BS: Israel Moves in.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Nickhere
Date: 09 Feb 09 - 01:27 PM

Bruce - "The recent rocket fire brings to more than 35 the number of Qassam rockets, mortars and Grad missiles that have been fired at Israel since Israel and Hamas agreed to separate cease-fires on January 21"

Though the article opens with 'palestinian militants' the above line tends to give the impression, by naming no other group, that Hamas were responsible for the latest barrage. Israeli intelligence have actually been blaming Islamic Jihad and another group whose name escapes me at present. This is significant in that it demonstrates that even were Hamas to modify their line and 'come in from the cold' there are other groups not so inclined and probably there always will be unless certain injustices on the ground are sorted out as best as possible. Therefore we can expect the cycle of violence to continue ad nauseum.

John - thanks for the quote, I rather like it. I did mention that I wouldn't be in any rush to hear Irving, personally. Just he should feel free to speak without fear of jail, as is presently the case in some countries. I dislike that kind of 'thought totalitarianism'. I should emphasize that i would not take that freedom to speak to include actual outright racism obviously - I don't think anyone should be free to stand up and shout 'let's heng all dem dar n****rs' for example.

Thanks also for the list - I learn something new everyday. I was sorry to see my own country was not included. I will have to start doing something about that - I doubt if our politicians are even aware of it. But that'll have to change!

You say though that it's unfair to hold Israel up to a higher standard than 90% of the UN. I don't know about that. I expect ALL those countries to recognize the genocide. I would expect Israel to be especially sensitive to it, given its own history, just as in Ireland we are more empathetic (usually) with colonized countries, having had that experience ourselves. I'd find it rather annoying if ireland was to so quickly forget its past that it applauded colonization elsewhere. I would just expect Israel to recognize the Armenian genocide in the same way as those countries that already have, no less no more. It is bizarre to find they don't and makes me think that genocide-recognition might be more of a political expedient than an ideal.

I have to say that not only worries me but makes me feel sick, not to put too fine a point on it. If recognition of genocide becomes the slave of political expediency rather than an absolute ideal, then we quickly descend into the realm where this or that genocide can be justified or forgotten about for this or that special reason. In other words, there then becomes no such thing as genocide as such, rather a case-by-case basis where it can be justified if it suits current needs. History teaches us that fashions change, borders change and if there are no absolute abhorrence of these things, we can be sure they will happen again and again.

You also pointed out many African countries don't recognize it as a genocide. I don't know why that is, but here's a few possibilities:

Some of these countries may have genocides of their own to deal with (e.g Rwanda) so they might be ignoring the subject so as to avoid questions being asked in their own quarter. Some of these countries seem to be still headed by tin pot dictators or armed fighting factions who have no problem with genocide as a means to an end and so are hardly likely to care about one that happened far away years ago. Some of these countries body politic might not have even heard of the genocide in Armenia. I know that sounds hard to imagine but I (who am interested enough in world affairs to read and follow the news) didn't know anything about it until a few years ago.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 09 Feb 09 - 11:29 PM

To all you genocide accusers, does this sound like Genocide?

Speech broadcast on Palestinian TV, April 20, 2007 by Dr. Ahmad Bahar of Hamas, the acting head of the Palestinian Legislative Council:

"This is Islam, that was ahead of its time with regards to human rights in the treatment of prisoners, but our people was afflicted by the cancerous lump, that is the Jews, in the heart of the Arab nation. Make us victorious over the infidels. Allah, take hold of the Jews and their allies, Allah, take hold of the Americans and their allies Allah, count them and kill them to the last one and don't leave even one."

Watch Video of this speech

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 09 Feb 09 - 11:34 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: GUEST,Alan - PM
Date: 05 Jan 09 - 11:48 AM

"The Israeli's left Gaza to the Palestinians" Catch yourself on man, the Jews STOLE the bloody land in the first place, not hard to see where you come from. Go biol your head of something.

Jews were present in Gaza from antiquity until the 1929 Palestine riots, when Arabs forced the Jews to leave Gaza.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: C. Ham
Date: 11 Feb 09 - 01:38 PM

Amnesty International: Hamas harmed Palestinians

February 11, 2009

LONDON (JTA) -- Amnesty International issued a report detailing Hamas violence against Palestinians during Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip.

In its report, the human rights organization states that at least two dozen men were shot dead by Hamas gunmen, and many more were kneecapped or otherwise tortured during and after Israel's military operation. It also confirms media reports that some victims had been executed in hospitals where they were being treated for wounds.

Amnesty International sent a fact-finding team to the Gaza Strip once the cease-fire was in force.

Responding to the report, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said, "Maybe some of them were killed because they were acting against the population, against the resistance."

Barhoum added that certain assassinations, like that of the Hamas interior minister, Said Siyam, could not have been carried out without intelligence provided by spies.

However, human rights organizations documented cases of execution and the torture of supporters of Fatah, the party led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

In one such incident detailed in the report, Hamas forces took in for questioning Osama Atallah, a teacher and public supporter of Fatah. The following day a local hospital called his family to say he was in critical condition. He later died.

Fatah officials said Atallah was punished "because of his public and continued criticism of the performance of the Hamas militias in Gaza." They accused Hamas of "severely torturing and then strangling" Atallah.

Hamas officially endorses the killing of collaborators, but denies allegations that it executes political rivals.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Stringsinger
Date: 11 Feb 09 - 01:56 PM

Amnesty may be correct but this does not excuse the invasion by Israel.

Hamas is an extremist group but the only representative that the Palestinian people have
at present. The other representative groups have failed.

Fatah is obsolete now because they no longer represent the Palestinian people.

It's similar to Castro's Cuba. Castro took extreme measures in the Sierra Maestra. He
was roundly criticized for it.

Was it the best way?   Probably not but Israel and Ochoa/Batista produced extreme reactions due to their brutality.


Stringsinger

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: C. Ham
Date: 11 Feb 09 - 02:48 PM

I'm sorry Stringsinger, but you're wrong. Most of the Palestinians live in the West Bank, not Gaza. There, Fatah remains in control of the Palestinian Authority.

Hamas' authority, by the way, is recognized by no government in the world execpt Iran.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 11 Feb 09 - 11:40 PM

"Hamas is an extremist group but the only representative that the Palestinian people have at present. The other representative groups have failed."

Hamas murderously and violently over threw Fatah in Gaza. Fatah sucessfully represents the majority of Palestinians because the majority lives in the West Bank.

Do you have any facts to present that state otherwise?

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Nickhere
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 01:09 PM

I thought Hamas won the democratic elections, fair and square, but this particular expression of democracy was unacceptable to both Israel and other so-called western governments because the Palestinians had chosen the wrong representatives to lead them. Then Fatah, the party that had lost the election mainly because most Palestinians regarded it as hopelessly corrupt, were encouraged to seize power in what amounted to a coup d'Etat. They did, ousting the democratically-elected Hamas. Hamas, undermined in the West Bank then seized power in Gaza to prevent Fatah from seizing power there too.

Whether or not you agree with Hamas' politics, how fast history has been re-written

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 01:36 PM

Nickhere:

Hamas did indeed win the Gaza election. Jimmy Carter says it was fair, and Jimmie Carter is an honorable man. People have noted that Adolf Hitler was the fairly elected Chancellor of Germany...he wasn't. His Nazi Party fomented violence and rioting such that no non-Nazi government could succeed. He was asked, as a last resort, by von Hindenbrg in hopes to bring some 'normalcy' to Germany. I see some parallels, even if the honorable Carter doesn't.

But even allowing that the elections were 100% uncoercive and fair, Hamas subsequently has made extremely poor choices vis-a-vis Israel, vis-a-vis investing as between guns and butter, and vis-a-vis Fatah/PA.

Their insistant rocketing of Israel has been, probably, the largest single factor in the rightward turn of the Israeli elections of the other day. Even Egypt is acting against Hamas.


PS: Did you get my PM?

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Nickhere
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 02:00 PM

There's no doubt that Hamas have made poor choices post-election regarding violence etc.,

I don't know what the conditions on the ground are exactly - but having been usurped by Fatah after the elections may have made Hamas jumpy and paranoid and fuelled further violence, plus being isolated by a large chunk of the world has only helped push them further to extremism.

With the swing to the right in Israel, it looks like extremism is going to set the tone even further on both sides. Hamas have contributed to that swing, but the swing will contribute to more extremism from Hamas or Islamic Jihad and so on in a cycle of upping the ante.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Nickhere
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 02:01 PM

OOPs! Sorry, forgot to add, I did indeed get your PM, thanks, and will settle down to have a listen to that as soon as I get an half hour or hour or so with no-one knocking on the door. Will get back to you asap.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Barry Finn
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 02:52 PM

Hamas & Fatah were both seen as detrimental by the Israeli's & the US, we only backed one against the other when they were both on the scene. We played them against themselves, divide & conquer. Take one of the players out of the game & they may unify. Of course that wouldn't e allowed by the Israeli's either.

Now what would happen if the US just walked away from the nightmare?
Are we prolonging the strife, would Israel be able to stand up alone, not against the Palestinians but alone in the Mid-East.
I believe we should no longer support, fund or back Israel until they bend. Don't ask "how far"

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: C. Ham
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 03:47 PM

Hamas and Fatah have never needed Israel's or the U.S.'s help at fighting amongst themselves. They're both quite adept at killing Palestinians.

Barry Finn seems to think its the U.S. support of Israel that feeds the conflict.

Well, the Palestinian Authority (now controlled by Fatah) could not exist without U.S. support either.

And Hamas is nothing but puppets of Iran.

Thankfully, it's Barack Obama, not Barry Finn, who is president of the United States, and Hillary Clinton, not CarolC, who is secretary of state.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Peace
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 03:52 PM

IMO, when Israel sees no alternative to their extermination as a country or a people, the genie will come out of the box and there will be little but ash and glass in the mid-East. This consistent horseshit from people about controlling Israel--think about it. You are bitching because Israel hit Hamas back first. Now it's a fucking problem. But it was NOT a problem when Hamas was (and still is) firing rockets into Israel. Gimme a break. Seems some folks are anti-war only when it's Israel, and not when it's Hamas. Spare us the crap.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Peace
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 03:54 PM

PS

The election results in Israel are a nightmare. Got what you want, right? Now, watch out because the shit IS going to hit the fan, big time. Bloody sad day for both Israelis and its neighbours.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: C. Ham
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 04:07 PM

Yes, the Israeli election results are a nightmare. That's because of the proportional representation system (that the NDP and Greens want to bring to Canada) that makes the major parties beholden to single issue parties.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 05:07 PM

It may be too late, with the election, but...

"Hamas leaders centered its truce demands on a reopening of the tiny coastal territory's borders, which have been largely sealed by Egypt and Israel since Hamas gunmen seized control in Gaza in 2007.

Israel, in turn, insisted that any cease-fire must include an end to militants firing rockets from Gaza into southern Israel and a halt to Hamas arms smuggling."








Report: Hamas says agreement on long-term truce
      
Salah Nasrawi, Associated Press Writer – 3 mins ago

CAIRO – The deputy leader of Hamas said Thursday night that the Islamic militant group agreed to a long-term truce with Israel for the Gaza Strip, the official Egyptian news agency reported.

Moussa Abu Marzouk told MENA that Egypt's government, which has been mediating between Hamas and Israel, would announce the truce in two days after consulting with other Palestinian factions.

In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said the Israeli government had no comment on the report.

Earlier in the day, Egyptian and Hamas officials reported progress in truce talks, which included Hamas' strongman from Gaza, Mahmoud Zahar, and Egypt's top mediator, intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.

Egyptian diplomats have been working as go-betweens to try to arrange a truce deal between Hamas and Israel to solidify a cease-fire that ended Israel's devastating 22-day offensive in Gaza last month. Hamas and Israel refuse to negotiate directly.

Marzouk told MENA that the Egyptian-brokered deal it agreed to calls for Israel to reopen six border crossings into the Gaza Strip.

Hamas leaders centered its truce demands on a reopening of the tiny coastal territory's borders, which have been largely sealed by Egypt and Israel since Hamas gunmen seized control in Gaza in 2007.

Israel, in turn, insisted that any cease-fire must include an end to militants firing rockets from Gaza into southern Israel and a halt to Hamas arms smuggling.

In talking to MENA, Marzouk did not discuss details. But earlier Thursday he told Al-Jazeera television that Egypt had previously agreed to work with Israel to forge new arrangements for reopening Gaza's crossing into Egypt.

Marzouk said a deal for the release of a captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit held in Gaza would be negotiated later, according to MENA.

Egypt has been trying to broker a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas. Hamas is holding Shalit, who was abducted more than two years ago in a cross-border raid from Gaza into southern Israel.

Besides mediating a truce for Gaza, Egypt also is trying to bring Hamas and its Palestinian rival, President Mahmoud Abbas, into talks on reconciling and forming a unity government that can move ahead with peace negotiations with Israel. Egypt hopes to host a reconciliation conference Feb. 22.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Peace
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 05:09 PM

GREAT news, BB.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 05:23 PM

As long as Hamas can deliver on it's side-

After the UN truce in Lebanon, and the failure to hold Hezboallah to the terms, ANY violations will just give the Israeli hardliners reason to hit Gaza a lot harder than this time.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Peace
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 05:26 PM

Was speaking again with a buddy in the Golan. He and the people there are VERY happy about the possibility of peace. Best news I've had in days--what you posted Bruce. Thank you.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: GUEST,Peace
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 05:36 PM

"Hamas Will Announce 18-Month Truce With Israel, AFP Reports


By Mark Schoifet

Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Hamas has accepted an 18-month truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip in a deal brokered by Egypt, Agence France-Presse reported, citing the Egyptian state news agency MENA.

The deal will be announced within 48 hours, AFP said. MENA based its report on comments from Mussa Abu Marzuk, Hamas's deputy leader, according to AFP. Hamas accepted the truce in exchange for Israel's lifting of its blockade of Gaza, AFP cited the official as saying.

Last Updated: February 12, 2009 16:17 EST"

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Teribus
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 06:25 PM

"There's no doubt that Hamas have made poor choices post-election regarding violence etc.,"

What do you mean "poor choices" Nickhere??? No choices have been made by Hamas what they have done and the path that they have chosen is writ clear and large in their founding Charter.

It has been the Palestinian people who have made poor choices in electing the tossers to provide them with some form of Goverment which of course they NEVER will.

&0 years down the track!! - Slow learning curve, or what??

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Nickhere
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 08:21 PM

Teribus, maybe you should ask John on the Sunset Coast, who wrote "Hamas subsequently has made extremely poor choices vis-a-vis Israel" or just simply read his post instead.

As for electing tossers, looks the Israeli electorate has been taking its lead from Hamas, so that puts both of them on a slow learning curve.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: GUEST,Emma B
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 08:27 PM

I don't feel 'at ease' posting to mudcat anymore but may I please plead with people who post on this thread to listen to some of the first independent journalists reports to emerge from Gaza

Assignment
The BBC's Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen travels to Gaza, to ask where the recent conflict leaves the region's future.

this is on the World Service at this moment - please listen on the listen again facility

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 08:32 PM

"Israel, in turn, insisted that any cease-fire must include an end to militants firing rockets from Gaza into southern Israel and a halt to Hamas arms smuggling."

Yeah, like that's gonna happen. 2 weeks tops.

All of these deals are Hamas wants X; Hamas wants Y; Hamas wants Z.
Israel give Hamas X, Y & Z. What does Hamas give Israel...a stronger Hamas.

If Hamas wants peace, let them rewrite their charter recognizing the the right of Israel to exist, and let them begin normal international relations with Israel. Anything else is BullShit.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Emma B
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 09:28 PM

A closed mind is a closed mind - if you have a mind to listen to an independent journalist's report from Gaza this is the link (I hope!)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/worldservice/meta/tx/assignment?nbram=1&nbwm=1&size=au&lang=en-ws&bgc=003399&ls=p14&ls=3539

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: GUEST,Emma B
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 09:42 PM

I provided a quick blue clicky link to the BBC World Service report from Gaza but it was immediately deleted - better luck this time

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 10:25 PM

Closed mind? I think not. Historical analysis. I predicted the last cease fire would last 2 months, I think. It lasted 8 or 10 days.

Hamas and Hezbullah (not currently involved) typically uses ceasefires to re-arm and prepare for the next round of attacking Israel. Why would I expect this one to be any different? More importantly, why would Israel? In 18 months Hamas can get really strong...assuming the cease fire lasted that long.

As the saying goes, "Fool me once, your bad; fool me twice, my bad." Israel has let itself be fooled too many times.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Peace
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 12:01 AM

"but may I please plead with people who post on this thread to listen to some of the first independent journalists reports to emerge from Gaza"

Would these be the same journalists who protested so loudly about Hamas rocket attacks into Israel?

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: GUEST,Peace
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 12:55 AM

"Israel says no more

February 12, 2009

Article from: The Australian

HAMAS, the terrorist organisation that masquerades as the Government of Gaza, was the deciding factor in Israel's election yesterday. A majority of people who went to the polls voted for parties who want to take Hamas on. Likud, the party of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, came a close second with 27 seats being surprisingly, if marginally, outperformed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's Kadima party with 28. But with the support of religious and nationalist parties, Mr Netanyahu has a good chance of a majority in the 120-member parliament.

The result is a rebuff for Kadima, the party founded by former prime minister Ariel Sharon for the express purpose of securing a mandate for his unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. Certainly other factors were involved. Kadima was damaged by corruption scandals last year involving its leader, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Nor is Ms Lipni an advocate of peace at any price, backing last month's intervention in Gaza. But she is marked by two years of stop- start peace talks in her time as foreign minister and by the way the evacuation of Gaza did not stop Hamas rocket attacks against Israel. And so, 16 years on since the 1993 Oslo accords established the basis for a two-state solution, Israelis have had enough of a negotiating process in which extremists on the other side take whatever concessions are on offer and then use terrorism to extract more. The recent Gaza incursion signalled that Israelis feel abandoned by the West since Middle East peace went off the US agenda in the past couple of years and that they have decided to look after themselves. This election result reinforces the message.

Inevitably, enemies of the Jewish state, including some Australians, will argue the election is another example of Israeli aggression. Hamas has already condemned Israelis for voting for extremists. This is a bit rich coming from an organisation whose official position is that Israel should not exist. But the way Hamas will receive a sympathetic hearing reflects the assumption that the democratically elected Government of Israel is guilty of war crimes, most recently in Gaza, for defending its citizens against terrorist attack. In withdrawing from the enclave, Israel went a long way to giving Hamas what it said it wanted, but the attacks did not stop.

Even if Hamas had agreed to negotiate a permanent peace -- not a half-baked ceasefire -- after last month's Israeli incursion into Gaza, Ms Livni would have been able to argue that there was a reason to keep talking. But by continuing to lob the occasional rocket across the border and encouraging its international allies to condemn Israel, Hamas helped many voters make up their minds. Whoever finally forms the next government, it is clear appeasement is off the Israeli agenda. The choice is now with Hamas. Like the Fatah Government of the West Bank, Hamas can accept reality and deal with Israel. The resulting peace is not perfect but it does mean people on the West Bank have some semblance of normal life. Alternatively, Hamas can keep on sniping from within the almost entirely built-up area of Gaza and blaming the Israelis for the civilian casualties when they shoot back. The absence of support for Hamas from Muslim states in the Middle East, excepting the extremist Government of Iran, demonstrates what governments all over the region think Hamas should do. But whatever it decides, it now knows what will happen next time it starts a fight across the frontier."

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Teribus
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 01:31 AM

Guest Emma B, now would that be the same BBC News Service that even as we post away here on Mudcat is spending hundreds of thousands of pounds trying its best to suppress a report that states quite clearly that its reporting of the Palestine/Israeli conflict is totally biased against Israel??

According to the latest round in court, thankfully they are losing. The man who has taken then to court has stated that he is prepared to take it as far as the Freedom Of Information Act can go. The tough choice for the BBC is of course that the more they fight it the guiltier they look.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Nickhere
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 11:00 AM

I thought the BBC was one of the stations that refused to broadcast the Palestine Emergency appeal?

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 11:58 AM

"A closed mind is a closed mind"

This is why I have a 'closed mind' in relation to the so-called cease fires.

From Jerusalem Post today:
"IAF aircraft struck in the Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis Friday afternoon, Palestinian medical officials said,AFTER [emphasis mine] two Kassam rockets were earlier fired at southern Israel."

You may read the entire article at jpost.com, or a similar one at haaretz.com

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Teribus
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 12:07 PM

You're right Nickhere it didn't broadcast the appeal to deflect from the charges of bias, didn't work though I believe that they are going to have to issue the report eventually.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Nickhere
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 06:49 PM

There was another station that didn't broadcast it either, so maybe the charges of bias have been levelled at more than one station?

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Teribus
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 08:30 PM

Don't know about charges of bias Nickhere.

With regard to the BBC, the report actually exists, the investigative stuff has all been done, according to the internal report there is no doubt whatsoever that the BBC has found that the BBC's news coverage of the Palestine/Israel conflict is decidedly biased against the Israeli's.

The current court case is related to release of that report so that its findings can be made known to the public in general.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 14 Feb 09 - 10:19 AM

The bloodthirsty (by their own proclaimed policy) Palestinians can't get along with each other. So how can anyone make peace with them?

Watch the Video

Activists seek 'Gaza abuses' probe Aljazeera.net Feb 8

On Sunday, Randa Siniora of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, said "There is a state of vigilantism and chaos, lawlessness in the Gaza Strip right now," "Extrajudicial killings have increased during the Israeli aggression."

Separately on Sunday, the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights called for an investigation into the death of a man beaten in the custody of security forces loyal to the Hamas movement.

Jamil Shakoura died in a Gaza hospital after receiving a number wounds to his head while detained, the group said. He was not believed to be affiliated to any political group and it was not clear why the security forces were investigating him.

Human rights groups say that at least three people have died while in detention since Hamas seized full control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after pushing out security forces loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and head of Fatah.

Khalil Abu Shammala, a human rights monitor, told Al Jazeera that dozens of Fatah members were shot and tortured as Israeli forces bombarded the Gaza Strip for 22 days. "I don't ignore that there were some mistakes made my members of Hamas, but I think that is not a policy adopted by the leadership here"

Naem Atallah told Al Jazeera that he found the body of his son Osama, a Fatah supporter, at Gaza's Shifa hospital after he was taken away from the family home by 10 masked men."I asked them who are you? They answered that they are from the internal security. I asked how do I know you are from internal security and one showed me his ID card," he said.

Osama, a teacher and father of five children, had been strangled, suffered blunt force trauma to his head and been shot in the shoulder. Another Fatah supporter, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, said that that he had been shot in the leg three times by Hamas loyalists.

"They shot me because I am Fatah," he told Al Jazeera. "There were 15 guys with hoods over their heads. Three of them asked me to stand against the wall and asked me my name. Three started shooting."

Hamas officials have said that they have several investigations under way into the claims of extrajudicial beatings, torture and killings. "All our investigations are open to everyone," Ihab al-Ghusain, a spokesman for the Hamas interior ministry, told Al Jazeera. "Nobody is allowed to kill anyone, beat anyone, arrest anyone."

However, all of Al Jazeera's attempts to arrange to view the files on the ongoing investigations went unanswered. Relations between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah have been strained since 2007, but Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, denied that the movement's leaders are encouraging a policy of targeting rival Palestinians."I think it's a shame for Palestinians to arrest each other or torture each other; its very shameful so we have to stop it."

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Teribus
Date: 14 Feb 09 - 07:02 PM

Well done Israel - No truce until Gilat Shalit walks across the crossing point of his chosing from Gaza to Israel.

I would actually add the proviso that after a given date - to be determined a number of Hamas captives held by Israel will be executed up until the time that the captive Israeli soldier is released.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 15 Feb 09 - 02:42 AM

American Lawyers Guild's report on their investigative trip to Gaza...


What We Found in Gaza
Strong Indications of Violations of the Laws of War, U.S. Law, and War Crimes Found in the Gaza Strip

NLG Delegation

GAZA CITY - "We are a delegation of 8 American lawyers, members of the National Lawyers Guild in the United States, who have come here to the Gaza Strip to assess the effects of the recent attacks on the people, and to determine what, if any, violations of international law occurred and whether U.S. domestic law has been violated as a consequence. We have spent the last five days interviewing communities particularly impacted by the recent Israeli offensive, including medical personnel, humanitarian aid workers and United Nations representatives. In particular, the delegation examined three issues: 1) targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure; 2) illegal use of weapons and 3) blocking of medical and humanitarian assistance to civilians.

Targeting of Civilians and Civilian Infrastructure

Much of the debate surrounding Israel's aerial and ground offensive against Gaza has centered on whether or not Israel observed principles of proportionality and distinction. The debate suggests that Israel targeted Hamas i.e., its military installations, its leaders, and its militants, and in the process of its discrete military exercise it inadvertently killed Palestinian civilians. While we have found evidence that Palestinian civilians were victims of excessive force and collateral damage, we have also found troubling instances of Palestinian civilians being targets themselves.

The delegation recorded numerous accounts of Israeli soldiers shooting civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, in the head, chest, and stomach. Another common narrative described Israeli forces rounding civilians into a single location i.e., homes, schools which Israeli tanks or warplanes then shelled. Israeli forces continued to shoot at civilians fleeing the targeted structures.

We spoke to Khaled Abed Rabbo, who witnessed an Israeli soldier execute his 2-year-old and 7-year-old daughters, and critically injure a third daughter, Samar, 4-years old, on a sunny afternoon outside his home. Two other Israeli soldiers were standing nearby eating chips and chocolates at the time on January 7, 2009. Abed Rabbo recounts standing in front of the Israeli soldiers with his mother, wife and daughters for 5 - 7 minutes before one of the soldiers opened fire on his family.

We spoke to Ibtisam al-Sammouni, 31, and a resident of Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City. On January 4th, the Israeli army forced approximately 110 of Zaytoun's residents into Ibtisam's home. At approximately 7 am on January 5th, the Israeli military launched two tank shells at the house without warning killing two of Ibtisam's children: Rizka, 14 and Faris, 12. When the survivors attempted to flee Israeli forces shot at them. Her son Abdullah, 7, was injured in the shelling and remained in the home among his deceased siblings for four days before Israeli forces permitted medical personnel into Zaytoun to rescue them. After medical personnel removed the injured persons, an Israeli war plane destroyed the house and it crumbled over the lifeless bodies. The dead remained beneath the rubble for 17 days before the Israeli Army permitted medical personnel to remove their bodies for burial.

We spoke to the family of Rouhiya al-Najjar, 47, who lived in Khoza'a, Khan Younis. Israeli forces ordered her neighborhoods residents to march to the city center. Rouhiya led 20 women out of her home and into the alley. They all carried white scarves. Upon entering the alley, an Israeli sniper shot Rouhiya in her left temple killing her instantly. Israeli forces prevented medical personnel from reaching her body for twelve hours. These are only some of the accounts that we've collected.

Israeli forces also destroyed numerous buildings throughout the Gaza Strip during the recent incursion. Guild delegates viewed the remains of hundreds of demolished homes and businesses - in addition to the remains of the American School in Gaza, damaged medical centers, and the charred innards of UNRWA warehouses. While in situations of armed conflict, collateral damage and mistakes can occur, the circumstances surrounding the cases that the delegation investigated indicate deliberate targeting rather than collateral damage or mistake. Specifically:

The American School at Gaza, which was hit with two F-16 missiles on January 3, 2009, killing the watch guard on duty. According to Ribhi Salem, the school's director, the Israelis gave no warnings. Mr. Salem stated that the school had come to an agreement with resistance groups not to use school grounds and there had never been resistance activity on the property."


More here...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/02/08-0

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: DougR
Date: 15 Feb 09 - 07:32 PM

And the American Lawyer's Guild has no dog in that race, right?

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 15 Feb 09 - 11:20 PM

Just because they're lawyers doesn't mean they have any interest in what happened in Gaza other than a desire to uncover the truth. A lot of lawyers contribute their services for free to causes that they consider important, like for instance, the cause of human rights.

However, they're not the only ones who are finding these things when they investigate. There are humanitarian organizations from all over the world who are going into Gaza and conducting investigations about what was done there, and they're finding the same things. The group in the link I posted are laywers. Other groups are not.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 12:39 AM

"American Lawyers Guild's report on their investigative trip to Gaza..." Ahhhhhhhh make that National Lawyers Guild:

Mumia Abu-Jamal is Vice President of the National Lawyers Guild
He was born Wesley Cook on April 24, 1954 and is an American who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner. Prior to his arrest he was a Black Panther Party activist, cab driver, and journalist. Since his conviction, his case has received international attention and he has become a controversial cultural icon. Supporters and opponents disagree on the appropriateness of the death penalty, whether he is guilty, or whether he received a fair trial During his imprisonment he has published several books and other commentaries, notably Live from Death Row. As of 2008, his legal appeals are still unsettled and he is a prisoner at State Correctional Institution Greene near Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.

NLG and the Weather Underground

Leonard Boudin, a paid agent of the Castro government since 1960, and his partner Victor Rabinowitz, were identified as members of the Communist Party, U.S.A. In addition to working for the Cuban government, Leonard Boudin is the father of Weather Underground Organization (WUO) leader Kathy Boudin. [Kathy Boudin went to prison for her involvement in an October 20, 1981, armed terrorist assault that left Nyack, New York Police Sgt. Edward O'Grady, Patrolman Waverly Brown and Brinks guard Peter Paige dead.]Starting in the early 1960s, Kathy Boudin attended receptions and functions with her parents at the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in New York. In 1965 she studied for a year in the Soviet Union, was paid 75 rubles a month by the Soviet government and, according to her resume, taught school on a Soviet collective farm. Boudin s stay in the Soviet Union was not part of any student exchange program. During this period it has been reported that the CIA intercepted correspondence between Boudin and her father in which he made arrangements for her to participate in one of the Communist World Youth Festivals.

Following the March 1970 explosion of a New York townhouse which killed three Weathermen who were constructing an anti-personnel bomb, Kathy Boudin disappeared. It was reported at the time that she and Cathy Platt Wilkerson were provided with false identification documents by the Cuban U.N. Mission with which they fled the United States for Czechoslovakia. The declassified FBI report on foreign contacts of the Weather Underground Organization produced by the FBI s Chicago Field Office reported that OnFebruary 10, 1976, a source in a position to possess such information advised that Leonard Boudin...had indicated to a friend that Kathie [sic] was presently in Cuba.

Dana H. Biberman, born February 24, 1951, is a veteran of the Columbia University SDS chapter. Biberman s sister, Nancy, was also a veteran of the Columbia University SDS. In 1968 Dana Biberman joined the NLG national office staff where she remained for some four years, organizing mass defense of demonstrators and support work for the Panther 21 and doing NLG organizational work.

During 1974 and 1975 she played an active role in the formation of the WUO s overt arm, the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC). The FBIreport states that in March 1975 Biberman traveled to Cuba as a member of the Venceremos Brigade (VB) 8th contingent. Internal PFOC documents circulated in 1976, summing up the group s accomplishments during the previous year, noting that two PFOC members had been sent to Cuba with the Venceremos Brigade.

Biberman was an active member of the New York PFOC chapter, and its successor, the May 19th Communist Organization (M-19 CO). The M-19 CO can be characterized as the Weather Underground Organization s own incipient Communist party. With Judith Clark and Eve Rosahn, Biberman was a member of the Committee for the Suit Against Government Misconduct, a PFOC-controlled group set up to publicize a damage suit by 10 WUO associates against the United States, FBI and present and former government officials.

Kenneth Cloke, born May 18, 1941, was an active member of SDS in the mid-1960s. According to the FBI report, Cloke has directly been involved with the WUO since its submergence into the underground. It is noted that the section of the FBI report on Cloke s WUO activities notes that Cloke had been seen in contact with Bernardine Dohrn in the summer of 1971, when WUO fugitives were living in apartments in Venice, California. The report also contains two pages of additional material on Cloke s work with the WUO which has been deleted as too secret to be released. In 1967, while CPUSA veteran Victor Rabinowitz served as the NLG national president, Ken Cloke was hired as NLG national executive secretary at the same time Bernardine Dohrn was hired as national student organizer.

Also in 1967 Cloke joined the National Council of the NECLC, controlled by veteran CPUSA activists and lawyers including Victor Rabinowitz and Leonard Boudin. Cloke, and many other NLG activists with ties to the Weather Underground Organization, Black Liberation Army and Cuba,remain on the NECLC Executive Committee and National Council.

Dennis D. Cunningham, an NLG activist who has held office not only in the Chicago chapter, but has been regional vice president, had been active with the Chicago chapter of the WUO s Prairie Fire Organizing Committee since early 1975. Cunningham s WUO membership, and others, is readily verifiable in the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee report, The Weather Underground, published in 1975. Cunningham was a member of the People s Law Office, a Chicago group of NLG lawyers and legal workers, most of whom were members of the Weather Underground s PFOC, or WUO/PFOC fronts such as the New Movement in Solidarity with Puerto Rican Independence (NMSPRI), through which the WUO provides support to its terrorist comrades in the FALN and the FALN s overt political arm, the Movimiento de Liberacion Nacional(MLN).

Among the past and current members of the People s Law Office were attorneys Michael E. Deutsch, an active PFOC member; G. Flint Taylor and Jonathan C. Moore, lawyers for violence-oriented radical plaintiffs suing the Chicago Police Department for having monitored their activities.

Michael E. Deutsch, born May 9, 1945, a member of the Chicago PFOC chapter. The FBI s report on Weather Underground foreign contacts noted that NLG activists Dennis Cunningham and Jeff Haas hosted at least four meetings in their apartments to organize logistical support to WUO fugitives during the period January 7-10, 1971.

The FBI s material on Deutsch s foreign activities is deleted on national security grounds. Deutsch traveled to Cuba as part of the first official NLG delegation in the summer of 1972. According to Guild Notes (Vol. I, No. 3,Sept-Oct 1972), the NLG delegation also included Karen Jo Koonan of Los Angeles, closely associated with the WUO leadership; and Margaret Burnham, the step-daughter of the late CPUSA Political Committee member Hyman Lumer. Burnham went on to become a Municipal court judge inBoston, and an official of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR), a CPUSA front directed at the prisoner-organizing and civil rights movements.

Bernardine Dohrn was hired by the NLG as National Student Organizer in 1967. While still an NLG representative she traveled to Budapest, Hungary in September 1968 to meet with representatives of North Vietnam and the Vietcong terrorists. In July 1969 Dohrn and other SDS Weatherman leaders traveled to Cuba for more meetings with the Vietnamese Communists. New Left Notes (August 29, 1969) provided an eight-page special supplement describing what took place and stating that the Vietcong wanted the Weathermen to organize violent protests in the United States against support of South Vietnam.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 01:15 AM

From the National Lawyers Guild "about" page. They've been very successful in the past in advocating for social justice on many levels. And as I said, there are many other humanitarian organizations who are seeing and reporting the same kinds of things as this organization, so it's not their word against that of everyone else.


Mission

The National Lawyers Guild is an association dedicated to the need for basic change in the structure of our political and economic system. We seek to unite the lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse lawyers of America in an organization that shall function as an effective political and social force in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests.

Our aim is to bring together all those who recognize the importance of safeguarding and extending the rights of workers, women, farmers, people with disabilities and people of color, upon whom the welfare of the entire nation depends; who seek actively to eliminate racism; who work to maintain and protect our civil rights and liberties in the face of persistent attacks upon them; and who look upon the law as an instrument for the protection of the people, rather than for their repression.

History

Founded in 1937 the National Lawyers Guild was the nation's first racially integrated bar association. The first Guild lawyers supported President Roosevelt's New Deal, assisted the emerging industrial labor movement, and opposed the racial segregation policies of the American Bar Association and the larger society. During its 65 year history, the NLG has been an important part of the American people's struggle for real democracy, for economic and social justice, and against oppression and discrimination based on race, ethnicity, immigration status, class, gender or sexual orientation. Consistent with its commitment to ensuring fairness and equality for all people, law students, non-lawyer legal workers and inmate legal experts are full members. The Guild elected its first African-American president in the early 1950s and its first female president in the 1960s. The first legal worker president was elected in 1996.

In the 1930s, NLG lawyers helped organize the United Auto Workers (UAW), the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and supported the New Deal in the face of determined ABA opposition. In the 1940s, Guild lawyers fought against fascists in the Spanish Civil War and WW II, and helped prosecute Nazis at Nuremburg. Guild lawyers fought racial discrimination in cases such as Hansberry v. Lee, the case that struck down segregationist Jim Crow laws in Chicago and entered our culture as Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun". The Guild was one of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) selected by the U.S. Government to officially represent the American people at the founding of the U.N. in 1945.

In the late 1940s and 50s, Guild members founded the first national plaintiffs personal injury bar association that became the American Trial Lawyers Association (ATLA), and pioneered the storefront law offices for low-income clients that became the model for the community-based offices of the Legal Services Corporation. During the "McCarthy era", Guild members represented the Hollywood Ten, the Rosenbergs, and thousands of victims of the anti-communist hysteria. Unlike all other national civil liberties groups and bar associations, the Guild refused to require "loyalty oaths" of its members and the NLG was unjustly labeled "subversive" by the government. The Justice Department admitted the charges were baseless after ten years of federal litigation.

In the 1960s, the Guild set up offices in the South and organized thousands of volunteer lawyers and law students to provide legal support for the Civil Rights Movement long before the federal government was involved. Guild members represented the families of murdered civil rights activists Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman, who were assassinated by local law enforcement members of the Ku Klux Klan. Guild-initiated lawsuits brought the Kennedy Justice Department directly into the Civil Rights struggle in Mississippi and challenged the seating of the all-white Mississippi delegation at the 1964 Democratic Convention. Guild lawyers defended thousands of civil rights activists who were arrested for exercising basic rights and established new federal constitutional protections in ground-breaking Supreme Court cases such as: Dombrowski v. Pfister, which enjoined thousands of racially-motivated state court criminal prosecutions; Goldberg v. Kelly, the case that established the concept of "entitlementsf" to social benefits which require Due Process protections; and, Monell v. Dept. of Public Services, which held municipalities liable for brutal police employees.

More here...

http://nlg.org/aboutus/history.php

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 01:27 AM

"Since the sentence, new claims contradicting the trial evidence have surfaced.

Eighteen years after the slaying, Arnold Beverly claimed that, "wearing a green (camouflage) army jacket", he had run across the street and shot Daniel Faulkner as part of a contract killing because Faulkner was interfering with graft and payoff to corrupt police.[41] Private investigator George Newman claimed in 2001 that Chobert had recanted his testimony.[42] Cynthia White either died in 1992 or disappeared,[43] and it was subsequently alleged that she falsified her testimony.[44] Kenneth Pate, a stepbrother of Priscilla Durham who was imprisoned with Abu-Jamal on other charges, has since claimed that Durham admitted to not hearing the hospital confession.[45] The hospital doctors have claimed that Abu-Jamal was not capable of making such a dramatic bedside confession at that time.[7]"...

...In 2001, he received the biannual Lübeck Erich Mühsam Prize, awarded by Frank-Thomas Gaulin of Kunsthaus Lübeck, for special commitment to human rights.[94] In October 2002, he was conferred honorary membership of the Berlin-based Association of Those Persecuted by the Nazi Regime – Federation of Antifascists and Antifascist Groups (VVN-BdA).[95]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumia_Abu-Jamal

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 02:39 AM

What kind of justice did Daniel Faulkner get from the vice president of the NLG, Mumia Abu-Jamal?

Faulkner was murdered, shot in the back 4 times and once in the face, by Mumia Abu-Jamal for trying to arrest his brother. He was convicted twice in a court of law and he is in prison and claiming injustice like a murdering Palestinian.

Daniel J. Faulkner was a police officer in the American city of Philadelphia who was shot and killed in the line of duty by Mumia Abu-Jamal. The slaying was the culmination of a traffic stop in downtown Philadelphia, not initially involving Abu-Jamal, which escalated into an exchange of gunfire in which Abu-Jamal was himself shot and wounded by officer Faulkner.

On December 9, 1981, between three thirty and four o'clock in the morning, Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner stopped the driver of a light blue Volkswagen at the corner of Thirteenth Street and Locust Street for driving the wrong way down a one-way street.

Officer Faulkner had the driver exit the vehicle.

As Officer Faulkner was speaking with the driver, the driver struck Officer Faulkner in the face. Officer Faulkner struck the driver back and attempted to take him into custody. As Officer Faulkner was attempting to subdue the driver, the driver's brother came running from a parking lot across the street from the spot where Officer Faulkner had the driver of the Volkswagen.

While Officer Faulkner's back was turned, the brother of the driver, Mumia Abu-Jamal, opened fire, striking Officer Faulkner in the back four times. Officer Faulkner fell to the ground, but was able to turn around, reach for his own firearm, and fire at Abu-Jamal, striking him in the chest. Abu-Jamal, now standing over Officer Faulkner, fired four shots at close range. One shot struck Officer Faulkner between the eyes and entered his brain.

The suspect attempted to flee but fell to the ground several feet from where he had just shot Officer Faulkner. When back-up officers arrived they found Officer Faulkner mortally wounded and the suspect, murder weapon in hand, laying several feet away.

made a traffic stop of a Volkswagen driven by William Cook, Abu-Jamal's brother, on Locust Street between 12th and 13th Streets, in Philadelphia. Officer Faulkner radioed for backup assistance, and both men exited their vehicles. A struggle ensued, and Officer Faulkner tried to secure Cook's hands behind his back. At that moment, Abu-Jamal, who was in a parking lot on the opposite side of the street, ran toward Officer Faulkner and Cook. As he approached, Abu-Jamal shot Officer Faulkner in the back. As Officer Faulkner fell to the ground, he was able to turn around, reach for his own firearm, and fire at Abu-Jamal, striking him in the chest. Abu-Jamal, now standing over Officer Faulkner, fired four shots at close range. One shot struck Officer Faulkner between the eyes and entered his brain.

Abu-Jamal collapsed nearby and was taken into custody by responding police officers. Daniel Faulkner was pronounced dead the same night. Abu-Jamal was charged with murder in the first degree and convicted of that charge in 1982.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 03:25 AM

"Since the sentence, new claims contradicting the trial evidence have surfaced.

Eighteen years after the slaying, Arnold Beverly claimed that, "wearing a green (camouflage) army jacket", he had run across the street and shot Daniel Faulkner as part of a contract killing because Faulkner was interfering with graft and payoff to corrupt police.[41] Private investigator George Newman claimed in 2001 that Chobert had recanted his testimony.[42] Cynthia White either died in 1992 or disappeared,[43] and it was subsequently alleged that she falsified her testimony.[44] Kenneth Pate, a stepbrother of Priscilla Durham who was imprisoned with Abu-Jamal on other charges, has since claimed that Durham admitted to not hearing the hospital confession.[45] The hospital doctors have claimed that Abu-Jamal was not capable of making such a dramatic bedside confession at that time.[7]".

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Folkiedave
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 04:03 AM

I am not bothered about starting an argument about the who's, what's and wherefore's of the NLG.

Surely the point is - "Is what they wrote true?"

They name names so it is not unsupported - and from what people say on here and other reports much of it seems to be supported from elsewhere.

Now in the UK you can shoot someone - have the gun that did it - loads of witnesses and still no-one is charged with doing it.

Surely things are better in Gaza?

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 10:05 AM

Claims, allegations, conspiracies, Yes that is what truth is all about isn't it? The grassy knoll, non existant airliners. What someone wrote in a book written with a profit motive. What another prisoner said.

Jury trial do not even enter the picture do they? Even when two trial produced the same results.

How about the other criminal members of NLG?

Kathy Boudin went to prison for her involvement in an October 20, 1981, armed terrorist assault that left Nyack, New York Police Sgt. Edward O'Grady, Patrolman Waverly Brown and Brinks guard Peter Paige dead.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 11:10 AM

"...In 2001, he received the biannual Lübeck Erich Mühsam Prize, awarded by Frank-Thomas Gaulin of Kunsthaus Lübeck, for special commitment to human rights.[94] In October 2002, he was conferred honorary membership of the Berlin-based Association of Those Persecuted by the Nazi Regime – Federation of Antifascists and Antifascist Groups (VVN-BdA).[95]"

Boy, I know I for one am really impressed by the citation of those groups! [voice oozes with contempt] Where can I join up? [twinkle in eyes]

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 12:33 PM

"Eighteen years after the slaying, Arnold Beverly claimed that, "wearing a green (camouflage) army jacket", he had run across the street and shot Daniel Faulkner as part of a contract killing because Faulkner was interfering with graft and payoff to corrupt police"

Abu-Jamal decided not to use Beverly because Abu-Jamal was "far too honorable to propagate a lie upon which to build a case for his freedom.

"Cynthia White either died in 1992 or disappeared, and it was subsequently alleged that she falsified her testimony."

Cynthia White, a prostitute, claimed to see a man emerge from a nearby parking lot and shoot Faulkner.

"Kenneth Pate, a stepbrother of Priscilla Durham who was imprisoned with Abu-Jamal on other charges"

Abu-Jamal's brother, William Cook, did not testify or make any statement until 2001 when he claimed that he had not seen who had shot Faulkner.

In his version of events, detailed in a sworn statement almost 20 years afterwards, Abu-Jamal claimed that he was sitting in his cab across the street when he heard shouting, then saw a police vehicle, then heard the sound of gunshots. Upon seeing his brother appearing disoriented across the street, Abu-Jamal ran to him from the parking lot and was shot by a police officer. The statement includes no mention of the gun that was found nearby him at the crime scene nor the corresponding firearms shoulder holster he was found to be wearing at the time of his arrest.

He continues to write a Saturday weekly column for the German language Marxist newspaper "junge Welt".

In October 2002, he was conferred honorary membership of the Berlin-based Association of Those Persecuted by the Nazi Regime – Federation of Antifascists and Antifascist Groups (VVN-BdA).