Israel is our Friend, The Holocaust is Justification for Everything they Do.

[pan]

Apparently the German F.M. Steinmeier and the U.S. State Department have coordinated their talking points and claim that any criticism of Israel is disguised anti-semitism.

[curt]

Israeli "Settlements" in Gaza.....

Jerusalem.....

...the West Bank in colour, looks like a cancer ;

[hannah j]

just a sampling of information about water resources in israel and palestine and the disproportionate use of same.
i once saw a whole program on this and always wonder why it isn't discussed in every conversation about palestine


http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060626/taamallah
Under Olmert's plan, Israel aims to keep the two main Palestinian West Bank aquifers: the lower Jordan River basin in the east, and the eastern mountain aquifer, trapped behind Israel's wall in the west. This will force Palestinians to depend on Israel for water, preserving the status quo, a dramatically unjust division of water resources.

One example of this vastly unequal division of water resources is my West Bank village of Qira. Every summer the Israeli company that supplies water to our village and that provides about 53 percent of the total Palestinian domestic water supply deliberately cuts off our water, thus generating a crisis. Last year Qira, a village of 1,000 residents, had no water for more than three continuous weeks, despite the summer heat.

http://www.grassrootsonline.org/news/articles/west-bank-wall-elevat...
The World Health Organization records that Israel uses 83% of the water in the West Bank. After the vast majority of water is expropriated from their land, only 17% is left for Palestinians. As a whole, Palestinians presently use only one quarter of the water consumed by Israelis and one third of their Jordanian neighbors, according to a study by the Palestinian Hydrology Group. Water use in Israeli settlements, deemed illegal by international law and the world community, exacerbates the situation. On average, Israeli settlers are allowed 2,400 cubic meters of water per capita per year. This number is 48 times greater than the 50 cubic meter average allotted to a Palestinian civilian. To add insult to injury, oftentimes sewage runoffs from hilltop settlements compromise the health and limited water access of the Palestinian villages located beneath.


http://www.mideastweb.org/precdmap.htm
Map of Israeli offer prior to the Camp David Summit. A link to a map showing the current situation is given beneath it.

[waldopaper]

Maybe John really did see something in Revelation. Looking at these maps, it's not hard to imagine neighborhood-level warfare with heavy weapons (described by someone with 1st-century-bce technology). The red-blue West Bank map looks a lot like the "librul-consurvutiv" mix in the county where I live. Except the county is a bit larger than the West Bank.

[hannah j]

http://www.counterpunch.org/heller01132009.html

Time to Play Hardball
Why It's Useless to Lobby Congress on Gaza

By STANLEY HELLER

The U.S.A. is reportedly a democracy. It just had an election so Congress candidates made some effort to take the public pulse. And there are the polls. The Rasmussen poll on Dec. 31 reported that only a bare plurality of Americans supported Israel’s all out war on Gaza. Less than 1/3 of the triumphant Democratic voters support the attack and Rasmussen reports only 55% of them consider Israel to be a U.S. ally at all.

Given this we would expect that when AIPAC told its attack dogs in Congress to sponsor the usual fawning resolution of support for Israel there would be heated debate and open opposition. But no, the spineless bottom feeders declared their “unwavering commitment to Israel” and to its “right to self-defense”. There was not a word about the siege, not a word about sewage flowing in the streets, not a word about the five sisters slaughtered while they slept, not a word about the bombing of the UN school, and not a mention of the children starving alongside the corpses of their parents.

The vote in the Senate was said to be unanimous. It was just a voice vote. No senator asked that the vote be recorded. In the House five voted, “No”. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Gwen Moore (D-WI), Ron Paul ( R-TX), Nick Rahal (D-WVA), Maxine Waters (D-CA). 390 wretches voted “Yes” and 36 others voted ”Present” or “Not Voting”.

The election of Obama has not meant one iota of difference. Bush at his zenith didn’t get a stronger vote for Israel. One call from Obama to Pelosi or Reid and the resolution would have been shelved, but he didn’t lift a finger for the Palestinians. Instead he “monitored” the situation. Can we impeach him before he takes office?

more at link!

[curt]

"The election of Obama has not meant one iota of difference."

Well....................

There ya go. Some trufe for the plain folk. Come tomorrow, everything gonna change. All ya gotta do is believe !

Loved your TV appearance btw. You guys looked real good to me. Good folk and homies to boot. You'll be in T-town by now. Your partner in Q-town. Nice and warm when the sun shines. Cold at night. Kinda cold. Not really cold. I have fam in T-town and in CG.

[hannah j]

Thanks! the winter me you see! I wish everyone would put a little video of themselves!

I won't be in tucson till about the 29th, or 30th, patrick should be there by then. You went to a reunion there i remember! the gem show used to be really exciting, people from all over the world, it changed radically after 2001. every year, more chinese sellers. undercutting everyone, and copying designs. buying in such quantities that you had to get in early to find small quantities which we use. the last four years we worked for these great guys from mumbai, and we saw more and more cheap crap in the booths around us. we all decided that we didn't need a location this year, they still have theirs, and they do a great business because they choose so well, and are so conscientious and honest. we were a satellite location. frankly i am relieved, it was stressful, living in a crappy motel room and selling out of it, trying to eat well. i will post some pics on my page.

peace

[Mouse]

Peace.

Never could face that kind of disruption myself, don't know how you do it. You wouldn't believe the trouble I have just closing the front door behind me.

Have been comforting myself messing about with wool and ribbon, getting pieces together to tell little stories. Rather excited about inauguration. Remember the ripples, the fluctuations... ah...ooh..

[pan]

I'm thinking that the paragraph above was more depressing:

The vote in the Senate was said to be unanimous. It was just a voice vote. No senator asked that the vote be recorded. In the House five voted, “No”. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Gwen Moore (D-WI), Ron Paul ( R-TX), Nick Rahal (D-WVA), Maxine Waters (D-CA). 390 wretches voted “Yes” and 36 others voted ”Present” or “Not Voting”.

Obama is to be inaugurated today - let's let the messiah be in office before we nail him to the cross.

[pan]

Obama's promises to Israel. Montage of invasion

Norman Finkelstein explains that Gaza was attacked because Hamas had become more moderate and was supporting a Two-State solution.

[Mouse]

Unusually large weapons shipment -
Are the US and Israel Planning a Broader Middle East War?

[pan]

[pan]

The tide has turned on public opinion....CBS 60 Minutes exposes apartheid practices