By Deepak Tripathi

(source: Palestine Chronicle)

In the foreword to Ramzy Baroud’s book, Palestinian scholar Salman Abu Sitta refers to a bold assertion by David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, in June 1948 – soon after the declaration of the state of Israel and in the midst of large-scale cleansing of Palestinians from their homeland. “Not one refugee will return,” proclaimed Ben Gurion, “The old will die. The young will forget.”

To some living at the time, it would have sounded like a hasty prediction. Not only has the Palestinian tragedy lasted six decades and more, its consequences today go beyond Palestine, the Arab world, even the Middle East. It lies at the heart of a much wider and far more serious crisis facing the world. How wrong Ben Gurion was. There cannot be another conclusion.

The seeds of the Palestinian tragedy had been sown while the Ottoman Empire was collapsing under British and French pressure almost a century ago. In a covert pact stitched in 1916, known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement, Britain and France, with the assent of Imperial Russia, determined the fate of Palestine as a largely internationalized territory.

By Patrick  O'Connor

(source: Worl Socialist Website)

The reaction of governments around the world to the murder of Hamas member Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai last month underscores the extent to which basic precepts of international law have been torn up under the “war on terror”. As far as the US government and its allies are concerned, extra-judicial executions and so-called targeted killings now constitute a legitimate state activity and do not warrant comment, let alone condemnation.

While the Israeli government has refused to confirm or deny any involvement, its intelligence agency, Mossad, is widely understood to be directly responsible for the Dubai operation. The Obama administration has maintained a strict silence over the affair, while the governments of Britain, Australia, France, Germany and Ireland have merely issued pro forma protests over the doctoring of their passports. None has condemned Mabhouh’s murder.

By Tasneem Mohammed

(source: VOCfm Online)

The Media Review Network (MRN) has strongly opposed the possibility of a new sex channel on television, saying it will further tear at the "moral fabric of society." Pay TV service Multichoice is considering broadcasting pornography on its DSTV satellite bouquet however details of what kind of explicit material will be shown is still unknown.

According to the network's Ayesha Laher, any form of pornography is "morally wrong" in all societies and the broadcasting of pornography on a pay-TV service would allow for easier access to the general public. She said the consideration was a clear sign of the "moral decline" of societies.

"It's disgusting to think that people want this readily available. Before it was very difficult finding pornography, but now people want it at their leisure and the easier it is to find, the more people will watch," she said. Laher said this move would have huge implications on the moral and religious values upheld in communities. Children will now have direct access to pornographic material and parents will not have much control over this

South Africans Unite In Solidarity With Palestinians During International Israeli Apartheid Week

Issued By: Taahir Sema

The first week of March 2010 marks the International Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) which began in Toronto, Canada in 2005 and now includes a wide range of activities which differ from one country to another. According to the international committee of the campaign, “An important aspect of IAW is that activists in each city decide what IAW should look like in their city”.  

We encourage fellow South Africans to intensify solidarity with the suffering people of Palestine and to isolate all organizations and individuals doing business with Israel and its supporters. We seek to ensure that no form of support is rendered by the South African government to prop up a country that stands for everything South Africans fought against. In this regard, the international committee has explained that “Israeli Apartheid Week takes its inspiration from the United Palestinian Call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, issued in 2005 by over 170 Palestinian civil society and political organizations. The demands of this call include full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, an end to the occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall, and the protection of Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in U.N. resolution 194.”

By Sayed Dhansay

(source: Electronic Intifada)

Gaza, including the killing of 320 children, lacks credibility. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages)

After Israel's devastating attack on Gaza last winter, the UN-commissioned Goldstone fact-finding team and subsequent report accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. Released in September 2009, the Goldstone report recommended that both parties conduct impartial, independent investigations into these accusations within six months, failing which, the matter would be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

While both parties to the conflict were cited for possible war crimes, the Goldstone report reserved the majority of its condemnation for Israel because of the vast difference in casualties on the two sides -- more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed, and 13 Israelis. Four Israeli civilians were killed by rocket fire from Gaza, while more than 900 unarmed Palestinian civilians, including some 320 children, were massacred in Gaza.