CODEPINK DC

Dr. Mustafa Bargouti talks with Elsa Rassbach about the Global March to Jerusalem on March 30th

Every year on March 30th Palestinians around the world celebrate Land Day, which commemorates a general strike and marches in 1976 against Israeli land appropriation, an event that was a pivotal event in bringing about Palestinian national unity. This year Palestinians throughout the Middle East and in the Diaspora will commemorate Land Day by calling attention to the dangers facing Jerusalem.

The Israeli government has long denied most Palestinians – whether Muslim or Christian – access to Jerusalem, even to visit holy sites. The organizers of the Global March allege that through methods of ethnic cleansing, Israel has been forcing Jerusalem’s remaining Arab inhabitants out, thus endangering the multi-religious, multi-ethnic character of the city that is the intended capital of Palestine.

On March 30th, the Palestinians will attempt to get as close to Jerusalem as they can: whether at the borders of Lebanon and Jordan, at checkpoints in the West Bank, or at the Erez crossing in Gaza. There will also be a demonstration in Jerusalem itself. The Palestinians will be joined by supporters from five continents. An eminent Advisory Board includes the Nobel Peace Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mairead Maguire. Solidarity vigils and actions are also planned on March 30th at Israeli Embassies and other locations in sixty cities around the world.

The Palestinian coalition organizing this Global March to Jerusalem is perhaps unprecedented in its breadth. Equally unprecedented is the Israeli campaign against the March, which has included faux Websites and Facebook pages to mislead participants regarding gathering places. After seventy supporters from India, Malaysia, Pakistan and other Asian countries visited Iran on their way to Lebanon to join the March, the Israeli press alleged that the March is directed from Iran and that violent "clashes" with Israeli forces are planned.

Among the most outspoken Palestinian supporters and organizers of the Global March is Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, 58, the well-known nonviolence advocate. As General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, Dr. Bargouti played a key role in recent attempts to bring Hamas and Fatah together. He is medical doctor educated in the former Soviet Union, the US and Jerusalem; he founded and leads Palestinian Medical Relief society, which provides health care in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In 2005 Dr. Bargouti ran for presidency of the Palestinian National Authority and won 19% of the vote. He resides in Ramallah in the West Bank.

Stephen Lendman

1.7 million Gazans endure severe hardships. They're suffocating because too few vital to life supplies enter. Others remain at Israel's whim to curtail or cut off entry entirely for any reason or none at all. This must end.

Israel's claimed easing is false. Besieged Gazans remain isolated. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) assessed conditions in January.

Except for limited amounts of agricultural products, Gaza's export economy's suffering. In addition, imports of basic needs and raw materials fall well below minimal needs.

Karm Abu Salem crossing was closed nearly 30% of the time. Incoming truckloads are 28.5% of pre-siege levels.

Out of 60 million flowers produced annually, export permission's granted for only a tiny fraction. In 2005, 70 truckloads of agricultural products were exported daily. Now it's a shadow of that amount.

Before June 2007, 570 average daily truckloads entered Gaza. Now it's around 150.

Karm Abu Salem crossing handles commercial traffic only. Currently, it doesn't meet Gaza's needs. Previously, goods entered through four crossings.

Gilad Atzmon

Israeli press reported this evening that French gunman Mohamed Merah had been on a trip to Israel in the past.

According to the report, Merah's passport had Israeli stamps in it. The purpose of his visit is unknown. Israeli analysts suspect he was either trying to visit the Palestinian territories or preparing for a terror attack.

However, I won’t rule out the possibility that Merah was actually trained by Israeli forces. Marah may have conducted a false flag operation. By way of deception is, after all, the Mossad’s motto.

Read the story of Naeim Giladi, an Israeli agent operating in Iraq in the late 1940’s.

Stephen Lendman

ICONS Syria and Iran feel emboldened; their leaders (left and center)
appeared with Hezbollah’s on a poster for sale in Damascus last June.
(Photo: Shawn Baldwin for The New York Times)

As America's leading broadsheet, what it reports matters, especially on war and peace. Instead of accuracy, full disclosure, and supporting right over wrong, The Times consistently cheerleads US wars and prospective ones. Enemies are vilified. Rule of law principles don't matter, nor do decades of crimes of war and against humanity, as well as millions of lost lives in the last decade alone.

In June 1950, The Times called Truman's war on North Korea the right decision, even though Pyongyang responded defensively to repeated South Korean cross-border incursions.

IF Stone's "Hidden History of the Korean War" explained what scoundrel journalism suppressed, including NYT feature stories. Stone called it international aggression. So did Monthly Review co-founders Leo Huberman and Paul Sweezy, saying:

"....we have come to the conclusion that (South Korean president) Syngman Rhee deliberately provoked the North Koreans in the hope that they would retaliate by crossing the parallel in force. The northerners fell neatly into the trap."

Truman instigated what happened and took full advantage. Stone explained, saying:

"we said we were going to Korea to go back to the status quo before the war but when the American armies reached the 38th parallel they didn't stop, they kept going, so there must be something else. We must have another agenda here and what might that agenda be?"

He learned it reflected America's imperial ambitions. Vietnam followed. He opposed both wars. So did others.