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PALESTINIANS CAN KISS THE IDEA OF NATIONHOOD GOODBYE IF NETANYAHU GAINS POWER IN ISRAEL
Damien Lataan
The Western world should be quite clear about this; Benjamin Netanyahu will never ever allow a Palestinian state to exist in the West Bank, Gaza Strip or any where else that the Israeli right-wing Zionists considers to be part of an eventual Greater Israel.
The West should not be fooled by Netanyahu’s recent remarks about wanting to ‘seek an alternative to current peace talks’ if he becomes Prime Minister of Israel at their elections next February. Netanyahu is seeking only to play for time. He has absolutely no interest whatsoever in making peace with the Palestinian people and even less interest in allowing the Palestinians to have any kind of sovereign state of their own.
The question of the right of return of the refugees is a Palestinian demand that is not negotiable with any Israeli leader. The question of East Jerusalem is also not negotiable as far as the Palestinians are concerned. There is, therefore, only deadlock since Netanyahu is equally steadfast in his refusal to even consider the right of return of the refugees and handing over any part of Jerusalem to the Palestinians.
12-year-old beaten and imprisoned with adults
B'Tselem
[Muhammad Khawajah at his family's grocery store in Ni'lin. Photo: Iyad Hadad, B'Tselem, 18 Oct. 2008.] I live with my family in Ni’lin. We live on the ground floor of the house, my two uncles and their families live on the first floor, and my grandmother lives on the second floor.
Last Thursday [11 September], around 3:00 A.M., I woke up from my mother’s shouts. She was shouting, “Get up! Get up! The army is here!” My father wasn’t home that night. I got up and went out with her to the inner courtyard of the house. There were about 12 soldiers there, and their faces were painted black. One soldier wore a black hat that covered his face. He sat on the stairs outside the house and didn’t take part. I think he was a collaborator who led them to houses.
The soldiers were on the first floor. I heard them tell my Uncle Sami to direct them to our floor. One of the soldiers asked, “Where is Muhammad?”, and I realized he was asking about me. The soldier told my uncle to call me, so he did. I started walking towards them. Two soldiers grabbed me and took me outside. I realized they wanted to arrest me. I was afraid, and began to cry, and called my uncle to come with me.
How Can You Ignore Your Sisters’ Violation?
Haifa Zangana
To those who describe the act of killing American soldiers as brutal, we say: was the treatment and rape of men, women and children in Abu Ghraib humane?
In his 1947 work “The Plague,” the French philosopher Albert Camus, who fought in the ranks of the resistance against the Nazi occupation and the puppet French Vichy government, offered us a new definition of heroism: when ordinary people undertake extraordinary acts out of a feeling of moral responsibility.
With this definition, heroism was now possible by everyone, not just by the elite in society. From this viewpoint, we can understand the position of a young Iraqi male, Ibrahim Alqarghouli, who on Tuesday was sentenced to death by hanging for killing three American soldiers in 2006, an incident described as ‘brutal’ according to a statement released by the occupying U.S. forces last Tuesday and reproduced by Arab and world news agencies.
Obamania: a collective, frightening madness
Gabriele Zamparini
Hangover. How long is it going to last? For some newborn babies, all their life:
The U.S. election has triggered a new generation of mini Barack Obamas with parents in Kenya and the United States naming their newborns after the new president-elect.
That's not a new phenomenon. Naming babies after saints, prophets, kings, popes and charismatic leaders is as old as the human civilization. Sometimes the babies live long enough to survive the fortune of their original. During the '30s of last century, in Germany and Italy the names Adolph and Benito were quite popular; the same for Joseph in Russia and around the world among Communism followers. More recently, people started to name their babies after show-business' celebrities, actors, singers, football players or just someone who appears on TV!
Driving Your Liberties Away: Biometrics and ‘Enhanced’ Drivers Licenses
Christopher Parsons
Privacy advocates across Canada have been struggling to prevent the Ontario provincial government from passing legislation that will see radio identifiers and biometric data inserted into future Ontarian drivers licenses. In spite of their efforts to raise the government’s awareness of the privacy dangers accompanying the proposed licenses, it appears as though their work may been in vain: Bill 85 is now in its final reading, and is widely expected to be passed on November 17th, or shortly thereafter, when the reading continues.
$2 Trillion We Never Knew We Had And They Won't Tell Us Where It Went
Mark Pittman, Bob Ivry & Alison Fitzgerald
[A security officer stands outside of the Federal Reserve building in Washington, Sept. 16, 2008. Photographer: Jay Mallin/Bloomberg News] Fed Defies Transparency Aim in Refusal to Disclose.
The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.
Resistance to Tyranny is Terrorism
Richard Fidler
Afghan resistance is `terrorist' under Canadian law, Khawaja trial judge rules. In the first major prosecution under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act, Mohammad Momin Khawaja, a 29-year-old Ottawa-area software developer arrested almost five years ago, was convicted October 29 on five charges of participating in a "terrorist group" and helping to build an explosive device "likely to cause serious bodily harm or death to persons or serious damage to property."
However, the prosecution was unsuccessful on its two major charges, which alleged that Khawaja had been part of a plot to commit deadly bombings in London, England — for which five individuals, all Muslims like Khawaja, were sentenced to life imprisonment in England in April 2007.
The verdict was not surprising. A lengthy non-jury trial that began in June produced no evidence to link Khawaja directly to the alleged London bomb plot, although there was extensive police evidence that Khawaja knew at least some of the London group. On the other hand Khawaja, through his lawyer Lawrence Greenspon, admitted building an explosive device, a remote detonator that he termed a "hi-fi digimonster," at their behest.
Obama Mania
Stephen Lendman
On November 4, the world exhaled. The age of George Bush ended, and a new one under Barak Obama began. With high hopes he'll reverse the toxic legacy of the past eight years. Adopt socially progressive policies. End foreign wars. Govern the nation responsibly, democratically for all its people. Show his supporters that their faith in him was justified.
"Let us congratulate ourselves on being alive at such a promising moment," wrote The Nation magazine's William Greider. His victory is "a monumental rebuke to tragic history -- the ultimate defeat of 'while supremacy.' Barak Obama has already changed this nation profoundly. Like King before him, the man is a great and brave teacher. (He) redefined the country for us."
The Nation endorsed Obama early on and called his candidacy "historic (for) a new generation (with) new possibilities....a sea-change of course (for) progressive-driven reform....(the) end of the Reagan era....an end of the occupation of Iraq....empowering labor (and) challenging our trade policies." A socially liberal new beginning.
The New Trough
Naomi Klein
The Wall Street bailout looks a lot like Iraq — a "free-fraud zone" where private contractors cash in on the mess they helped create.
On October 13th, when the U.S. Treasury Department announced the team of "seasoned financial veterans" that will be handling the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street, one name jumped out: Reuben Jeffery III, who was initially tapped to serve as chief investment officer for the massive new program.
On the surface, Jeffery looks like a classic Bush appointment. Like Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, he's an alum of Goldman Sachs, having worked on Wall Street for 18 years. And as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 2005 to 2007, he proudly advocated "flexibility" in regulation — a laissez-faire approach that failed to rein in the high-risk trading at the heart of the meltdown.
Barack Obama: Compulsory Service REQUIRED of Middle, High School, College Students
War on You
Obama’s Community Service: Middle School, High School and College Students: REQUIRED to “Serve”.
The honeymoon might be over. The president-elect has indicated where his priorities lie.
With problems besetting the United States on any number of fronts, we think it is disturbing that one of the first items posted at Change.gov, the incoming president’s website, announces that students will be required to perform community service.
Not asked, not presented with a choice so parents can make a decision, but required.
DBKP had planned on reserving comment on the incoming Obama administration until it had actually taken power. We figured that regardless of differences, Barack Obama deserved the benefit of the doubt and a chance to propose policies before we criticized them.
The Obama president-elect’s website changed all that with the announcement–just three days after the 2008 election–that students will be “required” to “serve” and perform “community service”.
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