‘Courageous’ Chavez is Palestinians’ new hero

AFP ^ | January 12, 2009

[Tailgunner Joe]

BETHLEHEM, West Bank: Venezuelan flags and portraits of President Hugo Chavez have been flying high during protests in the West Bank against Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip.

The Venezuelan president’s decision on January 6 to expel Israel’s ambassador from Caracas – the only country apart from Mauritania to take such a step – has made the left-wing South American leader a hero to Palestinians.

Hamas has welcomed Chavez’s “courageous decision,” while Hassan Nasrallah, head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, urged Arab states to follow the Venezuelan president’s example.

Chavez on Saturday accused Israel of being the “murder arm” of the US and said the solution to the Gaza crisis was in the hands of Barack Obama when he becomes US president later this month.

Mohamed al-Lahham, an MP for the Fatah party of Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas, said Chavez was “a symbol of the struggle for liberty, like Che Guevara. This distinguishes him from the world’s other presidents.”

His opposition to Washington, Israel’s loyal ally, over the invasion of Iraq and to the Israeli offensive against Lebanon in 2006 have made Chavez a symbol for all peoples who “are resisting and fighting against occupation,” he said.

Venezuelan flags and portraits of Chavez could be seen lofted by demonstrators in the West Bank towns of Bethlehem, Ramallah and Hebron during rallies last week.

Al Jazeera television ran an interview with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro in which he slammed “the criminals who govern Israel” and who have “carried out a holocaust against Palestinians for 60 years.”

“I would like to be able to give Chavez a Palestinian passport so he could become a Palestinian citizen. Then we would elect him and he would become our president,” said Mahmud Zwahreh, mayor of Al Masar, a community near Bethlehem where 8,000 people live in poverty.

“This is the right reaction” to American domination, said the mayor, who is printing out as many portraits as he can of the Venezuelan president to hand out to protesters.

“Everyone here knows about him. More and more people are coming to ask me for photos to carry during the demonstrations,” Zwahreh said.

Mohamed Brijeh, who heads an action group in the Bethlehem area against the security wall between Israel and the West Bank, said:

“Chavez’s response is worth more than the UN’s.”

The UN “only does what Israel wants,” he said.

“If only we had leaders as strong as Hugo Chavez,” Brijeh said. – AFP

[Tailgunner Joe]

Students carry a banner of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, during a protest against Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip,
outside the UN's offices in Sanaa January 13, 2009. The banner reads: "The new secretary-general of the Arab League. "

Lebanese and Palestinian students carry a picture of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, center, as they protest
Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Monday, Jan. 12, 2009.

Palestinians living in Pakistan protest against Israel's offensive in Gaza, in Karachi January
10, 2009. At right is a Pakistani man holding a poster of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.

Angry Yemenis protest against the Israeli offensive in Gaza demanding the general expulsion of Israeli ambassadors,
while carrying a poster supporting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has ordered Israeli Ambassador Shlomo
Cohen to leave his country in protest over the attacks in Gaza, at a demonstration in San'a, Yemen Friday, Jan. 9,
2009. Writing in Arabic on Chavez poster reads 'Together to expel the murderous Zionist ambassadors'.

Palestinian children in the West Bank village of Maasarah, hold a banner with a picture of Venezuela's
President Hugo Chavez reading in Arabic: 'The only Arab leader, the only revolutionary in a time of betrayal',
while participating in a protest against Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip, Friday Jan. 9, 2009.

[Army Air Corps]

One can only hope that Mossad will pay him a visit.

[GSP.FAN]

[ETL]

From CBS-News, July 29, 2006
"Chavez pledged that his country would 'stay by Iran at any time and under any condition,' state television reported. Ahmadinejad said he saw in Chavez a kindred spirit." "'We do not have any limitation in cooperation,' Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying. 'Iran and Venezuela are next to each other and supporters of each other. Chavez is a source of a progressive and revolutionary current in South America and his stance in restricting imperialism is tangible'":
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/29/world/main1847331.shtml
______________________________________________________________

From National Public Radio (NPR), August 29, 2006:
"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been visiting countries such as China, Iran and Russia as part of an effort to build a 'strategic alliance' of interests not beholden to the United States. He considers the United States his arch enemy.":
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5729764
______________________________________________________________

Code Pink 'Bundles' for Barack, 4/14/2008

Cindy Sheehan, Jodie Evans, Hugo Chavez,
Medea Benjamin [co-founder Code Pink]

"The co-founder of the radical anti-war group Code Pink [Jodie Evans] has “bundled” more than $50,000 for Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and pro-troops groups are demanding that he return the money."

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25997

______________________________________________________________

Revolution interview with ("Peace Mom") Cindy Sheehan: October 29, 2005:
['Revolution' is the official newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist Party]
http://rwor.org/a/021/cindy-sheehan-interview.htm

[Desron13]

Is it just me, or does this guy remind you of a fat rodent?

[ScottinVA]

I so wish someone would cap that fat bastard.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Palestinian women shout anti-Israel slogans as they carry Palestinian and Venezuelan flags in
the West Bank city of Nablus during a protest against Israel's offensive in Gaza January 11, 2009.