By Stephen Lendman, Contributor
theintelhub.com
September 11, 2012

Israeli state terror targets Palestinians ruthlessly. Incidents include crimes of war, against humanity and genocide, land theft, institutionalized racism, oppression, intimidation, militarized occupation, and contempt for all rule of law principles and democratic values.

Political prisoner Ahmad Saadat is right saying “Zionist war criminals are the ones who must be prosecuted.” More on his day in court below.

He’s General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and a recognized and admired national leader. In 2002, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for a range of “security related” political offenses.

None have legitimacy. No legitimate court would recognize them. They include membership is a so-called forbidden organization, various alleged security related offenses, and “incitement” for condemning Israel’s murder of his predecessor, Abu Ali Mustafa.

On August 27, 2001, two (Boeing produced) Israeli attack helicopters fired rockets at his Ramallah office and assassinated him. Over 50,000 mourners attended his funeral. The PFLP renamed their armed wing the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades.

He believed legitimate resistance includes armed struggle. Asked about risks he and others took, he said:

“We all are targeted as soon as we begin to be mobilized. We do our best to avoid their guns, but we are living under the brutal Zionist occupation of our lands, and its army is only a few meters from us. Of course we must be cautious, but we have work to do, and nothing will stop us.”

He, Saadat, Ghassan Kanafani, PFLP founder George Habash, and countless less well known freedom fighters never gave an inch in struggling for right over wrong. Nor do current PFLP leaders and other like-minded Palestinians.

Saadat and other resistance leaders are targeted for their prominence. In Saadat’s case, it’s also for belong to a so-called prohibited organization.

PFLP was founded on December 11, 1967. It courageously resists Israeli oppression. It seeks long denied liberation.

It accuses Israel of “brutal aggression against our people – murder, destruction, assassination, house demolitions, the uprooting of trees, land expropriation, settlement expansion, the continued construction of the Apartheid Wall, a suffocating political and economic siege, torture, and massive oppression.”

It supports right over wrong. Israel calls PFLP members terrorists. They’re heroes.

For over 40 years, Saadat was targeted ruthlessly. He’s been arrested numerous times, tortured, imprisoned on false charges or none at all, kept in punishing long-term isolation, and brutalized other ways. He calls himself “a prisoner for freedom.”

“Our people are stronger than the occupation and its mockery of legality,” he states. On September 9, he appeared in Jerusalem’s Magistrate’s Court. He’s imprisoned for political, not legitimate, reasons.

“I will not recognize the legitimacy of this court which is attempting to perpetuate the occupation of our Palestinian land, and is itself one of the fronts of Zionist terrorism against our Palestinian people, and a tool of repression against Palestinian prisoners,” he said.

His appearance related to a private lawsuit. Shurat Ha-Din (the Israel Law Center) filed it in America. It’s a pro-Israeli front group. It calls itself the “bane of anti-Israel groups throughout the world.” It terrorizes through irresponsible lawfare.

It viciously targets anyone challenging Israeli lawlessness. It intimidated insurers to deny coverage for humanitarian boats to Gaza. It pressured Greece and other governments to prevent them from departing their ports.

It holds Saadat, the PFLP, and other prominent Palestinian organizations financially liable for dual Israeli/Western citizen deaths. Doing so is laughable on its face.

Earlier, it tried to force political prisoner Marwan Barghouti to testify at Jerusalem hearings. He’s lawlessly imprisoned like Saadat and thousands of other Palestinians.

Saadat appeared in court for the first time since held in solitary confinement for over three years. Doing so constitutes torture. International law prohibits it at all times, under all circumstances with no allowed exceptions.

He was steadfast saying:

“I say nothing to this court, as I earlier said nothing to this court, which is known to have my name.”

He replied to being excluded from Israel’s October 2011 prisoner exchange, saying:

“The freedom of the homeland is more important and more dear than my personal freedom, which is inevitable.”

At the hearing’s close, he added:

“If the United States is so interested in human rights and fact-finding they should carry out their investigations into finding the murderers of American solidarity martyr Rachel Corrie who was killed by the forces of the Occupation, instead of attacking the resistance and calling it ‘Terrorism.’ ”

“Resistance is legitimate, will continue, and will grow as long as the occupation exists. The Palestinian people will continue to resist until freedom, liberation and independence, and the return of all the Palestinian people to their homeland, Palestine.”

“The justice of our cause and the steadfastness of our people and determination strong, is stronger than the occupation, and its mockery of courts and legality, no matter how severe the restrictions on the freedom of our people, freedom is inevitable.”

Saadat’s brutalizing treatment reflects his importance and courage. He won’t yield to Israeli state terror. Addameer lawyer Mahmoud Hassan said Israel’s Prison Service Guards forced him from Shata Prison to court against his will.

During his own trial, he refused to recognize an illegitimate military court. He won’t role over to injustice now or ever. He’ll accept life in prison or death instead.

On September 9, he refused to state his name or answer questions. “I say nothing to this court, as I earlier said said nothing to this court, which is known to have my name,” he said.

He called for Israeli and US officials to be tried for crimes of war and against humanity.

His wife Abla, son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter came to see him. Guards prevented any physical contact.

Addameer called Saadat’s trials, and others like them, “part of Western and Israeli efforts to criminalize the legitimate resistance to the occupation and label it as ‘terrorism,’ and constitute blatant transgression of international law and the principles of international humanitarian law.”

Earlier, Saadat said:

“I too possess a will obtained from the justice of our cause and the determination of our people to reject any decision from this ‘kangaroo court,’ and to preserve a logical and cohesive balance, and to continue my determination to resist your occupation alongside the sons and daughters of our people, in spite of the limited space that you impose on my already-limited movements as a ‘prisoner for freedom!’ ”

Yousef Abu Ghoulmeh shared a prison cell with him following his return to the general prison population. He was freed in late July. He said Saadat urged all Palestinians to unite and mobilize, take to the streets, and resist Israel’s occupation.

Only a united front committed to resist can prevail. Negotiations are futile, he stressed. Israel demands. It doesn’t yield or compromise. It engages in political blackmail and other duplicitous schemes.

He also prioritized efforts to free political prisoners, assert the right of return, and aid refugees in camps, especially in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

Despite his ordeal, he’s strong, well, undaunted, and totally committed for justice. He’s convinced Palestinians will prevail. He’s redoubtable. If enough have his spirit, they’re unstoppable. He urges unity to imbue it in others.

A Final Comment

Daily Israeli repression explains what drives liberation struggles. On September 4, B’Tselem headlined “Suspicion: Soldiers beat, seriously wounded ‘Adai Abu Mariah, 31 July 2012,” saying:

Soldiers detained him at a Hebron district Beit Ummar village checkpoint. They claimed he was wanted for questioning. They handcuffed and blindfolded him. They put him in a jeep. They punched and beat him with rifle butts. Abuse continued in military detention.

He was released later that night unquestioned. The next morning, he experienced abdominal pain and vomiting. He was hospitalized for emergency surgery. An intestinal perforation had to be closed.

B’Tselem contacted the military advocate general on his behalf. It demand an investigation. In testimony to B’Tselem, Abu Mariah explained what happened, saying:

“The soldiers pushed me forcibly into the jeep. One of them hit me on the head, saying: ‘Bye-bye you fag.’ The soldiers sat me on a bench in the jeep and one of them fastened my seatbelt. Then he hit me with his rifle on the side of my abdomen and punched me in the same spot.”

“A little while later we drove off. On the way, the soldiers slapped me, hit me and punched me on my head and body. After a short drive, about five or ten minutes later, the jeep stopped. The soldiers took me out of the jeep and brought me into a room in a military base.”

“In the room, one of the soldiers pushed me against the wall. I fell on the floor. A few soldiers who were in the room started beating me brutally. They kicked me, punched me and beat me with their rifles. I screamed from the pain and asked them to stop but that didn’t help.”

“I couldn’t defend myself because my hands were cuffed behind my back and I was blindfolded. I felt helpless. I screamed at the soldiers and told them I would make a complaint against them if they kept on assaulting me.”

“At that point, one of the soldiers gave me a really hard blow to the abdomen. I didn’t know if it was a kick, a jab with a rifle or something else. After that I had trouble breathing and started to cough. The soldiers stopped beating me.”

Soldiers kept him handcuffed and blindfolded. A few who passed by kicked, ridiculed, and cursed him. He screamed in pain. One soldier slammed his head against the wall and told him to shut up.

Late at night, they released him unquestioned and uncharged. They dumped him where he’d been detained. He’s stuck with an expensive hospital bill.

On September 5, the military advocate’s office told B’Tselem an investigation would follow. Justice won’t be forthcoming. Whitewashes are certain. Palestinian rights are spurned. Only Israeli ones matter.

On September 10, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) submitted a memorandum to UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Christof Heyns.

It was an official complaint on behalf of Saad al-Majdalawi. On August 16, 2011, Israeli forces killed him in cold blood.

He was aged 17, mentally disabled, and targeted by live fire in Gaza near Israel’s border. He was 300 meters inside the separation fence. He posed no threat yet was shot and killed.

Soldiers used him for target practice. Others die the same way. Young children are maliciously shot. Prosecutions never follow.

Under Article 8(2)(b)(i-iii) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and Fourth Geneva’s Article 147, Israel’s use of lethal force constitutes wanton murder.

Al-Majdalawi’s right to life was denied. Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights affirms it. So does Article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

How long will these crimes go unpunished? When will international bodies and leaders intervene?

Palestinians are people like Israelis. International law grants them equal rights. Denying them demands responsible parties be held responsible. Israel’s gotten away with murder far too long. Palestine is strewn with corpses as evidence. It’s time they didn’t die in vain.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book is titled How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

Secret weapon: Israel warns Iran by admitting to long-denied Syria strike

RT

Published: 12 September, 2012, 01:06

An Israeli cabinet minister broke his country’s official “no comment” policy, admitting to a secret 2007 air strike on an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor, using it as a pretext for striking Iran without US support.

­Imagine a Middle Eastern country that is accused of developing a nuclear program. Then imagine its neighbor Israel, the only nuclear power in the region, gets worried and wants to permanently reassure itself – with the help of its long-time ally, the United States.

But the United States isn’t too keen on striking just yet, so Israel decides to go solo, and destroys the nuclear reactor all by itself.

Sound familiar? Anyone keeping up with the escalating tensions between Israel and Iran will say that it’s one of the possible shapes the situation could take – and perhaps, they’d be right.

But this particular incident isn’t a hypothetical. It already happened, back in 2007, when an Israeli air strike took out Syria’s al-Kibar nuclear reactor.

Ironically enough, even though former US President George W. Bush wrote about the strike in his memoirs, Israel never officially admitted it – until one of the country’s lawmakers thought it might make a good illustrated threat to Iran.

“According to what was reported, then, too, President Bush was not enthused by an attack, did not agree to the United States taking part, and in any event the right step was taken,” Environment Minister Gilad Erdan told Israel Radio.

Erdan’s comment came after a question about whether Israel could afford to argue with their longest and toughest ally, the US, over Iran.

The Netanyahu government has made clear that Israel is prepared to attack unilaterally if necessary, despite divided domestic opinion and calls to give diplomacy a chance.

In response to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s statement that the United States is “not setting deadlines” for Iran, and that negotiations coupled with sanctions are the best approach, Netanyahu said that if no “red line” is established for Iran, it will continue pursuing an atomic bomb.

“The fact is that every day that passes, Iran gets closer and closer to nuclear bombs,” Netanyahu added. “The world tells Israel: ‘Wait. There’s still time.’ And I say: ‘Wait for what? Wait until when?’ Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel.”

­The select few pining for war with Iran are becoming increasingly desperate, writer and journalist Afshin Rattansi told RT.

“Netanyahu really seems out of touch at the moment,” he said. “Even Mitt Romney, Obama’s fellow contender for the presidential race, has not been as strong as this ridiculous comment from the Israelis.”

Full Article

Palestinians Protesting Economic Stagnation Clash With Police

RT.com
September 11, 2012

Thousands of Palestinians clashed with police in protests over the economic stagnation caused by strict Israeli trade controls and a decline in Western aid. Officers fired tear gas and beat back protesters who had blocked roads with burning tires.

In this year’s largest display yet of public discontent with the Palestinian Authority, Palestinians across the West Bank voiced their unhappiness with recently implemented austerity measures.

The most violent clashes occurred in the city of Hebron, where hundreds of youths attempted to storm a police station, pelting it with rocks. Officers in riot gear responded, beating protesters back with truncheons and tear gas.

Demonstrators voiced anger over rising prices and unpaid salaries amid new austerity measures introduced by the government.

“Nobody is able to live, except the big officials. We have to pressure this government to change,” Sami Saleh, a 57-year-old taxi driver said to AFP.

The majority of public discontent was directed against Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Protesters in Hebron hurled shoes at a poster of the US-educated politician with the words ‘Depart Fayyad’ scrawled underneath. Activists then tore the poster down, trampled it and set it on fire.

Palestinians security officers stand in front of protesters during clashes at a demonstration in Hebron September 10, 2012 (Reuters / Darren Whiteside)

Full Article

Netanyahu: With every day Iran comes closer to a nuclear bomb

DEBKAfile September 11, 2012, 3:20 PM (GMT+02:00)

With every passing day, Iran comes closer to a nuclear bomb, heedless of sanctions and diplomacy, said Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu at a news conference in Jerusalem Tuesday. The world tells Israel ‘wait, there’s still time’. And I say, ‘Wait for what? Wait until when?’ Those in the
international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran
don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel,” said Netanyahu on a note of frustration against the Obama administration.

The US and Israeli-Sponsored Destruction of Syria and Iran Continues

Susanne Posel, Contributor
Activist Post

Lakhdar Brahimi, member of the UN Arab League envoy, will speak with the Syrian government. Brahimi stated in Cairo:

I answer to no one except the Syrian people. Syrians aspire to peace, stability and to realizing their goals of freedom and political progress.

Brahimi who is a representative from Mohammed Morsi’s presidential cabinet and member of the Muslim Brotherhood is replacing former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to broker a deal with Assad.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon verbalized his support for the CIA-sponsored Free Syrian Army; the manufactured terrorist group facilitating a proxy war in Syria on behalf of the US and Israel.

At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Ki-moon stated that he is “concerned” about the unsubstantiated accounts of Syrian government attacks on citizens. He believes that by purveying the lies and propaganda surrounding this created conflict, that they will be given legitimate review by the UN delegates. Ki-moon said:

All of this complicates our efforts to facilitate a transition and promote the peace the Syrian people deserve. I encourage this council to maintain its vigilance on Syria, including on the question of accountability.

Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, threatened that the US and “like-mined states” will circumvent the UN’s pursuits of diplomacy in Syria for the sake of forcing a “regime change”. Clinton said that Russia’s lack of support for the US and Israeli schemes in Syria and Iran are unacceptable.

Clinton affirmed that the UN resolutions are ineffective “because we’ve seen time and time again that Assad will ignore it and keep attacking his own people.” Of course, the evidence shows that the Free Syrian Army is instrumental in all the violent attacks against Syrian civilians; however Clinton coercively continues to purvey US-controlled propaganda.

Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister said that “[Russia] won’t support sanctions [against Syria] because they lead to nothing. What Syria needs is all external players use their influence to put all Syrians behind the negotiation table.”

Here in the US Senator John McCain has publicly admonished the Obama administration for not killing more Muslims. According to McCain, the death toll in Libya should be a template for Obama. McCain commented: “The election is about jobs and the economy, but a failed . . . national security policy over time is going to lead to significant domestic problems.”

Full Article

Panetta: The US will have more than a year to stop an Iranian nuke

DEBKAfile September 11, 2012, 6:06 PM (GMT+02:00)