Underwear Bomber Palestinian Connection

Here is a very interesting opinion piece from the Irish Times (of all places) that connects the dots that US government officials won’t between the underwear bomber, the suicide bomber who killed 7 CIA agents in Afghanistan on December 30 and the Israeli treatment, with US support, of Palestinians.

“It would be easy to dismiss Balawi’s suicide bombing as merely another round in the cycle of revenge between US and al-Qaeda. But clues to Abdulmutallab and Balawi’s motives are there if you search for them. There was a photograph of the solemn, baby-faced Abdulmutallab, wearing a red polar fleece at what appeared to be a London demonstration against the Israeli bombing of Gaza. One of Balawi’s brothers told the New York Times that Balawi was changed by the Israeli assault on Gaza, which killed 1,300 Palestinians.”

Part of me wishes our economy would completely collapse so that my tax dollars would not be used to support the US’s failed foreign policy.

Zero Degrees of Separation

I saw part of a most interesting documentary the other day. Unfortunately I was not able to stay awake and watch the whole thing but I wanted to share. Here is a clip.

"Zero Degrees of Separation looks at the Middle East conflict and the Palestinian Occupation through the eyes of mixed Palestinian and Israeli gay and lesbian couples. Ezra is agains the Occupation, yet he’s and Israeli. His partner, Selim, is a Palestinian whose protests against the Occupation landed him in jail at age 15. Ezra is a simple plumber whose courage and cheek take on prophet-like proportions as he travels across the country risking his life to protest the walls, fences and military checkpoints that divide them. Interwoven with their stories is footage of Elle Flanders’ grandparents, who were intimately involved in the founding of the state of Israel. Through these home movies, Flanders artfully retraces her grandparents’ travels as they tour a fledgling nation brimming with pioneering joyous youth, immigrants, refugees and endless open vistas of the Holy Land, contrasting the ideals at the birth of the “holy land “ with the reality of today’s Israel, a country mired in the rubble of Occupation."



If I can't find it again on TV or at the library I will probably buy a copy.

edit: I have corrected misspellings

The Conflict

Here is a good article about Israeli/Palestinian conflict. It’s about the UN Relief and Work Agency that has been providing aid to Palestinian refugees for 60 years.
“ We have a million refugees in Gaza, 80% are aid dependent, and we have to advocate against this cruel collective punishment that is making life so miserable," said Mr Gunness.
"Let's be clear: this is not a humanitarian crisis caused by natural disaster. This is a humanitarian crisis of choice, of a direct political choice," he added"

Here is another one about some of the more recent fighting about a year ago.
“It was the start of an offensive that lasted for three weeks. The Israeli army says it killed 1,166 Palestinians. The Palestinian health ministry's count is about 1,500. B'Tselem, the Israeli human rights group, says that Israel killed 1,387 Palestinians during the war; more than half of them were civilians, and 252 of them were children.
Israeli attacks also did huge physical damage in Gaza to homes, businesses and the rest of the infrastructure of daily life.
Nine Israelis, including three civilians, were killed by Palestinian fire. Four others, all Israeli soldiers, were killed by their own side. Hamas rockets did little physical damage in Israel.”

The disparity in lives lost and damage done is unsettling. I think these two articles are good examples of what some people are upset about. All Americans need to be made aware of what is going on. Especially when so many of our tax dollars support them.

Harvesting Organs

Just wow. I wonder if we do this:

ISRAEL has admitted that in the 1990s, its forensic pathologists harvested organs from dead bodies, including Palestinians, without their families' permission.

The issue emerged with publication of an interview with the then-head of Israel's Abu Kabir forensic institute, Jehuda Hiss. The interview was conducted in 2000 by an American academic, who released it because of a huge controversy last summer over an allegation by a Swedish newspaper that Israel was killing Palestinians to harvest their organs. Israel hotly denied the charge.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/israeli-army-admits-stealing-organs/story-e6frev00-1225812349031