Diaspora Palestinians Should Have their Own Representatives at the Peace Conference.

Though preparations are underway in Annapolis, Maryland for the hosting of a Middle-East peace conference, the one called for by President George Bush, it is very unlikely that this conference will take place and if it does, the pressure is building up on the Ramallah leadership (but not the Palestinian leadership) to give up in advance many of its previously announce positions.

Secret talks are already underway between the Ramallah leadership and the Israelis and the Palestinians have already retreated from demanding a set of pronounced goals and objectives for the conference to agreeing to a set of principals that are not binding on Israel. The Ramallah leadership has appointed the brilliant negotiator Ahmed Qurai to lead the negotiation, the same man who is responsible for the disaster that is Oslo. So much so for having the best and the brightest to lead the negotiations.

The word is out that even Mahmoud Abbas the head of the Palestinian Authority confirming to his best friend Uhud Elmer that when he speaks of the Palestinian refugee's "Right of Return" he (Abbas) is only speaking of their rights to return to the areas of the West Bank and Gaza but not to Israel of 48.

Israel with the support of the US, its partner in the occupation, having succeeded in getting the trio ( Arafat, Abbas and Qurai) to recognize Israel, without ever defining the borders of the state is now pushing for a recognition of the "Jewishness" of the State, making sure that not only it denies the right of Palestinians refugees to the possibility of return or admitting the responsibility for their exiles and expulsion, is now putting at grave risk the more than 1.4 million Palestinians who continue to reside in Israel after the 1948 war. From experience and giving the level of intellectual and legal sophistications of Ahmed Qurai, most likely he will agree to this provision just like he agreed to the continued expansion of the settlements and confiscations of Palestinian land and the continued building of the Apartheid Wall, making sure he gets a piece of the business action from Israel in return.

Dr. Salman Abu-Sitta of Al-Awda in London with doubt a great scholar and nationalist published an open letter few days ago in Al-Quds Al-Arabi, addressed to Mahmoud Abbas as both the president of the PA and chairman of the PLO warning him of the pitfalls of agreeing to such recognition. However and with all due respect the call of Dr. Abu-Sitta to reform the PLO to represent all Palestinians is little too late. The conference is only few weeks ago and there is no way Abbas-Qurai will agree to that let alone manage to that within the short time. The PLO leadership failed to reform over the last 30 years it is unlikely they will do it now.

As it stand, the Ramallah leadership, though elected by the people under Israeli Occupation is going to the conference with the claim it represent all 10 million Palestinians. Of course those in Gaza Hamastan, Ramallah Fatahland, the more than 6 million Diasporaland.

The PLO as corrupt and inept as it was even its heydays never did represent all of the Palestinian people. The Palestine National Congress was nothing more than a "yes" organization, bought and sold and traded by Arafat and his henchmen. The PNC never had the backbone or the courage to ever have a say so and sat on its behind while the Palestinian Troika of Arafat, Abbas, and Quarie committed one blunder after another. With all due respect to Dr. Abu-Sitta, the PLO is dead and died long time ago.
As a matter of urgency, I call on all of the Palestinians in the Diaspora especially those organizations committed to the right of return to convene in Washington, DC under the banner of the Palestine Agency and hold a press conference and demand a seat at the table equal to that offered by George Bush and Israel the guys from Ramallah.

It is true and no one can deny it, that the guys from Ramallah do represent the Palestinians under Occupation, having been elected in fair and open elections, However this Ramallah leadership was never elected by the Palestinians of the Diaspora and in NO way represent the Palestinians in the Diaspora, and have NO rights whatsoever to represent them and compromise their rights of return and their rights to reclaim their lost properties. Abbas can waive his rights in Safad but he has no right to waive the rights of people in Haifa, or Acca or Yafa.

Mahmoud Abbas, Ahmed Qurai and Yasser Abed-Rabou are not the Palestinian people of the Diaspora and were never elected by any one. They are the leftover of a defunct organization that lost its legitimacy long, long time ago.

A press conference should coincide with the convening of the peace conference where representatives of the Palestinians from the Diaspora from around the world make it clear to the Ramallah leadership, the Tel-Aviv leadership, certainly to Washington that only the representative of the Diaspora are the one who can make the decisions for the Palestinians of the Diaspora. Even if it means re-convening the peace conferences at a later date. Yes, Israel has to deal with the Palestinians of the Diaspora and not with guys from Ramallah or for that matter the guys in Damascus and their proxies in Gaza making such decisions. I am sure the Palestinians of the Diaspora want peace, but not the kind of peace that Abbas and Quari are out to achieve. Time for the Palestinians of the Diaspora to put their act together separate and independent of the PLO of the Palestinian Troika.

Ken Burns's the "War". a Moving Documentary of the People's War, not the President's War.

For the last week or so, I have been watching with much interest on PBS Ken Burns's documentary titled the "War". Perhaps one of his best that can be added to his other master piece the "Civil War".

Unlike what one would expect from a documentary with this title, the "War" is more of a human journey of people rather than a cold review of historical facts that are deprived of any sense of human drama.

Ken Burns succeeded in giving his documentary on the war that very human touch rarely found in similar documentaries. He succeeded in having living witnesses talks of the war past and present. While the entire documentary is mesmerizing and one is forced to sit and watch there were several events of the war that I thought were so moving and perhaps it brought out what is best in humanity and also what is worst.

Unlike Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam War and George Bush's Iraq War where the two presidents, one a Democrat and the other a Republican both have something in common. Johnson and Bush both lied to the nation and lied to the Congress to get authorization to go to wars concocted by their national security advisors that cost the nations tens of thousands of dead, hundreds of thousands of wounded not to mentions hundreds of billions of dollars wasted because our Congress and as usual failed to exercise its rights as an equal branch of government and failed to protect our national interest and the people interest. The Korean War was another make believe.

World War II was for sure the right war and for the right reasons. The US did not initiate war but has to respond to attacks on our soil as is the case with Pearl Harbor and we went to war against Nazi Germany because Hitler threatened with his killing machine and his National Socialism ideology the very fabric of societies in Europe.

Four things in the documentary that moved me the most. The first was the story of our Black citizens who were called to war and to fight for freedom and democracy overseas when they did not have that for themselves in their own country.

The second was the very moving story of Senator Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii and his war experience in Italy where he kept fighting while losing his arm. His courage war efforts earned him some forty years later with the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation highest honor. While our Black troops were segregated due to their color, their donated blood, no doubt the same color red was not segregated and contributed to saving the life of Senator Inouye.

The third was of course the tragic and so un-American experience of relocation and concentration camps for Japanese Americans and how our government, even our Supreme Court was able to justify and order all Japanese American to relocations camps. That episode is for sure a dark side of American history; we hope will never happen again. Fear and racism like now where the only reason to intern our Japanese American citizens. With the present atmosphere in this country may be it will be the turn of Muslims and Arabs to be moved to relocation and concentration camps.

The fourth was the horrific scenes of Nazi concentration camps where over 6 million Jews perished simply because they were Jews. I have seen these pictures before, but one could not help but wonder how this can happen, and it did happen. Of course the German and the Austrian people denied they knew of these concentration camps and denied the gas ovens that turned human flesh to ashes. How can these people deny this mass murder when it was taking place in so many places? Hitler was able to kill and murder, in addition to the 6 million Jews, 2 million Poles, over 4 million Russians and killed several hundred thousands of Gypsies, homosexuals and mentally and physically retarded people. Hitler did not do it alone. He has an entire army of people to do it.

World War II where Americans young and old, rich and poor, men and women all joined together to liberate Europe and Asia. This is perhaps the proudest moments in American history and our commitments to liberty and democracies around the world. Too bad, Lyndon Johnson and George Bush did not learn any thing from this war and waged their own ideological war for nothing more than their own selfish agenda and their own selfish and pity ego. When our presidents call on us to fight a war, we want these wars to be our wars not their own individual wars where we as citizens have to pay the price. World War II no doubt was the people war and not the president's war. Ken Burns's story of the War continues.

Blackwater, the Private Militia of the US State Department.

Here in Washington, all this week Blackwater, the private militia of Condi Rice, the US Secretary of State was the center of attention by the media, the headline news and in Congress.

Mr. Prince the very young and very rich and very powerfully connected Republican was on Capital Hill defending his company's cold blooded murder of Iraqis and to the great surprise of many in the media especially Fox News and other Republicans and NeoCons. There was nothing wrong with the murder and killing of innocent Iraqis as long as it saves our very VIPs in Iraq. The hell with the Iraqis, who gives a damn about them any more, certainly not George Bush and Dick Cheney who went to war to save them only to kill them later and destroy the country at a very expensive price.

Blackwater, the mercenary army of the US State Department is a private militia totally funded by US tax payers and managed by the US State Department, and unlike our uniformed soldiers who have to follow the rules and subject to military discipline and the rule of law, Blackwater misfits are immune from any prosecution for any wrong doing. That is the way privatization of war efforts under Republican leadership works.

While poor US soldiers are held accountable for every wrong doings, of course and as we know, most if not all die hard Republicans and supporters of the war are COWARDS and draft dodgers and drug addicts, they chose to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to a company like Blackwater to do the job that US soldiers will be court-martialed if they commit such a crime. Of course, the slogans of these coward Republicans is supporting the troops.

Blackwater went from a company with $3 millions in contract to a company with over $300 millions in contract in couple of years and now approaching a billion. Of course all without bids and free and open competition keeping up with the Republican theme of free economy, of course as long as the recipients of the tax dollars are Republican businessmen and big time donors to Republican Party. To Republicans cheating the government is a duty, in fact an honor and part of the Republican patriotism. We may need to add to that the new standard of Republican Patriotism is looking for male to male sex in public toilets. Do not be surprised if the next time you are at an airport to see three types of toilets; men, women and Republicans.

The US State Department put up a hell of a defense in Congress, giving Blackwater all kind of excuses for killing innocent civilians and of course that was expected since Blackwater is the private army of the US State Department. Under this Republican Administration every government agency will have its own private army. A drunken Blackwater soldier killed the private guard of an Iraqi high ranking officials and the only thing that happened to him, is that he as whisked out of the country making sure he gets away with murder.

Finally after hundreds if not thousands of innocent Iraqis have been killed by the private militia of the US Department of State, Congress passed a legislation that subjects these thugs to court jurisdiction. Will see if George Bush will veto such laws upholding the Republican article of faith "though shall kill".

Blackwater thugs and misfits must have thought of themselves as part of an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie production where heroes get away with murder. Perhaps they thought of themselves as French Foreign Legion. Of course with a big difference.

This Republican Administration will no doubt is the worst American administration in the last couple of hundred of years. Full of failures, lies and certainly have nothing to do with any of the ideals and dreams that made America the great country it is. This Republican Administration not only sanctions cold blooded murder of Iraqis but also justifies and carried out brutal and violent interrogations of suspects, contrary to what this country stand for. It is also an administration that sanctions and promote the fleecing of the US Treasury by its crooked friends and associates. And given its history of draft dodging and deferments no doubt an administration of cowards and crooks, not to mentioned incompetent stupid ideologue. Not to mention a Republican Party where its family values, private and public morality are played out at public toilets.

After Ahmedinejade at Columbia, it is Time for a Jefferson Corner on Every Campus

Even before Iran President Mohamed Ahmedinejade spoke at Columbia University last week, all hell broke lose because Columbia president, Lee Bollinger took the daring and perhaps the fatal step to invite the president of Iran to speak enraging the very powerful pro-Israel groups in the New York City and around the country.

With the exception of Great Britain, and without doubt no country in the world come close to American when it comes to certain rights guaranteed by our Constitution especially the First Amendment Rights of speech and association and of course assembly. However these rights though guaranteed to us as citizens do not mean that we can be heard or have a chance to be heard or assemble without prior authorizations.

Many restrictions do apply now, by the current Bush Administration which justifies its attacks on civil liberties as part of it war on terror. We need to keep in mind that the First Amendment right of free speech applies to restrict the Federal and state governments from prohibiting or legislating limitations on the rights of free speech.

That is why Free Speech as we do know it in the US does not means and it does not guarantee that we as citizens have the opportunity to be heard or that we have a right to appear on public or private television or the radio or to have our ideas and opinions expressed in the editorial pages of newspapers like the Washington Post or the New York Times. Freedom of Speech as guaranteed by the First Amendment does not mean and it does not give us a right to appear on CNN or on Fox News or to even have a chance to rebuttal any statements written or heard. That Freedom of Speech is guaranteed only to those who owns the media and is guaranteed to those who have influence and who can make heads fly.

As such while there is right vis-à-vis the government, there are no rights of Freedom of Speech that allows different ideas to compete and appear on the airways. That is why the media and those who control the media are in fact the Fourth Branch of government, though not elected and of course non-accountable to any one. They make or break a politician or an official and they can promote, lobby and push for policies if not formulate and dictate public policies. Yes, we need to amend the US Constitution to give us the right of Free Speech this time guaranteeing to us that the Fourth Branch allows us to be heard and of course allows competing ideas to air on the public airways. The War on Iraq was a war promoted and sponsored by the media.

In the US Free Speech is guaranteed to the network and the media and those behind them and those who owns them and of course the ideologue who power them. Average citizen have no chance at free speech. Even if they attempt to strand up in Public Park or in a city corner they will not be guaranteed that they can speak and be heard. That of course requires a permit, and given the state of emergency we have in the US and given the very power pro-Israel group had, it is very unlikely that any one not on the side of Israel have a chance to speak or be heard.

On would imagine that a country like ours have the courage to have someone like President Mohammed Ahmedinejade to speak and be heard. His initiation may end up costing Lee Bollinger his job, since he dared to challenge the Pro-Israeli groups and invite someone like the president of Iran to speak. Campus Watch already control and manage speech and discussions within the campus class room, now they want to even prohibit free speech outside the class room.

Of course Lee Bollinger trying to appease the powerful forces that will get his dead, sooner than later, wanted to make up to them by making some very insulting and rude and defamatory remarks against Ahmedinejad even before he had a chance to speak. One would imagine that in a country like ours where we are proud of our sense of civility were challenging the guests on his ideas but not take personal insults. That is not the standard we like to have from the president of a university, Insults and rude remarks are left to the likes of Bill O'Reilly who became somebody because they are rude, nasty , obscene, and insult is their trade mark and value system.

Perhaps it is time for all universities and colleges to declare a "Jefferson Corner" a Free Speech Zone where any one and every one can stand up on a soap box and make a speech. No one can guarantee he/she will make sense or have any one listen to, but at least they can exercise the right of free speech.

Why not every town and city in the nation designate certain parks and certain areas within those parks as Free Speech zone, where there is no need to apply for a permit or get license from the police. Simply let people stand up and talk. This in my opinion will fulfill the objective envisioned by the US Constitution and gives us average citizen a fair chance against the big guns of the Fourth Branch. What is the use of free speech if one could not exercise it or have others hear it.

Celebrating the LIfe of Dr. Haider Abdel-Shafi 1919-2007

Dr. Haider Abdel-Shafi the Palestinian icon, the statement, the leader, the physician, the philanthropists, the negotiator died in Gaza on September 25, 2007 at the age of 88 years after suffering from terminal illness.

This posting is not to mourn the passing of Dr. Haider but to celebrate his life, his commitments to the nation and people of Palestine and his unselfish devotion to the people he grew up with and committed himself to serve.

Dr. Mustafa Bargouthi, a leader in the Palestinian National Initiative perhaps said it best when he said "Dr. Abdel-Shafi will remain a beacon of inspiration for us in our struggle for freedom, democracy and independence for our people". Yes indeed Dr. Haider was a beacon, and it is too bad that the Palestinian people chose to follow not Dr. Haider but incompetent, corrupt and discredit leaders.

Dr. Haider a physician and a surgeon studied in Beirut and the US and return to establish the Palestine Red Crescent Society to serve the many poor of Gaza. He devoted his entire life for public service and was a founding member of the Palestine Liberation Organization at its first meeting in Jerusalem in 1964 and later served as member of the executive committee 1964-1965.

In later years Dr. Haider was expelled and exiled twice by the Israelis who could not stand to have someone like Dr. Haider providing the much badly needed leadership for people under occupation. He was exiled in 1969 and in 1970.

Dr. Haider was a visionary and a nationalist who supported armed resistance to the military occupation but never supported suicide bombings. He also was one of the very few and courageous statesman who called for the Arabs and the Palestinians to accept the partition plan and reach a peaceful negotiations with Israel. Of course for that vision and for that courage he was denounced by the Arab and Palestinian media.

Later on and in 1991, Dr. Haider was to lead the joint Palestinian-Jordanian delegations to the Madrid Peace Conference. Later that year he became the lead negotiator with the Israelis here in Washington. He always insisted and called on the Israelis to stop expansion and constructions of the settlements. He quit when he discovered that Arafat went behind his back and was negotiating Oslo in secret.

In 1996 he was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council with the largest number of votes. Only to quit two years later in protest of ineffectiveness of the PLC and incompetence and corruptions of the Palestinian leadership. In 2002 he organized with Dr. Mustafa Bargouthi the Palestinian National Initiative as an alternative to Fatah and Hamas.

Since leaders do make a big difference, in building a nation and make a difference in destruction nations. One has to wonder what would have happen if someone like Dr. Haider Abdel-Shafi was the Palestinian leader who took the leadership from 1964 until now? One thing for sure the Palestinians will not be in such a dire position they are in now.

One need to compare someone like Dr. Haider with Hajj Amin Hussaini, a pathetic incompetent and failed leader who was more interested and obsessed with his standing and his family standing among the Palestinians in competition with the Nashashibi family and cared less about the Palestinian people and their quest for freedom and independence from the British and in fending the ever expanding Jewish occupation.

One has to wonder what would have happened if someone like Dr. Haider was the leader instead of Ahmed Shukari who was nothing more than a demagogue and big mouthed empty politician.

For sure one can only imagine if the Palestinians have someone like Dr. Haider instead of some one like Yasser Arafat a fraud and incompetent and corrupt at that. For sure we will not be in the big mess we are in now.

Arafat to save his "ass" and to save his discredited PLO and Fatah and to make sure that someone like Dr. Haider does not challenge him for the leadership decided to undermine Dr. Haider and all the excellent work he was doing as negotiator. Arafat having failed to liberate Palestine decided through Oslo to become a manager and administrator of the Israeli Occupation for and on behalf of Israel. Of course in exchange for a lucrative contract for himself, his buddies and cronies.

Rather than have someone like Dr. Haider, smart, honest, committed to lead the negotiations, he dispatched noting but incompetent, mentally retarded cronies to lead the negotiations that of course gave us Oslo and gave permanency to Israeli settlements and the occupation and gave second lease of life on a discredited and pathetic organization.

Too bad the Palestinians did not appreciate good and honest leaders when they saw one and chose over the last 100 years to follow nothing but retarded, incompetent and corrupt leaders who wasted tens of billions of dollars and who are responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands, only to fail at liberation and only succeed at gaining and concluded a contract to manage the Israeli Occupation.

May Allah rest your soul, Dr. Haider, and grant you peace in paradise. You were a great leader however the Palestinian people for certain are undeserving of such a leader like you. I can only wonder when the Palestinian people will wake up and take matters in their own hand and kick the hell out of the leaders they had for the last 40 years. Fatah and Hamas are simply unfit to lead to liberation let alone manage anything even under occupation.

A "Tipsy" Peter King Inducts himself in the "Assholes Hall of Fame".

The recent comments made by Congressman Peter King R-New York surely qualifies him for inductions into the "Assholes Hall of Fame". The not so honorable congressman, a racist and a bigot through and trough was a strong supporter of the IRA terrorism since the IRA did commits similar terrorists acts committed by radical Muslim groups around the world, killing and maiming innocent people in N. Ireland and in London, as they went about planting bombs in public places. The congressman when it comes to terrorism is not so honorable, forgetting that terrorism is terrorism whether committed by Irish Catholics, Muslims, Jews or Hindus.

To Peter King as we watched on YouTube declared in an interview with" Politico" "There are too many mosques in this country. There are too many people sympathetic to radical Islam, we should be looking at them carefully and finding ways to infiltrate them." These words do not represent a man well known for being "too tipsy" but shows he is a racist to the core.

Of Course the not so honorable congressman, chose to serve in the National Guard (1968-1973) of course like his George Bush and other Republican "Chicken Hawks" did not want to serve in Vietnam or perhaps was too afraid to go to war and serve his country. Like the many die hard Republicans who chose to have others serve and die for their country, they do enjoy doing the thing they like to do the most, talk of patriotism and talk of serving America, while choosing to hide in the safety of their safe and plush offices. It seems Peter King took his queue from Dick Cheney who "had other important things to do" than serve the United States of American as a soldier. Peter King and other Republicans simply enjoy when other others die and they enjoy it more when they visit the heroes and the braves, the maimed and injured and thank them for their service to the country while denying them the proper medical and psychological care they need the most. It is so ironic that the most patriots of all Republicans are also the most cowards.

It seems that Peter King is at his best when he is "tipsy". After a leaving reception at the White House shortly before the Polls closed on the 2004 Presidential elections he declared to Alex Pelosi in his film "Diary of a Political Tourist" the election is over, we won". Pelosi asked a "tipsy" Peter King, "How do you know that?" a "tipsy" King added" it is all over but the counting and we'll take care of that". Perhaps he knew something about American democracy that we as voters do not know!

Moreover a "tipsy" Peter King no doubt under the influence, declared in February 2006 and as quoted in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_T._King
That "things were blooming in Baghdad and that being in Baghdad was like being in Manhattan". No doubt Peter King was either too drunk or too stoned to make such statements. For sure he lives in a different planet, and does not watch the evening news. For sure he does not visit the maimed and injured soldiers to hear their stories, no doubt ashamed of himself for choosing not to enlist in the Army with a chance to go to war in Vietnam. He lives his fantasies and as someone who serves on the Homeland Security should know how many thousands of our brave soldiers died and how hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died. Perhaps the congressman is always "tipsy".

The bigotry and racism of Peter King is almost legendary. The man who chose to sit out the war in New York and who supported IRA terrorism supported racial profiling and supported the extra screenings of Middle Eastern and South Asians due to their ethnicity and religion. I know too many great friends who are Irish and who are Catholics and I could never see myself or for that matter see the Congress support racial and religious profiling of Irish Americans because they wanted the British Occupation of N. Ireland to end.

I do not know how Peter King gets his information about the active support of terrorism among Muslims in this country. Of the millions of Muslims in this country none committed the kind of terrorist crimes committed by Tim McVae? Congressman Peter King and his Home Land Security have my full support to go after every Muslim or any Arab who actively engage in any crimes that endanger America or Americans or for that matter any civilians any where around the world including Israel. Yes, Congressman King, there are individuals of the Muslim faith who do commit crimes and they are no different from Irish-Americans, or Jewish Americans or Italian-Americans who commit felony crimes. Why only the Muslim community is the only one targeted by bigots like Peter King ?

Perhaps Peter King suggests that Muslims and Arabs should be tattooed and implanted with "smart chips" with their SS numbers for easy tracking, or perhaps he can sponsor legislations that forces Muslims and Arabs to wear armed bands designating them as "Muslims" or Arabs similar to the Nazi who did the same thing to Jews. Thanks God, Peter King is not a founding father of America, I am sure he would have banned the Blacks, the Jews, the Irish, the Italians, the Muslims and the Arabs out of America. No Congressman King we are no less patriot that any other community in this country. We also proudly served in the armed forces of the United States of America. So please do not teach us any of your patriotism.

Mahmoud Abbas to Dispatch, the Competent, Smart, Brilliant, Charming, and Honest Ahmed Qurai to Secret Negotiations with Israel, Ha !

Last week major Arabic newspapers such as Asharqalwsat and Alquds Alarabi carried front line news that Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority under Israeli Occupation have dispatch his long time friend and confidant, the smart, brilliant and specially gifted Ahmed Qurai (Abu Ala) to negotiate yet another secret deal with Israel.

Of course any one familiar with the secret negotiations in Oslo lead by our friend Ahmed Qurai and orchestrated by the late Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas can only wonder why does Abbas send again, some one like Abu Ala to negotiate for an on behalf of the Palestinians. If Oslo1 was a partial sell out by the axis of incompetence, corruption and failed leadership (Arafat, Abbas and Qurai) one does not need to wonder what the rest of the story will be.

At the heights of the First Intifada, which Arafat with all of his no so smart and not so intelligent (Mokhabarat and Estekhbbarat) services, never knew was coming, Israel was desperate to end this civil uprising that pitted a Palestinian stone with an Israeli tank shell and that was on the news every day. Israel was also desperate to get a formal recognition, not simply an announcement from Arafat and his PLO like that in 1988, but a formally signed and sealed recognition for its existence, legitimacy and for its continued control of the land and of course for its definition that the land it occupied is” disputed territories” but not occupied. A big difference that our team of brilliant leaders failed to see.

Israel knew it was not getting ahead with the team in Washington lead by Dr. Haider Abdul-Shafi, a truly brilliant man with commitment and integrity unmatched any where in Palestine for the last 100 years. Dr. Abdul-Shafi main objective was to bring an end to the Israeli Military Occupation and address and bring about a final resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Arafat not trusting in Dr. Haider Abdul-Shafi dispatched non other than Dr. Nabil Sha’ath to keep an eye on the negotiating team lest they succeed and bring about an end to the occupation and put Arafat and his PLO out of business.

Israel and its intelligence services knew very well the Palestinian trio of Arafat-Abbas –Qurai. It knew them from the days in Beirut, and it knew them very well from the days of Tunis, and it knew what they ate, drank and whom they slept with (Arafat preferred young Romanian boys). In fact Israel had one of its key agent in the office of the Palestinian Ambassador to Tunis, Hakam Bal’awi, a close confident of Arafat and a conduit for many of the exchange of messages. It should be noted that Bala’awi returned to a heroes welcome when Israel gave him the permission to return. Willy Brandt, the German Chancellor had to resign because one of his staff member in the Chancellery was an East German spy. Of course we can see the difference between “them and us”.

Israel knew Arafat and his team were desperate having sided with Saddam Hussein and supported the Iraqi Occupation of Kuwait. Arafat not only publicly supported the criminal Saddam but contributed $50 millions toward the invasion and of course all at the expense of over 350,000 Palestinians living in Kuwait. The Palestinians should have put Arafat on trial and hanged him for his betrayal of hundreds of thousands destroying their lives and causing them to lose over $14 billions in personal and business assets.
Israel was aware of this and was aware that Arafat and his PLO needed an uplift and needed something to save it after its disastrous siding with Saddam and the way to do it, is to entice Arafat and his team to enter into secrete negotiations that can save Arafat “ass” and can save his failing and much discredit PLO.

Oslo negotiated by the not so brilliant team of Arafat, Abbas and Qurai, has nothing to do with ending the Occupation. It has every thing to do with mutual recognition of Israel by Arafat and his PLO and Israel recognition of the PLO (TOZZ). All remain the same.

While Israel got what it wanted in terms of legitimacy around the Muslim and Arab world opening the doors for Israel from Indonesia to Morocco, Arafat got his Palestinian Authority and got himself and his PLO and Fatah a permanent job of providing security for the IDF and armed settlers, and of course with billions of dollars going to the personal pockets of Arafat and his PA.

While Israel knew Arafat very well, he in turn knew the Palestinians very well too, especially all those parasites around him. He knew them well and he was ready as he was for the last 40 years to buy them off. He knew every one has a price, he knew every one of his lieutenants and advisors have a weakness for money, women and prestige. He knew how to get their support for his Oslo. We can see it on the ground in Ramallah. Very expensive homes in the millions of dollars, expensive cars, (khadam and hasham), even the servants of these parasites can go out to the streets and tell the people what to do, giving true meaning to the Arabic saying (kalb El-Sheik, Sheik).

Meanwhile and under Oslo, the Israeli Occupation continues as it is and has been for the last 40 years. Israel continued with its policies of land confiscation for expanding settlements, it continued with and in fact increased its squeeze on the Palestinians adding more and more checkpoints. It gave armed settlers total control of the entire city of Hebron and recently it created a network of roads “ FOR JEWS ONLY’. Of course the not so brilliant Qurai did not bother to discuss the issues of water resources, ending the settlement expansions, giving authority over residency to the PA just to mention few.

Since Oslo was nothing more than a security contract between Israel and the PLO/Fatah, control of the many and different security agencies became of much interest and competition between Arafat and his cohorts. Giving a full meaning to the phrase of “ who control the security not only control the Palestinian population (mandatory under Oslo) but can also collect on payments from Israel and the international community”.

Now Mr. Abbas could not find another less competent and corrupt person other than Mr. Ahmed Qurai to dispatch and start another round of secret negotiations with Israel. Of course this is the same man who squandered billions of dollars while running SAMED Industries (I am sure many of you remember the great Palestinian enterprise with businesses from Uganda to Latin America to the corner stores in the ghettos of the US cities) Billions of dollars simply disappeared under his management and of course he was never held accountable for any of the loses and millions stolen.

He is also the man who did simply felt he did not need professional legal and strategic team to help in the negotiations relying on his stupidity, ignorance and “ charm” to win concessions from Israel. This is the same man who made and is making a killing out of lands he knew as negotiator will be under Palestinian jurisdiction, becoming the largest single developer under occupation. He is also the same man, whose family enterprises made a killing out of selling the cement to Israel to help toward building the Apartheid Wall.

One only need to read the many books and articles written on Oslo, and one need to read Uri Savir accounts of the 1,100 days that lead to the “compromise” in Oslo, where Arafat and his PLO secured a long term security contract while Israel kept all it had in land, not to mention the control over who can come and who can stay.

It is very difficult to read into the minds of those who are in charge among the Palestinians. It is even more difficult to understand why Mahmoud Abbas want to send an idiot to go back and negotiate away what he failed to do in the first place.

Did the Zionists NeoCons Needed a New Pearl Harbor to realize their America of the New Century?

“As the 20th century draws to a close, the United States stands as the world's preeminent power. Having led the West to victory in the Cold War, America faces an opportunity and a challenge: Does the United States have the vision to build upon the achievements of past decades? Does the United States have the resolve to shape a new century favorable to American principles and interests?

Our aim is to remind Americans of these lessons and to draw their consequences for today. Here are four consequences:
• We need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global
responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future;
• We need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values;
• We need to promote the cause of political and economic freedom abroad;
• We need to accept responsibility for America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles.
Such a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity may not be fashionable today. But it is necessary if the United States is to build on the successes of this past century and to ensure our security and our greatness in the next. “ June 3, 1997 from Statement of Principals’ New American Century.
With these words, the Zionist NeoCons went ahead and planned for the George Bush presidency, marrying the military industrial complex with corrupt and immoral politics and of course funded and sponsored by lobbyists.
The disgraced Paul Wolfowitz who dished our big favors for his lover and mistress at the expense of the poor lead the ideological revival of this axis of evils to perpetuate their own agenda. The only thing they needed is a new Pearl Harbor.
The Zionist NeoCons to get the support of the nation for an expanding and powerful nations argued that a great catastrophic events will galvanize the public instilling fear and apprehension and will allow them the freedom to go ahead and planned global war against any and every one that does not support our homogeny over world resources and dominance over other nations.
Other scholars and security experts such as Zbignew Brzezinski in his book” the Great Chessboard, American Primacy and its Georstrategic Imperative: published in 1997 also shared in the view that American public will not support an agenda of expanding military power in the absence of a major catastrophic events like that of Pearl Harbor. Donald Rumsfeld reached the same conclusion on January 11, 2001 as he made the same arguments in testimony before Congress as Chairman of the Commission to Asses US National Security, Space Management and Organization.
With a long history of associations with US intelligence agencies during the Mujahdeen war in Afghanistan one has to wonder if Osama Bin Laden was reading all of these manifestos.
No one is accusing any one of collaborations with Osama Bin Laden’s gang of murderers but one has to raise the questions of what did these NeoCons and the US intelligence community knew of Osama plans to attack the US on September 11? And why no one within the US with hundreds of billions of dollars spent on intelligence allowed or failed to detect a group of terrorists from taking over 4 planes and using them as suicide bombs to kills thousands of innocent Americans?
On the sixth anniversary of the tragedy and attack on the US there are lots of questions that no one in Washington dared to answer or refuse to answer and did the NeoCons knew something that we did not know as Americans.
Thousands of Americans have paid their lives as a price for the ideology and plans for the Zionist NeoCons New American Century and tax payers end up paying more than trillions of dollars on home land security and on a much weakened not more stronger military. Most if not all of the money went to security and military industrial organizations and with less funding going toward the average citizens improving educations, healthcare and social services. Thousands of Americans died and tens of thousands of our brave soldiers are injured and damaged for life, hundreds of thousands of people around the world all died so that the Zionist NeoCons can realize their dreams of New American Century. America that is so much in debt, America that is so much hated around the world, America that has lost its moral strength, value and compass, while the NeoCons having made a financial killings out our ills are now disgraced forever.
Without any doubt, the George Bush/ Dick Cheney Administration is not only the most incompetent administration in the history of the United States but a disgrace to the human race.
Our sympathies and condolences goes to the family of all those who lost their lives here in the US by the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and to the families who lost their loved one in the war on Afghanistan and Iraq and may all the dead and victims rest peace.
America’s Hall of Shame:

Elliott Abrams, Gary Bauer, William J. Bennett, Jeb Bush

Dick Cheney, Eliot A. Cohen, Midge Decter, Paula Dobriansky, Steve Forbes

Aaron Friedberg, Francis Fukuyama, Frank Gaffney, Fred C. Ikle

Donald Kagan, Zalmay Khalilzad, I. Lewis Libby, Norman Podhoretz

Dan Quayle, Peter W. Rodman, Stephen P. Rosen, Henry S. Rowen

Donald Rumsfeld, Vin Weber, George Weigel, Paul Wolfowitz

The Palestinians in Lebanon, a Tragedy, a Crime, Certainly a Conspiracy!

When it comes to Lebanon, it invokes in me many mixed feelings. The first time I visited Beirut was as a graduate assistant in the department of political science at Indiana University. I traveled to Lebanon during the summer of 72 with my professor and some 25 undergraduate students part of a 50 days tour of the Middle East.

Beirut in those days was heaven; even for some one coming from great cities like Chicago and beautiful college towns like Bloomington, Indiana. Beirut and its people have lots of class, lots of style. Beautiful buildings, streets and cafés and oh, so many beautiful, good looking, very classy and dressed to kill women, at the AUB campus and around town. We spent 10 days at the AUB and had a chance to meet with some students (most of whom where very arrogant), many professors and toured the city and some towns close by.

In 1975 a bunch of Christian militia attacked a bus in the outskirt of Beirut killing scores of Palestinian and injuring many. That was the spark that ignited Beirut and put Lebanon on fire culminating with the Israeli invasion of Beirut in 82 and the exiles of Arafat and his PLO.

The Civil War in Lebanon was a savage war by all means. Pitting Muslims against Christians, pitting Christians against Christians and pitting Muslims against Muslims. It was a war that destroyed the entire fabric of Lebanon, and it was a war where even the most sophisticated and intellectuals turned into criminals over night. Throats were slits at checkpoint and the pronunciations of the word “tomato” the way Lebanese and Palestinians pronounced it made a difference between life and death.

Over 100,000 Lebanon died and tens of thousands Palestinians died by the many Christian militias, the Syrian army and more than 50,000 remains missing and no one dare to open the files on these people and give a closure to this savage war. I could never imagined the people whom I met back in 72 and was so impressed with their sophistications can turn out to be killers and murderers. For me Lebanon is a country to view from far.

When the late Arafat was in Beirut, no doubt he was the big cheese, the man of the town if not the country. He claimed he was the “boss” in Lebanon. He and his PLO ran Beirut and there was so much abuse on the political and social levels that the Lebanese simply did not forgive Arafat. His PLO ran one of the most corrupt and undisciplined “liberation” organizations that were simply easy target for and easy to penetrate by Israel and its agents. Yes, Lebanon was and is a sectarian country run by warlord and big bosses like some cities in the US with close cooperation and collusions between the Sunnis of Beirut who ran the economy and the Christian Maronites who ran the country. They’re so much collusion between the two disfranchising the rest of the sects and the rest of the country.

Arafat and his PLO added to and contributed to this conflict and while not the only thing that ignited and burned the country, Lebanon by its very nature with well-armed militias and well-armed private armies was ready to explode. Lebanon was nothing more than a country run by different families just like the mafia ran some cities in the US. Arafat was a mafia boss just like all of the others. Arafat ran a very undisciplined militia that did not leave much of a good will in the South. The people where so glad the Palestinians were out. As Arafat departed Beirut forever, he left behind hundreds of thousands of Palestinians at the mercy of both the Lebanese and the Israelis. Though Arafat secured a “safety guarantee” for those left behind from the US Government, few days later the Lebanese Phalange and the Israelis were to commit the massacres of Palestinian in Sabra and Shatilla. Of course neither the Palestinians nor the Lebanese were ever to open let alone from a commission to look into the massacre in Sabra and Shatilla. Arab countries and liberation organizations never open investigations when thousands die. Death by the thousands is considered normal and never to be looked into.

Lebanon, the sectarian country it is, was all about “confessionalism” and the confessional system in Lebanon determined from births the rights and privileges of its citizens. If you are a Christian Maronite you can dream to be a president, but if you are a Muslim Shiite, the best you can hope for is speaker of the house and if you are a Sunni Muslim, well you can become a prime minister. The Shiites were ignored and disfranchised for years. No wonder Nasrallah is now a big boss.

Since the foundation of modern Lebanon and its independence in 46, the political system insuring the Christians will always have an edge in parliament never did change. No census where taken for over 60 years. A new population census will open the door to a new civil war.

The creation of Israel and the exiles of over 300,000 Palestinians to Lebanon, most of who were Muslims did create a big challenge for Lebanon and for the political establishment. It is interesting that the Lebanese government though very reluctant in fact adamant about granting nationality to any one, out of fear for upsetting the sectarian and confessional balance did granted many “Christians” Palestinians nationality while refusing to grant nationality to Muslims lest upsetting the delicate balance.

The recent and tragic events at Nahr Al-Barid are a big reminder of the very uneasy situation of many of the Palestinians living in Lebanon. Fatah Al-Islam not only destroyed the entire camp housing some 30,000 Palestinian refugees, it opened again a “Pandora Box” that is called the presence of Palestinians in Lebanon.

Nowhere else in the world, not in Jordan, not in Syria, not in Egypt where Palestinians simply disfranchised from the very basic rights as they are in Lebanon. The Palestinians are “forbidden” by law from engaging in business, from forming organizations, from joining unions, from medical health and coverage, from social insurance, from education, from joining the labor force, from adding a small room to their homes in refugee camps. Palestinians are forbidden from some 40 different rights and professions. This is part of the price the Palestinians have to pay making sure that they will never ever have permanent residency in Lebanon and making sure they never upset the confessional system in Lebanon.

Many if not all of the Lebanese politicians while ignoring the very cancer that is destroying the country “confessionalism” all make the “tawteen” or permanent residency for Palestinians the issue on the table and the source of ills in the country.

When Arafat was in Beirut and his boys were enjoying the very best Beirut could offer, wine, women and the good life and while he and his boys were living like hogs in Lebanon, he never looked back at those residing under Israeli occupation. When he was exiled to Tunis and later when Israel allowed him and granted him limited rights of residence in Ramallah, he never looked back at those left behind in Lebanon.

The PLO throughout its miserable and failed history never did devise a workable plan and never have in place a policy to help and support Palestinians refugees all over the Middle East. The PLO while collecting tens of billions of dollars never tried to help the Palestinians with some kind of infrastructure within the refugee camps that if nothing else can help alleviate the daily suffering and humiliation and total reliance on UNRWA. The PLO with its tens of billions of dollars in its coffer and treasury decided to distribute the people’s money among its officers and cadres and investing in industries that were nothing but a big fraud and a vehicle to steal and rob and fleece the organization while the very people this organization was to represent were left to the total care of UNRWA. Arafat and the PLO simply did nothing for the Palestinian refugees anywhere. In fact he and his policies always contributed to the killing and murder of Palestinian and the source of their misery.

The PLO with its tens of billions of dollars did not bother to build schools or hospitals or social infrastructures for those it supposed to represent, but chose to steal and rob the people with billions ending up in the pockets of its officers and officials.

The tragic situation in Lebanon is nothing but a tragedy, crime and a conspiracy with the Arab League, Lebanon, the PLO, Israel all conspired and joined forces making sure the Palestinians in Lebanon never see a nice and decent day. The Palestinian in Lebanon are living in hell on earth in Lebanon and with a life that for sure will lead to another civil war unless the Lebanese government gather the courage and address the grievances of the Palestinians in Lebanon. Mahmoud Abbas and Ahamed Qurai and the PLO should be the last people and the last organization to have a right to speak out for and on behalf of the Palestinians in Lebanon. In fact they all should be brought to trial for their crimes.

The Gates of Heaven are Closed Until Further Notice !

I read with much surprise generating lots of contempt for the family of Shaker Al-Abbsy, the Palestinian terrorist who was killed few days ago by the Lebanese Army at the Nahr Al-Bared Refugee Camp.

What generated my contempt for the family and the deceased is the news the family is treating her terrorist son as “martyr” making the decision for the All Mighty Allah, the deity that can make such a decision.

Shaker Al-Abbsy, the terrorist who terrorized and exiled over 30,000 Palestinian refugees is deemed by his family and many of the “salafi” crowd as “martyr”.

These days, every Mohamed, Iqbal, or Mushtaq that commits terrorist crimes and kills innocent people is deemed “martyr” by the family, friends and all of the lunatics that form the “salafi” circles. Of course they can only refer to the killer and murderer as “martyr” yet they are totally silent about the scores of totally innocent people they kill. If the killer is a “martyr” what does it make those people he killed “collateral damage” or “kuffar”?

Whether it is Gaza, Egypt, Iraq or Pakistan (oh there are a whole lots of those ready made “martyrs”, Afghanistan, Turkey , Philippines and even Thailand, not to mention Morocco, Algeria among other countries where criminals and mentally deranged misfits calling themselves “jihadist” are ready to kill themselves and many, hundreds if not thousand others on their way to becoming “martyr”. ( Oh there are a whole lots of those ready made “martyrs” who are ready to kill in Iraq and Pakistan.

Perhaps my understanding of Islam is different, perhaps the Allah that I worship and pray to 5 times a day is different, and perhaps the Holy Quran that I read on regular basis is different since I do not believe that the gates of heaven are open to murderers and killers even they happened to be “muslim” with a small “m”. From what I know of the Allah that I love and worship to the Holy Quran that is my true guide and the only guide I do not believe “walelmu enda Allah” that these killers and murderers are “martyrs”.

How can any one believe, that someone like Al-Zarqawi or Shaker Al-Abbsy who committed hundreds if not thousands of murders are “martyrs”. There is something fundamentally wrong with those who believe these criminals and murderers are “martyrs”. How can any one responsible for the destruction of an entire town, a refugee camps for the 30, 000 who have no place to go, and who is responsible for their exile and again flights and destructions of their homes, properties and family units can be a “martyr”.?

Of course there are a whole lots of questions the Lebanese government have to answer not only to the 200 members of the Lebanese Army who died in the fighting, but to the 30,000 who had to leave every thing and lose every thing to Shaker Al-Abbsy and his “Fatah Al-Islam”. The Lebanese government have to answer how these terrorist where allowed into the country? How these terrorists where allowed to bring with them the heavy weapons they had? How these terrorists where able to have such a substantial financial support to allow them to do what they did.? Someone, somewhere in Lebanon have lots of money and with some connections that allowed these terrorists in? How the Lebanese government can calls itself a sovereign government if it could not protect and have control over its borders? Someone in Beirut must have all the answers to these questions.

Equally troublesome is the way these terrorists came into the camp and were allowed into it together with their families. From what I know in Lebanon almost if not all of the camps are out of the jurisdiction of the Lebanese government and are under the control of Fatah or the PLO. These refugee camps under the control of Palestinian militias” that belong to Fatah and no one can enter or leave the camps without some kind of control.

The question is how did these terrorists come into the camp and who gave them the permission? Also from what I know is that such major issues or events such as allowing a bunch of terrorists to come in to the camps with their weapons received some kind of green line from someone in Beirut?

Perhaps this is a very expensive and costly lesson for the Palestinians to never allow bunch of terrorists to come and take them hostage and of course to hold those Palestinian leaders of the camps responsible. Also this may be a good time as any to bring all Palestinian camps under the control and jurisdiction of the Lebanese government.

However and given the history of the Lebanese government and its total lack of effective government and the fact that many leaders are war criminals, some of whom responsible for the cold blooded murder of tens of thousands of Palestinians there must be some kind of international guarantees, that will prevent the repeat of Sabra and Shatilla and will prevent the repeat of the US not living to its promise to protect those left behind as was the case in 1982.

Yes, we can only ask the All Mighty Allah to close the Gates of Heaven in the face of killers and murderers who commits such horrible crimes in the name of Islam. Jordan should never allow his body to spoil the earth. The man’s body should be left to the vultures.

Time to Take Charge, Before it is Too Late !

If the past as an indication of the future, then George Bush’s call for an international peace conference will totally fail. It will fail because the key and main sponsor; the US, is partner in the occupation and a party to the conflict. As such with a policy that has consistently and materially supported the continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, the US is hardly a partial party that can move forward toward peace.

More troublesome for the US and the Palestinians is the fact that the issue of the continued and illegal Israeli military occupation is not an international issue but a key domestic issue. With the majority of the members of congress dependant on elections funding from powerful Israel and Jewish lobbies that makes peace almost impossible. Peace for Israel will mean an end to the powerful Jewish lobby and it means drying up of funding sources for large numbers of politicians that overstep and compete with each other in support of Israel and its continued occupation. Of course we need not forget the many active Christian Zionists who sees Israel continued occupation as a way for their salvation and their entry to the Kingdom of Heaven.

The US support for an aggressive and militaristic Israel preceded the 67 War. The US was very supportive of Israel’s pre-emptive strike and for over 40 years made sure through international diplomacy, military and financial support that the occupation including active financial and legal support for an expanding illegal settlements that saw almost half of the West Bank disappear to aggressive Jewish settlements. With facts like these it is very difficult to accept the US genuine desire to end the conflict and promote a peaceful settlement between Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab states. The US preferred choice is for normalization of relationship with Israel while keeping the status quo. In other word Peace For Peace.

On the other side, and if the past is an indication of the future, then the same leadership that have managed the Palestinian (failed liberation) for the past 40 years and who negotiated Oslo, Hebron and the Gaza access then the Palestinians under occupation and the millions in exiles are in very deep trouble indeed.

The present Palestinian leadership that negotiated Oslo is simply unfit, incompetent and unqualified and has no legitimacy to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians. It is true that Mahmoud Abbas was elected president by those under occupation, but then under the PA Basic Laws, the president rule together with an elected legislative council, again, representing those under occupation. Since the Palestinian Legislative Council is defunct and non –operational then the president lacks the legitimacy to negotiate anything other than what he incompetently negotiated under Oslo. A government that is a security contractor for the continued Israeli occupation in exchange for money.

With the majority of Palestinians living in exiles, no one voted for Mahmoud Abbas, and no one voted for Fatah and no one voted for Hamas. Certainly no one voted for the PLO. The PLO is a self-perpetuating organization that never gained its legitimacy from the Palestinian people in direct vote or through elected representatives. Even if the PLO leadership try to claim legitimacy of representations, the majority of members of the Palestine National Council are dead, or incapacitated, certainly never elected by any one and should be impeached for failure to represent the people’s interest, not to mention the fact they did not meet for decades. They are representative in name only and only when it comes to collecting the paycheck.

With that kind of failed and non-existing institutions, the PLO is run for the most part by a have been, a group of parasites who have made the cause a career and a very lucrative source of income for themselves and their families. They succeeded in milking the cause to the last drop. Of course no one dare mention the tens of billions stolen by the late Yasser Arafat and his cronies and circle of families and friends. There was never an accounting of the many failures of the PLO and PA leadership.

Before it is too late and before the same team that negotiated Oslo negotiate legitimized and permanent Israeli Occupation, there is an urgent need for the Palestinians in the Diaspora to get together and organize, making sure the guys in Ramallah do not give away their rights permanently and legitimatize the Israeli occupation in exchange for lucrative security contract with Israel. Not to mention giving away the rights of the exiles.

Yes, the majority of Palestinians are for a genuine peace with Israel that takes into account their forced exiles and deprivations of their rights and properties not to mention the endless human suffering for the last 60 years. One thing for sure, the present Palestinian leadership is simply unqualified, incompetent and too corrupt and lacks any legitimacy to negotiate for those in exiles, and those under occupation. Time for the people to rally around the Palestine Agency the organization that will have a seat at the table. Time to take charge before it is too late.

Yes, the Iraqis, leadership and people lost their sense of humanity!

I have to agree with the Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Malki when he got upset and chided members of congress especially Senator Hillary Clinton when they spoke of Iraq as ‘domain” or farm that belongs to the US. That is not new. Too many US lawmakers, those in the administration and in “think tanks” do think of the world as a “domain” a farm, a hacienda, and a ranch.

However Mr. Al-Malki’s tenure as leader in Iraq has not been very promising with the death toll approaching record high and with his government paralyzed by self-inflicting wounds from sectarian violence. Never did I ever expect to see Iraq so deep in hate and self hate like I see it now.

While the visit of French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner may signal an opening to Iraq, his assessments is not far from the truth. Not so sure of what I read in the press in statements attributed to Mr. Kouchner when he said that Iraqis have been dying in the thousands for hundreds if not thousands of years, and that Iraqis are used to killing each other throughout history.

This story if true reminds me of a documentary I saw long time ago about the Vietnam War, when General William Westmoreland was our troop commander in Vietnam. As I recall from the interview, General Westmoreland said that the Vietnamese do not value human life and they can die by the thousands and no one care. Of course at the time, the US military just first introduced the “body count” where on the evening news the commanders from Vietnam announces the number of Viet Cong dead. Of course the daily numbers where in the hundreds if not the thousands. As we know, the US in Vietnam for the wrong reasons, like in Iraq has to scramble out and run with Embassy staff and Vietnamese allies dying to catch the last chopper out of Saigon.

Of course as a member of the US Army at the time, I was offended by the words of General Westmoreland when he implied that the Vietnamese do not value human lives. However this time, I did not feel offended by the attributed statement of Bernard Kouchner about the Iraqis used to dying by the thousands and no one care.

One has to ask the question, why so many dead, now and when Saddam ruled Iraq? One has to wonder what is wrong with the Iraqis, Sunnis and Muslims? Why do the leadership accept that so many die on a daily basis? It is simply sickening and it indicates physiological and mental misfits among Iraqi leaders for failing to stop the mayhem and sectarian killings. There is something wrong not only with the leadership but with the very people and persons who carry out the daily killings of so many innocent people. It is so difficult to understand let alone accept that such things can take place in Iraq, among people who call themselves Muslims. What an insult to Islam and Muslims?

How can any one accept that suicide bombers on a daily basis kill 50, or 100 or 200 or 400 hundred innocent people? Or that 40 or 75 Iraqis found with their throats slashed and heads cut? Or that 40 students found dead with bullet wounds to the back of the head? Yes there is something fundamentally wrong with the Iraqis, all of the Iraqis. Somehow they have lost their sense of humanity and they have lost it not now but long time ago. They were silent when Saddam killed hundreds of thousands of Kurds. And they were silent when Saddam killed hundreds of thousands of Shiites and were silent when Saddam and his Ba’athist party killed so many people.

The surprising thing was the absence of so many of the Sunnis and Shiites organizations that are the source of and the promoters of the mayhem and sectarian killings now. All where silent when Saddam was killing the “others” by the thousands and hundreds of thousands and now they are silent when the “others” are killed on a daily basis.

Yes, the Iraqi leadership both Sunnis and Shiites is a disgrace to the human race and are a disgrace to Muslims and to Arabs. The leadership and the people have no sense of shame and have no sense of humanity. Never in my life did I expect to admit that, yes, there are people or nations that do not give a damn about human lives, that are willing to accept such large deaths of their own citizens as normal. One has to see the Iraqi leadership on television and press conferences talking as is thousands are not dying because of their failures every day. What a shame?

Did David Walsh Prompts Mahmoud Abbas to Shoots and Kills his own People to Prove he in Charge?

It is hard to believe that a senior officer of the US State Department tells Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority to shoot and kill his own people and tells him the more he kills the better to show he is in charge. How true?

On a lazy Sunday afternoon in Tangier, I sat down and was reading the print version of Al-Quds Alarabi, the Arabic paper published in London ( not sure who provide financial support for the paper and its publisher since there are no advertising). In any case, Al-Quds as a rule devote almost one full page to the Hebrew/Israeli press on a daily basis, which I think is a great idea, to give Arab readers the chance to see what is in the Israel press. I do read Haaretz on a daily basis but not Maariv.

The article written by Tal Schneider of Maariv (28/08/2007) states how the US policies in the Middle East contributed to the many failures and the escalating violence. The article by Ms. Schneider quotes on of the senior writers of the Washington Post who travels frequently with Secretary Condoleezza Rice. Glenn Kessler is writing a book due in September titled "Confident; The Condoleezza Rice and the Creation of the Bush Legacy".

In the Schneider article, and quoting from Kessler book, the US expressing so much exasperation with the weak leadership of Mohmoud Abbas and shortly after alleged assassination plot against Abbas, quotes David Walsh , The Assistant Secretary, telling Mahmoud Abbas roughly the following, my own translation from Arabic to English " One time when the Palestinians tried to assassinate Abu-Mazen, David Walsh, head of the Middle East at the State Department contacted him ( Abu-Mazen) and asked him to make immediate move to prove to the Palestinians his leadership and your task is to open fire at them, and the more killed, the better, let all of them go to hell".

The phone call and the demand from David Walsh to Mahmoud Abbas to fire at and kill Palestinians if true is a serious offense by a senior official at the State Department, perhaps in violations of the US laws advocating murder, and of course an insult to Mahmoud Abbas as the Palestinian Authority President. And its shows that Mahmoud Abbas, no matter what he tried to do get his instructions from Washington, and of course if instructions come from Washington, for sure they were coming from Tel-Aviv.

I am surprise that none of the Arab or the US media picked up this and raised question about a senior US officer telling a foreign leader to shoot and kill his own people and the more the better and" they all can go to hell".

Perhaps an investigation into this claim is warranted when a US senior official who supposedly engaged in peace discussions advocate and order one of the parties to open fire on his own people. One can understand if the instructions is coming from the US to Israel to open fire and kill Palestinians, but for the instructions to come from Washington to Mahmoud Abbas to open fire on his own people and the more he kills the better is a serious issue. Now one can understand why the US is funding and arming Mahmoud Abbas own militias. An explanation is needed from both the US and from Mahmoud Abbas and his team in Ramallah. Perhaps now we know why the US was so keen on giving Abbas $80 millions to arm and train his own militia?

Greedy and Crooked American Businessmen Recite Pledge of Allegiance on their Way to Rob and Fleece the US Treasury.

While reading the online addition of today’s Washington Post, an article written by the Post staff writer Renae Merle caught my eye. The headlines read “ Defense Contractor Was Paid $1 Million to Ship 2 Washers”. Reading further, I was able to find that the South Carolina defense contractor (no doubt a blue blooded Republican) C &D Distributors was paid, and get this, the government paid 112 fraudulently invoices worth some $20 millions to this crooked contractor.

The article and I quote” among the invoices was 2004 order for a single $ 8.75 elbow pipe was shipped for $445,640, according to documents. Also last year, a $10.99 machine thread plug was shipped for $492,096. Last year, six machine screws worth a total of $ 59.94 were shipped at a cost of $ 403,436”.

The story took me back to last year when I was surfing the net and looked up audits of contracts awarded by the Republican run Department of Defense. And to my surprise I read with much astonishment how the government, a Republican lead government awarded a defense contractor with close relations to non other than our Mr. Cheney the sum of $ 26.5 millions to deliver $ 87,000 worth of jet fuel.

Reading further, I was able to read that DOD paid defense contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root almost all of the $221 millions, though the Defense Contract Audit Agency questioned these payments. It is also interesting to note that our Republican lead government awarded KBR more than $2.5 Billions of contracts despite lack of documentations.

It seems this Republican administration and its cronies in Congress like to steal from the poor and give to the rich by awarding companies run by crooks hundreds of millions of dollars of contract some without the benefits of open biddings. KBR was awarded get this, $22.5 Billions of US Military contracts on non-competitive basis. Something must be wrong with this Republican administration. How could any one vote Republican?

Congressman Waxman announced in a report delivered to Congress that 19 Katrina contracts worth a collective sum of $ 8.75 Billions “ experienced significant overcharges, wasteful spending and mismanagement”.

Acting Inspector General of Homeland Security, Richard Skinner testifies before Congress in May 2005 and admits that fraud in contacts awarded to contractors for the Katrina recovery could top $2 Billions. I also read of a bankrupt NC company whose owner was forced to declare bankruptcy because of fraud and cheating was awarded a contract worth over $250 millions for Katrina of course without bidding.

It seems the Cheney-Bush administrations not only encourage but nurture fraud and crooked business and does not mind when their Republican business friends raid the treasury robbing and stealing the public, and of course as long as they support George Bush war on terror and by his lines we are winning the war.

Never in the history of the US has been an administration with so many greedy and crooked businessmen as friends and financial contributors. Of course most if not all are blue-blooded Republicans who sing the national anthem every morning and who pledge the allegiance to the flag on their way to rob and fleece our national treasury.

Perhaps it is time to bring criminal and civil charges against the PLO, USA, Syria and the Lebanese Forces for the massacres in Lebanon

As was expected, the Palestinian leadership sitting in Ramallah and around the world did not make a mention of or remembers the massacre of some 5,000 Palestinians civilians massacred in Tel-Zaatar on August 12, 1976. A massacre committed by the Lebanese Maronite militia, the Phalanges, Etien Saqr (Guardian of the Cedar) a coalition backed and actively supported by non other than Hafiz Al-Assad and his Ba’athist Party.

The fall of Tel-Zaatar came about after more than 100 days of siege laid by the Maronite militias and of course with very active support from the Syrian Army. More than 1,500 civilians were killed during one day. The Syrian regime set the stage for what to come later in Sabra and Shatilla this time, it is the Israelis who provided the active support and participation in the massacre that took place during 15-18 September 1982.

The sad thing about it, the fact very few people within the illustrious PLO and Fatah ever talk about Tal-Zaatar and the active Syrian role in such massacre and as expected Hamas leadership, would never dare mention Tel-Zaatar lest it anger its sponsors sitting in Damascus. As Arafat and his PLO left Beirut, and to save their behinds, never looked back at the hundreds of thousands left behind, let alone the thousands massacred under written guarantees from the US government.

While the massacre at Tel-Zaatar was a Syrian sponsored enterprise, the massacre at Sabra and Shatilla where some 3,000 were massacred was an Israeli sponsored enterprise.

According to news report, the planning for such a massacre took place at noon on Thursday, September 16, at the Israeli Command Post between Israeli Major General Amir Drori (later awarded a scholarship from Harvard toward his PhD) the commander of North Command, Fady Frem, the Lebanese Forces Chief of Staff, Elias Hobieka, the Lebanese Forces Intelligence Chief (later elected as member of the Lebanese Parliament and in 1990 was appointed by Syria as a minister and member of the Lebanese cabinet).

The day before, on September 15th the Israeli Occupation Forces secured the camps of Sabra and Shatilla to facilitate the massacre by sealing and controlling the entrances and exists to the camps and providing transportation to the would be killers and murderers. Not only that but the Israeli Occupation Forces making sure the massacre continue on during all hours provided night flares to facilitate the continued killings.

For 3 days the Lebanese Christian Forces had a field day, using guns, knives and hatchets slitting throats, axing bodies, shooting and raping, while the Israeli Occupation Forces was monitoring all the communication among the killers and making sure the massacre was in full view of members of its forces. The report of the massacre was sent to Tel-Aviv and was seen by at least 20 senior staff member. Not only that but the Israeli Chief Staff aware of what was going on, concluded the “operation” should continue.

The news of the massacre and the active support of the Israeli Occupation Forces shocked the Israeli and on September 26, more than 400,000 Israelis demonstrated in Tel-Aviv holding the largest ever demonstration to take place in Tel-Aviv.

To control the damage done to the reputation of its army, the Israeli cabinet on September 28th established a Commission of Inquiry headed by Supreme Court Justice Yitzhak Kahan.

The Commission finding concluded that the Israeli Army bears indirect responsibility while the well known war criminal Ariel Sharon “bears personal responsibility” and recommended the dismissal of the Director of Military Intelligence Yehoshua Saguy, the demotion of the Division Commander Amos Yaron for at least 3 years.

As it happens, Israel voters and with strong support from the US Jewish community, Ariel Sharon, the well known war criminal was awarded for his role in Sabra and Shatilla and was voted in as prime minister adding to the list of terrorists and war criminals who became prime ministers in Israel. Some Israeli and Jewish apologist went further by calling those who complained about Israel’s role in the massacre as “blood libel” and the Princeton historian Bernard Lewis complained the world media gave too much attention to the massacre and making too much fuss over such a killing. It seems that more than 400,000 Israeli Jews did not agree with the views of the Princeton professor. Surprisingly I did not come across statement made by Allan Dershowitz the Harvard professor.

While Israel at least took the measure to form a Commission of Inquiry and did make a serious attempt at investigating the massacre, while making sure that Israel is not held directly liable for such massacre, not Syria, not Lebanon and certainly not the PLO ever organized a similar commission of inquiry and of course for obvious reasons. All do not have the courage or the backbone to take such a step. In fact Syria awarded the number one killer, the commander of the Christian Forces with the position of a minister, while the Lebanese awarded such a killer and a murderer a seat in parliament.

It is so outrageous and so shameful of Arabs and Muslims that none of the massacres committed within the Arab and Muslim world ever earned the right of an investigation. The massacre of over 25,000 Syrian in Hama did not even earn a mention in the Arab media. The massacre of tens of thousands of Kurds by Saddam Hussein did not earn a mention in the Arab press; the killing of tens of thousands of Iraqi Shiite by Saddam and his Ba’athist Party did not earn a mention in Arab media. The killing and murder of over 400,000 in Darfur was totally ignored by the Arab press until such time the world media took up the case and exposed such genocide. Not to mention the more than 2 million killed in South Sudan, and the hundreds of thousands killed by the Talibans, all where totally ignored by the Arab press and as expected by Arab and Muslim governments

More troublesome is the total silence of the Palestinian leadership from the late Yaser Arafat to the present Mahmoud Abbas who until today never bothered to form an inquiry into both massacres. Even Palestinians NGO’s never bothered to organize and independent investigations, perhaps fearing they may lose some funding from the US or the European countries.

Surprisingly, the UN General Assembly on December 16, 1982 declared the massacre at Sabra and Shatilla as an act of genocide. As expected All Western Democracies used to committing such massacres abstained.

The US and as expected when it comes to Israel could never honor any of its commitments, even written ones, such as the one it gave in writing to non other than Yaser Arafat. The US guarantee Israel will not enter West Beirut and make sure that no harms will come to Muslim habitants. We know the value of such written commitment, and the fact remains when it comes to Israel; the US has no sense of honor toward its own citizens and sailors let alone toward others like the Palestinians. One has only to remember that the US gave on a quick base over one million cluster bomb so that Israel can drop them over innocent civilians in Lebanon. Perhaps it is time to bring charges against the PLO, Lebanese Phalange,the US, Israel and Syria for liability in the case of the massacre of Sabra and Shatilla.

There is nothing wrong if millions where to convert away from Islam.

Couple of weeks ago, I read in the Arab press the story of the young Egyptian couple that converted from Islam to Christianity few years and hid this fact from family and friend and government, afraid of retribution.

I also read couple of days ago in the Arab press a story of a family with couple of children, again Egyptian, who converted to Christianity and wanted to have their children registered by the Coptic Church as Christian and the Coptic Church refused.

Of course and it seem more stories coming out of Egypt. We all recall the riots with several dead that broke out in Egypt between Muslims and Coptic Christian when the wife of a Coptic priest converted to Islam and literally all hell broke lose in Egypt.

Surprisingly and with much pleasure I read in the Asharq Alwsat “ Book Forum” Issue 10452 dated Wednesday 11/07/2007 a review of a book titled “ No Use of Force in Religion” in Arabic “ La Ikraha fe Deen” which means that people are free to join or leave Islam as they wish and at will. The book is authored by an Iraqi scholar, Dr. Taha Jabir Al-Alwani who I happened to know and listen to many of his lectures at Al-Hewar Center in Vienna, VA.

Dr. Taha is not only an Islamic scholar, but also a very bright and enlightened one at that, though he is a graduate of Al-Azhar University. The book review summaries Dr. Taha scholarly views that in Islam there is no verse in the Holy Quran that calls for a worldly punishment of those who convert away from Islam and that their punishment is in the hereinafter and not by man or state but by Allah. In fact Dr. Taha reference some 400 verses in the Holy Quran that emphasis the rights of free will to chose Islam does not allow for punishment for convert and that historically punishment has been more political rather than for religious reasons.

The book review mention a story in Iraq, where executions where on large scales many years back and not only today, where a Ba’athist revolutionary courts ordered the execution of over 5,000 Iraqi Communists and of course the reason was “redda” or convert away from Islam. It is interesting that the Ba’athist courts sought a “fatwa” from both Shiite and Sunni Clerics, and as expected in Iraq both gave the right fatwa to go ahead with the execution. Sound like today where Muslim clerics give the order for large-scale murder and execution by suicide bombers.

The execution mission was referred to General Alrawi who also happens to be a friend of Dr. Taha and was not so convinced of such a wholesale execution. General Alrawi raised the issue with Dr. Taha who explained that such an order based on “Redda” was political and not religious and as such it is not valid in Islam. The execution was cancelled.

Dr. Taha goes on to explain that most if not all cases of executions that are based on “Redda” or converting away from Islam were political and has nothing to do with religion and has no legal basis within the Holy Quran. Dr. Taha explain further that the “Redda” Wars in the early days of Islam and soon after the death of the Prophet Mohamed (s) where political and not religious in nature.

With that, one has to wonder why the big issue and why the big fuss over someone in Afghanistan or Pakistan or any one for that matter in Egypt or Iran if they want to convert away from Islam and become Christian or Jews. I see nothing wrong with it. In fact Islam can stand to lose not only dozen but millions and it will be much better off if the likes of Talibans or millions of radical Muslims in Pakistan or the Al-Qaeda where to convert away from Islam.

While our nation infastructure falls apart

On August 2, 2007 a major bridge on the Mississippi River collapsed near Minneapolis, killing scores of people and disrupting major interstate highway. The collapsed bridge is but one of the many major bridges that collapsed in the US in the last few years.

Added to the Minneapolis bridge are East Chicago Bridge that collapsed in 1982, the Sunshine Skyway in 1980, Minnis River Bridge in 1983, Silver Bridge connecting West Virginia and Ohio in 1967, Webber Falls bridge spanning the Arkansas River in 2002, a bridge, part of the New York Thruway collapsed near the city of Amsterdam, NY, of course not to mention the levee breakdown in the City of New Orleans destroying the entire city and causing hundreds of thousands to flee the city.

According to Ron Schera of the Christian Science Monitor at least one fourth of the 577,000 bridges nationwide are deemed deficient. Such conclusion fits very well with the conclusion of the American Society of Civil Engineers, which gave the nation bridges a D mark, with some 160,000 bridges rated deficient or obsolete. Yet George Bush cuts $90 billions from the nation highway budget and yet finds enough money to fund the War on Iraq and give Israel $ 30 billions in weapons and billions of additional dollars to build its infrastructure.

While our nation infrastructure is falling apart from Manhattan to San Francisco, we as a nation find $500 billions to fund the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and of course find hundred of billions of dollars to spend on a nationwide industry called homeland security and terrorism. Of course money given to consulting firms and terrorist experts to tell us that we are in grave danger from the Talibans and Al-Qaeda. Yet we do not have enough money to reinvest in our century old infrastructure.

One only need to look at New York City with its collapsing infrastructure as we seen last week when a 100 year old steam pipe exploded causing a large sinkhole enough to take with it several trucks and cars.

Not only our bridges are falling apart, but the nation rails system, the nation schools and parks. Every thing is falling apart and our illustrious leaders in Washington do not give a damn about this nation and its infrastructure, yet find hundreds of billions to waste on a war that was designed in the first place to protect Israel and has nothing to do with our nation security or insecurity.

One has to question the value and the benefits of hundreds of billions spent on fighting terrorism within the United States and see if our nation and our people are more secure or less secure or see if we are getting tangible benefits from the billions given away to consulting firms and terrorism expert.

One has to see the kind of garbage these national security and terror expert firms sells our Department of Homeland Security. Someone was able to sell the government on the idea of spending several million dollars on a mobile “sniffing units” deployed in neighborhood with Muslims and Arabs to see if the smell or the steam of cooking Koskos, Mansaf, Shaworma or Tagin are a danger to our national security.

Turkish voters can teach the Arabs few things about democracy, secularism and "Islamic Parties".

The sweeping victory of Recep Tayyib Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party in Turkey’s most challenging and crucial parliamentary election is a testimony for the wise and visionary leadership of Erdogan as he challenges the military establishment and the parties that ruled Turkey for most of its recent history. Turkey’s democracy came out much stronger because of this election and because of Erdogan and Gul.

Tayyib Erdogan and Abdullah Gul won a clear vote of confidence from the people of Turkey as a reward for the stability, economic growth, reform and the corruption free government that has characterized the tenure of the Justice and Development Party.

Perhaps the people wanted to redefine and refine the idea of a “Turkish Secular State” that respect and recognize the role of religion plays in the people’s life but not necessarily as the source of its laws. As such Tayyib Erdogan did not win on a platform of “ Islam is the Solution” as is the case in many of the Arab Muslim countries where “Islamist” parties always advance the much often used and misused slogan. Of course many of the “Islamist” parties always failed to explain how Islam will solve the problems of unemployment and poverty, solve corruptions and incompetence of the government, solve the problem of education and economic growth and of course solve the Arab-Israeli conflict. They simply say, “Islam is the Solution”. Of course and so far, these “Islamists” parties failed at every thing and showed that Islam is not the Solution.

The Turkish vote confirm Turkish voters are much more mature and sophisticated than their counterpart in the Arab world. Of course in the Turkish election, Erdogan did not win a 99.9 % of the vote and his party did not win a referendum but won in a very tough fight. Secularist Parties such as The Republican People Party that ruled Turkey for most of its recent history failed to convince, or better said, intimidate the voters that Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party was about to change the “secular” nature of the state as defined by Kamal Attaturk. Its politics of fear failed.

The problem with secular Turkey is that it rejects outright any value system that is based in religion and goes much father than any western secular state by denying entry to public place such a university,public office, or eveb a hospital ( can you imagine that)to any women who chose to wear the hijab or the Islamic scarf. Some generals went as far as threatening they would not enter the presidential office if the wife of Abdullah Gul were inside since she wears the hijab. Perhaps the US and not France can teach the Turks something about secularism and respect for religion.

For most if not all-secular Turk there is confusion as to what secularism is all about. Their secularism is far from democracy and it exclude and disfranchised from full citizenship all those who chose to express their religious believes and values by wearing the hijab. Secular Turk simply denies such rights to majority of its citizens.

Tayyib Erdogan affirmed his commitments to a reformed secular turkey with the need to address the Kurdish minority as full citizens of the state and recognizing their culture and language. Erdogan needs to address these issues heads on. There is nothing wrong with women wearing the scarf and entering public and government buildings; there is nothing wrong with Kurds speaking their language. Tayyib Erdogan can be the next Attaturk who again carry on with refining and redefining secular Turkey with due respect to its diverse population, and respect the people’s expression of their faith. Within secular Turkey there must be room for such different value system, without being against the nature of the state as a “secular” state.

This is the first time in recent history where a sitting party brought stability and economic growth. The Turkish military always thought of themselves as the guardian of the people’s interest and secular democracy when in fact they ran the country as a military dictatorship with elected civilians as ‘managers”.

For the most part, secular parties such as the Republican People Party were too nationalistic for their own good similar to Germany’s national socialist party. The late Bulent Ecevit was a close to a nationalist dictator as they can come by, jailing so many leftists and in fact with the support of the army ran an absolute dictatorship.

Perhaps this is the golden era of Turkey and the people of Turkey should be very proud of their nation and of their maturity as citizens. They for sure can teach the Arabs few things about democracy, about secularisms and of course about Islamic oriented parties.

Where did Hamas go wrong!

Hamas as a Palestinians organization is not known for taking smart and strategic decision with long lasting impact on its programs, or agenda.

No one can ever deny Hamas the right to carry arms and fight the occupying Israel army and fight such an army to gain freedom and independence. The right to resist and fight an occupying army is an absolute right not even Israel or the US could ever deny that to Hamas or to any other group fighting the occupation. The French, the Dutch, the Finns, the Hungarians, the Greeks, the Americans, and I will even go further by including the Jewish militias that fought the British Mandate authority as an occupying power. The fact that the occupying army or the country is Israel or Jewish should not make much difference. The right to resist and fight the occupation using weapons and arms is an absolute right. Killing civilians is an absolute wrong period, no if or but.

Hamas and other Palestinian organizations did make a big mistake and crossed the redline between fighting an occupying army and engaging in crimes against civilians and the use of suicide bombing to kill innocent civilians, even if these civilians happens to be Israelis, Jewish or unarmed settlers. In my opinion, armed settlers are included in the category of an occupying army and as such the rights to fight such settlers is covered under international laws and treaties.

I always warned and spoke out against the deliberate targeting and killings of innocent civilians and the use of suicide bombing to kill and maim Israelis. I always spoke out against the use of suicide bombing as a weapon of choice to fight the Israeli Occupation. Killing and maiming innocent people riding a public bus or eating in a restaurant or having a coffee in a café is absolutely wrong, legally, morally and religiously is simply wrong. There is never, ever any justification to using terror as a means of fighting the occupation. Yes, I do know that Jewish militias and gangs engaged actively in terror and that some Israeli prime ministers are well known terrorists, yet this does not justify the Palestinians engaging in terror activities. Hamas was not well advised when it engaged in this activities leading to its classifications as a terrorist organization.

The other thing wrong Hamas committed was its decision to enter Palestinian politics under Oslo thinking it can rewrite the rules of engagement and rewriting the agreements of Fatah and the PLO. Hamas once made the decision to enter local Palestinians politics and run for the Palestine Legislative Council should have transformed itself from a resistance organization to a political organization. It seems that Hamas forgot to read one key provision of Oslo that Arafat signed. Forget about armed resistance and renounce the use of weapons and terror to gain more freedoms under occupation. Fighting the Israeli occupying army is simply wrong under Oslo. Arafat gave that up.

Hamas simply failed to understand key provisions of Oslo and failed to understand the dynamics that makes up the Palestinian Authority. Hamas should have known better and should have accepted the rules of the game and should have anticipated that the world will ask it to recognize Israel. Hamas was not ready for prime time and its leaders are immature to be in the same game with Israel. It takes lots of smart to outsmart Israel.

Hamas handling of the recognition issue was very immature and came little too late. Addressing the issue of recognition and armed resistance should have been the first thing that Hamas should have tackled. And should have tackled the issue of its labeling as terrorist organization by George Bush and Israel heads on. It did not.

Then came the formation of the government. Hamas should have known better that Fatah having lost the election remains under legal obligation to deliver under its security contract with Israel and was not about to let go of control over all security organizations. Control of these security organizations was a must if Fatah is to continue to receive payments under Oslo. They failed to understand this issue when they should have known that control over the security organization was what led Abbas to quit as prime minister when Arafat refused to let go of the security organizations, of course for different and obvious reasons.

Hamas did not use the people discontent and disgust with Palestinian security organizations such as the infamous Preventive Security Organization, and organization that is made up of thugs and is used as a racketeering organization. Hamas did not make a good public case for its reasons to take over security organizations, making the fight with Fatah over security organization as a fight over employment and payroll and not over public interest. I am sure that the people in both Gaza and the West Bank would have supported Hamas take over security organizations if Hamas did not behave the same way as Fatah. Saeed Syiam was not different from Mohamed Dahlan and Syiam wanted to take over the Preventive Security to perhaps get even with Dahlan and not in the interest of public order. Hamas did a very poor job of managing the conflict with Fatah over the security organizations, which are the core of Oslo. All the rest is of no value.

Hamas compounded its problems having failed to make an advance case with the public about the abuses and misuses of Preventive Security as a the main source of breakdown of law and order and complete sense of insecurity in Gaza and should have waged a good PR campaign before its misfits and thugs sweep in taking over the security organizations. Fatah exploited this making Hamas take over of the security organizations as a Coup d’etat and a take over Fatah shops is a take over of the PA institutions, making no distinction between shops of the PA and shops of Fatah and public institutions.

Hamas committed the ultimate mistakes when it killed and murdered members of Fatah, even if they were thugs in such callous manners without due regard for common decency and due regard to basic Islamic principals. It seems the criminal minds of Hamas won the day but lost the game. Hamas raw and criminal behaviors in dealing with members of Fatah, even if there were all criminals, do not justify the way Hamas dealt with them. Hamas should have used the opportunity for takeover to show it is completely different from the thugs of Fatah. Hamas should have known better and should not have allowed members of its Executive Force to behave the same way Preventive Security behaved and should have not allowed any of its forces to enter the offices and homes of Abbas and Arafat and should allowed its members to destroy public property, even if it belongs to the opposition. Hamas with this behavior have lost much of the good well it had in the public mind. Hamas forgot that it won the election not because of its armed resistance program but because the people where disgusted with Fatah and its corruption and failures. Hamas must not think of itself as the appointed representative of Allah in Gaza and think they can get away with murder.