‘At the end of last week the high court of justice went
beyond the boundaries even of its own ambivalent tradition on human rights, and
acted as a rubber stamp for blatantly racist legislation.
In a majority of six to five the high court of justice refused to overrule a
parliament law which determines that Palestinian citizens of Israel will not be
able to grant their citizenship to their spouses. (To all apologists, yes, I
did notice that there was a big minority opposition. But that was not good
enough.) 

The court decided that the compromising of human rights is
balanced by the needs of "security". What really lies behind it is
the bad old Israeli "demography problem", which in any other
civilised country would be called what it really is: racism. The facts are
simple. 20% of Israeli citizens are Palestinians. The rest are mostly Jews.
Jews are allowed to bring their spouses into Israel and grant them their
citizenship through matrimony to non-Israeli spouses. Palestinians can't.  

Not only can a non-Israeli spouse of a Palestinian not get
Israeli citizenship, they can not even enter the country. What this means in
practice is that a Palestinian who opts to marry a non-Israeli has to leave the
country. As one of the majority justices wrote: "the citizen's right to
have a family does not necessarily have to materialise in Israel of all
places".  

What cynicism!’  

I
Call It An Apartheid State

 

‘Israel bears the burden of
responsibility for the present crisis in the Middle East, the World Council of
Churches has announced, following a meeting of its Executive Committee in
Geneva from May 16-19.  

The Christian Left's leading
ecumenical organization stated Israel's actions towards the Palestinians
"cannot be justified morally, legally or even politically." 

The failure "to comply with
international law" had "pushed the situation on the ground to a point
of no return," they concluded. 

The WCC condemned the killing of
innocent civilians by "both sides" in the conflict and called for the
Palestinians to "maintain the existing one-party cease-fire toward
Israel" and asked Israel to base its security on "the equitable
negotiation of final borders" with its neighbours.’ 

World
Council Of Churches Slams Israel 

meanwhile, Israel continues to
manipulate its US benefactors ….. 

‘In unusually blunt comments,
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman criticized Russia, China
and Qatar on Monday for disappointing Israel in their role as UN Security
Council members this year. 

Gillerman, addressing a New York
meeting of B'nei Brith International, a Jewish humanitarian organization,
heaped praise on U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, jokingly describing him at one
point as "a secret member of Israel's own team at the United
Nations."’ 

Israel's UN Ambassador
Slams Qatar, Praises US Envoy Bolton

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
told a joint meeting of the United States Houses of Congress on Wednesday that
a "nuclear armed Iran is an intolerable threat to the peace and security
of the world," which "cannot be permitted to materialize." 

For a full text of Olmert's speech, click here. 

Olmert drew long applause from the members of the
House of Representatives and Senate gathered in the House chamber for tough
words condemning what he said is Iran's drive to build nuclear weapons and the
escalating anti-Semitic rhetoric from its leader. 

He said that Iran poses a threat to Israel's
existence and urged immediate international action to curb its nuclear program. 

He said that: "For us this is an existential
threat. A threat to which we cannot consent. But it is not Israel's threat
alone. It is a threat to all those committed to stability in the Middle East
and the well-being of the world at large". 

Olmert To US: Nuclear
Iran Cannot Be Permitted To Materialize 

Poor little Israel, armed to the teeth with more than 200
warheads in its nuclear arsenal & with a military machine funded &
equipped by the world’s only superpower, regards the prospect of a nuclear Iran
as an “existential threat”. 

It would probably never occur
to Olmert, nor his sponsors, the great proponents of “liberty, freedom &
democracy”, junior bushit, “aussie tony” & our own little B’nai B’rith
Award winning rodent, that maybe the people of Iran, just like the people of
Palestine, consider Israel an “existential threat”, in particular given its
refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; its failure to respond to
more than 60 UN Resolutions & its refusal to withdraw to its 1967 borders? 

And while bushit junior
chastises the Palestinians for refusing to recognize Israel’s right to exist,
he says nothing about the rights of Palestinians to self-determination. 

As Olmert mingles with his
captive sponsors on the Potomac, nothing is said about his commitment to
accelerating the completion of Israel’s apartheid wall: a wall that will
quietly annex more than 15% of the West Bank, along with most of the aquifer of
water.  

The same Olmert who said in
the recent Israeli elections that the Jordan Valley, nor the shores of the Dead
Sea, will ever fall into the hands of the Arabs. 

Whilst Olmert, junior bushit
& the rest of the Washington “rent-a-voice” crowd lament the failure of the
Roadmap to Peace & blame Palestinian intransigence for its failure, nothing
is said about the fact that, over the same period, Israel quietly doubled the
number & size of its illegal West Bank settlements. 

Not diplomacy: hypocrisy.

‘Ehud Olmert never should have been invited to Washington.
He shouldn’t have been given a platform to spout his defiance of UN
resolutions. The Bush administration does the country a disservice by rewarding
leaders who ignore the international community and carry out their own
self-serving agenda. 

This doesn’t mean that Israel
should be bombed into the Stone Age like Iraq, or that Olmert should be
targeted for regime change. And, it doesn’t mean that the Israeli people should
be collectively punished with lethal sanctions like those that are being levied
against the Palestinians. It simply means that Israel should be isolated as
much as possible until it complies with UN resolutions to return to the 1967
borders. 

Olmert’s appearance in Washington
is a setback for the United States as well as the cause of peace in the Middle
East. It undermines our credibility in the Muslim world and makes our foreign
policy look hypocritical. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at the center of
the turmoil that is extending through the entire region. The administration’s
favoritism has poisoned the atmosphere, making the battle for “hearts and
minds” that much more difficult.’ 

Olmert Should
Have Stayed Home

‘Israel has launched a full-blown assault on the Hamas-led
government. It has allied itself with co-conspirator George Bush to cut off
food, medical supplies and financial aid to the PA which is creating a
humanitarian crisis in the occupied territories. Israel has also stepped up its
daily assassinations, air-raids and other incitements in order to destabilize
the new government. 

It’s clear now, that annihilating
Hamas is at the very top of Israel’s political-agenda and that they won’t be
deterred by the enormous suffering they are causing to the civilians of the
West Bank and Gaza. 

Surprisingly, they have found an
eager companion to their subterfuge in the form of Palestinian president
Mahmoud Abbas. Ever since Hamas was elected, Abbas has challenged their
legitimacy and tried to undermine their authority. In an extraordinary
statement to the press, Abbas said, “The constitution gives me clear and
definite authority to remove a government from power.” 

Abbas, of course, has no such
power to disband the duly-elected government, but his attempts to thwart Hamas
shows his willingness to do Israel’s bidding. No wonder Israeli PM Olmert
praised Abbas so highly to George Bush during his recent visit to Washington.
Abbas is clearly “Israel’s man” in the territories.’ 

Is Abbas A
Traitor? 

And, having just informed West Point graduates that the
US will be at war in the middle-east for many years to come, the great
decider’s chief vigilante in the region relentlessly pursues its oppression of
the Palestinian people ….. 

‘The Road Map, like international
law regarding the end of occupations in general, also insists on a negotiated
solution between the parties. Olmert made a great issue of Palestinian
terrorism (playing on American sensibilities to this buzz-word), placing
pre-conditions on negotiations. Israel is willing to negotiate with the
Palestinian Authority, he said, of it renounces terrorism, dismantles the
terrorist infrastructure, accepts previous agreements and recognizes the right
of Israel to exist (a right Israel has not recognized /vis-à-vis/ the
Palestinians). 

What is not mentioned is Israel's
Occupation which, regardless of an end to terror and negotiations, is being
institutionalized and made permanent. For neither security nor terrorism are
really the issue; Israel's policies of annexation are based on a pro-active
claim to the entire country. 

Virtually no element of the
Occupation - the establishment of some 300 settlements, expropriation of most
West Bank land, the demolition of 12,000 Palestinian homes, the uprooting of a
million olive and fruit trees, the construction of a massive system of highways
to link the settlements into Israel proper or the tortuous route of the Barrier
deep in Palestinian territory - can be explained by security. 

Terrorism on /all/ sides is wrong
(let it be noted that Israel has killed four times more civilians than the
Palestinians have), but to demand that resistance cease while an occupation is
being made permanent is unconscionable.’ 

Countdown To Apartheid

‘The Ontario division of Canada's largest union has voted
to support an international campaign that is boycotting Israel over its
treatment of Palestinians. 

Delegates to the Canadian Union
of Public Employees Ontario convention in Ottawa voted overwhelmingly Saturday
to support the campaign until it sees Israel recognizing the Palestinians'
right to self-determination. The Ontario group represents more than 200,000
workers. 

The global campaign started last
July and has been supported by many North American churches, 20 Quebec
organizations, and others, Canadian Press said. 

CUPE also condemned what they
called Israel's "apartheid wall," saying it is illegal under
international law.’ 

CUPE
In Ontario Votes To Boycott Israel

‘What hope there may still be for avoiding a complete
meltdown in the Palestinian occupied territories, not to speak of the hope of
ever achieving a two-state solution, lies not with the initiative by Mahmoud
Abbas, Palestinian Authority president, to put the two- state formula to a
popular referendum but with the ruling Hamas movement's refusal to play by
Israel's old rules. Those rules have in effect eliminated the prospect of
viable Palestinian statehood and were intended to achieve that end. 

Hamas is determined that
Palestinian recognition of Israel will not come about without Israel's
recognition of Palestinian national rights, and that only an end to the
occupation and Israel's acceptance of the principle that no changes in the
pre-1967 borders can occur without Palestinian agreement (a principle enshrined
in the road map that Israel pretends to have accepted) will constitute such
recognition. 

The most widely respected Israeli
security expert, Efraim Halevy, believes Israeli and American efforts to
overthrow the Hamas regime are misguided. A hawk who headed Mossad, Israel's
intelligence agency, under five prime ministers and served as Ariel Sharon's
national security adviser, Mr Halevy is convinced these efforts damage Israel's
vital interests. 

His view shocked members of the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations when Mr Halevy
addressed them recently in New York. He has held it for some time. In September
2003, he said Israel should signal to Hamas that if it "enter[s] the
fabric of the Palestinian establishment, we will not view that as a negative
development. I think that in the end there will be no way around Hamas being a
partner in the Palestinian government". At that time, when Hamas had the
support of only a fifth of the Palestinian population, Mr Halevy said:
"Anyone who thinks it is possible to ignore such a central element of
Palestinian society is simply mistaken." How much more so today, when
Hamas enjoys majority support.’ 

The Issue Is Not Whether Hamas Recognises Israel

James J. David is a retired
Brigadier General and a graduate of the U.S.Army’s Command and General Staff
College, and the National Security Course, National Defense University,
Washington, DC. He served as a Company Commander with the 101st Airborne
Division in the Republic of Vietnam in 1969 and 1970 and also served nearly 3
years of Army active duty in and around the Middle East from 1967-1969. 

Question:       

Which country alone in the Middle
East has nuclear weapons?

Answer:           

Israel.

Question:                    

Which country in the Middle East
refuses to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and bars international
inspections?

Answer:                       

Israel.

Question:       

Which country in the Middle East
seized the sovereign territory of other nations by military force and continues
to occupy it in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions?

Answer:          

Israel.

Question:        

Which country in the Middle East
routinely violates the international borders of another sovereign state with
warplanes and artillery and naval gunfire?

Answer:          

Israel.

Question:        

What American ally in the Middle
East has for years sent assassins into other countries to kill its political
enemies (a practice sometimes called exporting terrorism)?

Answer:           

Israel.

Question:        

In which country in the Middle
East have high-ranking military officers admitted publicly that unarmed
prisoners of war were executed?

Answer:           

Israel. 

Brigadier
General Says Israel Is The Problem - Not Iraq

‘Israel has dismissed continuing calls for an independent
international inquiry into the beachfront explosion which killed seven members
of a Palestinian family in Gaza last Friday after its own internal military
investigation decided it was not responsible for the blast. 

As the military investigation
team insisted that artillery fire had stopped by the time the explosion
occurred and suggested it had been caused by a bomb planted in the sand, Amir
Peretz, the Defence Minister, declared: "The accumulating evidence proves
that this incident was not due to Israeli forces." 

But the official interpretation
was strongly challenged by a former Pentagon battle damage expert who has
surveyed the scene of the beach explosion. He said yesterday that "all the
evidence points" to a 155mm Israeli land-based artillery shell as its
cause. 

Marc Garlasco, who worked in war
zones including Iraq and Kosovo during his seven-year stint in the US
Department of Defence, called for an independent investigation into the
killings after concluding that shell fragments and shrapnel from the site, the
size and distribution of the craters on the beach, and the type of injuries
sustained by the victims made Israeli shelling easily the likeliest cause. 

His assessment came as at least another seven civilians,
including two children, as well as two Islamic Jihad militants, were killed in
a double Israeli missile strike on a VW van in the densely populated Zeitoun
district of Gaza City yesterday. The two children were hit at a nearby house by
flying shrapnel and the civilian dead included three medical workers from a
nearby children's hospital who rushed to help after hearing the first
explosion.’ 

Revealed:
The Shrapnel Evidence That Points To Israel's Guilt 

the crimes committed by
members of the Israeli defence forces are legendary, even deliberately
attacking & murdering defenceless US naval personnel, in order to conceal
their criminal activities. 

Whilst the Israeli military
busy themselves covering-up yet another war crime, the question of the west’s
“double standards” is asked yet again …..  

‘Why does a terrorist attack on the transport system in
London that kills and injures dozens, draw utter condemnation and creates shock
amongst us all, yet an attack by the Israeli military on a beach in Gaza
killing and wounding dozens, including young children on a seaside outing,
fails to register the same decibel levels? 

Shouldn't we be equally as horrified and as shocked when
innocent commuters and bystanders are killed in a horrific terrorist attack on
a Madrid train, as we are when hundreds are slain in a US air-raid on a village
celebrating a wedding in the Afghani mountains?

Can we sincerely put our hands on our hearts and declare that we consider one
life equally as sacred, and worthy of reverence and protection as another? 

At the heart of all the strife and pain that humanity
suffers from, whether natural or man-induced or even inflicted, is the fact
that we mostly care for some lives more than we do for others. It could also be
argued that some lives do not really matter to us that much. How could we
otherwise explain the tears that we shed for some catastrophes while we fail to
bat an eyelid when others tragically occur? 

How is the Palestinian child searching the beach in a
state of heartbreaking distress calling our for her slaughtered parents and
siblings with whom she was playing merely moments ago, any different from a
child in London orphaned and left alone as a result of a merciless attack by a
twisted ideology? 

Why does the message left on an answering machine by a
distraught wife and mother on board a plane that was on collision course with
the twin towers move us to tears, yet the sight of woman searching the rubble
for her dead children and husband in a Palestinian refugee camp devastated by
Israeli Apache missiles, fail to bring a similar reaction?’ 

The
Fluctuating Value Of Life

‘The Israeli Army has admitted to
The Times that its official account of the explosion that killed eight Palestinians picnicking on a
Gaza beach  last week was flawed. The account is also
contradicted by a UN radio transmission. 

The army has told The Times that
its report was flawed because it failed to mention two gunboat shells fired at
about the time of the deaths. It insists, however, that they landed too far
away to have been responsible.’ 

Israel Admits Shell Report Flaws

First nationwide Pro-Palestinian Television Program in
the US is the latest victim of Jewish attack on Free Press. 

It is just another example of the fact that in America freedom of
speech has its limits, and particularly when the topic of discussion happens to
be Israel. Fall on the ‘wrong side’ of the truth, and a person can lose his job
or his platform for speaking his mind. 

It seemed as if nothing could stop it. It went from having 2 viewers a
week to hundreds and then thousands and then hundreds of thousands and then,
once it gained syndication on an American cable and a Satellite channel called
Bridges TV, millions. It was being aired 5 times a week for 5 months on Bridges
TV with nothing but praise from both executives and viewers alike, and then,
out of the blue came a call from Bridges informing the show’s producer that
they were coming under pressure from "Jewish Cable Operators".
Bridges’ Programs Director and the show’s producer set up a system of rating
for each program to inform Bridges if the content of the show has ‘Jewish’
material or not. Apparently though, this was not enough, as two weeks later the
show was removed from the Bridges TV line-up. 

The program in question is called “Current Issues with Hesham Tillawi”
and runs Live every Thursday evening from 8-10 PM Central Time in the US from
Lafayette Louisiana. Besides running on cable, the program is also streamed
live and archived on the Internet where at present it is watched in more than
63 countries around the world at www.currentissues.tv
<http://www.currentissues.tv/>
. Tillawi, a Palestinian-American citizen is the host of the show and has been
making some impressive waves in the last year with some of the guests he has
interviewed, including members of the US Congress, high ranking officials
within the US military establishment, international figures such as ex-Israeli
nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu and many others.  

More importantly though {and most likely the reason why the heat came
down from on high} is the fact that it is a program where there is no such
thing as political correctness when it comes to discussing the goings on in the
Middle East, and in particular how these items relate to the state of Israel.  

Late in 2005 Bridges showed interest in broadcasting Current Issues on
their network that spans the US. Bridges TV is a Muslim--owned channel whose
theme is dedicated to the issue of Islam and to the current goings on in the
Middle East. In December 2005 Bridges agreed to start airing Current Issues and
by the end of May the following year, Current Issues was playing 5 times a week
and getting rave reviews by Bridges viewers. Then, in May 2006 Aasiya Zubair,
Director of Programming at Bridges TV informed Dr. Hesham Tillawi that some of
the “Jewish cable operators" located in areas of the country where Bridges
TV is broadcast had complained to them about the Current Issues program. She
also informed him that Bridges TV had fired one of their editors for not
editing some of Current Issues programs by taking out materials that in their
opinion was “offensive to Jews”. Two weeks later Bridges TV made the decision
to stop airing the show and in a letter to Dr. Hesham Tillawi Mrs. Zubair wrote
the following notice:  

"Dear Hesham, I would like to inform you that we will no longer be
airing Current issues anymore. I have been getting a lot of complaints from our
viewers,"  and in a follow-up letter Mrs. Zubair wrote: 

"Dear Hesham, It is not about the cable operator, it is about the
customers too who by majority are Muslim and who have complained about
the show. For now I would suggest it is best to part ways."   

Tillawi's response was "How could the majority of "Muslim
customers" change their mind overnight regarding a show that is presenting
current events from an Arab and a Muslim point of view?" 

Tillawi asked Bridges TV to produce those so-called complaints from
viewers. As he tells, it, they were unable to produce even one negative
comment. In prior conversations with Ms Zubair she stated that they were
getting many emails in support of the show. 

“This is censorship, plain and simple” claims Tillawi. “Its a shame
that a channel claiming to be friendly to Muslims would remove the only show
being broadcast nationwide that tells the truth about Palestine, Iraq,
Afghanistan, Islam, etc. In its promotional material, it claims to be a channel
dedicated to “building bridges,” but we say bridges can only be built with the
truth, as ugly as it may be.”  

When asked if he was surprised at this latest development, Tillawi’s
answer was “No…I knew that this would happen eventually, I just did not know
that it would happen this quickly. Unfortunately you cannot tell the truth
about Israel indefinitely in the United States, supposedly the freest country
of the world.” He continued his thoughts on the matter with “We feel this
shameful decision by Bridges TV management will go down in infamy because now
Muslims are censoring other Muslims from telling the truth to the world about
the thousands of Palestinian, Iraqi, and Afghani children who are being killed
by the Israeli-American War machine.”  

The rest of us have to wonder what the reason was for this censure? Was
it the programs dealing with the use of Depleted Uranium in Iraq and
Afghanistan? Was it the interview with His Excellency Afif Safieh, the
Palestinian Ambassador to Washington telling the truth concerning the Israeli
atrocities against the Palestinians? Was it the interview with the Syrian
Ambassador revealing what America's intentions were in the Middle East? Was it
the interview with Dr Norman Finkelstein exposing Zionism and what it is? Was
it the interview with Congressman Paul Findley exposing AIPAC and the Jewish
control of congress? Was it the interview with Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli
nuclear scientist who exposed the Israeli Nuclear capacity? Was it the
interview with Israel Shamir who exposed the racist policies of his country,
Israel? Was it the interview with Dr. Steven Sniegoski who stated that the war
against Iraq was for Israel? Or could it be the interview with Alison Weir
exposing the reality of the Palestinian-Israeli issue? Maybe it was the
interview with Lt Col Karen Kwiatkowski, who worked at the Pentagon and exposed
the influence of the Neocons and the Israelis at the Defense Department? The
list goes on and on with interviews that the Main Stream Media would not even
touch due to the Jewish influence over the media.  

Tillawi added that “We always spoke out against this influence over the
media and now we ourselves have become victims of this influence. One thing
that hurts like hell is the fact that it was a Muslim who pulled the plug to
stop the show from reaching a nationwide audience.”  

It is interesting but probably not coincidental to note that a short
time before Bridges TV ended its association with Current Issues, the ADL,
domestic branch of Israeli Intelligence operating in the United States, added
Dr Hesham Tillawi to its list of most ”notorious anti-Semites”.  Those who
are familiar with the tactics of the ADL know that the typical way that they do
business is to threaten and intimidate anyone who is involved with the business
of exposing the truth as it pertains to Israel and the way that the Jewish
agenda works in the United States. Therefore it is not unreasonable to expect
that in some fashion Bridges TV was contacted by a representative of the ADL
and told to cease broadcasting episodes of Current Issues or face the
consequences.  

When asked whether this latest setback would affect the way that he and
the producers of Current Issues do business, he said. “Absolutely it will…Now
the gloves are coming off and we are not going to worry about whose toes get
stepped on when it comes to discussing the truth. There is a great lesson here
about appeasement and giving into the demands of a bully. Bullies never get
enough, and even when you give them everything they want they still aren't
satisfied.” 

This is not the end, but the beginning. Current Issues will continue
broadcast on Cox Cable, Amazonas Satellite and the Internet, until we find a
brave man or a brave woman who will put us back on nationwide syndication. 

Hesham Tillawi, PhD International Relations is a Palestinian American
writer, Political Analyst and a TV show host. His program Current issues with
Hesham Tillawi can be viewed Live every Thursday evening between 9-11 PM
Central Standard Time on Cox Cable system Channel 5 in Louisiana, Nationwide on
Bridges TV, and Worldwide on Amazonas Satellite, as well as Live on the
Internet at http://www.currentissues.tv
and can be contacted at [email protected] Interviews then archived for
on demand viewing at www.currentissues.tv <http://www.currentissues.tv/>

‘Some weeks ago I heard Jan Wijenberg, a retired Dutch
Ambassador, speak about what the International Community could do to break with
its complicity to the ongoing violations of international law and human rights
by the Israeli regime. Wijenberg served over a decade as an ambassador for the
Dutch government in Jemen, Tanzania and Saudi Arabia. He regularly writes to
Dutch ministers and politicians to remind them of the responsibility of the
international community, and specifically of the Dutch Government and the
European Union, to hold Israel accountable to international law. His views are
expressed in this article.’

Former Dutch
Ambassador Calls For Sanctions If Israel Refuses To Comply With International
Law

Gaza air strike 'kills children'

Many of the injured are said to have been children
An Israeli air strike on a car in the Gaza Strip has killed two children and a teenager, Palestinian officials say.
The occupants of the car leapt out before the blast in a crowded street in the Jabaliya refugee camp, witnesses say. Fourteen people were wounded.

The Israeli military confirmed it had attacked the vehicle.



From Al Jazeera

Child toll rises in Israeli air attack

Tuesday 20 June 2006, 22:39 Makka Time, 19:39 GMT

Israeli shelling has caused several civilian casualties

An Israeli air strike on a car in the northern Gaza Strip has killed three Palestinian children and wounded 10 other people.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed the strike on Tuesday, saying the car was carrying armed men from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, affiliated with the Fatah movement of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.

She had no immediate word on casualties, but medical sources at Shifa hospital in Gaza City said that among the 10 wounded were seven children.

The sources named one of the dead children as Mohammed Jamal Roqa, a five-year-old boy. A seven-year-old girl who died was not immediately identified.

Hospital officials said that a 16-year-old girl also died of her wounds, and that among the other injured children, ranging in age from three to 12, three were in a grave condition.

Related:
Palestinians top world refugees list
Israeli missile hits Gaza building
Israeli missiles kill Gaza bystanders
Protest against Gaza beach killings
Israeli artillery fire kills Palestinians
Israel kills three in Gaza air strike
Israeli shellings kill Palestinians

Read more at Al Jazeera

From their BBC

Palestinian despair as donors meet
By Alan Johnston
BBC News, Gaza
Diplomats and aid donors are gathering in the cool and the calm of a [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5304328.stm|conference centre in Stockholm] to consider the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian Territories. And a world away, in the heat and the clamour of Gaza's alleyways, Imad Marzouk is living that crisis.
The stumps that are all that remain of his legs are still heavily bandaged.
He remembers doing ordinary things on an ordinary evening. He had just propped his bike up against a wall on a street in Gaza City, and started to chat on his mobile phone. But then out of nowhere came an explosion - and horror, and agony.
An Israeli rocket had torn both his legs off.

Israel's Education Ministry has recalled all copies of a history textbook because of a passage alleging "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians during the 1948 war, a newspaper reported on Monday. Israel's Haaretz newspaper said the secondary school textbook was removed from shelves because it sought to present both Israeli and Arab perspectives on the departure of some 750,000 Palestinians during the fighting that erupted after the creation of the Jewish state.

The Palestinians have always said they were violently expelled by Jewish forces while Israel has maintained they were ordered to flee by invading Arab states or alarmed by inflammatory Arab radio reports.

The textbook in question, for 11th and 12th graders, contained both versions of the events side-by-side, but according to Haaretz the ministry took issue with the Palestinian version. It quoted the passage in question as saying: "The Palestinians and the Arab countries contended that most of the refugees were civilians who were attacked and expelled from their homes by armed Jewish forces, which instituted a policy of ethnic cleansing."

If the Israeli government is doing this sort of censoring of information in their own country, do you think there's a remote possibility that they do this sort of censoring of information that they release to the rest of the world? Nah.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/040724.html