Is the Gaza prison break a prelude to de facto mass deportation?

I'm such an idiot. I really thought that the Gaza prison break was a palpable show of 1) strategic genius and unbreakable will on the part of Hamas and 2) an act of compassion by Egypt toward Palestinians as well as a defiance of the US and Israel. Nah. It was none of the above. As the following newspaper article/analysis makes clear, it's more likely a warmup for mass deportation--only in this case, Israel won't have to sign one order. It'll just starve out the people. And those too sick to run for their lives willk die for lack of medicine (the number of those is already up to 70 or so). Egypt won't resist the population transfer because 1) there has been massive protests throughout the country in support of the Gazans and 2) Israel won't conduct reprisals for the exodus. Of course, my theory will be proven wrong if the Israeli Luftwaffle starts bombing on the border and inside Egypt to teach the unruly and disobedient a lesson.

I fear the following miserable upshot: soon we'll have more Palestinian refugee camps in the Middle East and a permanent thumb-in-the-eye and stake-in-the-heart symbol of the evils of Zionism and western colonialism. One way or another, Israel is going to swallow up Palestine and create its vassal colony (after all, God has blessed the land grab as fulfillment of one of his many ancient land-for-worship deals). One way or another, Israel is going to get back its desert Sudentanland. Me, I keep praying ceaselessly, only now I ask God for an air-tight excuse to be an atheist. His answer: send heavenly choirs of angels to recite, "God, grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change." Personally, I hate this test of faith. I don't see the Zen of it. Not yet, anways.

To make matters worse, and final, the NY Times Editorial Board threw its weight behind a Clinton/McCain matchup. So the thugs in Tel Aviv must be rejoicing today. It's more a neocon world than ever before--and will stay so. Upshot #2: the Likkud party will stay in power here in the USA for another four years.

In the mean time, Bill Gates has pledged another $200 million or so for agricultural projects in Africa. Man, it's great when the private sector takes pity on the downtrodden.

Now you know why I keep listening to Lesley Gore records these days. I miss the time when my deepest worries were about my gal and my grades.


<Escape from Gaza or Voluntary Transfer?

By Mike Whitney

24/01/08 "ICH" -- -- Forget everything you've read about the "Great Escape" from Gaza. It's all rubbish. The whole farce was cooked up in an Israeli think tank as way to rid Palestine of its indigenous people. Here's an excerpt from the Israeli newspaper Arutz Sheva which explains the real motive behind the incident:

"MK (Israeli Knesset member) Aryeh Eldad is hailing the Arab exodus to Egypt as proof that voluntary transfer is indeed an option."

"The Israeli left continues to claim that there is no such thing as voluntary transfer, and simply ignores reality," Eldad said. (Arutz Sheva)

Voluntary transfer. Bingo.

So the fleeing Palestinians just fell into a trap. Now they've been banished to Egypt by their own volition. We'll have to wait and see how many are allowed to return.
The media has played its traditional role in the Gaza fiasco, trying to make it look like Hamas' "terrorist masterminds" struck a major blow against Israel. It's just a way of diverting attention from Israel's role in the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Here's the way Ha'aretz summed it up:

"Hamas chalked up a real coup. Not only did the organization demonstrate once again that it is a disciplined, determined entity, and an opponent that is exponentially more sophisticated than the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority are now forced to find a new joint border control arrangement, one that will probably depend on the good graces of Hamas....The Hamas action yesterday was anything but spontaneous. It was another stage in the campaign that began in Gaza's night of darkness on Sunday. As Gaza was plunged into widely televised blackness, Palestinian children armed with candles were brought out on a protest march and organized into prime-time demonstrations in support of the Egyptian and Jordanian branches of the Muslim Brotherhood." ("Gaza border breach shows Israel Hamas is in charge, Ha'aretz)

Nonsense. Israel is not the victim any more than Palestinian children are "armed" with candles. The candles are a symbol of hope; something that is sadly lacking under Israeli rule. The truth is that Israel was getting battered in the media for cutting off food, water, energy and medical supplies to 1.5 million civilians (some of whom died in the hospital when the power was turned off on their respirators) so they looked for a way to do an about-face without appearing weak. Ha'aretz would like us to believe that our sympathy for starving women and children is the result of the propaganda we've seen in the "Palestinian-owned" media.

What a laugh; the "Palestinian-owned" media.

Hamas poses no threat to Israel and it controls nothing; certainly not the border. They've even suspended all suicide att acks since they won democratic elections a year and a half ago. But that is not enough for Israel whose goal is to extinguish any trace of Arab solidarity or Palestinian nationalism. Nearly all of the 4,000 articles now appearing on Google News follow this same absurd narrative about 'clever terrorists' who've out-foxed Israel and liberated their people. It's just another way of concealing the criminal brutality of the 60 year long occupation. In truth, Hamas probably had nothing to do with the destruction of the wall. It's just part of Israel's plans to exile more Palestinians.

According to the article in Arutz Sheva, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak decided to follow orders from Hamas' chief Khaled Mashall and "ignore Israeli calls to close the border. Mashaal seemed to indicate that Hamas was asserting sovereignty over northern Sinai, calling upon the Arab world to take advantage of the Islamist group's new stronghold to provide aid directly without Israeli interference."

Now, that's a stretch. In other words, US puppet Hosni Mubarak—-who gets $2 billion a year in aid from the United States---has suddenly decided to take orders from the head of a group that is on the State Dept's list of terrorist organizations so that he can fulfill his obligations as a "loyal Arab"?

Ridiculous.

Besides, Hamas has no interest in northern Sinai or any other territorial ambitions. Its only purpose is to resist Israeli occupation.

So far an estimated 350,000 residents of Gaza have fled across the border since Wednesday. The Egyptian police have done nothing to stop them from entering the country. "A significant number have remained in Egypt...traveling south to Egyptian population centers."

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on 1-24-08 that:

"Israeli officials proposed that Egypt take over responsibility for sustaining the Gaza Strip.

Israeli media quoted members of the Olmert government as saying Thursday tha t, after Palestinians overran the Gaza-Egypt border, there was an opportunity to demand that Cairo take care of the needs of the coastal territory.

"We need to understand that when Gaza is open to the other side, we lose responsibility for it. So we want to disengage from it," Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Army Radio. "We are responsible as long as there is no alternative." (JTA)

Are we expected to believe that in the last 24 hours Israel decided willy-nilly to relinquish control over parts of the Gaza Strip? Israel has devoted a considerable amount of time to building settlements in a way that removes any possibility of creating a contiguous Palestinian state. It is highly unlikely that their plans for Gaza are taken any less seriously. In fact, we are probably seeing a manifestation of those plans right now via the expulsion of 350,000 Palestinians.

The Jerusalem Post's Yaakov Katz clarifies how the destruction of the border wall serves Israel's long-term policy objectives:

"Without even knowing it, Egypt helped Israel on Wednesday to complete the disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he opened the crossing for Gazans since they were "starving due to the Israeli siege," what he did proved to the world that his country is perfectly capable of caring for the Palestinians when it comes to food and medical care.

Wednesday's events and particularly Mubarak's decision to open a floodgate into his country for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, demonstrated that there are alternatives to Israel when it comes to being Gaza's provider. " (Jerusalem Post)

That says it all, doesn't it? The Palestinians are regarded as a mere nuisance and a drain on Israeli resources. Now that the wall has conveniently been knocked down, the problem appears to be solved.

Hamas had nothing to do with blowing up the wall. And if they did, they were just unwitting accomplices in Israel' s masterplan to drive more Palestinians off the land and to absolve themselves of any responsibility for the ones that remain.

This is just another grim chapter in Bush's "New Middle East".

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What President Bush is Likely to 'Learn' When He Visits Tel Aviv

If Obama wins New Hampshire tomorrow as resoundingly as he did Iowa, Israel's chances for a friendly succession Clinton government, and the concomitant openness to a preemptive strike on Iran, dwindle ever further. So under the guise of exploring peace options with Palestine, Bush will, in reality, explore, war options with Iran when he visits Tel Aviv this week. I think it is probable that Israeli intelligence will do their damnedest to keep Bush 'open' to an attack, providing him with more "proof" of nuclear ambitions.

No wonder George McGovern is now calling for impeachment of Bush and Cheney. The doomsday clock is ticking as loudly as it did in 1962 when we almost nuked Cuba. It is my belief that there is a public schism (if not war) between the White House and the Intelligence Establishment--with important factions in both the intelligence and military communities siding with Bush.

Something terrible and terrifying happened in September when Israel bombed Syria. I believe the Israeli air force was aided and abetted by dissident elements in our own air force which provided some sort of cover for the mission. And I remain deeply troubled by the episode of the "missing warheads" that disappeared and were found in Louisiana.

But let me be frank here: I also think that Obama is no sugar daddy or agent for change. Yet I think he might be more willing to side with the secular realists in Washington who want to curb the return of the Holy Roman Empire and are willing now to let the Muslim world receive some share of the oil and water spoils in the Middle East. Despite occasional genuflection to AIPAC, I think Obama knows that Israel is completely out of control with xenophobia and paranoia and is no longer a reliable partner in peace or an outpost for democracy.

Nevertheless, as a member of a 12-step program, I have to renounce the hope of 'divine intervention' through any aegis but myself and other members of that 'we' called the people. Obama is, to me, our last fling with an external savior. He is owned as much as Hilary by the establishment. He is no better than she is in terms of IOUs. Maybe leaders who could change the status quo were possible when the cancer was still Stage Two, but it is now Stage Four, and the moral equivalent of a very advanced lymphoma.

Friends, pray without ceasing, and make it abundantly clear to your children that you will shelter them until you run out of strength or money. It is never good to be in God's hands by default, but if you believe, as I do, in the ultimate sound of one hand clapping, there is only One reality to whom it could belong.

In the meanest of mean times, the mega samsara called America is one over which we must admit we no longer have any control. "God, grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change; the courage to change what I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Obama is not that difference. None of the candidates are. The difference, I am learning by bumping into walls, dwells inside us. We must make a new, small-radius homeland of mercy, compassion, wisdom, love and justice. We must somehow find their ampleness within ourselves, our families and our communities. I am too old to not want to be the source of my own salvation.


Israel to brief George Bush on options for Iran strike

By Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv

01/06/08 "The Times" -- - -ISRAELI security officials are to brief President George W Bush on their latest intelligence about Iran’s nuclear programme - and how it could be destroyed - when he begins a tour of the Middle East in Jerusalem this week.

Ehud Barak, the defence minister, is said to want to convince him that an Israeli military strike against uranium enrichment facilities in Iran would be feasible if diplomatic efforts failed to halt nuclear operations. A range of military options has been prepared.

Last month it was revealed that the US National Intelligence Estimate report, drawing together information from 16 agencies, had concluded that Iran stopped a secret nuclear weapon programme in 2003.

Israeli intelligence is understood to agree that the project was halted around the time of America’s invasion of Iraq, but has “rock solid” information that it has since started up again.

While security officials are reluctant to reveal all their intelligence, fearing that leaks could jeopardise the element of surprise in any future attack, they are expected to present the president with fresh details of Iran’s enrichment of uranium - which could be used for civil or military purposes - and the development of missiles that could carry nuclear warheads.

In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot this weekend, Bush argued that in spite of the US intelligence assessment, Iran still posed a threat.

“I read the intelligence report carefully,” Bush said. “In essence, what the report said was that Iran had a secret plan to develop nuclear weapons.

“I’m saying that a state which adopted a nontransparent policy and had a secret plan for developing nuclear weapons could easily develop an alternative plan for the same purpose. So to conclude from the intelligence report that there is no Iranian plan to develop nuclear weapons will be only a partial truth.”

Israeli security officials believe the only way to prevent uranium enrichment to military grade is to destroy Iranian installations. Many Israelis are eager to know whether America would give their country the green light to attack, as it did last September when Israel struck a mysterious nuclear site in Syria.

Bush refused to be drawn when asked whether he would support an Israeli attack. “My message to all countries in the region is that we are able to solve the problem in a diplomatic way,” he said, “but all options are on the table.”

© Copyright 2008 Times Newspapers

An Example of the Well-Being I Wish for You This Year

I thought I would send a greeting for this new year in which exultancy is attained not only wished for--a well-being that is perfectly embodied. Imagine, if you will, a world that is answer to our prayers. I found such a world, as well as a tonic to today's winter gray, in Wallace Steven's "Credences of Summer." I have never seen contentment and peacefulness so well invoked.

IV

One of the limits of reality
Presents itself in Oley when the hay,
Baked through long days, is piled in mows. It is
A land too ripe for enigmas, too serene.
There the distant fails the clairvoyant eye

And the secondary senses of the ear
Swarm, not with secondary sounds, but choirs,
Not evocations but last choirs, last sounds
With nothing else compounded, carried full,
Pure rhetoric of a language without words.

Things stop in that direction and since they stop
The direction stops and we accept what is
As good. The utmost must be good and is
And is our fortune and honey hived in the trees
And mingling of colors at a festival.

The scene Stevens describes is literal, found in a Pennsylvania Dutch farming community named Oley near Reading. The stanza begins with a kind of Van Gogh voluptuousness of new-mown hay. I couldn't help but think of Van Gogh's famous painting of the napping mower. But Stevens has in mind more contemplative, wakened ends--the world as a shared paradise. We are engulfed by "A land too ripe for enigmas, too serene." In other words, we come to rest in an oft-conjured state in Stevens of "things-as-they-are." Here there is no need for any duality between the visible and the invisible worlds. "Clairvoyance" is now a sublime visibility of things, the hidden made rapturously self-evident, a honeyed state and place of meeting/unity between the fully present world with our fully practiced sentience. There is nothing beyond this fullest capability--this exultancy--of perception and being. Aware as never before.

In this paradise, senses ring and bring adornment; what is heard are madrigals of sonority ("not secondary sounds, but choirs, / Not evocations but last choirs, last sounds / With nothing else compounded, carried full, / Pure rhetoric of a language without words.") Here we are in a state much like that of the Zen Master who, upon enlightenment, wrote the following poem: "The bird sings / and the mountain is more quiet." All is attention paid as homage, as contribution, as participation, as surrender..

Now the poem bursts with contentment:

Things stop in that direction and since they stop
The direction stops and we accept what is
As good. . . .

This serenity ("the utmost") is our destiny, the ultimate reality that is, and by so being, is our fortune. We inherit, by sheer dint of true being, a world hived with honey and a "mingling of colors at a festival." In case you didn't realize, Stevens is here a transcendental objectivist. The angels are things in themselves, things seen and savored in jubilant sufficiency. I leave you in this summertime conjoinment of heaven and earth and pray this scene serves as correlative for salvation and self-reliance. May we arrive at and share in this mercy of well-being in the months, days and, if we're lucky, hours ahead. Happy New Years.