TylerMC/war crimes

Some more good news out of the peace camp in Israel. Lest anyone forget, all of the 'settlements', which are actually colonies outside of the Greenline are in fact illegal under international law. It is the ultimate example of using human shields, placing families and civilians in an area as a military strategy for divide, conquer, territory acquisition, collective punishment and asset re-appropriation.

Also under international law, any person no matter how old or how young, who willingly lives, does business or works within these illegal colonies, is in fact, a war criminal.

This article is a piece of good news. Ending the settler movement is a primary requirement to achieving justice and peace in Palestine.

Excuse me? The Zionist Movement's Goal is to defend state lands from the invasion of Arabs? To begin with, the Arabs were there first so it isn't defending, it is stealing. Secondly, these are not communities, they are colonies, illegal by International Law and every single Jewish person living in these colonies is a war criminal under international law. There was no disengagement from Gaza. If there had been, the walls would come down and the Palestinians could leave freely from their coastline and border with Egypt. And no, one Israeli is not worth thousands of gentiles. One Israeli is equal to one non-Jew, period and neither should be afford privilege above the other. What this essay bemoans is the affects on nature. This is of concern, but the effects on men should be of utmost importance and it is obvious this writer doesn't consider non-Jewish people human, let alone as important as a tree. Extremely disgusting.

This is really going to be hard to watch but people need to see it. It's the result of Americans using DU (Depleted Uranium) which they don't mention but we know was used in Fallujah), White Phosphorus shells and other weapons in Iraq. It's the children, born since we invaded, that are paying.

I've had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with this articles author Phil Tourney several times now. Not only do I like how he approached this style-wise, he's really able to bring home the travesty that is the USS Liberty and the American Governments continued dispassion toward the survivors simply because the only country in the world with full carte blanch to kill Americans, attacked this ship.

Update: Looks like the Israelis decided it would be PR suicide to mess with this: NICOSIA, CYPRUS (18 Aug. 2008) - In a letter today to the Free Gaza
Movement, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledged that the
group of international human rights activists attempting to break the
siege of Gaza were "humanitarian," and stated that the Israeli
government "assume[s] that your intentions are good."

Greta Berlin, one of the organizers of the Free Gaza Movement stated
that, "Since the Foreign Minister's office responded to our invitation
to join us, and said that we have good intentions, we now fully expect
to reach Gaza."

According to recent reports in the Israeli media however, the Israeli
military is preparing to use force to stop the nonviolent campaigners
from reaching Gaza. It's not clear if the letter from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs signals a change of policy, or is simply an attempt to
open up an official dialogue between the state of Israel and the Free
Gaza Movement regarding the current blockade.

The Free Gaza Movement is preparing to sail two ships into Gaza carrying
40 human rights workers from 17 different countries. They will also
deliver hearing aids for children who have lost some or all of their
hearing due to Israeli sound bombs and sonic booms.

The ships have been named the SS Free Gaza, and the SS Liberty - in
recognition of the USS Liberty, a U.S. Navy ship, carrying 340 that was
attacked by Israeli fighter planes and torpedo boats on 8 June 1967,
assassinating 34 American sailors and wounding 170.

The Free Gaza Movement hopes to draw attention to the devastating
consequences of the Israeli blockade by actively demonstrating the power
of non-violent direct action to change inhumane governmental policies.
###

I clicked on the link to Ha'artez and it said this article doesn't exist online. It was sent in the Headlines so here's the summary.

Defense seeks to block Gaza protest boat
Amos Harel, Ha'aretz 8/17/2008
Defense officials favor forcefully blocking two boats which a group of U. S. -based activists plan to sail to Gaza to protest what they call "the Israeli siege on the Strip," Haaretz has learned. According to the Foreign Ministry, Israel is within its rights to use force against the seafarers. The subject of the Greek-flagged boats which the Free Gaza group said it would sail from Cyprus to Gaza this week prompted defense officials to hold a series of discussions; they said allowing the ships to reach the Gaza coastline could create a dangerous precedent. But the Israel Navy has not yet received any instructions on how to treat the vessels. According to some officials, Hamas is keen to exploit the initiative by the activists - including Israeli Hebrew University professor and activist Jeff Halper - for its political needs, and could try to greet the seafarers with fishing boats.

I went and heard Chris Hedges (American Fascist, Pulitzer Prize Winning author, former Middle East Bureau Chief for the NYT and veteran war correspondent) speak last night on his new book Collateral Damage, America's war against Iraqi civilians which is co-written by Sami Al Arian's eldest daughter Laila. The book is dedicated to Sami.

Highly recommend getting it. Fashioned after the Winter Soldiers disclosure of Viet Nam, it's a short book and quick read of just 100 pages and contains on-the-record eyewitness accounts by 50 American soldiers of the atrocities we are committing in Iraq. Basically the United States has copied Israel in every manner but one. I asked him the difference between Israel's actions in the Occupied Territories and ours in Iraq and he stated, 'Israel's is a campaign of ethnic cleansing. and that is where the difference lies Their objective is to wipe out or force out an entire people where as the American objective is to simply occupy and take over." The book is shocking and he commented on a recent conversation he had with Sy Hersh that the US will invade Iran, they just don't know if it will be before the election or after, but before Bush leaves office. He mentioned the cauldron boiling in the Middle East is about to explode and provide an Armageddon's-like war which fortunately will not be the 'End of Times' the Christian Zionists have been prayer for, (which is not biblically ordained. The chapters CZ's point to in Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation already occurred 2,000 years ago and tell of the events from Christ's birth and leading up to the destruction of the Temple and the Temple based faith, not an end of times physical battle between good and evil. It's also a parody for the battle each man fights daily between doing what is right and wrong. In other words every person is fighting his own Armageddon on a daily basis).

However these super-patriot Christian warmongers do have one thing right he points out. Indeed their war could be the end of times as in era; it could destroy everything including several nations in the Middle East and America, not physically but politically by catapulting us into a police state from which there is no return.

One of the take-aways I liked from his presentation was the description of Fundamentalism. He stated that a fundamentalist world view is one that places 'me' in the center and anyone who doesn't think, act or believe as 'me' is an enemy and outside. He pointed out the cult following of this and the increasingly insular nature of this fanaticism. I also liked his descriptions of the convoys ripping through Iraq at 50-60 mph: Freight trains of death.
He also went into the vilification of the French by our media and government. Turns out, they were the only ones with good intelligence and actually had people inside Al Qaida in 2002-2003. But their info didn't fit the agenda so the French were vilified.

Overall a very interesting and sobering evening. I highly recommend getting the book and passing it along. It's shocking, but people need to know.

know, I've been quite lately. This book I'm working on covering oil, politics, the US and Middle East has me knee deep in research but I am watching the news. I was just on television here in the Middle East speaking about Deir Yassin. One of the groups I mentioned doing a lot of good work in Israel was the one featured in this article.