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(Notice that the one on the left was wearing a red kaffiyeh around his neck.)

According to new sources, Barack Obama will be meeting with Palestinian officials in Ramallah during his current Middle East Tour. After visiting with Israeli officials, Obama will be escorted by Israeli defense forces until security is handed over to...

One of the most striking aspects of our political discourse, particularly during election time, is how efficiently certain views that deviate from the elite consensus are banished from sight -- simply prohibited -- even when those views are held by the vast majority of citizens. The University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes -- the premiere organization for surveying international public opinion -- released a new survey a couple of weeks ago regarding public opinion on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, including opinion among American citizens, and this is what it found: A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of 18 countries finds that...

At a time when history is hardly being taught anymore, and journalists lie, it must be hard for our young people to understand who the good guys are in the conflict between the Arabs and the Israelis in what was called Palestine. In a land where both Jews and Arabs have dwelt and fought one another for ages, it was Solomon-like for the United Nations to divide the land between them in 1947 – yes, 1947, more than 60 years ago.

Under the Heading THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES (THINGS TO COME, A Journal of Biblical Literature, Book One, Volume I, For July 1894, p.17) JEWISH LITERATURE A PALESTINE literature has sprung up, and books, pamphlets, and newspapers are taken up with this now all-absorbing theme. JEWISH SOCIETIES The whole nation [The United Kingdom] is honeycombed with societies having different names, but one object, viz., The Colonization of Palestine. 1. THE CHOVEVI SION is perhaps the largest. Its name means The Lover of Sion, and is from the word [Sorry, I can’t reproduce the Hebrew script], Chavav, which occurs only once...

Tony Blair has been forced to abandon a visit to Gaza today because of specific threats to his life. The tour, which was cancelled after a warning by the Israeli government, dashed the hopes of Gaza's Hamas governors of scoring a propaganda coup as Mr Blair was due to be the first senior Western politician to visit the isolated strip since the Islamist group took control. Mr Blair's convoy first delayed a planned 9am arrival, then, as it approached Israel's Erez crossing into the often-turbulent strip, turned back to Jerusalem after being told of the threat. "We received a specific...

Palestine - Some Info Please.... Start at any point in history and describe the Country of Palestine: When was it founded? What were its borders? What was its capital? What were its major cities? What constituted the basis of its economy? What was its form of government? Name at least one Palestinian leader before Arafat? What was the language, currency, or religion of the country of Palestine? What was Palestine proud of? Known for? When did Palestine declare its independence? There is no Palestine today. When was it destroyed? Why have they not declared a Palestinian State in Gaza? Why...

A senior Palestinian Authority official on Thursday said the regime of US-backed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is pulling for Democratic candidate Barack Obama to win the upcoming US presidential election. PA Planning Minister Samir Abdullah told reporters on a visit to Tokyo that the assumption in Ramallah is that Obama will win the election, and once inaugurated will immediately set in motion the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian Arab state on the biblical Jewish lands of Judea and Samaria.

This blood libel of Israel, Jews, and John McCain’s father is sanctioned by Barack Obama’s official campaign It has been established [http://husaria.wordpress.com/2008/06/29/obama-campaign-sanctioned-anti-semitic-and-other-hate-speech/] that Barack Obama’s official campaign site exercises editorial control over the content of my.barackobama.com, and is capable of finding and removing “offensive” and “disrespectful” material within two days. The following has been online for almost three weeks. It accuses Israel of deliberatly murdering the crew of the U.S.S. Liberty, American Jews with divided loyalties of complicity, and John McCain’s father of complicity in a cover up. The following entry is sanctioned (tolerated) by Barack Obama’s official campaign... Now,...

Israeli hackers broke into the Hamas Web site. The right-wing group of hackers posted Israel's national anthem on the site of Hamas' Izz al-Din al-Kassem armed wing, as well on the sites of the Balad Arab-Israeli political party and left-wing organizations. The hacked home pages also featured photos of Palestinian children dressed as suicide bombers and an explanation of why the site was hacked, according to Ynet. Most of the sites had returned to their regular content within a few hours. A leader of the hackers told Ynet that the group is comprised of 16- to 18-year-olds and this wasn't...

There is currently no place on earth called “Palestine” – certainly not in any meaningful legal or diplomatic sense. Nonetheless, most of the world prefers to think otherwise. This basic misunderstanding and misrepresentation is now as common in great universities as it is in ordinary politics. Indeed, wherever one looks for commentary about the Middle East, a symmetrical condition is widely presumed to exist between two fully sovereign and hence equal states. Israel and Palestine. International law and jurisprudence? Forget about it! If this were the only pertinent falsehood here, Israel and its few allies could still deal effectively with...

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Tuesday on donor nations to make good on their commitments to the Palestinian Authority and help build the security infrastructure needed for a viable state. "Because of the inter-related nature of the criminal justice sector it is crucial for the donor community to take on all the projects that the PA has identified. Neglecting any one could jeopardize the entire effort," Rice said. "We encourage donors to commit new pledges and to allocate uncommitted funds from existing pledges to support this effort." The international community pledged seven billion dollars in Paris in December...

JAKARTA, INDONESIA - WORLD leaders in religion, politics and business will gather in the Indonesian capital this week for a conference to address 'facets of violence' and its solutions, organisers said on Sunday. Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second largest Muslim movement with some 30 million adherents, will host the second 'World Peace Forum' between June 24 and 26, with more than 200 participants expected to attend. 'This is not just an interfaith dialogue. We invite leaders in business, politics, media and academics to sit together and find solutions for peace,' Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin told journalists. 'Violence is a reality, but what...

JAKARTA, Jun 21, 2008 (Xinhua via COMTEX News Network) -- Indonesia will host a ministerial- level conference for Asian and African countries to discuss technical assistance for Palestine and to plan for its future independence, local press said Saturday. The conference, co-hosted by South Africa, will run from July 14 to 15, and will bring together envoys from some 100 countries to discuss a list of capacity building projects for Palestine in the fields of governance, infrastructure, economy, security, health and sports. "The main objective is how Asian and African countries design programs to empower Palestine and its institutions, because...

A Hamas spokesman said Tuesday that his was committed to an Egyptian-mediated truce deal with Israel set to go into effect Thursday. Sami Abu Zuhri said Hamas would commit to the "zero hour" declared by Egypt. An official Egyptian statement released earlier Tuesday said the cease-fire would go into effect on Thursday at 6 a.m. The MENA agency report cited an unnamed high-level Egyptian official as saying that both sides "have agreed on the first phase" of an Egyptian package to end the violence in the Strip. It said the first phase was a "mutual and simultaneous calm" in the...

Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) earned a rousing ovation at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference by announcing that “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.” While Obama was currying favor with Jewish voters he was alienating other allies. Khaled Meshal, the exiled head of the Palestinian terror group Hamas, called Obama’s remarks a “betrayal of the Muslim cause. President Carter assured us we could trust this man. What is he doing siding with the Zionists?” An Obama campaign advisor tried to clarify the Senator’s position by pointing out that “no specified period of...

....Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, brother of slain U.S. President John F. Kennedy and former U.S. Attorney General, was the leading Democratic candidate for president when he was gunned down at a primary victory celebration in California on June 5, 1968. His Palestinian assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, said he killed Kennedy due to his vocal support for Israel. In April 1948, one month before Israel declared independence, Robert Kennedy, then 22, traveled to Palestine to report on the conflict for the Boston Post. His four dispatches from the scene were published in June 1948. The newspaper closed in 1956, and for decades...

A year into Hamas' rule in the Gaza Strip, courts are meting out justice, police are arresting thieves, motorists are paying for licenses and authorities are blocking Internet porn sites. At the same time, Gazans are stocking up on vegetable oil - not for cooking, but to run their cars during a severe fuel shortage. An Israeli-led blockade has forced 80 percent of the people to rely on United Nations food handouts. With sanitation services collapsing, millions of gallons of raw sewage are flowing into the sea. Enemies of the regime have been silenced. "We've only become stronger. We will...

Exiled Iraqi writer Najem Wali travelled to Israel to uncover some uncomfortable truths about the Arab leaders When a child is born in Israel or to us in the Arab world, the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict is flowing in its umbilical cord. Since the declaration of the state of Israel on May 14 1948, Israel has been the official enemy number one for the Arab states. But even as a child I found the rhetoric didn't add up. How could this somehow "all-powerful" country so successfully "let the Arab nations sink into lethargy", as the official speeches would have...

Britain and other European governments should break from the US over the international embargo on Gaza, former US president Jimmy Carter told the Guardian yesterday. Carter, visiting the Welsh border town of Hay for the Guardian literary festival, described the EU's position on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute as "supine" and its failure to criticise the Israeli blockade of Gaza as "embarrassing". Referring to the possibility of Europe breaking with the US in an interview with the Guardian, he said: "Why not? They're not our vassals. They occupy an equal position with the US."

Hadrian's Curse: The Secret All The Arabs Know At the Annapolis Conference, President Bush spoke about his vision regarding the virtues of two nations for two peoples. One of those peoples – the Jewish people – has a clear identity. Yet it would be interesting to know the identity of the second people. Already in 1977, a central spokesman of that “second people” (a PLO leader, Zahir Muhsein, head of the as-Sa’iqa Organization) revealed the truth in an interview to the Dutch newspaper Trouw. Here are his words: “The Palestinian people do not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state...

Professor Beres is especially pleased to present this co-authored article with Clare Lopez, Central Intelligence Agency (Ret.). Ms. Lopez, who worked on the Operations side at CIA, is currently an author and consultant. President Bush – while waging a “war on terror” − remains determined to create a Palestinian state. Yet, Palestine would quickly become a primary launching point for terrorism against the United States, as well as Israel. Gaza is already the site of expanding new forms of tactical and strategic cooperation between Hamas and Al-Qaeda. Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Lebanon are also witnessing an Al-Qaeda push...

US president presses on with Mideast tour, meets with Egypt's Mubarak in Sham el-Sheikh. Due to speak at World Economic Forum on Sunday, Bush says he will outline vision for reaching agreement on future Palestinian state while still in office US President George W. Bush said on Saturday he remained confident a deal on Palestinian statehood could be achieved before he leaves office, as he sought to ease Arab doubts about his commitment to even-handed peacemaking. In the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for the final stop of his Middle East tour, Bush faces growing skepticism over his chances...

Foreign Affairs Minister says two-state solution only viable when 'nakba' stricken from Palestinian lexicon while Opposition leader Netanyahu warns Israel must learn from past, refuse to give up land with no return Ynet "With the establishment of a Palestinian state, we wish to see the end of the conflict. The Palestinians will be able to celebrate their independence if on that same day they also strike the word 'nakba' from their lexicon," Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni said on Thursday afternoon in her speech at the president's conference in Jerusalem. Livni addressed the events being held throughout the day by...

It was more an embarrassment than a ship. Nearly 20 years old, its single tall funnel poked out above dilapidated decks and scarred paintwork. It was heading for the breaker’s yard until the Haganah, the Jewish underground, bought it. Now, loaded with more than 4,500 Jewish refugees, many of them Holocaust survivors, it was approaching the Palestinian port of Haifa and its moment of destiny. Its commander that July day in 1947 was Yossi Harel, who has died at 90. The ship was the USS President Warfield but Harel had renamed it Exodus 1947. Nearing Haifa it was pursued by...

The world is witnessing a terrible human rights crime in Gaza, where a million and a half human beings are being imprisoned with almost no access to the outside world. An entire population is being brutally punished. This gross mistreatment of the Palestinians in Gaza was escalated dramatically by Israel, with United States backing, after political candidates representing Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Authority parliament in 2006. The election was unanimously judged to be honest and fair by all international observers. Israel and the US refused to accept the right of Palestinians to form a unity...

Over the past few years, the term nakba (also spelled naqba) has become the favorite nonsense word of the Anti-Israel Lobby. Meaning "catastrophe" in Arabic, it has been embraced by anti-Semites all over the planet to refer to Israel's creation, which supposedly imposed a "catastrophe" upon the "disenfranchised Palestinian Arabs." Of course, the real catastrophe that befell the Arabs in 1948-49 was that they failed in their attempt to annihilate Israel and exterminate its population, and for that they paid a price. Meanwhile, nakba Nonsense has been spreading. Google finds over 85,000 web pages referring to Israel's creation as a...

The international community's efforts at trying to weaken Hamas have failed and should be reevaluated, the EU's two leading diplomats to Israel and the PA said Monday, although they stopped well short of saying that Hamas should be engaged. "The policy implemented in the last year [toward the Gaza Strip] aimed at strengthening people [through providing direct economic assistance and humanitarian aid], and weakening Hamas... is having the opposite effect," said Ramiro Cibrián-Uzal, the EU's ambassador to Israel. "We need to think about alternative policies, because this has not been successful. This is important to recognize." Cibrian-Uzal's counterpart in the...

Sixty years after its establishment by an internationally recognized act of self-determination, Israel remains the only state in the world that is subjected to a constant outpouring of the most outlandish conspiracy theories and blood libels; whose policies and actions are obsessively condemned by the international community; and whose right to exist is constantly debated and challenged not only by its Arab enemies but by segments of advanced opinion in the West. During the past decade or so, the actual elimination of the Jewish state has become a cause célèbre among many of these educated Westerners. The “one-state solution,” as...

The United States Government registered an official protest with Israel after its ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, called former U.S. President Jimmy Carter a “bigot’ and an “enemy of Israel.” The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv asked that Gillerman be made aware that “the U.S. administration's formal position is that President Carter is an idiot, not a bigot.” The Israelis were asked to respect this position in all its future references to the ex-president.

Original caption for both photos: Palestinians take part in a play in commemoration of Nakba Day "The Day of Catastrophe" during a rally in Gaza May 1, 2008. Palestinians will mark Nakba on May 15 as a day of mourning for the establishment of Israel after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war which led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

Despite former president Jimmy Carter’s claim to have negotiated an agreement for Hamas to recognize Israel’s right to exist and a promise to live in peace, Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal, said his militant Islamic group will never recognize Israel nor agree to peace. “We love President Carter, but he doesn’t understand anything,” Mashaal explained. “We have offered a 10-year truce if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders. That should be enough time for them to pack up and vacate the rest of our lands.” Mashaal said that Carter’s misunderstanding is the “result of his inability to comprehend that the Quran...

Despite former president Jimmy Carter’s claim to have negotiated an agreement for Hamas to recognize Israel’s right to exist and a promise to live in peace, Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal, said his militant Islamic group will never recognize Israel nor agree to peace. “We love President Carter, but he doesn’t understand anything,” Mashaal explained. “We have offered a 10-year truce if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders. That should be enough time for them to pack up and vacate the rest of our lands.” Mashaal said that Carter’s misunderstanding is the “result of his inability to comprehend that the Quran...

During the week before the Pennsylvania primary, The Bulletin met with Sen. Barack Obama’s middle east advisers in Washington, Howard Guttman and former Californian Congressman Mel Levine, along with another Obama Middle East aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. These are the questions The Bulletin posed to Mr. Obama’s Middle East advisers and the responses that they provided: 1. How would a President Obama relate to the security threat posed by Saudi Arabia? [Declassified security reports confirm that Saudi Arabia continues to fund groups defined by the U.S. government as terrorist organizations, while Saudi Arabia maintains an active state...

Ex-President Jimmy Carter has hogged the media spotlight this week over his intended - and subsequent - meetings with Hamas head honcho Khaled Meshaal and other Hamas leaders - thereby incurring the wrath of Israel, the United States, the European Union and the Palestinian Authority.

German lawmakers touring the West Bank city of Hebron say they were insulted and threatened by Jewish settlers there and that IDF troops refused to step in. The seven lawmakers from various parties toured Hebron on Wednesday. IDF forces control the center of the Palestinian city to protect several hundred settlers there. The German lawmakers say in a statement that from the start of the tour, they were cursed, insulted and threatened by settlers. The statement says the lawmakers were astonished that Israeli police and soldiers in the area were unwilling to step in and told the visitors they couldn't...

An Arab citizen of Israel and member of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) Monday listed himself as a representative of "Palestine" at a high-profile conference in Qatar. Ahmed Tibi listed himself on the registry at the Doha Forum, which was attended by an Israeli delegation headed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, as heading up a six-man team from Palestine - a state which never has, and still does not exist, but which the international community headed by the US is working to create on ancient Jewish lands. At the conference, Tibi smeared the country that had elevated him to position of...

Beirut - A high-ranking Hezbollah official has said the party would launch an offensive on Israel in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 in case the Jewish state wages a new war. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the statement in an interview with Syrian magazine "al-Hakika," the Iranian News Agency Fars reported. "We would not initiate war but in case they wage any war in the future ...there will be a counter attack behind the front lines...and for the first time since 1948 in Palestine itself," the official reportedly said. The Hizbullah Shura Council member also revealed...

In this final year of the Bush presidency, what was once a doctrine of preemption has given way to a weird presumption that threats that Washington doesn't officially acknowledge somehoe won't hurt us. It's an alarming sign when CIA director Michael Hayden says, as he did on NBC that, personally, he believes Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, but officially he stands by the NIE report that maybe they aren't. So America sails on, under the fiction that nothing dramatic need be done, despite Hayden's further warning that in Iran, "the development of fissile material, the development of delivery systems, continue...

BEIRUT: The Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai quoted a Lebanese security source as saying Thursday that large numbers of Palestinian militants belonging to Fatah al-Intifada and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) have been infiltrating Lebanon from Syria and heading to military bases in Deir al-Achayer, Al-Hilweh, and Qoussaya in the Bekaa. The source said that these factions' mobilization has links in Naame, Sabra and Shatila and is related to internal developments in Lebanon and the possibility of a new war between Israel and Hizbullah that might stretch to Syria.

CHICAGO -- It was a celebration of Palestinian culture -- a night of music, dancing and a dash of politics. Local Arab Americans were bidding farewell to Rashid Khalidi, an internationally known scholar, critic of Israel and advocate for Palestinian rights, who was leaving town for a job in New York. A special tribute came from Khalidi's friend and frequent dinner companion, the young state Sen. Barack Obama. Speaking to the crowd, Obama reminisced about meals prepared by Khalidi's wife, Mona, and conversations that had challenged his thinking.

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel warned on Thursday it will retaliate against Hamas, blaming the Palestinian Islamist group for a deadly explosion of violence in the Gaza Strip that followed a month of relative calm. Israeli authorities said they temporarily shut down the Nahal Oz fuel terminal following Wednesday's attack, but insisted they would continue providing minimal fuel supplies to the Palestinian territory that has been under a crippling blockade for months. "We will settle the score with Hamas which bears sole responsibility for what happened in the Gaza Strip," Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai said.

Dear Shoshana, In a report you wrote last week, you suggest that "talk of multinational forces" in Gaza is premature as "it will be impossible to define a military mission for the force". ... what should be the strategy for Israel/US regarding the situation in Gaza? Would you keep trying to isolate it? Topple Hamas? Let the Palestinian Authority worry about it? Engage in dialogue with the Hamas government? Thank you Shmuel Rosner Dear Shmuel: Talk of a multinational force, or even Israeli military action, is premature because the civilian powers (Israeli and American) haven't determined the political outcome they...

Cambridge University has been given £8 million by a Saudi Arabian prince to establish an Islamic studies centre. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, ranked in the top 20 richest men in the world, with a fortune of about £10 billion, has donated the cash to the university to fund a centre in his name for the study of the role of Islam in the Middle East and globally. The gift has been recommended by the university's general board and is expected to be announced in June. advertisement The grandson of King Ibn Saud and nephew of King Abudllah, the prince counts...

Israel issued a formal rejection of a recent offer by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to “help defuse hostilities in the region by personally driving buses that would evacuate Jews from the Palestinian lands.” Carter and Annan sent their proposal to Israel in early March. They indicated that they were lining up other celebrity drivers including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Irish President Mary Robinson to be part of the bus driving team. Carter also apologized for not doing more. “I really had hoped that Fidel would be part of our team,...

"While US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama leads rival Hillary Clinton in the polls, Palestinians in Gaza are launching their own attempt to boost his campaign."

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice believes that a framework for an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians could be reached by the planned May 14 visit to Israel of US President George W. Bush, Channel 1 diplomatic correspondent Ayala Hasson reported Sunday. Rice expressed this hope to a top Israeli leader Sunday when she met with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayed. Rice's high expectations will put further pressure on the two sides, who were already meeting frequently in an effort to meet the November 4 deadline that Prime Minister...

United States “abusing, torturing, and raping” Iraqi civilians. Obama “Free Palestine” group calls Israel “apartheid” While this material (http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/arab/gGBzsg) was not written by Barack Obama or his staff, it appears on a domain he owns and over which he exercises complete editorial control. In addition, Dr. Levant has “2403 points, 1180th place - tied (only 1 point more to move up)” which shows extensive activity on Obama’s Web site. He/she is obviously not keeping a low profile to avoid notice by the moderators. Res ipsa loquitur, the thing speaks for itself. We encourage our readers to download (don’t link, it...

(HEBRON, West Bank)—Yasser Herbawi once supplied much of the West Bank and Gaza Strip with black-and-white checkered scarves, the proud emblem of Palestinian identity made famous by the late Yasser Arafat. But most of his looms now stand idle, his product edged out by cheap imports from the world's newest kaffiyeh capital: China. After a decade of being flooded with Chinese goods, from scarves to toys to bags, the West Bank's largest city is struggling to compete—yet another obstacle to economic independence for Palestinians as they strive for a state of their own. Two-thirds of Hebron's textile workshops have closed...

Rabbi Jacob Yosef accused the Shas party of "selling Jerusalem" for 478 million Israeli shekels, or $138 million. Yosef's father, Rabbi Ovadye Yosef, serves as the spiritual leader of Shas, where he is also considered the party's most important and revered figure. Earlier this month, the Knesset's Finance Committee approved $138 million in government funds to Shas' educational institutions as part of the party's coalition agreement with Olmert. "How dare you sell out Jerusalem for 478 million shekels. Jerusalem is worth more than all monies in the world," said Jacob Yosef, rabbi of the Givat Mordechai neighborhood in Jerusalem, addressing...