Police threaten to kick shop's door in to tear down Palestine flag
Undercurrents | 02.03.2011 09:05 | Palestine | Repression
The window Display
Yesterday 2 Police officers stood outside a shop window display near Portsmouth and threatened to kick the door in. The supposed crime? A Palestine flag with the words
Israel= Terror State
A Police woman stated that any comment which caused distress or alarm to another person is an arrestable offense. Which of course is wrong, as that would mean no political speech could be made at all.
Eventually after a tense stand off, Police were forced to admit after they contacted the CPS that the window display is totally legal. Police went away with their tails firmly tucked with no apology.
The owner of the business said
'This is the window with the Israel terror tag which was added after the Israeli commandos boarded those ships in international waters and machine gunned a bunch of unarmed civilians. If that's not terrorism I'd like them to tell me what is!!!'
Israel= Terror State
A Police woman stated that any comment which caused distress or alarm to another person is an arrestable offense. Which of course is wrong, as that would mean no political speech could be made at all.
Eventually after a tense stand off, Police were forced to admit after they contacted the CPS that the window display is totally legal. Police went away with their tails firmly tucked with no apology.
The owner of the business said
'This is the window with the Israel terror tag which was added after the Israeli commandos boarded those ships in international waters and machine gunned a bunch of unarmed civilians. If that's not terrorism I'd like them to tell me what is!!!'
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Four points
02.03.2011 17:35
b) they weren't unarmed
c) "civilians" my arse
d) Don't know what terrorism is? Here's a list of Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel in 2002, mostly on civilian targets (discos, pizza restaurants, university cafés, passover meals attended by Auschwitz survivors).
This is what prompted Israel to build its defensive barrier around the West Bank. And very effective it has been, hasn't it?
Name Date Location Death Toll (not including the perpetrators) Notes
Old Central Bus Station massacres January 25, 2002 Tel Aviv 25 injured Double Suicide attack, carried out by Palestinian Islamic Jihad together with Fatah.
Jaffa Street bombing January 27, 2002 Jerusalem 1 First female suicide bomber in Al-Aqsa Intifada. Hamas claimed responsibility.
Taibe bombing January 31, 2002 Taibe None Hamas claimed responsibility.
Karnei Shomron pizzeria bombing February 16, 2002 Karnei Shomron, West Bank 3 About 30 injuries (6 seriously). PFLP claimed responsibility.[5][6]
Maale Adumim - Jerusalem road bombing February 18, 2002 Jerusalem 1 Soldier killed by an explosive that was detonated by the driver of the car he was checking. Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility.
Efrat supermarket bombing attack February 22, 2002 Efrat, West Bank 1 injured Suicide bomber in supermarket.
Maccabim bombing February 27, 2002 Maccabim, West Bank 3 injured Hamas claimed responsibility.
Yeshivat Beit Yisrael massacre March 2, 2002 Yeshiva in Jerusalem 11 Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility.
Egged No. 823 bus bombing March 5, 2002 Afula 1 Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.[6]
Ariel hotel lobby bombing March 7, 2002 Ariel, West Bank 15 injured (1 seriously) PFLP claimed responsibility.[6]
Café Moment bombing March 9, 2002 Rehavia, Jerusalem 11 Hamas claimed responsibility.
Egged bus 22 bombing March 17, 2002 Jerusalem 25 Injured Hamas claimed responsibility.
Egged bus 823 bombing March 20, 2002 Vadi Ara, Muzmuz Junction 7 Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
King George Street bombing March 21, 2002 Jerusalem 3 Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility.
Passover Massacre March 27, 2002 Netanya 30 Suicide attack on Passover seder in Park Hotel. Carried out by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Supermarket bombing March 29, 2002 Kiryat Yovel in Jerusalem 2 Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility.
Allenby Street coffee shop bombing March 30, 2002 Tel Aviv 1 Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility.
Matza restaurant suicide bombing March 31, 2002 Haifa 15 Hamas claimed responsibility.
Efrat Medical Center March 31, 2002 Efrat, West Bank 4 injured (1 seriously) Hamas claimed responsibility.
Jerusalem Roadblock bombing April 1, 2002 Jerusalem 1 Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility.
Yagur Junction bombing April 10, 2002 Yagur 8 Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Machane Yehuda Market bombing April 12, 2002 Jerusalem 6 Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility.
Rishon LeZion attack May 7, 2002 Rishon LeZion 15 Hamas claimed responsibility.
Netanya Market bombing May 19, 2002 Netanya 3 Carried out by Hamas together with PFLP.
Afula road bombing May 20, 2002 Afula None Hamas claimed responsibility.
Rothschild Street bombing May 22, 2002 Rishon Lezion 2 Hamas claimed responsibility.
Pi Glilot bombing May 23, 2002 North of Tel Aviv None A bomb exploded underneath a fuel truck. The truck burst into flames, but the blaze was quickly contained.
Studio 49 Disco bombing May 24, 2002 Tel Aviv 5 injured The security guard opened fire on a Palestinian attempting to detonate a car bomb. The Palestinian was killed, but the bomb exploded prematurely, injuring bystanders.
Petah Tikva Mall bombing May 27, 2002 Petah Tikva 2 Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility.
Egged bus 830 massacre June 5, 2002 Megiddo Junction 17 Booby-trapped car. Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Shawarma restaurant bombing June 11, 2002 Herzliya 1 Hamas claimed responsibility.
Patt junction bus bombing June 18, 2002 Jerusalem 19 Hamas claimed responsibility.
French Hill Junction massacre June 19, 2002 French Hill, Jerusalem 7 Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility.
Emmanuel bus attack July 16, 2002 Emmanuel-Bnei Brak bus 189 9 Detonation of an explosive device and shooting. Hamas claimed responsibility.
Neve Shaanan Street bombing July 17, 2002 Southern Tel Aviv 5 Hamas claimed responsibility.
Nevi'im Street bombing July 30, 2002 Jerusalem 5 injured Apparently the bomb exploded prematurely.
Hebrew University massacre July 31, 2002 Hebrew University, Jerusalem 9 Included American and French casualties. Bomber was from East Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsibility.
Meron Junction Bus 361 attack August 4, 2002 Meron Junction 9 Arab bomber with Israeli citzenship. Hamas claimed responsibility.
Umm al-Fahm junction bombing August 5, 2002 Umm al-Fahm Junction in Wadi Ara 1 injured The Palestinian exploded in a taxi killing himself and wounding an Israeli-Arab driver from Nazareth.
Umm al-Fahm bombing September 18, 2002 Umm al-Fahm Junction in Wadi Ara 1 Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Tel Aviv synagogue attack September 19, 2002 bus 4, near the Great Synagogue, Tel Aviv 6 Hamas claimed responsibility.
Geha road bombing October 10, 2002 Bar-Ilan interchange, Geha road 1 Hamas claimed responsibility.
Egged bus 841 massacre October 21, 2002 Carcur Junction 14 2 Suicide bombers used a booby-trapped jeep with 100 KG TNT. Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Sonol gas station bombing October 27, 2002 Ariel, West Bank 3 Victims killed while trying to prevent the Palestinian from detonating the bomb. Hamas claimed responsibility.
Kfar Sava shopping mall bombing November 4, 2002 Kfar Sava 2 Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Jerusalem bus 20 suicide bombing November 21, 2002 Kiryat Menahem, Jerusalem 11 Hamas claimed responsibility.
[edit] 2003 (24 bombings)
Name Date Location Death Toll (not including the perpetrators) Notes
Tel-Aviv central bus station massacre January 5, 2003 Southern Tel Aviv 22 Carried out by two members of the Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, with the help of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Tel-Aviv suicide bombing January 13, 2003 Southern Tel Aviv 1 A Chinese citizen killed.
Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing March 5, 2003 Carmeliya neighborhood, Haifa 17 Carried out by Hamas member and attributed to Hamas, yet never acknowledged.
London Cafe bombing March 30, 2003 Netanya 54 injured Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Kfar Sava train station bombing April 24, 2003 Kfar Sava 1 13 injured (2 seriously). PFLP claimed responsibility jointly with Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.[6][7]
Mike's Place bombing April 30, 2003 Mike's Place pub, Tel Aviv 3 Carried out by Hamas using a British Muslim citizen of Pakistani descent and together with al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.
Gross square attack May 17, 2003 Gross square, Hebron, West Bank 2 Hamas claimed responsibility.
Jerusalem bus 6 bombing May 18, 2003 Jerusalem 8 Hamas claimed responsibility.
Kfar Darom bombing attack May 19, 2003 Gaza Strip 3 injured A Palestinian suicide bomber riding a bicycle blew up himself next to a military jeep. Hamas claimed responsibility.
Kenyon Afula bombing May 19, 2003 Afula shopping center 3 Hamas claimed responsibility.
Netzarim bus bombing May 22, 2003 Netzarim, Gaza Strip 9 injured Hamas claimed responsibility.
Jerusalem bus 14A attack June 11, 2003 Downtown Jerusalem 17 Hamas claimed responsibility.
Sdei Trumot bombing June 19, 2003 Moshav Sdei Trumot 1 Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Kfar Yavetz bombing July 7, 2003 Kfar Yavetz 1 Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Bus station Ariel bombing August 12, 2003 Ariel, West Bank 2 Hamas claimed responsibility.
Rosh Ha'ayin bombing August 12, 2003 Rosh Ha'ayin 1
Jerusalem bus 2 suicide bombing August 19, 2003 Shmuel Hanavi, Jerusalem 23 Hamas claimed responsibility.
Tzrifin attack September 9, 2003 Bus stop near Tzrifin army base 9 Hamas claimed responsibility.
Café Hillel bombing September 9, 2003 Hillel Cafe, Jerusalem 7 Hamas claimed responsibility.
Maxim restaurant suicide bombing October 4, 2003 Haifa 21 Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Tulkarem bombing October 9, 2003 Tulkarem, West Bank 3 injured Hamas claimed responsibility.
Beit Hanoun Junction bombing October 15, 2003 Gaza Strip 3 The victims were part of a US diplomatic convoy.
Azun bombing November 3, 2003 Azun, West Bank 1 injured Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility.
Geha Junction bus stop bombing December 25, 2003 Geha Junction 4 Over 20 injured. PFLP claimed responsibility.[6][7]
Reality Check
Homepage:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_suicide_attacks
Murdered children and civilians
03.03.2011 00:13
Civilian casualty figures for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
from B'tselem and Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1987 to 2010
(numbers in parentheses represent casualties under age 18)
Year Deaths
Palestinians Israelis
2010 81 (9) 8 (0)
2009 1034 (314) 9 (1)
2008 887 (128) 35 (4)
2007 385 (52) 13 (0)
2006 665 (140) 23 (1)
2005 190 (49) 51 (6)
2004 832 (181) 108 (8)
2003 588 (119) 185 (21)
2002 1032 (160) 419 (47)
2001 469 (80) 192 (36)
2000 282 (86) 41 (0)
1999 9 (0) 4 (0)
1998 28 (3) 12 (0)
1997 21 (5) 29 (3)
1996 74 (11) 75 (8)
1995 45 (5) 46 (0)
1994 152 (24) 74 (2)
1993 180 (41) 61 (0)
1992 138 (23) 34 (1)
1991 104 (27) 19 (0)
1990 145 (25) 22 (0)
1989 305 (83) 31 (1)
1988 310 (50) 12 (3)
1987 22 (5) 0 (0)
Total 7978 (1620) 1503 (142)
Reality
A challenge to Israel's mass propaganda
03.03.2011 14:09
Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has claimed that these awakenings are only proof of the "weakening" of the Arabs - even at a time when international consensus points to the opposite conclusion.
According to Israeli daily, Haaretz, Lieberman claimed: "The Arab world is becoming increasingly weakened."
Worried perhaps that all rational analyses will show how Israel's aggression has been a major contributing factor to instability in Middle East, Lieberman decided to dismiss the notion altogether.
"Whoever thinks that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is part of the problems in the Middle East is trying to escape reality," he said.
It must be a strange "reality" which Lieberman subscribes to, but he isn't the only Israeli official that sees the world through such tainted logic.
While Lieberman has settled on the realisation that "it is clear to everyone ... that the greatest danger they are facing is not zionism but rather Hamas and Jihad," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed into a different direction involving Iran and post-Mubarak Egypt.
Addressing the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations in Jerusalem, Netanyahu laboured desperately to link some imagined Iranian designs into the future of Egypt.
"The leaders in the West and the leaders in Tehran do not want the same future for Egypt," he claimed, according to the Jewish Tribune.
"American and European leaders want an Egypt that is free, democratic, peaceful and prosperous ... On the other hand, leaders in Tehran want to see an Egypt that is crushed by that same iron despotism that has crushed human rights in Iran for the last three decades," he said.
One is accustomed to hearing the flawed historical references of Israeli officials, but Netanyahu's latest comments are truly baffling. Tehran's political involvement in Egypt was and remains nominal. Yet again, Israeli officials are interpreting the Middle East solely from the self-serving viewpoint of the Israeli political Establishment itself.
This Israeli discourse is as old as the Israeli state. The initial narrative was predicated on the assumption of a unified party of "Arabs" hell-bent on destroying a small, beleaguered Israel.
The former represented all that was evil, extremist and anti-Western and the latter embodied all that was good, democratic and civilised.
Maintaining this illusory discourse continues to be essential for Israel, for it serves multiple purposes and has long been the backbone of Israeli official hasbara, or propaganda. Even as the Israeli army demolished much of Gaza and killed and wounded nearly 7,000 Palestinian civilians in the 22-day military onslaught of 2008-09, the propaganda continued in full-force. It suggested that the loss of so many civilian lives was a price worth paying in order to uproot Islamic "extremism" (as represented by Hamas).
Although Israeli propaganda has always been relentless, the Israeli official message in the face of popular Arab uprisings seems befuddled and unclear.
The reason for this might be the fact that the current push for democracy - using largely non-violent means - in several Arab countries, took Israel by complete surprise.
The Arab people's desire for reforms and democratic change is utterly inconsistent with the image of Arabs shrewdly crafted by Israel and its friends in Western media.
This image suggests that Arabs are simply incapable of affecting positive change, that they are inherently frenzied and undemocratic. Thus Israel, "the only democracy in the Middle East," can be trusted as an oasis of stability and democracy.
Israeli officials tried to infuse this tired message following the uprisings in north African Arab countries, but this time it seemed incoherent and was quickly overshadowed by the chants of millions of Arabs for democracy, freedom and social justice.
Another reason behind the current failure of Israel to capitalise on the ongoing turmoil is that Israeli propaganda tends to precede, not follow, such upheavals.
Israeli hasbara is most useful when Israel takes the initiative, determining the nature, scope, timing and location of the battle.
The official propaganda that preceded the war on Gaza seemed more institutionalised than ever. Former Israeli ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman was reportedly summoned by Tel Aviv to lead the PR effort.
He said that the diplomatic and political campaign had been under way for months.
The Guardian's Chris McGreal, reporting on the campaign from Jerusalem during the war, quoted Gillerman as saying: "I was recruited by the foreign minister to co-ordinate Israel's efforts and I have never seen all parts of a very complex machinery - whether it is the Foreign Ministry, the Defence Ministry, the prime minister's office, the police or the army - work in such co-ordination, being effective in sending out the message."
Israeli hasbara had then worked in tandem with the Israeli military, leading to a most co-ordinated campaign of war and deceit. But when the Arab people revolted, starting in Tunisia, the belated Israeli response was confused.
Israeli officials warned, yet again, of some Islamic extremist menace at work involving Hamas and Hezbollah, and others warned of an Iranian plot.
Some praised their fallen Arab allies, while taking pride in Israel for being a fortress of stability, while others called to speed up the "peace process."
Some denied any association between the absence of peace and Arab revolution. Meanwhile, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, who duly accused Iran of attempting to exploit the situation, chastised Western countries for disowning their beleaguered allies in the region.
The fractured nature of the latest round of Israeli official propaganda could partly be blamed on the element of surprise. Israel, which bought into its own dehumanisation of its Arab enemies for so long, couldn't fathom such scenarios as popular non-violent revolutions under way in the Middle East.
But even if a solid, streamlined, and certainly well-financed Israeli hasbara campaign is launched to better manage Israel's crisis, one wonders if it could really make much of a difference.
If a multimillion-dollar campaign to hide or "explain" the bloodbath wrought by Israel in Gaza in 2008-9 has largely failed, Israel cannot possibly succeed in hiding the fact that it is no longer the "only democracy in the Arab world" - or that it was ever a true democracy to begin with.
Ramzy Baroud is editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was A Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story (Pluto Press, London).
Ramzy Baroud
Illegal settlement gets nod from Tel Aviv
03.03.2011 17:35
A spokesman from Jerusalem's municipal authority said the plan to build a block of 14 flats in the Ras al-Amud neighbourhood met all the necessary conditions for approval.
But Ziad Hamouri, head of the Palestinian Jerusalem Centre for Socio-Economic Rights, predicted that the new settlement would fuel friction, saying: "The settlers will attack residents, trying to create anger and anxiety and to push people to leave."
On February 18 the Palestine Liberation Organisation submitted a resolution to the UN security council which demanded the cessation of settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and the establishment of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders.
It was supported by 135 UN member states and all the members of the security council - except the US, which used its council veto to sink the resolution.
Israel's settlement policy in the Occupied Territories is a war crime under the Geneva Convention.
Si
what a load of shite
03.03.2011 20:36
israeli
'Israel's settlement policy in the Occupied Territories is a war crime'
03.03.2011 21:34
barrat holmes
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