The World We Live In !!

Israel has for several decades presented itself as an “ally”, and one of prime importance, to the “West” and specifically to the USA. This is based on subterfuge. While it has long served the interests of Zionism and of Israel to be presented as the “bulwark of democracy” in the Middle East, surrounded by intolerance and bigotry and theocratic dictatorship, the long arm of Zionism across the world will support or oppose any movement, individual and state depending upon how Zionist interests are served.

When Zionism was Red

Several decades ago Israel began presenting itself as the “bulwark against communism” in the Middle East and as of vital strategic importune to the USA vis-à-vis the USSR in the region. Israel’s supposed anti-Communism was of recent duration, and thoroughly self-serving.

The roots of modern Zionism go back to Moses Hess, who predated Herzl and mentored Karl Marx. Prof. Shlomo Avineri of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, states in his biography of Hess:

No other writer has similarly been honored in East Berlin and in Jerusalem just as no other writer has had his manuscripts scattered in such diverse places as the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam and the Institute for Marxism-Leninism in Moscow as well as the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem.[1]

Avineri states that many of Hess’ ideas were incorporated into The Communist Manifesto, with which he was involved in the initial writing.[2] Hess was also deeply involved with the First International and served as Marx’s spokesman when Marx could not attend conferences.[3]

Article Written By :- Dr. K R Bolton

Continue Reading the Article At FPJ

Israel's June 5, 1967 surprise attack on Egypt resulted in the obliteration of Egypt's air force while most of its planes were still on the ground.

It is often claimed that Israel’s attack on Egypt that began the June 1967 “Six Day War” was a “preemptive” one. Implicit in that description is the notion that Israel was under imminent threat of an attack from Egypt. Yet this historical interpretation of the war is not sustained by the documentary record.

The President of Egypt, then known as the United Arab Republic (UAR), Gamal Abdel Nasser, later conveyed to U.S. President Lyndon Johnson that his troop buildup in the Sinai Peninsula prior to the war had been to defend against a feared Israeli attack.

Article Written By : Jeremy R. Hammond, Published At :- FPJ

In a meeting with Nasser, Johnson’s special envoy to the UAR, Robert B. Anderson, expressed U.S. puzzlement over why he had massed troops in the Sinai, to which Nasser replied, “Whether you believe it or not, we were in fear of an attack from Israel. We had been informed that the Israelis were massing troops on the Syrian border with the idea of first attacking Syria, there they did not expect to meet great resistance, and then commence their attack on the UAR.” Read more…

Dealing With The Bombs That Remain

GAZA CITY, Jul 7, 2010 (IPS) – At precisely 12 noon on a Thursday afternoon, among the rolling sandy hills in southern Gaza, a controlled explosion destroys another round of white phosphorous shells left in Gaza following the 2008-2009 Israeli war on Gaza.

Article Written By :- Eva Bartlett | Published At : – IPS News

Explosives experts from the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and the United Nations Mine Action Team (UNMAT) are working together to eliminate the remainders of a deadly Israeli attack. The Israeli bombings from land, sea and air left behind large amounts of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in civilian areas.

In a precise, technical routine which takes into account all possible dangers to the MAG and UNMAT workers as well as Palestinian residents living in Gaza, the explosives experts are, detonation by detonation ridding Gaza of the remaining white phosphorous shells.

In order to deprive them of oxygen, shells are first sealed in plaster casts, then moved into large sand-filled containers, until their day of detonation.

Controlled detonations occur twice weekly, coordinated with the Hamas government and the Israeli army, whose war planes fly over the detonation site during the afternoon. Read more…

The Palestinian Authority has called on international bodies and the Arab League summit in Libya to protect East Jerusalem al-Quds against Israeli settlement activities.

Acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas, speaking at the opening of a two-day Arab League summit in the Libyan city of Sirte, called on international bodies and Arab states to force Israel to stop settlement activities in East al-Quds.

Palestinian movement Hamas also issued a statement calling on the Arab leaders to unite and take a “decisive stand and implement a real and serious program to protect Jerusalem (al-Quds) from Israeli aggression.”

Arab leaders have warned on the first day of the summit that the Middle East peace process is bound to fail unless Israel stops settlement activities in East al-Quds, which Palestinians consider as the capital of the future Palestinian state.

“We cannot resume indirect negotiations as long as Israel maintains its settlement policy and the status quo,” Abbas said, calling for a “complete halt to all Israeli practices.”

His remarks come as Israel has recently announced plans to build additional 1,600 settlement units in East al-Quds despite international condemnations.

Abbas said Israel was trying to alter the identity of al-Quds with “ethnic cleansing on a daily basis” and warned that such practices would lead to “wars in the region.”

“And there won’t be any (peace) agreement that does not guarantee an end to the occupation, starting with Jerusalem (Al-Quds), because there is no sense in having a Palestinian state that does not have Jerusalem as its capital.”

In a statement, Hamas called for an end to a blockade of the Gaza Strip and the reopening of Egypt’s common border with the coastal enclave.

“I hope you take decisive action to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip and open the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and our Egyptian brothers,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians gathered in central Gaza and near the Rafah crossing, calling on leaders at the Arab League summit to take serious action against Israel.

The protesters urged Arab states to cut diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv over its policy of settlement expansion on occupied Palestinian land.

AKM/MB

Story Via :- Press TV

Two Israeli tanks have crossed their technical fence near the border with Lebanon two kilometers south of the disputed Ghajar village.

The United Nations peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, also known as the UNIFIL, were present in the area along with Lebanese Armed Forces to make sure that the Israeli forces did not cross the UN demarcated Blue Line.

UNIFIL Spokesperson Neeraj Singh told Press TV no violation has occurred as the Israeli tanks did not actually cross the Blue Line.

This is while Lebanese airspace is being constantly violated by Israeli fighter jets which at times break sound barriers over villages in southern parts of the country. Read more…

Daniel Ayalon, Israel's deputy foreign minister

Israel canceled a delegation of senior military officers to Britain last week after the UK failed to guarantee that they would not be arrested over alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs appealed to the British government to ensure that the officers, including a colonel, lieutenant colonel and a major, would be able to stay in the country without arrest fear.

Britain, however, did not make such a promise.

The incident provoke anger among Israeli officials who cried that the British legal system’s acceptance of pro-Palestinian group’s lawsuits was threatening to “undermine relations” between London and Tel Aviv. Read more…

The passionate support for Israel expressed on talkback sections of websites, internet chat forums, blogs, Twitters and Facebook may not be all that it seems.

Israel’s foreign ministry is reported to be establishing a special undercover team of paid workers whose job it will be to surf the internet 24 hours a day spreading positive news about Israel.

Internet-savvy Israeli youngsters, mainly recent graduates and demobilised soldiers with language skills, are being recruited to pose as ordinary surfers while they provide the government’s line on the Middle East conflict.

“To all intents and purposes the internet is a theatre in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we must be active in that theatre, otherwise we will lose,” said Ilan Shturman, who is responsible for the project.

The existence of an “internet warfare team” came to light when it was included in this year’s foreign ministry budget. About $150,000 has been set aside for the first stage of development, with increased funding expected next year.

The team will fall under the authority of a large department already dealing with what Israelis term “hasbara”, officially translated as “public explanation” but more usually meaning propaganda. That includes not only government public relations work but more secretive dealings the ministry has with a battery of private organisations and initiatives that promote Israel’s image in print, on TV and online.

In an interview this month with the Calcalist, an Israeli business newspaper,

Mr Shturman, the deputy director of the ministry’s hasbara department, admitted his team would be working undercover.

Article By JONATHAN COOK

in Nazareth. Via Counterpunch

Read more…

Israeli forces killed hundreds of unarmed Palestinian civilians and destroyed thousands of homes in Gaza in attacks which breached the laws of war, Amnesty International concluded in a new report published on Thursday. Operation ‘Cast Lead’: 22 days of death and destruction, is the first comprehensive report to be published on the conflict, which took place earlier this year.

“Israel’s failure to properly investigate its forces’ conduct in Gaza, including war crimes, and its continuing refusal to cooperate with the UN international independent fact-finding mission headed by Richard Goldstone, is evidence of its intention to avoid public scrutiny and accountability,” said Donatella Rovera, who headed a field research mission to Gaza and southern Israel during and after the conflict.

“The international community, led by the UN Security Council, must use all its leverage to ensure that Israel cooperates fully with the Goldstone inquiry, which now offers the best means to establish the truth.”

Impunity for war crimes in Gaza and southern Israel a recipe for further civilian suffering | Amnesty International.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter,(center) gestures as he speaks to the media at the ruins of the American International School, which was destroyed during Israel's offensive in Gaza earlier this year, in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip

GAZA CITY (AFP) – Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter on Tuesday met Hamas leader Ismail Haniya in the Gaza Strip, where he called for a lifting of Israel’s merciless blockade, saying Palestinians are being treated “like animals.”

Following the talks, Carter called for an end of “all violence” against the Palestinians.

tehran times : Carter: Palestinians treated ‘like animals’.