Day: January 9, 2009

Day 14 – Gaza Update from Palestine Solidarity Committee

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National Demonstration Tomorrow – A Direct Appeal from Betty Hunter

There is less than 24 hours to go before the PSC’s next national demonstration. From all the information we have been receiving in the office over the last week it is clear to us that tomorrow will see the largest ever demonstration in support of the people of Palestine. Local PSC groups across the country have been working tirelessly to make sure that the policies and principles of the PSC are seen and heard.
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Prof. Peter Dale Scott: Martial Law, the Financial Bailout, and War

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8 January, 2009 Global Research

Paulson’s Financial Bailout

It is becoming clear that the bailout measures of late 2008 may have consequences at least as grave for an open society as the response to 9/11 in 2001. Many members of Congress felt coerced into voting against their inclinations, and the normal procedures for orderly consideration of a bill were dispensed with.

The excuse for bypassing normal legislative procedures was the existence of an emergency. But one of the most reprehensible features of the legislation, that it allowed Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to permit bailed-out institutions to use public money for exorbitant salaries and bonuses, was inserted by Paulson after the immediate crisis had passed.

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GazaFriends: They parade in fear By Vittorio Arrigoni in Gaza

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7 January, 2009

They parade in fear, their eyes looking upwards, surrendering to the sky showering terror and death upon them, fearing the earth that keeps shaking under every step they take, opening craters where there were houses, schools, universities, markets, hospitals, and burying their lives within them forever. I’ve seen caravans of desperate Palestinians evacuate Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and all the refugee camps in Gaza, crowding the United Nations’ schools like earthquake survivors, like victims of a tsunami which is eating into the Gaza Strip day by day, along with its civilian population, without pity or compliance with human rights and the Geneva Conventions. Most of all, without a single Western government stirring a finger to stop this massacre, or sending medical staff out here, or stopping the genocide that Israel is smearing its hands with in these hours.
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Gaza: British link with drone aiding the Israeli war effort by David Pallister

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The British company, known as UEL, is owned by the Israel drone specialists Silver Arrow, a subsidiary of the Israeli defence contractor Elbit Systems.

An Israeli-owned British company has been drawn into the political controversy over arms sales to Israel prompted by the assault on Gaza.

UAV Engines, of Lichfield, Staffordshire, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of engines for drones – unmanned aerial vehicles that are becoming critical frontline systems for military and civilian use around the world.
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IPS: U.S. Weaponry Facilitates Israel`s Killings in Gaza by Thalif Deen

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UNITED NATIONS – The devastating Israeli firepower, unleashed largely on Palestinian civilians in Gaza during two weeks of fighting, is the product of advanced U.S. military technology.

The U.S. weapons systems used by the Israelis — including F-16 fighter planes, Apache helicopters, tactical missiles and a wide array of munitions — have been provided by Washington mostly as outright military grants.

The administration of President George W. Bush alone has provided over 21 billion dollars in U.S. security assistance over the last eight years, including 19 billion dollars in direct military aid as freebies.
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Avi Shlaim: How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe

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[Oxford professor of international relations Avi Shlaim served in the Israeli army and has never questioned the state’s legitimacy. But its merciless assault on Gaza has led him to devastating conclusions.]

7 January, 2009

gaza-policeman.jpg

A wounded Palestinian policeman gestures while lying on the ground outside Hamas police headquarters following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. Photograph: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images

The only way to make sense of Israel’s senseless war in Gaza is through understanding the historical context. Establishing the state of Israel in May 1948 involved a monumental injustice to the Palestinians. British officials bitterly resented American partisanship on behalf of the infant state. On 2 June 1948, Sir John Troutbeck wrote to the foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, that the Americans were responsible for the creation of a gangster state headed by “an utterly unscrupulous set of leaders”. I used to think that this judgment was too harsh but Israel’s vicious assault on the people of Gaza, and the Bush administration’s complicity in this assault, have reopened the question.
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Raanan Shaked: Bomb it yourself

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[Middle East News Service comments: I received this from a reliable friend in Israel without a copy of the Hebrew original. I therefore cannot vouch for the translation, even though I made a few corrections to obvious errors. It is an incredible example of the way war culture is inculcated into Israeli society. The need for groups like New Profile (The committee for the Civil-isation of Israeli society is stronger than ever before.). Yediot Acharonot is the country’s largest circulating newspaper. Hot is a popular pay TV service – Sol Salbe.]

The Cast Lead channel on Hot VOD

Television criticism, Raanan Shaked, Yediot Acharonot, January 6

Listen, the lessons of the second Lebanon war really were learned. That Winograd guy is really something. Every word he said is gold. It is a good thing they listened to him, that wise old man, and really, in this war we are completely implementing “Wino’s” lessons and doing everything right and when victory is — and it will be — ours, I think we should have another commission of inquiry headed by him that will check, once and for all, how great we are.

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