WAWA/WeAreWideAwake is my Public Service to America as a muckracker who has journeyed seven times to Israel Palestine since June 2005.
WAWA is dedicated to confronting media and governments that shield the whole
truth.
We who Are Wide
Awake are compelled by the "fierce urgency of Now" [Rev MLK, Jr.] to raise
awareness and promote the human dialogue about many of the crucial issues of our
day: the state of our Union and in protection of democracy, what life is like
under military occupation in Palestine, the Christian EXODUS from the Holy Land,
and spirituality-from a Theologically Liberated Christian Anarchist
POV.
"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all...and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave...a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils." George Washington's Farewell Address - 1796
"My aim is to agitate & disturb people. I'm not selling bread, I'm selling yeast." Unamuno
"Imagine All the People Sharing All the World." John Lennon
"If enough Christians followed the gospel, they could bring any state to its knees." Father Philip Francis Berrigan
"You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won't back down." Tom Petty
"If I can't dance, it's not my revolution." Emma Goldman
"We have yet to begin to IMAGINE the power and potential of the Internet." Charlie Rose, 2005
Only in Solidarity do "We have it in our power to begin the world again" Tom Paine
"Never doubt that a few, thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
"You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free." John 8:32
DO SOMETHING!
Photo of George shown here and in web site banner courtesy of Debbie Hill, 2000.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that, among these, are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; and, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it. -July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence
HomeBlogAugust 2011 August 26, 2011: Come September: The UN, Palestine, Israel, Vanunu, Syrian Connection: UPDATED 1 Sep
August 26, 2011: Come September: The UN, Palestine, Israel, Vanunu, Syrian Connection: UPDATED 1 Sep
August 26, 2011: Come September: The UN, Palestine, Israel, Vanunu, Syrian Connection UPDATED Aug. 31: LEADS
On August 31, Vanunu wrote:
Hi. The court hearing about the restrictions,not to speak to
foreigners,not to leave israel will be on Oct' 3.(it is possible the
date can be changed), About canceling my israel citizenship,we are waiting to hear from Interior minister or we will have one more court hearing.
Just after I taped the above Youtube, I received an email from a friend who was born
and bred in the USA, but living in the Mediterranean coastal city of Latakia,
Syria.
I saw him last in 2007 when we had lunch with Amy Goodman in my homeland-New York City.
My friend informed
me that the Philippine government has now called for all their nationals to
leave the country.
He also spoke
to the British council and was told the British government is gearing up to
evacuate all Brits from the coastal areas of Syria to Turkey at a days notice.
He added, “With September right
around the corner I have no doubt that something very bad is brewing and will
probably be here before the U.N. vote for Palestinian statehood.”
The U.S. and allies such as Britain, France,
Germany and the European Union have all demanded that Assad resign.
Also on Thursday, in a statement issued by
the State Department after closing for the day, addressed the “targeted, brutal
attack” on Ali Ferzat, a cartoonist and human rights advocate.
The statement said:
“The regime's thugs focused their attention
on Ferzat's hands, beating them furiously and breaking one of them - a clear
message that he should stop drawing.
“Many other moderate activists who oppose
violence have been jailed for speaking out against the regime, including Walid
al-Buni, Nawaf Basheer, Georges Sabra, Mohammed Ghaliyoun and Abdullah
al-Khalil. Some have been held incommunicado for months.
“While making empty promises about dialogue
with the Syrian people, the Assad regime continues to carry out brutal attacks
against peaceful Syrians trying to exercise their universal right to free
expression. We demand that the Assad regime immediately stop its campaign of
terror through torture, illegal imprisonment and murder.”[1]
Because of empty promises to the indigenous Palestinians, come September,
a diplomatic intifada [Arabic for rise up and cast off] could well erupt in the
United Nations when President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmud Abbas,
submits a formal request to the Security Council for UN recognition and
membership for the State of Palestine.
President Obama indicated that he would use the U.S. veto to block the
initiative.
Of the 193 UN members, 122 already recognize Palestinian statehood.
Israel has diplomatic relations with 156 states.
On 14 July, the Arab League pledged to “take all necessary measures” to
secure recognition of a Palestinian state via the Security Council.
ThePalestinians have lost faith in the leaders of the West to be
honest brokers for justice that could bring peace, and their move to the UN-the
body that partitioned the Holy Land and thus is very responsible for the
ongoing disaster-could also help bring an end to the “special relationship”
between USA and Israel.
America’s
tied-to-the hip blind allegiance towards Israel, its wars in
Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and likely intervention in Syria could also well
spin America’s alienation from the Arab world into high drive.
“In a recent article, an influential member of the Saudi Royal
family, Prince Turki al-Faysal, former head of intelligence and former
ambassador to London and Washington, warned the United States that ‘there will
be disastrous consequences for US-Saudi relations if the US vetoes UN
recognition of a Palestinian state.’ He added that ‘the game of favoritism
towards Israel has not proven wise for Washington...It will soon learn that
there are other players in the region...’ This angry tone from America’s main
Arab ally is highly unusual.” [2]
“Everywhere except in
America, the Palestinian narrative is well known.”-Rashid
Khaladi
Everywhere except in
America, the Israeli occupation of Palestine is seen as a US-Israeli
collaboration.
Recognition of a Palestinian state in the UN will not end the military
occupation, but it will gain “virtual citizenship, a passport and sovereignty;
legal protection against violence by Israeli settlers; the right to fight back
in self-defence if attacked; potential backing for their claims from
international tribunals such as the International Criminal Court and the
International Court of Justice.” [IBID]
‘Occupied’ Congress could respond by cutting “US aid to the Palestinian
Authority of $550m a year. Israel’s right-wing government might react
aggressively by annexing Area C of the West Bank, amounting to almost 60% of
the territory, or by scrapping the Oslo accords, and therefore ending economic
and security cooperation with the Palestinian authority. Any of these moves
could trigger an outbreak of Palestinian violence, even a third
intifada.”[IBID]
A third intifada is exactly what this Citizen of CONSCIENCE for House of Representatives 2012
has been calling for since 2007, when I published my second book:
My friend in Syria also said:
“About
10 or so days ago I’m sitting in my living room about 7:30pm watching Bloomberg
market reports when this women broadcaster comes on to give the world headlines
all with flash pictures in the background then she comes out with, ‘BATTLESHIPS
OFF THE COAST OF LATAKIA SHELLING CIVILANS, ASSAD REFUSES TO STEP DOWN’ with
pictures in back of like WW2 battleships guns blazing like it was the invasion of
the Philippines.
“First
of all, Syria doesn’t even have such boats. I doubt they have anything bigger
then like a destroyer if that. So you ask ‘where does this BS come from?’
“EASY
Israel and U.S. to make trouble here…to take attention away from the real
issues- like Palestinian statehood!”
Marwan Barghouti, a Fatah leader who Israel has imprisoned for rising
up against the Occupation of his homeland, wrote from his jail cell calling for
“a peaceful million-man march during the week of voting in the UN in
September.”
Israel responded by putting him in solitary confinement.
Just weeks after his FREEDOM OF SPEECH TRIAL began in Israel, Mordechai
Vanunu nailed why Governments inflict this form of cruel, barbaric and inhumane
punishment on dissenters and truth tellers:
“Here’s another one to think
about happening now. Turkey yesterday had like 100 air raids in Iraq fighting
the Kurds PPK terrorists like 85 dead or something.
“When the Kurds ambushed the
Syrian security forces and killed over 120 soldiers, they were called freedom
fighters seeking democracy.”
Israel is NOT and NEVER was a Democracy:
"The
terms 'democracy' or 'democratic' are totally absent from the Declaration of
Independence. This is not an accident. The intention of Zionism was not to
bring democracy, needless to say. It was solely motivated by the creation in
Eretz-Isrel of a Jewish state belonging to all the Jewish people and to the
Jewish people alone. This is why any Jew of the Diaspora has the right to
immigrate to Israel and to become a citizen of Israel."- Ariel
Sharon, May 28, 1993 edition of Yedioth Ahronoth.
In September 2002,
Arundhati Roy wrote, “Come September”
“Young Palestinians
who cannot control their anger turn themselves into human bombs and haunt
Israel's streets and public places, blowing themselves up, killing ordinary
people, injecting terror into daily life, and eventually hardening both
societies' suspicion and mutual hatred of each other. Each bombing invites
merciless reprisal and even more hardship on Palestinian people. But then
suicide bombing is an act of individual despair, not a revolutionary tactic.
Although Palestinian attacks strike terror into Israeli citizens, they provide
the perfect cover for the Israeli government's daily incursions into
Palestinian territory, the perfect excuse for old-fashioned, nineteenth-century
colonialism, dressed up as a new fashioned, twenty-first century war.
“Israel's
staunchest political and military ally is and always has been the U.S. The U.S.
government has blocked, along with Israel, almost every U.N. resolution that
sought a peaceful, equitable solution to the conflict. It has supported almost
every war that Israel has fought. When Israel attacks Palestine, it is American
missiles that smash through Palestinian homes. And every year Israel receives
several billion dollars from the United States - taxpayers money.
“What lessons should we draw from this tragic
conflict? Is it really impossible for Jewish people who suffered so cruelly
themselves - more cruelly perhaps than any other people in history - to
understand the vulnerability and the yearning of those whom they have
displaced? Does extreme suffering always kindle cruelty? What hope does this
leave the human race with? What will happen to the Palestinian people in the
event of a victory? When a nation without a state eventually proclaims a state,
what kind of state will it be?”
Come
September, a diplomatic intifada at the UN could be the showdown confrontation
that forces this issue to a conclusion.
"HOPE has two children.The first is ANGER at the way things are. The second is COURAGE to DO SOMETHING about it."-St. Augustine
"He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust." - Aquinas
Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and
ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
" In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."-Mother Teresa
“You cannot talk like sane men around a peace table while the atomic bomb itself is ticking beneath it. Do not treat the atomic bomb as a weapon of offense; do not treat it as an instrument of the police. Treat the bomb for what it is: the visible insanity of a civilization that has ceased...to obey the laws of life.”- Lewis Mumford, 1946
The age of warrior kings and of warrior presidents has passed. The nuclear age calls for a different kind of leadership....a leadership of intellect, judgment, tolerance and rationality, a leadership committed to human values, to world peace, and to the improvement of the human condition. The attributes upon which we must draw are the human attributes of compassion and common sense, of intellect and creative imagination, and of empathy and understanding between cultures." - William Fulbright
“Any nation that year after year continues to raise the Defense budget while cutting social programs to the neediest is a nation approaching spiritual death.” - Rev. MLK
Establishment of Israel
"On the day of the termination of the British mandate and on the strength of the United Nations General Assembly declare The State of Israel will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel: it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion it will guarantee freedom of religion [and] conscience and will be faithful to the Charter of the United Nations." - May 14, 1948. The Declaration of the Establishment of Israel
The court hearing about the restrictions,not to speak to foreigners,not to leave israel will be on Oct' 3.(it is possible the date can be changed),
About canceling my israel citizenship,we are waiting to hear from Interior minister or we will have one more court hearing.