letters 8-18-2006

RE: 'Every day is getting harder,' mother of captured Israeli says The two soldiers remain in the hands of the enemy, and that has sparked discontent across the country.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/15300170.htm

Dear Editor,

The latest Middle East crisis was sparked when political Zionism tiptoed into the Holy Land one hundred years ago and chose to empower Jewish communities at the expense of the native non-Jewish Palestinians.

Mimicking the economic and cultural injustice imposed by the misnamed Jewish State on the people of Palestine, 3 captured Israeli soldiers receive a huge amount of attention and sympathetic publicity while 10,000 captured Palestinians, 10,000 prisoners of war including hundreds who are merely children, endure years of abuse by racist Israel.

All their fates are entwined with the genocidal killing machine that is Israel today.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

*******************************************************************************

RE: View of common fears drives US-Israel policy, Nations seen allied in larger struggle & Amid a fragile cease-fire, family's ordeal begins, In Beirut, injured boy doesn't know of brother's death
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2006/08/18/view_of_common_fears_drives_us_israel_policy/http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/08/17/amid_a_fragile_cease_fire_familys_ordeal_begins/

Dear Editor,

While 13 year old Hassan Rahi lies in pain in in a hospital bed in Beirut, one of many maimed children, Israel continues to find ways to wage war in every way it can- creating wounds and a clash of civilizations that simply does not need to be.

Will this era of Zionist terror tactics in the Middle East be one day known as the Zionist Crusades, the Home Wrecking Wars where a nation of immigrant bigots armed themselves to pulverize peace and countless families.

Or perhaps it will one day be known simply as The Massacres.

Israel itself as the misnamed Jewish State, is nothing more and nothing less than a crime against humanity... and Israel alone is fully accountable for the choices made with whatever gifts, aid, loans, advice, and weaponry they have acquired & misused.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

*****************************************************************

RE: Was Israel being pushy by fighting back?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,,1852623,00.html

Dear Sir,

Bravo to the letter writers who honestly- but gently, and quite reasonably argue that "the world indeed might be a better place if "Israel" were "wiped off" the map.

I quite agree, with that conclusion. However I was not aware that there ever were spiritually minded pioneers of Zionism. Seems to me that the entire Zionist experiment has been an abject failure because it is quite simply an investment in institutionalized bigotry plus piles of propaganda, rather than real community & communication.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab


************************************************************************

RE: Unilateral action by Israel spawns violence in Gaza by By George Bisharat
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.gaza17aug17,0,1859336.story?coll=bal-oped-headlines

Dear Editor,

I was rather astounded to see George Bisharat's excellent op-ed "Unilateral action by Israel spawns violence in Gaza ". I do hope you continue to publish more and more revealing columns and voices such as Bisharat's. Voices that help honestly, earnestly explain the Palestinian perspective. For far too long Zionists have dominated the conversations and foisted many a falsehood into the dialogue that severely hamper our ability to fully comprehend exactly what Israel really is and does.... undermining freedom and justice, and peace, everywhere.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

Moving Embassy is Good but not Enough

Dear Mr. Ambassador

I congratulate Costa Rica for moving its Embassy to Israel from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. However, I would urge following Venezuela's example of recalling your ambassador from the Zionist state, and then closing your embassy there. Only when Israel complies with International Law, including implementation of the inalienable right of Palestinians to return to their homes and lands from which they were dispossessed with the imposition of the Zionist state in 1948, should Costa Rica and other states consider re-establishing mutual relations.

Sincerely

Zahi Damuni, Ph.D.

San Diego, California

Please END ALL AID to Israel

Congress.org

8-18-2006

Please END ALL AID to Israel
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/bio/userletter/?id=20004&letter_id=838559481

Dear President Bush,

Please END ALL AID to Israel.

And please stop insisting that the Palestinians must negotiate with what is clearly a crime against humanity !

Political Zionism is a totally toxic ideology that will only become more despicable in the years to come.

Please just say NO ISRAEL !

Stop the clash of civilization right where it start- in racist Israel.

Let peace & Palestine return to help rebuild a fair and just nation with liberty, justice and equality for ALL.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

notes:

Children suffer with no end to violence in Gaza

Just say NO Israel

A demonstrator holds a Palestinian flag as he is sprayed with a colored liquid from a water canon by Israeli border police during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the outskirts of the village of Bil'in, near the West Bank town of Ramallah, Friday Aug. 18, 2006. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

Demonstrators are sprayed with a colored liquid from a water canon by Israeli border police during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the outskirts of the village of Bil'in, near the West Bank town of Ramallah, Friday Aug. 18, 2006. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

A Lebanese woman sits on a cushion from her house in the rubble of a residential area destroyed by Israeli bombardment in the Haret Hreik area of the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Aug. 18, 2006. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

A view of a neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, is seen Friday, Aug. 18, 2006. Tens of thousands of people have returned to their shattered villages in eastern and southern Lebanon as well as Beirut's southern suburbs to find their homes either damaged or totally destroyed BY ISRAEL. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

A Lebanese woman carries a salvaged pair of shoes covered in dust from an explosion in her apartment destroyed in an Israeli bombardment in the Haret Hreik area of the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Aug. 18, 2006. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

A Lebanese man salvages belongings from his fishing boat which sank in a port south of Beirut August 18, 2006, an area that was targeted BY ISRAEL. REUTERS/Sharif Karim (LEBANON)

The bodies of Khaled and Okla Shanaita, Palestinians, are carried for burial in the West Bank town of Bethlehem Friday, Aug. 18, 2006. They were killed by Israeli troops when they tried to escape when soldiers attempted to arrest them. (AP Photo/MaanImages, Magnus Johansson)

We hold these truths to be self-evident

The Want, Will and Hopes of the People

The Declaration of Independence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

— That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

— That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness

This image of the Declaration is taken from the engraving made by printer William J. Stone in 1823.

The Institute for Middle East Understanding

Palestinian girls perform the Palestinian folk dance "Dabkeh" as they celebrate the closing of summer camp in the West Bank city of Nablus. (Rami Swidan, Maan Images)

The Institute for Middle East Understanding provides journalists with quick access to information about Palestine and the Palestinians, as well as expert sources, both in the United States and in the Middle East. Need story assistance? Contact us. New to the issue? See our Background Briefings.

Children of Dheisheh refugee camp demonstrate against Israeli assault

M

<>Meca Supported Projects
• West Bank and Gaza

Upcoming MECA Events

Ali Abunimah in Berkeley Oct. 15
Journalist, author and founder of the Electronic Intifada will speak and sign his new book .
More details soon.

Children of Dheisheh refugee camp demonstrate against Israeli assault
Press Release, Ibdaa Cultural Center, 31 July 2006

As the demonstrators gathered in front of Ibdaa to begin the march, this boy made his way to the front carrying an embroidered piece of a key that says “Sanoud” or “We will return.”

Over two hundred children from Ibdaa Cultural Center in Dheisheh refugee camp took to the streets this afternoon protesting against Israel's barbaric attacks and the United States' unwavering support for Israeli aggression.

Four children carried a mock coffin throughout the march, representing the death of children’s rights and the silence of the world's governments in the face of these attacks on children.

The children carried a child's coffin, photos of yesterday's massacre in Qana, and Palestinian, Lebanese, and Iraqi flags. While marching through the narrow roads of the camp for half an hour, they chanted "Beirut hura, hura. America itla barra." (Beirut free, free. America go out.) and "Min Gaza l'Beirut, shab moqawim lan ya moot." (From Gaza to Beirut, the resistance will not die.)

The children lead chants as they march back to Ibdaa Cultural Center.

Israel's month of attacks on Gaza have left over thirty Palestinian children dead and hundreds more injured and severely traumatized. In Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, children have been routinely barricaded in their homes without food or water while Israeli tank shells fall on their neighborhood. On Wednesday, Israeli attacks killed 23 Palestinians including a mother and her two daughters in Jabalia refugee camp. The oldest daughter remains in the hospital in critical condition. Then in Lebanon yesterday, Israeli air strikes killed sixty civilians, mostly children.

The march wound its way through the camp and passed Kefah’s house. Kefah (pictured in the mural on the wall) was a member of Ibdaa and was killed by the Israeli army in 2001, when he was 12 years old.

Dheisheh refugee camp has been largely unaffected by these latest large scale invasions but many of the children have experienced Israel's violence and collective punishment in the past. During such hard times, they were eager to show their solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese children in Gaza and Lebanon who have suffered again and again at the hands of Israel and the United States.

The demonstration concluded in Ibdaa's community hall, with speeches and songs by the children.

Ibdaa Cultural Center is a grassroots organization providing social, educational and cultural programs for the children, youth and women of Dheisheh refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Ibdaa strives to empower young people and women while educating the international community about Palestinian refugees.

Wheels of Justice

---

Place one of our graphics on your website and link to the Wheels of Justice Tour


An independent, grassroots campaign of education and outreach, the Wheels of Justice Tour was chartered in August 2003 by members of Voices in the Wilderness, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, the Middle East Children's Alliance, and affiliates of the International Solidarity Movement. Since its founding, the Wheels of Justice has rolled across 48 states to challenge and educate North Americans on the occupations of Palestine and Iraq.


WHEELS OF JUSTICE BULLETIN Fall 2006

August 15, 2006

August 28 - November 17 tentative route:

Illinois (Chicago and Around).........................late August

Michigan..............................................September 12-21

Ohio...................................................September 21-30

Pennsylvania............................................early October

and on to New England

There is no better way to materialize "think globally, act locally" than by helping the WHEELS OF JUSTICE BUS TOUR this Fall. We are looking for hosts, networking, activists, and/or donors. Bringing eyewitness accounts to occupation in Iraq and Palestine, the colorful biodiesel bus has been to hundreds of cities and spoke at thousands of venues over the past three years (this includes over 1500 middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities).

Would you consider helping arrange bookings in your area? With your help, we will continue to speak and mobilize at more high schools, more colleges, more churches, and more community centers and to a wider audience. If you live in the areas along the upcoming fall route (see above) or know people there, then please facilitate venues/hosting. We can accommodate speaking to audiences of varied background and adapting to circumstances. We speak to faith groups, to classes dealing with a variety of issues, to activist groups, to community organizations, and basically to any gathering of people who will hear us (we even spoke at a naval academy).

So spread the word: call and email people you know along the present route or people/organizations you think might be interested. Also hold fundraising events and raise needed funds. To help along the route contact our new booking agents:
Dan Pearson at dan@vcnv.org, Tel. 773-878-3815 and
Lysander Puccio at lysanderp@yahoo.com, 212-665-4936.

Mazin Qumsiyeh,
The Wheels of Justice All-Volunteer Team

Is Hamas Ready to Deal?

RE: Is Hamas Ready to Deal?
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/17/opinion/17atran.html

Dear Editor,

Regarding "Is HAMAS ready to deal" Since when were basic human rights something that can be won or lost in a card game !

Israel must fully respect international law and basic human rights including but not limited to FULLY implementing the Palestinian refugees inalienable right of return as soon as possible. And then maybe the Palestinians can talk about negations & reparations... and no I am not HAMAS or Hezbollah- just an American housewife, a Christian wife and mother who happens to have noticed that Zionist Israel, the misnamed Jewish State, has been more than 58 years worth of sovereign games engineered to empower escalating bigotry, injustice and a home wrecking killing machine that must be stopped !

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

The isssue is POWER

Electronic Lebanon Public Service Announcement (Broadband Video)
Multimedia/PSA, Electronic Lebanon, 9 August 2006

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5473.shtml

POW... ribbons & refugees

Yellow Warbler
Photograph: Copyright Bill Horn

The familiar yellow warbler, also commonly called the summer yellow bird or wild canary, is the best known and the most widely known of all of our wood warblers. It is one of the few birds that. almost everybody knows by one of the above names. It is universally beloved as it comes to us in the flush of budding spring, gleaming in the shrubbery, like a rich yellow flame among the freshly opening leaves, or bringing to the apple orchards a flash of brilliant sunshine to mingle with the fragrant blossoms. As Dr. Chapman (1907) says: "In his plumes dwells the gold of the sun, in his voice its brightness and good cheer. We have not to seek him in the depths of the forest, the haunt of nearly all his congeners, he comes to us and makes his home near.


Palestinian
Refugees...
POWs & MIAs
are not forgotten too...

FREE Palestine

Palestine News Network

Political prisoners in Al Naqab and nonviolent resistance: hunger strike against strip searches Nonviolent Palestinian farmer resistance as Israeli settlers destroy trees, land and horse fields Chief Justice Sheik Al Tamimi explains disasters of Israeli aggression to World Council of Churches

Nonviolent Palestinian farmer resistance as Israeli settlers destroy trees, land and horse fields Palestinian nonviolent campaign against the Wall writes to Chavez Israeli violations in occupied Jerusalem

Ministry of Health: Israeli forces killed 378 Palestinians in Gaza Strip since withdrawing last year Palestinians in Gaza Strip have held at least 196 funerals since the end of June Israel prevents Gaza - Egypt electrical supply plans

Israeli forces occupying Hebron severely beat Palestinian teenager near Ibrahimi Mosque Costa Rica moves its embassy from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv Ghazi Hamad: President and Prime Minister hold productive meeting in Gaza

Israeli forces took 27 Palestinians from Hebron into its interrogation & prison system in August Political prisoners in Al Naqab and nonviolent resistance: hunger strike against strip searches Israeli forces invade Jenin area and arrests 3 Palestinians while armed resistance puts up a fight

Israeli government to confiscate 1,100 dunams of Palestinian land in Hebron Foreign Minister to UN and IRC: Intervene to stop Israel’s ethnic cleansing of West Bank Nonviolent Palestinian farmer resistance as Israeli settlers destroy trees, land and horse fields

flower power ....

“FREEDOM OF SPEECH ‘06”

http://csny.com/

RE: His Heart Was Full for Lebanon and U.S.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-hammoudi17aug17,1,1408766.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=1&cset=true

Dear Editor,

Seeing that your opinion page was was rather full of Zionist games today, I was surprised- and glad - to see the news story " His Heart Was Full for Lebanon and U.S.", concerning Mohamed Hammoudi, killed by Israeli bombs....

"Since his return, Hammoudi had spent his time reading and tending the olive orchard. He planted tomatoes." ... And how many other good and gentle men, women and children have been butchered by Israeli bombs, how many homes and economies ruined...

I think America has made a huge mistake in idolizing home wrecking Israel and allowing Zionist pundits, the agents of a very foreign ideology, to dominate the conversation- undermining and destroying democracy and moderates both here and in the Middle East.

And I think all moderates and reasonable, caring, compassionate people should stand up and be counted as firm supporters of the rule of fair and just laws- with full respect for (and focus on) the Palestinian refugees inalienable legal, moral and natural right to return.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

Intifada

Press Release: San Diegans to Protest Israeli Aggression and War Crimes in Lebanon and Palestine




















Powerful: "Intifada" by Poet Steve Kowit - August 12, 2006 San Diego Demo

letters 8-16-6

RE: Fighting to win is only option By Cal Thomas
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.thomas16aug16,0,199171.story?coll=bal-oped-headlines

Dear Editor,

Yup, fighting to win is the only option, but Cal Thomas errs in thinking Israel is our friend. Israel is our ideological antithesis as its entire reason for being is to be the so called Jewish State. We are democracy with liberty and justice for all, whereas Israel is political Zionism aggressively investing in escalating injustice and a blatantly racist war, with Jews-preferred privileges and pride and many an immigrant bigot electing to build apartheid in the Holy Land, while the persecuted and impoverished Palestinians suffer and starve in refugee camps.

Israel was not born of the Holocaust- Israel is the genocide of the Holocaust continued with Arabs now bearing the pain.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

*********************************************************************

RE : A Path To Lasting Peace By Condoleezza Rice & After the Bombs, Politics
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/15/AR2006081501095.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/15/AR2006081501097.html

Dear Editor,

I do wish Condoleezza Rice and all others supposedly working towards a lasting peace would take notice of UN Resolution 194 from 1948, the Palestinian refugees inalienable, legal, moral and ethical right to return- and I wish the Ignatiuses of this world would notice that time and time again racist Israel has been wrecking Arab homes and then bombing Palestinian refugee camps.

We should not be making peace with an ongoing Israeli made genocide aimed at ethnically cleansing the Holy Land, a campaign that includes imposing economic ruin on all neighbors.

Innocent people in Lebanon, in Israel and across the Middle East have suffered long enough at the hands of Zionist war mongers. And so has the America public. Free America AND Palestine from political Zionism's investments in institutionalized bigotry, poisonous propaganda, manipulative games- and a blatantly racist war on us ALL !

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

******************************************************************

RE: Ad pitch for Israel aimed at Christians
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0608160069aug16,1,1523377.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true


Dear Editor,

Dorning puts the cart before the horse in the way that he reports the ad pitch for Israel aimed at Christians. It is a foreign country's propaganda campaign that is creating support for Israel in America. If Fox News (and most all other media outlets, both mainstream and not) devoted itself to honest coverage of the very real plight of the Palestinians most Americans would be so disgusted by the misnamed Jewish State they would want nothing to do with it!

Ironically Americans donating to Israeli charities help fund the very propaganda that comes back to corrupt the conversation, undermining our ability to really understand what is going on in the Middle East.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

hitting a house... a home

A Lebanese looks at the damage as she returns to her home in Beirut's southern suburbs August 15, 2006. Thousands of Lebanese refugees headed home to south Lebanon on Tuesday as a U.N. truce between Israel and Hizbollah held on into a second day and planning got under way for a beefed up U.N. force to deploy in the area. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard (LEBANON)

A Lebanese man retrieves his personal belongings amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following the UN-brokered ceasefire in Beirut's Shiite stronghold southern suburbs, an area frequently targeted by Israeli bombardment. A UN-brokered ceasefire aimed at silencing the guns in the month-old Lebanon conflict took hold, sending thousands of displaced Lebanese streaming back home in the war-battered south as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed a "historic victory".(AFP/Haitham Mussawi)

A Palestinian child is carried away during clashes with Israeli troops in the Askar refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus August 15, 2006. REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini (WEST BANK)

Palestinians watch as an Israeli army bulldozer demolishes a structure during a military operation in the Askar refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus August 15, 2006. REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini (WEST BANK)

A Palestinian youth prepares to use a slingshot to throw a stone towards Israeli troops during clashes in the Askar refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus August 15, 2006. REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini (WEST BANK)

A wounded Palestinian is carried away during clashes with Israeli troops in the Askar refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus August 15, 2006. REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini (WEST BANK)


Palestinians look at a damaged car near a destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in Gaza August 14, 2006. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

Palestinians gather at the site of a destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in Gaza August 14, 2006. Israeli aircraft carried out an air strike in Gaza on Monday, hitting a house... a home. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA)

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letters 8-15-2006

Richard Cohen's 'Birth Pangs' of What? & George Will's The Triumph of Unrealism & Lebanese Surge Back to South, Residents Find Towns Devastated
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/14/AR2006081401161.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/14/AR2006081401163.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/14/AR2006081400179.html

Dear Editor,

When seeking opinions on the Middle East, you really should be publishing better columnists than the likes of Richard Cohen and George Will who both tend to rely heavily on Zionist propaganda in order to form their misguided opinions.

Might I suggest you start publishing and they start reading an intrepid Palestinian reporter whose work is widely published abroad. Khalid Amayreh 's most recent column "War Shows There Will Be No Stability Without Resolving the Palestine Issue" goes right to the truth with out stopping to stumble over a whole bunch of basically irrelevant and distracting tidbits which pile up around the issue, obscuring the most crucial points.

Amayreh 's most recent column concludes "In short, Muslims and Arabs, and with them all peace-loving men and women around the world, will never rest as long as al-Qods al Sharif continues to languish under the evil Zionist occupation and as long as millions of Christians and Muslims in Palestine continue to be tormented and denied basic human rights, such as the right to access food, water and work, at the hands of a people who claim to be a light upon mankind."
http://umkahlil.blogspot.com/2006/08/war-shows-there-will-be-no-stability.html

Racist Israel has been intentionally wrecking Arab homes and economies- and all hope for a just and lasting peace & progress- for generations, and while the Lebanese refugees surge back today to rebuild their devastated towns, can we please notice and respect the many persecuted Palestinian refugees trapped in impoverished refugee camps for generations because racist Israel refuses to respect their inalienable legal, moral, ethical and natural right to return.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

***************************************************************

RE: Civilians... Fragile Cease-Fire Allows Thousands to Return Home
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/world/middleeast/15mideast.html?ref=world

Dear Editor,

Regarding "Civilians... Fragile Cease-Fire Allows Thousands to Return Home": While the Lebanese are free to return to rebuild their lives in the shadow of the evil Israel empire- the Palestinian refugees are not. Which is why Israel, racist Israel, the Zionist investment in institutionalized bigotry is in fact evil. We should not be trying to make peace with that.

Nor should we be softening our words about the sovereign political entity/religious fantasy that has been wrecking homes and havoc all through out that place so many call the Holy Land.

Israel refuses to respect international law and the Palestinian refugees inalienable legal and moral right to return. Instead it prefers to demonize and destroy Palestinian families by dropping bombs on refugees camps in Gaza, the West Bank and now Lebanon.

The Palestinians are the world's largest refugee population. Many of those living in the squalid camps of Jordan, Gaza, and the West Bank are now second or third generation refugees.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/road_to_refuge/journey/map.stm

Israel, racist Israel, the misnamed Jewish State is, beyond the shadow of a doubt, a crime against humanity: PLEASE Let Peace and Palestine return with full and equal rights for ALL !

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

***************************************************************

RE: Ilana Freedman's How Terrorists Work the media
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/how_terrorists_work_the_media_opedcolumnists_ilana_freedman.htm

Dear Editor,

It is actually humorous that a Zionist propagandist, one of many working America into a Islamaphobic frenzy, turns to look at propaganda working the media- fully failing to even glance at Israel's own extensive network of media manipulators and story spinners !

Israel is a home wrecking killing machine that just created a million refugees in one month ! That's called Momentum... this nightmare started with the intentional destruction of hundreds of Palestinian villages in 1948.

Back then weapons of war were much more primitive and a mere three quarters of a million Palestinians were forced to become refugees . Subsequently Zionist terror took on an official uniform and called itself Israel... and it refuses to respect international law and the Palestinian refugees inalienable legal and moral right to return. Instead it prefers to demonize and destroy Palestinian families by dropping bombs on refugees camps in Gaza, the West Bank and now Lebanon.

The Palestinians are the world's largest refugee population. Many of those living in the squalid camps of Jordan, Gaza, and the West Bank are now second or third generation refugees.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/road_to_refuge/journey/map.stm

Enough with the distracting spin- this mess of injustice and rage is very very simple, even a child can understand ... The Palestinians want to go home- and sooner or later they will. Sooner really is better than later.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

***********************************************************************

RE: M. Kay Siblani 's EXCELLENT "Israel must be part of Arab-Jewish dialogue"
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060815/OPINION01/608150307/1008

Dear Editor,

So used to a plethora of pervasively poisonous Zionist propaganda in our newspapers, I was utterly dumbfounded to read M. Kay Siblani 's EXCELLENT and totally refreshingly honest and truthful- and invigorating "Israel must be part of Arab-Jewish dialogue".

She really hit the nail on the head with "But no one revealed that a pro-Israeli driver at the biggest such rally actually tried to run down a group of Arab demonstrators with his car. This is Israeli-type behavior: Talk peace but make war:"

For 58 years there has been a whole bunch of Israel talking peace while actually making war. It really is time for America to catch onto to this rather obvious pattern of deceit ! It is also time for America to catch on to the fact the the Palestinians always did and always will have an inalienable legal and moral right to return to their original homes and lands- with full and equal rights... to help rebuild a just and lasting peace for ALL god's children.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

PS Loved the photo of Judaism rejects Zionism !!!

********************************************************************

RE: Hateful radicals hijack peace protest
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/15/EDG6JKIA4B1.DTL&hw=letters&sn=001&sc=1000

Dear Editor,

The letter writers complaining about the negative tone of the protests marches do have very good points, but too bad those letter writers did not catch a glimpse of the wonderful protest march down in San Diego... A very attractive crowd of people including many a charming child. And it seemed to me that the organizers wisely focused, fully focused on Israeli crimes- and the Palestinian refugees inalienable right to return. There were also American flags mingling with Palestinian and Lebanese flags. Such an inspiring march. So much so I blogged and blogged and blogged yesterday on the bits I was able to borrow http://annies-letters.blogspot.com/2006_08_14_annies-letters_archive.html

I think ANSWER tried to steal the Palestinian flag away from a very just cause- the Palestinian refugees inalienable legal and moral right to return: The Right To Return IS a Basic Right Still Denied !!!

But no one can steal away the Palestinian Refugees Right to Return. It has been specifically spelled out multiple times by multiple UN Resolutions based on Article 13, Section 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, "Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country,"

A just and lasting peace is firmly rooted in FULL respect for the Palestinians !

Justice for Palestine: Support the Right to Return.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

Rejecting Zionism

Brandy Baker / The Detroit News

Karbalaa Islamic Educational Center's Imam Husham Al-Husainy, Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss and Rabbi Yeshaya Rosenberg protest the bombing of Lebanon at a rally last month in Dearborn.

Israel must be part of Arab-Jewish dialogue by M. Kay Siblani
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060815/OPINION01/608150307/1008

"But no one revealed that a pro-Israeli driver at the biggest such rally actually tried to run down a group of Arab demonstrators with his car. This is Israeli-type behavior: Talk peace but make war."

notes 8-15-2006

NOTES
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Besides, Israeli apologists are already claiming that the confrontation between a nuclear-armed Israel and Islamic resistance groups, such as Hezbullah and Hamas, is an epitome of the war between Islam and the West.... Well, this is another piece of mendacious propaganda intended to cloud and blur and deceive, since the real problem lies first and foremost in this enduring Nazi-like military occupation of Palestine. It is this evil occupation that is the root cause of all instability in the Middle East and beyond. Even the Iraq war wouldn’t have taken place had it not been for the incessant urging of pro-Israeli neocons who wanted to destroy Iraq to maximize Israeli hegemony and territorial aggrandizement . War Shows There Will Be No Stability Without Resolving the Palestine Issue Occupied Jerusalem: 14 August From Khalid Amayreh http://umkahlil.blogspot.com/2006/08/war-shows-there-will-be-no-stability.html

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Israel was founded by members of terrorist gangs with much terrorism attendant. The country has no constitution, no internationally recognized borders and people of the Jewish faith are given preferential treatment.

There are more than 11,000 Arab prisoners in Israeli jails. Some of them are women who have given birth in prison. Their children were born prisoners. Does this sound like a "democracy" the United States should support?
Israel must be part of Arab-Jewish dialogue by M. Kay Siblan http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060815/OPINION01/608150307/1008
go to the link to see the great photo "Judaism rejects Zionism" !!!************************************************************************************
Arab-Americans are loyal and patriotic citizens by Nasser Beydoun
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060815/OPINION01/608150303/1008

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“They threw us in this camp and forgot all about us,” said 75-year-old widow Zaeela Abu Sari. “When we first arrived, UNRWA provided us with everything including food, water and health care. But services have dwindled while camp residents tripled. JORDAN: Palestinian Refugees Feel Neglected http://www.prc.org.uk/data/aspx/d4/3134.aspx
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Is it too much to ask that the world recognize that the Palestinians had been made to pay the price for Europe's genocide against the Jews; is it too much to ask that the world take stock of the Palestinian genocide committed by the Jewish people in 1947-48; is it too much to ask that the native inhabitants of a land revered by all be allowed to love it too? Occupying Terminology: A Palestinian response to western misperceptions on the Arab-Israeli conflict By (anonymous) August 14, 2006 http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=11151&CategoryId=5 ***************************************************************************
Fate of Jews and Arabs in Palestine letters http://comment.independent.co.uk/letters/article1219278.ece

While Jews all over the world have the automatic right to "return" to Israel the Arab refugees are left to rot in camps and enclaves in the West Bank, Gaza strip, Lebanon and Syria. The only option for them is slavishly to reconcile to their fate, or join grassroots resistance parties like Hizbollah and Hamas.

RUTH TENNE

Sir: Being Jewish by race I have a right to return to Israel should I desire. However I am so appalled by what this country stands for that I could never claim this right. Couldn't I just give it to a Palestinian refugee instead?

THOMAS EISNER
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Muslims Don't Hate Freedom; They Hate Oppression By Khalid Amayreh August 15, 2006 http://umkahlil.blogspot.com/2006/08/muslims-dont-hate-freedom-they-hate.html
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The Sheikh described the Israeli government, forces and settler attacks on Al Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem and on Hebron’s Al Haram Al Ibrahimi Mosque as state sponsored terrorism that the international community must help to combat.
Chief Justice Sheik Al Tamimi explains disasters of Israeli aggression to World Council of Churches
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There appears to be a direct relationship between the increasing ugliness and immorality of this war and the extreme lengths to which Israel’s supporters will go to justify it. Apologists for immorality by James J. Zogby http://jordantimes.com/tue/opinion/opinion2.htm
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Israeli 'Summer Rains' continue to fall hard on Gaza by Rami Almeghari writing from Shouka, Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 14 August 2006 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5527.shtml
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Are New Weapons Being Used in Gaza and Lebanon? by David Halpin, The Electronic Intifada, 14 August 2006 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5528.shtml
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A year after the pull-out, Gaza's hopes for peace and prosperity lie in ruins
The Independent (Aug 15, 2006)
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Disengagement: One year later IMEU Aug 15, 2006 Several prominent Palestinians to share their thoughts on Gaza and the disengagement a year later.
FAQ on Gaza and the disengagement IMEU Aug 15, 2006 Answers to common questions on last year's disengagement, Gaza today and the implications for the future.
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Three houses destroyed, 15 injured in northern Gaza Palestine News Network
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In Rafah, child injured and two taken prisoner IMEMC (Aug 15, 2006)
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Israeli forces invade Nablus camp, woman dies of heart attack Maan News (Aug 15, 2006)
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Hezbollah gaining strength where democracy once dwelt By Rashid Khalidi, a professor of Arab studies at the Middle East Institute at Columbia University August 13, 2006 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0608130457aug13,1,1047240.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
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In Israel, there is a two-tiered system of justice; one for Jews and another for non Jews; full-citizenship for Israeli-Jews and “Jim Crow” for Arabs. Fighting Jim Crow in Israel By Mike Whitney 08/13/06 http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14521.htm

Reflecting on the South African apartheid regime's efforts to gain supremacy in South Africa and the Southern African region, we argue it is imperative that we continually raise our voices against Israel's brazen impunity until a real and lasting ceasefire is in place, war criminals are brought to justice and the Israeli regime is held accountable for decades of repression, dispossession and regional destabilisation. In doing so, we will surely find a true humanity. In search of a true humanity Jeff Handmaker and Bangani Ngeleza 12 August 2006 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5508.shtml

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Christian Zionists who use religious rhetoric to justify political and military actions are no better than Jewish or Islamic fundamentalists who make similar outlandish claims. Peace in the Middle East should be about the liberty, independence and freedoms of all the people of the region, and not about whose promised land the Holy Land is.

For the time being, I, as a Christian Palestinian, prefer to follow the words of Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the sons of God.”

Christian Zionists and False Prophets By Daoud Kuttab August 14, 2006 http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=11149&CategoryId=5

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By now it is clear that Israel has marked every Arab as a terrorist-in-waiting. Deepening the fault lines Omar Yousef Shehabi, The Electronic Intifada, 13 August 2006 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5510.shtml

Three Palestinians including a child were killed in an Israeli air strike in the Beit Hanoun in the northern part of the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Monday morning, Palestine news network reported. Three residents killed in an Israeli Air Strike in Gaza IMEMC & Agencies - Monday, 14 August 2006 http://www.imemc.org/content/view/20801/1/

Civilian deaths Sunday: 26 Lebanese, including mother and three children; 1 Israeli; killed

1948: The Israeli Masscre of Salha; The First Israeli Massacre of Lebanese Civilians
http://home.iprimus.com.au/fidamelhem/ssnp/The%20israeli_massacre_of_salha.htm

Since its creation in 1948, Israel has been governed by the logic of power. Its territorial expansion, political influence, and, most notably, blatant violation of international law have been almost conveniently sustained by the perception that its military capability is far too advanced for any regional challenge. Israel: shaken, not stirred! By MIFTAH (Editorial) August 14, 2006

http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=11150&CategoryId=3

Israel has Already Lost this War By Ghayth Armanazi August 12, 2006 http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=11140&CategoryId=5

For Lebanon’s Displaced, Going Back Home Is a Duty

Photostory: Refugees forced from their homes by Israeli shelling Motasem A. Dalloul writing from northern Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 10 August 2006 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5485.shtml
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End This Tragedy Now, Israel Must Be Made to Respect International Law By Fouad Siniora Wednesday, August 9, 2006 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/08/AR2006080800990.html
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The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem: Bishop Riah on the current crisis in the Middle East -

Dear Friends,

For the past forty years we have been largely alone on this desert fighting a predator that not only has robbed us of all but a small piece of our historic homeland, but threatens the traditions and holy sites of Christianity. We are tired, weary, sick, and wounded. We need your help...... http://www.j-diocese.com/DiocesanNews/view.asp?selected=234#slbl234

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Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide http://www.hrweb.org/legal/genocide.html

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"Palestinian children and Childhood " By Saed Bannoura
http://www.axisoflogic.com/cgi-bin/exec/view.pl?archive=130&num=18344 concludes "Palestinian children, like all children in this world, are entitled to their rights to enjoy their childhood, to play and study, how can the new generation grow up on the principles of equality and coexistence when they see Jewish children, living in the other side of the same city, enjoying everything they need, enjoying their gardens, theaters and recreation facilities, while all what Palestinian children have is the street. When you plant discrimination you will definitely harvest hatred, yet the question which remains here is “what kind of democracy is this? What kind of equality exists?!"

US Housewife Affirms American Values in Denouncing Israel http://umkahlil.blogspot.com/2006/08/us-housewife-affirms-american-values.html

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The Right To Return IS a Basic Right Still Denied !!!
http://www.al-awdasandiego.org/facts.html
http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/refugees.shtml
http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Right-Of-Return/
http://imeu.net/news/background-briefings.shtml
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=10241&CategoryId=4
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/israel-palestine/returnindex.htm
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/ref-qumsiyeh.html
http://www.un.org/unrwa/index.html
http://www.badil.org/index.html
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/687/region_ror.htm

and notice the trend that started more than 60 years ago is Israel terror squads making more and more refugees... Israeli forces render 100s of Gaza families homeless http://english.pnn.ps/

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Palestine News Network
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Nonviolent Resistance
Journalism as nonviolent resistance: Nasrallah is calling on media to cover Israeli crimes in Gaza
The Wall
Israeli forces announce plan to uproot hundreds of olive trees near Wall in Jenin
Environment
Israeli settlers divert Nablus village water for their own use
Prisoners
Report: 2,650 Palestinian political prisoners in 5 Israeli jails in missile range as human shields
Settlements
Israeli settlers in the West Bank shoot and kill Palestinian vegetable merchant and injure his son

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Letters: Define terrorism

The Oxford English Dictionary defines terrorism as "a policy intended to strike with terror those against whom it is adopted; the employment of methods of intimidation; the fact of terrorising or condition of being terrorised". Would this not include the Israeli bombing of Lebanese civilians ("War: who can stop it now?", 24 July) and the destruction of their infrastructure? Haris Aziz University of Warwick http://www.newstatesman.com/nsletters.htm

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Sad reflections on Jewish morality A chorus of apologists among Jewish intellectuals matches Israel's erasure of all distinctions between humanity and barbarism in war, writes Haim Bresheeth 10 - 16 August 2006 http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/807/op113.htm
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How to Deal with The Lobby The De-Zionization of the American Mind By JEAN BRICMONT August 12 / 13, 2006 http://www.counterpunch.org/bricmont08122006.html
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British Parlamentarian G