Monday, August 30, 2004

Civilian airplanes shut down by air-defense missiles

This is the most likely version of the plane crashes that happened August 25. The southern direction of flights from Moscow (especially towards Sochi, Southern Russia) is the air route that Putin often uses. Also, there are increased security measures used for the Ruler of Russia.

After the events of September 11, 2001, the US publicly announced that civilian airplanes will be shut down in the US airspace on suspicion of being hijacked.

There is no doubt that similar decision was adopted by the Kremlin as well. But in the conditions when the country is run by the KGB/FSB, such decisions are never made public. This is a state secret. This is why none of the journalists took a risk to express this most likely version of the deaths of 90 passengers of two airliners. At best, such journalists would have lost their jobs.

Even though the officials are avoiding to directly accuse Chechen militants of involvement in these plane crashes, demonstrative measures of 'tightened security' in airports are still supposed to direct the public opinion towards the 'Chechen trace' in order to divert the people’s attention from who the real culprits of the people’s deaths are.

These are the facts that speak in favor of the version that the planes were shot down by Russian air defense system. The eyewitnesses heard an explosion up in the sky. And consequently, the fragments of the airplanes were scattered across large areas. Furthermore, unprecedented security measures caused by the ongoing Russian-Chechen war virtually rule out any chances of ammunition or armed attackers getting on an airplane. The altitude of the air route of 10 kilometers high is beyond the reach of any handheld rocket launcher, which could be used by fighters of any national liberation movement of the North Caucasus.

All the rest of the official versions, brought up by the 'authorities', such as: poor-quality fuel, engine failures, etc. – make no sense whatsoever. For the altitude (and the time of the fall, accordingly) would have allowed the crew to report to the air traffic controller about any incidents that were happening on board the plane.

In the conditions of the total hysteria caused by the myth about so-called 'international terrorism', imposed by the official propaganda, the military are probably allowed to conduct a 'pre-emptive strike' in case a plane gets hijacked. Failure of emergency notification system about hijacking could have caused an air-defense missile to be automatically launched and to hit a locked-in target. In Russia we all are living at somebody’s gunpoint.

We are unlikely to get the truth about the real reasons of the disaster. Or we may find out the truth by accident, under the circumstances that do not depend on the state. We all remember how thoroughly the witnesses of the Moscow theater siege events (2002) were being physically removed, and we all can remember how FSB/KGB was getting in the way of independent investigation of the blasts of apartment buildings when the Second Russian-Chechen War started.

Many people in Moscow were suspicious about the sudden death of Member of Russian Parliament (Russian State Duma) Shchekochikhin, one of the initiators, who was heading that investigation.

Is it any wonder that foreigners were not allowed to rescue the crew of the Kursk nuclear submarine?

It was more of a surprise that no 'Chechen trace' was discovered in the wreck of the Kursk submarine. However, we all can remember how Putin discovered that very 'trace' in New York City on September 11, 2001.

But for some reason Mr. Bush shunned such a 'gift'. Apparently, he did not want to be looking that stupid in the eyes of his voters.

Mikhas Kukobaka, dissident and human rights activists, Moscow, Russia.

AS: Which version can be trusted.

# ANTENNA SHARON | 3:53:00 pm |

Why has Shabalkin been quiet?

After all kinds of sources from East to West dumped out a whole bunch of versions about the plane crashes in Russia, Russian authorities started concocting their own story out of this hodgepodge, as if they were picking and adding certain ingredients when making their special dish.

Russian secret services are playing the role of a chef, and the end result will be whatever they will find convenient. Each ingredient of that dish has its own term and its own dose.

First they started to get worried about a female passenger whose relatives did not look for her. Then they recalled about another passenger (there were two planes, you know), and nobody was wondering what happened to her either. Their Caucasus last names were supposed to imply their Chechen ethnic background. The authorities started looking for the dead bodies of these two women and they barely discovered them at the very last moment when everybody else was already identified.

Dead bodies of other passengers were sent to be buried, but these ones were sent to examination in order to discover traces of hexogen, which were immediately discovered among the fragments of the planes that were not even picked up. All in all, you can hardly find any faults in the investigation, but that investigation is worth being called a high-quality detective story. Next it will be discovered that the women were linked to terrorists, and the culminating point will be a big story about a training camp for female suicide bombers.

Let’s take into account that the official version can never be discrediting the Russian leadership at all. Then there must be something more serious that has to be concealed and there must be some hints that the planes crashed because of the attack by already mentioned 'female terrorists', - this is the story that the Kremlin will benefit from at the moment.

The version sounds pretty believable, but there is one snag to it: how did they manage to blow the planes up all at the same time? If we assume that time bombs were used, which were set for the same time and which were handed to the suicide bombers before the departure, then it is not clear what’s the sense of doing that since the kamikazes had the explosives on them. It’s just extra risk to smuggle a clockwork mechanism on a plane, while all that a kamikaze has to do is just connect the wires.

Different times of departures and times of explosions, when one of the planes was already ready to land, and absence of communication between the terrorists are ruling out any possibility of arranging to synchronize the two blasts.

The only version that comes to mind in this case is the version that both airplanes were shot down by air defense missiles. It is hard to imagine any other version of how the two planes were hit at the same time at such a high altitude and at such a distance from each other. But the Russian side will never even mention this version, and what’s more, it will be refusing to have anything to do with it, like it happened during the 'training exercise' in Ryazan (when FSB/KGB got caught planting explosives under an apartment building) or with 'harmless' combat gas during the Moscow theater siege in 1992.

You can’t rule out the version that suicide bombers may be behind this act or that some explosives were planted into the airplanes. Even if they were Chechens who are not acting on the orders of the Chechen military command, still, compared to what Russian army is doing in Chechnya, it is quite natural that there may be hundreds if not thousands of people who will to deal a blow to Russia any way they can. Then it will be considered revenge, but not terrorism.

Besides, if there were even one military person on each of these planes, Russian secret agents or soldiers who fought in Chechnya, then this is where the term could be applied, which even Russia's critics in the West liked and by which they characterize Russia's actions in Chechnya: disproportionate use of force, but no terrorism at all.

However, in this particular case it all looks like we just witnessed a new 'Nord-Ost' (siege of Moscow theater in 2002). Most likely the planes were hijacked and when they were up in the air, some demands could have been made to the Russian government. Putin issued the order to shoot the planes down, and air defense forces were used. This is where the denial of anything staring with C was coming from a day after the disaster, and this is the reason for the attempt to blame it all on Russian negligence.

Apparently they figured that it was like in that joke where the defendant tells the judge about how “the victim slipped, fell on the knife, and the same thing happened fifteen times over and over”. And they thought that Russians might not like Putin’s overly 'friendly pre-election' attitude towards Chechens. And this is why they decided to get the 'kamikazes' of proper ethnic background involved.

Russian spokesman for the war in the North Caucasus Shabalkin has been quiet for a few days, due to some strange set of circumstances. He is probably on some special assignment. So let’s wait for his coming report about (discovery of a training camp of militants with a camouflaged dummy of a TU-154 plane, where female suicide bombers were being trained on flight simulators from Microsoft).

AS: Im also have TU-154 Plane For Dummy, Russian version.

# ANTENNA SHARON | 3:27:00 pm |

Friday, August 27, 2004

Zionism and Judaism

Since we are dealing with a modern movement, Zionism, that strives to establish a homeland for the Jewish people, through utilizing many concepts from Judaism, it is indispensable that we understand this oldest monotheistic tradition that prevails until today.

JUDAISM:
Basic ideas: Judaism is a monotheistic religion that had come to existence through a series of Prophets sent to the Sons of Israel (the sons of Prophet Jacob, (Yacqoub)), of whom the most important was prophet Moses (Musa) to whom the Torah, which contains most of the Judaic teachings, was revealed. Basic ideas upon which the Judaic faith is based are:

The Concept of Unity of God.
The concept of the “Chosen People”, which means that God chose the Jews to be his closest and most beloved of all humankind, and to whom He bestowed His blessings.
The concept of the Holy Land, which means that God has devoted the most blessed of His lands, Palestine, to Prophet Abraham (Ibrahim) and his progeny, in particular to the sons of Israel, the Jews.

The concept of the Messiah (Mashih) who will come in the end of times to save the Jews and take them to their homeland (Palestine), from where they would establish their righteous rule over the world.

These basic concepts are mentioned here in an abstract manner, but there are many differences over them between the Jews of the world. Indeed, during the Judaic age, which started with Prophet Moses (Musa) and expired with the downfall of the Kingdom of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians (From 1250-586 B.C. if we take the longest interval), the basic beliefs and practices of Judaism were not yet clearly laid. During the period 200 B.C.-1000 C.E, four main different groups lived together under the same label, Jews, but they differed to extents that had sometimes reached to contradiction. These groups were in brief:

The Karaites: They appeared in Iraq during the eighth century C.E, they believed only in the Torah as a holy book, and rejected all the other scripts, including the Talmud (see below for the Jewish holy scripts). The Karaites followed the literal teachings of the Torah.

The Pharisees: They represented the masses and stressed upon piety and purity. They believed in all the scripts, including the Talmud, but did not follow them literally; on the contrary they imaginatively and innovatively understood the holy scripts. They believed in life after death and the Day of Judgment, and are seen as the great grandfathers by modern day Jews. Jesus (Prophet cIsa) preached mainly among this group and he accused them of being impure and deviant.

Sadducees: Unlike the Pharisees, this group represented the rich and educated elite. They appeared during the time of the Persian rule, and most of the Rabbis and servants of the Temple were among them. The Sadducees neither believed in the revival of bodies in the hereafter nor in the Day of Judgment. They also rejected the Talmud and followed the Torah literally. They conceived God as an ethnic one, who is the God of his people only, the People of Israel.

The Essenes: They believed in a form of religion and practice that is near to Christian monasticism. They lived an ascetic life that did not care for property or any other activity in life that distracted from worshipping God. This group started during the time of Jesus (Prophet cIsa).

We have mentioned these different groups to establish that Judaism is not a single concept, or even a belief, that was established and practiced in a certain form at one point of time. Consequently, when we refer to Jews we do not mean that they are of one faith, but rather people with some common beliefs, but do not even share the basic concepts. Yet, they conceive themselves as one for reasons that will be discussed below. Based on this, whenever we say: “Jews believe” or “Judaism says” we certainly do not refer to all groups, but mainly to most of them.

Holy Scripts: The Holy scripts of Judaism are not one and the same, they are composed generally of two scripts: The Old Testament (Tenach) and the Talmud.

The Old Testament is composed of 39 books of which the Torah forms the first five and the rest deal with the history of the Jews, their prophets and the Temple. They were compiled by 444 BC, more than 750 years after the death of Prophet Moses (Musa).
There are two traditions that explain the Torah, that is mainly compilations of rules of religious conduct, moral teachings and rules of civil life. First is the Mishnah that refers in a general way to the full tradition of the Oral Torah, as formulated by the Rabbis in the first centuries of the Common Era, and had to be transmitted and learned by word of mouth. The second is the Gemara, or the Talmud, both terms refer to the same thing and are derived from words that mean study and learning. The Babylonian Talmud is a commentary on the Mishnah, whose order it follows. It was composed over several generations, from the early third century to about the sixth. As a commentary, it deals with many aspects of the Mishnah, often going far beyond mere explanation.

Judaism: A religion or an ethnicity? The question that arises here is: if Judaism was not completely established, then on what basis do the Jews conceive themselves as one, and why are they united under one category despite massive differences? Further, if Judaism is a religion why do we say the “Jewish People” in the sense of a nation? Followers of one religion should be classified in religious and sectarian bases and not as “nations” or “ethnicities”.

Judaism has a distinctive nature among the Abrahamic religions, and among the major religions of the world, in its definition of believers and in setting the borders of the faith. Being a Jew is determined by two parallel factors, belief and heredity. Belief refers mainly to believing in the four common basics in their different versions. As for heredity, it is determined through motherhood, every child born to a Jewish woman is a Jew. Most of the Jews, and based on the concept of the chosen people, conceive God (Known in Hebrew as Jehovah) as their God and religion as an identity rather than a faith. Unlike the major religions of the world, most Jews believe in a Judaism that do not seek to expand its circle of believers through propagation, and they do not conceive any form of missionary to convert people to Judaism, apparently because of the concept of the chosen people. One cannot “become chosen” because God had already chosen his people, and his choice was to the Sons of Israel.

This understanding is supported by the concepts of sacred and of good and bad. Although Judaism stresses the unity and might of God, in many cases we find God personified and humiliated. He speaks to human and he debates the Rabbis; indeed the Rabbis might overwhelm and defeat him with their knowledge. Most of the concerns of God are devoted to the Jews and most of his activities are dedicated to them, he is happy when they are happy and feel sad and guilty when they are not. Jehovah leads and directs the Jews in their fight and truce, in their conquests and victories; his spirit is materialized in “his people”. In short, it is a story of a people and their loyal king rather than a God and his creatures.

Any deed that makes the Jewish people happy, or well off, is a good one from a religious point of view. Therefore, if you are born to a Jewish mother (Jew by heredity), but you denounce Jehovah as non-existing, and the Torah as a naïve myth book, then you will still be a good Jew if you do things that contribute to the well-being of the Jewish People. Therefore the question of apostasy is not very much of a question in contemporary “Israel”, even for communist and atheist “Jews”. This understanding explains much of the political behavior in contemporary “Israel”, it explains the rationale of a fundamentalist religious party forming a coalition government with a leftist socialist party, and that of a socialist party in accepting a religious party to take over important ministries like the ministry of education.

All the above reasons contribute to the great complexity and controversy in the definition of Judaism, is it a religion or an ethnicity? The answer seems to be that Judaism is a religion that does not have clear and accepted-to-all bases. Yet, being a Jew is very much dependant on heredity that could not be maintained through reaching a common understanding on the components of the faith, but rather through stressing the loyalty to the group; the only and most common characteristic among Jews is that they are born as such. To sum up, it is possible to say that Judaism is a faith that defines its loyalty in a way much similar to that of an ethnic group, but in religious term. Thus, if you contribute for the well being of the ethnic group, you are not a patriot but rather a saint.

This however does not make Jews an ethnic group because, until the emergence of Zionism that was based on this postulate, Jews of the world did not share common elements that qualify them to be an ethnic group, such as language, common history, common fate, genetic similarity or common culture except for some parts concerning Judaism that is not established over common bases as we have seen. Above all, at least for the last 1900 years (!), they missed the territory on which people interact and form social norms, institutions and culture. Judaism left its followers in a unique case of loyalty: to be culturally a part of the civilization of the place where you live in, but yet born with a different identity as a Jew, who partially shares some vague concepts with people around the world who were born with the same identity. While a Jew is very much a part of the place where he lives, at least culturally, he is totally detached from it in loyalty because he was born with a different identity that does not give him much more than a label and the status of being a member of a minority group. It was neither possible to be completely a member of society nor a member of another ethnic group in the real sense of the word.
Contemporary Jewish groups: the above background may help us to introduce the Jewish groups that exist today, and to understand the logic of their classification.
First: Ethnic Jews: who are Jews by definition. They were born as such, but they lost all their ties with Judaism as a religion. They believe that Judaism is an ethnicity and a cultural heritage rather than a faith. It is estimated that more than 50% of the Jews in the U.S., and far more than 50% of the Jews in the former USSR, are from this group. Therefore, Jews of this group form around half the Jews of the world; they are usually referred to as secular Jews.

Second: Jews with a form of religious belief, and they are divided into:
1. Orthodox Jews: They inherited the form of Judaism that existed in medieval Europe. They believe in the Torah as the word of God as well as in the Talmud. They consider all the teachings and legislations that come in these scripts to be compulsory for all Jews. They follow most of the teachings, including those of the Sabbath, the kosher food (the religiously approved food) and all the other Jewish rituals.

2. Reformist Jews: Followers of what is known as the school of Haskalah, which is a Hebrew expression for Jewish Enlightenment. It appeared as a response to Orthodox Jews, and represent the essence of the age of enlightenment in Europe. It tries to adapt Judaism to modern civilization, it proposes the superiority of rational thinking over all other sources, including religious ones, it tries to distinguish between ethnic, cultural and religious components of the Judaic faith, it calls for keeping the religious content only, dismissing the rest to make Judaism merely a religion. Therefore, they call for disregarding the idea of the coming of the Messiah and other related ideas as ethnic components of Judaism. Reformation, known as the Haskalah movement, strives to strengthen the ties between Jews and the society in which they live, in order to achieve more integration as a solution to the Jewish problem.

3. Conservative Jews: They represent more than one group, and believe that Judaism is “an expression of the constant spirit of the Jewish People” that developed and took different forms throughout history. Therefore, Judaism is not standardized, it undergoes changes that come out of the spirit of the Jewish people. This group conceives religion as Jewish Folklore and nothing more. Beliefs and views of this group are very much similar to those of Zionist Jews.

Both reformist and conservative Jews do not believe that the Torah is the word of God, or that it was revealed to Prophets, rather it is a compilation of teachings and wisdoms that prophets came up with through Godly inspiration and not revelation. Jewish rituals are not compulsory for them, they accept female Rabbis, homosexual marriage, and they see that religion is open to change because it is a human product, though they favor following some teachings like Sabbath and kosher food, occasionally as Folklore.

On the other hand, Orthodox Jews believe in Judaism as a religion, and in its holy texts and teachings that should be followed literally. Although Orthodox Jews control the religious institution in the “Israeli” society, they form only 5% of the Jews of the world.

ZIONISM:
Background: In the late nineteenth century, the Jewish Question became, for many reasons, a persistent problem in Europe, particularly after the emergence of nationalism in the continent, Zionism presented itself as the solution for the Jewish problem by calling for the establishment of a homeland for the Jews of the world. (See more on the emergence of Zionism)

Although Zionism may be traced to the eighteenth century, it never became an important option until the end of the nineteenth century. Zionism was first proposed by Jewish writers around Europe as the solution for the Jewish problem, but was not introduced in a comprehensive and systematic manner until Theodore Hertzl, a Jewish journalist from Austria, took the initiative and organized the First World Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland in 29-31 August 1897 CE. The conference declared the establishment of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) that aimed to “create for the Jewish people a home in Palestine secured by public law”. By public law they meant international recognition. The WZO gradually grew larger and stronger, and it achieved its main goal by the establishment of the Zionist State “Israel” on Palestinian lands. Before this, few Jewish writers called for establishing a homeland for the Jews in Palestine, amongst them were Rabbi Zevi H. Kalischer who wrote in German “Looking for Zion”, and Moses Hess who, under the influence of the then Italian national struggle, wrote his book “Rome and Jerusalem: the Last National Question”. But, the most important and most pragmatic call for Zionism before Hertzl was that of the Jewish Polish thinker Leon Pinsker, who established a movement called “Hibbat Zion” (the lovers of Zion). It started working for its goal of a Jewish home in Palestine through direct, but unsystematic, settlement in Palestine. It bought lands there and raised a special fund to finance its activities. It penetrated into Palestine through the good offices of some corrupt Ottoman officials, notwithstanding the formal stand of Sultan Adbdulhameed II against any Jewish plans to settle in Palestine, and the restrictions he placed on Jewish migration there.

Development of the Zionist Project: Since the project to settle the Jewish People in a Jewish home was entertained, many destinations, other than Palestine, were proposed for its implementation. After his failure to achieve this goal through a negotiated deal with the Ottoman Caliph, Abdulhameed II, Hertzl, the President of the newly established World Zionist Organization, concluded that as long as the Ottomans control Palestine it will be closed in the face of Zionist activities. As a step towards Palestine, Hertzl had thus proposed settling the Jews in Cyprus until the political set up would change in Palestine, but he soon withdrew this project due to the strong opposition of Hebbat Zion opposed it strongly. He then suggested northwest Sinai, around the Egyptian territory of Al cAreish, but the British government, then in full control of Egypt, refused, and, instead proposed Eastern Africa, particularly Uganda. Hertzl took the project, which he considered a step in the right direction, to the Sixth Zionist Congress of 1903 that approved it with a slight majority, and recommended sending a special fact-finding committee on the suitability of Uganda for the Zionist project. Hertzl died a year later (July 1904), and the committee submitted a report that excluded Uganda as a possible destination for Jewish settlement. Other projects to settle in Libya, Argentina and other places were proposed, but were all turned down. Finally, the WZO declared in the Seventh Zionist Congress of 1905 that Zionists should not get involved in any project to settle the Jewish People outside Palestine, on which they subsequently focused.
Schools of Zionism: Throughout the history of Zionism, many interpretations developed on the movement that were reflected in the emergence of different schools of thought, inside and outside the World Zionist Organization (WZO). These schools are mainly:

1- Political Zionism: It was founded by Theodore Herzl himself, and, as its name indicates, it aimed to gain international support for the Zionist cause, and its project. Herzl and his school believed that their project was so ambitious that it needed to be patronized and facilitated by one of the world’s major colonial powers of that time. They therefore concentrated on the quest for international recognition, or a “charter” as they named it. Political Zionists believed that the funds of the “Jewish Colonial Trust”, of WZO, should be utilized solely for political maneuvers that would help in achieving their goals. Political Zionists hoped to persuade the Ottoman Empire to accept their project through an offer to pay part of the Ottoman debt in return. The way to Palestine was at that time seen to be only possible through the Ottomans who had been in control of the territory for the last four centuries. This approach had, however, failed because of the categorical rejection of Sultan Abdulhameed II to all such plans. Alternatively, the political Zionists looked for the support of Germany, a close ally of the Ottomans, to convince them to do so, as had been reflected in the frequent meetings that Herzl had with Prussian officials, and with the Emperor himself, until the beginning of WWI. By then, a strong trend emerged within the Zionist body to seriously seek British support for their cause.
The Political Zionists had initially controlled the WZO, but they soon faced strong opposition from the pragmatic Zionists who strove to launch the project immediately through direct colonization.
Today, we may argue that political Zionism no more exists in the above form, though the Revisionist Zionists may be considered as its heirs, or at least those who consider themselves to be so.
Revisionist Zionism: Revisionist Zionism is an extremist movement founded in 1925 by Vladimir Jabotinsky, a Polish Jew. He called for the direct establishment of a Jewish home on both sides of the Jordan River, including today’s Jordan, through direct, extensive and armed colonial activities. He rejected all British plans as too slow to achieve the Zionist goals. His ideas were, however, not popular among the various Zionist schools, at certain time he broke up with them and established a new Zionist organization that he called the New Zionist Organization (NZO). Revisionist Zionism is mainly a liberal national movement represented in today’s “Israeli” politics by the Likud Party, and its two main rival leaders are Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyaho. Amongst its former leaders was Premier Menachim Begin (1977-1983) and the four-time premier Yitzhak Shamir (latest was 1990-1992). The military arms of this school were the terrorists Irgun and Stern Organizations, that had both participated in the 1948 war and were responsible for many massacres, most infamous of which was Deir Yassin.

2- Labor Socialist Zionism: Socialist Zionism believes that the social composition of the Jews is unique and distinctive, thus they should refrain from being assimilated into other cultures. This school was mostly widespread among the Jews of Russia and Eastern Europe, its basic figures in the beginning were Naham Syrkin and Aharon Gordon who respectively stressed the ethical element of the Jewish culture and the role of labor and work values in creating the new home. This school had a strong impact on the Jewish refugees inside Palestine, and a decisive role in shaping the history of “Israel”. Its strength had been mainly acquired at the time of David Ben Gurion, the godfather of the Zionist State, and the champion of the immigrants in the WZO.

This school worked for the creation of a giant body of institutions that would shoulder all the responsibilities of the state before its formation, and would run its affairs once it is established. During that time they controlled the Jerusalem office of the Jewish Agency, and converted its executive committee into the first Government of “Israel” in 1948. They controlled the Jewish Colonial Trust which they converted into the “Israeli Central Bank”, and established the Labor Union, Histadrot, while their military arm, the Haganah Organization, that fought in the 1948 war, was converted into the “Israeli Defense Forces”, the official name of the “Israeli” army. They also had the Palmach, an elite military organization that was converted into the “Israeli” Commando force. Both military forces had played the major role in expelling the Palestinians in 1948.

This school, represented in “Israeli” politics by the Mapai, (Labor Party), controlled the Zionist State and led its government until the 1977 when the Likud overthrew it and revolutionized the “Israeli” polity. Basic figures of the Labor are, Shimon Peres, Prime Minister several times and foreign Minister in Sharon’s government until November 2002, Ehud Barak, a former Prime Minister, Benjamin Ben Eliezer, defense minister and Secretary General of the party until November 2002.

3- Religious Zionism: Religious Zionism, as its name indicates, emphasizes the religious nature of Zionism. It is divided into two main streams:
First: It believes that today’s Zionist movement, though secular in nature, participates in achieving the religious goals of Judaism, and would eventually follow the religious teachings. This school has been on the go since the early days of Zionism, and it basically encourages the Zionists to work for their goal, but without forgetting the Torah’s religious teachings. Its main founders were Yitzhak Cook and Chaim Landau, and is represented in today’s politics by the Mifdal (Religious National Party) led by Chaim Shabira, Yosif Bourg and Yitzhak Rafael.
Second: It is a group that had initially considered Zionism a form of heterodoxy that opposed the divine doctrine that do not allow the Jews to return to Palestine before the coming of the Messiah. It maintained this stand until the Balfour Declaration, which it, however, interpreted its promise of a homeland as the realization of the divine promise. However, while participating in Zionist activities, they do not recognize “Israel” as a proper state, they neither accept its flag nor conscript in its army. Yet they are accommodated by the various “Israeli” political parties, although they are occasionally criticized for their negative attitudes towards the existence of “Israel”. In today’s “Israel”, this school is represented in a way by Shas party, which is gaining increasing popularity, and its main figure had until recently been Arieh Der’iy.

4- Cultural Zionism: This school stresses the cultural unity of the “Jewish People”, it believes that the main danger that faces Jews of today is the loss of identity and assimilation into other cultures. It stresses Zionism as an ethnicity, and calls for keeping and reviving “Israeli” traditions among the Jews of the world, the Diaspora. However, it is not an independent school of Zionism; but is represented through the above schools.

Generally speaking, political differences seem to be marginal inside the Zionist body in the sense that they do not imply differences in the goals or in the ways of achieving them, but are mainly on strategy and priorities. They all agree on the goal of making Palestine a home for Jews through direct colonization, but differ over whether they should do it by themselves or through gaining international support. Until today, political differences still remain marginal. Except in “Israel”, it is indeed very rare for left wing parties to form coalition with religious parties, or give them important positions like the education ministry. We may safely conclude that the Zionists adopt political ideologies, like liberalism or socialism, as a means to achieve the Zionist agenda; the main substance remains the same.

Zionism as a form of discrimination: Zionism defines its self as a national movement that strives to achieve the national dreams of the Jews; but the reality is much different from this claim. The word national is related to a nation, mainly people living in a locality, a specific land that gives them its name, and is very much tied to the concept of ethnicity. The Jewish people, as we have seen, are not one ethnicity or one nation as such, but they entertain certain religious ideas that mix up their ethnic and religious identities, which do not, anyhow, qualify them to form a distinctive nation. Furthermore, Zionism did not pursue a national struggle per se because it did not exist on a certain land striving to liberate its people; rather, it is more of a form of colonization that excluded the autochthons of the land. Even if we accept that Jews constitute one nation and Palestine is their territory, there were, and are local Arab Palestinians living there before and after the ethnic cleansing of 1948, for whom Zionism has practically nothing. In other words, Zionism is an exclusive movement that excludes 20% of the population from its agenda, besides the refugees that it has already created. It then calls for apartheid rule that conceives only the Jews to be the citizens of the nation-because it is a state of the Jewish people in their homeland- and therefore Arabs are not part of this nation.

Based on this plausible argument, many international bodies, including the U.N. General Assembly, has maintained that Zionism is a form of apartheid and discrimination that should be eradicated, the U.N. issued resolution 3379 (XXX) of 1975 that dismissed Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination. This stand had, however, continued until the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991 when the General Assembly revoked this resolution on the grounds that this conference created a new political reality and was a demonstration of good will from both sides. The decision revoking the resolution.

The relationship between Zionism and Judaism:
Zionism utilizes and builds on many of the Judaic concepts discussed above; it calls for the return of the Jewish People to their homeland in Palestine, and justifies the right of the Jews to this land through religious arguments. i.e. the stories narrated in the Old Testament that claims Jewish ownership of the land, thus any people who subsequently stay in it are labeled as colonizers who usurped the rights of the Jews. For the Zionists, historical arguments are not as important as religious ones to support their claims. This, however, leads many observers to the conclusion that Judaism and Zionism are indeed the same, and that no distinction between them should be tolerated. They tend to equalize a Jew with a Zionist, and many Muslims thus consider all Jews as enemies. But this view is not really precise for the following reasons:

First: This view overlooks an important reality about religious-political movements. They all legitimize themselves through religious ideas, but they are never equal to the faith. We cannot, for example, say that the Muslim Brotherhood as a political movement equals Islam, the faith, and that all Muslims are members in Muslim brotherhood. Indeed, this is a simplistic approach that disregards existing facts. The adversaries of the Palestinians, the Arabs and the Muslims are, in fact, those who has colonized Palestine, caused the sufferings of its displaced people and strive to keep them displaced in order to settle the Jews in their place This is exactly what Zionism called for and practiced.

Second: Not everybody who works for the well-being of his fellow believers is necessarily a believer or a good one, many secular leaders participated in religious struggle which they understood from different perspectives. For example, the Muslim League Party of Mohammad Ali Jinah adopted secular policies to establish a Muslim state in Pakistan.

Third: Zionism is not only a Jewish movement; there are many non-Jewish Zionists, mostly Protestant Christians. Indeed, historically, non-Jewish Zionism started long before the World Zionist Organization.

Fourth: There are some anti-Zionist Jews, although they do not form a big sector of the Jews of the world. Among them is the Natouri Karta movement that believes in waiting for the Messiah-who has not yet come- before going to the Holy Land. There are some anti-Zionist Jewish thinkers around the world like the famous Naom Chomsky and Norman Finkelstien. It is neither just for these people nor in the interest of the Palestinian struggle to disregard such dignitaries and equate them with the Zionists.

The main religious ideas of Judaism that Zionism stressed are: The chosen people, which helped very much in conceptualizing Judaism as an ethnicity rather than a faith. They utilized and built on the concept of the Holy Land and the promise made for the Jews to own it. The concept of Messiah was also present in Zionism, especially for those who considered the Messiah a metaphor and interpreted him as Zionism itself that will take the Jews back to their homeland. They also depended on the Jewish scripts in validating their rights in Palestine through the historical narration in the Old Testament, Tenach.

# ANTENNA SHARON | 7:43:00 pm |

Thursday, August 26, 2004

Palestinian Political Prisoners in Israeli Prisons Begin Hunger Strike

# ANTENNA SHARON | 6:45:00 pm |

Hamas Urges Worldwide Fast in Solidarity With Prisoners

# ANTENNA SHARON | 6:31:00 pm |

Prisoner Strike Support Campaign

For Immediate Release
20 August, 2004

Expanded Call: Support Palestinian Prisoners on Strike

Please Distribute Widely

"Any movement that does not support its political internees is a movement destined to fail." Break the Chains Conference, 2003

---------------------------------------

Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition is expanding its campaign of support for Palestinian prisoners of war on hunger strike in Israeli prisons.

We ask all people of conscience in the US, Canada and elsewhere to join us as we prepare for a 48-hour fast in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Israeli jails, and their families. The fast will begin local times on Saturday August 28 at 7 am and last until 7 am Monday August 30.

In addition, we call on all supporters of Palestinian rights, first and foremost the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their original towns and villages, to plan media campaigns in their area during the coming week prior to the fast with:

Letters to the editor, press releases, phone calls to the media, (arrange for designated media spokespersons etc) in order to develop public awareness prior to the start of the fast. Please emphasize that this is a world-wide effort which includes the continuing letter writing campaign in support of Palestinian prisoners.

TALKING POINTS

*Over 7500 Palestinian men, women, and children are currently being held in Israeli prisons.

*The prisoners are denied all basic human rights guaranteed to them under international law. Many are being tortured.

*These prisoners are resisting the brutal Zionist occupation of Palestine in all of its formations and it is essential that we support them.

We are asking organizations and individuals from all over the world to sign on to this solidarity fast and to send their own letters of support to our comrades in the Zionist prisons at: palprisoner@yahoo.com or by fax to: 1-928-752-8355.

We will then present these letters to the prisoners and their families.

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
PO Box 131352
Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA
E-mail: info@al-awda.org
WWW: http://www.al-awda.org
Fax: 1-802-609-9284

# ANTENNA SHARON | 6:15:00 pm |

Introducing Zionism

Zionists form the opposite side of the conflict we are studying here; they are the adversaries of the Palestinians who dispute with them the right to exist in this land. Zionism is the ideology that motivated the Jews of the world to settle in Palestine, creating the whole problem and establishing the Zionist state “Israel” through the efforts of its main body, the World Zionist Organization (WZO).

Since Zionism is the adversary of the Palestinians in this struggle, where is the place of “Israel” then? Isn’t “Israel” the adversary of the Palestinians? What is Zionism then? What does it call for and why? What is its relation with Judaism and are they different? What are the main bodies of Zionism and how did they manage to occupy Palestine and achieve their goals? What is the World Zionist Organization and how is it different from the Jewish Agency? What are the main trends in Zionism and what is the stand of the Jews of the World towards Zionism, can we say every Jew is a Zionist and vise versa? What is anti-Semitism and is it equal to anti-Zionism? And finally what is the Islamic stand towards both Judaism and Zionism?

Zionism, as defined by Zionists, is a political ideology that calls for the “return” of the “Jewish people” to their “homeland” to which they have “historical and religious rights”. i.e. the land of Palestine. It is a movement that depends and utilizes many concepts from Judaism, but that does not necessarily make it equal to Judaism. Zionism emerged as the main response for the Jewish Question that faced the Jewish People around the world, especially in Europe. It considered that the only solution to the problem of the Jewish people is to have their own home and state, just like any nation in the world. In other words to find “a land without people to a people without land” as the Zionist rhetoric says, and this land is obviously Palestine. To achieve their goal, the Zionists formed an international organization (World Zionist Organization WZO- est.1897) that took the burden to create this homeland and transfer the Jewish people to it. At some point, however, and for strategic and political reasons, the organization needed some alternative guise; hence, the Jewish Agency was established in 1929 as a wider body representing all Jews, not only Zionist Jews. But it was under the control of the World Zionist Organization, and both organizations were more or less the same body for most of the time. Their administration, being interconnected, make it rather difficult to understand their individual structures.

Throughout the years, many trends emerged within Zionism, that, to some extent, reflected some trends in Judaism itself. Since Judaism and Zionism are not synonyms, not all the Jews of the world support Zionism, though most do.

Before we proceed in the discussion on Zionism, we have to note an important feature of the Palestinian-Zionist conflict, namely that both parties do not just dispute over rights, but over facts as well. With such dispute over facts, there is little room for developing intelligent argumentation, because facts are verifiable empirically only. For example, for a long time, especially during the 1930s-1960s, the Zionist propaganda in the U.S. convinced most of the Americans that the Zionists have been migrating to a land without a people, thus the famous slogan was: “A land without a people for a people without a land”. However, United Nations sources say that there are now 3,521,130 Palestinian refugees around the world, leave alone another 1.5 millions of refugees not registered with the UNRWA (Palestinian Sources estimate that there are 9,545,000 million Palestinians around the world in the year 2002). Indeed, American Zionists do thus far insist on this “fact”(!), although those inside Palestine admit that there was a people in this land before they came, to whom they, however, accept no moral responsibility because they left “willingly”! Likewise, the American Zionist Organization published a booklet named “Deir Yassin: History of a Lie” in which it ridiculously denied the well-known massacre of Dier Yassin in which the “Israeli” forces killed all the inhabitants of the village on the 9th and 10th of April 1948. In other words, a form of consistent fabrication and concealment of historical facts is practiced by this body to validate the Zionist religiously based claims.

This section aims at introducing Zionism in all its theoretical and practical dimensions in the most concise possible manner. It goes first to Judaism as a religion and to the Jews as a people, and then introduces the various brands of Zionism in an attempt to clarify the relationship between them. The section then will deal with the historical roots of Zionism, reasons behind its emergence and how did it come to existence. The third station will be with the Zionist Organization itself, then we move to the Jewish groups around the World and finally sum up with the position of Islam towards the concept.

This section is devoted to Zionism and its various bodies; it will not deal with the Zionist State, “Israel”, which will be discussed in a separate section.

# ANTENNA SHARON | 4:33:00 pm |

Two Israelis die in crashed Russian plane

MOSCOW. Aug 25 (Interfax) - Two Israelis were among the passengers of the Volga-Aviaekspress company's Tu-134 plane that crashed in Tula region late on Tuesday, after taking off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport, a member of the Israeli embassy staff told Interfax on Wednesday.

The embassy said earlier in the day that David Cohen and Eli Yaacovi were in the plane.

The Israeli consul will travel to Tula with the families of the dead men to identify the remains, the official said.

Interfax

Israeli Citizen On Board Crashed Plane

An Israeli citizen was among the 89 people — including passengers and crew — who perished when the two southbound airplanes crashed after departing from the same airport late Tuesday night.

The Israeli embassy confirmed Wednesday that David Koen was onboard the Tu-134 that crashed in the Tula region just south of Moscow, the Interfax news agency reported, citing a representative from the Israeli embassy.

The source said he could not rule out that there was at least one other Israeli citizen onboard.

Representatives of Russian oil major Lukoil were also onboard the Tu-134, law enforcement authorities told the Russian Information Agency Novosti. Lukoil representatives confirmed the reports.

A representative from the gas company Volgogradtransgas was also killed in the crash.

The Tu-134 departed Moscow just after 10 p.m. Tuesday for the south Russian city of Volgograd with 43 people onboard. It crashed shortly before midnight after disappearing from radar screens.

Source: MosNews

AS: Two of them are suiciide bomber... maybe.

# ANTENNA SHARON | 4:05:00 pm |

2 Russian Planes Crash, 90 Dead

(AFP Photo) - 89 dead in twin Russian plane crashes, "terror" probed
(Thu 26 Aug, 03:19 AM)

# ANTENNA SHARON | 2:56:00 pm |

SUDAN - Another "war on terrorism" on the making Part VI

Libya warns against foreign intervention in Darfur crisis

ABUJA, Aug. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Libyan Foreign Minister Ali Treki warned Monday against foreign intervention in solving the Darfur crisis in Sudan after the peace talks resumed in Abuja, capital ofNigeria.

Treki, representative of Libyan President Muamar Ghadafi attending the inter-Sudan talks aimed at ending the conflict in the Darfur region, said that there was a better way for those willing to help.

"Those willing to assist Sudan should limit their efforts to providing relief materials and other items the troubled area might find useful," he said.

Lauding efforts by the African Union (AU) to resolve the crisis,he said that it was high time African leaders insisted on being allowed to solve their problems.

The minister advised the AU leaders to serve as a channel through which the opposing groups would express their grievances so as to arrive at an amicable solution.

"We must continue to develop confidence in ourselves. Indeed, we should see this particular meeting toward peace in Sudan as one such confidence building challenge," he said.

"In fact, our ability to resolve our problems should not be limited to times of crisis. We have other problems like poverty, ignorance and diseases," he added.

The Libyan president's representative also called on the Sudanese fighting groups to use the Abuja talks to resolve their disputes, saying that there was nothing the AU could do if the Sudanese were not willing to live in peace.

"The fighters in Sudan are brothers and our task as negotiators here is to make them realize that fact and embrace the path of peace," he said.

The meeting, chaired by AU Chairman and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, was attended by representatives of the Sudanese government and two rebel groups from Darfur. It's another effort by the African Union to help bring about a political solution to the region's conflict, described by the United Nations as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, which has left some 10,000 people dead and one million others displaced.

The Sudanese government is represented by Agriculture Minister Mazjoub al-Khalifa Ahmed, while the two rebel groups, namely the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement, both sent their top negotiators.

Also present at the meeting included representatives from Chad,Libya, Eritrea, Uganda, and a strong representation from the Arab League and the United Nations. They were unanimous in their positions calling for an immediate end to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

The United Nations Security Council had given the Sudanese government the deadline to restore peace in the Darfur region of the country at the end of August 2004. Enditem

# ANTENNA SHARON | 11:38:00 am |

SUDAN - Another "war on terrorism" on the making Part V

What’s behind the crisis in Darfur?

Author: Joe Bernick

The province of Darfur in western Sudan is the newest global hot spot. All of a sudden our corporate media are full of reports by U.S. and UK-based human rights organizations alleging mass murder, rape and ethnic cleansing.

Secretary of State Colin Powell and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) have recently toured the region. The have called, in effect, for a “humanitarian intervention.” U.S. and British imperialism, their hands still stained by Iraqi blood, are threatening to send in military troops.

The situation on the ground is certainly bad. Human rights groups suggest that, over the past year, thousands of people have been killed and more than 1 million people have been displaced in the region.

But wait a minute. How can we tell if the U.S. government and the mass media are telling us the truth about Sudan, when they lied to us about Iraq? Perhaps Washington and big business have another, less obvious agenda in Sudan.

The remoteness of Darfur, the small number of journalists inside the province, and the traditional Western demonization of the Sudan and Arabs generally — all these factors color mainstream news reports about the situation and should give us pause.

A better understanding of the crisis in Darfur requires an objective overview of the situation in the country and the region. It also requires looking at Washing-ton’s imperial ambitions in the world today.

Sudan: scarcity, inequities and strife

The Republic of Sudan, a nation of 38 million people, is located in northeastern Africa. Sudan is the continent’s largest country, occupying an area slightly larger than one-quarter of the size of the United States. It is bounded to the north by Egypt, and to the east by the Red Sea, Eritrea and Ethiopia. It is bounded to the west by seven nations, chiefly Chad and the Central African Republic.

Sudan has been wracked by numerous conflicts in recent years. The steady advance of the Saharan desert in Darfur — a process called desertification — has created serious problems. With the desert fast encroaching on agricultural lands, the age-old conflict between farmer and herder, as old as the story of Cain and Abel, has become ever more pronounced.

This process has been especially acute in Darfur. Yet, in spite of growing needs and declining resources, Darfur has been marginalized by successive regimes in Khartoum, the nation’s capital. Darfur’s people have been considered first when recruiting soldiers for civil wars, but last when investing resources in economic development, education, and other social programs.

A 21-year-old civil war, pitting the Arab-led Sudanese government in the north against insurgent non-Arab rebels in the south, has also taken its toll. The hostility between the regions is in part a legacy of the British colonial policy of divide and conquer. The non-Arab south feels left out of power in modern Sudan.

The central government’s efforts, fueled by Arab chauvinism, to impose fundamentalist Islamic law on the entire nation have only aggravated the tensions. Ironically, half of Sudanese government soldiers waging this long war have been Darfuri.

The geopolitics of oil

Next we must follow the trail of gold — black gold, that is. Sudan is situated between the oil rich Persian Gulf on the East, Libyan oil wells to the north, and the newly developing west African oil fields to the west. In the last five years Sudan has emerged as a fast-growing producer and exporter of oil.

More importantly, Sudan is considered to have vast, yet untapped reserves of oil, with dozens of Asian and European oil companies vying for contracts to explore, drill and pump its high-grade, low-sulfur oil to the expanding markets in China and India. The possibility of billions of barrels of oil under that vast area has U.S. and European bankers and oil executives salivating.

The relatively recent discovery of oil in southern Sudan only intensified the fighting, with the government in Khartoum, led by Gen. Omer Ahmed al-Bashir, bent on securing the economic prize of petroleum. However, in a concession by Khartoum, a peace agreement is about to be signed that will guarantee autonomy to the south as well as give it a large share of the oil revenue.

Another part of the picture is socialist China’s role in Sudan. China is Sudan’s largest trading partner, the biggest consumer of Sudan-ese oil, and the biggest investor in Sudanese oil exploration and production. The China National Petroleum Corporation helped finance the newly built pipeline that delivers crude oil from southern Sudanese oilfields to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. The U.S. and Britain clearly see China as a rival in this context.

Another ‘war president’ scenario?

Lastly, we cannot forget the looming U.S. presidential election, soon to be followed by elections in Britain.

Bush needs a distraction from his failing and criminal policy in Iraq and his failure to support any measure of justice for the Palestinian people. Do Bush’s handlers think that sending in the Marines, or maybe just taking a tough stand, will enhance his electability as a “war president”?

Darfur’s storied history

Darfur is a province the size of France and is composed of three Sudanese states. It is located in western Sudan along the border with Chad.

Much of Darfur is a plateau with mountain ranges up to 5,000 ft. above sea level. The elevation above adjoining desert areas created agricultural lands jutting northward into the Sahara.

Since ancient times farmers raised millet, cotton, and other crops while nomadic people lived by herding camels, sheep, goats and cattle. The Darfuri nomads are Arabic speakers, while the farmers include some Arabic speakers, but consist mostly of three groups — Fur, Masarit, and Zaghawa — whose languages are indigenous to central Africa. It’s important to note here that while Arabic may not be indigenous to Africa, it is an African language since most Arabic speakers live in Africa.

Since the dawn of history the Darfur oasis lay on the trade routes from west Africa to the Nile Valley civilizations. Some caravans followed the southern edge of the Sahara to the Nile and on to the Red Sea. Others took the 40-day trek from northern Darfur across the Sahara to Asyut in southern Egypt.

In the centuries before European shipping dried up, the Saharan caravan routes, great kingdoms existed south of the Sahara and north of the coastal rain forest belt in areas that are now in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Northern Nigeria, and Chad. Thousands of people traveled annually on trading missions, pilgrimages to Mecca, or to study in the great universities of Cairo and the Arab Middle East. Many, if not most, of these travelers passed through Darfur.

More recently, Darfur was an independent sultanate for about 300 years until it was incorporated into colonial Anglo-Egyptian-ruled Sudan in 1916. Sudan became independent on Jan. 1, 1956.

Sanctions, divisions, plunder

In recent years, U.S. and British imperialism have been locked out of exploiting Sudan’s oil because they imposed economic sanctions on Sudan as an alleged “terrorist threat.”

U.S. cruise missiles, you may recall, leveled a Khartoum “chemical weap-ons plant” in 1998. (In fact, expert witnesses say it was an important pharmaceutical plant that supplied critical medicines for the region.)

Arab news commentators have accused the Bush administration of raising the Darfur issue as a way to torpedo the tentative peace agreement and perhaps bring about the fragmentation of Sudan. A fragmented Sudan might create a new client state in the south, which could open the oil fields to U.S. corporate interests.

U.S. imperialism and Israel have been accused of training and aiding southern rebels. Among these are John Garang, head of the Sudanese People’s Liber-ation Army, who counts among his supporters U.S. right-wing, Christian fundamentalists. Garang, incidentally, is slated to become vice president under the peace agreement.

The conflict heats up

The situation in Darfur heated up 18 months ago when two rebel Darfuri movements demand that the Sudanese government share development resources from oil exports with the people of Darfur. The rebels attacked Sudanese police stations, killing and chasing the police officers out of rural areas.

The government retaliated by bombing villages in rebel held areas, and by allegedly arming and encouraging Arab nomads, called the Janjaweed, or “men on horseback,” to raid non-Arab farmers.

Western based human rights groups have accused the Janjaweed and the Sudanese government of ethnic cleansing. They claim there are over 1 million internal refugees in Darfur camps, and up to 200,000 as refugees in Chad. These sources claim that from 10,000 to 50,000 have died, although it’s not clear how many are alleged to have died at the hands of the Janjaweed, and how many as a result of draught and famine.

No thorough reports have been issued by the UN, the African Union or even the western media detailing the actual situation. The western media is demonizing the Arab Sudanese and focusing especially on allegations of massive rape of non-Arab women and girls by the Janjaweed.

The Sudanese government claims that law and order broke down after the rebels destroyed the police forces, that the allegations are exaggerated, and that they will be able to stabilize and disarm Darfur in short order. On the other hand, a cease fire they signed in April with the rebels does not seem to be holding.

African Union offers help

Enter the African Union (AU) and the Arab League. Sudan is a member of both organizations, and both are committed to a united Sudan. The AU has voted to send 300 observers to Darfur, and a military force to protect the observers. The Arab League is also considering a force from African Arab states.

In the face of this impending peacemaking effort, the Bush administration went to the UN Security Council with a demand that Sudan resolve the crisis in 30 days, by the end of August, or face the possibility of sanctions. Meanwhile, Nigeria, current chair of the AU, announced that Sudan and the Darfuri rebels have agreed to meet on Aug. 23 in the Nigerian capital of Abuja.

The U.S. is even offering logistical support to AU forces in Darfur, a sinister offer from U.S. imperialism, which now has military units in every other country along the southern flank of the Sahara in the name of “fighting terrorism.” The situation in Darfur is, at least partially, a result of U.S. support for rebellion and destabilization of Sudan.

Over 100,000 people marched in Khartoum Aug. 4 to protest any form of foreign intervention. They pledged to fight any would-be invaders.

What we can do

The crisis in Darfur requires massive amounts of humanitarian aid to Darfuri civilians and support for the peace efforts by Sudan’s African and Arab neighbors. Darfur does not need an Iraq-style invasion by U.S. and British troops. The American people must demand that our government support efforts by the AU to help bring peace to Darfur.

The best way American working people can help the people of Sudan and the Middle East is not by sending our youth to wage war against them, but instead by fundamentally changing the direction of U.S. foreign policy. A good first step would be to boot George W. Bush out of office on Nov. 2.

Joe Bernick is director of the Salt of the Earth Labor College in Tucson, Ariz. He can be reached at stelnik @ webtv.net.

Source: People's Weekly World Newspaper, 08/21/04

AS: Also must read Again: Israel-& US-Admin Involved In Sudan Conflict?

# ANTENNA SHARON | 11:10:00 am |

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

BAYLEY WINS GOLD

Assalamualaikum Wbh,
Just to share what a craze here since last night. Everybody was talk about it. Ramai jugak yang berjaga malam tadi to watch this moment (including me, maybe). Congrats to our team, Aussie just make it great.

Bayley rides ahead of Dutchman Theo Bos during the sprint final.
Photo: AFP

# ANTENNA SHARON | 6:02:00 pm |

'Aggro' Bayley claims sprint gold

(AFP Photo) - Bayley beats world champion Bos for sprint gold (Tue 24 Aug, 05:27 PM)

# ANTENNA SHARON | 6:00:00 pm |

Australian cyclists win pursuit gold

(AAP Photo) - The Australian pursuit team in the gold medal race at the Athens Olympic velodrome. (Mon 23 Aug, 04:39 PM)

(AFP Photo) - Australia's pursuit team machine powers on to gold (Mon 23 Aug, 05:39 PM)

# ANTENNA SHARON | 5:58:00 pm |

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Gallery of Palestinian Second Intifada (Part Three)

THE CHILDREN OF PALESTINIAN

A Palestinian child watches marching protesters on the streets of Khan Yunis southern Gaza city, Friday Dec. 8, 2000. In the background is a painting of a masked man holding his weapon guarding Islam's second holiest site, the Dome of the Rock. After Muslim Friday prayers a group of young Palestinans marched to the Khan Yunis checkpoint in Gaza to protest against Israel. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer)

Three-year-old Palestinian girl Rana Aswah carries a stone and Palestinian flag during a demonstration in the Bourj al-Brajneh refugee camp, in Beirut, Lebanon Tuesday May 8, 2001. Around 300 Palestinians schoolchildren took part in the demonstration to protest against an Israeli attack of Palestinian camps which killed a four-month old girl at Khan Yunis in Gaza strip. (AP Photo/Nabil)

Thousands of Palestinians raise their hands to pledge their support during a rally for the militant Palestinian group Hamas in Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza strip, Friday, Feb. 8, 2002. Thousands of Palestinian residents turned out for the Hamas rally which denounced Israel and the United States. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

A Palestinian boy shouts as he holds up a picture of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, during a demonstration in Gaza City Sunday Oct. 22, 2000. Clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians continued Sunday in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)

Palestinian boy throws stones during clashes with Israeli tanks and armored vehicles which reoccupied Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, villages on the north of Gaza Strip, February 13, 2002. Israeli forces killed four Palestinian policemen in raids in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after vowing to carve "security zones" in Palestinian areas to protect Israeli cities threatened by a new missile. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

Palestinian boys throw stones and run a way as Israeli tanks and armored vehicles reoccupied Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya villages on the north of Gaza Strip, February 13, 2002. Israeli forces killed four Palestinian policemen in raids in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after vowing to carve "security zones" in Palestinian areas to protect Israeli cities threatened by a new missile. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

A Palestinian youth throws stones at an approaching Israeli tank during clashes with Israeli soldiers at the Karni crossing northern Gaza city, Sunday Dec. 3, 2000. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

A Palestinian youth uses a slingshot to hurl stones at an Israeli tank during clashes at the Karni crossing northern Gaza city, Sunday Dec. 3, 2000. (AP Photo/Adel Hana

Palestinian youth throws a bottle at an Israeli tank outside of Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2002. Israeli troops raided three Palestinian towns and a refugee camp Wednesday in the most extensive military operation in the Gaza Strip in 16 months of fighting, launched in reprisal for Palestinian rocket fire on Israel. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

A Palestinian stone thrower faces an Israeli tank, during clashes at the Karni crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip, on the outskirts of Gaza city, Sunday, Oct. 29, 2000. A month of bloodshed has left some 133 people dead, most of them Palestinians, and put the peace process on hold. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours)

# ANTENNA SHARON | 6:05:00 pm |

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

NICE BUMPER STICKER

PRICE: $2.25


PRICE: $2.25


PRICE: $2.25

AS: Just contact me if u have put on this NICE sticker.

# ANTENNA SHARON | 5:34:00 pm |

JEWISH MAGNATES IN THE US FINANCE

The following is a list of Jews or Jewish families who control the financial markets.

Despite all their money these people - on the whole where essentially 'mafioso' types and thugs (which can be divined from their distinct manner of speaking which sounds like a New York City Jewish gangster). Note that the Jewish book "The Jewish Almanac", Bantam Books, 1980, p.58, under the title "The Jewish Underworld: American Jewish Gangsters", wrote:

"It would not be an exaggeration to say that their influence on organized crime in the United States during the 1920´s and 1930´s rivaled, if not exceeded, that of their Italian counterparts."