US – Breaking News

Kashmir’s 20-Year Conflict Legacy 
By  Farooq A Ganai, IOL Correspondent
 
 
 
SRINAGAR — Twenty years of militancy in the India-controlled part of Muslim-majority Kashmir have taken massive toll on the people who are victimized by violence, abuse, disease, poverty and ignorance.
"It is not only killings that have affected Kashmiris but the torture done to the people by Indian security forces," human rights activist Khuram Parvez told IslamOnline.net.

"Young boys are addicted to drugs, children got orphaned and thousands of women spending widowed life."

More than 60,000 people have been killed since Kashmiris took up arms against the Indian rule in 1989.

Kashmir is divided into two parts and ruled by India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars since the 1947 independence over the disputed Himalayan region.

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Norman Finkelstein – (interview on Press TV)
 
‘Several weeks ago, I guess about six weeks ago, I joined a US delegation to Gaza to see the aftermath of the Israeli massacre and also to get some sense of what we can do. I met with people at all levels of Gazan society; people in orphanages, in schools, hospitals and I also had several meetings with senior officials in the government in Gaza and there was a consensus from the top to the bottom of Gazan society that the main obstacle they are now facing is the siege.

The devastation was horrific enough, but beyond the devastation, the problem now is they can’t rebuild anything. The whole place is just rubble because even six months after the Gaza massacre, no cement is allowed in, no glass is allowed in and everything is exactly as it was on January 18th when the Israeli assault ended…I then proposed, when we were meeting with the parliamentary representatives that we should attempt to break the siege non-violently with a march. And the idea was enthusiastically received both by the members of the government and by the people in Gaza.

So, we began to organize, in the US initially, an international coalition to end the siege of Gaza. We now have a European branch, in Lisbon and chapters in several countries in Europe. And the main challenge now is twofold: number one to enlist prominent moral authorities internationally in support of the march – and that is one of the reasons I am here, because South Africa has a high concentration of internationally prominent moral authorities; everybody ranging from Nelson Mandela to Bishop Tutu to Ela Ghandi and others.

The second thing is, we have to bring over bodies. The more people we bring over, the more likelihood that when we march, Israel won’t be able to shoot and we’ll be able to lift the siege. So we are hoping for several thousand people, including from the Arab world and from South Africa.’

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By Iqbal Jassat – Pretoria

(source: Palestine Chronicle)

I wonder whether pro-Israeli apologists ever sense the sheer hopelessness of their desperate attempts to shield the apartheid regime from legitimate and necessary criticism.

Having had the misfortune of reading the misguided views of Benjamin Pogrund [Sunday Independent, August 29], I am convinced that his angry attempt to admonish South Africans vis-à-vis their negative stance against Israel, reflects poor judgment.

By calling into question the actions of striking people within the public sector, he then demands that due to the unacceptable behavior accompanying the strikes, South Africa has no right to stand in judgment of poor little Israel.
Apart from the total lack of logic in his futile attempt to exploit the legitimate grievances of strikers, Pogrund displayed his unashamed loyalty to a pariah state that has been stripped of all morality due to its aggressive policies of oppression, occupation, racism and unending wars of destruction.

What I find even more amazing is his dismissal of critical views by “columnists” and “former government leaders” as ranging from plain ignorance to vicious distortions. The inherent arrogance in Pogrund’s righteous contempt of these faceless critics is embedded in his “basic fact” that Israel is under “constant threat”.

Read More »Defence of apartheid Isarael unjustifiable

GEORGE GALLOWAY: THE NOBLE MAN

 by Khalid Amayreh

 
Unlike many politicians who would rather stay on the safe side, even if that means betraying their conscience, George Galloway represents a rare breed of morally-guided politicians who are willing to call the spade a spade even in the face of danger and brutality.
 
The British lawmaker has displayed immense courage in speaking up against crimes and injustices inflicted by Israel, the United States and their European allies in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Palestine.
 

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