Picture Of The Day!

Fatah, Hamas Reach Egyptian-Brokered Reconciliation

President Obama Releases His Long-Form Birth Certificate (See It Here!)

Birthers Go Home!!

Freedom Flotilla Update: Netanyahum Plans Meet To Discuss Upcoming Gaza Flotilla

Flotilla organizers delaying launch until after outcome of election to Turkish parliament, leading Israeli Foreign Ministry officials to speculate a strengthening of ties between flotilla organizers and Turkish government. Read More...

Guantanamo Bay: Revelations

It is doubtful that you have not heard of Guantanamo Bay or GITMO by now (the name made infamous by the Bush Administration).  The facility is located at the United States’ Guantanamo Bay Naval Base on the island of Cuba. The Bush Administration established the facility in 2002 to house detainees from the war in Afghanistan and then later Iraq. The facility originally operated three detainment “camps” one of which is now closed. The first captives arrived at Guantanamo on January 11th, 2002 after the Justice Department determined that it could be classified outside the legal jurisdiction of the U.S.  Some 800 detainees or “enemy combatants” were housed at the facility of which (as of February 2011) 172 detainees remain.

            It is now apparent that the creation of Guantanamo Bay detention facility manifested itself out of fear and the need for retribution by the Bush Administration, following the attacks of September 11, 2001, without a careful examination beforehand of what the resounding consequences would be. This facility led the United States down a misguided, slippery slope, away from the freedoms we were founded upon and blurred the lines of the inherent rights of human beings that we supposedly fight for worldwide.   
            If you can imagine having minimal rights, no outside contact or legal representation and no idea when or if you may be released (or how you will be treated), you have Guantanamo Bay.

But who were (are) these detainees that were whisked away in the night without any legal process to be housed at Guantanamo Bay and what happened to them while they were (are) there? Is this justice at its’ finest? In my opinion the Guantanamo Bay detention facility is one of Americas’ darkest hours.

According to recent revelations in documents leaked to the website WikiLeaks, classified reports have showed how many innocent people (due to mistaken identities) and failures in military intelligence were detained and interrogated for years. These people were just apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Hundreds of men were held without reliable evidence or trial solely based on vague, bewildering or inaccurate information. Can you imagine being detained and tortured (according to former detainees) and then to later be told that you were innocent all along and you can now go home? Many of these men lost years of their lives and their families lived day by day wondering if their loved ones were dead or alive--and this just scratches the surface. Is this how justice works? Who is to be held accountable?

 Promising to return America to the "moral high ground" in the war on terrorism, President Obama issued three executive orders in January of '09, including one requiring that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility be closed within a year. The President said "the United States does not have" to continue with a false choice between our safety and our ideals." The President said he was issuing the order to "restore the standards of due process and the core constitutional values that have made this country great even in the midst of war, even in dealing with terrorism." However, this order was later thwarted by Congress.
               Until the remaining 172 detainees receive proper legal representation and recourse and Guantanamo Bay detention facility is closed for good, in my opinion, the United States’ vision of liberty and justice will forever be tainted in the eyes of the world. Read More From Wikileaks...

UNICEF: Israeli Occupation Affecting More Than 1.9m Palestinian Children

GAZA, (PIC)-- The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has said in a fresh report that more than 1.9m Palestinian children face the threat of death, injury, displacement, detention, psychological distress, and low educational attainment because of measures taken by Israeli forces in the occupied Palestinian territories. Read More...

Countries That Recognize The State Of Palestine

Click On Map For Larger Version

News From Palestine (Palestine News Network)

 Nablus – PNN – At least three Palestinian civilians were injured by Israeli army fire on Sunday during clashes in Nablus that started after a settler was killed in the city. Read More New From Palestine (PNN)

Picture Of The Day!

Gaddafi War Crimes In Misrata!

SYRIA: DISSIDENTS' LEADER DANIEL SAUD ARRESTED IN BANIYAS

Daniel Saud, leader of the Human Rights Committee, was arrested Friday night from his home in Baniyas, Syria. He was arrested despite the decree through which Syrian president Bashar al Assad put an end last Thursday, to a state of emergency that lasted for 50 years.

Saud's arrest - his lawyer (Khalil Maatouk) said - "means the security services are still operating". Maatouk is referring to the notorious Syrian intelligence, Mukabarat.
If the thought of "Security Forces" summons images in your mind of Hollywood movies where 'spies' or 'detainees' are lightly questioned and treated well and then released, think again! According to former detainee all Mukabarat branches have underground cells and torture chambers.

Overnight in Damascus on Sunday Syrian security forces have raided activists' homes and made arrests. On Saturday, security forces fired on protesters who had gathered at the funerals of those who were killed on Friday. Three people were killed in the Barzah neighbourhood of Damascus during a funeral, four mourners were killed during a funeral in Douma and reports indicate six people were killed in Izraa. The crackdown continues.

Bahrain: A Woman On A Mission

Zaynab Alkhawaja is the daughter of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a prominent Bahraini human rights activist who was arrested and beaten in his home by Bahraini police earlier this month. Her husband, brother-in-law and uncle were also arrested. They were arrested for participating in peaceful protests against the Bahraini regime of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. She said she will refuse food until the 4 men are released. She is the 27 year old mother of a one year old baby girl. 

Mrs. al-Khawaja’s mother, Khadija al-Mousawi, on Wednesday wrote a blog entry on behalf of her daughter. “(Zainab) would like to tell everyone that we got news about her father, her husband Wafi Al-Majed, and her brother-in-law Hussein Ahmed as the Ministry of Interior contacted us and asked that we take clothes for them,” she said.
Bahrain authorities have denied allegations of ill treatment made by activists. It is beyond comprehension how these Middle Eastern regime leaders can continuously proclaim that no one is mistreated or tortured (they often even die while in custody) when the pictures are broadcast worldwide and the videos of their aftermath inundate the internet and media. Read More...

Picture Of The Day!

In this image acquired by the AP, Syrian anti-government protesters carry the coffin of an activist who was killed on Friday during his funeral procession near Damascus, Syria, April 23, 2011.

Human Chain to Spell 'NO FLY ZONE OVER PALESTINE'

As we can see from the picture on the left the Palestinian people (especially the children) are certainly not a people prone to terrorism. These human beings are a people seeking the simple idea of freedom truth and justice in a day to day battle for their survival. "This is but one story but it makes the point that not only memories are embedded in these children forever, each time a jet, a drone or helicopter gunship flies overhead..." Ken O'Keefe Salem-News.com. Read More...

Ahmad Sabri (Saudi Arabia)

@radicalahmad (Twitter)

2010 And The Palestinian Cause:
In the beginning of 2010 the world saw international activists protest in Cairo to pressure the Egyptian regime into opening its borders for them to enter Gaza with their aid convoys.

They eventually succeeded and in the following months hundreds of international activists managed to break the siege of Gaza. The most famous of them was the Freedom Flotilla, which had 663 passengers from approximately 40 nationalities. Click To Read More...

Ahmad Sabri (Saudi Arabia)

@radicalahmad (Twitter)

2009 And The Palestinian Cause: The year 2009 began with a terrorist war waged against Gaza Strip killing more than 1400 — mostly women and children — wounding more than 5,300 and displacing 50,800 of Gaza’s residents.

The Gaza war is an eye-opener to many. It furnished further evidence of Israel’s aggression and defiance of international laws. It also proved — yet again — the American administration’s bias and full support to the occupation despite the deliberate attacks on civilians, mosques, schools, hospitals, and even UN buildings, not to mention what Israel did to the most important democratic institution of Palestine: the Palestinian Legislative Council. They destroyed it. Click To Read More....

Ahmad Sabri (Saudi Arabia)

@radicalahmad (Twitter)

2008 and the Palestinian Cause:  The year 2008 started with an Israeli-Egyptian cooperation that stopped the people of Gaza traveling to Makkah to perform the pilgrimage. It was a year that began with the killing of a 40-year-old woman, who had just come back from Haj, at an Israeli checkpoint in Gaza and ended with killing of more than 400 innocent people.

If we remember, 2008 also started with the promise of a Palestinian state — a promise described by well-known thinker and columnist Fahmi Howaidi as “the New Year’s lie.” The year ended with the same promise/lie but in a much bloodier way. Click to Read More....

This Is The Way The US Looks At The Middle East

The Middle East's Oldest Dictatorship

Read: Dictatorship (Israel)

Picture Of The Day!

No matter the hardship Allah is there!

Interviews From Around The Middle East

In the near future I will be doing interviews from people on the ground in the Middle Eastern countries where uprisings exist. Please stay tuned! If you would like to be interviewed please let me know. Privacy and names of course will be respected. Anyone interested can email me directly at middleeastrising@triad.rr.com.

Follow this Reporter Currently In Libya On Twitter For The Latest Updates

Follow Now! @Machahir123

Correspondent for Al Jazeera Arabic . All views expressed here are my own.

Angelina Jolie Visits Libya-Tunisia Border

It is amazing to me how many actors, actresses, singers and musicians that carry the power, money and a voice to make change in the world keep silent. But many do not! American actress Angelina Jolie is a courageous soul! She should be praised for stepping above the politics and bringing attention to those in need.

Obama Sends Armed Drones to Help NATO

President Obama has authorized the use of Armed Predator Drones to assist NATO against Gaddafi in Libya. It is about time we do something more as NATO seems quite incompetent to handle the situation. “The president has said that where we have some unique capabilities, he is willing to use those,” Defense Secretary Gates said at a Pentagon news conference. If we had stayed the course and used these "unique capabilities" from the begining this war would probably be over and so many Libyan live would not have been lost in the first place! But that would have been too easy right? Read the story from Washington here.

Palestinians ask Subaru to act against spoof ad!!

This is just sick!

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- The Palestinian Authority Wednesday called on the Israeli branch of Japanese automaker Subaru to take action after an apparent parody advertisement showed one of their cars hitting Palestinian youths.
The supposed advertisement, which appeared on several websites, showed a well-known picture of an Israeli settler leader running over stone-throwing boys in east Jerusalem last year in his Subaru vehicle.


Imposed over the scene was the Hebrew slogan: "See who will stand in your way..."
"It is not clear whether this is a genuine advertisement or whether someone is making use of the Subaru logo," a Palestinian government statement said.
Nevertheless, they said they had written to Subaru, urging them to take action against this "horrible use of a picture."
"We urge you to take all necessary steps to stop the circulation of this despicable and disgraceful ad and condemn it," the letter said.
Subaru's Tel Aviv office had no immediate response.
The picture came from an incident in October in which settler leader David Beeri hit and lightly injured two masked stone-throwing boys, aged 10 and 11, in the flashpoint Silwan neighborhood in east Jerusalem.
The incident was recorded by photographers and journalists who were there to cover the unrest that often follows Friday prayers.

Freedom Flotilla II

Just as Freedom Flotilla II Stay Human is set to sail in May, Israel is trying to flex its' muscle in a call to organizers of the Flotilla
(through the U.N) saying that the sailing would amount to "political provocation".
Really? Political provocation? I think political provocation is Israel trying to control the lives of million of people in the besieged Gaza Strip. I think the Israeli government having the audacity to think it has power to control how and when another people receives aid and what route it takes is political provocation! And most of all what I call political provocation is the fact that the U.S. (which is supposed to be an advocate for freedom) is going along with this hogwash.

Israel's UN Ambassador Meron Reuben told a UN Security Council session that 'individuals' (what individuals we do not know) associated with the Flotilla 'have connections to Hamas and other terrorist organizations'. Considering the fact that this time activists from the US have organized a US ship "The Audacity of Hope' USTOGAZA to join the Flotilla then I suppose Israel is saying we (citizens of the U.S.) have ties to Hamas and these "other" terrorist organizations. Really? The last time I checked I do not see the FBI arresting and questioning our peace activists in the US so it is obvious this is just another political smokescreen to protect and condone Israel's campaign of war crimes and atrocities aimed at the Palestinian people. 
US Ambassador Susan Rice said 'there are no justifications to sail directly to Gaza'. Seriously? What if other countries of the world started to dictate to the U.S. (and each other) how goods and services are delivered around their countries? Now everyone knows that would not work for a second! So what give us the right? Complete hypocrisy!
On another note the U.S. which is providing foreign military aid to Israel (costing the U.S. taxpayer $7,000,000 million dollars a day) has provided the funding for the Iron Dome rocket and missile defense system (to protect Israel from rocket attacks). Now consider this: if a country provided the people of the Gaza Strip with such a system or military aid to "protect" itself from Israel that would be considered terrorism and aiding the enemy! Huh? Go figure! Hypocrisy!!

Change.org Attacked By China

I received this email from Change.org.

The petition demanding the release of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has nearly 100,000 signatures.

Here's how we know it's really gotten Beijing’s attention: For the past three days, the Change.org website has been repeatedly targeted by cyber attacks coming from China that aim to bring our site down, which would keep people from signing the petition.

Our engineers are working around the clock to fend off the attacks and, for now, the petition is still up.

We need to let the Chinese government know that illegal tactics from within its borders won't stop the mounting pressure on them to release Weiwei. If you haven't already, please join nearly 100,000 Change.org members and add your name to the petition now.

To recap: Acclaimed dissident artist Ai Weiwei -- who helped design the famed “Bird’s Nest” stadium for China’s Olympics -- was arrested on April 3rd by Chinese security forces at the Beijing airport. His office and studio have been ransacked, and no one has heard from him since.

The international art community banded together, demanding his release -- and the directors of more than twenty leading museums (including the Tate Modern, Museum of Modern Art, and the Guggenheim) started a petition on Change.org that has garnered worldwide attention, including in the New York Times, LA Times, and Guardian.

The campaign has helped to give rise to an international outcry. Political leaders around the world are calling for Weiwei's release and activists have organized peaceful protests at Chinese embassies and consulates.

Autocratic governments know that the internet is a democratizing force, and they'll do everything they can to suppress online activism. Know that we stand with you for change, and that we will continue to fight to make sure your voice can be heard.

- Patrick and the Change.org team

P.S. Due to these repeated attacks, our site may be slower than usual or unavailable at times over the next few days. Thanks for your patience.

Picture Of The Day!

"Freedom Flotilla II - Stay Human"

To begin I would like to bring attention to the petition on the right side of my blog. The next voyage to break the siege on Gaza will be named "Freedom Flotilla - Stay Human" in honor of slain Italian peace activist Vittorio Arrigoni. "'Stay Human,' he would say, then grin and clench his pipe in his teeth." His mother also plans to be aboard because she said she "Wants to meet the people that her son spoke so highly of!" The Flotilla 2, organized by the international Free Gaza movement based in Cyprus, will comprise more than 15 ships and carry hundreds of peace activists and humanitarian supplies to the people of Gaza!

When Freedom Flotilla 1 sailed in May of 2010 carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials, with the intention of breaking Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, naval commandos (from Israel) boarded the ships from speedboats and helicopters (in international waters) and nine activists were killed and many wounded! The much needed supplies were confiscated by the Israeli government.

By signing this petition you can pressure our leaders to prevent this from happening again and ensure Israel will not use force to interfere!

Here is a video of what happened when Freedom Flotilla I sailed in May of 2010!

We must not let his happen again! Please share with your friends!

Until we meet again: "Stay Human!"

My First Post!

This is my first post in what I hope to be a continuing dialog to bring better understanding of events in the Middle East to the people of the world. There is much misunderstanding in the world and I believe one of the most misunderstood regions (by the Western World) is the Middle East. Hopefully I can play a small part in bringing you closer to enlightenment beyond the stories we see on CNN and our nightly news and share with you some of the stories that do not make the headlines.