This is your last chance, Rise-Up or perish under the boots of Tyranny

Israel wants to start World War III

By: Stewart Brennan

We are at a point in time where all good men and women will need to stand up against the establishment and its evil controls on society or perish under the boots of tyranny. In many ways, today is like being in 1939 Germany, only this time, fascism has grown throughout the bankrupt Western Nations and the people being persecuted are those opposing the crimes of US, UK, NATO partners, and Israel.

The recent political and military actions by NATO countries has put half the World into turmoil by aggressive war, planned insurrections, their support of brutal dictatorships while putting the rest of the World on a terrorist watch list.

Today, it’s against the law to speak out against Israel or any nation that supports Israel. Doing so would brand you a terrorist. The new laws in place allow our western governments to kidnap, imprison, torture and murder you. They have given themselves the right to act on someone’s accusations without any proof. Today, in the USA, if someone doesn’t like what you say, you can be murdered by presidential decree. You no longer have the right to defend yourself or face your accusers in a court of law either. So, I ask you, is this the world that you want to live in? Would you blindly support your leaders that have become puppets to a ruthless nation like Israel who is bent on the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous population in Palestine? Would you go to war against Iran on the basis of lies as the US and NATO terrorists did in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya?

If you don’t know the truth about what goes on in the World, you better smarten up because Israel, Britain, France and the US want to start a war with Iran that threatens to envelop the entire World.

Western political leaders listen to foreign lobby groups and legislate your rights away, by silencing you and stopping you from fighting back. If you persist, they make your life miserable, and if you continue to protest, they take you out permanently. They've already made a preliminary list of alleged trouble makers they want killed. One of my friends is on that list!!!

Read The Bill: H.R. 3131 - GovTrack.us

The NATO countries powered by a wealthy economic cartel class are morally and economically bankrupt. They have turned the World upside down in their bid to maintain control of global economics by allowing Israel to get away with evils that were deemed crimes against the peace of the World at the Nuremberg Trials after World War 2.

The attached video shows the hypocrisy of the Western nations as they have allowed successive Zionist regimes to get away with crimes against humanity. The International Criminal Court of Justice has not taken action against Israel, the US or UK for their War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya because they control the United Nations Security Council. So where is the justice? What right do the western leaders have to declare our nations hold a moral system of freedom and democracy when they commit mass murder or excuse other nations of doing so? They’re all a bunch of monsters that need to be dealt with!!

Road to Endless War - The Final Chapter - (Part 5) - Palestine, the real story

Speaking truth to lies and standing up for what is right are considered terrorist acts today by those currently in power and by those who crave the seats of power. To lead a western nation, one must grovel to Zionist lobby groups in order to win those seats of power.

Elections in all western Nations are a farce when all the candidates presented represent Zionist ambitions. It’s pure treason of the highest sort! There’s no democracy when all parties are bought and paid for by Zionist lobby groups.

AND, when a real candidate comes along that threatens the status quo, special voting machines or organizations are hired to make sure the vote count comes out in favor of the Zionist candidate like we saw in Iowa recently. That is why most countries have eliminated or are planning to eliminate the paper ballot. The paper ballot system is the ONLY system that has a trail when done right thus making it very difficult to cheat. 

Santorum says there's a US program to kill Iranian scientists and dead ones are a wonderful thing

Once again, the Zionist candidates all recommend going to war with Iran based on LIES and will support any criminal laws that infringe on your ability to stop them. Thanks to these western government Zionist supporters your freedom of speech on the Internet will be gone very soon.

When you combine the new Orwelian laws made to take you away, imprison you, allow torture, and assassination, you can blame Zionism. This is what supporting Israel at any cost means. It means

Whoever speaks out against Israeli crimes, regardless of where they live, are considered the enemies of all western nations. My speaking out in this post will probably put me on that list and of course disqualify me from the economic system they control but I don’t care because I will not compromise my principals or moral oath to uphold truth, honesty and justice. Whereas our governments allow the Zionists to get away with mass murder, kidnapping, torture, and ethnic cleansing. To me they are an Abomination! 

The Western nations are controlled by an evil that is so paranoid, vicious and blood thirsty that it would destroy the World rather than commit to truth, justice and peace. Nations like that, or nations that support their heinous crimes, are doomed to failure because they have no empathy for life. The lack of empathy is the very definition of evil and it is so plain to see who are responsible for committing atrocities since the end of the second World War. Make no mistake this group are pure evil. 

Crimes Against Humanity - Yesterday & Today

Any country that occupies another country with its military will always declare that those fighting against their occupation are terrorists. This was true with England’s occupation of Ireland, Germany’s occupation of France, and Israel’s current occupation of Palestine.

Human morals and practices come from spiritual or religious belief, and are a major pillar in the foundations of civilization. There is no room for occupation, torture, murder, war, and ethnic cleansing. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all preach these values so it is not a crisis of religion that we have in the Holy Land, it is a crisis of morality. Zionism is political not religious. In fact, Zionism is a vicious national regime much the same as Nazi Germany was and if you ask a person that follows Judaism, they will agree.

I was brought up with Christian beliefs but I have learned over the years that ALL religions or spiritual ways have something to offer and so acceptance of all is important in the quest for who I am and the meaning of life. 

Gaza in Plain Language—Revisited. Honoring the March to Gaza - March 4th, 2011

There are groups today that call themselves Christian Zionists and support Israel no matter what they do, even if it means the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. That is not Christian belief, that is an evil twisted belief. Thou shalt not kill and love your neighbor are the morals that real Christians believe.

I consider the monetary system the root of all evil, which then begs the question, who, what and where does this money trail lead to? Wealth and the power are what corrupts people…so who enables the corruption? All one needs to do is to follow the money if they want to find the evil behind it. The Economic cartel grows like a sickening disease pumping its will into greedy power hungry monsters while promising kingdoms on earth to those that embrace it. 

PHASE 3 "The Series" - (Part 19/20) The Light Within

The World has been turned upside down and requires your help in righting all the wrongs done to the people of other nations. Don’t wait around for government to do it, because they will not fix or admit to the crimes they have committed or excused.

Speak truth to power, demand Justice against Israeli, US and NATO Crimes, show respect to others, and be true to yourself. This is a battle of good verses evil.

“What can we do to change things?” Well, would you give up the current monetary system and its illusions for a world without war, disease, famine and poverty? Will you stand up and take your countries back from the private banking economic cartel?

The Death of American Democracy

'Hope' Floats:

Hey Hollywood, Time to Put Your Money Where Your Morality Is!

Source: Wide Asleep in America
http://www.wideasleepinamerica.com/2010/07/hope-floats-hey-hollywood-time-to-put.html



A coalition of nearly twenty U.S.-based human rights and peace groups has joined the global justice community and numerous foreign governments in vowing to send more humanitarian aid ships to break the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza this coming Fall. The coalition, united under the mantle US To Gaza, includes activist organizations such as CodePink, Jews Say No, Veterans For Peace, Voices for Creative Non-Violence, and Jewish Voice For Peace.

In the wake of the deadly Israeli raid on an international flotilla carrying over 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid and hundreds of civilian passengers, during which nine activists were murdered (if not outright executed) by Israeli commandos in international waters, the global call to end the US-backed Israeli siege has grown even more forceful.

Later this year, boats from Europe, Canada, South Africa, India, and the Middle East are expected to set sail for Gaza once again. US To Gaza, which states on its website that "America pays for the blockade with our tax dollars; Americans must join together to end this collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians," aims to add a vital American element to this new Freedom Flotilla.

The U.S. boat, which will be named The Audacity of Hope (irony intended), is expected to carry an American peace delegation of forty to sixty passengers and will join its international flotilla partners en route. But purchasing a suitable ship, securing a sailing crew, obtaining the needed licenses and registration, gathering tons of humanitarian aid, and sailing for Gaza is a costly endeavor. It is estimated that at least $370,000 needs to be raised from private donors in the next month for the U.S. ship to become, not merely hopeful audacity, but a necessary reality.

All in all, $370,000 isn't that much money. For instance, South Carolina Republican Congressman Joe Wilson raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from individual donors giving less than $200 just because he called Barack Obama a liar. If a jackass like Wilson can raise that kind of money for shouting a disingenuous falsehood, raising funds for a just cause like breaking the illegal Gaza blockade shouldn't be that hard.

Sure, the fund-raising goal can be hit with 3,700 people each pledging $100 or a mere 370 donations of $1,000 each. But why is the bar for funding justice and fighting illegal collective punishment so low? Where are the big donors who could single-handedly buy a boat and subsidize the entire delegation? Why does it seem like such a stretch for American supporters of human rights and international law to send an armada of siege-breaking ships to Gaza?

Perhaps, in order to open borders and ship a little bit of hope to suffering Palestinians in the Middle East, US to Gaza organizers should be looking for a lot of financial support from open wallets on the West Coast.

Hollywood has no shortage of outspoken Israel supporters, ethnic cleansing enthusiasts, and racist, right-wing nutjobs. The Zionism, publicly professed or not, of famous musicians and movie stars takes many forms and runs the gamut of willful ignorance to actively insane.

There are those who ignore or condemn the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement and promote Israeli hasbara like Paul McCartney, Elton John, Madonna, Rod Stewart, Leonard Cohen, Metallica, Rihanna, Missy Elliot, Adam Sandler, Alex Trebek, Jerry Seinfeld, Sacha Baron Cohen, Minnie Driver, and Natalie Portman (who was also a proud research assistant of Alan Dershowitz and is thanked in his appalling book The Case for Israel); there are those who oppose resistance to Israeli aggression and expansion and laud Israeli assaults that take the lives of thousands of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians like actors Michael Douglas, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Danny De Vito, Don Johnson, James Woods, Kelly Preston, Patricia Heaton, Doug Liman, Gary Sinise, Kristen Chenowith, Michael Chiklis, Vivica A. Fox, Nicole Kidman, Pat Sajak, and William Hurt, along with filmmakers like Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Michael Mann, William Friedkin, Ivan Reitman, Richard Donner, and Sam Raimi.

There are those, like producer Lawrence Bender, who see Israel as an eternal victim, besieged by oppressive Palestinians, and claim that "Nobody realizes how badly the Israelis are suffering. Obviously the Palestinians are suffering - but people need to understand that Israel needs help" and there are those, like actor Joshua Malina, who are baffled by the suggestion that "somehow Israel is the bully and the Palestinians are the underdog."

There are Zionist zealots like John Malkovich and Bill Maher and there's also Jon Voigt.

There are celebrities who advocate for peace, love, and understanding, like Richard Dreyfuss, yet somehow believe a "Jewish" state isn't inherently discriminatory. There's Jason Alexander, who, despite his work with the two-state promoting OneVoice/Imagine Peace project, was an honored guest at last year's Friends of the IDF Fundraising Gala and shill for Jewish television programming that endorses violent, fanatical Zionist settler ideologies. There are fashion designers like Elie Tahari, who donated a whopping $100,000 at this year's IDF love-fest in March.

With friends like these, it's no wonder that the IDF, a foreign military that oppresses and occupies an indigenous population, raised over $20 million in one night at the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan. But donors here in the United States don't only fund the Occupation, they also fund illegal Jewish settlements - to the tune of tax-free hundreds of millions over the past decade - that have now aggressively stolen and colonized over 42% of the West Bank.

So where are their anti-occupation, pro-international law counterparts, especially the ones with equally deep pockets? The truth is they're everywhere.

From Alice Walker to Vanessa Redgrave, Harry Belafonte to Viggo Mortensen, Julie Christie, Wallace Shawn, Alan Rickman, Jonathan Demme, Stephen King, Ralph Fiennes, Bill Irwin, Tilda Swinton, Wim Wenders, Uma Thurman, Debra Winger, Tony Kushner, Roger Ebert, Richard Gere, John Cusack, Sally Kirkland, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin, Danny Glover, Oliver Stone, Ed Asner, Sophie Fiennes, Casey Kasem, and Jeremy Pikser, celebrity support for Palestinian freedom and an end to the Israeli occupation and blockade is widespread in Tinseltown.

Actresses Salma Hayek, Halle Berry, Drew Barrymore, Brooke Shields, Andie MacDowell, Lucy Liu, Whitney Houston and Sharon Stone all had their pictures removed from the website of blood diamond dealer Lev Leviev after being alerted to Leviev's criminal funding of illegal West Bank settlements.

Musicians like Mos Def, Laurie Anderson, Boots Riley, Steve Earle, David Byrne, Neil Young, and Santana, all publicly oppose Israel's systematic oppression and land theft and support the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel. Annie Lennox protested against the 2008-9 Israel slaughter of over 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza and, more recently, Rage Against The Machine's Alex de la Rocha condemned Israel's Gaza blockade on stage during a concert in London. This past Saturday, July 10, for the first time in five years, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Roger Waters teamed up to perform at a HOPING Foundation benefit, which raised £350,000 (over $538,000) for young Palestinian refugees.

Megastars Dustin Hoffman and Meg Ryan canceled their attendance at this year's annual Jerusalem Film Festival the day after Israel's bloody raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and recent performances by The Pixies, Elvis Costello, Gorillaz Sound System, The Klaxons, Devendra Banhart, Gil Scott Heron, and Snoop Dogg were also canceled for similar - if not identical - reasons.

All of these well-heeled celebrities should take their courageous boycott of Israeli apartheid and aggression even further by funding more humanitarian aid ships. With their help, supplementing the support of small donors, the illegal blockade can indeed be broken.

The Israeli policy of brutal blockade is clear. In 2006, after Palestinians democratically elected Hamas to the shock and chagrin of both Israel and the US (who had insisted on the elections in the first place), an economic and commercial siege was put into place by Israel as a punishment for Palestinian self-determination. As Dov Weisglass, adviser to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, jokingly declared, "It's like an appointment with a dietitian. The Palestinians in Gaza will get a lot thinner, but won't die."

Collective punishment, via forced deprivation and near-starvation, is unequivocally illegal. International law is quite clear in this regard. Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which has governed Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza since 1967 (and has been repeatedly affirmed by both the UN Security Council and General Assembly), states plainly:
"No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited."
Furthermore, though the Israeli intention may not have been to kill Palestinians in Gaza via food and medicine shortages, they have more than made up for it with their subsequent use of bombs, missiles, tank shells, bullets, depleted uranium, flechettes, white phosphorous, and DIME weaponry.

Still, Israeli officials such as former-Prime Minster, now Defense Minister, Ehud Barak and Director-General of the Foreign Ministry, Yossi Gal, continue to claim that "there is no shortage in humanitarian aid to Gaza, as food, fuel and supplies are regularly transferred into Gaza by international organizations."

No mention is made of the fact that all building material, such as cement, plaster and dry wall, is banned from entering Gaza, in addition to the absurd prohibition of so-called "dual use" medicines, rope, wood, razors, light bulbs, textiles and fabrics, sewing and hypodermic needles, sewing machines, candles, matches, mattresses, bedsheets, pillowcases, blankets, cutlery, books, newspapers, coffee, tea, cigarettes, clothing, shoes, pencils and paper, fresh meat, seeds, nuts, cilantro, sage, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, cumin, vinegar, biscuits, candy, potato chips, jam, chocolate, french fries, canned or dried fruit, notebooks, empty flowerpots, fishing rods or line, livestock, musical instruments, and children's toys.

Obviously, Israeli officials take no note of the findings of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN which has reported that 61% of Gazans are "food insecure," of which "65% are children under 18 years;" the level of anemia in infants is as high as 65.5%, about 70% of Gazans live on less than $1 a day, 75% rely on food aid, and 60% have no daily access to water.

As Rebecca Sargent of the Peace and Collaborative Development Network notes, "Much of the population remains unemployed and thus have no money to buy supplies for themselves. The UN resolution 1860 calls for the unfettered access of aid and commercial goods to Gaza, although it would appear this call has been mostly ignored by the Israeli government's blockade."

Also, as of the end of 2009, a U.N. report found that "insufficient food and medicine is reaching Gazans, producing a further deterioration of the mental and physical health of the entire civilian population since Israel launched Operation Cast Lead against the territory," and also "blamed the blockade for continued breakdowns of the electricity and sanitation systems due to the Israeli refusal to let spare parts needed for repair get through the crossings." Since June 2007, "the number of Palestine refugees unable to access food and lacking the means to purchase even the most basic items, such as soap, school stationery and safe drinking water, has tripled" and over 80 UN and aid agencies agree that "the formal economy in Gaza has collapsed."

On May 31, the six-ship Gaza Freedom Flotilla was lethally attacked in international waters (the ships had no intention of sailing through Israeli territory) about 80 miles (130 kilometers) off the Gaza coast in an early morning raid by elite Israeli commandos. The attack was conducted after Israel cut off all communications from the ships and surrounded the flotilla with over 20 naval vessels and warships, along with multiple helicopters. In addition to the 45 highly-trained and heavily-armed commandos who rappelled onto the largest ship, the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, murdering at least 9 civilians and wounding about 60 more, about 650 other Israeli troops, including surveillance and support troops alongside those who actually boarded the ships, took part in the illegal assault on the flotilla.

The Mavi Marmara carried 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid on board including 6,000 tons of cement, more than 2,000 tons of iron, 100 prefabricated houses, 500 wheelchairs, crutches, medical equipment, wood and glass for building, electric generators, water purifiers, a mobile dental care facility, and food and had even been confirmed not to be transporting any weaponry by authorities before its departure.

Another aid ship, the MV Rachel Corrie, carrying 550 tons of cement, 20 tons of paper for printing school books, 25 tons of school supplies, 12 tons of sports equipment and 150 tons of medical supplies, was also illegally seized by the Israeli Navy a few days later.

On June 24, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an "easing" of the four-year-long Gaza siege, declaring, "Today, after we lifted the civilian blockade of Gaza there is no reason or justification for further flotillas."

Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz reports that "The highlight of the new policy is to be the creation and distribution of a detailed 'black list' of goods that will not be permitted into the Gaza Strip," continuing that, now, "Only weapons or 'dual-use' materials that could be used to manufacture weapons will be on the list. Any item not on the list will be permitted into Gaza."

As a result of this new policy, items such as car parts, agricultural and fishing tools, cosmetics, perfumes, soda, juice, jam, spices, shaving cream, potato chips, cookies and candy are now being imported into Gaza.

Nevertheless, the siege has not ended. Even though coriander, chocolate, and Coca-Cola are now allowed through Israel's military checkpoints, goods such as cement, steel, iron, fertilizers, gas tanks, drilling equipment and water disinfectant are still prohibited. In fact, The Los Angeles Times reveals that "the new list of banned and restricted items, which fills several hundred pages, still includes goods and supplies vital to Gaza's economic recovery."

Consequently, Karin Laub of Associated Press reports that "because Israel will continue to ban most travel and exports and restrict the import of desperately needed construction materials, the new rules are unlikely to restore the territory's devastated economy or allow rebuilding of all that was destroyed in last year's war [sic]."

In short, Israel's ongoing crime against humanity in Gaza continues. As long as Israel maintains its military control of Gaza's economy, land and sea borders, airspace, restricts (or outright denies) the freedom of movement of its 1.5 million imprisoned inhabitants, and continues murdering Palestinians with Apache helicopters, F-15 and F-16 bombers, unmanned drones and remote-controlled machine guns, Gaza will not be free.

If the negative international attention Israel received after the Mavi Marmara massacre led to the so-called "easing" of the Gaza siege, there's no telling what a constant barrage of boats might do. Therefore, until this collective punishment of innocent civilians ceases completely and Israel is held accountable for its crimes, more boats must continue to sail to Gaza. Among those boats should be a massive American contingent, funded by bold and steadfast believers in self-determination, human rights, and international law. We have paid for the Israeli oppression of Palestine for so long with our tax dollars, it's now time to fight for Palestinian freedom with our tax-exempt donations.

And so, to all you stars of summer blockbusters and sold-out stadiums, start giving generously so that a fleet of blockade-busting boats can start their engines.

*****

'Brawler' general to lead Centcom

Mattis was reprimanded for saying in 2005 that 'it's fun to shoot some people' [EPA]



Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/07/201078233717799692.html


A US general once criticised for saying it was "fun to shoot some people" has been picked by the Pentagon to replace General David Petraeus as head of the military command overseeing the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

General James Mattis, who currently heads the US Joint Forces Command in the US state of Virginia, and who previously led troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, was selected to lead US Central Command, or Centcom, which oversees operations in 20 countries stretching from Egypt across the Middle East and into South and Central Asia.

Robert Gates, the defence secretary, praised Mattis as "one of the military's most innovative and iconoclastic thinkers" as he announced his recommendation for the post on Thursday.

Barack Obama, the US president, must formalize the nomination before it goes to congress for approval.

Mattis was reprimanded by the Marine Corps for telling a San Diego, California conference in 2005 that "it's fun to shoot some people".

"I'll be right up front with you, I like brawling," he had said during a panel discussion.

"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil," Mattis said. "You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."

On Thursday, Gates dismissed concerns about the comments, saying appropriate action had been taken at the time - Mattis was reprimanded and told to choose his words more carefully – and the four-star general had learnt his lesson.

'Lesson learnt'

"I think that the subsequent five years have demonstrated that the lesson was learnt, Gates said.

Retired Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt, who has held a number of posts in the US government and military, echoed Gates' remarks.

Pointing out that Mattis' one-off comment was made five years ago, he told Al Jazeera that the general had since proven himself as a statesman, including by working with 27 nations in a Nato command position.

From 2007 to 2009, Mattis served as Nato's supreme allied commander for transformation as he also led the US Joint Forces Command which "focuses on supporting current operations while shaping US forces for the future", according to its website.

Mattis had "the right experience for the job" and was the "right man for the job", Kimmitt said.

Mattis, who had been due to retire, was picked for the Centcom post after a shakeup following inappropriate comments made by General Stanley McChrystal, which led to his June 23 sacking as the US and Nato commander in Afghanistan.

General David Petraeus vacated his post as Centcom chief and agreed to assume command of the Afghan war after McChrystal and his aides were quoted making dismissive remarks about senior Obama administration officials in a Rolling Stone magazine article.

"Obviously in the wake of the Rolling Stone interview, we discussed this kind of thing," Gates said on Thursday. "And I have every confidence that General Mattis will respond to questions and speak publicly about the matters for which he is responsible in an entirely appropriate way."

The myth of Israeli morality

By: Lamis Andoni

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/06/20106391049788617.html


The Israeli attack on the international aid flotilla - killing nine and injuring dozens more - is not the first example of non-violent resistance by Palestinians and their supporters being met by force.

Israel has, in fact, at different times reacted with repression or even extreme violence to cultural and political manifestations of Palestinian identity.

But the flotilla carnage is the first direct and officially declared attack by the Israeli army on foreign activists - taking Israel's reaction to solidarity activities to a new and unprecedented level.

Israeli claims that Turkish activists "resisted" its takeover of the ships do not change the reality that the Israeli army performed an illegal armed operation against activists who challenged the siege of Gaza - not with weapons, but by trying to deliver food and medical supplies to the besieged Palestinian population.

Israeli impunity has already been shown in the cases of Western peace activists Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndell who were killed while peacefully protesting against Israeli army actions against Palestinian citizens.

An act of fear

But Israel's reaction was not merely an act of arrogance. It was also an act of fear and weakness in the face of a rising tide of Palestinian and international civic campaigns.


Israeli concerns run so deep that it has been pouring money and energy into a worldwide campaign to counter what it considers to be a drive "aimed at delegitimising" Israel.


But Israel's own actions, such as the raid on the aid ship, only serve to reinforce the image of a state fully engaged in illegal actions in the occupied territories and beyond.

Israel's reaction to non-violent protests inside and outside the occupied territories is part of its fear of the assertion of Palestinian identity in the historic land of Palestine.

After its establishment in 1948, Israel placed the Palestinian Arab population that remained under harsh military rule, banning the teaching of Palestinian and Arab history, poetry and songs.

Those who defied the ban were imprisoned, or in the case of the late poet Mahmoud Darwish, forced into exile where they sought to freely express the yearnings of a dispossessed nation.

Following the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel cracked down on Palestinian political leaders who were rounded up and many simply deported to Jordan.

In 1974 Israel "authorised" municipal elections only to deport the winners when Palestinians elected supporters of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

Israeli extremists attacked two of the elected mayors, of Ramallah and Nablus, maiming both men.

None of those elected were known to have any association with armed struggle but belonged to the Palestinian intelligentsia, including Hanna Nasser, the then president of the University of Beir Zeit.


Deportation, imprisonment, assassination

Deportations and imprisonment were part of a systemic policy to pre-empt the emergence of an independent political leadership in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, while for those outside the occupied territories - intellectuals in Beirut and PLO ambassadors in Europe - assassination was the order of the day throughout the 1970s.

In 1972, one of Palestine's finest novelists, Ghassan Kanafani, was killed in a car bomb and, in 1973, poet Kamal Nasser was assassinated by a Mossad hit team led by Ehud Barak, the current Israeli defence minister.

Both operations were carried out in the heart of Beirut.

Until the signing of the Oslo agreement in 1993 the raising of the Palestinian flag - and at times the public display in any form of the banner's colours - was an act that triggered punishment.

Young Palestinians, including children, were shot at and sometimes wounded or even killed for daring to display the flag in public.

Even symbolic acts suggesting recognition of Palestinian rights are not tolerated by Israel.

Peaceful resistance

In 1988 the PLO invited international writers, artists and activists to travel by ship along with scores of Palestinians who had been deported by Israel and representatives of refugees to make a symbolic journey "of return".

After successfully intimidating Greek vessel owners from renting a ship to the PLO, Israel then bombed a Cypriot boat a few hours before the solidarity activists, including Westerners - Christians and Jews - were to board it.

But while the 1988 bombing - at the peak of the first Palestinian intifada - aimed at blocking the journey itself, the ferocity of the armed campaign against the Gaza flotilla suggests that Israel, more than ever before, is deeply concerned about the success of peaceful means of resistance.

Israel correctly viewed the Free Gaza Convoy as part of a Palestinian and international campaign not only to break the siege of the tiny Strip, but to end its occupation and to recognise legitimate Palestinian national rights.

But the idea that the use of military force can stop the campaign from spreading is ludicrous - unless Israel plans to blow up protests everywhere from the village of Bi'lin in the West Bank to London, Berlin and San Francisco.

Israel has already employed a public relations campaign to demonise and discredit the growing boycott campaign - modelled after a similar campaign against the former Apartheid regime in South Africa.

It has also been engaged in a weekly campaign of arrests and increasingly the shooting and wounding of Palestinian, Western and even Israeli activists protesting against the illegal segregation wall that has been eating up West Bank land in the villages of Bilin and Nilin.

The Israeli government has been intolerant of diplomatic attempts by the Palestinian Authority to curtail the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the lifting of the siege of Gaza Strip.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, complained to George Mitchell, the American special envoy to the Middle East, that the PA had lobbied internationally to block the admission of Israel to the prestigious Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and accused the Palestinian government of incitement for endorsing a boycott of the produce of illegal settlements.

Sending a message

Thus while Israel feels entitled to practice what are essentially violent acts - enforced as they are by military strength - of settlement building on confiscated Palestinian land, it wants to strip Palestinians, including the PA, of the means by which to voice their demands peacefully.

Ironically, it was Turkey who facilitated Israel's admission into the influential OECD, only to be paid back soon after with the killing of its nationals on board the Gaza-bound flotilla.

Israel, it seems, wanted to send a message to allies and opponents alike that it does not tolerate dissent or defiance - even in a peaceful form.

When its enemies use force, Israel feels it can rely on its arsenal of tanks and bombs. But what the raid on the flotilla shows is that, when possible, it also responds with military action to non-violent resistance.

The flotilla sailing unprotected in international waters, appeared a good target against which Israel could exercise the plan of action it knows best - the lethal use of force.

The 2006 war on Lebanon and the 2009 war on Gaza revealed the limits of Israeli military supremacy in achieving its political goals and the attack on the flotilla has backfired disastrously.

The bullets that pierced the bodies of the activists have boomeranged, shattering the myth of Israeli morality.

In fact, the increasing calls in its wake for an immediate end to the blockade of Gaza now show that Israel has failed and the Free Gaza Movement prevailed.


Lamis Andoni is an analyst and commentator on Middle Eastern and Palestinian affairs. She has been writing about the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) for the past 20 years and has interviewed all of the key leaders of the movement.