[WCUSP] Fwd: [HumanRights] Weekly compilation: Rachel Corrie, Dahlia Wasfi, WOJ, US Palestinians meet, etc

Sat Nov 18 06:24:09 CST 2006

Hi Yvonne and all,

Thanks for the impressive information.

Regarding the pro-Israel lobby described by Qumsiyeh, the U.S. "defense"
corporate interests are not referred to as one part of the lobby.  They are
instrumental in pushing U.S. policy toward support of a right-wing Israeli
government, and often omitted.

Libby
.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "yvonne simmons" <roweenayvonne at yahoo.com>
To: <wcusp at wilpf.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 18, 2006 5:53 AM
Subject: [WCUSP] Fwd: [HumanRights] Weekly compilation: Rachel Corrie,Dahlia
Wasfi, WOJ, US Palestinians meet, etc

>
> --- Mazin Qumsiyeh <qumsi001 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > From: "Mazin Qumsiyeh" <qumsi001 at hotmail.com>
> > To: Mazin.qumsiyeh at lists.riseup.net
> > Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2006 00:59:17 -0500
> > Subject: [HumanRights] Weekly compilation: Rachel
> > Corrie, Dahlia Wasfi, WOJ, US Palestinians meet, etc
> >
> > (Note: Mailing List Information, including
> > unsubscription instructions, is located at the end
> > of this message.)
> > ------->
> > The challenges facing human rights advocates with
> > regards to US/Israeli
> > hegemonic designs in the Middle East are daunting.
> > Our organizational
> > structures and ability to work together must and
> > will rise to meet the
> > challenge. It is not easy.  But if it was easy, it
> > would have already been
> > done and the struggle would not be as worthwhile.
> > Let us review some
> > sobering reminders (a week after the US vetoed yet
> > another (mild) UN
> > resolution regarding Israel).
> >
> > First there is the Israeli lobby that many like to
> > ignore but like the 800
> > pound gorilla in the room, is really hard to ignore.
> >  Here is an article of
> > relevance on how AIPAC is early Building Ties With
> > New American Lawmakers
> >
>
http://signs-of-the-times.org/signs/editorials/signs20061113_AIPACEatsNewCongressCrittersforLunch.php
> > A more detailed analysis of the lobby's influence is
> > here:
> > http://www.qumsiyeh.org/thelobby/
> >
> > Then there are "Christian" Ziolnists, an important
> > factor in countries like
> > Holland, England and the US.  They preach hatred,
> > collect money, ignore the
> > message of Jesus (e.g. Sermon on the mount), and
> > collect money, support
> > Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Christians
> > and Muslims, and collect
> > money.  Here is a link to an article Defining
> > Christian Zionism By Donald
> > Wagner
> >
> http://www.christianzionism.org/articlesN.asp#Wagner02
> > and this news story shows how such bigots operate,
> > speak while enriching
> > their pockets
> >
> http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/111406/met_6211753.shtml
> >
> > The Israeli economy profits from the ignorance of
> > many in trhe world.
> > Diamond exports were at nearly $10 billion.
> > Diamonds are merely rocks (not
> > taht rare by the way, there are rarer rocks) culled
> > from African land at
> > slave wages and compensations to Africans, cut and
> > "polished" mostly in
> > Israel (or by Zionist controlled industry leaders),
> > pedaled as valuable
> > items by slick and misleading advertisement
> > campaigns (for love, "a diamond
> > is forever"!), and sold at exorbitant prices. Much
> > of the profit goes to
> > fund wars, violence, occupation etc (the term "blood
> > diamonds" is thus apt
> > description). But diamonds are not the biggest
> > Israeli exports.  Most
> > Israeli exports relate to weapons and "security"
> > (Israel likes to use the
> > term "high tech industries"). Most of these Israeli
> > exposrts are American
> > technology given courtesy of the US taxpayers even
> > though they end up
> > competing with US industries.
> >
> > In a recent article in Tikkun Magazine, Israeli
> > author and activist Dr. Jeff
> > Halper argues that Israel has no interest in
> > peaceful resolution but
> > "muddling through" in order to balance continued
> > theft of Palestinian land
> > with its "security".
> >
> http://tikkun.org/magazine/tik0611/frontpage/responsibility1106
> >
> > The Israeli lobby pushed for the wars and sanctions
> > on Iraq (see
> >
> http://www.qumsiyeh.org/connectingthedotsiraqpalestine/
> > ).  What were the
> > consequences of these wars and sanctions? Over 2
> > million Iraqis killed in
> > the past 15 years as a direct result. Here is just
> > some (graphic) video of
> > what happened in one part of Iraq, Fallujah
> >
>
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1134673789364675735&q=fallujah+hidden&pl=true
> >
> > Today we had the last event for the fall leg of the
> > Wheels of Justice Bus
> > Tour (http://www.wheelsofjusticetour.org).  I and
> > Dr. Dahlia Wasfi were
> > speakers.  Dahlia was born to a Jewish American
> > mother and a Muslim Iraqi
> > father in New York. She spent her early childhood in
> > Basra. Dr. Wasfi
> > graduated from Swarthmore College in 1993 with a
> > B.A. in Biology, and from
> > the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in
> > 1997. Her latest trip
> > to Iraq was a 3-month stay during the spring of
> > 2006. Watch this powerful
> > testimony of Dr. Dahlia Wasfi before a US
> > Congressional Committee in
> > Washington, DC:
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELjgVq6GtPA
> > She spoke in tour events about the effects of
> > sanctions, direct violence,
> > and depleted uranium (also effected US troops with
> > increased mortality and
> > increased birth defects in children of vets) but
> > most of all she speaks of
> > her own personal story in a way that humanizes
> > Iraqis.  She spoke of how
> > Rachel Corrie inspired her to focus her life on
> > telling the truth and
> > changing the system.  Dahlia's website,
> > http://liberatethis.com includes a
> > wealth of useful information.
> >
> > Talking about Rachel Corrie, I think people need to
> > go see the play My Name
> > is Rachel Corrie
> > (http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/?p=47) which is
> > playing
> > at Minetta Lane Theater in New York.  We have a few
> > extra tickets (from the
> > bus trip from CT to NY) so email me if you are in CT
> > and NY and are
> > interested in buying these tickets.
> >
> > In a later email report, I will give you a glimpse
> > of the wonderful people
> > we met along the bus tour in the past two weeks.  We
> > had great receptions
> > from high schools, classes at colleges, public
> > presentations and informal
> > discussions.  People are more hungry for facts than
> > ever before.  The
> > corporate media outfits under heavy Zionist
> > influence are pushing to
> > lengthen this devastating war. See "Operation Last
> > Resort-The New Media
> > Offensive to Prolong the Iraq War" By Norman Solomon
> >
> > http://www.counterpunch.org/solomon11162006.html
> >
> > I just finished reading Carter's new book
> > "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid".
> > Ofcourse there are far better books on this question
> > but Carter brings in a
> > presidential level visibility to the subject of
> > Israeli Apartheid. Here is
> > Carter in a revealing interview about the book with
> > the Jewish Daily Forward
> >
>
http://www.forward.com/articles/carter-discusses-new-book-on-israel-and-the-middle/
> > (action item: ask supermarkets, bookstores and other
> > places where books are
> > sold to get copies).
> >
> > Finally, below is a declaration from us Palestinians
> > living in America who
> > met in Cleveland over the last weekend in a
> > preparatory meeing for a large
> > popular conference of Palestinians to be held in
> > Chicago in 2008 (the 60th
> > anniversary of the Nakba). If you are Palestinian
> > living in the US, let us
> > know to get involved.
> >
> > There is so much work being done all around the
> > world, and so much work yet
> > to do. We must intensify our efforts.  As Howard
> > Zinn also said: you can't
> > be neutral on a moving train (corollary: silence is
> > complicity).
> >
> > In solidarity,
> >
> > Mazin
> > http://qumsiyeh.org
> > http://www.wheelsofjusticetour.org
> >
> > The Cleveland Declaration and Summary of Meeting
> >
> > Activists and organizers from the Palestinian
> > community in the US with
> > diverse political backgrounds, geographical
> > locations, and organizational
> > affiliations met in Cleveland, OH Nov 10-12, 2006 in
> > follow up to the
> > initial meeting held in Detroit on June 23, 2006.
> >
> > We, the participants, had grave concerns about: a)
> > the recent escalation of
> > massacres and other war crimes committed in Beit
> > Hannoun and other areas of
> > occupied Palestine, b) the plight of Palestinian
> > refugees in Iraq as well as
> > the suffering of all people in Iraq under US/British
> > occupation, c) the
> > recent atrocities committed by Israel in Lebanon,
> > and d) the US government
> > veto of yet another UN Security Council that
> > attempted to hold Israel
> > accountable for persistent severe Human Rights
> > violations, war crimes, and
> > crimes against humanity.
> >
> > In these historic times, the participants reiterated
> > their commitments to
> > affirm our Palestinian narrative and assert our
> > rights to:
> >
> > -- Self-determination and equality for the
> > Palestinian people
> > -- Return of the Palestinian refugees to their
> > original homes, lands,
> > properties and villages (a natural right supported
> > by international law and
> > UN Resolution 194)
> > -- End of Zionist occupation and colonization of
> > Palestine, including
> > Jerusalem
> >
> > After a weekend of intense deliberation,
> > brainstorming, and strategizing the
> > participants have decided and committed to:
> >
> > 1) Convene and build a popular Palestinian national
> > conference in Chicago in
> > Summer 2008 in order to empower our community, unify
> > our voice, and affirm
> > the right of Palestinians in the Shatat (exile) to
> > participate fully in
> > shaping our joint destiny. We established various
> > committees to carry on the
> > functions needed for this.
> >
> > 2) Holding a larger preparatory meeting in 2007 that
> > would further empower
> > and build support among all our community members
> > and organizations.
> >
> > 3) Continue empowering our community by exchanging
> > projects, ideas, and
> > campaigns done by the many local and national
> > organizations and build upon
> > them by providing fora for communication and
> > positive collaboration.
> >
> > We are calling on fellow Palestinians in the US to
> > join us as we empower our
> > community (individuals and organizations) and build
> > for the Palestine
> > National conference reflecting the will of ALL
> > Palestinians in America. We
> > believe strongly that our community can and must
> > rise to the challenges
> > facing us, as they do in Palestine.
> >
> > Preparatory Committee for the US Popular Palestinian
> > National Conference
> >
> >
> _________________________________________________________________
> > Talk now to your Hotmail contacts with Windows Live
> > Messenger.
> >
>
http://clk.atdmt.com/MSN/go/msnnkwme0020000001msn/direct/01/?href=http://get.live.com/messenger/overview
> >
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