Zionism – Breaking News

Hamas leader Mash’al: Obama changed US rhetoric only

 Bethlehem – Ma’an – Senior Hamas leader Khalid Mash’al on Thursday criticized US President Barack Obama’s historic speech to the Muslim world as insufficient.

In a televised speech in response to Obama’s 4 June address in Cairo, Mesh’al said that Obama had changed US rhetoric toward the Palestinians, but not the situation on the ground.

“What Obama said wasn’t new and wasn’t enough,” said Mash’al, speaking from Damascus where he resides in exile.

While Obama called for the creation of a Palestinian state, Mash’al criticized the US leader for failing to specify the boundaries and nature of that state. He also said Obama had rejected the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in what is now Israel.

The Hamas leader also noted that years of negotiations with successive Israeli governments had failed to yield an agreement.

With regard to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech in June at Bar Ilan University, Mash’al said the leader made it clear that they reject Palestinian rights to Jerusalem and the right of return, adding that Hamas "rejects the Israeli stance."

Read More »Hamas leader mashal Obama changedUSrhetoric only

The global food crisis is largely responsible for driving up the United Nations’ need for funding to confront disasters and… Read More »World food crisis drives up un aid funding need

By Robert Bloom

(source: NYTimes)

“The reports about the demise of the special relationship aren’t just premature, they’re just flat wrong,” the [Israeli] prime minister said. He publicly invited Mr. Obama to visit Israel, and the president said, “I’m ready.”

Dear Mr. Obama,

When you travel to Israel (formerly known as Palestine), be sure to visit some of the great tourist sites in Israel (formerly Palestine):

*The countless checkpoints, where Palestinians are humiliated and mistreated every hour of every day (and don’t forget to ask to see the several locations where Palestinian women have lost their children and/or died in childbirth at these places because the Israelis wouldn’t process them through);

*The handsome and loving wall that keeps families apart and prevents Palestinians from getting to work. As an added benefit, this could be the model for the ever-expanding wall that many americans would like to see at the Mexican border;

Read More »A presidential tour guide to Isarael

By Patrick Martin

(source: World Socialist Website)

Saturday’s parliamentary election in Afghanistan was a predictable debacle, characterized by widespread fraud and violence, and largely boycotted by the Afghan population. Officials of the US-dominated government of President Hamid Karzai said 3.6 million people cast ballots, far below the 6 million ballots claimed for last year’s presidential election, which was rigged to ensure Karzai’s reelection.

The 3.6 million ballots represents barely 31 percent of the 11.4 million registered voters, but the Karzai government tried to boost that figure to 40 percent, arguing that the 2.2 million people registered in areas where voting could not be conducted because of security concerns should be excluded from the total of registered voters.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has previously said that 16.7 million people have been registered to vote since 2003, which would make the turnout only 21 percent. Whatever number is chosen, however, there is no dispute that the turnout was low, except in certain neighborhoods in Kabul, the capital city, under tight control by US and NATO forces.

Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak effectively conceded that the political influence of the Taliban was growing, telling the press, in explanation of the low turnout, “One possibility is that the propaganda of the enemy affected the psyche of the people.”

Read More »Fraud violence mass abstention election debacle in Afghanistan