MRN

 By Ali Abunimah

(source: The Electronic Intifada)

There is the old joke about a man who is endlessly searching on the ground beneath a street light. Finally, a neighbor who has been watching him asks the man what he is looking for. The man replies that he lost his keys. The neighbor asks him if he lost them under the streetlight. "No," the man replies, pointing into the darkness, "I lost them over there, but I am looking over here because here there is light!"

The intense focus on the "peace process" is a similarly futile search. Just because politicians and the media shine a constant light on it, does not mean that is where the answers are to be found.

The meeting hosted by US President Barack Obama with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas at New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel on 22 September signaled the complete and terminal failure of Obama’s much vaunted push to bring about a two-state solution to the Palestine/Israel conflict.

Read More »Obamas peace effort has failed but our struggle continues

South Africa’sRainbow Nation! REMEMBER: HERITAGE DAY 24 SEPTEMBER

 By Richard A Falk

(source:Middle East Online)

Richard A. Falk – is an American professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, author or co-author of 20 books, and an appointee to two United Nations positions on the Palestinian territories.

“So why did the Israeli government boycott the commission? The real answer is quite simple: they knew full well that the commission, any commission, would have to reach the conclusions it did reach.” – Uri Avnery (Israeli peace activist, and former Knesset member), ‘On the Goldstone Report’ 19 Sept 2009.

Richard Goldstone, former judge of South Aftica’s Constitutional Court, the first prosecutor at The Hague on behalf of the International Criminal Court for Former Yugolavia, and anti-apartheid campaigner reports that he was most reluctant to take on the job of chairing the UN fact-finding mission charged with investigating allegations of war crimes committed by Israel and Hamas during the three week Gaza War of last winter.

Goldstone explains that his reluctance was due to the issue being “deeply charged and politically loaded,” and was overcome because he and his fellow commissioners were “professionals committed to an objective, fact-based investigation,” adding that “above all, I accepted because I believe deeply in the rule of law and the laws of war,” as well as the duty to protect civilians to the extent possible in combat zones.

Read More »Why the goldstone report matters

By Tim King Salem-News.com

"Many were incarcerated again and again as they refused to enlist after their release from prison" – Israeli Peace Activist Gila Svirsky

(SALEM, Ore.) – Americans are raised to believe that Israel is an ally of the United States, and for most of us growing up here, there was no question about it. In many ways it is true that Israel is a U.S. ally, and in many ways it is not.

The U.S. is a country with both freedom of religion, and a declared separation of church and state. There has been plenty of religious persecution here over the years, but by and large and for the most part, especially today, Americans are able to worship how and where they please.

One of the biggest conflicts for some, is the fact that Israel is a religious state. There is no separation of church and state in the Jewish State, so if you don’t belong to the right culture and religion, you’re more or less out of luck.

Your neighbor could be a Palestinian and a lifelong friend, but you as an Israeli can not sell your house to him, even if you want to, because he is Palestinian. Israel’s government and military are utterly and completely prejudiced. 1

Read More »Israeli women serving prison time for refusal to join idf