Things that should be...

I know 1/4 of the dead people shouldn't have died - civilians, children, people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and neither SHOULD be wrong. The Gazan civilians are NOT in the wrong place and this is their time, why would it be "the wrong time"?

It SHOULD be safe for a father to send his son to buy tobacco.

It SHOULD be safe for a teenager or young adult to go home to his parents when something like this happens - be it a natural or man made catastrophe.

But "discussing" with the so-called "Pro-Palestinians", "peace activist, human rights activists, politicians", who don't even care about more than one side of the issue, whose history in the Levant started some time in the 20th century, who only accept "news items" from people who think exactly like themselves, and call everything else "propaganda", usually add "evil" and "Zionazi" as prefixes, quoting the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and "Jewwatch", has made me suspect everything they say.

In today's newspaper was an interview with The Commissioner-General of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Karen Abu Zayd.

Yesterday Israel allowed in yet another big aid package.
Did mrs Abu Zayd mention this in the interview? No.
Did the newspaper? Yes. But the headline of the article was "Israeli blockade stops help to Gaza" - on the front page. With a picture of a woman with her lap full of toys in plastic bags, in a bombed building. She is told to be a "Palestinian woman gathering toys in a kindergarten destroyed in a flight attack in northern Gaza". The biggest headline in the page was "more reports on poisoned food". Obviously Israel didn't kill many persons yesterday >:->

Anyway, mrs Abu Zayd was complaining about Israel.

Gaza's aid storages are empty, because of the blockade.

Why is there a blockade, mrs Abu Zayd? Could it possibly have something to do with the FACT that Gaza has been shooting at Israel 360 days of 365 since Israel emptied the area of Israelis. Do you even remember that there was no blockade until Hamas showed beyond any doubts what they are up to (by turning on their brothers, Fatah)? I bet you don't.
I also bet that you don't think there are any problems with Hamas' agenda. >:->

You know what, EVERY COUNTRY HAS THE SOLE RIGHT TO DECIDE ABOUT AND USE BLOCKADE AGAINST THEIR NEIGHBORS AT WILL. What can be discussed here is the Mediterranean sea and where are the borders on waters, and what Egypt does with its border. It shouldn't have anything to do with Israel. In 2005, two months after Israel left Gaza, the negotiations were successful and President Abbas managed to get the border open, a sea port was agreed upon as well as a regular buss route between Gaza and West Bank. Two months later Hamas wins the election, within a year the situation between Hamas and Fatah explodes, and Egypt closes the border. They don't want Hamas to control the border. Israel didn't ask Egypt to do so, Israel didn't tell Egypt to do so. Egypt did it all by itself, because Hamas stinks. And, frankly, Egypt may do so. But - Israel is The Big Devil and all the so-called Pro-Palestinians are convinced that Israel wants all the Palestinians dead. So it would be stupid to expect Israel to do anything about the Palestinian suffering... not so with Egypt. Why isn't mrs. Abu Zayd bugging Egypt on letting the humanitarian aid forth?

Mrs Abu Zayd also thinks that Israel uses " an inproportionate amount of violence" in this conflict.
Well... Karen... all about numbers, huh? Israel hasn't shot as many rockets into Gaza as Gaza has shot into Israel.
Every human being in the world knows that Israel is stronger than Gaza. Why isn't Hamas protecting the Palestinians better by not picking a fight with Israel? Why isn't Hamas taking their responsibility as the governing political party it claims to be, but acts like the terrorist organization it is? I don't think anyone would accept such childish, egocentric and emotional behavior of any other ruling party. For some reason it's quite acceptable, even desirable behavior, when it comes from a Palestinian ruling party. I am so impressed by President Abbas, who in my mind is the only sane person in this play. I fear he won't be elected president in the next election, I fear that Hamas will see to that there will be no more elections, ever, or that the elections are more or less rigged, with people being forced to vote for them, people being killed if they don't vote for Hamas, people being terrorized and threatened to not vote. I am also sure that when that happens, the so-called Pro-Palestinian Hamas-lovers won't acknowledge it happened.

Another thing she was complaining about was that Israel has shut the bigger border posts. Israel says that they are not safe, because Hamas keeps attacking them, to which mrs Abu Zayd said "well, yes, that happens, occasionally, but..."
Yes, that happens... Hamas keeps attacking the aid transports. Mrs. Abu Zayd acknowledges this fact, but doesn't accept this fact as a reason for Israel to try to protect the border stations nor the aid transports.
Hamas also "kidnaps" the aid transports and delivers them themselves - naturally only to people who "deserve" the aid, that is, people who are Hamas-friendly or have managed to keep their opinions to themselves.
What does mrs. Abu Zayd have to say about this? Nothing. Nothing at all. After all, Hamas won the election... (with 44% against Fatah's 41% >:-> Overwhelming victory, huh? ALL Palestinians wanted Hamas already 2006, huh?)

Dignity was also mentioned in the article, naturally in the "how HORRRIBLE of the AWFUL Israelis to attack a ship carrying AID, medical equipment, personnel, international peace activists and politicians!!!" tone of voice.
[URGENT! Israeli Navy Attacking Civilian Mercy Ship! TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY!]

What many people don't know is that Dignity is a ship owned by "Free Gaza", which is one of these so-called "Pro-Palestinian" organizations. (Yes, it is. It's not only the "evil, zionist empire" who "labels" the organization that way. But when will we see any kind of honesty and sincerity from these so-called Pro-Palestinians? It's like with the name of the ship... "Dignity" is an idea these people don't even begin to understand.)

I am pretty sure Dignity didn't care to inform Israel about the trip, I'm pretty sure they refused to communicate with the Israeli ships, I'm sure "Free Gaza" refuses to acknowledge Israel's very real fear of that Hamas will use the aid programs to transport terrorists and weapons. We KNOW Hamas has refused to accept any aid from Egypt because they think Egypt is fraternizing with the enemy, and therefore an enemy. So we KNOW that if Hamas accepts aid from "Free Gaza", "Free Gaza" shares Hamas' ideas and therefore IS a possible threat to Israel's safety.

Another little detail I find extremely interesting is what is revealed in the sentence: "what happened in the dark morning, when Israel rammed the civilian ship in international waters, and put the people on board in danger of losing their lives"...
What was a Pro-Palestinian aid ship doing trying to get to Gaza "in the dark morning"?
Sun rose at 8 A.M. It has been rather cloudy this week. Why didn't they adjust the arrival time to the time it was light? It's about 400 km's between Gaza and Cyprus. It takes about 14 hours to get there. Why did Dignity leave Cyprus in the afternoon? Why not in the evening, to be sure to arrive during the bright day light? Why hide in the darkness?

The ship was ordered to stop, because it was noted in the dark morning, trying to get to a military area, unannounced... Dignity refused to stop. Two Israeli ships tried to get Dignity to stop, Dignity tried to break free, and turned in front of the other ship, who didn't have time to avoid "ramming" Dignity, damaging Dignity. The Israeli ships immediately offered help to Dignity, who - of course - refused. Then the Israeli ships escorted the damaged ship to the closest port they accepted, which was Tyre, Lebanon. Of course they wouldn't go to an ISRAELI port, even though that would mean that the medical equipment and personnel could have been transported swiftly to Gaza by the "correct" route.

You see, these people don't much care about getting the aid to Gaza ANY WAYS POSSIBLE. They want to take their own way or no way. It is far more effective to cry about the rude Israelis who stop AN AID TRANSPORT, because the world doesn't care one bit about that a well-known Pro-Palestinian ship filled with people who doesn't care if Israelis get damaged, because they are "just illegal occupiers of the innocent Palestinians' land" tries to get into a war zone in the middle of the night and refuses to communicate because THEY think it's not Israelis' business...

Also, "Free Gaza"s story changes all the time.
Yesterday I saw the news and Dignity's crew said there were several Israeli ships in the area, but there were only two that came to Dignity.
On "Free Gaza"s site it is said "The Dignity has been surrounded by at least half-a-dozen Israeli warships."
Angela Goldfried of the Free Gaza Movement, who was in contact with the passengers of the boat told Ynet, "Our ship was circled by 11 navy ships that fired at it and collided with it in international waters".
Caoimhe Butterly, an organizer with the Free Gaza Movement, stated that, "The gunboats gave us no warning. They came up out of the darkness firing flares and flashing huge flood lights into our faces. We were so shocked that at first we didn't react. We knew we were well within international waters and supposedly safe from attack. They rammed us three times, hitting the side of the boat hard. We began taking on water and, for a few minutes, we all feared for our lives. After they rammed us, they started screaming at us as we were frantically getting the life boats ready and putting on our life jackets. They kept yelling that if we didn't turn back they would shoot us."
Yeah... tomorrow the story will have grown so that there was two dozen ships, who tried to run over Dignity and I suppose there was also some Israelis shooting directly at the passengers. Next week we'll hear that Dignity was actually sank by Israeli army, and it was filled with Palestinian sick children and elderly people who Dignity tried to take to a Cyprian hospital.

This is what "Free Gaza" says about the war so far...
"Israel began Operation "Cast Lead," a military onslaught against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip that has - so far - massacred more than three-hundred men, women, and children, and seriously injured over a thousand."
Hamas says that about 280 of those "more than 300" were Hamas militants. Soldiers, not civilians. Just because Gaza is not an independent country, and thus cannot have a recognized army, doesn't mean all Gazans are civilians... Another "tiny, little insignificant piece of fact" these so-called Pro-Palestinians won't tell you.

Then there are these news... "25% of Gaza killed civilians".
Yeah... actually 15%, according to Hamas, but guess what?
In Iraq, 95% of the killed Iraqis are civilians.
Palestinians' victims during the 2nd Intifada: 68% civilians.
What does that mean?
Among 20 dead, in Gaza 5 are civilians (3 according to Hamas),
when in Iraq 19 are civilians and in Israel 14 were civilians.

Yes, these are just those who were "lucky" enough to die. The amount of the wounded is about 4 times as many. It is clearly impossible for Gaza to see for their needs, and it would be impossible even if everything had been perfect on Friday. But both Israel and Egypt have announced their willingness to provide medical care to anyone in need in Israel and Egypt. But Hamas refuses.
Why? Because they suspect Palestinians wouldn't get sufficient help in Israel and Egypt? No. It is only because Hamas doesn't like Israel nor Egypt.
Interestingly enough this is a piece of fact you won't hear from any so-called Pro-Palestinian. >:->

Understatement of the year

Probably not. I'm sure there will be more of that kind where that one came from.

"According to the Foreign Minister the attacks are a response to a dozen attacks with home-made missiles against Israel last week."
- Carina Bergfeldt for Aftonbladet

What did Israel's foreign minister actually say?

"Oh, why now? Because after Israel decided to leave Gaza Strip a few years ago and we got Hamas in return. About a half a year ago, according to the Egyptian Initiative, we decided to enter a kind of a truce and not to attack Gaza Strip. Hamas violated, on a daily basis, this truce. They targeted Israel, and we didn't answer. But unfortunately, Hamas misunderstood the fact that Israel didn't retaliate, and only last week we had in a day 80 rockets, missiles, mortars on Israeli civilians. More than that, they used the field of truce in order to rearm themselves. They smuggled weapon, they built a small army in Gaza Strip, so the situation was unbearable."

- "Meet the Press" transcript for 28.12.2008

"A dozen or so home-made missiles last week"? Lil'Carina, dear... "home-made missiles" sounds like a boyish prank.

Here's a little information about these "home-made missiles"... Katyushas and Qassams

Mona Sahlin (the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party) didn't think it was a boyish prank, when the Qassams hit Azderot while she was visiting a school there...

"Despite being fully aware of the recent attacks, Sahlin was quite shaken by the situation, her spokeswoman said.

Earlier in the day, the leader of the Social Democrats had met with Israel's former Defence Minister Amir Peretz. Together they visited a day care centre, which was hit by one of the seven Kassam rockets launched at the town on Monday."

Day care center which was hit by one of the seven Kassams launched at the town on Monday...

"Hamas doesn't mean to kill children with its rockets," spokesman Ismail Radwan told reporters in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in response to a statement made by al-Qaida's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who said Hamas' random rockets kill women and children in violation of Islamic law."

Yeah... the road to hell is paved with "good" intentions, Ismail. Will Allah ask if you MEANT to kill Sabah and Hanin?
And how will you avoid killing children and women when you start the suicide missions? Those pesky, sly Israelis have women even in their army...

Antiquities

In a way I am for returning the spoils of war and colonial trophies to the land of their origin. I think Queen Margrethe I's golden dress should be in Denmark, I think Spain and Portugal should return the things they stole from South America, Parthenon marbles should be returned... but then we get to my stumbling stone... Egypt. I dislike mr. Zahi Hawass very much.

I don't think they have any right to ask back things when they (the Egyptians) plundered the tombs, sold the artifacts to highest bidder - some times to the first, best buyer, destroyed and spoiled hundreds of historically interesting pieces, flooded archaeological sites... It is believed that 3/4 of the Egypt's history is still hidden in sand and under the modern cities and buildings. I say to mr. Hawass, first, dig up at least half of that, THEN you can start asking for things "back".

"However, the negative side is that the environmental and display conditions leave a great deal to be desired. Labels on some exhibits date from early in the century and many items have no labels at all."
- about Egyptian Museum in Cairo

You might also need to actually DO SOMETHING about "the environmental and display conditions", before you start grabbing the artifacts. Also, where would you put them?

As it is now, people can go to Berlin and see Nefertiti, or to London and see the Rosetta stone - they don't need to come to Egypt and miss seeing these, because it's too crowded, both with artifacts and people... besides... it would cost me 1.500 kronas to get to London, 1000 kronas to get to Berlin and 3.500 kronas to get to Cairo... I'm sorry, Zahi, but I'd rather take BOTH the Egyptian Museum at Alte Museum AND British Museum AND have 1000 cronas left to buy souvenirs with... If I'd be American the prize difference is even bigger. They'd get 2000 kronas in pocket money. Besides, the admission to the BM is free... I think I should have the right to see true Egyptian artifacts even though I am poor.

You could also try to replace the things you want back with something. For example, it's not necessary that the obelisk at Place de la Concorde is just the old, original one from Luxor, make them a replica and ask if they'd be kind enough to accept another Egyptian obelisk instead of the one that should be in Luxor. In my mind it doesn't matter one bit whether it is in Luxor or Paris. Luxor wouldn't be any more amazing than it is now if there were two obelisks instead of one.

Also, Rosetta stone as the "icon of Egyptian identity". Bull. If the Egyptians cared about their "Egyptian identity", they'd kept their Egyptian language and writing alive, like the Jews managed to do with their unique language and writing through the centuries.

It's all in the counting...

I read the news of Israel's bombings in Gaza and I am... I find it hard to remember that we are talking about people here. There's so many who seem to think it's ok for Palestinians to kill as many Jews as they can, it's ok for Palestinians to "retaliate" and "defend themselves", but it's not ok for a Jew to break one hair from a Palestinian (or pseudo-Palestinian) head.

There has been no truce. Not 6 months, not one day. Gaza has been shooting at Israel almost every day. Might be that Israelis are lucky, that Gazans are clumsy, that Gazans are only trying to scare Israel, that Gazans are targeting the infrastructure instead of people, what ever the reason, these rockets hasn't killed many Israelis. In my mind shooting at someone is a sign of aggression, whether you succeed to kill the bastard or not. The Israelis count the rockets coming over the border.

The Palestinians count the dead and wounded. I find it interesting that that has not been a practice in wars and conflicts... until now. The Germans during the WWII were not horrible because they killed so many people. Actually, no-one knows for sure how many people they killed. In this conflict, people are actually counting deaths... and what is interesting is that even though the so-called "pro-Palestinians" call Israel with every bad name in the book, Israel hasn't "managed" to kill enough people to even get to the "top ranking 20th century atrocities". One would think they are, as the "Pro-Palestinians" harp. But the truth is that Israel hasn't even killed as many Palestinians as the Muslims killed Armenians only 90 years ago. So if we start counting bodies... No, Israel isn't a big villain even in that way.

Sure, there's about 5 times more Palestinians killed than Israelis, but consider this:
during the five years, USA&Co. has managed to kill about 90.000-100.000 people - the ratio (USA/Iraqis) is about 1/20, not 1/5 as in Israel.
In Sudan about 2.000.000 people died between 1983 and 1998. (about 5-8 %)
"In September 2004, the World Health Organization estimated there had been 50,000 deaths in Darfur since the beginning of the conflict, an 18-month period, mostly due to starvation."
In Srebrenica the Serbs killed 2000-8000 Bosniaks IN ONE MONTH.
During Fidel Castro's reign in Cuba 15.000 - 23.000 were killed for their political opinion. So if you count the bodies, Fidel Castro is a bigger butcher than Ariel Sharon.
Sure, there's more Cubans, Sudanese and Iraqis than Palestinians living in Levant, but the death toll is even procentually smaller - doesn't reach one percent.

I'm sorry, but Israel just isn't killing "enough" to be counted as a genocidal monster in style of Stalin, Hitler or Mao. Everyone knows they have the opportunity and means to do so.

Another "qualification" needed for something to be a genocide is the intention - and there just isn't enough evidence of Israel's intention to kill all the Palestinians. Old, mispresented and twisted quotes taken out of context just aren't enough.

P.S. The estimates are that Israel killed about 270 people yesterday, of whom more than half were Hamas soldiers. Considering that they are bombing Gaza, where the Hamas soldiers are hiding in the civil population, from aeroplanes, they have managed to diminish the collateral damage amazingly well.
"Hamas estimated at least 180 members of its security forces had been killed with at least 15 women and some children."
[SOME children? The bloodiest day in the Israel-Palestine history and Israel killed ONLY SOME children? Hamas is crying more over the 180 SOLDIERS than the two girls they themselves killed last week, and threatening with "avenge" (Excuse me? IN A WAR SOLDIERS DIE. If you don't like that fact, STAY THE FCUK OUT OF WARS, AND DON'T BLAME THE ENEMY FOR KILLING YOUR SOLDIERS!) and suicide bombings (targeting children, not soldiers, as these cowards always do >:->)].

And what do the so called "Pro-Palestinians" do? Think it's OK to kill Israeli children because Israeli soldiers killed Palestinian soldiers, condone more rockets being shot from Gaza to Israel - even though it is clear as day that that was the reason to this Israel's attack. Even though it is a fact that Hamas hasn't kept one day of the truce, that there has been rockets coming from Gaza to Israel FOR YEARS NOW, and the fact that the Israeli troops and settlers left Gaza only made it worse - Israel's presence in Gaza HAS a "calming effect", and the only thing the Palestinian rocket attacks against Israel has caused is the "bloodiest day in the history of Israel-Palestine conflict"... Does Hamas and the so-called "Pro-Palestinians" get the message? No.

Remember these children
isn't it interesting that the site doesn't mention the 5-year-old 'Ubeida Habib who was killed by a bullet shot during a Hamas soldier's funeral this summer?
I'm very interested to see when they update the site and if they mention Ubeida, Hanin and Sabah.

Another thing that could be counted is the Palestinian self-deaths.
The so called "Pro-Palestinians" count them too, but blame Israel for them.
Logical? No. Fair? No. Antisemitic?

Truce? By which book?

"Hamas police spokesman Ehad Ghussein said about 140 Hamas security forces were killed."

"Dr. Moawiya Hassanain, a Gaza Health Ministry official, said at least 145 people were killed and more than 300 wounded."

Interesting... Yesterday Palestinian terrorists killed two Palestinian little girls in their home, and no-one cared.

"None of Gaza's militant factions acknowledged responsibility for the deadly attack on the house in Beit Lahiya. Gaza Health Ministry official Dr. Moiaya Hassanain said the 5-year-old and 12-year-old girls who died were cousins. Three other children were wounded, he said."

Today Israel killed 140 Hamas soldiers and the world cries...
That's why I say people who like to call themselves "pro-Palestinians" really don't care one bit about the Palestinians.

"with 200 mortars and rockets raining down on Israel since the truce expired a week ago, and 3,000 since the beginning of the year"

Truce? It's not a truce when one party is shooting at the other.

Besides, when Hamas cannot control the Palestinians better than the Palestinians can control where they shoot their rockets, then why would anyone negotiate with them? They have no authority. They can't guarantee anything, their every promise is empty air.

Just look at what happened to Jimmy Carter... To him they say "yes, yes", behind his back they say "no, no".

Is this Islam? No way!
Aren't Islam's biggest enemies those who claim to be true Muslims but who lie, twist the Scripture and generally give a bad reputation to all the Muslims?

Sharing is Communism

One of the wanton bloggers in Sweden expressed her opinion on a Swedish Yule tradition: Karl-Bertil Jonsson's Christmas Eve. She calls this "Communist shit" and wishes the Swedish television would stop broadcasting this kind of idolizing of stealing. She also states that a "good deed" is to buy presents with one's own money and give these to people "who deserve" the gifts. She thinks Yule is the Great Capitalism Feast of the Holy Consumption, and she dislikes that Yule eve would be connected to a "weird twisted image of big, fat Capitalists sucking out the poor people". Capitalism, consumption is what makes the world go round, she says.

So she would replace Karl-Bertil, 14, with herself, 17, shopping till she drops, because THAT is the True Meaning of Christmas...

She is 17 years old, born in a family of highborn-wannabes, rich, of course and lives in the city. She doesn't have the slightest idea of life, exploitation, need, poverty, fear, living from day to day without knowing how to pay rent, how to feed your family, how to find a higher ground... one of my favorite Yule movies is One Magic Christmas with Mary Steenburger. I bet this 17-years old girl hasn't even seen the movie. Not flashy enough for her taste. I can think she likes "Santa Clause" better. Everyone's biggest dream Yule present is something one buys. :-)

She complains about how tired she is having spent the Yule with her family, and then she tells she's going to her boyfriend's apartment (at least that's who I think the guy is - don't know, don't care) and calls it "leaving the nest and trying her wings". ROTFLMAO. I really wish a magic fairy would take her and put her in the shoes of a 17-years-old who is REALLY flying with her own wings... You know, Kipling's "Captains Courageous".

There was a little experiment made here in Sweden. Some politicians were given the opportunity to live like a student - in an average housing with the average funds. Each and every one of them said afterwards "the students don't get enough money". Why is that, you think? Might be, because this little 17-years-old's father and grand-father and their likes stole the money that should have been given to the people who actually did the job... Perhaps?

P.S. I won't say who she is, because a) she doesn't deserve the traffic to her blog and b) she has already been told what an idiot she is, and for no avail, because she is too stubborn, narrowminded, young and inexperienced to understand. Besides, she's 17. She truly believes she knows all one needs to know, like all 17-years-olds.

Israel IS

It's Chanukkah. I was thinking about the words of Maoz Tzur, "an oppressor came and exiled me... ...at the end of seventy years I was saved".

The Jewish people have tried to live in the land of Israel for millenia, and all the time there have been others who want the land - the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Christians, the Muslims... what all these people have in common is that they all have land somewhere else too. They wouldn't NEED Israel, they just WANT it.

I know that the pro-Palestinians say that the Jews "just want it" too. The difference is that the Jews do NOT have a land somewhere else. When the land area was divided after WWI, the Arab population of the area got Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the Jewish population got Israel... BACK.

Some pro-Palestinians say that the Jews should have been given land from Germany, as it was the Germans who mistreated them during WWII. Or in USA, as USA so much wants to give the Jews a homeland. The thing is that the Jews weren't given a homeland because the Germans tried to kill them all. After all, the Germans were "just" doing what all the people of the world has been doing the last 2000 years. First the Romans started it because the Jews refused to leave monotheism, then the Christians and Muslims continued, because the Jews weren't Christians nor Muslims. This is a fact, my antisemitic readers, not some "Zionist propaganda". The Holocaust was just the culmination of 2000 years of pogroms, discrimination, persecution and xenophobia. That's one of the reasons why the Jews were "given" Israel BACK. The Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims have been just as antisemitic as everyone else, and still are.

Come on, the only, ONLY, reason to why the Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims are against Israel is that now there is a piece of land that is NOT Islamic in Middle-East.
You don't believe me?
Just look at how the Islamic countries treat the Palestinians living there. Just look at how they treat other minorities, for example the Jews. Here where I live we have a majority of Assyrian and Armenian people who were made refugees by these Islamic countries. They don't care one bit about the Palestinian people, the Philistees, the original Canaanite minority. If Israel didn't exist, you could be 100% certain of that there would not be an independent state of Palestine. When the Arab states attacked Israel 1948 and invaded large parts of the area, they didn't create independent Palestine. They took the land as their own. Golan to Syria, West Bank to Jordan, Gaza to Egypt...
If they REALLY cared so much of Palestinian independence, they would have made these areas Palestinian state, wouldn't they?
They would have accepted the UN division plan 1948 and declared independent Palestine.
They didn't...

Now, some people say that because the Israelis are abusing the Palestinians living in the area, Israel has no right to even exist. That is a really weird way of thinking.
No-one is asking for the dissolution of Lebanon and assigning it to neighboring countries because the Lebanese abuse their Palestinian population, or Jordan, or Syria, or Egypt. In fact, no-one asked for the RSA to be dissolved either. No-one asks for the dissolution of China because of their human rights violations and discrimination of minorities. There shouldn't be any difference in how the world treats one country from another. If one country is taken from the lot and treated, seen differently from all the rest, BECAUSE IT IS JEWISH... that is antisemitism.

Israel might have been recognized because of the Holocaust, but that's history. Today Israel must be recognized because it IS a country, an independent state, a state that has existed for 60 years. It doesn't matter why it was born or how it has "lived" these 60 years.

Another thing that is TOTALLY IRRELEVANT to this issue is that Israel is "the promised land of the chosen people". Every people is the chosen one of their God. It's RELIGION, and that has - should have - NOTHING to do with politics. The existence of Israel is POLITICS, not religion.

P.S. Antisemitism is NOT being against the Semitic people. Antisemitism is a misnomer - that is "wrongly named" - and means ONLY, EXCLUSIVELY AND SPECIFICALLY being against the Jewish people.
Blame the antisemitic German, who coined the word, for this "elitism", not the Jews.

What Hamas' leaders really thinks...

Some quotes from Jonathan Leman's blog, from May 2008

Transcribing from a video: Hamas Deputy Minister of Religious Endowment Saleh Riqab: US President Clinton Would Speak with Arab Leaders While Having Sex with "the Jewish Monica"

Saleh Riqab: The goal of the Zionist movement is to establish a state in Palestine, which would become a base for ruling the entire world. Its other goals are to destroy the religions it opposes, particularly Islam, to corrupt values and morality, to spread permissiveness and sex, and to generate moral decline. They have come up with many means to achieve this, such as inventing philosophical theories that destroy religion and morality. The French sociologist Émile Durkheim founded the theory of the formation of religion, which attributes it to reason – which means that religion did not originate from God. This is known as the theory of "collective thought." Jean-Paul Sartre, founder of existentialism, which is based on atheism, was a famous French Jew. The psychologist Freud, who interpreted the infant's relations with his mother as sexual, said, when he was given an award: I have never renounced my Judaism.

There are also theories that were invented by non-Jews, but they disseminate them, knowing that they are scientifically false, such as the theory of Darwin. Darwin was not Jewish, but they exploited his theory. Even though new Darwinist theories have appeared, they spread the original theory, because the concept of "survival of the fittest" serves their colonialist needs.

Interviewer: That's what the theory says.

Saleh Riqab: Yes. It serves the goals of global Jewry. In addition, they established destructive movements to fight religion and morality, to corrupt the leaders throughout the world, and to break down social relations among nations. This was led by global Freemasonry, which was founded by three prominent Jews, the first of whom was Herod. This is a long well-known story – the role of the Jews in creating the Masonic movement. The Freemason movement used various methods to bring the political, philosophical, and literary leaders worldwide to their knees. I remember the names of Arab leaders – some are dead and others are still alive – who joined the Masonic movement. They were brought down. There were even Palestinians among them. By the say, I'd like to say something... I don't want to mention names. The viewers will know what I mean. There is a book called Les Fous de la Paix, which was written by two Jewish journalists. I have a copy. It was translated into Arabic, and I've read it. It mentions that one of the architects of the Oslo Accords was meeting with the Jewish negotiator at an hotel in Britain. According to the book, in an adjacent room, the son of the Palestinian negotiator was with the daughter of the Jews, and they locked the door. That's when the Palestinian negotiator was brought down.

[...]

We see this clearly in the U.S. elections. Both Democrats and Republicans compete to please the state of the Jews. That's why when a Democrat comes to occupied Palestine, he puts on a religious skullcap, goes to the Western Wall, bangs his head against the wall, and says: "Your philosophy and the need to please you is now inside my head." They all compete with one another, but the Jews maintain a balance, and they always prefer the Christian Zionists. If a Democrat comes to power, like [Bill] Clinton – who served them well in Oslo and elsewhere, and almost served them in the second Camp David, but then, he made statements [they didn't like] – what did Zionism do? It sent him the Jewish Monica, with whom Clinton had sex in the American White House. Clinton left [the White House], but there are thousands of pages documenting his sexual depravity, because he had sex in the White House. I read a report that Clinton used to call Arab leaders and talk to them, while she was having sex with him.

Interviewer: My God!

Saleh Riqab: These things are documented, but the Arabs don't read them.

[...]

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which are a product of the 1897 Basel Congress, discuss how the Jews should seize control of the world. In Europe, and especially in the U.S., there was a quick Jewish takeover of the major mass media, because in the West, the mass media shapes their mentality and their views. They don't read very much, they just listen.

Khaled Mashal, leader of Hamas

"I bring good tidings to our beloved Prophet Muhammad: Allah's promise and the Prophet's prophecy of our victory in Palestine over the Jews and over the oppressive Zionists has begun to come true."

"Before Israel dies, it must be humiliated and degraded. Allah willing, before they die, they will experience humiliation and degradation every day."

"We are part of a united front against the enemies of Islam."

Tomorrow, our nation will sit on the throne of the world. This is not a figment of the imagination, but a fact. Tomorrow we will lead the world, Allah willing. Apologize today, before remorse will do you no good. Our nation is moving forwards, and it is in your interest to respect a victorious nation."

I want to make it clear to the West and to the German people, which is still being blackmailed because of what Nazism did to the Zionists, or to the Jews. I say that what Israel did to the Palestinian people is many times worse than what Nazism did to the Jews, and there is exaggeration, which has become obsolete, regarding the issue of the Holocaust. We do not deny the facts, but we will not give in to extortion by exaggeration. As for the Zionist holocaust against the Palestinian people, and against the peoples of the Arab and Islamic nation – this is a holocaust that is being perpetrated in broad daylight, with the coverage of the media of globalization. Nobody can deny it or claim that it is being exaggerated."

What is the most astonishing with this whole story is, that these guys aren't the least shy of spreading shit like this... and people will listen and believe every word and believe these are "good" guys... simply because they are supposed to be "pro-Palestinian"... HELLO, PEOPLE, OPEN YOUR EYES AND SEE, OPEN YOUR EARS AND HEAR! These guys are not one bit interested in peace, justice, human rights or Palestinians.

"What is dangerous with antisemitism is not the professing antisemites,

but the others' willingness to grant parts of the antisemitic creed
a certain amount of rationality and justification"
-Inge Lønning

Right to one's own life

It can be discussed who is adult, but it should be an undiscutable fact that all adults should have 100% right to decide over their own lives. No-one should make decisions about an adult's life, not how this person should live, whom she should marry, how she should vote, which God to believe, if one is to believe in God or not...

The state - or anyone else for that matter - should not tell the person whom to love. Mothers should leave their adult daughters' sex life to the daughter, parents should not tell their children to marry "this nice boy, who's --- like us" or not to marry "that... person...". Being gay might make your life harder due to the society's prejudices and discriminatory attitude, but, hey, being dark skinned, being Jewish, being this and that makes one's life harder too. That isn't a reason enough to "not to wish that for your child". Some "totally normal" people would tell you that life IS hard. Period. Because the society IS prejudiced and discriminatory, you will be bashed even when you are a pretty blue-eyed and blond woman, Christian, married and a mother, just because you have opinions and voice them.

The society should not be telling you that you may not marry because you are in love with a wrong person. The society can protect children and animals from marriage, but adult, consenting human beings shouldn't be "protected" from marriage, and the society doesn't NEED "protection" from marriage either.
I am really p'd off with all the exaggerations - "if homosexuals are allowed to marry, then people will start marrying children, animals, cars, countries..." No, they won't. Marriage has not much to do with love, it's a legal contract, an agreement between two adult human beings. It exists for two reasons, and children is only one of them. Many married couples don't get children. Should their marriage be broken as well and the couple forced to go through fertility examinations and treatment? What is to happen to the infertile partner? Is she/he to be put to death or marked as "invalid for marriage"?
The other reason for marriage is much more important; people agree to take care of each other for the rest of their lives. Divorce and adultery are much bigger threats to marriage than if the couple was of same sex.

Children are not just bundles of joy either. They are quite a big economical, social and emotional burden. Not one adult - male nor female - should be forced to take on this burden against his or her will. Children shouldn't definitely be forced to take on this burden.

The exaggerations exist here too. I said that a man who is tricked to impregnate a woman (by she lying about the prevention or pricking the condom or he's taken advantage of when he's drunk or what not) shouldn't need to pay the allemony if he doesn't want to have anything to do with the child, and a feminist told me that I am persona non grata in a group for abused children because I support fathers' abandoning their children... On the other hand, abortion is not murder, and people supporting women's right to abortion are not murderers.

An adult person should be the only one whose opinion matters in questions of his/her health. The society, doctors, parents, spouse, children, may not tell an adult person that she should undergo an operation - or not to. They can't force an adult to go to doctor is she doesn't want to. They can't keep her from going to a doctor if she wants to. And the doctors may not refuse care from an adult.
An adult may not be forced to take any medication she doesn't want to, nor may she be refused the medicine she needs.
An adult person should be able to go through gender adjustment treatment, if she feels her body looks too male. (or he feels his body is too female). Likewise an adult is the only one who can make the decision on whether to go through any plastic operations, if she wants to amputate a leg or get a snout instead of a nose, or if and how to pierce, brand, tattoo and alter her body.
An adult person should be able to by herself decide whether she wants to go through a pregnancy, which might not be a disease, but does effect the physiology very much.

And finally, an adult should be allowed to by herself decide whether she lives or dies. Death penalty is barbarism and so is the criminalization of euthanasia.
Some people will start claiming that if euthanasia is allowed, people will be categorised into "worthy to live" and "not worthy to live". It's not a question of worth. I'm sure there are people who cannot see the value of life as an invalid, even though Christopher Reeve and Stephen Hawkin should have proved that you CAN have a valuable life even when your body isn't much to have.

I remember a story...

Father has syphilis, Mother has TB. They are very poor with 4 other children - 1st born blind, 2nd died, 3rd born deaf, 4th has TB. Mother is pregnant again, & the Doc knows this one will be deaf.

What do you do ?

Most college groups agree the Mother should abort the fetus, at which time the Professor says "Congratulations, you've just killed Beethoven".

You really can't tell by what a life is worth.

On the other hand, I don't think Terri Schiavo appreciated her "life" after 1990. Sure, her parents saw the smiling, young woman every time they looked at their daughter, but... did they ever LISTENED to her thoughts, ideas, opinions? Doesn't seem like it to me, if they were quite happy with just having her body there... and that being the case... WAS it Terri? Was SHE alive?

A refugee is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

Not really... sure, Martti Ahtisaari was born 1937 in Viipuri, when it still was part of Finland, and due to the War he had to be "relocated" in another part of Finland, because Russia grabbed that piece of Finland. Sure, he WAS one of the Karelian refugees and "internally displaced person", but as the UNHCR says, "the durable solutions to refugee populations are: voluntary repatriation to the country of origin; local integration into the country of asylum; and resettlement to a third country", and he and his family were given home in "the country of origin", Finland, and they were "locally integrated" and "resettled" to a new place, they are refugees and IDPs no more.

Nevertheless, I believe that this fact has influenced him and his way of thinking a lot. I am very proud of my home country. Not many know, but Finland was dragged into the WWII 1939 by Russia (Soviet) who attacked us. We asked for help from Sweden, England, USA, and no-one was willing to help. It was in the beginning of WWII and no-one thought it would be that big. Also, people didn't seem to care if tiny Finland was swallowed by huge Soviet or not. Germany was the only one willing to help, and that is the reason to why we were on the "wrong" side in WWII.
Because of this Russia demanded heavy reparations, and tried to finger our politics - we had to make all kinds of deals with Russia, and because of that USA thought we were Soviet's satellite during the Cold War...
Not many know that Finland was the only "enemy" country that was not occupied and that we also are the only country that has paid the reparations in full - and we did that 1952, the same year when we also held the Olympics and a Finnish woman was crowned the first Miss Universe.

All this has influenced the whole Finnish people - we knew that the world is not to be counted on if we ever are attacked, that the world will not care for the troubles of tiny peoples, that the Big Actors only care about how they can exploit us, and that no price is too high for independence, sovereignty and peace...

Martti Ahtisaari gets the prize "for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts".

"For the past 20 years, he has figured prominently in endeavors to resolve several serious and long-lasting conflicts," the citation said, mentioning his work in conflicts from Namibia and Aceh to Kosovo and Iraq. "He has also made constructive contributions to the resolution of conflicts in Northern Ireland, in Central Asia, and on the Horn of Africa," the citation said."

-- CBS

I am very proud of being Finnish right now.

Crisis Management Initiative

Majority bashing minority...

There's a traditional Danish Christmas cookie called "Jew cakes". The Danish Muslim children take offense because these "Jew-cakes" are a Danish tradition and is part of the home skills education in Danish elementary schools, and they don't want to be connected to Judaism.

It doesn't matter that the Jew-cakes have no connection to Judaism, that the Jewish community does not eat "Jew-cakes" nor the fact that these cookies were named by the Danish Christian society decades ago, and can be seen as offensive - TO THE JEWISH COMMUNITY.

The Danish society considers changing the name of the cookies. Not because it can be seen as an offensive slur, no, that would be "oversensitive", but because antisemitic kids shouldn't need to be offended with anything with "jew" in its name.

Reminds me of the "cartoon controversy". You know what the Muslims did when the CHRISTIANS offended their Prophet? They organized a Holocaust cartoon competition... >:->

Another thing with Denmark and Muslims - next year there's a planned UN climate change conference in Copenhagen from 30th November to 11th December, and the Swedish "head of the negotiations" Anders Turesson, thinks that Denmark hasn't thought of the fact that the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha will be on 28th of November 2009 (and starts at the sundown on 27th) and will last for three days. (to November 30th).
This year the meeting was in Poland and they had planned the meeting ends before Eid al-Adha, but for some reason "the Islamic feast of Eid al-Adha... has been shifted from Tuesday, 9 December, to Monday, 8 December."
A person I know thinks this is a clear indication that a) the Muslims wish to take over the world and b) don't care about the environment. He also thinks the fact that Canada changed the constitution to accommodate the religious minorities by allowing the voting day to be moved by a week if it coincides with a religious holiday, is NOT a sign of religious tolerance and respect of diversity and human beings, but an indication that the religious minorities try to control the government and change the "sacred Canadian traditions" (from 2001). He doesn't care one bit that the dates of the religious holidays, especially the Muslim, the Jewish and the Christian, were known already when the "fixed dates" of elections and environment meetings were fixed, and didn't need to fix the dates on anyone's religious holiday. (At least not on an important, big holiday, like the New Year or Ramadan) (And he claims he is NOT prejudiced and hateful towards religious minorities...)

Another thing... It seems that the original London Hairspray cast has recorded a "Dreidel song"... it starts with the Christian girls asking the Jewish girl to sing Christmas songs with them, and when the Jewish girl tells she's Jewish, they ask her to sing the Dreidel song - in the song is inserted the South Park version "... i'm not gonna play with it 'Cos dreidel's fuckin' gay. Jews, play stupid games, Jews, that's why they're lame." The whole show ends with "Christ the Savior is born".
Now, South Park IS non-PC, so they "may" say what ever they like. They exist to offend people. I didn't expect the musical singers to have the same goal.

Do you think I'm overreacting? Get your head fixed and soon.

USonian colonialism

USA takes the privilege to attack Syria, Pakistan and other countries it is not currently at war with disguised as "defensive attacks against terrorists". When India tells Pakistan to control her borders and stop the terrorists from coming to India, USA tells India to seek a "peaceful resolution to the confrontation".
Why should India do anything differently than USA itself?
Why shouldn't USA try to seek a peaceful resolution to the confrontation?
It's like if they look down on Asian peoples and think they are lesser... more qualified to make their own decisions, to govern their own countries, to take care of their own businesses...

Dear USA: It's quite ok to WISH to share your good with the rest of the world, but when the rest of the world does not want it, haven't asked for it or would like to do things their own way, it's not ok to try to force your "good" on others. What's good for you might not be good for someone else. People have to be able to make their own mistakes, and not need to pay for yours.

Ups and downs

United Nations' Human Rights Council is a sham. One religious group managed to make their practices - in spite of whether these practices are indeed based on their religion, or if they are a twisted and offensive remnant of old cultural practices - untouchable. So untouchable, that members trying to discuss the human right violations in any way connected to these, will get reprimanded. They will also get reprimanded if they complain about this fact.
There indeed is something very rotten in the state of this council.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights trumps every other law - when the respect towards other religions and freedom of religion is guaranteed in the UDHR, the hurtful and disrespectful practices of ANY religion shouldn't be allowed because the perpetrators scream about their "religious rights" being violated. Child marriage should not be allowed because some religions don't see anything wrong with it. Female genital mutilation is a disgusting, vile habit that has to stop. "Honor" murders have no honor and have to be stopped - and the murderer punished by the law. Children shouldn't be punished as adults. Raped girls and women may not be stoned to death. Women should be able to walk on the streets without company and dressed as they wish (in fact, they should be able to walk naked, but let's not go there) without being harassed, imprisoned or punished. Islam shouldn't be known by human rights violations like this, but as the peaceful, loving and tolerant religion it really is.

There was a documentary about Sudan and how the AU troops were slaughtered and UN helicopters - the only way to get to the place to save the soldiers - refused because they are civilian... it took the general in charge 2 days to get to the place, to find thousands of soldiers killed, died in their wounds waiting for the rescue and dying... Nice. Now the AU troops have been placed with UN troops. There are thousands of soldiers and five (5) helicopters - the very same civilian UN helicopters... US has hundreds of helicopters doing nothing useful in Iraq and Afghanistan, they could show some good will and give UN - or BORROW - 5-10 military helicopters to UN to make it easier for the poor general to deal with the issue. Sudan is bigger than Texas and very much bigger than Iraq. Do you think US does anything like that? No.

A courageous man in Zimbabwe video-filmed the Zimbabwean reality. The governing "political party" is nothing but thugs and terrorists. South African president - the same guy who said AIDS can be healed by sleeping with virgins and doesn't need any medication - supports Mugabe. What are the consequences to Mbeki? None, what so ever.

But there's good things happening too.

In India a man has started a school for the lowest of the low - to orphans, half-orphans, abandoned children, castless kids. Brahmanic education has not been allowed to those who aren't "worthy" - that is to everyone but those from Brahman cast. This man is giving the castless and low-cast members of India a chance to show what they can do. One step on the road to break the despicable cast system.

China is solving the growing energy problem by turning to the alternative, "green" sources.
In Saudi-Arabia they are preparing for the day when there is no oil. They are building a "green" city.

Ingrid Betancourt is free :-)

Save the children!

Please, sign this petition:
Prevent and eventually abolish child sexual abuse by UN

If I remember correctly, you need to sign in to Care2, but it's free, doesn't give you bad consequences and you can use a screen name. I've been a member of Care2 for 4 years.

Selfishness

I think abortion opposers are some of the most selfish people in the world. They don't care one bit about the QUALITY of life of the future child, only about the QUANTITY. They seem also totally oblivious to the mothers' situation or fathers' and the societies' responsibilities. They seem to ignore their own part of the stigmatization of unmarried mothers or over-sexualized environment which is hostile to sexual education and preventive aids.

"Abortion is the third biggest cause of death among children younger than 1 year old in South Africa (keep in mind that the unborn are referred to as "baby" or "child" in South African legislation and many South African statistical studies). The biggest case of death in the same age group is abandonment"

Some of the people opposing abortion say that there are people who would love to parent an unwanted child. Then why don't they? The world is already full of unwanted children.
Let the abortions be forbidden AFTER the human population of the world is decreasing instead of increasing as it is now.
Let the abortions be forbidden AFTER there are no street children roaming around the world.
Let the abortions be abolished AFTER rape, also in forms of incest and sex with children, has been abolished.

Some abortion opposers compare unborn children to slaves, which is insulting to all parts involved.

1. Slaves were human beings who would have been able to live on their own had the society only allowed it. Unborn babies cannot live outside the womb. That's the reason why they are unborn. Unborn babies ARE part of their mother's body. Slaves weren't part of their owners' bodies.
2. Universal Declaration of Human Rights covers ONLY HUMANS BORN. Unborn babies are not covered by UDHR.
3. Unborn babies are not legal persons. They are not separable from their mothers, they are not capable of taking an own course of action, it's even questionable if they are aware of themselves.

I think it would be better if the abortion opposers who compare unborn babies to slaves would first abolish treatment of BORN children as slaves. The majority of countries of the world still accept child abuse in form of "spanking". Most parents consider themselves having the right to decide over the child's health and medical treatment, mutilate the child through i.e. piercings and circumcision, even kill the child. Children are being sold and bought. Even though most Western parents wouldn't sell their child, they consider the children to be their property whom they can decide for - parents decide which schools their children attend, which religion they follow, what they may and may not own, have no scruples in limiting the children's rights - and most parents don't even think of asking the child's opinion on the issues concerning the child, his life, well-being and rights. Many abortion opposers would be highly offended if they were expected to treat their own children as equal human beings.

Stolen Childhood

Never Hit A Child

"85% (of Christian parents) thought that spanking a child as a form of discipline was well within their rights as parents"
Spankings An Acceptable Form Of Discipline

Arms of Love - alternative interpretation to help Christian parents avoid child abuse

Does the Bible justify child abuse?

No-one has the right to force their morality on other people. The abolishers didn't have the right to tell the slave owners that "it's wrong to own slaves". The point is that the slave owners didn't have the right to tell other people that they were slaves and thus someone else's property. Now, the abortion opposers don't have the right to tell the women that "it's wrong to abort the pregnancy". As long as the woman is pregnant the "child" is part of her body. Not an individual, not another human being, not a legal person. SHE decides what's right or wrong FOR HER.

She has the right to cut off her own limbs, any tumors growing in her, any organs, even her womb. Let's say she may not terminate the pregnancy - but she has the right to get a hysterectomy at any moment of her life without any need to consider the consequences of that operation to any other person, nor does she need a permission to go through that surgery from anyone.

"conception marks the beginning of the life of a human being - a being that is alive and a member of the human species"

Undoubtedly. And...?

"A landmark study of 674 abused children was conducted by University of Southern California professor, Edward Lenoski. He discovered that 91% were from planned pregnancies; they were definitely wanted by their parents. What is startling is that, in society in general, 63% of pregnancies are planned. Hence, among abused children, a significantly higher percentage were 'unwanted children' compared to the percentage of 'wanted children' in society at large.""

What? On the contrary! Of 100 children 27 were "unwanted". Of 100 abused and neglected children only 9 were "unwanted"... That's 1/3 of the ratio "in society at large".

Of 100 children, 63 are born as a consequence of planned pregnancy. 27 were "accidents". Of these children, 16 are being abused or neglected - 15 of them were "wanted", 1 was not.
32 pregnancies were aborted - it is quite possible that at least the half of these 32 children would have been added to the abused/neglected group... we don't have any statistics on that, but we know that "unplanned" children are not necessarily "unwanted" children, but every child aborted is "unwanted"... What would you think of a person forced into your life against your wish, will and request?

"Because all life was created by God and belongs to Him, no one has the right to murder another human being. "

About 72% of South Africans are against abortion. About 72% of South Africans are for death penalty. Most of these people are the same people... fighting for the life of unborn children but against the life of born children...

"When a poor person dies of hunger,
it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It happened because neither you nor I wanted to give
that person what he or she needed."

- Mother Teresa

videos

This first video is rather disturbing.


This second one is much better

Palestine's water

Some people claim Israel is stealing the Palestinian water. Bull!

Does Israel use "Palestinian" water?

Israel's water war

There was a research publication done by Palestinian water authorities - Palestinian, not Israeli - where the water situation was looked at from the ecological point of view. Because of how the water flows, overuse of the Palestinian aquifer - done by Palestinians themselves - is making the water salt. It's not Israel's fault, it's Palestinians' own fault. Palestinians drill wells without permission, without any consideration to these issues - in fact, they don't even care.
Also, it is insane to demand water from West Bank to Gaza instead of using the desalination plants. Nevertheless, Palestinians in Gaza have bombed the desalination plants and killed the engineers responsible for the building and maintaining these plants.

Gaza is dumping sewage into the sea

Gaza sewage nightmare

U.S. halts Gaza projects over attack

U.S. Aid Sanctions Turn Taps Off Critical Palestinian Water, Wastewater Projects

"Other major donors have continued their smaller-scale infrastructure projects. But it is the U.S. the Palestinians depend on for water and sewage treatment, says Naim El-Mani, senior technical adviser at the Palestinian Water Authority.

More than 80 percent of communities in the West Bank aren't hooked up to a sewer network, and much of their waste ends up in riverbeds, some of it running into Israel, water experts said."

"In Gaza, the revised U.S. aid policy means nearly 3,000 illegally drilled wells are depleting Gaza's Coastal Aquifer and letting in seawater, Barghouti says."

"To save the aquifer, USAID was going to build a desalination plant and a pipeline to deliver the water to Gaza, but those plans were suspended after three U.S. government contractors were killed by unidentified assailants in October 2003."

Desalination plant opens in Ashkelon

Over the years, Israelis have been involved in establishing desalination plants elsewhere around the globe, in places like Cyprus, the US and China. Now Israelis, too, will benefit from the wonders of desalination technology. Those benefits may soon also be offered to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. "We expect to be up to full production of 100 million cubic meters of water a year by the end of the year," says plant engineer Gustavo Kronenberg. "Once we reach the plant's full capacity of 120 million cubic meters a year, we'll be able to provide the Palestinian Authority with 20 million cubic meters a year. We have held talks with the Palestinians and they have expressed great interest."

Freshwater shortage and health problems in Gaza

Uri Schor, spokesperson for the Israeli Water Commission, said Gazans had pumped too much water out of the Gaza aquifer, with the result that sea water had seeped in and turned the fresh water salty.

"We have offered them 20 million cubic metres a year of water from our Ashkelon desalination plant. The Palestinian water people think it's a good offer but the Palestinian politicians don't want it"

Qassam lands south of Ashkelon

"Popular Resistance Committees spokesman Mohammed Abdel Al said his organization is working to improve the rockets.

“We are well aware of the close proximity of sensitive civilian (desalination plant) and military facilities to Sderot, Ashkelon and Ashdod; these sites are targeted by the organization’s improved rockets, and those launched by the other resistance groups."

I have a suggestion:

THIS is what a refugee camp looks like... And no UNRWA either >:->

The Arab countries complain about that the Jews were given the Arabic land in Palestine. The Arabs took the Jews' land in Arabic countries. What about giving this land area - 10 times bigger than Israel - to the Palestinians?

The forgotten Jewish refugees from Arab states

Justice for Jews from Arab countries

Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries

Jewish exodus from Arab lands
(expulsion or mass departure of Jews from Arab and Islamic countries)

Palestine Facts: Why did Jews go to Israel from other Middle Eastern countries?

Jewish refugees from Arab countries: The forgotten refugees

Point of no return - blog about the Jewish refugees from Arab countries

60 years with Israel

In a Swedish newspaper, "Daily News (Dagens Nyheter) was two articles concerning Israel's independence day.

One of them was an interview with 80 years old man. He lived in Beit Nabala near Tel Aviv. He tells about "al Nakbah" - the catastrophe. The story is not a new one - we have heard several versions of it - and the story itself is not interesting. What is interesting is what is NOT said.

Why did Israel empty some Palestinian villages?

I have no doubt on that it happened, but the "whys" are important. Someone I have been discussing about these issues with, repeated the Pro-Palestinian/Anti-Israeli version of Israeli nationalism and European colonialism attitude, invasions and occupations - with one word; Zionism. As if there was no "real" reason for the Israeli aggression... but google "Beit Nabala Massacre"... What do you find? What? You can't find anything? >:->

On December 14th, 1947, the Arab Legion (Army of Jordan) attacked a civilian bus convoy from Petah Tikva to Ben Shemen under the excuse that the convoy was hiding a Jewish terrorist... Sounds familiar, huh?

From November 9th 1947 to July 18th 1948, Jerusalem was under "siege" by the "oh-so-peaceful-loving-tolerant-hospitable" Palestinians - no Jews were allowed in the city, the Jewish quarters were under constant attacks and threats, the Jewish hospital and university campus were threatened and so on. They were assisted by the Jordanians, Egyptians and - yes - British.

On April 13th 1948, Arab militants (yes, including Palestinians >:->) attacked a medical convoy taking doctors, nurses and medical supplies to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.

We don't even have names to all the massacres and pogroms by the Arabs towards the Jewish population, we don't even know about all the kibbutzim and villages destroyed by the Arabs and Palestinians during this siege... (It would be better if the Israeli revisionist historians would dig up THIS information from the archives and memories... but they won't. And do you know why? Because the Antisemitic Far Left is so strong within the Academic world that holocaust denials have better chances to get their findings published than non-anti-Israeli historians...)

The Pro-Palestinians/Anti-Israelis have made an industry of Al Nakbah and will drum Deir Yassin memorials and whatnots and be mute, deaf and blind to the other side...

They will remind everyone of the King David's hotel, but don't say a word about Fawzi el-Kutub (al-Kuttab, el-Kuttub...) - SS-trained Palestinian >:-> - who organized
- the bombing of The Palestine Post on February 1st 1948, killed one, injured dozens and destroyed the press bureau.
- the bombing of Ben Yehuda street in Jerusalem in February 22nd, 1948. About 50 CIVILIANS were killed and dozens were wounded.
- the bombing of the Jewish Agency for Israel in March 11th, 1948, killing 12 and wounding dozens.
- the bombing of the Tiferes Yisrael Synagogue in May 21-22nd, 1948
And others...

It is because of this situation the Israelis cleaned up the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, broke through the siege and made sure the Jewish citizens of Jerusalem may live in their home town, and because of this some villages, towns and cities were emptied from anyone who could be harboring Arab soldiers, militia or terrorists.

This is a piece of information one HAS to know, consider and remember to have an informed and balanced view of "al Nakbah".

Of course no-one should be driven from one's home, but these villages were emptied AFTER the Arabs/Palestinians tried to empty the area from the Jewish population.

If the Arabs/Palestinians had succeeded instead of the Jews, the world would be quiet... just as quiet as the world has been during the millenniums of Jews being driven from their homes... Saying that a Jew can easily, without scruples or objections, be driven from his home. >:->

And do you know what THAT is? That is antisemitism, Jew-hate, pure and simple.

About some countries' attitude towards human rights

Muammar Gaddafi has said about human rights that that is bull the rich, Western countries can afford.

OIC and AL back Sudan and think China is a "record guy" for not letting such bagatelles and stupidities like human rights stop them from trading with Sudan.

OIC has also forced through a change on IDHR - now it's a violation of human rights to criticize Islam, Sharia laws and Mohammed.

Venezuelan Minister on social affairs says that it's more important to provide food and literacy to people than human rights like freedom of expression...

"Human rights in France or in Europe means the marriage of homosexuals and, on the other hand, polygamy is not a human right"
-- Muammar Gaddafi

What does Quran say about polygamy?

"And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two and three and four; but if you fear that you will not do justice (between them), then (marry) only one or what your right hands possess; this is more proper, that you may not deviate from the right course."
(Quran 4:3)

It really doesn't say it's ok... because you can not "do justice between them". Not that I have anything against polygamy. If someone wants to marry several women/men, go ahead. It's your life and harms no-one, so it's not my business. Marrying children do harm the children.

Also, why do people automatically think "polygamy" means a MAN marrying several WOMEN?
If you accept polygamy, you have to accept a WOMAN marrying several MEN. And a MAN marrying several MEN... and a WOMAN marrying several WOMEN - and a WOMAN or a MAN marrying several MEN AND WOMEN >:->

Universal Declaration of Human Rights is based on the idea that all humans born are of equal value and should not be treated differently from each other.

Within a proper understanding of UDHR this would not be possible nor accepted by the society:

"He never sent her (his 12-years-old daughter) to school because he said that it would drive them from their tradition, they would start asking questions, and not want to marry until they are 19 or 20."

Education IS a human right

"All rights are important, but it is a lot more important to feed oneself than to be part of a political party, to have an honorable job than to live in a democratic system, to know how to read and write than to have freedom of expression."
Mari Pili Hernandez, the Venezuelan Vice-Minister of Foreign Relations for North America

No human right is more important than another. They all are building blocks for a sustainable society, and where ONE human right is violated, the society does not have a sound and solid foundation.

More about Palestine

I have been told that I am taking a too frivolous attitude towards Palestine and Palestinians. Having the "let them eat cake" attitude of queen Marie-Thérèse.

I know I don't live in war, but that is the reality and every-day of Palestinians. How ever horrible it is, it is a "normal" day to a Palestinian. It has been for a very long time. The human body and mind adjust to any kind of circumstances.

Nevertheless, I don't expect of Palestinians more than I expect of myself.

If I wanted an education, I would not let busses being late or there being no fuel stop me from getting that education. Especially if someone I don't like and I know wishes me ill is the cause for the busses being late and there being no fuel. I would walk just to spite this someone. I would get the best education ever just to spite this someone.
Just look at Mikhail Lomonosov.

Of course the Palestinian students SHOULDN'T NEED TO. We don't live in 18th century Russia. But THIS is the situation right now, THESE are the circumstances. If you are spoiled by modern comfort, if you expect modern comfort and technological benefits like working infrastructure, showers and cars, and you live on a war zone in a country where water is a scarcity, I'd say you are living in a fantasy world.

Of course you have the RIGHT to live in a country with all the comforts and benefits, you have the RIGHT to live in peace, you have the RIGHT to water, food and a decent life with your family, but life is not fair. None of us gets what we are entitled to, what we have the RIGHT to get. All of us have to make the best of the circumstances and resources we HAVE.

One of the circumstances the Palestinians live in every day is the presence of Israel.
Of course Israel is violating human rights and international laws, but what does acknowledging that fact change? Nothing.
Of course Israel is responsible of a lot of the difficulties the Palestinians have to deal with, but what does acknowledging that fact change? Nothing.
Of course Israel should change her wicked ways, repent and repair what she has broken, but what are the chances of that happening? Rather small, don't you agree? So if we are waiting for Israel, NOTHING will change.

Now, people will tell me that the violent resistance is the only way to change things. BULLSHIT!

Now, let's see a couple of images:

"This iconic image of a Palestinian boy resisting bravely before an invading Israeli Tank"

Did he stop the tank? No. Did he change anything? No.

Then we have this one... Makes one wonder... are the photographers staging these pictures? Are they photo manipulation?

Then, what do you think about 13-years-olds throwing stones at tanks and BEING IN A PLACE to be able to throw stones at tanks? Heroic? Brave? No way. STUPID! No wonder so many Palestinian kids have died during after 2000... the Palestinian adults don't care enough about these kids' lives to keep them out of the harms way. I mean, really! How could the soldiers know whether the kid is throwing stones or hand grenades?
Besides, do you remember the story of David and Goliath? What did David use to kill Goliath? A stone...
Do you remember the clashes between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza? Guess what some grown men were injured by, some seriously? Yeah... thrown stones...

You THINK the Israelis shoot at anything that moves, and Palestinian kids that don't even move, and YOU LET YOUR KIDS OUT THERE TO BE SHOT BY ISRAELIS?

I saw a documentary about a Palestinian family - they were sitting down to eat, and then there was shooting outside. The kids disappeared and ran to where people were shooting quick as ferrets... Don't they have any respect towards their parents? Don't their parents have any authority so that they can say "no" and see the kids obey? Or don't they WANT to say "no" to the kids, because the terrorist organizations will give you blood money for every child killed by Israelis, and having a "martyr" as a kid gives you special status and treatment? Or do they breed so much they don't care if one or two of them are killed by Israelis? I want to believe the Palestinians love their children too, but images like this make me wonder...

Now see this image:

In Basra the Iraqis stopped this British tank with Molotov Cocktails. You make MC's rather easily: you take a glass bottle, fill it with fuel (I can hear them... "oh, but the Palestinians don't HAVE fuel! How could they be making MCs!" LOL You can use any flammable liquid, like strong alcohol as well, and that you can make of anything, rotten fruits or vegetable, old grain or what ever), put in a piece of rag soaked in the fuel, put a cork in, light the rag and throw the bottle. If you don't have glass bottles, you can take a ceramics bottle as well. Anything that shatters on impact goes.

MCs are quite achievable for the Palestinians. This way they would also not harm civilians >:-> But I suppose the civilians are a better target... yeshiva boys don't shoot back >:->

Then the absolutely best, bravest, most heroic and effective way of stopping tanks:

This guy stopped a tank with no stones or Molotov Cocktails.

Did I say a tank? I meant a couple of tanks...

Or actually quite a many tanks... >:->

(I said once in a discussion with Pro-Palestinians (or Anti-Israelis - whom are we kidding here? They don't give a damn about Palestinians...) that if the Palestinians were doing what this Chinese guys was doing, I'd have a lot more respect towards them... He answered "but the Palestinians can't do that - they don't have tanks". I still don't know if he thought he was being funny or if he was just incredibly duff.)