Israel’s 60th Birthday

“We committed Nazi acts.” Aharon Zisling, Israel’s first Agriculture Minister

“There is no doubt that many sexual atrocities were committed by the attacking Jews. Many young (Arab) girls were raped and later slaughtered. Old women were also molested.” General Richard Catling, British Army Assistant Inspector after interrogating several female survivors (The Palestinian Catastrophe, Michael Palumbo, 1987)

The following article is by Khalid Amayreh from The Voice of Palestine. (thanks Ann)

As the evil state of Israel is celebrating sixty years of ethnic cleansing and atrocities against the native Palestinians, many people around the world, especially young generations, will not be fully aware of the manner in which Israel came into existence. Similarly, the younger Zionist generations who don’t stop calling their Palestinian victims “terrorists” should have a clearer idea about Israel’s manifestly criminal past which Zionist school textbooks shamelessly glamorize and glorify

Prior to “Jewish” statehood, three main Jewish terror organizations operated in Palestine, primarily against Palestinian civilians and British mandate targets. The three were: The Haganah, the Zvei Leumi or Irgun and the Stern Gang. The Haganah (Defence) had a field army of up to 160,000 well-trained and well-armed men and a unit called the Palmach, with more than 6,000 terrorists. The Irgun included as many as 5,000 terrorists, while the Stern Gang included 200-300 dangerous terrorists.

The following are merely some examples of Zionist terrorism prior to the creation of the Zionist state in 1948: The list doesn’t include the bigger massacres such as Dir Yasin, Dawaymeh, Tantura and others.

1937-1939

During this period, Zionist terrorists carried out a series of terror attacks against Palestinian buses resulting in the death of 24 persons and the wounding of 25 others.

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Brown praises the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the following from the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign.  We might ask: is he aware of how many Palestinian victims have been persecuted?

GORDON Brown… pledged at a service on Wednesday night to mark the Jewish state’s 60th birthday that Britain would continue to be “a true and constant friend of Israel in good times and in bad”. And he announced that he would soon by paying Israel a visit.

“We will never reduce our efforts to secure for Israel a future free from terror, a future where - alongside a viable Palestinian state - children and the children of all your neighbours can believe in a brighter future.”
With his father - a church minister - being a frequent visitor to Israel, he said he learned of the fight for a Jewish homeland, the Balfour declaration and the promises made - some of which have been honoured and some which have been broken. “I learned of the ancient dream of the Jewish nation becoming reality in the modern state of Israel,” Mr Brown went on.

…He announced that against the backdrop of the current political process - which presented all with the real opportunity to move forward - he would be visiting Israel in July at the invitation of Ehud Olmert…he was well aware of just how many victims and persecution were part of Israel’s history. (sic)

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The following by Mohammed Assadi for Reuters. (thanks Ann)

Salwa Abu Jaber believes her story shows Israel discriminating against its Arab citizens, 60 years after the state was established as a haven for Jews.

The 32-year-old mother of four from northern Israel said her five-year-old daughter has never seen her father, who lives in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Separated from the man for five years, she says she has been forced to divorce him.

Thousands of families have been similarly split by a 2003 ban on Palestinians in the West Bank from reuniting with their families inside Israel, imposed citing security reasons after the Palestinian uprising or intifada began in 2000.

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From the JP:

The Iranian Jewish community will not mark Israel’s 60th Independence Day, incoming Iranian Jewish parliamentarian Siamak Morsadegh said Wednesday.

Speaking to Reuters, Morsadegh said this was in protest of Israel’s responsibility for the “murder of totally innocent Palestinian civilians.”

“We are in complete disagreement with Israel’s conduct,” he said. “We are Iranians. We have no relations with Israel.”

The Iranian Jewish leader told Reuters that Israel’s policies toward Palestinians, particularly Gazans, demonstrated “anti-human behavior … they kill innocent people.”

Morsadegh went on to claim that Jews in Iran enjoyed freedom of religion and other rights. “There are no specific problems for Jews in this country,” he said.

‘The world must stop standing idle while the people of Gaza are treated with such cruelty’, writes Jimmy Carter.

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 government with Hamas and Fatah and now, after internal strife, Hamas alone controls Gaza. Forty-one of the 43 victorious Hamas candidates who lived in the West Bank have been imprisoned by Israel, plus an additional 10 who assumed positions in the short-lived coalition cabinet.

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Today is Israel’s New Year / 60th ‘birthday’ and next week on the 14th is its Independence day.  With that in mind Linda Mamoun writes that “the frenzy around Israel Independence Day is an attempt to freeze history in 1948 when public support of Israel was unequivocal.”  She is to be commended for this excellent article looking at celebrations in the US, I especially enjoyed her humour.  For example, she’s introduceda new term for the broad range of superficial activites you can participate in to support Israel: calling them the great Israel Hobby.  However I disagree that a Two State option is viable.  Only a One State solution allows any kind of justice and reconciliation.

Marketing Ethnic Cleansing

Two weeks before Israel’s 60th anniversary the House and Senate voted unanimously to pass resolutions honoring “the founding of the modern State of Israel.” Before the House vote, Speaker Nancy Pelosi weighed in on the deliberations saying, “I urge our colleagues to speak with one voice, and support this resolution recognizing the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel. In doing so, we not only commend Israel, we also bring luster to this House by associating ourselves with that great state of Israel.” To further commemorate Israeli independence, Pelosi reserved time through the month of June for a weekly series of floor speeches. Israel Independence Day has been celebrated within Jewish communities in the United States since Israel was founded. Traditionally the celebrations were organized by synagogues or Hebrew schools. Children would sing Ha’Tikvah, the Israeli national anthem, and read scriptures on the Promised Land. But these days the anniversaries are geared toward the broader public, making headlines in places where there are large Jewish communities, but also in areas where one would be hard-pressed to find a single person identifying as Jewish. Not only are the anniversaries endorsed by celebrities and political committees (this year’s “National Committee” includes former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, the three presidential frontrunners, and all living secretaries of state), but the organizers offer a dizzying array of festivities, requiring careful planning by those hoping to partake in all the revelry. Israel Independence Day falls on May 8 this year, but in the US the festivities run from early April through the beginning of June. With all the events going on around the country, have you planned how you will celebrate Israeli independence?

Mark Your Calendar

If you really had your act together, you could have booked a trip to the Holy Land with Pastor John Hagee and his Christians United For Israel (CUFI) tour. During ten days in early April, the Celebrate Jerusalem Tour featured a Night to Honor Jerusalem, a Middle East Intelligence Briefing, a luncheon at the Jerusalem Convention Center, a Jerusalem Unity Rally Walk, and a “special CUFI salute” to Israel’s 60th anniversary. Best of all, you would have gotten to hear Hagee’s rallying speech, in which he announced his pledge of $6 million for Israeli causes (mostly settlement-related) and declared that ”Turning part or all of Jerusalem over to the Palestinians would be tantamount to turning it over to the Taliban.”

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After already threatening to ethnically cleanse Israel Arabs who refuse to celebrate Avi Dichters, who recently cancelled a trip to the UK for fear of being arrested for war crimes, cronies are looking to prevent the Nakba Day parade. Thanks Ann.

Danny Danon, the chairman of World Likud, appealed to Public Security Minister Avi Dichter on Tuesday to issue a ban on the “Nakba Day” procession to be held by Israeli Arabs on Independence Day.

In a press release distributed to the news media on Tuesday, Danon said the purpose of the march is “to oppose and incite against the state.”

“This is a deliberate and subversive challenge of the Arab Israeli leadership against the existence of the State of Israel,” Danon said.

Should Dichter fail to heed Danon’s call, the World Likud chair said he intends to appeal to the district court. He also demanded the authorities arrest any Arab leader quoted as inciting against the state and its institutions, as well as anyone seen brandishing the flag of an enemy state or a terrorist organization.

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Berlusconi is cosying up to Israel, from the Italy mag.

Premier-elect Silvio Berlusconi has sent a special message to Israel to mark the 60th anniversary of its declaration of independence, remarking that ”Israel’s birthday is the birthday of all of us”.

In a statement published Tuesday by the Tel Aviv daily Yediot Ahronot, Berlusconi observed that memory was ”a fundamental element of the identity of the Israeli people, who were ale to defend democracy and freedom under difficult conditions”.

Israel begins two days of celebrations celebrating its 60th anniversary on Wednesday.

In his 2001-2006 government, Berlusconi followed Washington’s lead in favoring Israel in its Mideast policy.

During this spring’s election campaign, Berlusconi said the first country he would visit if elected would be Israel, something he did not do in his previous five years in office.

Don’t you miss the glory days of Israel when leaders were leaders - not these corrupt baffoons we have now? Men of principle like Ben Gurion - the kind of guy you could rely on to screw everyone else over but never his fellow Jewish Israelis! Infact he screwed everyone else over to help them - an Israeli Robin Hood: robbing from the poor Palestinians to make Israelis rich. Actually I guess that makes him more like the evil sheriff of Nottingham or King John - still - what a guy! The following from AFP.

Torn by a political crisis that cast doubts over the future of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Israel on Wednesday commemorated its fallen soldiers on the eve of its 60th anniversary.

Olmert, who is fighting off calls to step down over fresh corruption allegations, marked Remembrance Day with a call to fight for the survival of the Jewish state — a nation shaped by conflict.

“We remember our children who fought and gave their lives so Israel can live,” Olmert said in a radio broadcast.

“We commit ourselves to keep their memory alive, to fight for the survival of the state and to work for a better future,” he said.

“We reach our hand out for peace, but we are also ready to use our weapons,” said Olmert, commemorating the 22,437 soldiers killed in action and the 1,634 civilians who have died in militant attacks since May 1948.

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Why Facing Tomorrow? What they really need to do this time of year is face up to the past - the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. This would go a long way to bridge the gap and addressing the issues that will lead to peace. However thats not a bright positive PR op for the Governement so instead we get a vacuous soundbite Facing Tomorrow. Interesting to see Yahoo has joined Google in the celebrations.  Meanwhile the rest of Israel is looking to the past as “the future is always scary, so if you want to feel good, it’s more fun to look back and ignore the problems.”  Guess when they’re looking back they’re not looking at the Nakba: unless of course they can get nostalgic over ethnic cleansing.

The idea could only have started with Israel President Shimon Peres, the man who has witnessed up close and person more historic events during Israel’s first six decades of statehood than arguably any other person alive today, going back to 1948 when he was one of founding Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion closest, and youngest advisers.

Peres decided last year that it was not enough to review the Jewish state’s achievements, challenges and milestones reflectively. Rather, the emphasis for Israel must be on looking forward. Thus was conceived the first annual Israel Presidential Conference, a three-day unparalleled assembly of some of the world’s “best and brightest,” including equally large representations of Presidents and Prime Ministers, current and past, and Nobel Laureates, to name but two special categories that will be fully represented at the gathering in Jerusalem, Israel from May 13 to May 15.

Thus was the flagship international event commemorating Israel’s 60th Anniversary celebrations was born, with Israel President Shimon Peres hosting his premiere “Facing Tomorrow” Conference which will welcome many international leaders to Jerusalem including President George Bush. The Conference was initiated personally by Israel President Peres to address the three main “tomorrows:” the Israel tomorrow, the global tomorrow and the Jewish tomorrow.

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Having refused to go to Israel - its still no surprises that the Queen would congradulate a racist colonial state on its criminal achievements, after all the Royals have a long history of supporting criminal States including that of the Nazis. Strange that Prince Philip a former Nazi Youth member and war time collaborator was to help celebrate Israel’s 60th at Windsor Castle. Perhaps all this has gone down Orwell’s memory hole or perhaps Nazis are ok as long as its not you they’re targeting?

Queen Elizabeth II has sent her congratulations to the government and people of Israel on the occasion of Israel’s 60th anniversary.

In a letter sent to President Shimon Peres Tuesday, the Queen wrote: “It gives me particular pleasure to send Your Excellency my congratulations on the celebration of your National Day, on the sixtieth anniversary of your Independence. I extend my best wishes for the happiness and prosperity of the Government and people of Israel in the coming year.”

Larry Derfner in the US News describes how “A bribery investigation threatens to bring down Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.”

In advance of Israel’s planned celebrations of its 60th birthday on Thursday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seemed about to announce a major achievement: a cease-fire with Hamas and other Gaza militant groups in Gaza, which would have halted the seven-year-long rocketing of the border town of Sderot. But at the end of last week, just as Egyptian mediators had gotten an agreement from the Gazans and were prepared to present it to the Israelis, Olmert was summoned urgently by police for questioning on what has been reported in some Israeli media as suspicions of bribery.Since then, everything has been on hold in anticipation of state prosecutors’ announcement of the nature and gravity of the investigation. If it approximates the very rough outline that has been reported despite a judicial gag order—that there is strong evidence that Olmert, before becoming prime minister, accepted bribes from a wealthy American with interests in Israel—the already widespread calls for his resignation could become overwhelming.

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From the Stop the War coalition:

Stop the War is calling on all its supporters to join the national demonstration for Palestine in London next Saturday, which will mark the 60th anniversary of what Palestinians call the Nakba - the catastrophe - when Israeli forces used terror and brute force to drive hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland.

Sixty years of colonial expansion and brutal occupation have followed — in violation of numerous United Nations resolutions — and today the Israelis have imposed a blockade on Gaza which starves one and a half million inhabitants of food and essential resources. Across Gaza and the West Bank, Palestinians are living in the most abject conditions, under which Israel has set up walls and checkpoints that separate farmers from their lands, students from their schools and universities, patients from their hospitals and families from each other.

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Seems to be a trend across Europe that the fascists are supporting Israel (not surprising they’d support a racist colonial project) what is more alarming is that Jewish groups are starting to support them.  The following from the London FT.

Rome’s election last week of its first rightwing mayor since the time of Benito Mussolini has been celebrated by fascists as a historic victory over the left.

Packs of young, thuggish supporters of Gianni Alemanno greeted the new mayor’s appearance at the Campidoglio city hall with straight-armed “Roman” salutes, shouting abuse at communists and foreign immigrants.

“Before, if you were a fascist you had to pretend to be part of the mainstream to have respectability. Now they are coming out of the closet,” said an aide to defeated centre-left candidate Francesco Rutelli.

Debate over the significance of the National Alliance’s first election victory in a major city has been intense - especially among the capital’s small but important Jewish commun-ity, which is widely thought to have swung in Mr Alemanno’s favour. Rome’s Jewish voters, numbering about 9,000, explain their shift to the right in various ways, most often because they see the National Alliance as firmly pro-Israel.

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An article, report on past actions and report of future actions against the Turin Book Fair / celebrations in Italy.

“Gaza will sink – declared the president of the Popular Committee against Blockade, Jamal al-Khoudari – and the whole world bears responsibility for this. Immediate actions must be taken to put pressure on the occupation, in order to end this crisis.”

The situation of the Palestinian population is getting worse day by day. From the blockade/embargo against the Gaza Strip and Israeli raids by land and air in all the Palestinian occupied territories, to building the Apartheid Wall and the deteriorating living conditions of refugees and Palestinian residents in Israel, the Israeli authorities are persistently committing war crimes and violations of civil rights, ignoring dozens of UN resolutions and forcing millions to live in disastrous conditions.

Every day, at every checkpoint, soldiers humiliate elderly people, women and children, robbing the Palestinians of their daily life and of the time necessary to work, study, participate in politics, and plan their future. Scarcity and even sheer lack of food and fuel, produce a situation of intolerable poverty, while sanitary conditions in the refugee camps remain appalling.
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