Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land

Is TV news one-sidedly in support of Israel?

Sut Jhally: On film Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land: US Media & The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

From TheRealNews.com

Israeli soldiers admit to deliberate killing of Gaza civilians

“That’s the beauty of Gaza. You see a man walking, he doesn’t have to have a weapon, and you can shoot him.”

By James Hider, Times Online March 19, 2009

The Israeli army has been forced to open an investigation into the conduct of its troops in Gaza after damning testimony from its own front line soldiers revealed the killing of civilians and rules of engagement so lax that one combatant said that they amounted on occasion to “cold-blooded murder”.

Juan Cole interviewed on Democracy Now

“Engaging the Muslim World”–Middle East Analyst Juan Cole on US Policy in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel and Beyond


Originally aired: Tuesday, March 17

Suspend Military Aid to Israel, Amnesty Urges Obama

By Rory McCarthy, February 23, 2009, Guardian/UK

Relatives mourn a Palestinian man killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza, last month. Photograph: Eyad Baba/AP

JERUSALEM – Detailed evidence has emerged of Israel’s extensive use of US-made weaponry during its war in Gaza last month, including white phosphorus artillery shells, 500lb bombs and Hellfire missiles.

Relatives mourn a Palestinian man killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza, last month. Photograph: Eyad Baba/APIn a report released today, Amnesty International detailed the weapons used and called for an immediate arms embargo on Israel and all Palestinian armed groups. It called on the Obama administration to suspend military aid to Israel.

You Have Moved on, But the Injured and Burned Children of Gaza Have Not; Call for Cyberspace Aid Convoy

The demonstrating crowds have gone home. The blog postings have tapered off. The pundits have moved on. Congress is back to its old tricks, ignoring public opinion in favor of the lobbyists and money men. The US public is worried about losing its job or getting back the one it lost. Gaza here is a dimming memory, a momentary nightmare now past.

But the Palestinian children wounded and charred by Israeli bombings are still screaming, their physicians unable to get hold of enough pain killers to still their yelps of pain. Some 5300 Palestinians, most of them children, women and noncombatants, were wounded in Israel’s savage war on the Gaza population.

Please consider donating to UNICEF UK’s Gaza children’s fund .

Donate Here.

Former Speaker of the Israeli Parliament Avraham Burg: “The Holocaust Is Over: We Must Rise from its Ashes”

As Israeli leaders continue talks on assembling a coalition, we’re joined now by a former Israeli politician who’s emerged as one of his government’s biggest critics. Avraham Burg is a former Speaker of the Israeli Parliament and former Chairman of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization. His new book is called The Holocaust Is Over: We Must Rise from its Ashes.

Full text and audio at Democracy Now.

Steadfast Before Goliath

By Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi

When I am asked about Palestinian identity, one idea keeps coming to mind. I was told it would be translated into English as “steadfastness.” I looked up what a steadfast person would be like and the dictionary says, “One marked by firm determination or resolution–not shakable–of firm convictions and strong resolve. A man of unbendable perseverance and unwavering loyalty.”

That’s pretty close to what I had in mind, but somewhat incomplete–it is hard to capture an entire people in a word. Steadfastness refers to our Palestinian character of never giving in. It refers to our standing up to overwhelming odds time and again, without a friend in our corner. It is about our being beaten and abused in every way known to man, only to get back up with our heads held high.