Friday, June 04, 2010

Comrades! Peace Lovers! Come join the "Horst Wessel" Peace Flotilla!!

Comrades!  Peace Lovers!  Come join the "Horst Wessel" Peace Flotilla!!

 

 

1.  An Open letter to the UN and the World from the Israeli Professors for Peace and Progress

 

Dear World:

 

     We wish to bring to your attention some horrific war crimes, which require total world condemnation.  They involve the illegal and inhumane blockade of innocent people, a blockade that caused indescribable suffering to civilians.

 

    We of course are referring to the evil campaign by the British warmongers to blockade Nazi Germany and prevent foodstuffs and other consumer goods from reaching Germany, first introduced in 1939 by the British and French.  We all need to unite and condemn those countries for that!   The passing of time does not lessen the severity of their crimes!

 

    Indeed the British were not the only criminals causing this suffering to the innocent victims of imperialism.  Germany was also victimized by the Americans, who joined the British imperialist anti-human blockade of Germany after 1941.  And even though the Soviets at first exhibited a truly progressive and peaceful moral outlook and broke the blockade of the Reich, supplying suffering German children with food and toys in violation of the British blockade following the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, they later betrayed the peaceful German people.  Those same Soviets must have been bribed by the imperialists and joined the criminal blockade after the series of German protests now known as Operation Barbarossa.

 

     Instead of negotiating with the Germans, the British and American warmongers decided to deal with them in a campaign of repression and suppression.  For the British, this was not even their first aggression.  They had similarly imposed an inhumane blockade of German children and civilians throughout World War I. 

 

    After the British and French declared war on German civilians following the liberation of Danzig from its Polish oppressors, the British imposed a blockade of the North Sea, laying mine fields and patrolling the sea lanes between Great Britain and Norway.  The British maritime blockade was effective because of technological advances: radar and aerial patrol vessels made it impossible for the Germans to carry out maritime trade.  Then the Soviets took the criminal decision to join the blockade on supplies to Germany, just because some German forces lost their way and mistakenly entered Belarus. 

 

     The belligerent blockade of Germany by the warmongers caused serious food shortages there.  The main victims of the British and American aggression were the children of Germany.  German families also suffered from other shortages due to the aggression, and many German families were unable to feed their pets.

 

       While all this is of course history, nevertheless we believe that a serious lesson in moral education is needed.  We will be organizing a symbolic blockade-breaking flotilla of trucks that will be organized to leave from the French town of Vichy and will make its way to the Normandy coast.  There our symbolic blockade breakers will board ships, led by the HMS Horst Wessel, and will attempt to deliver supplies to Nazi Germany by breaking into the ports of Antwerpen and Rotterdam.  We will pretend that these are still the ports of supply to the suffering and desperate people of Germany, closed down by the Anglo-Saxon war machine.  On our ships we will be transporting cement, ammunition, and Zyklon B gas. 

 

     In so doing we will prove our devotion to peace and what should have been a 1939 two-empire solution for Europe (the German and British).  It should be clear that the main obstacle towards creating a peaceful Europe in 1939 was the refusal of the British and French to agree to self-determination for the German populations of the Sudetenland, Danzig, and Memel.  We will protest the warmongering activities of those powers by organizing our blockade-running ships. 

 

     Oh, and stories that we will be transporting large consignments of cocaine inside our ships under the pretense of being a peace protest are nothing more than rumors.  Ditto those news service photos of our loading up the ships with nerve gas containers.  This is nothing but reactionary disinformation.

 

    So lovers of peace and justice!   Come join us on the Horst Wessel!!!  We will be joined there by Hamas sheikhs, Pakistani members of al-Qaeda, noted intellectuals and writers (including David Irving and Noam Chomsky), and some decorated still-living members of the Waffen SS.

 

 

·                                2.  MIDDLE EAST NEWS

·                                JUNE 4, 2010

Reclusive Turkish Imam Criticizes Gaza Flotilla

By JOE LAURIA

SAYLORSBURG, Pa.—Imam Fethullah Gülen, a controversial and reclusive U.S. resident who is considered Turkey's most influential religious leader, criticized a Turkish-led flotilla for trying to deliver aid without Israel's consent.

Speaking in his first interview with a U.S. news organization, Mr. Gülen spoke of watching news coverage of Monday's deadly confrontation between Israeli commandos and Turkish aid group members as its flotilla approached Israel's sea blockade of Gaza. "What I saw was not pretty," he said. "It was ugly."

Julie Platner for the Wall Street Journal

Imam Fethullah Gülen at his estate in Pennsylvania on Wednesday.

 

Mr. Gülen said organizers' failure to seek accord with Israel before attempting to deliver aid "is a sign of defying authority, and will not lead to fruitful matters."

Mr. Gülen's views and influence within Turkey are under growing scrutiny now, as factions within the country battle to remold a democracy that is a key U.S. ally in the Middle East. The struggle, as many observers characterize it, pits the country's old-guard secularist and military establishment against Islamist-leaning government workers and ruling politicians who say they seek a more democratic and religiously tolerant Turkey. Mr. Gülen inspires a swath of the latter camp, though the extent of his reach remains hotly disputed.

His words of restraint come as many in Turkey gave flotilla members a hero's welcome after two days of detention in Israel. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the ruling Justice and Development Party condemned Israel's moves as "bullying" and a "historic mistake."

Mr. Gülen said he had only recently heard of IHH, the Istanbul-based Islamic charity active in more than 100 countries that was a lead flotilla organizer. "It is not easy to say if they are politicized or not," he said. He said that when a charity organization linked with his movement wanted to help Gazans, he insisted they get Israel's permission. He added that assigning blame in the matter is best left to the United Nations.

Mr. Gülen has long cut a baffling figure, as critics and adherents have sparred over the nature of his influence in Turkey and the extent of his reach. Leading a visitor on Wednesday past his front corridor—adorned with a map of Turkey, a verse from the Quran and a photograph of a Turkish F-16 jet over the Bosphorus—he portrayed himself an apolitical teacher. "I do not consider myself someone who has followers," he said.

Born in eastern Turkey in 1941, Mr. Gülen became a state-licensed imam at 17, after three years of formal education and studies with Sufi masters. In a Turkey largely under the sway of a military-secularist establishment, he built a national organization of Islamic study and boarding halls, gaining support of many wealthy Muslims but at times running afoul of the law.

While in the U.S. in 1999 for medical treatment, he was charged in Turkey with attempting to create an Islamic state— anathema under Turkey's secularist constitution. He stayed in Pennsylvania, where he now lives on a 25-acre estate in the Pocono Mountains. Over the years, he said, he has left the estate twice.

Mr. Gülen preaches nonviolence, dialogue between Western and Muslim worlds, and an educational tradition that combines study of science and Islam. His newspaper columns, weekly Internet sermons and other messages have been collected into more than 60 books. His adherents number, by various estimates, three million to eight million.

Followers have established hundreds of schools in more than 100 countries and run an insurance company and an Islamic bank, Asya, that its 2008 annual report said had $5.2 billion in assets. They own Turkey's largest daily newspaper, Zaman; the magazine Aktion; a wire service; publishing companies; a radio station and the television network STV, according to Helen Rose Ebaugh, a University of Houston sociologist and author of "The Gülen Movement." She says followers donate up to one-third of their income to independent Gülen-linked foundations.

Ms. Ebaugh said Mr. Gülen doesn't sit on the boards of Asha bank nor any foundation or editorial boards of Gülen-sympathetic magazines, newspapers or television stations. In the interview, the imam said he had no financial interest in any holdings.

Mr. Gülen's detractors see him as a cult-like leader whose empire aims to train an Islamic elite who will one day rebuild the Turkish state. Soner Cagaptay, a Gülen critic who is a Turkey analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, estimates that 70% of the country's police force are Gülenists—a counterbalance to Turkey's powerful military, a secularist bastion.

"Such a claim can only be substantiated by mind-reading," Mr. Gülen said in the interview. "Furthermore, I am not a leader of a faction or someone who would cause some state officials to follow me despite their official duties."

The U.S. has "immense ambivalence" about Mr. Gülen, said Graham Fuller, an ex-Central Intelligence Agency officer who is a resident consultant at the Rand Corp. in British Columbia.

"On the one hand they do perceive him as very moderate and doing many positive things," Mr. Fuller said. But Washington has long thrown its lot behind the secularist followers of Kamal Ataturk, he says, viewing them "as the only narrative to what Turkish politics is all about."

The U.S. State Department declined to comment about Mr. Gülen for this article.

In 2007, U.S. Homeland Security moved to deny Mr. Gülen permanent-resident status in the U.S., rejecting his claim of exceptional ability as an educator. "The record contains overwhelming evidence that plaintiff is primarily the leader of a large and influential religious and political movement with immense commercial holdings," the government wrote.

Mr. Gülen won on appeal after getting 29 letters of support, including one from Mr. Fuller.

The imam disputed Homeland Security's characterization. He goes only so far as to provide guidance to those who ask, he said.

The 2002 election of the Justice Development Party, or AKP, opened a new era for Mr. Gülen and those he inspires, given their common foe in the military-secularist establishment.

The AKP says it has no political ties to Mr. Gülen. The imam says critics have linked him, falsely, to Turkey's current and previous leaders. "I do not have and have never had any relationship with a movement that has political aspirations," he said. "I am just a Turkish citizen."

Last month, Mr. Gülen last month opened the Assembly of Turkic American Federations in Washington, a lobbying and umbrella organization for some 180 local non-profit foundations around the U.S. involved in education and culture.

An English-language Turkish newspaper reported that Mr. Gülen has told his followers they couldn't visit him on his Poconos estate if they didn't first donate to their local congressman. Mr. Gulen denies making the remark.

Mr. Gülen said supporting local politicians is rooted in Islamic tradition, calling it "both an Islamic and humanitarian duty."

"I hear that some people in the United States consider Turkey as sitting at the epicenter of radicalism," Mr. Gülen said. The new federation's lobbying would aim "to reflect through sincere, pro-dialog and open-minded people the true nature of Turkey's realities."

 

3.  If you are one of the few who have not seen this, it is a must: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KUcv452KbU&feature=channel

 

4.  What do Israelis really think?

 

Maagar Mochot Poll of Israeli Jews Inside Green Line: Palestinians don't

want peace 74%:7%

Dr. Aaron Lerner                   Date: 3 June 2010

 

Telephone poll of a representative sample of 513 adult Israeli Jews living

within the Green Line, by Maagar Mohot Survey Institute (headed

by Professor Yitzchak Katz) carried out 23-28 May 2010 for the Ariel

University Center of Samaria.  Survey error +/- 4.5 percentage points

 

Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria is:

 

The source of the conflict with the Palestinians

Yes 23% So-so 18% No 58% Other 1%

A real Zionist activity

Yes 61% So-so 15% No 22% Other 2%

Waste of state funds

Yes 27% So-so 14% No 59%

The state's security belt

Yes 52% So-so 15% No 31% Other 2%

Illegal settlement

Yes 19% So-so 18% No 61% Other 2%

 

The Jewish residents settling in Judea and Samaria are:

Real Zionists

Yes 46% So-so 19% No 34% Other 1%

Money grubbers

Yes 13% So-so 15% No 70% Other 2%

Wall of defense for state

Yes 45% So-so 19% No 34% Other 2%

Law breakers

Yes 18% So-so 20% No 58% Other 4%

Like every other Israeli citizen

Yes 64% So-so 18% No 17% Other 1%

Source of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Yes 20% So-so 18% No 61% Other 1%

Obstacle to peace

Yes 24% So-so 22% No 54%

 

Who of the following is the real representative of the settlers in Judea

and

Samaria?

27% Religious Zionists serving in combat units in the IDF

02% The hilltop youth

08% Heads of YESHA Council

04% Right wing parties

06% Heads of communities in Judea and Samaria

07% The rabbis in Judea and Samaria

33% All the above

13% Other

 

What do you think is the desirable solution for the areas of Judea and

Samaria

04% Partial unilateral withdrawal (without agreement)

01% Full unilateral withdraw (without agreement)

37% Partial withdrawal in framework of agreement with PA

07% Full withdrawal within framework of agreement with PA

16% Continue as is

08% Partial annexation

14% Complete annexation.

13% Other

 

What effects your position regarding the desirable solution in Judea and

Samaria

Iranian threat

Yes 26% So-so 7% No 62% Other 5%

Positions and declarations of PA

Yes 37% So-so 16% No 44% Other 3%

Hamas takeover of Gaza

Yes 46% So-so 13% No 36 Other 5%

Qassam attacks from Gaza on communities in the south

Yes 57% So-so 13% No 27% Other 3%

The position of the American government headed by President Obama

Yes 40% So-so 18% No 37% Other 5%

The many sons of settler serving in IDF combat units

Yes 40% So-so 17% No 40% Other 3%

Conditions of Gush Katif evacuees

Yes 46% So-so 16% No 33% Other 5%

Chances of making peace with the Palestinians

Yes 43% So-so 14% No 37% Other 6%

The chances of making peace with the Arab states

Yes 36% So-so 20% No 38% Other 6%

Illegal Arab takeover of land in Negev and Galilee

Yes 32% So-so 17% No 42% Other 9%

 

If it were up to you would be prepared to evacuate communities or

settlements in Judea and Samaria not including Jerusalem

in return for ending the conflict with the Palestinians and full peace?

34% Oppose any evacuation

21% Only isolated illegal settlement

15% A few legal settlements

14% A large bomber of settlements

12% All the Jews in Judea and Samaria

04% Other

 

If Israel accepted the two state solution what would it do to the Israeli

Palestinian conflict?

34% Nothing

31% Prevent conflict worsening for a short time

20% Prevent conflict worsening for long time

06% End conflict

09% Other

 

 

Do you identify with the following statements?

A government decision to continue the freeze serves Israeli interests

Yes 25% So-so 19% No 49% Other 8%

In the coming year a peace agreement with be signed between Israel and the

PA

Yes 8% So-so 14% No 72% Other 6%

The Palestinians are interested in peace with the State of Israel

Yes 7% So-so 14% No 74% Other 5%

A failure of the Israeli Palestinian talks will bring another intifada in

Judea and Samaria

Yes 38% So-so 24% No 28% Other 10%

The Government of Israel should continue the freeze that contributes to

the

negotiations with the Palestinians

Yes 28% So-so 22% No 43% Other 7%

The prime minister should withstand pressure to freeze construction in

Jerusalem

Yes 57% So-so 15% No 21% Other 7%

 

In your opinion, will the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria influence

the decisions of the Netanyahu government regarding the future of

settlements in Judea and Samaria?

13% Not at all

18% Little

41% Middle

15% Considerably

05% greatly

08% Other

 

How would you term the behavior of the Netanyahu Government today towards

the Jewish settlers in Judea and Samaria?

17% Too soft

38% Correct

30% Too hard

15% Other

 

Are you confident that the Israeli Government will make the right

decisions

about the future of settlements in Judea and Samaria?

No 38% So-so 35%Yes 22% Other 5%

 

Do the Jewish residents - settlers in Judea and Samaria damage today

relation between Israel and the American Government?

25% Hurt

37% No effect

27% Contribute

11% Other

 

Will Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu act in the near future in

accordance

with the policies of President Obama with regard to the future of Jewish

settlements in Judea and Samaria?

24% No

37% More or less

27% Will act

12% Other

 

How often do you visit Judea and Samaria?

06% At least a few time a week

05% Once or twice a month

16% Few times a year

09% Once in year or two

33% More infrequently

29% Never visited

02% Other

 

Why do you generally visit Judea and Samaria

05% Army service (regualr and reserves)

27% Family/friends visit

06% Work/business

01% Studies

18% Hike/vacation

01% Participation in demonstrations

07% Other purposes

35% Never visit/others

 

What do you consider yourself

15%Very right

34% Moderate right

31% Center

13% Moderate left

01% Very Left

06 % Other

 

Religiosity

48% Secular

24% traditional

13% National religious

15% Ultra orthodox/National religious-ultra orthodox

 

 

 






<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?