Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Saturday, 20 June 2009
Prince Charles as bulldozer
History is taught to fewer children, and known to less adults who ought to, judging by Any Questions this week. I am no exception: how many can put today's constitutional teazer pithily and to the point?
Q: If the Queen is a Constitutional Monarch, does this mean that HRH Prince Charles (I can't recall all his other military, social, territorial, historical and Gordonstoun nicknames), so will call him PC for short (or just Plod)...Does not the link mean that Plod as Elder Son and the Official Heir to the Imperial Throne of all the - no that's wrong - anyway the British Throne of, well, us lot...is also bound to act at least publicly as her Constitutional Son and Heir, and constitutionally speaking does not this mean he must not interfere in our hard won democraticatic proceedures, whatever his views.
And if so, (bear with me) does this mean he was acting unconstitutionally in persuading the Arab princes who own the Chelsea Barracks site to withdraw their planning application to Westminster Council just when the plans had been apparently approved.?
Many Plod Pals, not least Alan Duncan, Tessa Jowell, Julia Neuburger, all on Question Time this week, have argued that because Plod has done great things for youth, this means that however awful Poundbury is (the name must be the clue) we the nation should support his spiking renowned architect Rogers' plans for the Chelsea site at the last moment and most undemocratically . And that we the nation should not worry about the upstairsdownstairsbehindstairs way prince Plod (AKA Plot) did it, apparently by writing a personal letter to the owners, some other prince plods. I myself found Alan-Tessa-Julia-'s arguments for Plod illogical, so gratis as an ex history BA I am supplying them with a better one:
Anyone who submits a planning application is free to withdraw it any time, so why shouldn't the Chelsea barracks owners have done so last week? I am no legal expert but it surely is their business why they waited so long in fact years, indeed until they had the approval more or less through, to withdraw their application. And why should not Plod have given them his view? And why should they not have acted on it?
To help all our hapless history students Alan-Julia-Tessa: Here's an analogy. I want to reduce our huge utilities bills to include a row of solar panels in the only place possible, sited in public view along the front gable, Then my stuffy great-uncle comes to supper just when I have after two years won my hard fought planning permission from the council on exceptional environmental urgency grounds... And then over a really lovely vegan supper just last night my bad-tempered grouse-shooting trad-loving rather ugly great-uncle says he won't invite me to his glamourous grouse moors any more if I don't withdraw my application after all...isn't that perfectly legal if mean of my cousin, and legal of me of course, and nobody's business but our own?
Of course it is. Of course the little Plods said, 'of course Big Plod'.
What would you have done? Fancy being blackballed by the biggest noble prince in the world? Of course not. We just don't understand the world importance of our great Plod to the world's developers/Royal Plods/real estate men.
On second thought forget MONEY just think STATUS.
But whence comes Plod's Status?
This is where, logic and history-bound, I Flip, Plodpals.
Here's the answer to question 'whence'?: Easy - Status eg power and influence, does not come from Plod's billions, nor from his biscuits, nor yet from dosh given to charity. It comes from his big big
constitutional status as the
hereditary Monarch's
hereditary Heir
to the Throne of the UK.
So Alan Julia Tessa, here's the point, and if if a hapless history student can get it, you should have.
What's all right for you, (in theory me), is not all right for PLOD.
As for you, aged PLOD, you obviously never had a history lesson in your life. (Ah yes, he had to be given one of those sham degrees, long long ago.)
Then Write out 100 times: Must not interfere with planning applications (not to mention lots of other democratic proceedures). Why not? Because I am Prince (Plod). May (not nice but) do so only if I abdidcate and become Minister. Signed, Plod. (Another 50 for mispelling that long word. I had hoped you were beginning to know that one by now.)
Q: If the Queen is a Constitutional Monarch, does this mean that HRH Prince Charles (I can't recall all his other military, social, territorial, historical and Gordonstoun nicknames), so will call him PC for short (or just Plod)...Does not the link mean that Plod as Elder Son and the Official Heir to the Imperial Throne of all the - no that's wrong - anyway the British Throne of, well, us lot...is also bound to act at least publicly as her Constitutional Son and Heir, and constitutionally speaking does not this mean he must not interfere in our hard won democraticatic proceedures, whatever his views.
And if so, (bear with me) does this mean he was acting unconstitutionally in persuading the Arab princes who own the Chelsea Barracks site to withdraw their planning application to Westminster Council just when the plans had been apparently approved.?
Many Plod Pals, not least Alan Duncan, Tessa Jowell, Julia Neuburger, all on Question Time this week, have argued that because Plod has done great things for youth, this means that however awful Poundbury is (the name must be the clue) we the nation should support his spiking renowned architect Rogers' plans for the Chelsea site at the last moment and most undemocratically . And that we the nation should not worry about the upstairsdownstairsbehindstairs way prince Plod (AKA Plot) did it, apparently by writing a personal letter to the owners, some other prince plods. I myself found Alan-Tessa-Julia-'s arguments for Plod illogical, so gratis as an ex history BA I am supplying them with a better one:
Anyone who submits a planning application is free to withdraw it any time, so why shouldn't the Chelsea barracks owners have done so last week? I am no legal expert but it surely is their business why they waited so long in fact years, indeed until they had the approval more or less through, to withdraw their application. And why should not Plod have given them his view? And why should they not have acted on it?
To help all our hapless history students Alan-Julia-Tessa: Here's an analogy. I want to reduce our huge utilities bills to include a row of solar panels in the only place possible, sited in public view along the front gable, Then my stuffy great-uncle comes to supper just when I have after two years won my hard fought planning permission from the council on exceptional environmental urgency grounds... And then over a really lovely vegan supper just last night my bad-tempered grouse-shooting trad-loving rather ugly great-uncle says he won't invite me to his glamourous grouse moors any more if I don't withdraw my application after all...isn't that perfectly legal if mean of my cousin, and legal of me of course, and nobody's business but our own?
Of course it is. Of course the little Plods said, 'of course Big Plod'.
What would you have done? Fancy being blackballed by the biggest noble prince in the world? Of course not. We just don't understand the world importance of our great Plod to the world's developers/Royal Plods/real estate men.
STATUS STATUS STATUS MONEY MONEY MONEY
On second thought forget MONEY just think STATUS.
But whence comes Plod's Status?
This is where, logic and history-bound, I Flip, Plodpals.
Here's the answer to question 'whence'?: Easy - Status eg power and influence, does not come from Plod's billions, nor from his biscuits, nor yet from dosh given to charity. It comes from his big big
constitutional status as the
hereditary Monarch's
hereditary Heir
to the Throne of the UK.
So Alan Julia Tessa, here's the point, and if if a hapless history student can get it, you should have.
What's all right for you, (in theory me), is not all right for PLOD.
As for you, aged PLOD, you obviously never had a history lesson in your life. (Ah yes, he had to be given one of those sham degrees, long long ago.)
Then Write out 100 times: Must not interfere with planning applications (not to mention lots of other democratic proceedures). Why not? Because I am Prince (Plod). May (not nice but) do so only if I abdidcate and become Minister. Signed, Plod. (Another 50 for mispelling that long word. I had hoped you were beginning to know that one by now.)
Sunday, 14 June 2009
The Queen and concrete
The first blog since the winter, I see, so is everything much the same? In Gaza they are building houses out of mud because they still aren't allowed steel, concrete, glass, by Israel's kindly Military Government. I am still writing letters in protest and hope the rest of the world are doing so too, except of course, you can bet, the bankers, the top politicians, especially the certifiable Cheyne, and onetrack Rupert Murdoch. Oh and I shouldn't think the Queen is doing much about it either.
But at least Michelle O persuaded her to give some of the now impoverished scurvy riddled villeins of her capital a bit of space for growing veg and potatoes in the Buck Pal garden ( that big military zone we can just see full of nice trees and empty lawns over the top of the barb wire as we bus down to Victoria. (You have to sit on the top deck.) Not since the war! Patriotism!
Meanwhile back home I have the freedom to work away at poems and fictions , and latterly at preparing my next Open House, happily collaborating with my friend and terrific artist and artbook print-maker, Carolyn Trant.
Last year we held our first Open House together, as part of Lewes ArtWave. This year I am concentrating on acrylic paintings on canvas. Somebody wise said that the best rest from work was other work (Who was it ?) Too true for the poet, the frustrated activist. The movement of paint or ink over paper, board, canvas, charcoal over newspaper, water into charcoal, watercolour slipping into the charcoal. That rim left when it dries. Or to collage photos, preferably mine, copied and recopied....messing around... no-one wants all this junk, I know, but I do, for the time at least I'm making free this way, making hay, making gold out of flax. And if afterwards, if a glimmer remains, so much the better. Oh but what does it All MEAN.? Oh joy, Oh liberty, Oh sneezes out of straw.
But at least Michelle O persuaded her to give some of the now impoverished scurvy riddled villeins of her capital a bit of space for growing veg and potatoes in the Buck Pal garden ( that big military zone we can just see full of nice trees and empty lawns over the top of the barb wire as we bus down to Victoria. (You have to sit on the top deck.) Not since the war! Patriotism!
Meanwhile back home I have the freedom to work away at poems and fictions , and latterly at preparing my next Open House, happily collaborating with my friend and terrific artist and artbook print-maker, Carolyn Trant.
Last year we held our first Open House together, as part of Lewes ArtWave. This year I am concentrating on acrylic paintings on canvas. Somebody wise said that the best rest from work was other work (Who was it ?) Too true for the poet, the frustrated activist. The movement of paint or ink over paper, board, canvas, charcoal over newspaper, water into charcoal, watercolour slipping into the charcoal. That rim left when it dries. Or to collage photos, preferably mine, copied and recopied....messing around... no-one wants all this junk, I know, but I do, for the time at least I'm making free this way, making hay, making gold out of flax. And if afterwards, if a glimmer remains, so much the better. Oh but what does it All MEAN.? Oh joy, Oh liberty, Oh sneezes out of straw.
Thursday, 19 February 2009
SUPPORTING THE PEOPLE OF GAZA
All January the carnage, the war crimes were going on, a nightmare visited on innocent Gaza that I and I suppose hundreds of thousands of people had silently assumed was beyond even the ruthlessness of Israel, with its armaments stronger than most large nations. I did what people did over the world, city after city, joined protests, wrote, organised, gave, phoned, wrote, complained, emailed, despaired, shouted, again phoned,
marched, emailed....
Our politicians with few exceptions, Poisoned by Cowardice, as Blake would have said, slept their well calculated Sleep throughout, Hamas was blamed by Insane Israel for killing its own children, and our Sleepers made mooing agreement with their Snores.
But This was one long war crime, and falls within the definition of genocide. Not only bombing UN schools... there were atrocities from first to last - how could there fail to be with this cowardly bombardment, even if attacking the UN were the only atrocities the Sleepers twitched at, while as ever Insane Paranoid Israel thundered on about Hamas killing its own and human shields.
What can come out of such wrong? That people are more aware? that Amnesty has called for the UK to impose an arms embargo on 'all sides', that Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions may be getting through to Trade Unions and even some companies, as well as what I think in the long run is very important, that concerned Jews with influence everywhere stand up and divorce themselves from Israel as it is now, as for that matter should anyone with influence. And us. Hope so. Go on, take courage, because of the courage of these incredibly enduring incredibly maligned and wronged people.
PS No, Naturally, I am not referring to war crime master Bush who must take much of the blame for this BBC christened 'conflict'. Nor even, to his drear Dr Strangelove, last seen exiting rear in black shiny leather gloves, in a wheelchair, decanted into an enormous limousine....
But tell me, last, who gets the gongs in Insane Israel meanwhile for such a heroic 'war'? Brave pilots, getting out of your unarmed drones, tossing back your virtual goggles, goodness you're back from the blood and smoke without a blood smear.
And listen, now you earned your university place, to study what...yes indeed, munitions design and reseach, solutions developement, and what is more again, to the sound of Western political Snores gentle against the popping of champagne toasts in the offices of BAe and Ratheon etc, so you will try to continue, if the world's people don't stop you, to kill human flesh to defend your own insanity. God, what a shambles you have made of your country,in making one of the Palestinians and theirs. And what a prostitution, even worse, of the cruel deaths of all those millions of European Jews. Among them, I remember, my husband's grandparents and all that generation and their descendents, his lost cousins. And I do not forget also what your long spoliation of Jewish culture and religion by means of your bitter and selfish arrogance has done to disrespect the work of the finest and most moral thinkers and artists of the Jewish tradition.
Friday, 30 January 2009
CHILD IN GAZA, after Wm Blake
I was a little child,
born in Gaza ruins.
My name was Palestinian
and my heart was strong.
On the Israeli green
the little children played.
I asked to share the play.
But they sent back fire.
Why did they send white fire
which melted away my flesh?
They said it was the gift
my jealousy deserved.
Why did they burn me so?
In white bandages I die,
in a hospital like a ruin.
Remember, what I know.
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Tony Greenstein, Denis McShane, and the Judaeo-Nazis
It's now 10 days since Israel stopped killing the civilian population trapped in Gaza. Still no country I know of has declared that Israel's war on civilians was morally indefensible and broke all applicable Geneva Conventions and international law. Israel have barely opened the crossings to the UN trucks, let alone lifted their blockade, as demanded rightly by the Gazans.
As far as I know no country except the usual suspects who no one listens to, has dared talk about, still less take up the question of Israel and war crimes. certainly not Britain. certainly not the US. The UN has called for an inquiry into the crude and lethal bombing of its schools and stores. What are th member states doing meanwhile?
Yes, patient George Mitchell has arrive in Cairo. But when will he talk To Hamas, not to Egyptian gobetweens or to Abbas.
And when, finally, will Israel. The patience of Job may not win this nation to what is know as the paths of righteousness. (Very beautiful words - practise what you preach.)
There can be no negotiations and no peace in the middle east, which means Europe, which means us, until Israel negotiates with the elected representatives of the Palestinians.- and gives up its West Bank settlements as Palestinians have pressed for years in line with all UN resolutions, together with East Jerusalem -
And in this country our public service broadcaster appears to believe like Tipsy Livni that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Gordon Brown offers our warships to stop arms deliveries to the Palestinians, while refusing even to consider a temporary suspension of our own arms trade with their oppressors.
When will Western liberals among them especially the Jews face up to the fact that neo-imperialist, post-imperial Britain has nurtured a 60 year monster in part compensation for our war guilt: which beast not slouching but crouching in Jerusalem since 1967, as ideological monsters do obscenely mirrors its enemy, the original European monster which threatened our own freedom and murdered most of Europe's Jews (including my husband's ancestors in Russian Romania). This revengeful second monstrous birth, born of European war guilt and self-interest, must be brought into the open and disowned, just as Arab Nazism, also a part product of European racism, is disowned.
But how many in the British establishment including its liberal edge Britain takes the racist hatred of young Israelis seriously. Yet where does the terrifying Israeli callousness towards the murder of Gazan children come from? Out of what moral depths? Meanwhile why do so many in the Westseem happy to share such depravity? Those British mandarins who refuse to allow even a few charitable pounds money to the wretched of Gaza seem to me to share the smug cruelty of the European Nazis in their time.That's why I end by quoting from the text of Tony Greenstein's last blog: while Gordon Brown is getting his warships out to defend Israel (do we arrest Syrian trawlers in the Med or what?),
TONY GREENSTEIN
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
The Nazi Mentality of Zionism's Devotees
Auschwitz gas chamber - above (see link above)
There is nothing more guaranteed to anger apologists for Israel's works and its soft-left 'critics' then any comparison with the Nazis. This is 'insulting to Jews'. It is defined by the European Monotoring Committee as 'anti-Semitism' - something adopted by Dennis MacShanes joke of a Parliamentary Committee on anti-Semitism.
I therefore decided, in the interests of fairness, to put up a few photos showing how tolerant and liberal Israeli society is. Use of Nazi epithets is, in fact, very common in Israeli society and among Zionists and it doesn't take much for one Zionist to accuse another of being a 'nazi' or anti-semitic.
Many of these photos were taken in Hebron and they have been daubed by the settlers there. But in case you think, oh well, they are just a few nutcases, remember that that war criminal, Ehud Barak - leader of the Israeli Labour Party - insisted at the time when the Oslo Accords were still on a life support machine - that the settlers in Hebron had to stay. So these Judaeo Nazis [as the late Yeshayahu Leibowitz, winner of the Israel Prize and philosophy professor at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem called them] are there courtesy of the Israeli Labour Party and Histadrut.Tony Greenstein
As far as I know no country except the usual suspects who no one listens to, has dared talk about, still less take up the question of Israel and war crimes. certainly not Britain. certainly not the US. The UN has called for an inquiry into the crude and lethal bombing of its schools and stores. What are th member states doing meanwhile?
Yes, patient George Mitchell has arrive in Cairo. But when will he talk To Hamas, not to Egyptian gobetweens or to Abbas.
And when, finally, will Israel. The patience of Job may not win this nation to what is know as the paths of righteousness. (Very beautiful words - practise what you preach.)
There can be no negotiations and no peace in the middle east, which means Europe, which means us, until Israel negotiates with the elected representatives of the Palestinians.- and gives up its West Bank settlements as Palestinians have pressed for years in line with all UN resolutions, together with East Jerusalem -
And in this country our public service broadcaster appears to believe like Tipsy Livni that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Gordon Brown offers our warships to stop arms deliveries to the Palestinians, while refusing even to consider a temporary suspension of our own arms trade with their oppressors.
When will Western liberals among them especially the Jews face up to the fact that neo-imperialist, post-imperial Britain has nurtured a 60 year monster in part compensation for our war guilt: which beast not slouching but crouching in Jerusalem since 1967, as ideological monsters do obscenely mirrors its enemy, the original European monster which threatened our own freedom and murdered most of Europe's Jews (including my husband's ancestors in Russian Romania). This revengeful second monstrous birth, born of European war guilt and self-interest, must be brought into the open and disowned, just as Arab Nazism, also a part product of European racism, is disowned.
But how many in the British establishment including its liberal edge Britain takes the racist hatred of young Israelis seriously. Yet where does the terrifying Israeli callousness towards the murder of Gazan children come from? Out of what moral depths? Meanwhile why do so many in the Westseem happy to share such depravity? Those British mandarins who refuse to allow even a few charitable pounds money to the wretched of Gaza seem to me to share the smug cruelty of the European Nazis in their time.That's why I end by quoting from the text of Tony Greenstein's last blog: while Gordon Brown is getting his warships out to defend Israel (do we arrest Syrian trawlers in the Med or what?),
TONY GREENSTEIN
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
The Nazi Mentality of Zionism's Devotees
Auschwitz gas chamber - above (see link above)
There is nothing more guaranteed to anger apologists for Israel's works and its soft-left 'critics' then any comparison with the Nazis. This is 'insulting to Jews'. It is defined by the European Monotoring Committee as 'anti-Semitism' - something adopted by Dennis MacShanes joke of a Parliamentary Committee on anti-Semitism.
I therefore decided, in the interests of fairness, to put up a few photos showing how tolerant and liberal Israeli society is. Use of Nazi epithets is, in fact, very common in Israeli society and among Zionists and it doesn't take much for one Zionist to accuse another of being a 'nazi' or anti-semitic.
Many of these photos were taken in Hebron and they have been daubed by the settlers there. But in case you think, oh well, they are just a few nutcases, remember that that war criminal, Ehud Barak - leader of the Israeli Labour Party - insisted at the time when the Oslo Accords were still on a life support machine - that the settlers in Hebron had to stay. So these Judaeo Nazis [as the late Yeshayahu Leibowitz, winner of the Israel Prize and philosophy professor at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem called them] are there courtesy of the Israeli Labour Party and Histadrut.Tony Greenstein
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Miliband and Burning the Innocents
Who said whoever is not with me is against me? I mean, recently. In Reverse: Whoever is not against me is with me.
Yes I'm speaking here on behalf of our favourite terror state. An unpleasant experience. Most, I'm speaking of our own long part in fashioning this well-off Frankenstein's monster. And so it goes. Still Britain does not condemn Israel's slaughter (continuing worse still as I write) in Gaza.
Why not? So I looked up some of the 'thriving' business we do with Israel, that 'thriving democratic country' as foreign secretary david miliband (he with the settler cousins in the West Bank) called it ...see the Guardian today. We're right there, from high tec arms to snow peas. Talking of snow, the 'white stuff' as the chic TV weather people have taken to call it, the Israelis have been dropping white phosphorus on Palestinian children. Permissable in international law only as a smokescreen. This white stuff eats away/burns away flesh and kills very slowly. You can't dig it out. It goes deeper till death relieves the agony. Israel are burning small children like witches at the stake. This rogue state should be a pariah state (see what their distinguished historian Avi Shlaim says on this. This means no state or company or institution or person should do business with it. tourism.
Uhuh, have just found out my bank invests in bottled water exported by Israel from the springs of the Golan, Syrian land which Israel has illegally occupied since 1967. Water theft. Grand water larceny. Oh such a nuisance to change my bank, how disloyal, how inconsiderate...Miliband, what you've got as Foreign Secretary is a conflict of interest, in short a rotten conscience. So resign. At least you can go jump in the Thames, cool off from your self-righteousness, not like those kids in Gaza...those kids burning to death under the bombs and shells we British so lucratively help their tormenters make.
See Campaign aginst the Arms Trade, Amnesty, UN websites
Yes I'm speaking here on behalf of our favourite terror state. An unpleasant experience. Most, I'm speaking of our own long part in fashioning this well-off Frankenstein's monster. And so it goes. Still Britain does not condemn Israel's slaughter (continuing worse still as I write) in Gaza.
Why not? So I looked up some of the 'thriving' business we do with Israel, that 'thriving democratic country' as foreign secretary david miliband (he with the settler cousins in the West Bank) called it ...see the Guardian today. We're right there, from high tec arms to snow peas. Talking of snow, the 'white stuff' as the chic TV weather people have taken to call it, the Israelis have been dropping white phosphorus on Palestinian children. Permissable in international law only as a smokescreen. This white stuff eats away/burns away flesh and kills very slowly. You can't dig it out. It goes deeper till death relieves the agony. Israel are burning small children like witches at the stake. This rogue state should be a pariah state (see what their distinguished historian Avi Shlaim says on this. This means no state or company or institution or person should do business with it. tourism.
Uhuh, have just found out my bank invests in bottled water exported by Israel from the springs of the Golan, Syrian land which Israel has illegally occupied since 1967. Water theft. Grand water larceny. Oh such a nuisance to change my bank, how disloyal, how inconsiderate...Miliband, what you've got as Foreign Secretary is a conflict of interest, in short a rotten conscience. So resign. At least you can go jump in the Thames, cool off from your self-righteousness, not like those kids in Gaza...those kids burning to death under the bombs and shells we British so lucratively help their tormenters make.
See Campaign aginst the Arms Trade, Amnesty, UN websites
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Gaza: In cold blood
Here's the beginning extract from Craig Murray's blog from his website dated the weekend.
If you dont know, Murray was the Ambassador to Uzbeckhistan sacked for objecting to our complicity with that country's torture of political prisoners. JK
Craig Murray: Gordon Brown Is a Murderous Two Faced Cunt
Brown is appeasing domestic horror at the Israeli massacre in Gaza by calling for a ceasefire. Meanwhile British diplomats on the United Nations Security Council are under direct instructions to offer "tacit support" to United States' efforts to block a ceasefire.
I have been told this directly by a former colleague in the UK Mission to the United Nations.
A footnote on the uses of obscenity - 7,200 people read this entry between 15.30 on a Sunday afternoon and 08.30 on a Monday morning. That's normally the slowest time of the entire week.Amazing what a catchy heading will do. Besides, if you think the title is obscene, how do you describe what is happening in Gaza?
If you dont know, Murray was the Ambassador to Uzbeckhistan sacked for objecting to our complicity with that country's torture of political prisoners. JK
Craig Murray: Gordon Brown Is a Murderous Two Faced Cunt
Brown is appeasing domestic horror at the Israeli massacre in Gaza by calling for a ceasefire. Meanwhile British diplomats on the United Nations Security Council are under direct instructions to offer "tacit support" to United States' efforts to block a ceasefire.
I have been told this directly by a former colleague in the UK Mission to the United Nations.
A footnote on the uses of obscenity - 7,200 people read this entry between 15.30 on a Sunday afternoon and 08.30 on a Monday morning. That's normally the slowest time of the entire week.Amazing what a catchy heading will do. Besides, if you think the title is obscene, how do you describe what is happening in Gaza?
Thursday, 1 January 2009
I AM APPALLED BY THE WILFUL CARNAGE ISRAEL IS VISITING ON THE PALESTINIANS OF GAZA.
Over 400 dead after 6 days of bombing.
And at the brazen lies told by Israel and repeated by the West and most of its bleating media, dumping all blame on its victims.
This carnage is the result of the cynical opportunism of a handful of European settlers in Palestine long ago, coupled with the British desire to quit fighting Zionist terrorists in defence of the majority people, the largely undefended and poorer Palestinians of the country - That was a terrible abdication of moral responsibility which this country has continued from that day to this: towards the human rights, the lives and wellbeings of a people we took under our mandate (rule) nearly a century ago. When the bombing of Gaza' schoolchildren began without warning last Saturday we saw the utter cowardice of Gordon Brown's reaction, when as always the British government of the day equated the weak and defiant resistance of the Gaza Palestinians with the whole might of Israel, the most heavily armed of the small states, possessing it is calculated 200 nuclear warheads. We know some of the reasons for british hypocrisy: our valuable arms trade, and our extensive fruit and veg trade with Israel, and the Christian/Jewish dedication to Israel as Little America/Little Europe in the Middle East. Well, finally I feel nothing but disgust for the Israeli nation; where are those great Jewish traditions of wisdom and intellectual eminence and morality I've read about down the years. Israel has betrayed its own co religionists, and the point of its own ancient myth/history as the Bible writers themselves told it.
Why? To enter that so-called 'promised land' you have to earn it.
From the early twentieth century Zionist settlers have done the opposite, dispossessing and slaughtering the indigenous population so as to grab the land, not earn it.
Well nothing comes for free, and the present slaughter raining down as I write on the heads of Gaza families who sit terrified and hungry in candle light and cold, this cowardly slaughter and its single aim , to force the Palestinians to give up their rightful claims to the remaining land taken from them in 1967 will be bought at a price that the occupiers and their children too are certain to have to pay, and not just their victims, those still occupied people.
In the meantime to fend off more futile war, to save lives on both sides, I like lots of people think we have only one choice to make israel withdraw: to sanction Israel, just as the outside world sanctioned South Africa while it stuck to apartheid.
But what can we the people do? Everything is useful, every protest in the vacuum left by the government and hm the socalled Opposition Well you can (I did this last Monday) go and picket the Israeli Embassy in London, or you can demonstrate wherever you live this Saturday, and meanwhile lets keep lobbying David Miliband and the Foreign Office website, and the UN General Assembly and UN Secretary General, and your own MP's website:
But finally it comes down to sanctions. Too late for tearful appeals from colluding governments or wellmeaning multifaith peace organisations. All very good but Zionist generals and politicians are incredibly tough and frighteningly selfrighteous. They are not stirred by the sight of dying Palestinian children. Send in the humanitarian aid, of course, answer the Charity Appeals, yes, but understand this is to put a bandaid on a people being crushed to the ground. This does not stop Goliath. The Israelis must withdraw from the seige of Gaza, leave the people of Gaza, according to international law and the agreements, themsleves parsimonious of 2005. There must be a ceasefire first and that must include the withdrawal of the seige if Hamas is to give up its own firing. Egypt must open its border crossing too.
But only sanctions will achieve a final settlement Even the Palestinians, including the Palestinian Israelis, who stand most to suffer from trade sanctions, even their trade unions! have urged this as the only way left.
The barbarians Cavafy wrote of are not at the gate, they are flying overhead in F16s:
So yes we should press the government to suspend the booming British arms trade with Israel.
But also think more direct simple food boycott, refuse to buy Israeli goods at Waitrose, Tescos etc and tell the stores why and write to head office. Push for academic boycott, against a row of israeli educational institutions which are deeply implicated in military research. Boycott all Israeli entertainment unless the group or individuals concerbed have dissociated themselves publicly from the occupation.
Don't go to israel on holiday. And much more.
Everyone can take part in sanctioning this rogue state, however long it takes.
Immediately, we can lobby hard to stop the January upgrade in the EU trade treaty with Israel (we can email our regional MEPs).
See www.palestine.org BDS Campaign =Boycott Divestment Sanctions - for further explanation of this nefarious new Trade Association Agreement with yes you guessed it our favoured trading partner !
And lastly not least something quick - please sign this petition below:
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The petitionPetition in support of call by United Nations General Assembly President Miguel D’escoto Brockmann for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - During the 57th Plenary Meeting on the Question of Palestine, President of the General Assembly Miguel D'escoto Brockmann broke a diplomatic taboo by describing Israeli policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as similar to those of the defunct apartheid regime in South Africa. D'Escoto also urged the United Nations to use the term ‘apartheid’ without fear, and recommended that the United Nations "....should consider following the lead of a new generation of civil society, who are calling for a similar non-violent campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions to pressure Israel to end its violations." Unsurprisingly, D'Escoto has been branded as an antisemite by apologists for Israel. We are appalled by the recurrent use of baseless accusations of antisemitism; they silence calls for compassion and humanity in the name of the Palestinian people. The use of such accusations to defend massive violence against civilians offends all people of conscience. The false invocation of the slur of antisemitism positions Israel, with great political and military advantage, as a victim, while desecrating Jewish histories and trivializing the real experiences and outcomes of antisemitism. Likening Israel's policies to apartheid is not antisemitic. It is common sense. Israel's policies have been widely described in these terms by, among others, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Jamal Zahalka, Azmi Bishara, Gideon Levy, John Dugard, Omar Barghouti, Danny Rubinstein, Amira Haas, Shulamit Aloni, Meron Benvenisti, and Ami Ayalon. Calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel is not antisemitism. It is the recognition that only such a campaign can lay the ground for a long-lasting peace based on justice and reconciliation. In the words of Nelson Mandela, "The responses made by South Africa to human rights abuses emanating from the removal policies and apartheid policies respectively, shed light on what Israeli society must necessarily go through before one can speak of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East..." As Israel continues to ignore the growing outrage over the blockade of Gaza, and as Israel repeatedly breaks the cease-fire, blocks humanitarian aid and prevents journalists from covering the catastrophic impact of its actions, we the undersigned express our support for President D'Escoto and urge the United Nations and all member states to adopt his recommendation without delay.
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Petition sponsorINTERNATIONAL JEWISH ANTI-ZIONIST NETWORK We are an international network of Jews who are uncompromisingly committed to struggles for human emancipation, of which the liberation of the Palestinian people and land is an indispensable part. Our commitment is to the dismantling of Israeli apartheid, the return of Palestinian refugees, and the ending of the Israeli colonization of historic Palestine. Read the complete charter: http://www.ijsn.net/about_us/c...
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Over 400 dead after 6 days of bombing.
And at the brazen lies told by Israel and repeated by the West and most of its bleating media, dumping all blame on its victims.
This carnage is the result of the cynical opportunism of a handful of European settlers in Palestine long ago, coupled with the British desire to quit fighting Zionist terrorists in defence of the majority people, the largely undefended and poorer Palestinians of the country - That was a terrible abdication of moral responsibility which this country has continued from that day to this: towards the human rights, the lives and wellbeings of a people we took under our mandate (rule) nearly a century ago. When the bombing of Gaza' schoolchildren began without warning last Saturday we saw the utter cowardice of Gordon Brown's reaction, when as always the British government of the day equated the weak and defiant resistance of the Gaza Palestinians with the whole might of Israel, the most heavily armed of the small states, possessing it is calculated 200 nuclear warheads. We know some of the reasons for british hypocrisy: our valuable arms trade, and our extensive fruit and veg trade with Israel, and the Christian/Jewish dedication to Israel as Little America/Little Europe in the Middle East. Well, finally I feel nothing but disgust for the Israeli nation; where are those great Jewish traditions of wisdom and intellectual eminence and morality I've read about down the years. Israel has betrayed its own co religionists, and the point of its own ancient myth/history as the Bible writers themselves told it.
Why? To enter that so-called 'promised land' you have to earn it.
From the early twentieth century Zionist settlers have done the opposite, dispossessing and slaughtering the indigenous population so as to grab the land, not earn it.
Well nothing comes for free, and the present slaughter raining down as I write on the heads of Gaza families who sit terrified and hungry in candle light and cold, this cowardly slaughter and its single aim , to force the Palestinians to give up their rightful claims to the remaining land taken from them in 1967 will be bought at a price that the occupiers and their children too are certain to have to pay, and not just their victims, those still occupied people.
In the meantime to fend off more futile war, to save lives on both sides, I like lots of people think we have only one choice to make israel withdraw: to sanction Israel, just as the outside world sanctioned South Africa while it stuck to apartheid.
But what can we the people do? Everything is useful, every protest in the vacuum left by the government and hm the socalled Opposition Well you can (I did this last Monday) go and picket the Israeli Embassy in London, or you can demonstrate wherever you live this Saturday, and meanwhile lets keep lobbying David Miliband and the Foreign Office website, and the UN General Assembly and UN Secretary General, and your own MP's website:
But finally it comes down to sanctions. Too late for tearful appeals from colluding governments or wellmeaning multifaith peace organisations. All very good but Zionist generals and politicians are incredibly tough and frighteningly selfrighteous. They are not stirred by the sight of dying Palestinian children. Send in the humanitarian aid, of course, answer the Charity Appeals, yes, but understand this is to put a bandaid on a people being crushed to the ground. This does not stop Goliath. The Israelis must withdraw from the seige of Gaza, leave the people of Gaza, according to international law and the agreements, themsleves parsimonious of 2005. There must be a ceasefire first and that must include the withdrawal of the seige if Hamas is to give up its own firing. Egypt must open its border crossing too.
But only sanctions will achieve a final settlement Even the Palestinians, including the Palestinian Israelis, who stand most to suffer from trade sanctions, even their trade unions! have urged this as the only way left.
The barbarians Cavafy wrote of are not at the gate, they are flying overhead in F16s:
So yes we should press the government to suspend the booming British arms trade with Israel.
But also think more direct simple food boycott, refuse to buy Israeli goods at Waitrose, Tescos etc and tell the stores why and write to head office. Push for academic boycott, against a row of israeli educational institutions which are deeply implicated in military research. Boycott all Israeli entertainment unless the group or individuals concerbed have dissociated themselves publicly from the occupation.
Don't go to israel on holiday. And much more.
Everyone can take part in sanctioning this rogue state, however long it takes.
Immediately, we can lobby hard to stop the January upgrade in the EU trade treaty with Israel (we can email our regional MEPs).
See www.palestine.org BDS Campaign =Boycott Divestment Sanctions - for further explanation of this nefarious new Trade Association Agreement with yes you guessed it our favoured trading partner !
And lastly not least something quick - please sign this petition below:
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Support UN General Assembly President Brockmann's Call for BDS against Israel
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The petitionPetition in support of call by United Nations General Assembly President Miguel D’escoto Brockmann for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - During the 57th Plenary Meeting on the Question of Palestine, President of the General Assembly Miguel D'escoto Brockmann broke a diplomatic taboo by describing Israeli policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as similar to those of the defunct apartheid regime in South Africa. D'Escoto also urged the United Nations to use the term ‘apartheid’ without fear, and recommended that the United Nations "....should consider following the lead of a new generation of civil society, who are calling for a similar non-violent campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions to pressure Israel to end its violations." Unsurprisingly, D'Escoto has been branded as an antisemite by apologists for Israel. We are appalled by the recurrent use of baseless accusations of antisemitism; they silence calls for compassion and humanity in the name of the Palestinian people. The use of such accusations to defend massive violence against civilians offends all people of conscience. The false invocation of the slur of antisemitism positions Israel, with great political and military advantage, as a victim, while desecrating Jewish histories and trivializing the real experiences and outcomes of antisemitism. Likening Israel's policies to apartheid is not antisemitic. It is common sense. Israel's policies have been widely described in these terms by, among others, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Jamal Zahalka, Azmi Bishara, Gideon Levy, John Dugard, Omar Barghouti, Danny Rubinstein, Amira Haas, Shulamit Aloni, Meron Benvenisti, and Ami Ayalon. Calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel is not antisemitism. It is the recognition that only such a campaign can lay the ground for a long-lasting peace based on justice and reconciliation. In the words of Nelson Mandela, "The responses made by South Africa to human rights abuses emanating from the removal policies and apartheid policies respectively, shed light on what Israeli society must necessarily go through before one can speak of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East..." As Israel continues to ignore the growing outrage over the blockade of Gaza, and as Israel repeatedly breaks the cease-fire, blocks humanitarian aid and prevents journalists from covering the catastrophic impact of its actions, we the undersigned express our support for President D'Escoto and urge the United Nations and all member states to adopt his recommendation without delay.
Sign the petition
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* Name:
* Email:
* Location:
Comments:
Display my name as anonymous on the signatures list
Yes, I want iPetitions to contact me on similar campaigns or petitions.
>" name=submit>
Petition sponsorINTERNATIONAL JEWISH ANTI-ZIONIST NETWORK We are an international network of Jews who are uncompromisingly committed to struggles for human emancipation, of which the liberation of the Palestinian people and land is an indispensable part. Our commitment is to the dismantling of Israeli apartheid, the return of Palestinian refugees, and the ending of the Israeli colonization of historic Palestine. Read the complete charter: http://www.ijsn.net/about_us/c...
Links
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The views expressed in this petition are solely those of the petition's sponsor and do not in any way reflect the views of iPetitions. iPetitions is solely a provider of technical services to the petition sponsor and cannot be held liable for any damages or injury or other harm arising from this petition. In the event no adequate sponsor is named, iPetitions will consider the individual account holder with which the petition was created as the lawful sponsor.
iPetitions is owned and operated by Angle Three Associates, LLC - All material © Copyright Angle Three Associates, LLC, 1998-2006 - terms of use
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Friday, 29 August 2008
How to Bust a Savage Occupation - 2 small steps for humankind
What follows is long but worth sending around I think. It comes from one of the best comment websites on the Israeli Occupation - The Electronic Intifada - In such a hunkered down colonial type society as Israel is now army refuseniks mean truer grit than John Wayne (two of these students have been arrested since). At their age I was definitely not thinking beyond lipstick and my first pair of highheels. (Crippling winklepickers actually.)
Incidentally how many refuseniks over here against the invasion of Iraq, or for that matter, Afghanistan? Of course we don't have conscription....
Last weekend I watched the two boats that broke the Israeli seige on Gaza - a seige that has lasted over a year and is illegal and collective punishment, states the UN and Amnesty. Then, regretful not to be out there feeling seasick too, I sent some cash - turns out they've spend about twice as much as they managed to collect for the 2 years the trip took to fundraise. 2 years!
For all that I hope and believe Jeff Halper when he said they'd broken the seige and now let more and more ships come with supplies to beleaguered Gaza and stand the official world to shame. Words to that effect. Hurrah for true david grit against the whole goliath family.
Since I bear the name of a famous Biblical woman warrior I have her ancient copyright permission to say this.
"We refuse to serve in the Israeli occupation"
Statement, Shministim 2008, 28 August 2008
A group of high school graduates refusing their mandatory conscription into the Israeli army, objecting to Israel's human rights violations in the territory it occupies, recently released a statement outlining their position. Three of those who signed have been arrested upon refusing to serve. Their statement follows:
We, high school-graduate teens, declare that we shall work against the Israeli occupation and oppression policy in the occupied territories and the territories of Israel. Therefore we will refuse to take part of these actions, which are being done under our name as part of the IDF [Israeli army].
Our refusal comes first and foremost as a protest of the separation, control, oppression and killing policy held by the state of Israel in the occupied territories, as we understand that this oppression, killing and routing of hatred will never lead us to peace, and they are all contradictory to the basic values a society that pretends to be democratic should have.
All the members of this group believe in developing the value of social work. We are not refusing to serve the society we live in, but are protesting against the occupation and the ways of actions which the militaristic system holds as it is today: crushing civil rights, discriminating on a racial basis and opposing international laws.
We oppose the actions taken in the name of the "defense" of the Israeli society (checkpoints, targeted killing, apartheid roads available for Jews only, curfews, etc.) that serve the occupation and exploitation policy, annex more conquered territories to the state of Israel and trample the rights of the Palestinian population in an aggressive manner. These actions serve as a band-aid covering a bleeding wound, and as a limited and temporary solution that will accelerate and aggravate the conflict further.
We expostulate the plundering and the theft of territories and source of income to the Palestinians in exchange to the expansion of the settlements, reasoning to defend Israeli territories. In addition, we oppose any transformation of Palestinian cities and villages to ghettos without minimal living conditions or income sources, enclosed by the separation wall.
We also protest the humiliating and disrespectful behavior of the military forces towards Palestinians in the West Bank: violence towards demonstrators, public humiliations, arrests, destruction of property regardless to any safety or defense needs, all of which violate global human rights and international law.
The wall and blockades surround the Palestinian territories and serve as a halter around the Palestinian's neck. The soldiers who commit crimes under the patronage and protection of their commanders reflect the image of the Israeli society, a destructive and surprising society that is incapable of accepting its neighboring nation as a partner and not as an enemy.
In order to hold an effective dialogue between the two societies, we, the well-established and stronger society, have the responsibility of establishing and strengthening the other. Only with a more socially and financially established partner could we work towards peace rather than one-sided retaliation acts. Rather than supporting those citizens who have hope for peace, the military cast sanctions and pushes more and more people towards acts of extreme violence and escalation.
We hereby challenge every citizen who wonders if the military's policy in the occupied territories is conducive to the progression of the peace process, to discover by himself/herself the truth and to lift the veil which distorts the reality of the situation; to verify statistical data; to look for the humane side in him/her and in the society which stands in front of him/her; to disprove the myths that were routed within us regarding the necessity of the IDF's [actions] in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and to stand up against every action which he finds irrational and illegal.
In a place were there are humans, there is someone to talk to. Therefore, we ask to create a dialogue that goes beyond the power struggle, the retaliation and one-sided attrition actions; to disprove the "No Partner" myth, which is leading to a lose-lose situation of an ongoing frustration; and to move to more humane methods.
We cannot hurt in the name of defense or imprison in the name of freedom, therefore we cannot be moral and serve the occupation.
Related Links
Incidentally how many refuseniks over here against the invasion of Iraq, or for that matter, Afghanistan? Of course we don't have conscription....
Last weekend I watched the two boats that broke the Israeli seige on Gaza - a seige that has lasted over a year and is illegal and collective punishment, states the UN and Amnesty. Then, regretful not to be out there feeling seasick too, I sent some cash - turns out they've spend about twice as much as they managed to collect for the 2 years the trip took to fundraise. 2 years!
For all that I hope and believe Jeff Halper when he said they'd broken the seige and now let more and more ships come with supplies to beleaguered Gaza and stand the official world to shame. Words to that effect. Hurrah for true david grit against the whole goliath family.
Since I bear the name of a famous Biblical woman warrior I have her ancient copyright permission to say this.
"We refuse to serve in the Israeli occupation"
Statement, Shministim 2008, 28 August 2008
A group of high school graduates refusing their mandatory conscription into the Israeli army, objecting to Israel's human rights violations in the territory it occupies, recently released a statement outlining their position. Three of those who signed have been arrested upon refusing to serve. Their statement follows:
We, high school-graduate teens, declare that we shall work against the Israeli occupation and oppression policy in the occupied territories and the territories of Israel. Therefore we will refuse to take part of these actions, which are being done under our name as part of the IDF [Israeli army].
Our refusal comes first and foremost as a protest of the separation, control, oppression and killing policy held by the state of Israel in the occupied territories, as we understand that this oppression, killing and routing of hatred will never lead us to peace, and they are all contradictory to the basic values a society that pretends to be democratic should have.
All the members of this group believe in developing the value of social work. We are not refusing to serve the society we live in, but are protesting against the occupation and the ways of actions which the militaristic system holds as it is today: crushing civil rights, discriminating on a racial basis and opposing international laws.
We oppose the actions taken in the name of the "defense" of the Israeli society (checkpoints, targeted killing, apartheid roads available for Jews only, curfews, etc.) that serve the occupation and exploitation policy, annex more conquered territories to the state of Israel and trample the rights of the Palestinian population in an aggressive manner. These actions serve as a band-aid covering a bleeding wound, and as a limited and temporary solution that will accelerate and aggravate the conflict further.
We expostulate the plundering and the theft of territories and source of income to the Palestinians in exchange to the expansion of the settlements, reasoning to defend Israeli territories. In addition, we oppose any transformation of Palestinian cities and villages to ghettos without minimal living conditions or income sources, enclosed by the separation wall.
We also protest the humiliating and disrespectful behavior of the military forces towards Palestinians in the West Bank: violence towards demonstrators, public humiliations, arrests, destruction of property regardless to any safety or defense needs, all of which violate global human rights and international law.
The wall and blockades surround the Palestinian territories and serve as a halter around the Palestinian's neck. The soldiers who commit crimes under the patronage and protection of their commanders reflect the image of the Israeli society, a destructive and surprising society that is incapable of accepting its neighboring nation as a partner and not as an enemy.
In order to hold an effective dialogue between the two societies, we, the well-established and stronger society, have the responsibility of establishing and strengthening the other. Only with a more socially and financially established partner could we work towards peace rather than one-sided retaliation acts. Rather than supporting those citizens who have hope for peace, the military cast sanctions and pushes more and more people towards acts of extreme violence and escalation.
We hereby challenge every citizen who wonders if the military's policy in the occupied territories is conducive to the progression of the peace process, to discover by himself/herself the truth and to lift the veil which distorts the reality of the situation; to verify statistical data; to look for the humane side in him/her and in the society which stands in front of him/her; to disprove the myths that were routed within us regarding the necessity of the IDF's [actions] in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and to stand up against every action which he finds irrational and illegal.
In a place were there are humans, there is someone to talk to. Therefore, we ask to create a dialogue that goes beyond the power struggle, the retaliation and one-sided attrition actions; to disprove the "No Partner" myth, which is leading to a lose-lose situation of an ongoing frustration; and to move to more humane methods.
We cannot hurt in the name of defense or imprison in the name of freedom, therefore we cannot be moral and serve the occupation.
Related Links
- Interview: Yehuda Shaul of Breaking the Silence, Christopher Brown (1 November 2006)
- Refusenik Omri Evron: "Why I can't become a soldier in the IDF", Amir Tibon (28 October 2006)
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