BAUAW NEWSLETTER - SUNDAY, JUNE 17, 2007

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Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

"JR" interviewed William Singletary on Dennis Bernstein's KPFA Flashpoints program Thursday 7 June at 5 P.M. You can listen to the audio archive of the program on the url above. The Singletary interview is about 22 minutes into the program.

William Singletary insisted that he is the "only" witness to the events that night when police officer Daniel Faulkner was shot. He states that Mumia Abu-Jamal did not arrive on the scene until about 4 or 5 minutes after Faulkner was shot.
http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=20627

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PUT AN END TO WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS.
http://www.facesofwrongfulconviction.org/action.htm

Check it out!
http://www.deathpenalty.org/index.php?pid=Act&menu=1"

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Stop the poison, heal the people: Come to the town hall meetings every Thursday, 6pm, Grace Tabernacle Church, Oakdale & Ingalls, editorial by Willie Ratcliff, http://www.sfbayview.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=194&Itemid=14

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ARTICLES IN FULL:

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Note: Because of the importance of this call, I am keeping
it on the list as number 1 for the next couple of weeks...bw

1) What Should the Anti-War Movement Do Now?
A Proposal from the ANSWER Coalition
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org http://www.actionsf.org
sf@internationalanswer.org
2489 Mission St. Rm. 24
San Francisco: 415-821-6545

2) Habitat for Humanity’s Homes Faulted in Florida
By JOHN LELAND
June 17, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/us/17habitat.html?hp

3) Abbas Swears In Emergency Cabinet
By ISABEL KERSHNER and IAN FISHER
June 17, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/world/middleeast/17cnd-mideast.html?hp

4) Palestinian Split Poses a Policy Quandary for U.S.
By STEVEN ERLANGER
June 17, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/world/middleeast/17assess.html?ref=world

5) Olmert Assails Hamas and Vows Cooperation With Abbas
By STEVEN ERLANGER and ISABEL KERSHNER
June 17, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/world/middleeast/17olmert.html?ref=world

6) The Situation in Gaza
Audio/Transcript: Ali Abunimah and Laila El-Haddad
Audio, Democracy Now!
June 15, 2007
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article7033.shtml

7) U.S. Losing Ground Through Tribal Allies
Inter Press Service*
By Ali al-Fadhily*
Dahr Jamail's MidEast Dispatches
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

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1) What Should the Anti-War Movement Do Now?
A Proposal from the ANSWER Coalition
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org http://www.actionsf.org
sf@internationalanswer.org
2489 Mission St. Rm. 24
San Francisco: 415-821-6545

[Please note: I endorse this call wholeheartedly and
encourage everyone to sign on! --Bonnie Weinstein, www.bauaw.org]

It is an absolute responsibility of the anti-war movement
to make an honest and straightforward assessment of the
current situation and to craft a strategy that can really
make a difference. Every serious organization, and especially
those with the greatest mobilizing reach, must be asked
to avoid posturing, make an assessment and develop an
action plan that will change the political landscape
in a decisive way.

This document does not seek to address or detail the
political differences between organizations and groups.
They exist and they have been detailed often. At this
moment, there needs to be an effort at clear perspective
that focuses on one simple question: What will end the
war and occupation of Iraq and what should the US anti-
war movement do?

It is clear that the anti-war movement is not sufficiently
strong at the moment to bring this criminal and despised
war to an end. Every organization must ask why is this
so and most importantly what can be done to change the
situation immediately.

The first question to ask and answer is: Can a people's
movement in the United States overcome the commitment
of the White House, Congress and the Pentagon to authorize,
extend and finance the war and occupation in Iraq?

If you or your organization answers the question negatively
then the rest doesn’t really matter. Perhaps, individuals
can bear witness and continue to protest, but it will
be little more than an individual statement.

If the answer to the question is yes, however, we must
assess various factors and craft a strategy that will be
fundamentally different from the current path of the
anti-war movement.

Historically, wars come to an end either because one side
wins and one side loses, or the people rise in revolution
(usually as a result of a military defeat or pending defeat),
or both sides exhaust each other over a protracted period.

What is the military situation in Iraq? The US cannot
achieve military victory in Iraq. Its multiple opponents
in Iraq are not militarily strong enough to decisively
defeat the US military in the short term. If the Iraqi
population, however, were able to overcome sectarian
divisions introduced with the US occupation it is possible
that Iraq could witness a repeat of a nationwide uprising
such as the 1958 Revolution that drove the British military
out of Iraq. But the flames of division are being whipped
up every day and function as a deterrent to such a spontaneous
national uprising against the occupiers. Finally, the
US military is stretched thin but is clearly able to
continue the occupation for some time, and the anti-U.S.
opponents in Iraq are not exhausted yet by the protracted
conflict. If anything they are gathering strength and
energy as the occupation forces cannot take the strategic
initiative away from guerrilla forces.

Given this complex reality, or realities, we believe that
the U.S. antiwar movement must take strategic and bold
initiatives that change the political climate in this
country. To succeed, these initiatives must be based
on a correct assessment of where we are.

The ANSWER Coalition wants to offer its own brief assessment
of the political equation in the United States. We are
also offering a proposal to all of the major anti-war
coalitions and groups and to all of those organizations
that function on a local level

Assessment of the political situation as it regards
the Iraq war

1) The people of the country have turned decisively against
the continuation of the war. Most recognize that the war was
based on lies and most no longer believe the president and
the generals when they assure them that victory is still
possible.

2) The military situation is worsening rather than improving
in light of the so-called surge. The number of US war dead
in May 2007 spiked to the third highest month since the
initial invasion in 2003. The numbers of Iraqi dead is about
3,000 each month. Two million Iraqis have fled the country
and another two million are internal refugees.

3) The US is unable to secure its political control over
the region as is evident by what is happening in Lebanon,
Iran and Syria and its intensified destabilization campaign
towards the Palestinian people.

4) The Bush administration is increasingly isolated, at home
and abroad, because of its failure in Iraq and its inability
to regain the military initiative even with tens of thousands
of more troops. The Pentagon anticipates occupying Iraq for
decades, as it has Korea and other countries.

5) More and more U.S. soldiers, marines, veterans and the
families of service members are either disillusioned or
completely opposed to the continuation of the war and
occupation.

6) The Democratic-controlled Congress voted overwhelmingly
to extend and finance the war and occupation. The calculation
of the Democratic Party leadership and the vast majority
of its elected officials in Congress is based on avoiding
at all costs taking responsibility for a pullout from Iraq
which will be perceived as a defeat for the United States
in this strategic oil-rich region. They believe that they
can secure an electoral advantage in 2008 by having the war
drag on and have the public hold the Republicans responsible
for the war. Moreover, the Democratic Party is feeding from
the same corporate financing trough as the Republicans and
they share the Bush government’s broad objective of U.S.
domination in the Middle East. Congress, under the current
circumstances, is completely committed to not ending the war
in Iraq in the next two years and probably for much longer
than that.

Assessment of the weakness and strength of the antiwar
movement:

1) There have been a growing number of anti-war protests
on the national, regional and local level during the past
six months.

2) The antiwar protests are being joined and, in some
cases, initiated by the people who have not been involved
in past demonstrations.

3) A growing sentiment of opposition and disgust to the war,
occupation (and the politicians) is building among rank and
file service members and some officers.

4) A large amount of energy and activity was directed at
Congress with the hope that the Congress would heed their
constituents' desire to end the war. When the Congress
instead voted against its constituents and with Bush
to extend the war there was a huge wave of anger, frustration
and desperation but with few available or recognized channels
for effective action.

5) Although the antiwar sentiment is growing among the
general population, the size and intensity of the
demonstrations, protests and acts of resistance does
not at all measure up to the vast magnitude of feelings
against the Iraq war among the general population.

6) The single biggest reason for this dichotomy is the
fact that the anti-war movement is badly splintered rather
than working together or in a united fashion so as to marshal,
stimulate and mobilize a truly massive outpouring of the people.

Proposal to build a truly mass outpouring of the people

If every anti-war coalition and organization came together
on a particular day, and with enough advance notice, under
the simple demand End the War Now it would be easily possible
to mobilize one million people. The political mood in the
country exists to make this happen.

So as to facilitate the greatest degree of coordination between
organizations to build a massive outpouring, the ANSWER Coalition
is not unilaterally setting a date for this potentially million-
strong march and rally. However, we recommend holding it sometime
in November of 2007, or on March 22, 2008--the fifth anniversary
of the war." In order to have such a huge demonstration, enough
time must be given to allow the organizations and coalitions
to come together and for intensive national outreach and
organizing.

This period of time between now and the demonstration would
not be a period of quiet, it would be a time of intensifying
anti-war activity and education at the local and regional level
culminating in this mass action. Unfortunately, unless the
political relationship of forces changes inside the United
States or in Iraq, the war and occupation will continue
through November and beyond. We are proposing a specific
tactic that can contribute to shifting the equation.

The aim is not just one more demonstration but the largest
antiwar demonstration in US history.

A mobilization of one million people marching on Washington
DC would be the best possible trigger for an avalanche
of grassroots organizing throughout the country and among
service members and their families and veterans. It is time
for something bold and broad. Something that sends an
unmistakable message to the powers that be that the people
of the United States have entered the field of politics in
such a way as to become an irresistible force.

Each group and movement should maintain its political
independence. Each group can inscribe on its banners
a variety of slogans or ideas or demands but what will allow
us to unite for the largest mobilization of all the people
is the simple unifying demand. Whatever differences that
exist between groups, and there are many and they are important,
are not sufficient justification for preventing us from coming
together in a show of force that will change the direction
of this country. The lives of too many people, all victims
of a criminal war, are too precious for our movement to tolerate
anything that prevents us from reaching our potential
to end the war in Iraq. With determination, maturity and mutual
respect our diverse anti-war movement can unite.

We would like to hear from everyone in consideration of this
proposal. If you, your friends, or your organization support
the proposal for a unified mass demonstration aiming to bring
1 million people onto the streets of Washington DC, please
join with us and sign on, which you can do by clicking
this link or visiting http://www.answercoalition.org/.
This movement has grown strong because of its grassroots
base. Let’s hear from everyone who supports this exciting
possibility.

During the next week, people like you and thousands of others
can circulate this proposal, discuss it with your organization,
family and friends, and be part of the effort to make it
a reality. We look forward to hearing from you and working
together.

Proposal by the A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism)
Coalition, May 31, 2007

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2) Habitat for Humanity’s Homes Faulted in Florida
By JOHN LELAND
June 17, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/us/17habitat.html?hp

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — When Habitat for Humanity built the Fairway Oaks development here seven years ago, Mary Zeigler thought, “This is a blessing.” In just 17 days, an army of 10,000 volunteers, including former President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter, built 85 low-cost houses, one of the nonprofit group’s biggest “blitz build” projects.

“I could have something to call mine,” recalled Ms. Zeigler, now 63, sitting in the coolness of her house’s central air conditioning. In a lifetime of work, she had never been able to afford her own home.

Seven years later, Ms. Zeigler is one of more than 50 Fairway Oaks homeowners who have problems with their houses and say they fear that the blitz construction was shoddy and that their land, adjacent to two former town dumps, is unstable or contaminated.

“My pride is gone,” Ms. Zeigler said, pointing to cracks in her house’s ceiling and its concrete slab foundation. “I’ve got a 25-year mortgage, and I’ve got stuff that needs to be addressed or I’m just paying my mortgage in vain, because I won’t have a house in 25 years because it will be falling apart.”

The Fairway Oaks owners took their complaints to Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, and of 56 who answered a survey for Legal Aid, 41 reported cracked concrete slabs, 22 had cracked walls and 48 said their houses were infested with insects or rodents, presumably because of the cracks. Others reported mold or mildew, nails popping out of plasterboard and other problems. The Habitat for Humanity local affiliate, HabiJax, maintains that the land at Fairway Oaks is stable and that most problems there are housekeeping issues, not structural. City inspectors this month examined six houses and found no violations. But in a vulnerable population, the perceptions have a life of their own. A project built with sweat equity and good will has had unintended consequences, and costs.

Jacksonville, in the northeast corner of the state, is a struggling former paper-mill town with one of the nation’s highest rates of home foreclosures. Rumors about contamination at the Fairway Oaks property began long before HabiJax got involved.

In the early 1990s the land held a blighted public housing complex, built on land that had been used, in isolated pockets, as a dump. After complaints by residents, the Environmental Protection Agency tested the soil for contamination. The E.P.A. concluded that the land was safe but noted that two buildings had been demolished because of soil settling, possibly caused by debris decomposing under the soil. A later soil test found elevated levels of arsenic, but the Florida Department of Health determined there was no significant health risk.

Ronnie A. Ferguson, president of the Jacksonville Housing Authority, said the two buildings had been damaged by water runoff, not because of soil instability associated with buried debris.

As the complex deteriorated, the housing authority offered the land to HabiJax for one dollar. For HabiJax, the land fit their mission, said Mary Kay O’Rourke, the HabiJax president. The project would remove a public blight and replace tax-subsidized housing with homes for people who could not otherwise afford them.

The first residents, mostly single women who had never owned homes, bought in for $500 down, 300 hours of sweat equity, and no-interest mortgages of around $45,000 to $61,000. Monthly payments, including insurance, are generally less than $300. HabiJax ran bus tours to show off the new community.

But when homeowners started having problems, several of them said the organization was aloof and unresponsive. In 2005, the cracks in one foundation became so severe that the house had to be lifted and settled on piers. Engineers hired by HabiJax found six feet of debris buried under the soil. April Charney, a Legal Aid lawyer representing the homeowners, said HabiJax had an obligation to tell residents that part of the development’s land had previously been used as a garbage dump.

Before October 2005, few knew how widely their complaints were shared. Then, Shirley Dempsey, president of the homeowners association, said she began having a series of dreams that she said were religious visions, leading her to discover problems in her house and others. Most had the same complaints: cracks in the slabs and walls, rotting door frames, leaky plumbing. Many residents had developed rashes.

On a recent afternoon, Ms. Dempsey, 52, sat in her living room amid artwork commemorating the accomplishments of African-Americans. Her bare concrete floor had a crack running the width of the house, wide enough to insert quarters at three places. She pointed to poorly hung doors, cracked walls, nails popping through plasterboard and spots that she said were mold.

“They let us down,” said Ms. Dempsey, who earns $10.50 an hour at a nearby mall and pays $295 a month for her mortgage and homeowner’s insurance. “They was going to let us live out here and not say anything.”

Ms. O’Rourke disputes this. In April, HabiJax officials asked residents to report problems. Of 36 responses, she said, workers have resolved 25 and are “working on the others.”

Even on the blitz construction schedule, she said, all work was supervised by licensed builders and then fully inspected. Professionals — not volunteers — handled the wiring, plumbing, heating, air conditioning and structural work, she said.

“These homeowners have been pulling up carpeting and noticing cracks” in their concrete slabs, Ms. O’Rourke said, taking care to praise many for their work maintaining their homes. But she said, “There’s an innocence when you go into home ownership for the first time. There’s been attention recently because of the scares, people telling them, if you have a crack, it’s a problem.”

Houses in the development have recently sold for more than $90,000, demonstrating that their values are rising, not falling, she said.

About the residents’ concerns of soil contamination, she said, “I don’t know how you change people’s opinions.”

Some residents dismiss their neighbors’ complaints, attributing them to poor maintenance by first-time homeowners. “Lots of problems, people can take care of themselves,” said Dinelle Fields, 51. “Get a bleach bottle,” she said, referring to complaints about mildew.

Even some of the homeowners with complaints expressed ambivalence. “I’m not speaking bad about HabiJax,” said Deanna Norris, 42, who complained about cracks and bugs in her house and worried that mold, mildew or soil contamination was contributing to her 5-year-old daughter’s chronic health problems. “It’s a good program for poor single people like me. But when things go bad, I just want them to do something about it.”

For Iris McCloud Moody, who moved to her four-bedroom house from a $500 rental apartment in public housing, assurances from HabiJax provided no comfort. In 2005, she said, the back of her house started to sink, making her feel as if she was walking downhill. Engineers hired by HabiJax lifted the back on hydraulic beams and resettled it on buried piers; the work has a 20-year warranty.

But even after the repair, Ms. Moody said, she hears constant cracking sounds, and fears the house will fall on her daughter and two sons. HabiJax has declined her request for relocation, she said. “This was my first house,” she said. “I thought it was going to be the American dream.”

She added, “The warranty’s going to run out. I’m worried that I can’t sell it. Or just say, I’m leaving it to the kids, and it’s falling apart.”

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3) Abbas Swears In Emergency Cabinet
By ISABEL KERSHNER and IAN FISHER
June 17, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/world/middleeast/17cnd-mideast.html?hp

JERUSALEM, June 17 - A new Palestinian cabinet was sworn in today, just days after President Mahmoud Abbas dissolved the three-month old unity government after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip.

The new government was sworn in by Mr. Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah but promptly rejected by spokesmen for Hamas. It was composed mainly of political independents and technocrats, among them Salam Fayyad, an independent lawmaker and former World Bank economist respected in the West. Mr. Fayyad was made prime minister, replacing Ismail Haniya of Hamas, and foreign minister.

Hamas spokesmen in Gaza have said that Mr. Haniya would remain in office.

Also today, Katyusha rockets were fired into northern Israel, with two of them falling in the Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, where they caused damage but no injuries, according to an Israeli army spokesman.

Mr. Abbas dissolved the cabinet last week after Hamas fighters took control of Gaza, signaling the collapse of the last semblance of cooperation between Fatah and Hamas, and the West Bank and Gaza. The emergency government appointed by Mr. Abbas will rule in the West Bank, headed by Mr. Fayyad, who served as finance minister in the previous government.

The Fatah faction moved to consolidate control over the West Bank on Saturday, and seized public buildings, including the parliament. The United States has worked swiftly to shore up the weakened Mr. Abbas, of Fatah. The American consul in Jerusalem, Jacob Walles, met with Mr. Abbas on Saturday and said that, now that Hamas was not part of the government, the United States was prepared to restart direct aid -- even if the new government’s control was limited to the West Bank.

”I expect that we are going to be engaged with this government,” Mr. Walles was quoted as telling The Associated Press after the meeting. He said he expected an announcement about the aid to be made within the week. The United States and other Western governments cut off direct aid to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, won legislative elections last year.

Compared with the five days of fighting between the groups, which left nearly 120 people dead, Saturday was relatively calm, although there was little stability in either Gaza or the West Bank.

In the West Bank, armed Fatah supporters stormed the parliament in Ramallah as well as government buildings in Hebron and Nablus that the two groups had shared as part of the now-disbanded unity government. News agencies reported that buildings controlled by Hamas, including charity and political offices, had been seized.

The seizures in the West Bank seemed to solidify the split between Palestinians after the fighting ended Thursday with Hamas, an Islamic group, in full control of the crowded coastal strip of Gaza. They also seemed to raise the risk of violence spreading to the West Bank, where the secular and nationalist Fatah is dominant, but Hamas retains pockets of strength and some armed fighters, though the Israeli Army keeps them largely underground.

The new government would control only the West Bank, which contains an estimated 2.5 million Palestinians, compared with 1.5 million in Gaza.

Taghreed El Khodary contributed reporting from Gaza.

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4) Palestinian Split Poses a Policy Quandary for U.S.
By STEVEN ERLANGER
June 17, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/world/middleeast/17assess.html?ref=world

JERUSALEM, June 16 — With the two Palestinian territories increasingly isolated from each other by a week of brutal warfare between rival factions, Israel and the United States seem agreed on a policy to treat them as separate entities to support Fatah in the West Bank and squeeze Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The idea is to concentrate Western efforts and money on the occupied West Bank, which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction control, in an effort to make it the shining model of a new Palestine that will somehow bring Gaza, and the radical Islamic group Hamas, to terms.

As Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, who arrives in the United States on Sunday to meet with American officials, said, a Fatah government, shorn of Hamas, “can be a new opening.”

After the failure of the Palestinian unity government, Mr. Olmert said in an interview with The New York Times, “I suggest we look at things in a much more realistic manner and with less self-deceit.”

But like all seemingly elegant solutions in this region, this one has many pitfalls. It is entirely unclear whether Hamas would sit still during such an effort, whether Mr. Abbas would be willing to ignore the 1.5 million residents of Gaza or whether the separation strategy would gain the crucial support of the Arab world.

As Daniel Levy of the Century Foundation and the New America Foundation in Washington suggests, it’s hard to imagine how Mr. Abbas could accept the tax receipts Israel has been withholding from the Hamas government and use them only for West Bankers. The Palestinians in Gaza and the refugee diaspora would not stand for it, he says, and Fatah might lose more popularity than it gains.

Mr. Abbas is already under pressure from some Arab governments, in particular the Saudis, who mediated the national-unity government at Mecca, to take Hamas at its word and try to recreate a shared government.

In a speech on Friday to an emergency meeting of the Arab League, Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia said, “The Palestinians have come close to putting by themselves the last nail in the coffin of the Palestinian cause.”

But he added, “It would be best for our Palestinian brothers to return to their commitment to the Mecca agreement and work to carry it out.”

Both the United States and Israel are reeling from the rapid and ignominious collapse of Fatah in Gaza in recent days, despite significant injections of American political and military advice and aid.

There is no question that, if they are to survive, Mr. Abbas and Fatah need bolstering fast after the victory in Gaza of Hamas, which favors Israel’s destruction. The whole future of the two-state solution — an independent Palestine living in relative peace with an independent Israel — seems ever more at stake.

The United States and Israel are each searching for short- and medium-term responses to a collapse neither saw coming. Both want to limit the regional impact of the latest victory of radical Islam over Western-backed, secular forces. And both are worried about the impact on Egypt, which is trying to seal its border from Gazan refugees and where President Hosni Mubarak faces a serious internal challenge from the Muslim Brotherhood, the radical Islamist organization with which Hamas is affiliated.

Mr. Abbas and Fatah say they are committed to a two-state solution with Israel. Whatever his weaknesses, which are manifold, Mr. Abbas still has the legal authority as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization to negotiate with Israel.

There is even talk of pushing Israel to negotiate with Mr. Abbas to create a Palestinian state in provisional borders in much of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with Gaza left for another time — a way to use the road-map peace plan President Bush endorsed. This idea was floated by a former Clinton Administration official, Martin Indyk, now director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, in an opinion article published Friday in The Washington Post.

For Mr. Olmert and Israel, the policy of treating the two territories separately would also be a way to justify the continued sealing off of Gaza from the West Bank on security grounds, to prevent the transfer of military equipment and skill. And it would also take the pressure off Israel to lift security restrictions on Gaza crossing points or to move very quickly to withdraw more settlers and soldiers from the West Bank, let alone start negotiating with Hamas.

But it is highly unlikely that Mr. Abbas, elected as president of all Palestinians, will change his refusal to accept statehood in provisional borders, or abandon all Gazans, many of whom would vote for Fatah if given a chance, to their fate.

That means efforts to reach a shared political consensus will have to continue, because Hamas is clearly not going to go away.

There is another problem with the idea of creating a beautiful West Bank Palestine at relative peace with Israel and with fewer checkpoints and restrictions. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, though kept underground there because of the Israeli occupation, could produce havoc, Iraq style, with a few bombs and suicide bombers. That would put a quick end to any easing of Israeli security restrictions.

And Hamas may in turn make something of its new responsibilities in Gaza. Without what it considers the troublemakers of the Fatah security forces, some of whom had been engaging in crime and destabilizing acts, Hamas may very well bring a new security to the people of Gaza. And if the customs connection to Israel is broken, it may be able to work out a deal to ship goods in and out of Egypt and create some jobs.

Still, Gidi Grinstein, a former Israeli negotiator who runs the Reut Institute in Tel Aviv, said that with Hamas now confronted with real power and responsibility for the welfare and security of Gazans, “this may turn out to be a Pyrrhic victory for them,” since they always wanted to share such responsibility with Fatah.

Hamas, he said, is “more comfortable in the gray area where it addresses the needs of the population but not the requirements of power.” But Hamas may find that it needs to deal with Israel and the compromises of politics in ways that could bring it over time, as Yasir Arafat and Fatah were brought, closer to the space in which two adversaries can negotiate a peace.

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5) Olmert Assails Hamas and Vows Cooperation With Abbas
By STEVEN ERLANGER and ISABEL KERSHNER
June 17, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/world/middleeast/17olmert.html?ref=world

JERUSALEM, June 16 —Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel, deploring the “brutality of the Palestinians against their own people,” said that Israel would “cooperate fully” with a new government installed by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

A Fatah government, shorn of Hamas, “can be a new opening,” Mr. Olmert said, suggesting that Israel would hand over $562 million in withheld tax and customs duties to help Fatah turn the West Bank into a model for the Palestinian future, even if Gaza was lost to extremism with last week’s takeover of the territory by Hamas.

“I am willing to cooperate with Abu Mazen if there will not be a Hamas government and meet all my commitments, including all the financial commitments, no question about it,” Mr. Olmert said, using a name by which Mr. Abbas is known. “To give it to a Hamas government is reckless. To give it to a Fatah government is an opportunity.”

And in remarks that were unprecedented for a sitting Israeli prime minister, Mr. Olmert spoke explicitly about the pain suffered by Palestinian refugees and their families who fled or were forced to flee their homes in the war of 1948-49. While not accepting responsibility for a war the new Israeli state did not start, he said, “It’s time for Israel to deal seriously, openly and generously with the suffering of the Palestinians that has taken place over many years as part of the conflict between us and them.”

“We do want to say to the Palestinians,” he said, “that we are not indifferent to what happened to them.”

As part of any future peace settlement, he said, “We want to take part in an effort to effectively deal with this issue” in a way “that will not create more suffering but perhaps bring an end to this chapter in the relations between the two peoples.”

Mr. Olmert remained firm in saying that no Palestinian refugees or their descendants would be able to return to the state of Israel, but he clearly appeared to want to soften the message, speaking about Israel’s need to recognize the refugees’ suffering and hinting at compensation, though he offered no details. Mr. Olmert spoke in a 40-minute interview on Thursday with The New York Times in his Tel Aviv office, as Hamas was completing its violent takeover of Gaza and before flying to the United States to meet with President Bush on Tuesday.

Those meetings will be vital in shaping a joint strategy to deal with the victory by Hamas, regarded as a terrorist group by both countries, and the blow suffered in Gaza by Mr. Abbas and Fatah, who favor peace with Israel.

In the interview, which was embargoed for Sunday publication, Mr. Olmert was alternately gracious and prickly, and appeared preoccupied with the fast-moving events in Gaza.

He tried to find opportunity in the likely separation of the political future of the West Bank from that of Gaza.

“I think the government and the authority that Abu Mazen holds in the West Bank can create an opportunity for an entirely different way of living for those who live in the West Bank,” Mr. Olmert said. “That can be the platform upon which a somewhat different Palestinian realization of what’s good and what’s bad, what’s preferred and what’s not, can emerge.”

After the Hamas conquest and the failure of the Palestinian national unity government negotiated in March, Mr. Olmert said: “I suggest we look at things in a much more realistic manner and with less self-deceit. A democracy which is based on terror and on brutal killing of opponents is not a democracy. Even if it received more votes, in a way that is totally now irrelevant to the realities of life of that population.”

Mr. Olmert was expecting continued pressure from the Bush administration and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to maintain talks on a “political horizon” for a future Palestinian state with Mr. Abbas, but he was clearly feeling that his own pessimism about Mr. Abbas’s ability to deliver had been warranted.

He said that he and Mr. Bush agreed on the need for creating a Palestinian state, and he agreed with Ms. Rice’s “desire to push things forward rapidly.” But the Fatah collapse in Gaza changes the conversation, not only with Mr. Abbas, but also with the Americans, Mr. Olmert implied.

“The real aggravation we sometimes have is not in the basic perception of what needs to be done in the territories, between us and the Palestinians,” Mr. Olmert said of his talks with Washington. “I guess the only difference that sometimes exists is between the assessment of the real opportunities and how one can deal with these, and how difficult it is to change things when the main agent of change doesn’t have the willpower that he should have.”

Mr. Olmert likes Mr. Abbas but does not think much of him as a leader. He insists that it is Mr. Abbas who is reluctant to have regular meetings with Israel, and who is conditioning them on the return of the confiscated tax money. “I don’t think I need to pay cash for every meeting in order to discuss the common future of the Jews and the Palestinians in this part of the world,” he said.

Mr. Olmert also implicitly criticized the American policy of funneling arms to Mr. Abbas’s Presidential Guard in Gaza, one of the many elite Fatah forces that fought badly in Gaza, if at all.

“I look at the Fatah fighting now in Gaza, and I don’t see any of the commanders in the area,” he said. “Where have they been? Where have they disappeared? Why are they not in Gaza? How can one expect that the Fatah will prevail if all their commanders are away outside the region altogether or in the West Bank?” Everyone wants to “help the moderates and provide them with weapons,” he said. “But it’s another thing to ask yourself, if I’m going to give weapons and these weapons are going to be taken by Hamas, what am I doing?”

Asked if the Hamas victory in Gaza marked the failure of the American and Israeli policy to isolate Hamas diplomatically and financially and boost Fatah through aid and weapons, Mr. Olmert said that “this policy was never exercised to the fullest.” Appearing annoyed, he said, “Hamas was not really ever isolated entirely.”

Palestinian leaders of Fatah, he said, collaborated with Hamas: “To sit in the back rooms and make all the deals with Hamas and then go outside and say, we are by ourselves, we are not part of it — it doesn’t work. What it did was help create a stronger basis for Hamas.”

Mr. Olmert, who came to power effectively in January 2006 and was elected two months later with a mandate to pull more Israeli settlers out of the occupied West Bank, was badly damaged by last summer’s war against Hezbollah. He was sharply criticized in a partial report put out by a government commission, and successfully resisted calls for his resignation.

But with a new defense minister — the former prime minister and new Labor Party leader Ehud Barak — and a successful campaign to elect Shimon Peres as Israel’s next president, Mr. Olmert is considered to have a new beginning as prime minister, at least until the autumn. Asked if his chair felt more comfortable now, Mr. Olmert bristled. “This chair, to be honest,” he said, leaning back and staring at his questioner, “it’s quite comfortable anyway.”

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6) The Situation in Gaza
Audio/Transcript: Ali Abunimah and Laila El-Haddad
Audio, Democracy Now!
June 15, 2007
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article7033.shtml

EI's Ali Abunimah appeared on Democracy Now!, interviewed by host Amy Goodman, on Friday, 15 June 2007. He was joined by journalist and mother living in Gaza, Laila El-Haddad. Abunimah and El-Haddad discuss the current situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as Hamas takes control over the Gaza Strip. The two discuss US and Israel's involvement in the recent fighting between Fatah and Hamas which has been commonly referred to as a civil war.

AMY GOODMAN: Hamas is in full control of the Gaza Strip following days of bloody clashes with rival Palestinian faction Fatah. Hamas militants seized the presidential compound in Gaza City overnight after a week of fighting, which has left more than 100 people dead.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday announced the dismissal of the Hamas-led government and declared a state of emergency. Abbas said he would now rule by presidential decree until the conditions were right for early elections. However, Prime Minister Ismail Haniya says his government will press on and impose law and order.

The Occupied Territories have now been effectively split into two separate entities with Hamas in charge of Gaza and Fatah controlling the West Bank. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told Agence France Presse: “This is the worst thing I’ve seen since 1967.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave her backing to Mahmoud Abbas, saying he had exercised his “lawful authority.” There are reports today the Bush administration will boost aid to Abbas while allowing Gaza to slip into further despair in order to weaken Hamas’ popular standing. Meanwhile, Haaretz reports that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is planning to tell President Bush that that there is an urgent need to view the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as separate entities and prevent contact between them. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon held preliminary talks on the idea of sending an international force to Gaza, but Hamas rejected the move, saying it would treat foreign troops as occupation forces.

There are new fears violence will now spread to the West Bank where Fatah militants have rounded up nearly 90 Hamas fighters and claimed to have killed a Hamas member in retaliation for events in Gaza.

This all comes as new details emerge about criticism from a former top UN envoy on the U.S. and UN role in Israel and the Occupied Territories. In a confidential report disclosed earlier this week, Alvaro de Soto condemns the boycott on the Palestinian government and says the U.S. and Israel virtually neutralized prospects for peace.

AMY GOODMAN: Laila el-Haddad is a Palestinian journalist. She writes for Aljazeera.net and is making a film on Gaza's underground economy. She maintains a blog “Raising Youssef: A Diary of a Mother Under Occupation.” Laila lives in Gaza and the United States. She returned from Gaza last week, joins us in our firehouse studio. Ali Abunima is cofounder of the publication The Electronic Intifida, author of the book "one country: a bold proposal to end the Israeli-Palestinian impasse." he joins us from Chicago. And on the line from Gaza is Fares Akram, a freelance journalist in Gaza city. We will go to you, Fares, first. Tell us what is happening today on the ground in Gaza.

FARES AKRAM: Well, now Hamas supporters and partisans, thousands of them are taking to the streets to celebrate what they call the victory. A day of victory in which Gaza was cleaned from the corruption and corruption makers. Those [inaudible] have witnessed some violence as [inaudible] in central Gaza Strip came under fire and one person from Hamas was killed. The Israelis came after all the security compound that are loyal to a President Mahmoud Abbas of rival Fatah, and have fallen in Hamas grip after days of bloody fighting that left more than 130 Palestinians dead.

AMY GOODMAN: And what is the feeling of the general population right now, about what is happening, about Hamas being in charge of Gaza now, in control, and Fatah of the West Bank?

FARES AKRAM: During the fighting some of Hamas leaders have vote they will clean Gaza from secularism. This has created fear among the ordinary people that their personal freedom might be confiscated and Hamas maybe going to impose radical thought on society. But soon after the capturing of the security compound Hamas has assured the people that the fighting was aimed at the coup-seekers among the security chiefs and those Fatah leaders who implement US orders on the Gaza Strip. And their war was against those who confiscate Hamas victory that the Islamic movement has achieved in January in parliamentary elections. Now Hamas men are calling on the security members to surrender and lay down their personal guns and give them an ultimatum that ends after half an hour. But they said anyone who delivers his weapons before that deadline he would enjoy full amnesty. And also Hamas has given amnesty to Fatah people, including some major security chiefs who were captured yesterday. And they released them today. Also, Hamas leaders are assuring the people that they will spread Islam in a very civilized way and will not be like the Taliban. They have been promising the people that Gaza is very safe now. Any individuals can walk from Beit-Hanoon, in the north of the Gaza Strip to Rafah City in far south of the Gaza Strip, enjoying full safety without being ambushed or killed or his car stolen. So Hamas has been promising the safety and security. And in the coming days will show if Hamas promises can come through or not.

AMY GOODMAN: And the reports that Hamas had executed some Fatah fighters yesterday?

FARES AKRAM: Yeah, at least they have executed two Fatah leaders. A day after the execution the chief Hamas Moofti has issued the fatwa approving the killing of Sami al-Madhoon, who Hamas accuses of being a symbol of those who try to confiscate Hamas legitimacy. Sami al-Madhoon used to live in northern Gaza and was responsible for affecting tens of Hamas men and torturing them and also killing a number of Hamas partisans. Two months ago Hamas reached a deal to evacuate al-Madhoon from the northern Gaza Strip and position him in a security compound. The deal came into effect. But when the previous round of violence erupted last month, al-Madhoon was responsible for affecting and killing a number of Hamas men including three pro-Hamas journalists. So Hamas has taken a decision to kill al-Madhoon, and they mostly have approved that decision. But on the other hand this was the only two events of public execution.

AMY GOODMAN: Fares Akram, thank you for being with us. Joining us from Gaza city, a freelance journalist. When we come back from break, Laila el-Haddad and Ali Abunimah will be with us to talk further about the mass crisis in Gaza and the West Bank.

AMY GOODMAN: As we continue on Gaza and the West Bank, our guest Laila El-Haddad, Palestinian journalist, mother, living in Gaza, just came to the United States last week. And Ali Abunimah joining us in Chicago, cofounder of the online publication Electronic Intifada. Describe what it is like to live in Gaza right now and what you understand to be happening, Laila.

LAILA EL-HADDAD: Well, as you mentioned, I was just there. I just came back last Friday. The day I was trying to leave -- it took me several days to leave because the Rafah crossing of course, which is still controlled by Israel, and the only outlet for Gazans to the outside world, is open less than a quarter of the time and is extremely difficult for people to pass. As I was leaving, we were hearing reports of activity and things happening in the southern Rafa, in the southern Gaza Strip. The beginning of this latest bout of fighting. Of course, when I was there a month -- or a few weeks ago, rather, the most recent state of fighting had begun. And then it was sort of quelled and died down. For a few days it was extremely terrifying in our apartment in central Gaza city. We were penned in there for about four days. We couldn't leave. It was very unpredictable. The situation was very volatile. There were snipers that had taken position on various high-rise towers throughout the city and masked gunmen throughout the streets. What we had seen was a new phenomenon we had not seen before, was these stopping of cars and random abductions and targeting journalists, very specifically. So, journalists were not going out on the streets. And again it was by masked gunmen, nobody knew who was who and who was doing what. So it was best just to stay indoors until that had passed. So it sounds very similar to what has happened. Maybe this was in greater intensity in the past few days.

AMY GOODMAN: Ali Abunimah, can you describe who is arming both sides, Fatah and Hamas?

ALI ABUNIMAH: Yes. What we've seen is really a direct result of the Bush doctrine. Since January 2006 when Hamas won the legislative election fair and square, the United States refused the election result and it has been arming several Palestinian militias, particularly those controlled by the Gaza warlord, Mohammed Dahlan. This is a repeat strategy of the contras. These are Palestinian contras. And the architect of this policy is none other than Elliott Abrams, the deputy national security advisor, who was convicted for lying to congress in the Iran-contra scandal. And Alvaro de Soto, the UN Reporter that you mentioned in the introduction, Amy, confirms in detail the extent of the conspiracy that the United States has been undertaking to overthrow the election result and destroy Hamas. And just a few days before this round of fighting started on June 7, Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper reported that senior Fatah commanders in the Gaza Strip had asked Israel for millions of rounds of ammunition, RPG's, hand grenades and armored cars to use against Hamas. So I think what we've seen is Hamas taking a last resort move to put an end to what it describes as a coup intended to overthrow the election result. It's a major blow for the United States and for the Bush doctrine, although it's very hard to see how it helps Palestinians very much considering that Israel and the United States are likely to tighten the siege of Gaza and to continue to fund the militias. We've already seen Condoleezza Rice throwing her support behind Abbas and no sign of a letup in US interference and armed intervention in Palestinian affairs.

AMY GOODMAN: How did the weapons get to both sides? And does that aid that Condoleezza Rice is talking about include weapons?

ALI ABUNIMAH: Yes. The weapons that have been delivered to the Fatah militias to the Palestinian contras of Mohammed Dahan, come via Egypt and are delivered with the direct coordination of Israel. The Fatah commanders make requests to Israel and Israel coordinates the delivery of the weapons to Egypt. Hamas gets its weapons. There are reports that Hamas receives funding from Iran. Hamas also gets weapons from Egypt. What's notable is that many of the weapons that Israel delivers to Fatah for use against Hamas are then sold on by corrupt Fatah commanders to the highest bidders, so recently Israel has been actually turning down Fatah requests for weapons because they say to the Fatah commanders you just turn around and sell the weapons to Hamas. So Gaza is absolutely awash with weapons and nobody seems to have any difficulty getting hold of them.

AMY GOODMAN: Ali Abunimah, you've written a book, One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. Now there's discussion of three countries, not even a two-state solution. Gaza, West Bank, Israel. Your response?

ALI ABUNIMAH: I wouldn't put too much stock in that because the Israeli policy of cutting Gaza off from the West Bank is longstanding. It's been for more than a decade, that Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank can't travel from one place to the other. What I think we are seeing is the collapse of the two-state solution. Alvaro de Soto acknowledged that in his leaked confidential report. And today in the The Washington Post Edward Abington, the former US Counsel general in Jerusalem and now a lobbyist for the Palestinian authority was quoted saying that these events signal the death of the two-state solution. I think we have to recognize that the Israeli policy of trying to create Palestinian ghettos and Bantustans is failing before our very eyes. Palestinians are the majority population in Israeli-ruled territory between Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. And it's only a matter of time before the world wakes up to this reality.

AMY GOODMAN: Laila El-Haddad, what does this separation mean? And would you say it's been effectively a separation between West Bank and Gaza for a long time or life on the ground every day as you write your blog, "Raising Your Child in Gaza"?

LAILA EL-HADDAD: Yeah. I was just actually going to say initially when you were commenting -- and not just you. Many people saying Gaza and the West Bank has split now two different authorities. It's always been the case for over a decade now that Israel has effectively separated Gaza from the West Bank and in the recent two years hermetically sealed the Gaza Strip, as a mentioned, opening the crossing less than a quarter of a time for a million and a half people, the only passage for a million and a half people. So to me I see this as the way it's being described in the separation as part of the sort of larger plan. And what's taken place, of course in Gaza, while a terribly tragic to watch as a Palestinian, for me signals the failure of the Bush policy over the past two years of starving Gaza's population, of trying to fund and arm Hamas [correction: Fatah] with something of $84 million. I’ve seen these brigades they're trying to arm in Jordan and train in Jerico and Egypt. As I was leaving they stalled the Rafah crossing as they allowed in several hundred and thousand of these troops last Thursday.

AMY GOODMAN: You interviewed one of the men who was recently executed.

LAILA EL-HADDAD: That's right. I interviewed [name], who was [name] sort of the right-hand man in the northern Gaza Strip and the head of what's known as the Fatah death squads. I interviewed him in December for an article I was writing about the infighting, the beginning of the infighting. It was called "An Eye for an Eye in Gaza." I interviewed members of the Hamas executive force and then [name]. I had asked him about the situation and where he thinks it will go, where it will lead to, and who he gets his orders from. I specifically asked him if he gets his orders from [name]. He said everybody gets their orders from somewhere. And I said what do you anticipate will happen? He said, well, it's going to get to a point where we're not going to hold back anymore and we're going to take that extra step and just attack. We're just waiting for the right time. So this was in December, but I think he knew that his days were limited from this talk at least

AMY GOODMAN: You have also been writing about the underground economy. How does that work?

LAILA EL-HADDAD: Right. My colleague and I, [name] were working on a film called, "Gaza's Underground Economy" which is about the tunnel trade in Gaza that evolved over the past decade and a half or so as a direct result of Gaza's economic and political isolation. This is a trade that takes place under the Egyptian-Gaza border in southern Gaza Strip of Rafah. While certainly there are basic weaponry like [name] bullets that are traded it also involves something much more complex and is a means of substance for families there. It involves everything from food processors to even car parts and often heart medicines and even people who lack ID Cards that can't come into Gaza are often smuggled through these tunnels. That trade has evolved over the past few years as Gaza's isolation has increased.

AMY GOODMAN: We're very much reporting on this as Hamas-Fatah internal fight, a civil war. Where does Israel fit into this?

LAILA EL-HADDAD: >> Plays a huge part. Every time this discussion comes up I like to remind people this is not something that's happening in isolation, it’s not as though things just erupt. Certainly the factors were there -- the environment was ripe for this to happen, but this was the result of years and years of siege and most recently a US-led global siege and an Israeli siege and aggressive violent occupation of the Gaza Strip that has completely isolated it from the West Bank, from Palestinians, from their counterparts in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the outside world, of course. In addition to the Israeli continued-- American, rather, training and funding of Fatah. Something that is not unambiguous in any terms. As Ali mentioned just last week they were asking and actually received training and funding in Jericho. Israel allowed them passage to train in Jericho.

AMY GOODMAN: You talked about the just retired UN Coordinator for the Middle East has warned international hostility to the Palestinian Hamas movement could have grave consequences by persuading millions of Muslims that democratic methods don't work. He said, “Hamas is in its effervesce and can potentially evolve in a pragmatic direction that would allow for a two-state solution, but only if handled right. Your response to this?

ALI ABUNIMAH: I think Alvaro de Soto's 53-page report is very revealing. It's on the internet in p.d.f. form. It was leaked. It is a savage indictment of US, Israeli and European Union policy. I think any objective observer would agree with Alvaro de Soto and would agree that from the moment it won the elections Hamas had tried to be pragmatic and flexible. It had observed the unilateral truce with Israel. It had given up suicide attacks against Palestinian civilians. And there was no response to that. On the contrary. The United States, Israel, the European Union and some Arab states decided to launch a war against Hamas by trying to deny Hamas its fair share. And Hamas offer less than its fair share. It is the one that immediately asked the election offered in national unity government by denying it its fair share they have assured that Hamas has taken the whole pie. It's time for them to radically change their approach, stop treating the Palestinians like puppets and toys who could be manipulated, and start treating them like human beings who deserve at least their full human rights and freedom just like any other people.

AMY GOODMAN: You said Palestinian -- suicide attacks against Palestinians. You mean Israeli civilians?

ALI ABUNIMAH: Of course. That's exactly what I meant. Hamas had effectively suspended that tactic and had observed the unilateral truce with Israel -- I mean just, Amy, in 2006 Isreal killed 700 Palestinians, half of whom were civilians, and 141 of whom were children. In the same period Palestinians killed 23 Israelis. And the world is demanding that Palestinians renounce violence? It's time to start treating the Palestinians fairly and end this dirty war that the United States and Israel are waging against the Palestinians just as the United States and Elliott Abrams waged such a dirty war for so long against people in central America. It's time for it to end.

AMY GOODMAN: How does this relate to these two other crises now? You've got Iraq. You've got what's happening in the occupied territories and its relation to Israel, and you've got Lebanon.

ALI ABUNIMAH: It relates directly because the wider US Strategy now is to install or support puppet regimes and client militias throughout the region in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine in order to fight proxy wars against the United States, against this phantom enemy of an Islamic caliphate that George Bush and his friends have dreamed up. And everywhere it's failing. In Afghanistan the Taliban are resurgent. Iraq has new reports every day. The US Can't even trust the Iraqi militias and the Iraqi army that it set up. And we see the total failure of the surge as violence intensifies. In Lebanon the United States has been arming and funding the Lebanese army, hoping that it will be a counter weight for Hezballah. And we've seen the Lebanese army performing very poorly against a few militants, foreign fighters in the [name] refugee camp. Although they've caused devastation to the refugee camp itself. And now we see the US-backed Palestinian contras being routed in Gaza. Also, Amy, a final point. I wouldn't overestimate the strength of Fatah or underestimate the strength of Hamas in the West Bank because Hamas has considerable resources in the West Bank. The thing I fear, though, is that the United States and its allies in the Palestinian authority will be foolish enough to try to do in the West Bank what they've just failed to do in Gaza. And that would bring increased disaster and chaos for Palestinians throughout the West Bank as well.

AMY GOODMAN: Laila El-Haddad, you write the blog, A Mother from Gaza. How do you live every day? Talk about your son. How do people wake up in the morning? Where do you go? How do you take shelter?

LAILA EL-HADDAD: Obviously it's a very complicated situation to explain to a 3-year-old. I mean in terms of actually entering Gaza, of living in Gaza, in terms of explaining what is Gaza and who is in control of Gaza. As we go through the crossing he says, you know, “who's not allowing us through?” And we're stuck in the crossing, And trying to explain to him who that is. Then he sees, of course, on one side Egyptians and on the other Palestinians and European monitors. Yet it's an outside force, meaning he Israelis ultimately closing the crossing. Then, of course, going into Gaza and being subject to periods of time these bits of infighting and him having to deal with the gun fire so forth. Children are extremely adaptable. But, of course, he has become terrified by the loud sound of the gunfire on the one hand or the Israeli shelling on the other and just has taken to closing his ears. So I just told him there was a lot of popcorn being made outside. And when the gunfire subsided, he said, oh, I think the popcorn is done. Can we go and see it? So he managed that fairly well at least for those few days. But it's certainly very troubling, setting an environment to raising a child in for any Palestinian, certainly. Whether your dealing with the occupation on one hand or the infighting on the other.

AMY GOODMAN: And the level of hunger, of malnutrition?

LAILA EL-HADDAD: Hunger, people like to focus and certainly with cause on the hunger and on the malnutrition. And that is a major concern, especially seeing as how it's been so methodical. But I like to point out that it's not just mere hunger that is the problem here. You're starving a people of their basic freedoms and their rights. I think ultimately that's been the grand scheme. Of course it becomes very significant and important.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you both for being with us. We'll certainly continue to follow this situation. Laila el-Haddad is a Palestinian journalist, a mother living in Gaza, writing Raising Youssef: a diary of a mother under occupation." ali abunimah, speaking to us from Chicago, cofounder of the online publication The Electronic Intifada. his book is called "one country: a bold proposal to end the Israeli-Palestinian impasse." published by metropolitan books last year.

Transcript courtesy of Democracy Now!

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7) U.S. Losing Ground Through Tribal Allies
Inter Press Service*
By Ali al-Fadhily*
Dahr Jamail's MidEast Dispatches
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

RAMADI, Jun 15 (IPS) - U.S. attempts to win over tribal collaborators
in the al-Anbar province have won it more enemies instead.*

The U.S. military has launched one of its biggest operations to date to
regain control of the province, to the west of Baghdad. It had lost
control over the region more than a year back.

The province, which represents a third of the total area of the country
and is inhabited by roughly 2.5 million people, mostly Sunni Muslims,
has stood firm against the U.S. occupation of Iraq since the early days
of occupation that began in March 2003.

Fallujah, the second biggest city in the province after capital Ramadi,
ignited fierce resistance to U.S. forces after they killed 17 unarmed
demonstrators protesting in front of a school occupied by the military
in May 2003.

Resistance then spread to Khalidiya, 80 km west of Baghdad, then Ramadi,
105 km west of Baghdad, and reaching Hit, Haditha and then al-Qa'im on
the Syrian border.

Massive U.S. military operations have brought short-term victories, but
turned people more and more strongly against the occupation. The
province remains the most dangerous for occupation forces, and attacks
have continued to escalate.

This year U.S. military authorities worked to firm up a tribal coalition
that they said would oppose al-Qaeda terror groups fighting against U.S.
forces.

Unnamed officials in the Bush administration have made claims to
reporters that the move has reduced violence in al-Anbar, but residents
in the area think otherwise.

"The American Army failed to control the situation in al-Anbar province
through military attacks that killed thousands of civilians, so they
decided to set up local militias," former Iraqi Army colonel Jabbar
Ahmad from Ramadi told IPS.

"It started with the so-called campaign 'Awakening of al-Anbar', then it
developed into forming 'The Revolutionary Force for Anbar Salvation',"
Hamid Alwani, a prominent tribal leader in Ramadi told IPS. "This was
supposed to be a local fight between al-Qaeda and the local people of
al-Anbar, but in fact we all realised the Americans meant us to fight
our brothers of the Iraqi resistance."

Alwani said "most tribal sheikhs opposed the idea" and made it clear to
U.S. military commanders that they would never be part of the U.S. plan.
"It seems that the Americans have started to realise their mistake now."

Few tribal groups are backing U.S. forces any more.

Ali Hatem Ali Suleiman, leader of the Dulaim confederation, a tribal
organisation in al-Anbar, told reporters recently in his Baghdad office
that the Revolutionary Force for Anbar Salvation would be dissolved
because of increasing internal dissatisfaction.

Opposition has grown against one of the council leaders, Abdul Sattar
Abu Risha, who Suleiman called a "traitor" and someone who "sells his
beliefs, his religion and his people for money."

Any Iraqi working with the U.S. military is now opposed by most people
in the province.

"Sattar is well known as a former criminal," a tribal leader in al-Anbar
who asked to be referred to as Hatam told IPS. "The Americans are now
spoiling him like a favourite child."

A well-respected leader in Fallujah told IPS on condition of anonymity
that "Shia leaders had their doubts about him from the beginning, but
the desperate Americans thought he was the best solution to their
failure in al-Anbar."

Abu Risha has been living in Amman, Jordan for several months now.

And there is growing doubt how much influence he has. "The Suleiman
family who were called the princes of al-Dulaim tribes have no power in
Iraq," Mohammad al-Dulaimy, a historian from al-Anbar told IPS in
Ramadi. "They were assigned leaders by the British occupation (during
the 1920's) and everyone in Iraq knows that."

Al-Dulaimy added, "As soon as the British left Iraq, those guys lost
power and went abroad. They then found a chance to return under the
American flag."

Others see the promotion of Abu Risha as a failed attempt by occupation
forces to apply divide and rule tactics in the province.

"I do not see this working amidst the obvious division amongst tribal
leaders looking for power," a professor at the University of al-Anbar in
Ramadi, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS. "People here know
each other and they knew from the beginning that those warlords would
fight over power and money one day."

But such co-opting has not in any case lessened violence. "All the new
militia did was increase tensions among the local community," local
cameraman Fowaz Abdulla told IPS. "Americans are getting killed by the
day and these militias are just executing people just like Shia militias
in Baghdad and the southern parts of Iraq."

Policemen loyal to tribal leaders in the Revolutionary Force for Anbar
Salvation have told reporters that the U.S. military provided them
weapons, funding and other items like uniforms, body armour, pickup
trucks and helmets, besides paying loyal tribal fighters 900 dollars a
month.

*(Ali, our correspondent in Baghdad, works in close collaboration with
Dahr Jamail, our U.S.-based specialist writer on Iraq who travels
extensively in the region)

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LINKS AND VERY SHORT STORIES

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Meadow Birds in Precipitous Decline, Audubon Says
By FELICITY BARRINGER
June 15, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/15/us/15birds.html?ref=science

Strike in South Africa expands
By Geoff Hill
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published June 12, 2007
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070611-114232-8445r.htm

Oregon: More Than 165 Workers Are Detained After Raid
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
More than 165 workers were detained to be processed for possible deportation after federal agents raided the Fresh Del Monte Produce food-processing plant and two offices of a staffing company in Portland. Three people were indicted on immigration, illegal documents and identity theft charges. An official at Fresh Del Monte Produce Company headquarters in Coral Gables, Fla., said the company could not comment until federal investigators provided it with more information. Mayor Tom Potter of Portland criticized the raids. The three arrests were understandable, Mr. Potter said, but “to go after local workers who are here to support their families while filling the demands of local businesses for their labor is bad policy.”
June 13, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/us/13brfs-immigration.html

Robert Fisk: Lies and outrages... would you believe it?
It was Israel which attacked Egypt after Nasser closed the straits of Tiran
Published: 09 June 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/fisk/article2636206.ece

Judge Throws Out Sentence in Teen Sex Case
By BRENDA GOODMAN
June 11, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/us/11cnd-consent.html?hp

US Military Envisions "Post-Occupation" Force
"US military officials are increasingly envisioning a "post-occupation" troop presence in Iraq that neither maintains current levels nor leads to a complete pullout, but aims for a smaller, longer-term force that would remain in the country for years."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061107J.shtml

Lieberman Backs Limited U.S. Attacks on Iran
By BRIAN KNOWLTON
June 10, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/washington/10cnd-policy.html

Biologists Make Skin Cells Work Like Stem Cells
By NICHOLAS WADE
June 7, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/science/07cell.html?ref=science

Report Confirms CIA Secret Prisons in Europe
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060807J.shtml

The Dirty Water Underground
By GREGORY DICUM
OAKLAND, Calif.
May 31, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/garden/31greywater.html

A Hot-Selling Weapon, an Inviting Target
By ANDREW PARK
June 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/business/yourmoney/03rifle.html?ref=business

Surf’s Up, but the Water Is Brown
By MIREYA NAVARRO
June 3, 2007
Los Angeles
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/fashion/03beaches.html

When Should a Kid Start Kindergarten?
By ELIZABETH WEIL
June 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/magazine/03kindergarten-t.html?hp

After Sanctions, Doctors Get Drug Company Pay
By GARDINER HARRIS and JANET ROBERTS
June 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/health/03docs.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Somalia: The Other (Hidden) War for Oil
by Carl Bloice; Black Commentator
May 07, 2007
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=12768

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GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS AND INFORMATION

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LAPD vs. Immigrants (Video)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/qws/ff/qr?term=lapd&Submit=S&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Search&st=s

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Dr. Julia Hare at the SOBA 2007
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeo9ewi/proudtobeblack2/

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"We are far from that stage today in our era of the absolute
lie; the complete and totalitarian lie, spread by the
monopolies of press and radio to imprison social
consciousness." December 1936, "In 'Socialist' Norway,"
by Leon Trotsky: “Leon Trotsky in Norway” was transcribed
for the Internet by Per I. Matheson [References from
original translation removed]
http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1936/12/nor.htm

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Wealth Inequality Charts
http://www.faireconomy.org/research/wealth_charts.html

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MALCOLM X: Oxford University Debate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmzaaf-9aHQ

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ADDICTED TO WAR
Animated Video Preview
Narrated by Peter Coyote
Is now on YouTube and Google Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZwyuHEN5h8

We are planning on making the ADDICTED To WAR movie.
Can you let me know what you think about this animated preview?
Do you think it would work as a full length film?
Please send your response to:
Fdorrel@sbcglobal. net or Fdorrel@Addictedtow ar.com

In Peace,

Frank Dorrel
Publisher
Addicted To War
P.O. Box 3261
Culver City, CA 90231-3261
310-838-8131
fdorrel@addictedtow ar.com
fdorrel@sbcglobal. net
www.addictedtowar. com

For copies of the book:

http://www.addictedtowar.com/book.html

OR SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO:
Frank Dorrel
P.O. BOX 3261
CULVER CITY, CALIF. 90231-3261
fdorrel@addictedtowar.com
$10.00 per copy (Spanish or English); special bulk rates
can be found at: http://www.addictedtowar.com/bookbulk.html

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"There comes a times when silence is betrayal."
--Martin Luther King

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DEMAND THE RELEASE OF SAMI AL-ARIAN

The National Council of Arab Americans (NCA) demands the immediate
release of political prisoner, Dr. Sami Al-Arian. Although
Dr. Al-Arian is no longer on a hunger strike we must still demand
he be released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ). After an earlier
plea agreement that absolved Dr. Al-Arian from any further questioning,
he was sentenced up to 18 months in jail for refusing to testify before
a grand jury in Virginia. He has long sense served his time yet
Dr. Al-Arian is still being held. Release him now!

See:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/16/1410255

ACTION:

We ask all people of conscience to demand the immediate
release and end to Dr. Al- Arian's suffering.

Call, Email and Write:

1- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Fax Number: (202) 307-6777
Email: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

2- The Honorable John Conyers, Jr
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5126
(202) 225-0072 Fax
John.Conyers@mail.house.gov

3- Senator Patrick Leahy
433 Russell Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
(202)224-4242
senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov

4- Honorable Judge Gerald Lee
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
401 Courthouse Square, Alexandria, VA 22314
March 22, 2007
[No email given...bw]

National Council of Arab Americans (NCA)
http://www.arab-american.net/

Criminalizing Solidarity: Sami Al-Arian and the War of
Terror
By Charlotte Kates, The Electronic Intifada, 4 April 2007
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6767.shtml

Related:

Robert Fisk: The true story of free speech in America
This systematic censorship of Middle East reality
continues even in schools
Published: 07 April 2007
http://news. independent. co.uk/world/ fisk/article2430 125.ece

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[For some levity...Hans Groiner plays Monk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51bsCRv6kI0
...bw]

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Excerpt of interview between Barbara Walters and Hugo Chavez
http://www.borev.net/2007/03/what_you_had_something_better.html

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Which country should we invade next?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3g_zqz3VjY

My Favorite Mutiny, The Coup
http://www.myspace.com/thecoupmusic

Michael Moore- The Awful Truth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeOaTpYl8mE

Morse v. Frederick Supreme Court arguments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_LsGoDWC0o

Free Speech 4 Students Rally - Media Montage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfCjfod8yuw

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'My son lived a worthwhile life'
In April 2003, 21-year old Tom Hurndall was shot in the head
in Gaza by an Israeli soldier as he tried to save the lives of three
small children. Nine months later, he died, having never
recovered consciousness. Emine Saner talks to his mother
Jocelyn about her grief, her fight to make the Israeli army
accountable for his death and the book she has written
in his memory.
Monday March 26, 2007
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2042968,00.html

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Introducing...................the Apple iRack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-KWYYIY4jQ

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"A War Budget Leaves Every Child Behind."
[A T-shirt worn by some teachers at Roosevelt High School
in L.A. as part of their campaign to rid the school of military
recruiters and JROTC--see Article in Full item number 4, below...bw]

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THIS IS AN EXCELLENT VIDEO DESTRIBUTED BY U.S. LABOR AGAINST
THE WAR (USLAW) FEATURING SPEAKERS AT THE JANUARY 27TH
MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOCUSING ON THE DEMAND - BRING
THE TROOPS HOME NOW.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6935451906479097836&hl=en

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Defend the Los Angeles Eight!
http://www.committee4justice.com/

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George Takai responds to Tim Hardaway's homophobic remarks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcJoJZIcQW4&eurl_

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Iran
http://www.lucasgray.com/video/peacetrain.html

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Another view of the war. A link from Amer Jubran
http://d3130.servadmin.com/~leeflash/

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Petition: Halt the Blue Angels
http://action.globalexchange.org/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=458
http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/289327

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A Girl Like Me
7:08 min
Youth Documentary
Kiri Davis, Director, Reel Works Teen Filmmaking, Producer
Winner of the Diversity Award
Sponsored by Third Millennium Foundation
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1091431409617440489

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Film/Song about Angola
http://www.prisonactivist.org/angola/

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"200 million children in the world sleep in the streets today.
Not one of them is Cuban."
(A sign in Havana)
Venceremos
View sign at bottom of page at:
http://www.cubasolidarity.net/index.html
[Thanks to Norma Harrison for sending this...bw]

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"Cheyenne and Arapaho oral histories hammer history's account of the
Sand Creek Massacre"

CENTENNIAL, CO -- A new documentary film based on an award-winning
documentary short film, "The Sand Creek Massacre", and driven by
Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho people who tell their version about
what happened during the Sand Creek Massacre via their oral
histories, has been released by Olympus Films+, LLC, a Centennial,
Colorado film company.

"You have done an extraordinary job" said Margie Small, Tobient
Entertainment, " on the Colorado PBS episode, the library videos for
public schools and libraries, the trailer, etc...and getting the
story told and giving honor to those ancestors who had to witness
this tragic and brutal attack...film is one of the best ways."

"The images shown in the film were selected for native awareness
value" said Donald L. Vasicek, award-winning writer/filmmaker, "we
also focused on preserving American history on film because tribal
elders are dying and taking their oral histories with them. The film
shows a non-violent solution to problem-solving and 19th century
Colorado history, so it's multi-dimensional in that sense. "

Chief Eugene Blackbear, Sr., Cheyenne, who starred as Chief Black
Kettle in "The Last of the Dogmen" also starring Tom Berenger and
Barbara Hershey and "Dr. Colorado", Tom Noel, University of Colorado
history professor, are featured.

The trailer can be viewed and the film can be ordered for $24.95 plus
$4.95 for shipping and handling at http://www.fullduck.com/node/53.

Vasicek's web site, http://www.donvasicek.com, provides detailed
information about the Sand Creek Massacre including various still
images particularly on the Sand Creek Massacre home page and on the
proposal page.

Olympus Films+, LLC is dedicated to writing and producing quality
products that serve to educate others about the human condition.

Contact:

Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
7078 South Fairfax Street
Centennial, CO 80122
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Vasicek,+Don
http://www.donvasicek.com
dvasicek@earthlink.net
303-903-2103

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A NEW LOOK AT U.S. RADIOACTIVE WEAPONS
Join us in a campaign to expose and stop the use
of these illegal weapons
http://poisondust.org/

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You may enjoy watching these.
In struggle
Che:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqcezl9dD2c
Leon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukkFVV5X0p4

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FIGHTBACK! A Collection of Socialist Essays
By Sylvia Weinstein
http://www.walterlippmann.com/sylvia-weinstein-fightback-intro.html

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[The Scab
"After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad,
and the vampire, he had some awful substance left with
which he made a scab."
"A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul,
a water brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue.
Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten
principles." "When a scab comes down the street,
men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and
the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out."
"No man (or woman) has a right to scab so long as there
is a pool of water to drown his carcass in,
or a rope long enough to hang his body with.
Judas was a gentleman compared with a scab.
For betraying his master, he had character enough
to hang himself." A scab has not.
"Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.
Judas sold his Savior for thirty pieces of silver.
Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of
a commision in the british army."
The scab sells his birthright, country, his wife,
his children and his fellowmen for an unfulfilled
promise from his employer.
Esau was a traitor to himself; Judas was a traitor
to his God; Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country;
a scab is a traitor to his God, his country,
his family and his class."
Author --- Jack London (1876-1916)...Roland Sheppard
http://web.mac.com/rolandgarret]

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END ALL U.S. AID TO ISRAEL!
Stop funding Israel's war against Palestine
Complete the form at the website listed below with your information.
https://secure2.convio.net/pep/site/Advocacy?
JServSessionIdr003=cga2p2o6x1.app2a&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=177

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Sand Creek Massacre
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FEATURED AT NATIVE AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL:
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/local/16035305.htm
(scroll down when you get there])
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING
WRITER/FILMMAKER DONALD L. VASICEK REPORT:
http://www.digitalcinemareport.com/sandcreekmassacre.html
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FINALIST IN DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL COMPETITION (VIEW HERE):
http://www.docupyx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=41
VIEW "THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FILM MOVIE OF THE WEEK FOR FREE HERE:
http://twymancreative.com/twymanc.html

On November 29, 1864, 700 Colorado troops savagely slaughtered
over 450 Cheyenne children, disabled, elders, and women in the
southeastern Colorado Territory under its protection. This act
became known as the Sand Creek Massacre. This film project
("The Sand Creek Massacre" documentary film project) is an
examination of an open wound in the souls of the Cheyenne
people as told from their perspective. This project chronicles
that horrific 19th century event and its affect on the 21st century
struggle for respectful coexistence between white and native
plains cultures in the United States of America.

Listed below are links on which you can click to get the latest news,
products, and view, free, "THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" award-
winning documentary short. In order to create more native
awareness, particularly to save the roots of America's history,
please read the following:

Some people in America are trying to save the world. Bless
them. In the meantime, the roots of America are dying.
What happens to a plant when the roots die? The plant dies
according to my biology teacher in high school. American's
roots are its native people. Many of America's native people
are dying from drug and alcohol abuse, poverty, hunger,
and disease, which was introduced to them by the Caucasian
male. Tribal elders are dying. When they die, their oral
histories go with them. Our native's oral histories are the
essence of the roots of America, what took place before
our ancestors came over to America, what is taking place,
and what will be taking place. It is time we replenish
America's roots with native awareness, else America
continues its decaying, and ultimately, its death.

You can help. The 22-MINUTE SAND CREEK MASSACRE
DOCUMENTARY PRESENTATION/EDUCATIONAL DVD IS
READY FOR PURCHASE! (pass the word about this powerful
educational tool to friends, family, schools, parents, teachers,
and other related people and organizations to contact
me (dvasicek@earthlink.net, 303-903-2103) for information
about how they can purchase the DVD and have me come
to their children's school to show the film and to interact
in a questions and answers discussion about the Sand
Creek Massacre.

Happy Holidays!

Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Vasicek,+Don
http://www.donvasicek.com
dvasicek@earthlink.net
303-903-2103

"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FEATURED AT NATIVE AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL:
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/local/16035305.htm
(scroll down when you get there])
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING
WRITER/FILMMAKER DONALD L. VASICEK REPORT:
http://www.digitalcinemareport.com/sandcreekmassacre.html
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FINALIST IN DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL COMPETITION (VIEW HERE):
http://www.docupyx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=41
VIEW "THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FILM MOVIE OF THE WEEK FOR FREE HERE:
http://twymancreative.com/twymanc.html

SHOP:
http://www.manataka.org/page633.html
BuyIndies.com
donvasicek.com.