[Prefatory Note: Today is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, as established by the UN General Assembly. It was on that day in 2012 that the General Assembly voted to recognize Palestine as a non-member observer state, a status similar to that enjoyed by The Vatican.
It was a symbolic victory for Palestine, made sweeter by overcoming the bitter opposition of Israel, and supported of course by the United State. Despite its concerted efforts to block any Palestinian reliance on international law to put forward their case for a recognition of Palestinian rights, Israel while opposing each and every move, when and if it loses, scoffs at the result as meaningless and changes nothing.
This year the UN agreed to have the Palestinian flag flying along side other member states outside UN Headquarters in NYC, another symbolic victory opposed by Israel. How meaningful is it? True, there is no lessening of the daily ordeal of Palestinians in their various settings, especially those living under occupation or in refugee camps in neighboring countries. Yet, aside from a slap at Israel that contributes to a growing sense of international outrage about the refusal to resolve the conflict, such symbolic moves are battles in the Legitimacy War that Palestine has been waging on many fronts, and with success. The civil society front may be the most important, which centers its efforts on the BDS Campaign that moves from success to success, building a momentum that is challenging the balance of forces that has allowed Israel to ignore Palestinian grievances for decades. From an international perspective, Palestine is now at the very least an occupied state and this has potential consequences in both diplomacy and international law.
I post below a comment from Mazin Qumsiyeh, a remarkable person, who lives the reality of occupation and exemplifies the spirit of nonviolent Palestinian resistance that seeks to counterpose a heroic normalcy against the quotidian cruelties of the Israeli occupation. I have found much inspiration in the example of Mazin and many other Palestinians, reminding me that we all, especially we Americans, share a responsibility to engage in struggle on behalf of justice for the Palestinian people, which is in the end the only foundation for a sustainable peace for both peoples. With so much attention these days diverted to other regional issues, especially ISIS and Syria, we who care about Palestine must especially raise our voices of protest and join in the concrete acts of solidarity that are having an impact.]
The message of Mazin Qumsiyeh:
“This is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people as declared by the United Nations general assembly! But locally people see so little solidarity and Israel continues to violate basic human rights with impunity. For the past week, we mourned ten more young Palestinians killed, and we saw home demolitions, we saw the continued horrific siege of Gaza, we saw health and religious rights violated daily, and we saw roads blocked
to traffic (getting from one Palestinian area to another is becoming
impossible). I just returned from Hebron to Bethlehem, a distance that should take no more than half an hour. It took more than five hours because of closures etc. It is a police apartheid state that makes sure we do not have a normal functioning life. We watched as Turkey shot down a Russian airplane over Syrian territory (and lied about the issue since there is no way, they could have provided warning in the few seconds that the airplane moved across that tiny jetting Turkish territory), we watched as Russia provided evidence of convoys of stolen Syrian oil traveling to Turkey and
funding Daesh/ISIS, we shared on facebook videos of horrors committed by deluded human beings against other human beings, continued to see French government go down the same deluded path that the US government did after 11 September 2001, and continued to suffer from tear gas and other weapons used against us by Israeli occupation forces
Amid the horrors, at Bethlehem University, we welcomed Professor Zuhair Amr who is helping us in research areas on biodiversity, we worked at the museum and botanical garden, we continued our teaching (though students may miss some classes), we received more donation of time and resources from kind people, I gave a talk at an environmental conference about importance of research in environmental and health fields, we met great new people including award winning book writers and artists, and we continued to have joyful participation in the sorrows of this world?. To light a candle in this darkness keeps us sane.
For those in Palestine: You are invited to a workshop at the Palestine Museum of Natural History (http://www.palestinenature.org/visit/ ) 3-6 PMWednesday. Prof. Zuhair Amr and Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh leading discussions and practical training on areas of biodiversity and environmental conservation. Reservations required 02-2773553 or email info@palestinenature.org For those who cannot attend, please donate to keep these activities going: http://www.palestinenature.org/support-us/
For all, please continue and expand your work in boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS), a movement that is accelerating the arrival of peace with justice. Here is a good report by the American Anthropological Association that is very well done which can be adapted to push for BDS in others groups.
American Anthropological Association Report
Prominent Artists Endorse the Cultural Boycott of Israel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfMM0AZ9eWA
Mazin Qumsiyeh
Professor and Director
Palestine Museum of Natural History
Bethlehem University
Occupied Palestine
_______________________________________________
HumanRights newsletter
http://lists.qumsiyeh.org/listinfo/humanrights
Global Justice in the 21st Century 
Dr Richard Falk, your single-minded struggle to show the situation of the captive population of Palestine stands out as a conspicuous example of a man of conscience who has been an inspiration to so many. For long, the Zionists and their friends have vilified you and distorted what you say and stand for. Despite all that, you have stood your ground. They have even called you ‘a self-hating Jew’ (!) but they had no understanding that you were not a self-hating Jew, but a beacon of light for truth and justice, siding with an oppressed people, not the oppressors!
It takes some intelligence and much humanity to see that. The Zionists are not without intelligence; they use their intelligence to mislead, lie, cover-up the incremental ethnic cleansing of Palestine and thus further the cause of Zionist expansion while using the name of the Jewish people, as we all know. Their humanity? They had banished humanity for good because of their edicated service to the cause of Zionist expansion!
Read: dedicated service to the cause of Zionist expansion!
Reblogged this on elamy4palestine.
Don’t know if the 1st sentence of 2nd paragraph is clear that the US opposed recognizing Palestine and was supporting Israel. Canada was also opposed. The voting 138 in favor, 9 against, and 41 abstentions paints a clear picture of where ‘support’ exists. The US was the only SC member country opposing and the UK abstained. China, Russia, and France had enough decency to do what was right in this case. It is revealing to look over the voting record on this gesture as testament of who is who and what is what.
Our Human Rights Commission here in Portland, Or, voted to divest from Caterpillar, G4S and Hewlett Packard because of their dirty work in Palestine. The Jewish Federation demanded another meeting and submitted considerable testimony but the vote still stands. It’s predicted that the City Council will duck the issue. It’s this type of action that does have an effect – one of which is to hear the pathetic contributions from the opposition. As has been mentioned, individuals and groups that support Palestine are smeared in vile terms – similar to those who risked lives and livelihoods during the civil rights period. The duration and sponsorship of this horrendous crime against humanity is historically unique.
Whoops, left off Motorola from BDS list…..
FOR IMPOSTORS IN THE STATE OF DENIAL WHO POSE AS “PROGRESSIVES”. GET OUT.
The Council is a private organization with a chairman (for years David Rockefeller, who remains the honorary chairman) and board members (typically billionaires or near billionaires) and approximately 5,000 members, who are selected by the board. The raison d’être of the organization is to bring together intellectuals, prominent business people, leading members of the media, state officials, and top military leaders, into an exclusive club which formulates foreign policy recommendations and promotes them to the public and government. The Council’s interlocks with the US state are extensive. Beginning with the Carter Administration and moving forward to the Obama Administration, Shoup found that 80 percent of the key cabinet positions, which he defined as State, Defense, Treasury, National Security Adviser, and US Ambassador to the UN, were filled by Council members. Presidents (George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton) and vice-presidents (George H.W. Bush and Richard Cheney) were members at the time they were elected to these posts. One president, Carter, became a member after leaving the presidency.
The table below shows how many current Council members have filled key positions in the US state. They were usually members of the Council before they were appointed to these posts:
Secretary of Treasury, 10
National Security Adviser, 10
US Ambassador to the United Nations, 9
Secretary of State, 8
Secretary of Defense, 8
CIA Director, 8
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, 4
Head of the Federal Reserve, 4
World Bank President, 3
President, 2
Vice-President, 2
Director of National Intelligence, 2
Director of the National Security Agency, 1
Seventeen key current and former members of Obama’s administration are members of the billionaire-directed private club: James Jones Jr. (national security adviser); Thomas Donilon (national security adviser); Susan Rice (national security adviser, US ambassador to the UN); Timothy Geithner (treasury); Jack Lew (treasury); Robert Gates (defense); Chuck Hagel (defense); Ashton Carter (defense); David Petraeus (CIA); Robert Zoellick (World Bank); Janet Napolitano (homeland security); John Bryson (commerce); Penny Pritzker (commerce); Ernest Moniz (energy); Sylvia Burwell (health and human services); Mary Jo White (securities and exchange); and Michael Froman (US trade representative.) John Kerry, while not a Council member, is married to near billionaire Teresa Heinz Kerry, who is.
On top of placing its members in key state positions, the Council also directly influences policy by dominating external advisory boards established to advise the secretaries of state and defense and the director of the CIA. The Foreign Affairs Policy Board acts “to provide the Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretaries of State, and the Director of Policy Planning with independent, informed advice and opinion concerning matters of U.S. foreign policy.” It consists of 20 advisers, 18 of whom belong to the Council as members. The Defense Policy Board provides “the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy with independent, informed advice and opinion concerning major matters of defense policy.” Fourteen of its 22 members belong to the Council. On September 10, 2009 then CIA Director Leon Panetta announced the establishment of an external advisory board of “distinguished men and women” who would visit CIA headquarters “periodically and offer their views on managing [the CIA] and its relationships with key customers, partners, and the public.” Ten of the 14 advisers Panetta named to the board—the majority—were Council on Foreign Relations members.
The Council is interlocked with other influential foreign policy-related organizations, including the Trilateral Commission (an international version of the Council, reaching beyond the United States to include counterparts in Canada, Western Europe, and Japan), Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group.
https://gowans.wordpress.com/
Am assuming you are referring to Lawrence H Shoup – Imperial Brain Trust, The Council on Foreign Relations and US Foreign Policy, 2004. Would a study of the Stephen Cowans attachment be enough to equip one with info on this organization? It’s heavy stuff.
Also, Rabbi Brant Rosen of Jewish Voice For Peace Rabbinical Council just sent out a letter in support of the Connecticut Chapter AFL- CIO that voted to support the BDS Movement. The vote makes CT the first national AFL-CIO state federation to support BDS. Says the rabbi, ” As an American and supporter of the labor movement, as a human being, I thank you for your courage. …They’re standing for justice and I’m standing with them.”
If per chance an honest person achieved high office in the US, how could he/she survive?
Reblogged this on QCpal.
Bombshell: Russian Military Reveals Details of ISIS-Daesh Funding, Turkey’s Role in Supporting the Terrorists, Complete Transcript, Videos, Documents
So much for the intelligence of Ahmet Davutoğlu and Urdogan, the two terrorists and war criminals, painted as ‘democrats’ and Dr. Bashar Assad whose country has been invaded by these terrorists and their allies, US-Israel-Britain, are labeled, ‘dictator’.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/bombshell-russian-military-reveals-details-of-isis-daesh-funding-turkeys-role-in-supporting-the-terrorists-complete-transcript-videos-documents/5493043
Turkey, a terrorist state, is working closely with ISIS, the US – Israel- Britain ARMY. All these countries are guilty of massacres in Syria, Libya, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.
Where are petty zionist servants, Payam Akhavan and Nader Hashemi, CIA stooges?
To defeat ISIS, it is instrumental to deal a crushing blow to its sources of funding, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has pointed out on many occasions. Terrorism without money is a beast without its fangs.
Illegal oil revenues are one of the main sources of income for the terrorists in Syria. According to some reports, they make about $2 billion a year on illegal oil trade.
Turkey is the main destination for the oil stolen from its legitimate owners, which are Syria and Iraq. Turkey resells this oil. The appalling part about it is that the country’s top political leadership is involved in the illegal business — President Erdogan and his family.
We have warned on many occasions how dangerous it is to court terrorists. It is the same as pouring gasoline on fire. Fire may spread onto other countries, and that is exactly what we are seeing in the Middle East.