Tight Security for Iraq Shi’a Rite

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By Mohammed Abbas

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Thousands of Iraqi Shi’ites flocked to holy sites on Tuesday to observe a religious rite amid tight security days after a bomber killed at least 35 pilgrims.

Many wore green or red costumes, dressing as the followers of Hussein and his enemy Yazid for re-enactments of the battle, streaming into a Baghdad shrine to the beat of drums.

“Security is tighter than last year. You can see that in the number of checkpoints and police. We have a stronger government now,” said Ali Aziz, a pilgrim making his way to north Baghdad’s Imam Musa al-Kadhim shrine, where the bomber struck on Sunday.

“Yes, there was a bombing a few days ago. But that was unexpected and the police are ready for it now,” he said.

In an unprecedented security move, authorities forbade women from entering the entire district of Kadhimiya surrounding the Baghdad shrine, because it is difficult for the overwhelmingly male police force to search them. Scores of women were barred at a checkpoint outside the district.

“My home is in Kadhimiya. Am I supposed to stand out here with my kids in the street?” asked a woman who gave her name as Um Hamid. She said she had been visiting friends outside the district overnight and could not get home.

Authorities announced on Sunday they would impose a ban on women attending the annual rite, hours after the suicide bomber struck. Initial reports said Sunday’s bomber was female, although the government later said he was male. Sunni militants have increasingly deployed women and girls as suicide bombers.

Security Tight

The Ashura holiday is the most important and most dramatic of several annual rites that distinguish Shi’ite Muslims from Sunnis. Tuesday was the end of a nine-day preparatory period before the anniversary on Wednesday, when Shi’ite mosques ring with the wailing of women and the quiet sobs of men.

Like other Shi’ite holidays, Ashura has become a show of strength for the community which makes up a majority in Iraq. Observances are attended by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year since the fall of Saddam Hussein, who repressed Shi’ite religious observances.

Sunni militants in Iraq have frequently staged attacks on pilgrims, beginning with coordinated suicide bombings in Baghdad and Kerbala during the first post-Saddam Ashura in 2004 that killed more than 160 people and heralded the sectarian bloodshed that ravaged the country in subsequent years.

This year police maintained checkpoints throughout the narrow streets and alleys of Kadhimiya, searching people nearly every 50 meters (yards).

In Kerbala, the shrine city southwest of Baghdad where Hussein’s remains are housed in a golden mosque, the government deployed 20,000 soldiers and police to protect worshippers, said Major-General Ali al-Ghirari, head of military operations there.

“We put in place a well-set security plan two days ago,” he told Reuters. “We have forbidden vehicles inside the old city. We distributed explosive detectors (to checkpoints) on the roads coming from Baghdad, Hilla, and Najaf,” he told Reuters.

Police and soldiers were forbidden from eating food from unlicensed kiosks along the pilgrimage route, after some members of the security forces were deliberately poisoned in past years.

The pilgrimage has taken on a political aspect three weeks before an election to provincial councils which appoint powerful regional governors.

Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, ailing leader of the ISCI party which controls many regional governments in the Shi’ite south but is competing against Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Dawa Party, staged a rally in Baghdad on Tuesday attended by thousands.

“In the new Iraq no one should control all power by himself,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Sami al-Jumaili in Kerbala; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Giles Elgood)

11-3

Solidarity with Gaza

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By Susan Schwartz, MMNS

The atrocity that is the Israeli invasion and destruction of  Gaza has outraged the civilized communities around the globe. In most nations demonstrations have taken place as people of conscience react to Israel’s  atrocities, their protests indicating their belief that the world’s  moral compass has gone seriously astray. 

The Los Angeles area has been home to numerous  demonstrations with others scheduled for the future. Two fund raising events for  Gaza have been announced.
In Anaheim, home to a large Arab  population, thousands gathered in the business area to protest  the cruelty of the Israeli invasion. In response to a National Day of Action in  support of the people of Gaza, demonstrators held aloft signs and chanted  calling for the end to the invasion and freedom for Palestine.

Protestors in the thousands also gathered in front  of the Israeli Consulate on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, a main  thoroughfare. Other demonstrations took place in front of the Westwood Federal  building further west on Wilshire Boulevard.

Many in the crowd were Middle Eastern, but many who  were not took part with equal enthusiasm. As one elderly man said when asked why he was there: “Now we are all Palestinians”.

Two fund raisers are planned. The first will take place  at the at Al Ansar Hall, 1717 S. Brookhurst Street in Anaheim on January 10  at 6:00pm.

Baitulmaal is the sponsor. The following day Islamic  Relief will sponsor a fundraiser at the Marriott Hotel on Harbor Boulevard in  Anaheim to begin at 5:30pm.

Sponsors of the demonstrations are many and  include: The ANSWER Coalition; AL AWDA; Free Palestine Alliance; Jews for Peace;  Muslim American Society and International Action Center.

11-3

US Opens New Iraq Embassy in Symbolic Move

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By Missy Ryan and Peter Graff

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U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker speaks during the formal opening of the new U.S. embassy in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone January 5, 2009. The United States opened its new embassy building in Baghdad on Monday, a step meant to symbolise its transition from occupying power to an ally of a sovereign Iraqi government.

REUTERS/Erik de Castro

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – The United States opened its new embassy building in Baghdad Monday, a step meant to symbolize its transition from occupying power to an ally of a sovereign Iraqi government.

In recent weeks U.S. diplomats have gradually moved into the $592 million newly-built compound, the world’s largest U.S. embassy building, leaving behind a sprawling palace they had inhabited since toppling Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 2003.

U.S. officials ruled Iraq directly from the same palace for more than a year after taking Baghdad.

The opening of the new embassy is in line with a change of power that was effected on New Year’s Day, when U.S. forces in Iraq officially came under an Iraqi mandate.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani attended the opening ceremony.

In a courtyard between two wings of the new building, the Iraqi national anthem was played, then U.S. Marines raised an American flag to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner.

“It is from here men and women, civilian and military, will help build the new Iraq,” Negroponte said in a speech.

U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker called the embassy’s opening “a new era for Iraq and United States relations.”

Talabani thanked the United States for helping create a democratic Iraq “which will serve as a model for other peoples of the eastern world.”

“More Normal”

The embassy has 1,200 employees, including diplomats, servicemen and staff from 14 federal agencies, U.S. embassy spokeswoman Susan Ziadeh told Reuters.
“Its scale reflects the importance of the U.S.-Iraq bilateral relationship,” she said. “It reflects a more normal situation. This is a broadening of the relationship because the situation is more secure.”

U.S. forces on New Year’s Day handed over responsibility to Iraqi troops for the Green Zone, a fortified compound in the heart of Baghdad off limits to most Iraqis, who have widely viewed it as a symbol of foreign military occupation.

The new embassy is located in the zone.

The U.S. force in Iraq, now more than 140,000 strong, had previously operated under a U.N. Security Council resolution.

U.S. troops now work under the authority granted by the Iraqi government under a pact agreed by Washington and Baghdad.

That pact — viewed by both countries as a milestone in restoring Iraqi sovereignty — requires U.S. troops to leave in three years, revokes their power to hold Iraqis without charge and subjects contractors and off-duty troops to Iraqi law.

Ziadeh said the mission of the new embassy would start to resemble those in other embassies around the world.

“Our work is looking at a whole range of issues on trade, on energy … transportation sectors, rule of law,” she said.

(Writing and additional reporting by Tim Cocks; Editing by Dominic Evans)

11-3

American Muslim Comic Fights Stereotypes With Humor

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Courtesy Mohamed Elshinnawi, Voice of America

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Azhar Usman

Americans’ attitudes toward Islam and Arabs have been on a rocky road since the al-Qaida terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Those searing events fueled powerful resentments and fear, especially among people largely ignorant of the Muslim faith and the Arab world.

Many Muslim-Americans have felt a heightened prejudice against them since 9/11. To combat those prejudices and to help allay public fears about them, some American Muslims have turned to satire and stand-up comedy.

Azhar Usman is a Chicago-based attorney, lecturer and community activist. That mix of vocations is unusual enough, but it’s all the more unusual because of his move, eight years ago, into stand-up comedy. Usman uses his comic routines – offered up in small comedy clubs and TV appearances – to fight what he says is the negative stereotyping of Muslims and Arabs in America.

He likes to joke about how his own swarthy complexion and long, dark beard trigger predictable racial profiling by U.S. airport security guards.

“Imagine if a man looking like me is walking to the airport: Heads turns simultaneously. A security guard would whisper, ‘We got Muhammad at four o’clock with us. Excuse me, sir, can I see your ID?’ And my middle name actually is Muhammad. [The guard would say] ‘That is what I thought. Come with me. We go to the extra-special security.’”

Comedic trio’s humor gets at complex social issues

Usman is a practicing Muslim of Indian descent. After he began doing stand-up comedy in 2001, he performed in cities all over the United States. In early 2004, he got together with two other Muslim stand-up comedians: Preacher Moss, an African-American who converted to Islam, and Mohammed Amer, a Kuwaiti-born Palestinian-American.

The three launched a comedy tour called “Allah Made Me Funny” that took them to comedy clubs across the United States and eventually to cities on five continents Their routines used humor to describe what it’s like being Muslim in a predominantly non-Muslim society.

Given his general appearance, it’s not hard to imagine Usman being mistaken for a terrorist by nervous airline passengers – a scenario he explores in his stand-up routine.

“The only thing worse than that is the moment I have to get on the plane. People are in shock… they are in the middle of conversations like, ‘Where are you from? Where are you heading?’ Then [they see me and think], ‘Oh my God! I am going to die!’” Usman jokes.

“I do not even blame people anymore. I do not think they are racists or prejudiced. They cannot help it. They see somebody who looks like me walking on the street. They hear a little voice in their heads: Osama [al-Qaida leader bin Laden]!”

Entertainers aim to break down stereotypes

Usman says that while the Arabic word for God is Allah, in the discourse of many Americans, that sacred name evokes the war cry of violent Islamists and terrorists.

“Muslims have to do a better job of reclaiming the discourse and reclaiming our own voices within that discourse. So part of that is to associate positive and beautiful words from our tradition such as Allah with something beautiful and positive – which is humor and being funny,” Usman says. “And for many people, it had the effect of making them kind of question their assumptions regarding that word. And that is ultimately what we were after.”

Usman and his fellow comedians believe their stand-up routines have made a positive difference in the way non-Muslims in the U.S. and other western societies think about Muslims.

“We try to do jokes that are funny, first and foremost, and, number two, [that are] universal, meaning that they have some universal appeal. They talk about some core human values that everybody can relate to, and then it just so happened that one of the consequences of that is it ends up changing a lot of peoples’ stereotypes about Muslims and about Islam.”

Usman says when he is on stage he is doing more than just telling jokes. He believes he is waging peace by promoting a better understanding of Muslims in the West.

Calming fears, building bridges between cultures

Usman’s comic trio has tried to extend that mission to a broader audience with a documentary they produced of their successful comedy tour called Allah Made Me Funny: Live in Concert. The movie opened last fall in select theaters around the U.S. Usman says the response to the film and its Web site – AllahMadeMeFunny.com – has been gratifying.

“The film did very well. So we are now in the midst of negotiating a DVD release as well as a TV license,” he says. “So hopefully that film will get more traction in 2009. And beyond that, we are continuing to tour and reach a broader and broader audience not only in America but around the world.”

Usman says he and his fellow comics in the Allah Made Me Funny tour hope their brand of humor will continue to appeal to non-Muslims and Muslims alike, not only calming fears but building bridges between two cultures that lately have had a hard time understanding each other.

11-3

Day 9 of Israeli War On Gaza

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New Israeli weapons are used, death toll up, ground operation to start

By Sameh A. Habeeb, MMNS Gaza Correspondent

Death toll so far:  470 killed, 2600 injured, disastrous humanitarian situation

Gaza Strip–4, January, 2009–The Israeli army started the ground military operation. Many Palestinian civilians have been killed and the number of such people killed is rising dramatically. Meanwhile, a small number of Palestinian militants have been killed in the ongoing clashes through the Gaza Strip.

The operation started Saturday at 8pm accompanied by heavy coverage from artillery, naval gunboats and the air force.

In the north a group of tanks and soldiers advanced from the Ertiz crossing, and another group from Bait Lahia town near the old settlement of Doghit. 

In the east of Gaza City, several tanks advanced from the crossings of Al Muntar and Nahal Oz. Some of these troops advanced southeast of Gaza and cut the main street of Salaheldin. In the south, Israeli troops occupied the airport and set military outposts.

In the town of Bait Lahi, an air strike killed 17 people–most of them civilians and amongst them children and the medical staff of an ambulance. A number of injured were reported to be close to the area bombed, but medical vehicles were not able to reach them.

Condemnations from the EU, Turkey, Arab and foreign countries did not halt the Israeli military operation in the strip. Humanitarian and medical conditions are still dire. People are committed to their houses without water due to power cuts and the inability to operate key drinking water wells in Gaza.

Medicine students are being called to the local hospitals to deal with the always increasing number of victims. In opposition of the key Israeli target of killing hamas militants, most victims are actually civilians, and this is so obvious in the Gaza hospitals. Around 10 militants were killed today, and all the rest of those killed are normal people who have nothing to do with firing rockets and militants.

Deadly Outcomes of Israeli Ground Military Operation:

1- The Israeli Air forces struck a water well that provides fresh drinking water for thousands in Jabal Al Kashif, east of Gaza City.

2-An air raid bombarded a printing house in the Al Nasir area in the northwest of the Gaza Strip. Two Palestinians were killed and they are children, according to medical sources.

3-Extensive artillery bombardment has been performed on on some houses and farms near Jabal Al kashif northern Gaza Strip.

4-More than 30 shells fell on the Al Nusairat Refugee Camp, within 10 minutes. Many houses were damaged, and several people were wounded.

5-Four Palestinians were killed in Rafah City near the Egyptian border.

6-Israeli F16s bombed a house in the Al Janinai quarter in Rafah City, and many people wounded in the strike.

7-There has been a massive popular emigration into some schools in the Jabalia Camp. Heavy bombings taking place beside those refuges, causing panic among children and women.

8-A rocket hit a house in Al Shija’ya’s densly populated quarter, killing a child, a woman and an old man. Several people were injured,  all of them civilians.

9-An air strike bombed a house in the Al Zaytoun neighborhood.  A massive fire was set by the blast, burning some adjacent houses.

10-An entire house turned to rubble after an F16 rocket hit it in the Al Yarmok quarter in the middle of Gaza City.

11-An artillary shell destroyed the Al Yazji Bakery in the Al Zaytoun quarter–one was killed and dozens injured while buying bread to their families. The strike was followed by a fire that totally burned the bakery.

12-Israel uses phosphorous firing bombs against the Gaza Strip. Additionally, more new heavy weapons are being used for the first time.

13- Apache helicopters open heavy machine fire into group of civilians in al Zaytoun area. Many people were killed and others injured.

14-Five Palestinian militants were killed in the hottest conformation. Israel claims to have killed around 30 militants.

15-Hamas claims it killed 9 Israeli soldiers, injuring 28, and captured two soldiers. However, Israel says 3 of its soldiers were killed and 28 wounded.

16-Hamas says it she has destroyed many Israeli tanks and injured 9 Israeli soliders in the north of Gaza town of Bait Lahia.

17-Palestininian factions still fire homemade rockets into Israeli settlements despite the ground military operation.

18-Israeli tanks shelled Al Shayma’ buildings in the northern Gaza Strip.

19-There have been bombings in the main busy square of Gaza and near the Main market. Medical sources report that many people killed and injured. Massive damage in the buildings around.

20-Four Palestinian brothers from the Barbakh family killed when a shell hit their house in Kahn Yonis City.

21-F16s raided the Ministry of Religious Affairs in the middle of Gaza City. Many people were injured in that highly populated area.

22-Israel hit a group of innocent civilians sheltered in a school north of the Gaza Strip. Medical sources state that around 8 were killed.

23-News spread that Israel is asking hundreds of families to leave their houses in the Al Moghraqa area. This areas is near the borders where Israelis started the ground military operation south east of Gaza.

24- A woman was killed in the Al Zaytoun quarter by a rocket destroyed her house. Many people wounded in the strike.

25-Local Radios: A number of people were victims of an air strike near a mosque in the Al Zaytoun quarter.

26-Israel uses strange smoking bombs on the ground while deadly fighting is taking place across the Gaza strip.

27-Israeli tanks and armored vehicles occupied the sole Gaza airport in Rafah City. The airport was totally damaged before and bombed by tens of rockets and shells yesterday.

28-Israeli army bombed house of the Al Hilo family in eastern Gaza City.

29-Palestinian militants tried to shoot down an Israeli Apache.

30-A house belonging to the Dardona family was bombed in Jabalia. One woman was killed.

31-The Israeli air force targeted the city council of Om Al Nasir  town in Rafah City.*

32-Thousands of people are fleeing their houses in the middle of the Gaza Strip into the Al Nusairat Refugee Camp.*

33-The Shalat family was hit by an Israeli rocket and many people were wounded.*

34-Two children from the Al Mashrawi  family were killed in Israeli bombing of their home.

35- Two Palestinians were killed and many wounded when the Israeli Air force bombed the Salaheldin street between Khan Yonis and Rafah City.  The bombings caused great damage in electricity, water and infrastructure network services. Many people do not have water.

36-Israeli army shellsled the Om Al Nasir and Al Atatra families.

37-The air force raided the Al Omoor quarter near Rafah City.

38-Israeli Apaches heavily fired into the  Al Zaytoun area; many houses were affected.

39-An ambulance and medical officer was killed by an Israeli artliary shell north of Gaza Strip. His mate, Khaled Abu Sa’da was wounded.

40-Around 17 people were killed in the Al Atatra family in the Bait Lahia town north of Gaza. Amongest them were several children, two brothers, a 20-year-old and many old men who were all killed by one rocket. Israeli tanks prevented ambulances from reaching wounded people at the scene. Among the recognized victims; Osama Sliman, Mueen Abu Aljdya, Ahmed Abu Sltan, Hamaoda Abu Sultan,  Ali Al sous, Muhammad Al atar, Ahmed Tantish and one from the Al Shalfooh family.

41-Artillary shells targeted the Al Sorani farm in Gaza City, near Al Nafaq Street. A child was reported to have been wounded.

42-Fire exchange between Israeli soldiers and group of Palestinian militants.

43-The Israeli army cut Gaza City and the northern areas by occupying the old settlement of Nitsarim which was evacuated in 2005.

44- The Israeli army cut the transmission of Palestinian local radios and broadcast statements of warning asking civilians to leave their houses.

45-Medical sources reported that a Palestinian was killed north of Rafah City, and many were wounded.*

46-Five Palestinians from one family “Bakr” were killed west of Gaza City. The mother was killed along with her 4 children by an F16 rocket.

47-Three paramedics and ambulance staff were killed by an artillery shell and F16 rocket near the Shikh Ejlin area. The paramedics were in a mission of rescuing a family hit near Al Mahrosa hall. The family is still bleeding and no news is appearing regarding their current well-being.

48-A family of five members was hit by a missile while having dinner in the Al Shati’ Camp. The family members of Al Amodi are mostly in critical condition. A child aged 9 is in bad health conditions.

49-Medical sources in Al Shifa’ hospital say 50 people were wounded when their houses were bombed in the north of Gaza. Some of them are children and old men.

50-A strike made rubble of a house in Rafah Camp. A few people were wounded in nearby houses.

51-Five Palestinians were killed in a bombing targeted Mus’ab Bin Umair mosque in the northern Gaza Strip.

52-Three Palestinians wounded when an F16 missile hit their house in Absan town, south of Gaza in Khan Yonis City.

53-Many Palestinian houses are occupied by Israeli soldiers in the downtown area. Many explosions are taking place.

54-The second day of the ground offensive started with heavy presence of air force and the loud voices of artillery shells hitting some areas in the Gaza Strip.

55-Palestinian factions fired around 10 missiles into Israeli settlements and military bases.

11-3

Defiant in Gaza

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By Geoffrey Cook, MMNS

Oakland–January 6th 2009–Over a week of Israel’s air assault on Gaza, hundreds of souls have died – a majority women and their children with many more seriously maimed.  On the third, the Israel Defense Force  (IDF’s) land Army had invaded the Strip in four columns from the north.  Both Hamas (the duly elected government in Gaza – whose election to power was attested to by American [former President] Jimmy Carter and his staff to be one of the most freest and transparent they had every observed) and Tel Aviv both asserted high combatant causalities inflicted upon their opponents. 

The Gazan defenders, further, claimed significant destruction of Washington-gifted materiel (through our foreign aid to this most wealthy of States) – principally tanks.  While Hamas was able to maintain their missile barrage into Israel nation, the IDF drove ever deeper — now in three brigade-sized formations — into the miniscule republic on Sunday by-passing the villages and towns staying on the rural roads.  An analysis sympathetic to the Palestinians on the borderline opined that the Gazans were not in as a good position to protect themselves as Hezbollah, who tactically defeated the Israeli Juggernaut, in 2006 because “The Party of God” met the Israelis in the mountains of Lebanon while this “nationette” along the sea is flat and sandy — perfect for Israel’s American-made high-tech tanks to penetrate.  Truly, a David versus Goliath battle within the former Land of the Philistines!  Yet, according to an Israeli military source Hamas is holding up well against their invasion. 

This is the deadliest attack on the Gaza Strip, and, indeed, on the Palestinian people as a whole since the 1967 War when Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the rightful capital of the Palestinian people.   The IDF had dissected this Muslim-majority autonomous “District” by the fourth.  A Gazan BBC correspondent reported that the Hebrews were in the suburbs of Gaza City, but the Arabs were fiercely defending Delilah’s ancient capital!

The population of Gaza today is more than 1.5 million people — over 80% of whom are refugees (many still living in camps that are being directly assailed at this very moment) after their expulsion from their homes and villages by Israel in 1948. This narrow Strip along the southern littoral of the Mediterranean is among the most densely populated territorial entities on earth.  If anything, this is one of the reasons that this physical assault upon non-militarized citizens is immensely illegal because the Israeli Air Force has been targeting residential neighborhoods!  In fact on Friday, Israel’s advanced planes deliberately targeted a packed mosque killing dozens in order to merely strike terror into the populace!

The question is who broke the truce?  The UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories noted in his press release (Dec. 30th 2008), “The breakdown of a truce between Hamas and Israel had been observed for several months by both sides. The truce was maintained by Hamas despite the failure of Israel to fulfill its obligation under the agreement to improve the living conditions of the people of Gaza.”  The recent upsurge in violence occurred after a previous Israeli incursion that murdered several alleged militants within the ancient Land of the Philistines. 

On Saturday (the 2nd) His Excellency Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary-General, noting Gaza City’s missile counter-defensive strikes against Southern Israel, condemned Tel Aviv for their blockade of starvation by closing the border crossings denounced the over-reaction of Judah, and called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council immediately for that night (the 3rd).  At that meeting the District of Columbia was able to block a call for an instantaneous ceasefire (to give Tel Aviv the time it needed to achieve their military objectives)!

There have been innumerable violations of International Law from West Jerusalem.  The Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 33 prohibits collective punishment)! 
While Palestinian rocket harassment against civilian targets in Israel are illegal, that rocket fire (which had previous to the invasion had created no casualties) does not give the IDF the right to punish the entire 1.5 million civilian people of the Arabic Strip sandwiched between Israel and Egypt.  (Egypt’s role in the crisis has not been too honorable, also, as your author wrote to their Ambassador in D.C., “I urge your government to re-open the border crossings with Gaza for humanitarian purposes,” and at least on Sunday they formally renounced the incursion). 

Israel is, also, violating the Geneva Conventions when it denies those civilians free and sufficient access to food, medicine, clean water, and certainly when the Jewish State launched their massive unselective blitzkrieg against the tightly packed non-combatant residents.  Under International law, any military force must be necessary and proportionate.  The dropping of thousands of tons of bombs on the density of this urban terrain certainly does not meet this criterion!   

Yes, the targeting of civilians in collective punishment is never justified!  This aggression has arisen on top of a merciless eighteen-month long siege of this mini-country by Israel an Egypt!  This has generated a dire humanitarian calamity for the occupants of this small crowded space.  In effect, Israel has restricted access to food, fuel, medicine, electricity and other necessities of life by sealing the frontier to both their territories and Arab Egypt. The siege itself violated Israel’s obligations as an Occupying Power – which is required by the Geneva Conventions to provide the subjugated inhabitants with all the necessities of life, including food, water, education, health care, recreation et al.

Although Israel ended its dominance over Gaza in 2005 by withdrawing their settlers and military troops from a permanent presence within the Strip, Israel still maintains military control through entry and exit points, boundaries, air space, and territorial waters. Occupation is defined as control of a territory by another country; that defines Gaza’s condition today as a subservient entity. Movement of people, food, water, fuel, and medicine in and out of the Gaza Strip has been virtually non-existent, a siege which has resulted in a humanitarian cataclysm of calamitous proportions. 

What is our (U.S’) responsibility in this crisis?  Israel carries out these attacks with F16 fighter jets, Apache helicopters, naval gunboats, and missiles produced in the United States and paid for with almost $3 billion a year in American taxpayer money.  From 2001-2006, the United States transferred more than $200 million worth of F-16 spare parts to Israel and more than $100 million in helicopter replacement parts.  In 2008, the United States gave Israel 186 million gallons of JP-8 aviation jet fuel (while Americans were paying approaching $5 a gallon at the pump), and signed a contract to transfer $1.9 billion in coastal combat ships to the Israeli Navy.  Last year, in a violation of the Arms Export Control Act, the United States signed a $1.3 billion contract with Raytheon to transfer thousands of anti-tank TOW (Tube-launched Optically-tracked Wire-to command-link), Hellfire, and “bunker buster” missiles.  The Bush Administration has implicitly and explicitly endorsed these outrages!    Further, the United States remains complicit in Israeli violations of U.S. and International law through our continual provision of military aid and through its protection of Israel in the United Nations, which prevents Israel from being held accountable by the international community.

Will President-elect Obama be any different on the question of Palestine?  There have been too many quotations in his campaign that gives slight hope, but many commentators have voiced their opinions that Israelis chief planners launched this atrocious onslaught before our new government takes power.

11-3

Indo-Pak Nuclear Diplomacy Continues, Unaffected By Mumbai-Terror Strikes

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By Nilofar Suhrawardy, MMNS India Correspondent

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NEW DELHI: Notwithstanding the war-hysteria raised on both sides over Mumbai terror-strikes, they have not refrained from pursuing agreements inked regarding their decision to abstain from being engaged in open conflict. Adhering to the nuclear deterrence pact, India and Pakistan inked in 1988, the two countries exchanged lists of nuclear installations and facilities through diplomatic channels simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad on 1 January. Since their becoming nuclear powers and subsequently inking the deterrence pact, though Indo-Pak ties have ranged from being cordial to tense- as they are at present over the Mumbai terror strikes- they have continued the practice of exchanging these lists. The “Agreement on Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities” was signed between India and Pakistan by the then Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto on 31 December 1998. It entered into force on 27 January 1991.

“Under the agreement, the two countries, on first January of every calendar year, are to inform each other of Nuclear Installations and Facilities to be covered by the agreement,” a press release from Indian ministry of external affairs stated. “The first such exchange of lists took place on 1 January 1992. This is the eighteenth consecutive time that both countries have exchanged such a list,” the statement said.

The agreement details the location of nuclear-related facilities in the two countries. Despite the two countries having come close to war, the exchange of lists has not stopped, sources said. Even when the two countries were in state of high alert in 2001, they exchanged the lists. Defying apprehensions raised about their nearing a conflict or conflict-like stage over the Mumbai terror strikes, they exchanged the lists this year too.

Ever since the two countries conducted nuclear tests, the western powers – particularly United States- have expressed concern about their nuclear prowess leading to a nuclear war in South Asia as India and Pakistan are known as permanent enemies with their being no sign of their resolving differences over long-standing disputes, including the Kashmir issue. Though since 1998, they have come close to war, once over the Kargil-issue and war-hysteria has been raised after the Mumbai terror strikes, India and Pakistan have not been engaged in any open conflict since achieving nuclear prowess. In this context, Indo-Pak nuclear diplomacy, resting on their bilateral understanding of nuclear deterrence defies fears raised earlier about their nuclear-status leading to Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) in South Asia.

Undeniably, apprehensions still prevail on whether nuclear weapons would contribute to stability in South Asia. Concern has been voiced over unintentional/intentional targeting of nuclear facilities by militants in either country and/or access to the same falling in wrong hands fuelling nuclear tension in the sub-continent. To date, however, Indo-Pak nuclear diplomacy only stands as a commendable illustration of their deterrence ensuring military restraint and a check on their moving towards open conflict. This may be illustrated briefly by the role played by nuclear prowess of the two nations, taking their ties from the stage of conflict to no-conflict in the first stage. Without doubt, there was a period when India remained suspicious about Pakistan’s nuclear ambitions. The first major step in taking their ties to a positive level was the six-point accord reached between the then President of Pakistan General Zia-ul-Haq and Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in December 1985 in Delhi. Their agreement on not attacking each other’s nuclear installations was hailed as a significant step in establishing mutual confidence. This principle was re-emphasized when Gandhi and Bhutto signed the agreement in December 1988 in Islamabad.

Strangely, but definitely, there is a parallel between nuclear ambitions of India and Pakistan and a decisive improvement in their bilateral ties. It would not be wrong to state that their respective nuclear drives’ impact on the upswing in their relations fits into the theory of “classic deterrence.” Earlier than this, the two countries -known to shift between the stage of conflict, no-conflict and/or avoidance of conflict- had not even given serious consideration to the idea of entertaining cordial and/or friendly ties. The very principle of not attacking each other’s nuclear installations marked the beginning of some sort of nuclear dialogue between the two. Had they not taken this step, that of considering the deterrent factor, the past two decades may have been marked by constant threat of a nuclear holocaust erupting any moment in the subcontinent. Equally significant was their decision to resolve their nuclear tensions bilaterally. This also implied their accepting each other’s nuclear development. Had they criticized each other’s nuclear intentions and designs unilaterally, the issue may have assumed serious proportions for multilateral deliberations. With the two nuclear powers sharing border, notwithstanding their disputes, they opted for a strategy that best suited their interests, unilaterally as well as bilaterally, that is work towards normalization of Indo-Pak ties. Interestingly, notwithstanding all the diplomatic hype raised over the Mumbai-terror strikes, India and Pakistan have ruled out prospects of going to war on this. This only suggests that they are not likely to backtrack- for quite some time- from the wise and rational nuclear diplomacy they have pursued so far.

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