Stephen Lendman
On May 14, Israelis will commemorate the 60th anniversary of their “War of Independence” and founding of the Jewish State. It also marks 60 years of Palestinian Nakba suffering. The web site www.alnakba.org recounts the history:
— from the late Ottoman empire period; to
— the birth of Zionism; to
— the early Jewish colonization of Palestine; to
— the 1917 Balfour Declaration support for a “Jewish national home in Palestine;” to
— the simultaneous British betrayal of the indigenous Arabs; to
— the British occupation; to
— its delayed promised end; to
— the founding of the Haganah underground military organization; to

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German bomber pilot Willi Schludecker says: “I’m sorry,” but the word sorry doesn’t exist for American bomber pilots(yet their bombs are far more deadly)
Prof. Marc W. Herold, The Afghan Victim Memorial Project
Exactly sixty-six years after his German Dornier 217E dive bomber unloaded nearly 4,000 kgs of bombs on the city of Bath, he came back to say sorry. Mr. Willi Schludecker, now 87, one of the Luftwaffe’s most decorated pilots, took part in three raids on Bath on April 25 and 27, 1942. He first saw the city from a height of 1,500 meters just after 11 pm on a clear moonlit night. The three night-time German raids claimed some 400 civilian lives (…) A comparison of Luftwaffe, Royal Air Force and U.S. Air Force deadliness for civilians can be made by setting Bath, Cologne and Luebeck off against the village of Kama Ado (also called Madoo) which was bombed by U.S. B-52H’s in three waves during the night of November 30/December 1, 2001. Asked about casualties in these Afghan villages, U.S. Major Brad Lowell at the Pentagon said that the locations of the villages matched exactly the site of Taliban command and control structures. On December 1st a Pentagon spokesperson said about that the bombing of civilians near Tora Bora “it just didn’t happen”. A British reporter for the Sunday Times, John Swain, visited Kamo Ado a couple days after the U.S. strikes. A U.S. official claimed what had been bombed was a military target. Swain wrote, after a bumpy two-and-a-half hour drive on a rough dirt road, I found nothing in the ruins of Kama Ado th! at could conceivably link it, or its impoverished inhabitants to Al-Qaeda or terrorism……there was nothing military in the village except for three rocket-propelled grenades in the remains of one home. The entire village was destroyed in U.S. attacks killing villagers even as they were eating their early morning Ramadan meal at 3:30 A.M…

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Casualties mount in Sadr City as U.S. troops press ahead with attack
Haqi Ismael, Azzaman
Deaths and injuries are soaring in the Sadr City as U.S. troops increase their military and economic pressure on the city home to more than 2.5 million people. More than 532 people among them women and children have been killed in the past two weeks, hospital sources in the city said. The sources, refusing to be named, said they have so far treated 2,563 serious injuries. Most of the deaths and injuries, the sources added, have occurred due to random shelling by U.S. warplanes and helicopter gun ships….

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Greetings from Guantanamo Bay … and the sickest souvenir shop in the world
ANGELA LEVIN
The sands are white, the sea laps gently and crowds of bronzed Americans laze in the Caribbean sunshine. They have a cinema, a golf course and, naturally, a gift shop stocked with mugs, jaunty T-shirts and racks of postcards showing perfect sunsets and bright green iguanas. Only the barbed wire decoration, a recurring motif, hints at anything wrong. Welcome to “Taliban Towers” at Guantanamo Bay, the most ghoulishly distasteful tourist destination on the planet…

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Iran suspends talks with US on security in Iraq
NASSER KARIMI
Iran said Monday it would not hold a new round of talks with the U.S. on security in Iraq until American forces end their current assault against Shiite militias. U.S. and Iraqi forces have been battling supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and Iraq’s government spokesman said Sunday that the crackdown would continue even if Iran pulled out of the talks. “We believe the talks will not be held given the current situation (in Iraq),” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters during his weekly press briefing Monday. Hosseini’s announcement was the first official confirmation that Iran has decided to suspend talks with the Americans…

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The first time I was called a self-hating Jew
Mike Marqusee, The Guardian,
…Any or all of the above should be sufficient to explain why some Jews would become anti-Zionists. But that doesn’t stop critics from placing us firmly in the realm of the irredeemably neurotic. Whenever Jews speak out against Israel, their motives, their representativeness, their authenticity as Jews are questioned. We are pathologised. For only a psychological aberration, a neurotic malaise, could account for our defection from Israel’s cause, which is presumed to be our own cause. Anti-Zionist Jews are not and do not claim to be any more authentic or representative than any other Jews, nor is their protest against Israel any more valid than a non-Jew’s. But “If I am not for myself”, then the Zionists will claim to be for me, will usurp my voice and my Jewishness. Since each Israeli atrocity is justified by the exigencies of Jewish survival, each calls forth a particular witness from anti-Zionist Jews, whose very existence contradicts the Zionist claim to speak for all Jews everywhere….

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American forces’ militia policy in Diyala: Fostering civil war, or merely out of control?
badger, Arablinks
AlHayat prints another article by its journalist Mohamed Al-Tamimi again quoting sources in Diyala province to the effect the Americans are exacerbating, not easing, sectarian and security tensions in and around the capital Baquba. He writes: Sheikhs and security authorities criticized the proliferation of armed groups supported some by the American forces, and others by the government parties [that would be American allies Badr and Dawa], while meanwhile members of AlQaeda carried out a big military parade in northeastern Diyala….

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Kurdish rebels threaten suicide attacks against US
YAHYA BARZANJI, Associated Press Writer
Kurdish rebels could launch suicide attacks against American interests to punish the U.S. for sharing intelligence with Turkey after Turkey bombed rebel bases, a spokeswoman for a wing of a rebel group warned. Turkey’s military said more than 150 Kurdish rebels were killed in Friday’s air strikes against bases of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, on Mount Qandil on the border of Iran and Iraq. Peritan Derseem, a senior official of the rebel group’s Iranian wing, PEJAK, claimed that only six people were killed in latest Turkish strikes. The PKK fights for autonomy in Turkey’s southeast and also has a wing fighting for Kurdish rights in Iran….

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KOSHER SPIES
Desertpeace
NO….. this is NOT a continuation of the Pollard-Kadesh spy sagas….nor is it the discovery of the rest of the ring they were/are a part of…. This is a tale about an investigation on behalf of PETA concerning cruelty in the slaughterhouse business… specifically the kosher slaughterhouses. I live for the day when people will be as concerned about the slaughtering of humans as much as they are about animals…. but that’s a different post. In the meantime, read the report below….

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21,915 BLACK BALLOONS OVER JERUSALEM
Karin, MUNICH – AND A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING
To celebrate 60 years of independence, Israel is planning a large-scale birthday bash with events taking place in many different countries around the world. In Jerusalem, a 3-day conference, under the title “Facing Tomorrow” is planned from May 13 – 15, to which many world leaders, such as U.S. President Bush, and French President Sarkozy, and many celebrities (…) It is wrong to celebrate and we need to do something BIG to make the world, and those gathered to celebrate Israel, see and hear us. We* have this idea and we need your help to make it happen! On May 15, we will launch 21,915 (365 days x 60 years) black balloons over the skies of Jerusalem. We aim to turn the skies over Israel’s celebrations black to let people know that there is another side of the story, a side of heartache, suffering and dispossession. At the same time, each balloon will carry a letter from a Palestinian child expressing his/her hope for the future, to let the world know that we believe in and dream of justice…

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Sadr ‘Seeks Solution’ to Iraq Crisis
Alalam News Network, Iran
The movement of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr seeks diplomatic means to find a solution to the ongoing violence in Iraq, a Sadrist member of the parliament says…Al-Sadr has had fruitful interactions with political groups from a wide spectrum in the war-wracked country to put an end to the killings in Baghdad’s Sadr City, she said. Followers of the Shiite cleric and security forces have clashed during the past weeks and the unrest is a source of concern that the security conditions may deteriorate. Al-Dori expressed sorrow that initiatives proposed by Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani to stifle the turmoil faced stiff opposition by some lawmakers at the parliament. The parliamentarian said that the Sadr movement is part of the Iraqi government and only dialogue can bring the sectarian rifts to a halt…

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UNRWA halts services in Gaza for lack of fuel
Palestinian Information Center
The UNRWA has declared that it would halt distribution of supplies to Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip as of Monday in the event no fuel was provided through the Israeli-controlled crossings. Adnan Abu Hasana, the UNRWA spokesman, said in a press statement that the lack of fuel would cripple the Agency’s vehicles and would leave a “negative impact on our educational, relief and social programs”. He pointed out that Palestinian refugees constitute the poorest sector in the Palestinian community, and recalled that more than 650,000 refugees were receiving food and other assistance from UNRWA on regular basis and depend on them…

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IOF troops withdraw from Khuza’a leaving behind trail of destruction
Palestinian Information Center
The IOF troops have withdrawn at noon Sunday from the Khuza’a town, east of Khan Younis, after an incursion that lasted for ten hours during which they shot dead a Palestinian citizen, wounded five others and destroyed three houses, two poultry farms and 100 dunums of agricultural lands. During the Israeli rampage in the town, Israeli snipers shot dead in cold blood a Palestinian citizen called Hossam Al-Najjar as he was feeding chicken on the roof of his house, while his brother was injured when he tried to rescue him…

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Mezan Center: “69, including 20 children and 16 women, killed by the army in April in Gaza”
Saed Bannoura – IMEMC
The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights issued a report on Sunday revealing that Israeli soldiers killed 69 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in April. The Center added that among the killed residents were 20 children and 16 women. The Center reported that soldiers carried 30 invasions into the Gaza Strip in April and kidnapped 127 Palestinians, including 17 who are still in detention. Soldiers also bulldozed 372 Dunams of agricultural land and demolished 15 homes…

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Abbas’s moment of truth
News Analysis by Khalid Amayreh
Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas feels quite depressed these days, having been unceremoniously told by President Bush that the US administration won’t pressure Israel to halt Jewish settlement expansion nor commit itself to a total Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967. Some of Abbas’s aides have described his recent visit to Washington as the “straw that broke the camel’s back.” Abbas himself described the visit as “a clear failure.” …

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Palestine before and after
Sherri Muzher
People are tired of hearing about it,” a friend once told me matter-of-factly about the Middle East conflict. Tell me about it. As a first-generation American of Palestinian descent, I can vouch that nobody is more tired of this conflict than Palestinians. But many of us don’t have the luxury of flipping the channel or ignoring what is happening to our relatives and friends. Palestinians with serious illnesses in Gaza are denied access to medical care. More than 150 have died and children are being stoned on their way to school by Jewish settlers. We do what we can but it never feels sufficient. And though we’re 100 percent Semitic, the usual tiring label of “anti-Semite” is thrown at us for speaking out against the injustices…

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URUKNET HAS BEEN HACKED ~~ ACTION ALERT!
Desertpeace
One of the mightiest ‘tools’ of the anti-war movement and pro-Palestinian movements has been under attack recently by Google who removed them from their News Links…. Their troubles did not end with that…. I was just notified by their Administrator that their servers have been hacked today…

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The Americans gave the order to Maliki: No evidence of Iran involvement with arming militias
Roads to Iraq
Probably, the Iranians are linking the “evidence” with the American – Iranian negotiations, which approve this opinion published few days ago on Jordanian newspaper al-Rai, Iran now is the one who dictates the rules of the game and they decides what is the next move, the U.S. follows, both know that they should “share” Iraq but the struggle is: how big is the share: It is not in the interest of Iran to revive the Iraqi nationalism by an Iraqi political accordance and not in the U.S. interest the creation of pro-Iran Shiite state in Iraq, but Washington and Tehran will be interested in wealth, influence and province sharing in Iraq, by pushing towards dividing Iraq and prevent the establishment of the strong central government, as long as the talks between the parties exclude the United Nations and International Law…

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GI Special 6E1: Some Other Surges [ May 3, 2008 ]
Thomas F.Barton
The most recent USA Today/Gallup poll finds 63% of Americans saying the United States made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq, a new high mark by one percentage point.
The new high in Iraq war opposition is also notable because it is the highest “mistake” percentage Gallup has ever measured for an active war involving the United States — surpassing by two points the 61% who said the Vietnam War was a mistake in May 1971.

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May 4, 2008: 33 Iraqis Killed, 66 Wounded
Margaret Griffis, Antiwar.com
At least 33 Iraqis were killed and 66 more were wounded in the latest violence. Mosul was the scene of numerous small attacks, but clashes in Sadr City continue to claim the most lives. No Coalition deaths were reported. In Baghdad, three dumped bodies were recovered. Four bodyguards were wounded when a roadside bomb struck a convoy carrying President Jalal Talabani’s wife through Karrada…

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Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Sunday, 4 May 2008.
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice.
…In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 3:40pm Sunday afternoon Beijing time (11:40am in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by a US Marine military vehicle somewhere in al-Anbar Province Friday, 2 May 2008. Xinhua reported a US communiqué issued Sunday as saying that the blast killed four American Marines. In keeping with the US policy of hiding information regarding US losses in Iraq, no further details regarding the location or circumstances of the attack were released….

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