Senior officials in Israel confirmed reports on Monday that a British court issued a warrant against opposition leader Mrs. Tzipi Livni for her role in orchestrating Israel’s military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip last December.
British sources reported that though a British court had issued an arrest warrant for Livni over war crimes committed in Gaza, it annulled it upon discovering she was not in the U.K.
As many of us predicted for more than a while the tide is changing. Now Israeli political and military leaders are finally being chased.
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By Grace Halsell* | Sabbah Report | http://www.sabbah.biz
HC 070808-JL-JH-009.jpgAmerican Jews sympathetic to Israel dominate key positions in all areas of our government where decisions are made regarding the Middle East. This being the case, is there any hope of ever changing U.S. policy? President Bill Clinton as well as most members of Congress support Israel-and they know why. U.S. Jews sympathetic to Israel donate lavishly to their campaign coffers.
The answer to achieving an even-handed Middle East policy might lie elsewhere-among those who support Israel but don’t really know why. This group is the vast majority of Americans. They are well-meaning, fair-minded Christians who feel bonded to Israel-and Zionism-often from atavistic feelings, in some cases dating from childhood.
I am one of those. I grew up listening to stories of a mystical, allegorical, spiritual Israel. This was before a modern political entity with the same name appeared on our maps. I attended Sunday School and watched an instructor draw down window- type shades to show maps of the Holy Land. I imbibed stories of a Good and Chosen people who fought against their Bad “unChosen” enemies.
In my early 20s, I began traveling the world, earning my living as a writer. I came to the subject of the Middle East rather late in my career. I was sadly lacking in knowledge regarding the area. About all I knew was what I had learned in Sunday School.
Note seen in comments : 3ala fekra, Onadeekom is written by Tawfiq Zayyad (RIP), not by Mahmoud Darwich (RIP), ALLAH yer7amhon el 2
Palestinian rap group DAM (Da Arab MC’s, or “forever” in Arabic) created this music video about the life of Palestinians in Israel. They’re from Lod, a town between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, so they’re Palestinians with Israeli citizenship (often called “Israeli Arabs”). They usually rap in Arabic, but they made a Hebrew version of this song with a music video to get their message out to the majority of Israelis who don’t speak Arabic.
You find out more about them at http://www.dampalestine.com/main.html .
I’ve always wanted a subtitled version, so I broke down and adapted the lyrics from their website, to create this. I think this is one of the most powerful rap songs out there.
See http://moomtastic.com/born-here.html to see my extended comments on the video and its chorus.
By the way, a lot of people are confused about what DAM stands for, but it really is “forever” or “eternity”. See the interview at http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/15…, where you’ll find this:
TAMER NAFAR: Ill just correct you. Actually, dam is eternity in Arabic and blood in Hebrew. So its eternal blood, like we will stay here forever.
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A British court reportedly issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s former foreign minister on charges relating to Israel’s 22-day war on Gaza, before apparently withdrawing it after it was found she was not in the country.
Tzipi Livni, the leader of the opposition Kadima party, had been expected to travel to London this week for an event organised by the Jewish National Fund, followed by meetings with British government officials.
Livni cancelled the visit two weeks before the event was due to take place.
Israeli media reported on Monday that Livni had called off the trip fearing that she would be arrested after a pro-Palestinian group won a warrant for her arrest.
The British foreign office issued a statement on Monday saying it was looking into the incident and its possible effect on the peace process.
“The UK is determined to do all it can to promote peace in the Middle East and to be a strategic partner of Israel,” it said.
“To do this, Israel’s leaders need to be able to come to the UK for talks with the British government. We are looking urgently at the implications of this case.”
Israeli land, air and naval forces began bombarding the Gaza Strip last December saying that it wanted to stop rocket attacks by Palestinian fighters.
More 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the offensive, while 13 Israelis, including 10 soldiers, died over the same time period.
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