposing it as a
Washington-endorsed sham, not acknowledged in the
report.
Called an Independent Public Commission, Netanyahu
said it will demonstrate clearly "to the entire world
that the state of Israel acts according to law,
transparently and with full responsibility."
In his released statement, White House press secretary
Robert Gibbs endorsed the announcement as an
"important step forward," saying "the structure and
terms of reference of Israel's proposed independent
public commission can meet the standard of a prompt,
impartial, credible and transparent investigation."
The administration was silent after the May 31
massacre, only saying it regretted the loss of life,
its usual boilerplate cover for Israeli belligerence,
partnered with our own globally.
Commission Members
Former Israeli Supreme Court Justice, Jacob Turkel,
will head it, described as a conservative jurist with
little experience in inquiry commissions, but a great
deal handling military court appeals always ruling for
Israel, virtually never for victimized Palestinian
plaintiffs.
Amos Horev is Israel's other member, an 86-year old
retired major general and prominent
military-industrial complex figure, active in its
nuclear and high technology programs.
Two non-voting foreign observers are:
David Trimble, head of Northern Ireland's Ulster
Unionist Party, First Minister of the Good Friday
Agreement's power-sharing government, and current
Conservative Party life peer, a man Sean McPhilemy
discussed in his book titled, "The Committee,"
explaining:
He was involved (on a sinister level) in the unionist
ferment, aligned with a tightly organized group of
(Ulster's) most powerful Protestant businessmen and
professionals, along with with loyalist death squads
and Royal Ulster Constabulary killers (RUC), until the
Police Service of Northern Ireland replaced it in
2001. Together, they murdered republicans and others
considered a threat to union with Britain under
Protestant Northern Ireland rule, often killing people
for being Catholic.
For this, he won the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, given to
war criminals, not peacemakers, past winners including
Henry Kissinger, four Israeli warlord prime ministers,
and Barack Obama, at the same time he escalated war in
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, and
threatens more in other regions.
General Ken Watkin (ret.) is the other observer,
former head of Canada's military judiciary and legal
advisor to a Canadian military/civilian board of
inquiry investigation into the Canadian Airborne
Regiment Battle Group's early 1990s Somalia
atrocities, its resolution absolving high-ranking
officers and top government officials, the ones always
most guilty.
Like past Israeli and Washington commissions,
whitewash is assured this time, the bogus
investigation to produce lies, distortion, omissions,
false conclusions, and exoneration of cold-blooded
murder, ordered by top government and military
officials who'll walk away scot- free, no matter that
world public opinion knows it and acknowledges their
guilt, but they have no voting authority. With it,
justice would finally be served, what can't come a
moment too soon.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached
at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog
site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to
cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on
the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive
Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and
Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are
archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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