Middle Eastern policy is shaped in the United States by those with very close ties to the Israel lobby. Those who attempt to counter the virulent Israeli position, such as former Secretary of State Colin Powell, are ruthlessly slapped down. This alliance was true also during the Clinton administration, with its array of Israeli-first Middle East experts, including special Middle East coordinator Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk, the former deputy director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC, one of the most powerful Israel lobbying groups in Washington. But at least people like Indyk and Ross are sane, willing to consider a Palestinian state, however unviable, as long as it is palatable to Israel. The Bush administration turned to the far-right wing of the Israel lobby, those who have not a shred of compassion for the Palestinians or a word of criticism for Israel. These new Middle East experts include Elliott Abrams, John Bolton, Douglas Feith, the disgraced I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz and David Wurmser. Washington was once willing to stay Israel's hand. It intervened to thwart some of its most extreme violations of human rights.The significance of this speech is that much of the left has been wary of realists Walt and Mearsheimer. The Nation, for instance, trashed them and shows an inability to absorb their ideas. Hedges is a guy I see at Nation functions, and a true moralist. He understands that The Israel Lobby is at heart a moral work. It is just a matter of time before the denunciation of the neocons for their Israel agenda is taken up inside the Jewish house...
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in the meantime while the jewish house ruminates genocides continue or "how many ways do i love to kill a palestinian(and iraqis)?":
A Palestinian man lies in hospital. (Tom Spender/IRIN)
JERUSALEM, 22 May (IRIN) – Ahmed al-Baghdadi's doctors said he must leave the Gaza Strip and travel to Israel to receive urgent life-saving medical care if he hopes to fight the tumours in his body. Rada al-Khadir, aged 22, needs to get treatment immediately, her Israeli doctor said, or her liver disease could prove fatal.
Both patients have been denied permission to leave by the Israeli military. On 20 May — along with 11 other Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in need of immediate medical care in Israel, the West Bank and Jordan — they filed separate petitions to the Israeli high court, asking that they be allowed to leave the enclave and go to the relevant hospitals.
In an affidavit obtained by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR), Baghdadi said his egress was made conditional on his willingness to collaborate with the Israeli General Security Services (GSS).
"If you want to reach the hospital, take my mobile phone number, talk to me and give me information on people," he was allegedly told by a member of the GSS, who allegedly also offered him a sum of money.
Baghdadi said he was so desperate to receive treatment that he even slipped into Egypt illegally at one point, when the border was blown open, but got caught and was sent back to Gaza before he was able to get the full care he needed there.
The Israeli GSS has denied it makes the entrance of patients to Israel conditional on their willingness to collaborate.
Rafah versus Erez crossings
With the southern Rafah crossing to Egypt still generally closed since last June, having been opened for only a few days in recent months for patients, the northern Erez crossing, controlled by Israel, remains the only way out for nearly all people in need of medical care.
In what was an apparent gesture by Egypt to Hamas, which controls Gaza and is currently in talks on a ceasefire with Israel, on 10 May Rafah was opened for patients, but Khadir, though she tried and waited at the border, was unable to pass through.
She was denied entrance to Israel through Erez on "security grounds," although the authorities had said there would be a bus that could take her to points outside the Jewish state for treatment. However, since she was denied permission, no bus has been arranged, PHR said, adding that the last shuttle was in March.
The Israel Medical Association issued a statement several weeks ago asking that cancer patients[israeli policies good at giving cancers(5ds)] in need of life-saving treatment be allowed to enter Israel.
At the beginning of last month, the World Health Organization released a report saying 32 Gazans had died while awaiting a permit to leave Gaza or after having been denied permission to exit. Officials say the number has since risen.
"Preventing those patients from getting urgent and life-saving medical care is physical torture that causes prolonged suffering," said Dani Filk, a medic and the PHR chairman.
This item comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer to the copyright page for conditions of use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The Rafah crossing is in the hands of Egypt and Hamas. Let her go to Cairo for this. Or Damascus, or Riyadh. Why is Israel obligated to give medical care to people who devoutly pray for its destruction. Phil Weiss included also.
The American Left (consisting of Jews and
Judaized non-Jews) is, of course, largely
concerned with deflecting culpability for
the disaster in Iraq from the Israel-firsters; no-one risks anything by the
specious claim that the war has to do with
oil and corporate greed. Israel Lobby Denial is yet another manifestation of
political correctness run amok.
Even the Last King of Sarajevo is following your advice.
Bernard Kouchner : "Rien ne justifie la poursuite de la colonisation" en Israël
LEMONDE.FR avec Reuters | 23.05.08 | 14h26 • Mis à jour le 23.05.08 | 16h27
En clôture d'une conférence à Bethléem, destinée à encourager les investissements privés dans les territoires palestiniens, Bernard Kouchner a critiqué la politique d'élargissement des colonies israéliennes. "Rien ne saurait justifier la poursuite de la colonisation, obstacle à la paix s'il en est, obstacle aussi au développement économique palestinien", a estimé le ministre des affaires étrangères français.Sarajevo is following your advice.
"Ne nous voilons pas la face : des obstacles existent. Les restrictions en matière d'accès et de mouvements demeurent importantes. Elles n'ont pas été réduites comme elles auraient dû l'être", a déclaré le chef de la diplomatie française. "Israël doit, Israël peut faire beaucoup plus sans mettre en danger sa sécurité", a-t-il ajouté.
TOUJOURS PAS DE DÉMANTÈLEMENT
Cette déclaration intervient alors que le ministre de l'habitat israélien a annoncé, mercredi, le lancement d'un appel d'offres pour la construction de 286 logements dans la colonie de Betar Illit, près de Bethléem en Cisjordanie. Ce projet "est destiné à répondre à l'accroissement démographique et aux problèmes de logement de la communauté ultra-orthodoxe à Jérusalem".
Betar Illit, qui compte 32 000 habitants, est la troisième plus grande colonie israélienne. Elle est située à l'ouest du mur de séparation construit par Israël en Cisjordanie occupée. Le 2 mai, le Quartet pour le Proche-Orient (Russie, Etats-Unis, Union européenne et ONU) avait "appelé Israël à geler toute activité [d'extension] des colonies, y compris la croissance naturelle [dans les colonies existantes], et à démanteler les avant-postes construits depuis mars 2001".
La "feuille de route", le dernier plan international lancé en 2003 par le Quartet, prévoit notamment un gel de la colonisation israélienne et l'arrêt des violences côté palestinien. Elle est restée jusqu'à ce jour lettre morte.
is RA eli instruction put into practice(or how many ways can we kill iraqis. one way is to train amurderkins):
by Robert Weitzel(a few paragraphs) / May 23rd, 2008
"On October 23, 2006 a U.S. soldier or marine peered through the telescopic sight of his M24 sniper rifle and trained it on the face of Nora, a five-year-old Iraqi girl. Her pretty face was close enough to kiss. Instead, he squeezed the trigger and sent a 7.62 round slamming into her skull. The medical report read, “Nora sustained an explosive bullet injury to her head that smashed the skull bones and ruptured her cerebral membrane.” Nora survived the sniper’s bullet.
During the battle for Falluja in 2004, U.S. snipers positioned themselves on rooftops covering the entrance to the only hospital still in operation, creating what locals called “sniper alley.” Iraqi men, women, and children seeking medical treatment were fired on. Ambulances delivering patients and supplies were fired on. Unlike Nora, many did not survive the sniper’s bullet.
On May 30, 2006 Nabiha Nisaif Jasiam and her cousin, Saliha Mohammed Hassen were shot from behind by a U.S. sniper as they drove to Samarra General hospital. Nabiha was about to deliver her third child. Neither survived the sniper’s bullet."
FW: "A Declaration of U.S. Independence from Israel
http://www.itszone.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=90014