Photos From Protest During Barak's Speech At UCB

Great photos and special kudos to the brave ones who wore the T-shirts that said LIE into Barak's talk!

That's one of the WORST aspects of Zionist Israel: THE LIES!

This is also what enrages the Refuseniks as the Refusenik who addressed the crowd last night said: all the LIES that are told to HIDE the truth and DEFEND ATROCITIES! That are happening thanks to our US tax dollars!

We must be courageous and stand up for what we believe in! Equal rights for all, no double standards! Ethnic cleansing, stealing land, lying about everything, slow genocide, oppressing people because of their religion, race or sex, it's all WRONG! We must stand up for equal rights for everyone! And that includes all Palestinian refugees who have the right to return to their ancestral homeland as is their right according to UN Resolutions, international law and world opinion, and to live as equals. End apartheid in Israel! Boycott apartheid Israel! Sanctions against Israel! Until it is transformed into a true secular democracy. We CAN make it happen, and the sooner the better!

Does anyone have details about the man that was detained yesterday after the Barak protest? Is there anything that we can do?

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=232726&contrassID=1&subContrassID=8&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/11/20/MN117253.DTL

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/11/20/state0308EST0004.DTL

http://www.dailycal.org/article.asp?id=10291
http://www.dailycal.org/article.asp?id=10296

The man whose first name is Omar, a Palestinian, was arrested by campus police, and put in jail for "stealing and vandalism" after he took away the disposable $10 camera from a pro-Barak Zionist who was flashing it in his face as a taunt, and stepped on the camera. Bail was set at $16,500! I don't know anymore than that, but call the Berkeley Jail to see if he needs a lawyer still and whatever else. Witnesses to th incident would probably be helpful.

Yes, Iris, what you can do is attempt to listen to both sides of the story and be intellectually honest.

While the author says, "a proIsreal fanatic attacked a Palestinian woman and after a small scuffle he dropped a disposable camera and yelled for the police. A Palestinian man who may have pushed him was then arrested and is being held on felony charges for stealing and damaging the man's disposable camera," the camera's owner gives a different account:

http://www.usefulwork.com/shark/archives/000333.html

One would tend to think that the cops would have arrested the camera's owner if he had indeed "attacked" the woman as stated. The camera's owner says she was Asian; the author says she was Palestinian. And, the camera owner says that the camera was grabbed from him and thrown to the ground.

I'd suggest, Iris, that you learn to question authority, whereever it be.

He did manage to make bail with help. He is a student of UCB. He was released. He was held in handcuffs for 3 hours, without being able to talk to anyone but the police, the UCPD. If you can, call UCPD to complain about the pro-Barak man who harassed the Palestinian UCB student and complain about the way the police (about a dozen) overracted to the Palestinian student, by all means please call and complain! People who wanted to file a complaint against the pro-Barak man had to wait hours until just after midnite to do so.

510-642-6760 for UCPD

So the attacker was Stefan Sharkansky who works "as a computer software consultant developing portfolio management software used by investment advisors".
(http://www.usefulwork.com/shark/about.html)

Here is his false description of the event
(http://www.usefulwork.com/shark/archives/000333.html)

Here is a site he has on the Middle East:
http://www.usefulwork.com/shark/mideast.html

He is pretty darn right wing in his views and even wrote a piece (thats is now circulating all over the proIsrael bulletinboards) defending Jackie Mason's racist refusal to work with an Arab comedian.
http://www.usefulwork.com/shark/archives/000161.html#000161

He alsocompares the attempts to boycott Israel to the Nazis (http://www.usefulwork.com/shark/archives/000080.html). One wonders what he thinks of the current boycott against Burma or the past boycot against S Africa (was that antiWhite or an attempt to promote civil rights?). Its weird how Israel=Jewish in his mind despite the many Jewish groups around teh Bay Area that strongly oppose Israel's policies.

Here is a profile of Stefen from his business site:
"Stefan Sharkansky Advisor Partners’ Managing Director, Investment Technologies Stefan Sharkansky is the author of the software applications by which portfolio analysis and restructuring are accomplished. He is responsible for the implementation of this technology within Advisor Partners’ systems infrastructure.
In 1998, Stefan founded Personal Fund, Inc. to commercialize his portfolio planning and tax management technology which he developed after being unable to find existing tools for building an investment portfolio of reasonable diversification with minimal transaction cost and tax consequences. Stefan relied on extensive research in finance and investment theories, tools and mechanisms written by the most respected experts in the field. His professional experience and knowledge of mathematics, computer science and website development, and his passion to empower consumers in the investment process, contributed to the accuracy, reliability and sophistication of his software applications.
From 1992-95, Stefan founded and operated Prospero Systems Research, Inc. which served a client base that included Ampex, Tandem Computer, Highland Software, Berkeley Research & Trading, Ikonic, and the University of California San Francisco Medical Center.
Stefan holds a BA in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and an MA in Computer Science from Stanford University. As a software engineer at Teknekron Software Systems from 1987-91, Stefan created high performance, distributed applications for large financial institutions including Fidelity Investments, Salomon Brothers, and First Interstate Bank. :
http://www.advisorpartners.com/About%20Us.htm

Here is his contact information:
Stefan Sharkansky
2204 Green St
San Francisco, CA 94123-4710
(415) 674-8610

Why am I not surprised that this racist lives in Pacific Heights

Why am not surprised that the "peaceniki" are rising to the defense of someone who (allegedly) grabbed a camera from someone's hands and then smashed it on the ground?

Do "peaceniki" get a special pass when they commit crimes?

Does tolerating crimes by your fellow "peaceniki" lead to tolerating more serious crimes?

I dont understand the level of iddiocy required to make a sign protesting the isreali checkpoints. The frequent attacks on innocent Isreali citizens have made it impossible to feel safe in Isreal. If attacks of this magnitude occured on US soil Im positive the reaction would be much worse.

get a clue

"The frequent attacks on innocent Isreali citizens have made it impossible to feel safe in Isreal."

Or innocent Palestinian civilians. If you're interested in facts you can have a look at the official Israeli human rights organization's statistics on the casualty tolls of civilians on both sides, at this site:

http://www.btselem.org/English/Statistics/Total_Casualties.asp

Hey, Congratulations! you can use google and the Yahoo! phone book. very clever. May I ask what the purpose of aggregating and posting all of this personal information was? Seriously, what were you hoping to accomplish? Just let us know.

But since everybody now has my phone number handy, please feel free to call me at a reasonable hour. (not after 9pm, please, we have a baby). I'll be happy to talk to anybody who wants to have a civil and rational discussion. The only ground rules are that you leave out epithets and baseless accusations

I see there are plenty of cowards who use the cover of anonymity to spread lies and hate speech. But I'm proud of my opinions and I'm not afraid to sign my actual name to them.

And who made the connection between "Pacific Heights" and "racism"? That sounds like naked prejudice and stereotyping to me. I can understand why the person who wrote that would be ashamed to give their real name.

JERUSALEM, Nov. 21 — A suicide bomber blew himself up on a crowded Jerusalem city bus during morning rush hour, killing himself and 10 passengers and wounding dozens, police sources said. Many school children were on the bus, officials said.

THERE WAS no immediate claim of responsibility. However, a leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas said attacks on Israelis would continue to force an end to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The bombing, the first in Jerusalem since July, went off as the campaign for Israel’s Jan. 28 election was heating up. It raised doubts about the effectiveness of efforts by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority to persuade militias to stop attacks, at least for the duration of the campaign.

The bomber set off the explosives at about 7:10 a.m. as the bus stood at a stop in Jerusalem’s residential Kiryat Menachem neighborhood.

A witness, who identified himself only as Tomer, said he was in a car behind the bus when the blast went off.

“I heard the explosion and then I heard screaming,” Tomer told Israel Radio. “I saw people hanging out the windows.”

At least 35 bystanders were wounded, seven of them very seriously.

The blast blew out the windows of the green city bus. A torso had fallen over the side of the bus, and was covered with a white-and-blue checkered cloth. Debris covered the street and body parts lay on the sidewalk.

Children’s sandwiches and schoolbooks lay scattered, Yaron Enosh, an Israel Radio reporter said.

“All I saw was flesh, hands, feet — everything you see on TV,” Tomer said. “You smell of dust and burning and the flesh burning.”

In the aftermath of the blast, Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy hugged a woman who had her face buried in his chest. Levy said 10 passengers were killed.

David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office, condemned the attack. “Palestinian terrorists continue to cling to the bloodshed agenda and they are satisfied only when innocent Israeli lives are taken,” Baker said.

There was no immediate reaction from the Palestinian Authority.

Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a leader of Hamas, said shootings and bombings would not stop. “The only way to liberate the land and the nation ... is resistance, first and foremost martyrdom operations,” he told the Arab satellite TV station Al Jazeera.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, with the help of Egypt, has been trying to persuade Hamas to stop attacks, at least during Israel’s election campaign. A first round of talks in Cairo ended inconclusively, but both sides had said negotiations were continuing.

On Nov. 4, a bomber from the Islamic Jihad group, a smaller rival of Hamas, blew himself up in a shopping mall in central Israel.

The Israeli army has reoccupied most Palestinian towns and cities in the West Bank to try to halt bombings that have marked the 26 months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

Don't feed the animals, Stephen.

What is the purpose of posting his name address and telephone number?

Are you encouraging prank calls or threats?

You are a disgrace to those who want peace in the region for both sides.

The asian woman who didn't want to be photographed? News flash, don't get kicked out of a speech on campus.

I hope Omar's assualt goes on his permant record and is available for an future employer willing to do a thorough background check.

this is a really unique picture

The US should untie the hands of Sharon. Roll the tanks and planes.

Free Israel.

Much of Likud is openly Nazi and calls for an expulsion of all Palestinians to Jordon (and what exactly was Likud's role in the creation of Hamas? Im expecting more Likud backed bus bombings before the election to guarantee a Sharon victory...).

People like Barak (much of the Labor party) say a two state solution could be possible if the "terror" stopped. There have been long periods over the past 40 years in which the movement to free Palestine was 100% peaceful and there was no return of occupied lands and no attempt to make the Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza Israeli citizens (most other countries do one of those two things after occupation). Now the Palestinians are back in the headlines in the West (maybe not in the best way but there were not too many protests in the US before the latest conflict started)

Who killed the peace process?
Wasnt that Yigal Amir a man the media has never called a terrorist?

Who provoked the latest riots by Palestinians?
Wasnt that Sharons visit to the Temple Mount with armed troops?

When more Palestinian civilians have been killed in the last year than Israeli civilians how can people get away with talking only about Palestinian violence having to stop?

Now millionaire neonazi Mr Shark wants to lock up a Palestinian student at Berkeley for damaging a disposable camera?
Hopefully the charges are dropped but I guess the rightwing proIsrael crowd wont be happy until all people of color are behind bars.... I dont know why he is so angry when he lives in the whitest most conservative part of SF where he never has to face real problems...

Taking a photograph in a public place is an example of free speech. Free speech is legal.

Pushing someone and breaking their camera is a felonly. It’s illegal.

These are simple concepts that most kids learn in civics class. Anyone who can’t grasp these simple concepts is probably incapable of understanding the complexities of the political conflicts in the Middle East.

As far as I know, it's a felonly, but it could be a misdemeanorly. In either case, it's illeglal.

It was only a matter of time before someone blamed Omar's trouble on Israel, Barak, Sharon, Bush, Arafat, etc etc.

People are responsible for their own actions.

CNN - "A suicide bomber killed 11 people and injured 50--including many schoolchildren--aboard a crowded Israeli commuter bus in Jerusalem. Killed in the terror attack were an 8-year-old, three teenagers and seven adults." Reuters reports that "witnesses said they heard children who had been on their way to school screaming 'Mamma, Mamma' from the wreckage." Hamas confessed to the atrocity.

CNN quotes Jerusalem's Mayor Ehud Olmert: "Every time I come to such a site, I can't escape the thought that a living person entered the bus, and he saw the young kid of 6, 7 years old sitting, and he blows him apart. This is something that you have to see to understand how terrible it is."

Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post quotes the murderer's father, Azmi Abu Hilail, who praises his son: "Our religion says we are proud of him until the day of resurrection. This is a challenge to the Zionist enemies." The Post doesn't spell out which religion the Abu Hilails practice, but I'm willing to bet a dollar it's a religion of peace.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/11/21/mideast/index.html

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=1781658

And someone who thinks that breaking someone's $10 disposable camera is a felony would know oh so much more about the conflict in the middle east?

Your lack of knowledge about your own governments' laws sound damn similar to that of the person you are denouncing. Maybe neither of these things has anything to do with knowing anything about Israel/Palestine? Just a thought....

It could be a felony robbery in California. Robbery is the taking and carrying away of the personal property of another by threat or force from his/her person with the intent to deprive permanently.

"Carrying away" means, nowadays, any movement away from the location it was. Destruction of the camera will satisfy "intent to deprive permanently." If Omar Chaikhouni did rip it out of his hands, that is enough force for robbery. The value of the property actually doesn't affect robbery's severity (much).

So Omar is probably in royally deep S**t, which is probably where he belongs, since he does our side no good, because we're already stereotyped by the Zionists as anti-semitic, violent assholes.

Does that mean you guys will be airbrushing Omar out of your photos?

At the end of World War II, with the revelation of the Nazis death camps, American and European politicians' excuse for inaction was "They didn't know."

The excuse of most Germans was, "They didn't know."

Well, this time the world knows that the Arabs are deliberately murdering Israeli women, children and non-combatants. This is not "collateral" attacks. This is the deliberate targeting of civilians.

And unlike the Germans, the Arabs know, and cheer and dance in the streets and hand out candy. The Nazis tried to hide their acts; they had guilty consciences. The Arabs celebrate murder.

In a poll last week, 75 percent of Palestinians support homicide bombings against Israeli civilians.

The Palestinians think they can destroy Israel, via an indiscriminate campaign of mass murder against innocent Israeli civilians.

Here is the difference between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israelis don't call for murdering children and women, the Arabs do.

Israelis don't strap bombs to themselves, to murder women and defenseless civilians. The Arabs do.

Israel dont tell its people, that if you kill Arabs, you will go to heaven and be with 72 virgins. The Arabs do.

Only the Pal Arabs consider a violent uprising that solely involves killing children in a mall, bus or disco and then celebrate afterwards.

The way Arabs think. The way to get honor and respect, is when you blow yourself up along with some innocent Jewish mothers and babies, your picture will be plastered on posters throughout your hometown. Your family will acquire a revered place in society and will also receive $25,000 in American currency from Saddam Hussein. You meanwhile, will get to fulfill all of your wildest and repressed sexual fantasies with 72 virgins in heaven.

Your concern should be, why dont the Palestinians care there own children.

Seeing the reaction of the Palestinian families after their son/daughter, becomes a suicide bomber and murders Israeli civilians. I wonder, when these children are born, or if the parents are looking into some maternity ward in a West Bank hospital, what are they thinking.

Oh look at all the beautiful little bombs!" "Is that one yours? What a cute little bomb, she has your eyes,"
"I'll bet you'll be able to wrap a lot of explosives around him when he's older"

The shocking pic of the 2 month old Palestinian baby dressed as a suicide bomber, has shown the sadism the Arabs teach there children.

Arafat has raised an entire generation to believe that the highest aspiration in life is to kill Jews. The Palestinians are engaged in an unremitting campaign of targetted murder of women and children. When the Palestinians massacre Israeli school children on buses, and babies in baby carriages, they celebrate. They have raised an entire generation to believe that the the highest cultural and religious value is the massacre of Jews. Through the Arabs hate, an entire generation has lost the capacity for humanity.

Name the last time Israelis intentionally killed Palestinian children, and then rejoiced over or justified it in the name of religion?

The facts are that two years ago Israel offered the Palestinians a sovereign state in the West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem as its capital. Barak offered the Palestinians a state, something no Arab country ever did. Barak did this, even though the Palestinians never controlled this land. The response has been the continued murder of Israeli civilians. As a Palestinian organization confirmed in a poll reported last week by the AP, a majority of Palestians view the objective of their fight not to control the West Bank and Gaza, but destruction of Israel. This is what the Palestinians want.

Arafat's speech in Sweden in 1996.
Arafat’s speech in front of 40 Arab diplomats in the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 30, 1996. Was called "The Impending Collapse of Israel".

"We will take over everything including all of Jerusalem," he declared repeatedly. Arafat's plan has two main components aimed to cause the Jews to abandon Israel. "Within five years we will have six to seven million Arabs living on the West Bank and in Jerusalem. Arafat explained that this will be the beginning of a pressure campaign resulting within a few years in Israel's ultimate destruction. "You understand that we plan to eliminate the State of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian State. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion; Jews will not want to live among us Arabs!"

On the same day in 1993 on which Yasser Arafat signed the Declaration of
Principles on the White House lawn, he spoke the following words on Jordan TV:
"Since we cannot defeat Israel in war we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel."

Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin says, that the date of the establishment of the Islamist state in Palestine, will be built on the ruins of Israel in 2027.

Who wants genocide, I'll let you judge. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-120601holy.story
Sheikh Muhammed Siyam, a Hamas military leader said this.
"I've been told to restrict or restrain what I say. I hope no one is recording me or taking any pictures, as none are allowed, because I'm going to speak the truth to you," Siyam reportedly said at the conference. "It's simple. Finish off the Israelis. Kill them all! Exterminate them! No peace ever! Do not bother to talk politics."

The late Faisal Husseini, Arafat's Jerusalem representative, a man who was cultured, sophisticated and considered the most moderate of all the Palestinians, shortly before his death on May 31, 2001, expressed his true feelings in an interview with the popular Egyptian newspaper el Arav.

Husseini said: "We must distinguish the strategies and long-term goals from the political-phased goals which we are compelled to accept due to international pressures." But the "ultimate goal is the liberation of all of historical Palestine."

Explicitly he said: "Oslo has to be viewed as a Trojan Horse."

He even added and clarified that it is the obligation of all the Palestinian forces and factions to see the Oslo Accords as "temporary" steps. Husseini went on to say, Israel wont exist in 20 years.

Sari Nusseibeh is another supposed Palestinian moderate.

In an interview on Al-Jazeera television on July 14, translated by Memri. Nusseibeh praised everyone involved in jihad against Israel. Explaining that he did not want to pass moral judgment on the murderers when he signed a petition a month earlier calling for an end to suicide bombers, Nusseibeh said that terrorism presents no moral dilemma, it is only a question of whether or not "political benefit" accrues from killing Israeli civilians.

I would like to know why you are obsessed with Israel and the Palestinians and why it never occured to you to act against the Syrian occupation of Lebanon[There are 30,000 Syrian soldiers in the country ],protest against the ethnic cleansing of millions of Christian Sudanese by Muslims in Sudan ,say something against Morroco's occupation of the Western Sahara,try to help millions of Ethiopians facing famine and so on?

It's pretty clear and simple why it would make sense to do that. US people should be *aware* of all world events, and a lot of times they aren't, but it logically makes the most sense to protest or 'petition the US gov't for redress of grievances' for actions that the US is engaged in, or is using our tax money for. We have a moral responsibility for things that are done in our name.
The US never sent money or troops to Syria to help them enter lebanon and kill people. Holding a protest here would be pretty ineffectual in stopping anything in Syria or Lebanon because how are people over there going to here that some Californians are protesting them - would they have to rely on the California news bureau of a Syrian news outlet? This is especially true when a country committing atrocities is already an official enemy of the US. For instance, the Soviet union invaded Afghanistan, and then the US gave all sorts of arms and money to the Mujaheddin to fight the war. It would make a lot more sense for an american to protest the US influence in this conflict because that is our government, and we shouldn't have been involved. This does not imply that the same protesters had no problem with the Soviet union going into Afghanistan either - the USSR already knew that the USA wasn't happy with them, and a protest in the US wouldn't do shit.
it's a pretty logical principle.

From http://ca.news.yahoo.com/020627/5/nbk9.html :

"The United States provides no direct funding to the Palestinian Authority but has funnelled millions of dollars in aid to humanitarian and development projects."

So, the U.S. is in fact "using our tax money for" the Palestinians. Much less than Israel gets, but even so, perhaps you should start spreading your protesting around a bit.

"Holding a protest here would be pretty ineffectual in stopping anything in Syria or Lebanon because how are people over there going to here that some Californians are protesting them..."

Don't sell yourself short! Why, I bet if you protested in front of embassies or the UN or the like, put up web pages, complained to Amnesty International, and did all those other things that people have been doing for decades, you might manage to obtain a slightly less amoral position.

Yeah, you can watch him go to jail for committing a crime.

It seems pretty obvious that the real intentions of many activists are to just interfer with other people's constitutional rights and their cause is just a way to bully people. A while bavk students at Berkely denied people the right to free assembly by making access to a speak given by Netinyahu literally impossible. They called this a "success" people who care about civil liberties are outraged by this, only facists would celebrate it

I would just like to make it clear to everyone that the "Palestinian" man is actually an American born in Ohio!

It's too bad college-age Americans can be misguided so easily into supporting the PA.

The Palestinians certainly deserve deserve a place to live, and a better situation than they have now. However the leadership (Arafat) insists on violence as a solution. His words of peace shouldn't fool anyone anymore. The suicide bombers & other terrorists kill with disregard for the victims - which to me is terrorism. The Israelis try not to kill innocents in their campaigns which is a major difference.

If the Palestinians want to stop the violence & deal for peace, Israel would do the same. (Although it would be difficult to believe Arafat's word - Israelis need actual deeds) It is the PA leadership that is unwilling to stop the violence & negotiate for real. And many blame the Jewish Israelis.

The saying "you're not paranoid if they're really after you" certainly holds true for Jews in Israel. I'm convinced there is nothing they can do (other than give up the country) that will meet with the approval of their critics.

Meanwhile Israel is the only nation in the otherwise Islamic Middle East (I'd say Lebanon is now mostly Islamic) that permit free speech, democracy & freedom of religion. Should we blame them if they can't permit suicide bombers & giving up land until their tiny country becomes indefensible from hostile neighboring countries that refuse to even recognize or do business with them?

I decided to comment on a few of the comments:

Joao - excellent post. I recall Golda Mier saying that "It will end when the Arabs love their children more than they hate Israel"

Greenie, you are well intentioned, but I believe misguided.

For one, you state that we must be courageous to stand up for our beliefs. Then you state the world opinion is with you. Where is the courage in standing in the majority? The point I suppose is to stand up for what is right.

If you read true historical accounts of how the Jews acquired the lands they now occupy, you may understand it was acquired legally, morally, and ethically. It is a myth that a Palestinian people were settled there since the time of the diaspora (~70AD). Most of the land was in awful shape & the majority of Palestinian families arrived after Jewish settlers had made the land livable & started some industry. I don't believe the UN agreed to the "right of return" for Palestinians and certainly it's not part of any deal that Israel has agreed to.

After the horrors of the Holocaust, (for which England & USA deserve blame for not accepting Jewish refugees and not disabling the camps sooner - this has become generally aknowledged as the worst stain on FDR's otherwise fine presidency.) The UN voted to partition Israel & Palestine. Then over the next decades there were wars, all begun by Arab anti-Israeli aggression. If Palestinians had not fought to conquer Israel, they would have a country now. If Arafat had agreed to Israel's generous offer a few years ago, Palestinians would have a country now. Arafat apparently wants no part of peace with Israel - he would rather sacrifice his people & keep playing the victim.

Unlike what you believe, Israel is a true democracy, there is no genocide, no aparthied, there is freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom for women, and separation of church & state. Few countries in the world outside of Europe & the Americas can claim these rights & no others in the Middle East. Israeli government is primarily Jewish, similar to how the US Government is primarily Protestant. "Ethnic cleansing, stealing land, lying about everything, slow genocide, oppressing people because of their religion, race or sex" more accurately describes the Arab nations.

So why is much of the world against Israel? Did it ever occur to you that taking a stand for Israel & risking pissing off the much larger Arab & World population takes courage? That it may risk the oil supply from many of these countries? That perhaps there are countries that are willing to compromise their morals for benifits like better relations with oil-rich nations such as Saudi Arabia? aybe their not fully to blame - the USA is the superpower of the world. Other nations perhaps don't feel powerful enough to take a stand. Some 20 years ago every country officially critisized Israel for bombing the Iraqi Nuclear facility. It's not what people really thought. I bet even the other Arab leaders breathed a sigh of relief afterwards.

Yes it may take courage to stand up for what is right. Thank god America is up to that challenge.

Analysis: Hamas history tied to Israel
By Richard Sale
UPI Terrorism Correspondent
From the International Desk
Published 6/18/2002 8:13 PM


In the wake of a suicide bomb attack Tuesday on a crowded Jerusalem city bus that killed 19 people and wounded at least 70 more, the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, took credit for the blast.

Israeli officials called it the deadliest attack in Jerusalem in six years.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon immediately vowed to fight "Palestinian terror" and summoned his cabinet to decide on a military response to the organization that Sharon had once described as "the deadliest terrorist group that we have ever had to face."

Active in Gaza and the West Bank, Hamas wants to liberate all of Palestine and establish a radical Islamic state in place of Israel. It is has gained notoriety with its assassinations, car bombs and other acts of terrorism.

But Sharon left something out.

Israel and Hamas may currently be locked in deadly combat, but, according to several current and former U.S. intelligence officials, beginning in the late 1970s, Tel Aviv gave direct and indirect financial aid to Hamas over a period of years.

Israel "aided Hamas directly -- the Israelis wanted to use it as a counterbalance to the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization)," said Tony Cordesman, Middle East analyst for the Center for Strategic Studies.

Israel's support for Hamas "was a direct attempt to divide and dilute support for a strong, secular PLO by using a competing religious alternative," said a former senior CIA official.

According to documents United Press International obtained from the Israel-based Institute for Counter Terrorism, Hamas evolved from cells of the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928. Islamic movements in Israel and Palestine were "weak and dormant" until after the 1967 Six Day War in which Israel scored a stunning victory over its Arab enemies.

After 1967, a great part of the success of the Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood was due to their activities among the refugees of the Gaza Strip. The cornerstone of the Islamic movements success was an impressive social, religious, educational and cultural infrastructure, called Da'wah, that worked to ease the hardship of large numbers of Palestinian refugees, confined to camps, and many who were living on the edge.

"Social influence grew into political influence," first in the Gaza Strip, then on the West Bank, said an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

According to ICT papers, Hamas was legally registered in Israel in 1978 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the movement's spiritual leader, as an Islamic Association by the name Al-Mujamma al Islami, which widened its base of supporters and sympathizers by religious propaganda and social work.

According to U.S. administration officials, funds for the movement came from the oil-producing states and directly and indirectly from Israel. The PLO was secular and leftist and promoted Palestinian nationalism. Hamas wanted to set up a transnational state under the rule of Islam, much like Khomeini's Iran.

What took Israeli leaders by surprise was the way the Islamic movements began to surge after the Iranian revolution, after armed resistance to Israel sprang up in southern Lebanon vis-à-vis the Hezbollah, backed by Iran, these sources said.

"Nothing provides the energy for imitation as much as success," commented one administration expert.

A further factor of Hamas' growth was the fact the PLO moved its base of operations to Beirut in the '80s, leaving the Islamic organization to grow in influence in the Occupied Territories "as the court of last resort," he said.

When the intifada began, Israeli leadership was surprised when Islamic groups began to surge in membership and strength. Hamas immediately grew in numbers and violence. The group had always embraced the doctrine of armed struggle, but the doctrine had not been practiced and Islamic groups had not been subjected to suppression the way groups like Fatah had been, according to U.S. government officials.

But with the triumph of the Khomeini revolution in Iran, with the birth of Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorism in Lebanon, Hamas began to gain in strength in Gaza and then in the West Bank, relying on terror to resist the Israeli occupation.

Israel was certainly funding the group at that time. One U.S. intelligence source who asked not to be named said that not only was Hamas being funded as a "counterweight" to the PLO, Israeli aid had another purpose: "To help identify and channel towards Israeli agents Hamas members who were dangerous terrorists."

In addition, by infiltrating Hamas, Israeli informers could only listen to debates on policy and identify Hamas members who "were dangerous hard-liners," the official said.

In the end, as Hamas set up a very comprehensive counterintelligence system, many collaborators with Israel were weeded out and shot. Violent acts of terrorism became the central tenet, and Hamas, unlike the PLO, was unwilling to compromise in any way with Israel, refusing to acquiesce in its very existence.

But even then, some in Israel saw some benefits to be had in trying to continue to give Hamas support: "The thinking on the part of some of the right-wing Israeli establishment was that Hamas and the others, if they gained control, would refuse to have any part of the peace process and would torpedo any agreements put in place," said a U.S. government official who asked not to be named.

"Israel would still be the only democracy in the region for the United States to deal with," he said.

All of which disgusts some former U.S. intelligence officials.

"The thing wrong with so many Israeli operations is that they try to be too sexy," said former CIA official Vincent Cannestraro.

According to former State Department counter-terrorism official Larry Johnson, "the Israelis are their own worst enemies when it comes to fighting terrorism."

"The Israelis are like a guy who sets fire to his hair and then tries to put it out by hitting it with a hammer."

"They do more to incite and sustain terrorism than curb it," he said.

Aid to Hamas may have looked clever, "but it was hardly designed to help smooth the waters," he said. "An operation like that gives weight to President George Bush's remark about there being a crisis in education."

Cordesman said that a similar attempt by Egyptian intelligence to fund Egypt's fundamentalists had also come to grief because of "misreading of the complexities."

An Israeli defense official was asked if Israel had given aid to Hamas said, "I am not able to answer that question. I was in Lebanon commanding a unit at the time, besides it is not my field of interest."

Asked to confirm a report by U.S. officials that Brig. Gen. Yithaq Segev, the military governor of Gaza, had told U.S. officials he had helped fund "Islamic movements as a counterweight to the PLO and communists," the official said he could confirm only that he believed Segev had served back in 1986.

The Israeli Embassy press office referred UPI to its Web site when asked to comment.

I don't know what you guys are doing here. I'm looking through this site to get something out of this world for the next issue of my zine. But your comments are too good for this site. It's not fun!

i am quite disturbed that this Palestinan conflict is not resolved; I live thousands of miles away and it burns me that my government supports a government that denies people their basic rights. Israel truly does not want to live in peace if it continues to settle in the west bank. the real question remains how many millions if not billions of dollars does it take to convince washington that Palestineans are humans too. let's get to the root cause of this problem and solve it for once and for all. peace be upon you (asalamalaykum)
P.S. Barak can be compared to any Hamas leader; but then again you will not see them speaking at Berkley

when you only hear one side of the story like we repeatedly hear day in and day out abou how the poor israeli's can't leave their homes in fear of terrorism i have to wonder how have the palestineans must of felt for the past 50 years. peace be upon ypu all

Details about Detained Man?
by Iris M. • Wednesday November 20, 2002 at 12:41 PM
irismontgomery [at] hotmail.com


Does anyone have details about the man that was detained yesterday after the Barak protest? Is there anything that we can do?
----------------------------------------------------

Fuck him. I hope you all rot.

i am quite disturbed that this Palestinan conflict is not resolved; I live thousands of miles away and it burns me that my government supports a government that denies people their basic rights."

I agree with the later sentiment. So where are the protesters to stop aid to Egypt and Pakistan?? Where?

--"So where are the protesters to stop aid to Egypt and Pakistan?? Where?"

I didn't realize Egypt was occupying anyone -- let alone killing people on a daily basis for territorial expansion. I didn't realize we were aiding Pakistan.

Egypt's aid is strictly controlled. Israel can do anything it wants to with its aid. Not only that, a lot of the aid is stealth aid like loans which are covered by the US and always forgiven.

Let's stop aiding Israel to the tune of 5-12 Billion dollars per year. We can't afford it and it subsidizes Israeli aggression.

Israel IS a democracy. Why are you not expending the same amount of effort in sanctioning and boycotting Saudi Arabia/Jordan/Seria/Egypt/Lybia/Morocco/Iraq/Iran?

Why does Israel get the pleasure of your singular attention? Human rights violations and attrocities take place in all these Arab countries on a regular basis,. Women are subjugated; the masses are kept ignorant and impoverished. Yet you choose to ignore it all, and instead focus your (hopefully impotent) efforts against Israel; the only democracy in the area.

Is it perhaps a matter of "that's where the street light is" (i.e. innocent ignorance on your part), or something more malevolent?

--"Why does Israel get the pleasure of your singular attention?"

Israel should be singled out because it is singled out by US foreign policy for special treatment. I don't want my money going to that racist state. No other country in the world gets anywhere near the amount of money Israel gets from us -- around $150 billion dollars to date.

I understand your tactics ("or something more malevolent" referring to my intentions), but claiming people who oppose helping Israel in its race war are anti-Semitic is getting real old and won't work anymore.

Richard Sale is probably correct: Israel had a hand in the creation of the evil entity called Hamas.

Just one thing to point out: it wasn't Tel-Aviv that did this; it was Jerusalem. Just as it wasn't Boston that funded the Afghani Mujahedin in their struggle against the USSR, but rather Washington.

The legitimate capital of Israel is Jerusalem. Always was; always will be.

Thirteen Points on Resistance and Terror


Dr. Eyad El Sarraj


GAZA CITY (PC) - 1. Palestine is a question of brutal denial of all basic human rights including the right to life, to identity, to land and to freedom.

2. Palestinians have every right to defend their rights and resist the Israeli occupation and its terrorist military regimes.


3. Resistance in all forms against the armed colonial settlers and the army of occupation is a legitimate form of the struggle for freedom.

4. The just cause of the Palestinians does not justify killing Israeli children, women and civilians. Such acts against humanity equate the victim with aggressor, and undermine the Palestinians higher moral grounds.

5. Islam and all religions are all about protecting life. Human dignity is one and undivided. Killing one child on either side is equivalent to murder of all human beings.

6. Suicide bombing is an act of ultimate despair, a horrific reaction to a very inhuman living in a seriously damaged environment of hopelessness. Suicide bombing is the ultimate cry of help.

7. The last two years have only proved that Palestinian violence was used as a justification for further Israeli terror and destruction of life and house. Violence has terrorized both communities, deepened the hatred, and radicalized both nations in fear and paranoia. Violence has thrown the two societies into a vicious tribal revenge. People have thus become hostage to politicians and their terror and manipulations.

8. We believe that the best form of resistance is the none-violent form of struggle. Palestinian and Israeli masses should rise together against evil.

9. The ultimate political solution would have to be just, fair and implementable. In the core of any settlement lies the wise vision of peace. Only courageous leaders can fulfill the promise.

10. Israeli military occupation of Palestinian land is the root of all evil. The American unconditional support to Israel in violating UN Security Council resolutions and stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction is hypocritical, evil, and will continue to be a source of conflict with Arabs and Muslims.

11. The West should know that the Jewish problem is not yet solved, will not be solved until the Palestinian legitimate rights are restored and protected.

12. The war in Iraq will be seized by the racist military regime in Israel headed by the trio of Sharon, Netanyahu, and Mofaz as an opportunity to finish the 1948 war of independence, namely to steal more land by driving Palestinians out and force the rest into living in apartheid buntestans. This is not fiction. This is what the Israeli army chief of staff declared. He is the same man who said that Palestinians are a cancer which needs a more radical treatment than just chemotherapy of bombing!

13. Enlightened Jews, Palestinians and Friends of peace and justice every where should rise above the ocean of hatred and division and should be united in their struggle to achieve their noble goals.

Dr. El Sarraj is the head of Gaza Community Mental Health Program, and a regular contributor to the Palestine Chronicle

Is it on the Web somewhere?

everyone complains that israel is the only democracy in the middle east and that other middle eastern countries violate their citizens . i do not think so . i have lived in the middle east and can tell you that the average person in egypt lives well and if you talk about how america keeps these puppet governments in power for a reasion is it to keep the masses from taking control of their own countries. also, since isrtael is the only democracy in the middle east that gives them the right to occupy a people. People get smart. we live in a world where money speaks. you want to know why palestine is still occupied it is because th ejewish lobby is the biggest in washington so if want a free palestine you better start lobbying our politicians with a lot of money.

Hey Hey HO HO Arafat has to go !

End the Occupation of Israel ! Stop Falestinian Settlements ! Followers of David Duke, we are not fooled, Israel is the underdog!

Jerusalem is the capital...

of Palestine.

I agree completely that we should end ALL aid to the terrorist, brutal government of Israel - but try telling that to our elected congress people - they blather on about Israel's security and "unnecessary pressures on Israel" - at least that's what Patty Murray told me. Our country has blood on our hands just as much as Israel, but our politicians are controlled by Israel's lobby and by our largely Jewish owned and/or controlled mass media. See the books by former congressman from Illinois Paul Findley: They Dare to Speak Out, Deliberate Deceptions, and Silent No More.

why aren't there Pictures of the INNOCENT CIVILIANS MURDERED BY PALESTINIANS?

struggle against slavery! struggle for truth!

http://www.columbiadontdivest.org/boston_globe.asp

Everyone's death is its own tragedy, and atrocity does not excuse atrocity.

Those of you justifying some atrocities with others, are the real enemies of humanity.

No wonder our kids can't spell.

"you want to know why palestine is still occupied it is because th ejewish lobby is the biggest in washington..."

No it is not. The National Association of Manufacturers, Chambers of Commerce, etc. etc. etc. all give more money than the "Jewish lobby".