What the persecution of Azmi Bishara means for Palestine

On Sunday, Bishara appeared on Al-Jazeera, after weeks of press speculation that he had gone into exile and would resign from the Knesset. He revealed that in fact he is the target of a very high level probe by Israeli state security services who apparently plan to bring serious “security” related charges against him. Censorship on this matter is so tight in “democratic” Israel that until a few days ago Israeli newspapers were prohibited from even mentioning the existence of the probe. They are still forbidden from reporting anything about the substance of the investigation, and Ha’aretz admitted that due to official censorship it could not even reprint much of what Bishara said to millions of viewers on television…
In practice this means that the Palestinian solidarity movement needs to fashion a new message that breaks with the failed fantasy of hermetic separation in nationalist states. It means we have to focus on fighting Israeli racism and colonialism in all its forms against those under occupation, against those inside, and against those in exile. We need to educate ourselves about what is happening all over Palestine, not just in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. We need to stand and act in solidarity with Azmi Bishara and all Palestinians inside the 1948 lines who have for too long been marginalized and abandoned by mainstream Palestinian politics. Support for the Palestinian civil society call for boycott, divestment and sanctions is particularly urgent (see http://www.pacbi.org/). In practice we need to start building a vision of life after Israeli apartheid, an inclusive life in which Israelis and Palestinians can live in equality sharing the whole country. If Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams and hardline Northern Ireland Unionist leader Ian Paisley can sit down to form a government together, as they are, and if Nelson Mandela and apartheid’s National Party could do the same, nothing is beyond the realm of possibility in Palestine if we imagine it and work for it.
Azmi Bishara is the only Palestinian leader of international stature expressing a vision and strategy that is relevant to all Palestinians and can effectively challenge Zionism. That is why he is in fear for his life, safety and future while the quisling “president” Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah receives money and weapons from the United States and tea and cakes from Ehud Olmert.

By Ali Abunimah (Source: Electronic Intifada)

Encourage and Support Pelosi

House speaker Pelosi is under attack from the far right for speaking with the Syrian President, Al-Assad. This is despite the fact that she had Henry Waxman and Tom Lantos with her who are ardent Zionists and she still pledges allegiance to AIPAC.
It is time to nudge her from the other angles. Let’s ask her to challenge the WAR plans of the far right AND AIPAC.
Contact Nancy Pelosi at Office of the Speaker,
H-232, US Capitol, Washington, DC 20515,
(202) 225-0100
http://speaker.house.gov/contact/

Brave Heart

Can we call ourselves Men, look at this Palestinian lady and think what you’d do if you were in her shoes.
I think most of us will run instead of fighting this monster and its masters.

Child abuse in our schools

My Friend Haitham has brought an interesting issue on his blog, and I thought I should share it with you:

This is one of the most bizarre video clips I’ve ever seen.
Warning (PG): Parents, keep your kids away, trust me.
I have no clue where was this video clip taken. It is a classroom in one of our schools around the Arab world. The teacher’s accent sounds Syrian; however that doesn’t necessary mean that this toke place in a Syrian school. Teachers from all around the Arab world spread over many countries specially in the Gulf region.
Anyway, if anyone has any idea where this video clip was taken, please let me know. It would be great if someone knows the real ID of this teacher. I will be more than happy to file a court case against him and see him serving in prison (I would be happier to see him hanged from his balls, excuse my French!).
It’s a nightmare for parent to see such ill acts in classrooms. Of course child abuse and ‘torture’ is everywhere around the world, but it makes me feel worried about my own kids when I see such things. It could have been my kids or your kids anywhere around the world.
I highly respect teachers and value their mention, but let’s face the truth, child abuse is not something rare in our schools, and I’m now talking about schools around the Middle East. Personally I was lucky enough not to pass through any kind of abuse during my school time, however, I witnessed many case which I can’t describe now as less than ‘torture.’ Therefore, if we are unlucky enough to see this video clip today, I wonder how many case like this or worse takes place everyday around our children schools!
Video code can be downloaded from here or here!

Israeli historian on ethnic cleansing of Palestine

Listen to more information about the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 in these two lectures (sound files) of the Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, who did extensive research in the military archives of Israel. [Hat tip: Stan van Houcke]
On January 26, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe gave a lecture at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Pappe was in the Netherlands on invitation of United Civilians for Peace and Another Jewish Voice. On January 27 he presented his latest book “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” in ABC Treehouse Gallery and On January 28, he lectured at Desmet in Amsterdam.
Download his lecture here: Part 1 (MP3) Part 2 (MP3)
Pappe’s book shows that in 1948, the Zionist movement waged a war against the Palestinian people in order to implement its long term plans of ethnic cleansing. The Arab world tried to prevent this cleansing, but was too fragmented, self-centered and ineffective to stop the uprooting of half of Palestine’s native population, the destruction of half of its villages and towns and the killing of thousands of its people.

Palestine dying to live

One wise man once said:Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.In light of the injustices committed by the Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, concerned members of the advertising and media community in Jordan have produced a media campaign to mobilize public opinion, to open the world’s eyes to the various violations of basic human rights, in an effort to bring forth the plight of the Palestinians to the Western world, in a language they understand. As they say, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.Ours is this campaign, the fruit of the collective efforts of advertisers, graphic designers, writers, art directors, and web developers. It does not purport to spread confrontational, aggressive, graphic material, but rather to appeal to audiences’ human side.We are all volunteers and belong to no political party. We realize that running this campaign in major papers in the West is not only costly, but needs calculated strategic planning. But instead of waiting for that to happen, which could take months if not years, we have decided to “ride the momentum” and act now.As you will find out through our website, there are many high-resolution images that you can download for placement onto any medium you desire, be it newspapers, posters, or t-shirts.We provide you with the artwork and the message, and the rest is up to you. You may take this message and circulate it in your local community, your campus newspaper, or even your country club.In order to protect the integrity of the campaign we will not post our advertisements as downloadable files equipped for proper printing. However, if you are interested in printing the campaign and publishing it in your local newspapers, magazines, or on billboards and rooftops please contact us at info@dying2live.com and provide us with your contact information and what you have in mind, and we will guide you on how to obtain these images through the internet.As Martin Luther King once said:We shall have to repent in this generation, not so much for the evil deeds of the wicked people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.
Help us break the silence.
Help Palestine live in peace.

Apartheid in Israel

Michael Jansen
The latest report published by the UN rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories compares Israel’s policies there to those of South Africa during the apartheid era.
John Dugard, a South African law professor and former anti-apartheid campaigner, called upon the international community to give “serious consideration” to his recommendation that the International Court of Justice in The Hague issue an advisory opinion on Israel’s policies and actions.
In the 24-page document, posted on the council’s website, Dugard states: “The international community, speaking through the United Nations, has identified three regimes as inimical to human rights — colonialism, apartheid and foreign occupation” and accuses Israel of practising all three.
Of the three, Israel is most incensed by being accused of instituting apartheid in the occupied and colonised Palestinian territories.
Dugard says that Israel’s policies “certainly resemble aspects of apartheid”. He points out that Israel is committing many violations of the 1973 Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid and cites Israel’s restriction of Palestinian movement, construction of walls and fences to separate Israelis and Palestinians, building of Israeli settler only cities, towns and roads, and demolition of Palestinian houses built without Israeli permits. He compares Israel’s lists of security risks — 180,000 names long — who may not pass through the hundreds of checkpoints to South Africa’s notorious “pass laws” which obstructed the free movement of black Africans.
Dugard challenges Israel’s contention that West Bank checkpoints, barriers and blockades are intended to protect Israelis from attacks by Palestinian fighters and suicide bombers. He states: “It has become abundantly clear that the wall and checkpoints are principally aimed at advancing the safety, convenience and comfort of [Israel’s 430,000] settlers” who live in the West Bank in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Dugard singles out the example of the wall being constructed in East Jerusalem, characterising it as an “instrument of social engineering designed to achieve the Judaisation of Jerusalem by reducing the number of Palestinians in the city”. As proof, he states: “The wall is being built through Palestinian neighbourhoods, separating Palestinians from Palestinians, in a manner that cannot conceivably be justified on security grounds.”
He asks: “Can it seriously be denied that the purpose of such action is to establish and maintain domination by one racial group — Jews — over another racial group — Palestinians — and systematically oppress them?” He observes: “Such an intention or purpose may be inferred from the actions described in this report.”
Israel and its apologists angrily reject the apartheid accusation, charge those who make it with being anti-Semites and call upon Israel’s friends to refute the charge. Amongst those whom Israel has tried to censure or smear are former US president Jimmy Carter and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu, former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town and head of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Other figures making the charge include Arun Gandhi, grandson of the Mahatma Gandhi; Winnie Mandela, former wife of South African leader Nelson Mandela; Michael Ben Yair, who served as Israel’s attorney general from 1993-96; Ami Ayalon, a former admiral in Israel’s navy and head of Shin Bet, the country’s internal security agency; Tommy Lapid, head of Israel’s Shinui Party; and Meron Benvenisti, former deputy mayor of Jerusalem.
Carter’s national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, warned that if a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was not found, the two communities would be forced to dwell separately, with one living comfortably and the other in poverty. Brzezinski’s prediction has come true.
According to the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation, nearly half of the Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza have no food security. In a report issued this week, these two agencies say that Israel’s closures and blockades and the Western financial boycott of the Palestinian Authority are depriving Palestinians of essential nutrition.
Forty-six per cent of Palestinians are food insecure or vulnerable, in comparison to 35 per cent in 2004, even though during 2006, the WFP increased food aid by 25 per cent, providing for 260,000 non-refugees in Gaza and 400,000 in the West Bank. Meanwhile, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees expanded its rolls of refugees entitled to food aid to meet the needs of those who had been self-sufficient as far as food was concerned.
It is important for Israel to silence or smear anyone who compares Israel to apartheid South Africa. On the one hand, Israel argues that the Jewish state has a moral basis for existence: recompensing the Jews for centuries of Western persecution. While Israel’s founding fathers admitted that the creation of Israel involved the commission of injustices against the Palestinians, they argued that the Israeli option was the “line of least injustice”, a contention which Palestinians could never accept. To maintain the notion that it is a moral entity, Israel must prevent the international community from accepting the contention that Israel, like South Africa, has adopted apartheid to deal with its native population.
On the other hand, Israel seeks to evade punishment through sanctions for practising racial discrimination to the same extent as the apartheid South African regime. Many critics of Israel’s policies call for sanctions to be imposed on Israel until it ends its occupation of the territories conquered in 1967, halts settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and reverses the apartheid measures it has adopted. Amongst the prime movers on the sanctions front have been mainstream Protestant churches in the US. They have called for divestment in US and other companies providing Israel with bulldozers to build settlements and destroy Palestinian houses and orchards.
Some have suggested divesting from US and other Western organisations — like local pension funds — which have links to Israeli public institutions.
These attempts to punish Israel have raised a storm of protest from Israel and its friends and forced the churches to reconsider their positions. If divestment becomes widespread, Israel will be under considerable public pressure to end the occupation and its colonisation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan, and renounce apartheid. Oddly, Israel’s occupation and colonisation of Palestinian land, which is far more damaging than separation to Palestinian interests and threatens to deprive Palestinians of self-determination, does not raise the sort of emotional objections apartheid does even though apartheid is, in this case, an ineluctable consequence of occupation and colonisation.

“I will kill you because God said so”

From Sabbah's Blog:

13 Years of Lesson after Al-Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre - A Memorial History for the 29 Palestinian Martyrs
The story:
The dawn of Friday 15 Ramadan 1414 a.h. / 25 February 1994 marked the first of three massacres perpetrated by Israeli settlers accompanied by the Israeli Army. There were more than 30 martyrs and 270 injured. The main massacre toke place while the victims were performing al- Fajr (Dawn) Prayer at Al Ibrahimi mosque.

(Al-Ibrahimi Mosque - Al-Khalil, Occupied Palestine)

At 05:00 on February 25, around eight hundred Palestinian Muslims passed through the east gate of Al-Ibrahimi mosque to participate in al-Fajr prayer, the first of the five daily Islamic prayers. At that time of the holy month of Ramadan, there were many people who flocked the Ibrahimi Mosque to perform their prayers. The mosque was under Israeli Army guard.
That same day, a Jewish American Zionist physician decided to materialize the dream of the typical Zionist movement of annihilating the Arab existence in Palestine. Dr. Baruch Goldstein prepared for the move. It was during Ramadan when Dr. Goldstein decided to execute his old plan of vengeance.
Goldstein passed two army checkpoints at the dawn of February 25, 1994 from the northeastern gate of the mosque near privy. That privy could be the reason why Goldstein decided on that gate because he, probably, received his contemplation about Arabs from the Rabbis of Kach in Kiryat Arab where the Arabs were described as the demons of the privy. The privy of the mosque is important not only because it has two Israeli army checkpoints on its nearby mosque’s gate, but also because it is surrounded by Israeli army posts from the east and army patrols in the west. So Goldstein was acting from the deepest parts of the Zionistic ideology in liquidating the demons.
Goldstein walked at least 100 yards in the mosque before he decided to choose the exact location to liquidate his demons. He positioned himself at the last row of the main hall, just opposite to the Imam’s place (Manbar.) In this case and as a typical Zionist, shooting from the back was the style. The position was not arbitrary not only because it enabled him to shoot directly at the largest number of the backs of the worshipers but also because it was supposed to have enabled him to get a fast escape or protection from the Israeli soldiers who were scattered right behind him in the northern hall -the plate- of the mosque.
Goldstein was carrying his IMI Galil assault rifle, four magazines of ammunition, which held 35 bullets each and hand grenades. He thought about the best moment to execute the plan, maximize the number of casualties and secure the escape or rescue. The best moment, of course, was when the Muslim worshipers knelt on the floor with their backs towards Goldstein.
It was first a hand grenade that he threw among the worshipers causing casualties, confusion, and possibly an invitation to the Israeli soldiers in the halls and outside of the mosque to intervene for rescue. And in no time, the automatic massacre took place with the same kind of mercy that other Zionists like Goldstein shows all the time toward Arabs.
Standing in front of the only exit from the mosque and positioned to the rear of the Muslim worshipers, he opened fire with the weapon, killing 29 people and injuring more than 125. He was eventually overwhelmed by survivors, who beat him to death.
An eyewitness said that when Goldstein was executing the massacre and people attacked him, there was a soldier who attempted to come closer to the scene. But instead of “rescuing” Dr. Goldstein, the Israeli soldier shot his bullets in the air and then escaped from the inside eastern door of the northern hall to the previously known “women praying area.” In the opinion of the eyewitness, the soldier could have rescued Goldstein by killing 5 or 10 more Palestinians, but it appeared that his personal safety was above any blood value.
Al Ibrahimi massacre (a.k.a Hebron massacre) is not the last one. Muslims and Jews are and will remain candidates for victimization. But the cause will always be the same: “The Nazi style laws of the Zionists occupation in Palestine.”
Reports after the massacre were inevitably highly confused. In particular, there was uncertainty about whether Goldstein had acted alone; it was reported that eyewitnesses had seen “another man, dressed as a soldier, handing him ammunition.” The Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said that the attack was the work of up to 12 men, including Israeli troops. However, Israeli Army denied that and confirmed that Goldstein had acted alone without the assistance or connivance of the Israeli guards posted at the mosque.
News of the massacre immediately led to riots in Hebron (Al-Khalil in Arabic) and the rest of the occupied territories. Additional Palestinian Muslims were crushed to death in the panic to flee the mosque and in rioting that followed.
Now that was history, a bloody history that marked Feb 25 of every year with memorials of the Palestinian Martyrs massacred that day for nothing but being Palestinians. So, what are the lessons that we learned from this?
First we will look at the ideology behind this massacre (and all the Zionist massacres), then how it is treated among Zionists. And last but not least, how does the media look at Zionist (terrorists) and how do they handle such massacres compared to other terrorist acts and massacres.

Barack Obama

A Chicago Illinois radio station recently conducted a live survey on a man called Barack Obama.

Question 1: Do you think Barack Obama is a dangerous terrorist?
Calls flooded to the radio station and the listeners unanimously and
assertively agreed that Barack Obama was a dangerous terrorist and
that the US military should relentlessly track him until he was killed.

Question 2: Which country is Mr. Obama the President of? Sudan,
Algeria, Egypt or Saudi Arabia?
Most listeners confidently replied one of these countries, with a
majority opting for Algeria. Obviously, the term Islamist was born in
Algeria.So where else could Barack Obama be living other than in Algeria?

Why I am bothering you with this?
Well, it turns out that Barack Obama is the US Senator for Illinois
and Chicago (where the survey was conducted in a big city in the
state of Illinois).

So if the wise and powerful Americans do not even know who their own
Senator is and consider him as a dangerous terrorist, why are you
expecting them to understand what's happening in Iraq or Palestine?
Please give them a break!

HELP SAVE DIBBIN FOREST

Dear All,
Please read the email i got from APN, please visit the website and sign the petition.

"you have ever been to Dibbin forest you would know how beautiful it is.>> >A project by Jordan-Dubai Capital group will take place on the forest> >the project will be a 5 star resort that will take an area of about 470>dunoms.> >Environmental groups in Jordan are joining hands to stop this project> >from taking place in the forest while proposing a more sustainable> >option of building the hotels and villa's in a neighboring area next to>the forest.> >It's also worth mentioning that forests make less than 1% of Jordan's> >area and Dibbin is considered the richest area in the country.> >Help spread the word as wide as possible by signing the online petition
( if you think you can help don't hesitate to send me a msg)
http://www.foe.org.jo/dibbin/
Thank you,
Lana Qadoumi
Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN)Website:www.apnature.org
Tel:+962-6-5673331Mobile:+962-79-6444629"

The power of non violence

Dr. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the M.K.Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, in his June 9 lecture at the University of Puerto Rico, shared the following story:

"I was 16 years old and living with my parents at the institute my grandfather had founded 18 miles outside of Durban, South Africa, in the middle of the sugar plantations. We were deep in the country and had no neighbors, so my two sisters and I would always look forward to going to town to visit friends or go to the movies. One day, my father asked me to drive him to town for an all-day conference, and I jumped at the chance. Since I was going to town, my mother gave me a list of groceries she needed and, since I had all day in town, my father asked me to take care of several pending chores, such as getting the car serviced. When I dropped my father off that morning, he said, "I will meet you here at 5:00 p.m., and we will go home together."
After hurriedly completing my chores, I went straight to the nearest movie theatre. I got so engrossed in a John Wayne double-feature that I forgot the time. It was 5:30 before I remembered. By the time I ran to the garage and got the car and hurried to where my father was waiting for me, it was almost 6:00. He anxiously asked me, "Why were you late?" I was so ashamed of telling him I was watching a John Wayne western movie that I said, "The car wasn't ready, so I had to wait," not realizing that he had already called the garage. When he caught me in the lie, he said: "There's something wrong in the way I brought you up that didn't give you the confidence to tell me the truth. In order to figure out where I went wrong with you, I'm going to walk home 18 miles and think about it." So, dressed in his suit and dress shoes, he began to walk home in the dark on mostly unpaved, unlit roads. I couldn't leave him, so for five-and-a-half hours I drove behind him, watching my father go through this agony for a stupid lie that I uttered. I decided then and there that I was never going to lie again. I often think about that episode and wonder, if he had punished me the way we punish our children, whether I would have learned a lesson at all. I don't think so. I would have suffered the punishment and gone on doing the same thing. But this single non- violent action was so powerful that it is still as if it happened yesterday. That is the power of non-violence."

Policeman referred to military court for refusing to guard Israeli embassy in Cairo

An Egyptian policeman has been referred to a military court because he refused to guard the Israeli embassy in Cairo.Major general Adel Al Helali, a senior aid of the Interior Minister and Giza security manager, ordered policeman Mohamed Khalaf Hassan Ibrahim who is serving in the force guarding the Israeli embassy in Anas Bin Malek St. in Giza to appear before a military prosecution to investigate with him over the incident of a sit-in and hunger strike that he staged in protest at transferring him from Bab Sharq police station, Alexandria, to Giza security department, in the force entrusted with guarding the building of the Israeli embassy .The policeman filed several complaints to the presidency, calling for returning him back to his work in Alexandria because he refuses to guard the headquarters of the Israeli embassy in Cairo due to the crimes Israel is committing in the Middle East , in addition being unable to afford the expenses of traveling and living away from his family .The military prosecution jailed him for 15 days pending trial, and was sent to Um Al-Misriyeen hospital to receive treatment and artificial feeding after he insisted on maintaining the hunger strike till his demands are met .

Politics, not culture, at heart of clash between Islam, West

A survey was done by BBC showed that Majority of people thinks that politics is behind the conflict between Islam and the West. The results of the survey show that there is ground that we can build on to bring people to understand & accept each other.
There will always be culture differences as every society has it is own character, but what we shouldn’t accept is to force our values on others or to allow others to force their values on us.
Most important aspect in solving the majority of the current world conflicts is to respect Human been regardless what is his ethnicity or religion, and use one standard of justice no matter who are the parties of the conflict, and I think all of us know the double standards policy used by the West and specially USA regarding the issues that concerns the Arab and Muslim world.


Politics, not culture, at heart of clash between Islam, West — poll



LONDON (AP) — A majority of people surveyed in 27 countries believe that common ground can be found between Islam and the West, rejecting the idea of a clash of civilisations, according to a poll published Monday.
The British Broadcasting Corp. World Service poll of more than 28,000 people found 52 per cent believe tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims are caused by political power and interests, compared with 29 per cent who say religion and culture are root causes.
Most people questioned, including Muslims and non-Muslims, rejected the notion that violent conflict between Islam and the West is inevitable. Although 28 per cent said violence was inevitable, twice as many — 56 per cent — believe "common ground can be found." Since the September 11 attacks in the US, countries around the world have struggled with how to deal with radicalism. The poll's results are hopeful, showing most believe differences between Muslims and Westerners can be worked out, said Steven Kull, director of the Programme on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, which conducted the survey with pollsters from GlobeScan.
"Most people around the world clearly reject the idea that Islam and the West are caught in an inevitable clash of civilisations," Kull said.
Fifty-eight per cent blame tensions on intolerant minorities — not cultural groups as a whole. But, 26 per cent identified fundamental differences between the cultures as the cause.
In Britain, 77 per cent believe common ground can be found between Muslim and Western cultures, compared with 15 per cent who see violence as inevitable. In the US, 64 per cent believed in common ground but 31 per cent saw conflict as inevitable.
Overall, 52 per cent of the 5,000 Muslims surveyed said common ground was possible, including majorities in Lebanon (68 per cent) and Egypt (54 per cent) as well as pluralities in Turkey (49 per cent) and the United Arab Emirates (47 per cent).
Worldwide, the poll indicated, Muslims are more certain than Christians that tensions derive from political conflict, at 55 per cent compared with 51 per cent.
The belief in common ground increases with education at 46 per cent among those with no formal education to 64 per cent for those with post secondary education.
Pollsters questioned about 1,000 people in each country.
The margin of error for the November 3-January 16 poll ranges from 2.5-4 percentage points depending on the country.

Calling Middle East School Bloggers

From Sabbah Blogs:

Calling Middle East School Bloggers
Are you a school student and you having a blog? I know that many of my friends (bloggers) are collage or university students, but I don’t know of any school bloggers, do you? (And by school I mean students who are 18 years old or less).
Why I’m asking is because of the following email which I received from an American teachers who is looking to “bridge” the gap between her students and our students (in other words, between East and West). Let’s read it to get the idea:
From: Julia Kidd [projectknow@hotmail.com]Date: Feb 15, 2007 12:18 AMSubject: American teachers would like adviceTo: [haitham.sabbah@gmail.com]
2/14/07
Mr. Sabbah,
My name is Julia Kidd. I’m a teacher in a small town in Colorado, in the USA. My co-teacher, Josh Egedy and I are starting a unit with our 7th (12-13 years old) grade world history class about Middle Eastern cultures, religion, history and geography. We are pretty isolated where we live, and I’m unsure if any of our students have ever been in contact with a Muslim person. We are concerned, as educators that all the students know about the Middle East is what they get from the slanted US media coverage. We are concerned about the stereotypes they are developing and would like our students to get a better understanding of Islam, and Middle Eastern cultures. We would like to set up a blog with a school with a predominately Muslim population. The students could talk to each other about the current issues, and learn from each other. Do you have any ideas or contacts with schools? Thank you for your time and thought.
Julia Kidd
Unfortunately I don’t have any contact with schools or teachers (maybe I do if any of the bloggers I know is a teacher and I didn’t know that ).
All right, probably this is one of the most interesting ideas I’ve heard this year. Now, please consider this as an appeal for teachers and students in the Arab World (Muslims and Christians) to raise their hands up and join this initiative. I told Julia that I will publish her email to spread the word and she welcomed the idea. It is not easy to find a way to talk-to-others and getting your and their voices heard, specially when we know the truth behind the media and the noble cause these teachers are going after. Having said that, it would also be great idea if we build such bridges not only with the West, but even with Israel school students.
One problem we might face is the Internet connection and PC availability in the Arab world schools in general. I know for a fact that some classrooms in the Arab world don’t even have chairs, but better try than never.
It will be great to see this initiative sponsored by official or non-official organizations or at worst by independent activists. Personally, I will do whatever it takes to help in setting up the blog for this project if required and promoting it too. However, I know that for such a project to work on big scale it needs good investment (not necessary money, might be some of your time only!). So, if anyone has good ideas to get this initiative workable, we like to hear from you.
Let’s spread the word: If you have a brother, sister, son, daughter, etc in school, it will be great if you can encourage him/her to do this. If you are a teacher with or without experiences in blogging and need help to start, please don’t hesitate to ask. Let’s help or at least try to build a better future for our youngsters by building and supporting bridges between children’s of the world to talk and share knowledge.
Please feel free to contact me by leaving a comment following this post or writing to me here. Also don’t hesitate to contact Julia Kidd e-mail:projectknow@hotmail.com.
Good luck and hope to hear positive feedback.

Can you go home, safely?

This post was published on My friend Haitham Blogsite and i would like to share it with you.
Can you go home, safely?
Imagine one day when you return from work, you are stopped by an armed man and asked to turn around and go back where you came from. You tell him that “you want to go home,” he say “NO, go back!” How does it feel when you are not allowed to return home? Nightmare, right? Okay, what if I tell you that this is a true story…
Here is a video by Christian Peacemaker Team, which show that an Israeli terrorist in Hebron refusing to let Palestinians return to their homes. Volunteers from the Christian Peacemaker Team try to intervene, but they and the Palestinians are threatened with arrest. Not only that, but the Israeli terrorist loads and cocks his automatic weapon to threaten unarmed civilians woman.
Imagine one day when you return from work, you are stopped by an armed man and asked to turn around and go back where you came from. You tell him that “you want to go home,” he say “NO, go back!” How does it feel when you are not allowed to return home? Nightmare, right? Okay, what if I tell you that this is a true story…
Here is a video by Christian Peacemaker Team, which show that an Israeli terrorist in Hebron refusing to let Palestinians return to their homes. Volunteers from the Christian Peacemaker Team try to intervene, but they and the Palestinians are threatened with arrest. Not only that, but the Israeli terrorist loads and cocks his automatic weapon to threaten unarmed civilians woman.

Israeli police commander resigns in scandal

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police commander Moshe Karadi on Sunday resigned from his post after a government commission found he should not continue in his post because of involvement in a scandal involving underworld figures.
Karadi announced his intention to resign at a news conference at police headquarters in Jerusalem. He said the government would determine when he would step down.
Earlier Sunday, commission chairman Vardi Zeiler, a retired judge, told a news conference that Karadi must be fired for failing to ensure police thoroughly investigated the 1999 murder of a suspected crime boss and for ignoring ties between senior police officers and top organised crime figures. Karadi was not police commissioner at the time of the killing, but a departmental head.
The two other members of the panel wrote in the findings that Karadi's tenure should not be extended after it expires this summer. The commissioner's term is three years, but the public security minister has an option to extend it for another year.
Terminating Karadi's appointment would "highlight a clear norm for generations to come that someone who behaves like Karadi would be unable to complete his term as police commissioner," Zeiler told reporters.
"If the [panel's] suspicions are correct, this is the beginning of a very corrupt police force, and the infiltration of underworld figures to the police, which corrupts the police and the regime," Zeiler added.
Karadi insisted that the allegations against him were untrue, but said he was resigning to "set a personal example" and spare the police the harm of a scandal swirling around it.
The Zeiler commission was formed to examine whether police properly closed the case of the murder, in which a rogue police officer confessed to shooting a suspected crime boss hospitalised under police guard after an assassination attempt.
The officer, who said he operated at the behest of a well-known Israeli crime family, was later murdered in Mexico, allegedly by members of the crime family because of his confession. The case was later closed after police concluded there wasn't enough evidence.
Karadi was a top official in southern Israel at the time of the 1999 killing, and the commission rebuked him for promoting a police commander suspected in hushing up the case on behalf of the crime family that allegedly hired the murdered officer.
The Karadi case is just the latest in a string of scandals and controversies involving Israel's top leadership. Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz recently resigned as the military chief of staff after coming under withering fire for the flawed summer war against Lebanese fighters.
President Moshe Katsav, now on a leave of absence, has been accused of preying on women who worked for him, and faces allegations of rape, sexual assault and abuse of power.
Former justice minister Haim Ramon was recently convicted in a separate sexual misconduct case, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is under investigation for his role in the sale of a government-controlled bank, and accused of improprieties in a string of real estate deals.
Top tax officials, along with a long-standing Olmert aide, are embroiled in an influence-peddling investigation, and Avraham Hirchson has come under scrutiny for his conduct in connection with an embezzlement scheme at a not-for-profit organisation before he became finance minister.
Settlers ordered out of Jerusalem building
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli court has ordered Jewish families to evacuate a contentious apartment building in East Jerusalem across from the Old City where they have lived for three years, but a settler leader said Sunday they would appeal the ruling.
Evacuation of the seven-storey building would be a setback to settler efforts to expand the Jewish presence in the city's predominantly Arab sector despite stiff and sometimes violent Palestinian opposition and complaints from Israeli doves.
No permit was ever issued to construct the building in the Silwan neighbourhood, people familiar with the case said Sunday. But eight Jewish families moved in under police guard three years ago, and the government has been paying millions of dollars a year to provide the settlers with round-the-clock security.
The city ordered the families to leave, but they stayed put and took the case to court.
In his February 11 ruling, Judge Eliahu Zimra of the Jerusalem court of municipal Affairs ordered the settlers to leave the building by April 15, and have the entrances sealed.
The families, whose entry into the neighbourhood sparked clashes with Palestinian residents, said their aim was to reestablish a neighbourhood of Yemenite Jews expelled in Arab riots 70 years ago.
Dan Luria, a spokesman for the Ateret Cohanim group that champions Jewish settlement of East Jerusalem, said Sunday the families would appeal the ruling. "God willing, we hope to double the number of Jewish families that are there," Luria said.
The eight families he cited includes one family that left the building because it did not want to become entangled in the court case.
East Jerusalem, including the Old City with its major Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, is one of the most volatile battlegrounds in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Led by Ateret Cohanim, settlers have moved some 150 Jewish families into Arab neighbourhoods over the past three decades, an attempt to undermine any division of the city in a future peace deal.