Max Blumenthal has done it again!

Here’s another of his videos depicting life in Apartheid Israel in all it’s stark absurdity. It has a focus on youth.

Israeli troops are shown attending a regular ritual, in which they harass Palestinians from the village of Nabi Saleh who demonstrate against the theft of their spring water by the nearby Jewish colony of Chalamish.

Blumenthal explains “The Israeli army arrives each week to violently suppress the villagers’ protests.”

As you can see, most of the soldiers are boys.

But this time the really young kids were ready for them..

I’d guess the oldest person in the entire scene were the protestors arrested for impertinence. The average age of the children must be around 10. Average age of big boys in uniforms might be under 20…

Q: So… why do Palestinians play better soccer than Israelis?

A: They play with the internationals.

Israeli boys, on the other hand, seem to prefer dancing.

A tragedy is a tragedy, wherever it happens. Fire raging out of control, while it’s part of the natural cycle in many parts of the world, can be terrifying by any measure. According to reports, 40 people have already been killed in wildfires that broke out near Haifa in northern occupied Palestine and continue to rage at this moment.

Wildfires rage near Haifa, December 2010 (BBC)

In no way is this short article an exercise in gloating. The people of that part of the world are in strife and they deserve sympathy – just as sympathy poured in for Victorians when bushfires created havoc there back in the southern summer of 2008.

They also deserve help . Wisely, Netanyahu has asked for help. Apparently he’s been in contact with numerous countries in the region including Greece and Cyprus, who are sending firefighting equipment urgently. A massive Russian water-bomber is on the way. It’s reported countries as far away as the USA and Australia have pledged assistance.

The irony of Greece and Cyrpus helping Israel with airplanes in its time of crisis is hard to pass over unmentioned. The Zionist State boasts one of the most sophisticated and largest military airforces in the world. Costly too – although the USA paid for most of it. But Israel’s airforce is geared up for war fighting and terrorizing – not civil disasters. It can bomb with napalm. It can bomb with depleted uranium. It can bomb with high-explosive bunkers busters. It can bomb with deadly silent drones. It can ever spray thick clouds of tear gas, this very day, to disperse protestors at Ni’ilin.

On the same day as the wildfires, a cloud of teargas disperses Palestinian protestors at Ni'ilin

But water-bombing? It seems no Israeli planner thought of that.

Fortunately, helpful neighbours can share theirs…

Wildfire is natural, but there are indications wildfires are on the increase worldwide. Israel has just experienced its driest November on record. It’s  consistent with rapid human-induced climate change. In many parts of the world, scientists anticipate more and more frequent wildfires as the century progreses. accompanied by accelerating ecosystem change and loss of biodiversity.

The world community knows it must deal with the problem of climate change – urgently. It’s a crucially high priority for us all. At least, it should be.

But in our bizarro world, the centrally-important USA is now so brow-beaten by Zionist power that its far easier to get bipartisan congressional consensus for launching a new illegal war at Israel’s behest than it is to agree serious measures to avert rapid climate change – which has potentially devastating consequences for all humanity.

When the fires are out, the Zionist plutocrats who stand behind this rotten project of the apartheid rogue state of Israel should take a long hard look at themselves and their vile sectarian policies.

What price international dominance?

Global ecocide?

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Postscript (December 4th 2010)

Antaea Darom has an important follow-up article, focusing especially on gratuitous anti-Arab commentary in some of the Israeli media regarding the wildfires that continue to blaze – see Israel’s Carmel Fire: Racism Rears Its Ugly Head Even in Tragedy

Elders Visit Gaza; Call for Lifting of Blockade

The Palestinian News Agency WAFA reports on the current visit of three of ‘The Elders’ to Gaza.

The Elders are an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela in 2007, who offer their collective influence and experience to support peace-building and help address major causes of human suffering.

The Elders are Martti Ahtisaari, Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Lakhdar Brahimi, Gro Brundtland, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Jimmy Carter, Graça Machel, Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu (Chair).  Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi are honorary Elders.

Mary Robinson: a young elder from Ireland

Delegation leader, former Irish President, Mary Robinson, said:

“I was last here in 2008, just before the Gaza war. The situation has deteriorated to a shocking extent since then. This is not a humanitarian crisis – it is a political crisis and it can be solved politically. It is unconscionable and unacceptable that Israel and the international community have not lifted the blockade fully to allow Gazans to rebuild their lives and be part of the interconnected world that we take for granted. The easing of the blockade may mean more goods can be imported, but people are not free to come and go, reconstruction materials are still highly restricted, there is no real economy to speak of, and I have no doubt that things are not just stagnant – they are going backwards.”

India’s Ela Bhatt, a Gandhian pioneer in the field of non-violent resistance and women’s economic empowerment, who visited Gaza as a student in 1968, said:

“People cannot continue to live in an atmosphere of fear – no good can come of it. The people have the right to develop their economy – every other place in the world is being supported to meet the Millennium Development Goals. In Gaza, education, health, sanitation and socio-economic indicators are getting worse. I am especially concerned about the situation for women in Gaza – they have much to contribute to a peaceful future and I urged leaders here to enable them to play a much greater role in the peace process.”

Former Algerian Foreign Minister and former UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said:

“Holding 1.5 million people in what is effectively an open prison is deepening the sense of anger and injustice of the Palestinians. We are here to show solidarity with them. This situation is a disaster. It is creating a generation of young people who have little to lose. This is not in anyone’s interest.”

After their Gaza visit, the three leaders will join ex-US President Jimmy Carter in Cairo.

Earth Elders Round Table

How long will it take before the current crop of world leaders put real pressure on Israel to end this cruel and utterly illegal blockade of the tiny Gaza strip?

During Israel’s blockade, Israel has actually been admitted to the OECD, making a travesty of the self-imposed rules for the rich countries club.

The absolute opposite sould have happened: after Israel began its illegal blockade, civilized countries should have suspended diplomatic relations pending the blockade’s lifting.

Nations acquiescing in the brutal injustice of Israel’s strangulation of Gaza accept a world where peace is impossible. The blockade simply MUST end. It was outrageous from the outset. It has become evil beyond words.

The Elders see that clearly. What’s wrong with their juniors? Why are the self-styled leaders of the ‘Free World’ so out of step with these loved and respected elder statesmen?

Until Gaza is free, the focus of the world will remain on “the world’s largest prison camp“. That will happen whether Rupert Murdoch and other obnoxious Zionist plutocrats like it or not.

Keeping the Gaza blockade in force will continue the torture of one and a half million people. But from a broader geopolitical perspective, it will only accelerate global boycott – led by civic society – of the worse-than-apartheid Israeli rogue state.