ZIONIST GENOCIDE !!!!!!!!!!!! : Cleveland IMC (((i)))

the past 24 hours, Israeli occupation forces massacred 21 Palestinians including six children and a cameraman for Reuters. In the same period Israeli forces also attacked and damaged El Wafa Medical Rehabilitation Hospital and the damage does cause conditions that endanger lives (e.g. damaging power and essential medical equipement that cannot be replaced due to the siege). Patients denied access to medical care are still dying in Gaza due to the brutal siege. Abu Mazen and others who are trying to please the Israeli government (the 800 pound Gorilla in the room) continue to claim that the fault lies with Hamas for the concentration-camp-like of the Gaza strip. But creating a concentration camp with occasional runs by US-supplied weapons to kill civilians and destroy essential infrastructure is a war crime and a crime against humanity and there are no excuses per International law.

Israel intensified the attacks to send a political message to President Jimmy Carter who is meeting with all leaders willing to meet with him including Hamas. Israeli authorities and their stooges shunned the ex-president, refused him entrance to the Gaza strip, and intensified their media attacks/vilification. The three candidates for US President (Clinton, Obama, McCain) dutifully obeyed the Israel-first lobby in the US by also denouncing the peace efforts of Carter. (Obama who said he would meet with leaders of Iran claimed to self-appointed "Jewish leaders" in Pennsylvania that we should not meet with Hamas until they fulfill conditions that the Israeli government refuses (renounce violence, accept the other side, abide by signed agreements). Meanwhile, ex-Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu claimed that "We [Zionists/Israel] are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq" and added that these events "swung American public opinion in our favor" (1). But I think he is wrong at least on the second part, I think in the long run the truth is very costly to hide and will be discovered by most people. Let me give you examples.

The chorus of public discontent is rising and the media and politicians cannot continue to ignore it. In the US and Canada, alternative Jewish voices are getting organized in forming lobbies to counteract the Israel-first right wing lobbies. Boycotts, divestments, and sanctions are spreading like wildfire prompting Israeli authorities (both in an out of Israel) to divert significant resources to combat these efforts. The ensuing discussions only act to expose Israeli apartheid. The Nakba events and commemorations are raising significant awareness about the 60 year process of ethnic cleansing that is continuing and was and is intended to create a more homogenous Jewish state in a land that was and is inhabited by Christians, Muslims, and others. For example, LeftTurn just had an issue devoted to the Nakba including excellent articles about Refugees and about the upcoming August Popular Palestine conference in Chicago (2).

It is gratifying to see Nobel Peace Prize-winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu endorses the Nov. 2008 anti-apartheid organizing tour of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (3).

It is nice to see for a change fair coverage of the demonstration that challenged Zionism in the center of the highest concentration of Zionists in the US (4). It was also gratifying that other local newspapers are publishing our letters to the editor on such subjects (5).

It is nice to see the Huffington Post ridicule the front page coverage in the LA times about Obama's "Palestinian Connections" (6).

It is nice to see a new survey shows public in Arab world becoming even more opposed to the US and Israel (and thus at odds with their governments) despite over hundreds of millions spent by the US to sway public opinion in the Arab and Islamic world to support their (political Zionist) agenda (7)

And it is nice to see that those who support apartheid and racism on college campuses are frustrated; see for example what this person reports in Israel's right wing newspaper about the University of Texas in Austin (8).

These examples are of tens of thousands. The chorus is getting louder and will become deafening when more US citizens find out how their economy was fleeced.

ACTION: Donate to help Palestinian Refugees: Friends of UNRWA Association, Inc.
http://www.friendsunrwa.org/donate.html

and speak out!!

Attend and organize events. Sample upcoming events in the next 10 days (hope to see you there)

Thursday April 17 , 7 PM
Philly Remembers Al-Nakba: 60 Days for 60 Years
The Western “Peace Process” & the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Lecture by Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh
Golkin Room is on the 2nd floor., Houston Hall, 3417 Spruce St., Univ of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

April 18-19 Living Stones Conference
Seattle, WA
http://www.livingstonesconference.org/

Saturday, April 19 at 4 pm
Western Connecticut Peace activist meeting (email me if interested)

Saturday, April 19 7:30 PM
Palestinians in CT meeting (email me for details)

April 25-27
Sabeel Conference in Philadelphia
http://www.fosna.org/conferences_and_trips/PhiladelphiaConferenceFlyer.htm

April 27 6:30 PM
Irish American Club, 177 West St., Malden, MA 02148
Palestinian Night with Dr. Elaine Hagopian and Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh

April 25-26, 2008
Tufts University – Medford, MA
A New England United Conference: END THE WAR(S) ABROAD AND AT HOME
CHARTING A PATH FOR 2008

NOTES:
1) http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/975574.html

2) http://leftturn.org/?q=currentissue

3) For more info, please see: http://www.endtheoccupation.org
Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrgGW5Q-f7s

4) Protestors at street fair denounce Zionism
http://www.teanecksuburbanite.com/NC/0/98.html

5) Letter to the editor published in North Jersey Record April 13, 2008
http://www.northjersey.com/news/nationalpolitics/17572724.html?c=y&page=2

6) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-wiener/breaking-news-obama-met-p_b_96115.html
Original LA Times article at http://tinyurl.com/4hp855

7) http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9458.shtml

8) http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1208246577144&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
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Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
http://qumsiyeh.org
http://peace-action.org
http://justicewheels.org
http://palestineconference.org

Cleveland Indy Media Center