Irish activist arrested and injured at anti-CRH protest in West Bank village
Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign | April 30, 2010
Irish activist and documentarian Tommy Donnelan, 63, was this afternoon wounded and detained for two hours by the Israeli Military in the West Bank.
CRH placards lead the demo
While filming a non-violent protest against the role of Irish cement multinational CRH in building Israel’s apartheid wall in the village of Bil’in, Mr. Donnellan was rushed by an Israeli snatch-squad of 4 or 5 soldiers. His throat and shirt were grabbed, his gas mask was torn off, and after being wrestled to the ground he was arrested. During the arrest he sustained a 3 inch gash to his right leg and was bleeding hevaily from his left ear, from which a piece was torn off. About two hours later he was released without charge.
Speaking after his release, Mr. Donnellan stated: “Thank the Lord I’m ok now. I’ve lost a chunk of my ear – but not my dignity. I was plainly in the role of journalist, videoing the proceedings, I should not have been arrested, especially in such a violent manner.”
Mr. Donnellan continued: “This is yet another example of the impunity and inhumanity with which the Israli occupation forces operate on a daily basis. It is also shines an unflattering light of the shameful activities of the Irish cement company CRH, who are directly involved in the building of this monstrous wall and thus complicit in what happened to me today, and in the regular human rights abuses – including murder of anti-Wall activists – by the Israeli military in Bil’in and elsewhere.”
Every Friday afternoon residents of the West Bank village of bil’in, along with Israeli and International activists stage a non-violent protest against the construction of the Wall on their land.
Today’s demonsration focused on the role CRH plays in the building of the Wall – CRH owns 25% of Israel’s sole cement company, (Mashav) Nesher Cement. Palestinians led the demonstration – carring placards calling on CRH to divest from its Israeli cement subsidiary – to the spot where 31-year-old Bil’in resident Bassem Abu Rahmah was killed by the Israeli military last year.
At this spot, Mr. Iyad Burnat, coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee, addressed CRH dirctely saying “You are complicit in the murder and killing of my friend Bassem, and all the other non-violent activists that have been killed and injured for resisting this horrendous wall. CRH is directly implictict. I, as a Palestinian, am asking the Irish people to join the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and get involved in the divestment campaign against CRH. This complicity must end.”
This year the CRH Annual General Meeting starts at 11am Wednesday May 5th, in the Royal Marine Hotel, Marine Road in Dun Laoghaire. The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) is organising a protest outside. We will be assembling at at 10.15am at the Catholic church plaza.
Nato troops kill three Afghan women
Al-Jazeera | April 30, 2010
Two women and a girl have been killed and two men injured after Nato troops opened fire on a car in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
Afghanistan’s interior ministry said that the victims were traveling on a highway in Zabul province on Friday when foreign troops opened fire, killing three of the five civilians in the car.
“A foreign forces convoy opened fire on a vehicle coming the other way, thinking they were Taliban,” Zemarai Bashary, the interior ministry spokesman, said.
“Two women and one girl were killed and one other woman was wounded.”
‘Investigation underway’
A spokesman for the Zabul governor said the troops were part of Nato’s US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and had stopped on the road to defuse a bomb.
“ISAF had to defuse a roadside bomb near a bridge when a small vehicle approached. ISAF told them to stop, fired a warning shot, then shot at the car,” Mohammad Jan Rasul Yar, the spokesman, said.
Eyewitnesses said that the troops, were carrying out house-to-house searches in a village, opened fire first without firing warning shots.
Nick Carter, the ISAF regional commander, said that the military was investigating the allegations but gave no further details.
Friday’s incident is the latest in a long list of civilians mistakenly killed by US-led troops fighting the Taliban. It comes just weeks after US troops opened fire on a bus in the southern city of Kandahar, the Taliban’s spiritual capital, killing four civilians and sparking angry public protests. It also comes one day after the French military admitted that its troops accidentally killed four children in eastern Afghanistan on April 6 in a missile attack.
Ethiopian Jews experience Israeli racism at a very early age
Response to Falasha demonstration against discrimination in blood donation
Palestine Information Center – 30/04/2010
NAZARETH — An Israeli kindergarten in Beir al-Saba’ (Beersheba) in southern occupied Palestine was reported in the Israeli media to segregate Jewish children of Ethiopian descent from the rest of Jewish children.
Israeli channel 2 television reported that the kindergarten uses two separate rooms for the two groups of children and that the room used for the children of Ethiopian descent is much smaller than the room used for the other group.
Ethiopian Jews suffer discrimination in Israeli society basically because of the colour of their skin. Sometime ago they discovered that the blood they donate is disposed of and not used fearing that it is infected with aids.
Palestinians aside, Ethiopian Jews, or Falashas fare worst on the Israeli scale of discrimination, other Jewish groups such Mizrahis and Sephardis do suffer from discrimination too.
US seeks to snub Global South in NY
Press TV – May 1, 2010
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s decision to attend the upcoming non-proliferation conference in New York has prompted the US to take measures to counter the move.
On Monday, which is the opening day of the conference to review the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Ahmadinejad is scheduled to speak third after the opening remarks by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a Non-Aligned Movement representative.
Representatives from over 180 countries will be attending the gathering, which is being held at the UN Headquarters in New York.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will speak at the gathering Monday afternoon. She will be the highest-ranking US diplomat to attend the talks in 10 years. Pundits say the decision to have Clinton participate in the conference was made to prevent the event from becoming a forum for countries of the Global South that are opposed to the calls to impose a new round of UN sanctions on Iran.
According to a report in the April 28 edition of The New York Times, the United States and its allies want to avoid negotiating Iran sanctions at the time of the conference to prevent the Iranian nuclear issue from becoming a rallying cry for non-nuclear states.
Non-nuclear states assert that the NPT has been misinterpreted and misused by the nuclear states to keep their club exclusive.
At the NPT talks, Washington will be seeking more authority and money for the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), US Undersecretary of State for Arms Control Ellen Tauscher said on Friday. She referred to Obama’s recently-crafted Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), under which the US commits to never use nuclear weapons against states that do not possess nuclear arsenals, with the exception of Iran and North Korea.
The New York Times quoted Obama as saying that the loophole would apply to “outliers” like Iran, which is an NPT member, and North Korea, which has withdrawn from the treaty and tested nuclear warheads.
The UN secretary general did not comment on the US president’s nuclear threats against two UN members.
Iran is a signatory to the NPT and has repeatedly declared that its nuclear program is peaceful and is being pursued within the framework of international regulations. In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.
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From the Archives
Why the UK, the EU and the US Gang-Up on Russia
By James Petras :: 03.20.2018
Introduction: For the greater part of a decade the US, the UK and the EU have been carrying out a campaign to undermine and overthrow the Russia government and in particular to oust President Putin. Fundamental issues are at stake including the real possibility of a nuclear war.
The most recent western propaganda campaign and one of the most virulent is the charge launched by the UK regime of Prime Minister Theresa May. The Brits have claimed that Russian secret agents conspired to poison a former Russian double-agent and his daughter in England, threatening the sovereignty and safety of the British people. No evidence has ever been presented. Instead the UK expelled Russian diplomats and demands harsher sanctions, to increase tensions. The UK and its US and EU patrons are moving toward a break in relations and a military build-up.
A number of fundamental questions arise regarding the origins and growing intensity of this anti-Russian animus.
Why do the Western regimes now feel Russia is a greater threat then in the past? Do they believe Russia is more vulnerable to Western threats or attacks? Why do the Western military leaders seek to undermine Russia’s defenses? Do the US economic elites believe it is possible to provoke an economic crisis and the demise of President Putin’s government? What is the strategic goal of Western policymakers? Why has the UK regime taken the lead in the anti-Russian crusade via the fake toxin accusations at this time?
This paper is directed at providing key elements to address these questions. … continue
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