Military Resistance:

thomasfbarton@earthlink.net

4.14.14

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Military Resistance 12D10

[Thanks to SSG N (retd) who sent this in. She writes: This is what we're fighting for?]

MILITARY NEWS

Media Organizations Have Produced Concrete Evidence Linking Military Service Members To Everything Dangerous That Could Kill Your Children
These Veterans Could Snap At Any Moment And Try To Eat Peoples Faces

He's going to snap any minute now. (Photo Credit: US Marines April 13, 2014 By drew, The Duffle Blog NEW YORK Media organizations have produced concrete evidence linking military service members to everything dangerous that could kill your children. This was an alarming statistic, said Julia Waters, a reporter with Huffington Post whos covered the military beat since last Tuesday. These veterans could snap at any moment and try to eat peoples faces. A Duffel Blog analysis of recent reporting on veterans in the wake of the Fort Hood shooting found a number of shocking revelations coming to light, including reports that everyone who deploys to Iraq for four months and sees no combat obviously needs to be committed to a mental health facility, and a new study that found veterans are eight times more likely to leave a tip less than 20% for their waitress. Do these heartless monsters realize just how terrible waitresses get paid? said veterans expert Anthony McKinnon, a random guy we found outside our office who was reading an incredible new BuzzFeed report that found some soldiers actually eat at Chilis. Noting that more than 2.6 million Americans had deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, Waters went on to explain the sheer terror of living in a community surrounded by dangerous veterans. Think about it, Waters said. 2.6 million killers, their minds wracked with PTSD, ready to kidnap blonde white girls. Statistics dont lie.

Indeed, other news organizations have produced their own share of statistics to highlight the dangerous trend that soldiers are Americans, and sometimes they kill other Americans. There are many other dangerous facts about veterans the public needs to be aware of, wrote McClatchy DC reporter Chris Adams in an article highlighting the many terrifying PTSD hotspots surrounding communities with families theres children there for Gods sake. For example, there are more reports of shark bites near Navy bases than Army bases. Landlocked countries without navies report zero shark attacks on their beaches. From the data its clear Navy sailors attract man-eating sharks. They also drink heavily and probably engage in butt chugging, he added.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nations ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.

The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose. Frederick Douglass, 1852

People do not make revolutions eagerly any more than they do war. There is this difference, however, that in war compulsion plays the decisive role, in revolution there is no compulsion except that of circumstances. A revolution takes place only when there is no other way out. And the insurrection, which rises above a revolution like a peak in the mountain chain of its events, can be no more evoked at will than the revolution as a whole. The masses advance and retreat several times before they make up their minds to the final assault. -- Leon Trotsky; The History of the Russian Revolution

Full Disclosure

The infamous ditch at My Lai: Photo by Mike Hastie From: Mike Hastie To: Military Resistance Newsletter Sent: April 13, 2014 Subject: Full Disclosure

On April 11, 2014, Brian Willson ( Vietnam veteran who witnessed atrocities in Vietnam ) and I interviewed Larry Colburn. Larry was on the helicopter piloted by Hugh Thompson during the My Lai Massacre. We interviewed him by phone at the KBOO radio station in Portland, Oregon. The interview was an hour long, which was taped, and will be aired at a later date after it is edited. Brian and I felt the interview went well, and we are looking forward to building a momentum of disclosing the truth about the Vietnam War with future radio guests. The picture included here is the infamous ditch at My Lai, where over 150 women and children were murdered at point-blank range by the U.S. Government. After Hugh Thompson landed his aircraft, which stopped the momentum of the killing, Larry Colburn, Thompson's door gunner and his crew chief Glenn Andreotta, walked over to this ditch and noticed there was a baby still alive. Andreotta jumped into the ditch and pried the baby away from its dead mother. With the child in his arms, and knee deep in bodies and blood, Colburn helped him out of the ditch by having Andreotta grab the stock of his rifle. Many Vietnamese civilians were saved by the actions of these three men. I took the picture of the ditch in late March 1994. It was very emotionally painful walking around this massacre site, feeling the intoxicating shame that numbed me for the rest of my time in Vietnam, and when I got back to the States. Three months after I got back to Portland, I was hospitalized with panic attacks. I got my suppressed rage out when I screamed in my hospital room that I hated the United States of America. Like so many other people I have met, it takes what it takes to give birth to the truth. 504 innocent Vietnamese civilians were murdered at My Lai on March 16, 1968. Most of the Vietnamese people throughout their country, were defending themselves against the American invasion. For the American people, national shame is a powerful part of denying the truth of what really happens in war. The unspeakable is what is revealed when one's belief system is destroyed at point-blank range. That is why " Full Disclosure " can be so terrifying to hear. Denial can no longer stand its ground. The My Lai Massacre is a metaphor for the horror of the Vietnam War. Mike Hastie Army Medic Vietnam Full Disclosure April 13, 2014

Photo from the portfolio of Mike Hastie, US Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71. (For more of his outstanding work, contact at: (hastiemike@earthlink.net) T) One day while I was in a bunker in Vietnam, a sniper round went over my head. The person who fired that weapon was not a terrorist, a rebel, an extremist, or a so-called insurgent. The Vietnamese individual who tried to kill me was a citizen of Vietnam, who did not want me in his country. This truth escapes millions. Mike Hastie U.S. Army Medic Vietnam 1970-71 December 13, 2004

Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraines Richest Man, Owns Most Of The Major Mines In Donetsk
In The Political Calculations Of The Pro-Putin Left, Akhmetov Becomes An Asset In The Anti-Imperialist Struggle
That He And Putin Can Been Seen In This Fashion Is A Worrisome Sign That The Left Has Lost Its Way
April 13, 2014 by Louis Proyect, Louisproyect.org/ [Excerpts] For many on the left, capitalist Russia today serves the same purpose as it did when it was the USSR, namely as a foil to imperialism. Perhaps one of the more revealing expressions of that came from long-time Marxist Roger Annis in Canada who wrote: Russias independence, and that of other, rising capitalist powers such as China and Brazil, is of considerable political consequence for the international working class. The frictions and conflicts between competing capitalist blocs create political and economic fissures through which peoples and countries can assert and defend their independent

interests. [http://www.rogerannis.com/what-stand-for-progressives-on-events-in-crimeaand-ukraine/] Implicit in this statement is that it is probably best for the rights of the Ukrainians to be violated if Venezuelas are respected. In the geopolitical chess game, sometimes a pawn has to be sacrificed to advance major pieces. One can imagine the excitement of such people when they read the Guardian article titled East Ukraine protesters joined by miners on the barricades that at first blush would lead you to believe that something like a Paris Commune was taking shape in Donetsk: Word spread quickly through the few hundred pro-Russian protesters in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine: The miners are coming! The crowd parted as a group of a dozen or so burly men in orange work helmets marched past barbed-wire and tyre barricades into the 11-storey administration building, which protesters seized last weekend as they demanded greater independence from Kiev. Glory to the miners the crowd began chanting. Glory to Donbass! they shouted, much as protesters at Kievs Euromaidan demonstrations had shouted Glory to Ukraine! before they ousted the president, Viktor Yanukovych, in February. The Guardian article mentions in passing that Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraines richest man, owns most of the major mines in Donetsk. He has played a balancing act ever since the crisis in Ukraine began. Although he was one of President Yanukovychs main backers prior to the crisis, he turned against him as the crisis deepened and instructed the Party of Regions parliamentarians he controlled to vote for his removal. Right now he is working with the governor of Donetsk to keep a lid on the revolt even as he is pushing for a settlement that is in line with Russias, namely a loose federation that would exclude NATO. In the political calculations of the pro-Putin left, Akhmetov becomes an asset in the anti-imperialist struggle. That he and Putin can been seen in this fashion is a worrisome sign that the left has lost its way. A close look at his role in the formation of the Party of Regions and the class realities of the Donetsk region might help to wake these people up, although given the advanced stage of their condition, the prognosis is guarded at best. Akhmetov, like a number of the oligarchs that Kyiv has appointed to run local governments in the eastern region, made his billions exactly like the Russian oligarchs, namely through their ability to leverage their bureaucratic positions in state industry to become CEOs of newly privatized companies.

Since the eastern regions were deeply intertwined with the Russian economy, they saw their fortunes tied up with Russia rather than Europe. So, in effect, the alignment with the Kremlin had more to do with protecting capital investments than advancing the working classs interests. Unlike the eastern half of the country, the west only became part of the USSR in 1939. The east, especially Donbass that included Donetsk, was a major development site for the USSR, which staffed its mines and factories with ethnic Russian workers and pretty much assigned management positions to Russian party chiefs. It was out of this administrative elite that the current-day oligarchs emerged. Once the USSR fell apart, the Donetsk miners learned that capitalism was no picnic. The mines remained as dangerous as ever. On average each million tons of Donbass coal costs two lives. By contrast, China has a rate of 0.7 deaths per million tons and just a tenth of this (0.02) in the United States. Like miners in the USA, however, the focus of Donetsk miners is preserving jobs no matter the consequences. Opposition to the Orange Revolution and Euromaidan rests on a fear that a tilt toward the EU will leave them high and dry. Yet there were ample signs that the people of Donetsk were ready to say goodbye to Yanukovych long before Euromaidan. Akhmetovs decision to cut the strings to his puppet must have taken his narrow base into account, much more so than Right Sector violence. On October 27, 2012 the Washington Post described a president that had lost his most reliable voters: Dismay with Ukraines ruling party has reached this eastern city, its strongest redoubt, yet the party is nonetheless on the verge of cementing its grip on power in Sundays parliamentary elections. This is coal-mining territory, Russian-speaking and industry-laden. It is President Viktor Yanukovychs home town and home to those who have prospered enormously during his presidency, known throughout Ukraine as The Family. Here, there is little but disdain for the leaders of the 2004 Orange Revolution, which thwarted Yanukovychs first bid for the top job after widespread voter intimidation and fraud. Here, he capped his wobbly comeback in 2010, when he took the presidency. Once, his Party of Regions could have counted on 70 percent of the vote in Donetsk. Those days are over. Polls suggest the party has about 30 percent support here now but that will be enough. His two years in power have taught ordinary Ukrainians not to expect much from Yanukovych. Nothing has been done to help the coal miners, said Anatoly Akimochkin, a leader of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine. Theres a feeling of betrayal, said Yevgeny Stratievsky, who writes for a political Web site.

People are dismayed by corruption, which sees the city paying double the market rate for nursery school lunches and about $2 more per gallon of gasoline than the pump price, said Yevgeny Senekhin, an activist with a group called the Democratic Alliance. In some ways the Ukraine is like another country that starts with Uthe United States. It has a two-party system in which you have the rough equivalent of the Democrats and the Republicans. The Party of Regions is supposed to be for the working people, even though oligarchs are in the drivers seat. Meanwhile, the politicians of the west are supposed to be worse because they are pals with the fascists (think in terms of the Tea Party) and are even more anxious to cut pensions and close down factories. So the poor voter holds his nose every few years and votes for the lesser evil. In 2008 I saw many people who should know better urging a vote for Obama because he was supposed to usher in a new New Deal. It did not matter to them that his chief economic advisers were U. of Chicago neoliberal economists. If you opposed Obama, you were naturally for Romney. This was the argument of the Communist Party that not surprisingly is one of the top defenders of Kremlin policy today. Opportunism has a way of seeping into every pore of the body politic.

CLASS WAR REPORTS

From Cairo To Suez, Egypt Workers Defy Military Government With Labor Strikes:
Businessmen In This Country Have Sucked The Blood Of The People

Our Movement Will Spread In The Face Of This Government

Sissi Will Try To Repress The Workers, But That Means There Will Be Another Revolution

Sabry Khaled/AP - In this photo taken Feb. 15, 2014, textile workers strike to demand a minimum wage, the removal of their company's head and the head of the firm's holding company, and back pay of yearly bonuses in Mahalla al-Kobra, Egypt. April 11 By Erin Cunningham, The Washington Post [Excerpts]. Sharaf Al-Hourani and Lara El-Gibaly contributed to this report. SUEZ, Egypt Strikes staged by thousands of Egyptian workers for higher wages and better working conditions in recent months are setting the stage for a possible confrontation between the impoverished laborers and a new president after elections this spring. The rallies and sit-ins that have crippled the postal service, textile factories and even public hospitals are still fragmented, largely uncoordinated and lack unified demands. But as the cash-strapped government moves to quash labor unrest in places such as Suez, the strikes underscore a social discontent that is still festering among Egypts working class and could evolve into a more solid opposition to the military-backed administration.

Businessmen in this country have sucked the blood of the people and the one who is responsible is Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, Ahmed Mahmoud, who heads the Cairo branch of the Independent Union for Public Transport Workers, said of the powerful former defense minister and now presidential hopeful. Sissi, who spearheaded the coup against Islamist President Mohamed Morsi last summer and recently resigned as military commander to run for the presidency, oversaw in February the mobilization of scores of army bus drivers to thwart a strike led by Mahmouds union. Sissis allies have included some of the corrupt businessmen and politicians who grew rich under former autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The army and police are stronger than us, Mahmoud, 49, said at a rally held by government postal workers outside the cabinet building in Cairo last month. Police had arrested and detained five postal employees in Alexandria, Egypts secondlargest city, the week before for leading strikes for better pay. But our movement will spread in the face of this government, he said. According to Hesham Sallam, co-editor of the Jadaliyya Web site published by the Washington-based Arab Studies Institute, workers needs have long been thwarted by regime-friendly opposition parties that claimed to speak for labor but who sought to keep the workers quiet. Both public- and private-sector strikers have so far focused their demands on higher salaries, increased hazard pay and, in some cases, implementation of a national minimum wage. In January, the government led by then-Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi failed to make good on its promise to grant all government workers a minimum monthly salary of about $172 up from $100. Instead, one-third of civil servants received a pay bump. More than a quarter of Egyptians live under the national poverty line of about $570 in annual income, according to the governments Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics. Over the past three years of political turmoil, prices of basic goods have skyrocketed because of inflation, a sinking Egyptian currency and the depletion of the countrys foreign currency reserves. We cant survive through the month, said Osama Rashed, a 38-year veteran of the postal service who said he receives a monthly salary of $143. Rashed and his colleagues, who were demonstrating outside the cabinet building on the same day as the transport workers, say the government eats into their paychecks with fees for such things as uniforms, chairs and ceiling fans in the summer goods that never materialize.

Arrests of workers, while sporadic, have sent some labor leaders underground and have angered their colleagues on the outside. The arrests scare the workers, but they also make them more defiant, Fatma Ramadan, an independent labor activist, said. Last month, a senior army commander in Suez helped eliminate the union leadership at a local factory belonging to international ceramics and porcelain producer Cleopatra Ceramics, according to workers. On March 3, Maj. Gen. Mohamed Shams summoned 23 of the unions first- and secondtier leaders to the areas army headquarters and threatened to have Egypts secret police investigate them for terrorism if they did not sign resignation letters and leave the company, Cleopatra workers and labor activists said. Factory owner Mohamed Aboul Enein and former Mubarak heavyweight ally had been locked in a years-long struggle with workers over a 2012 agreement for better salaries, overtime pay and food allowances. In a telephone interview, Enein said he was forced to sign the contract under duress, after employees barricaded him inside the factory overnight. These people belong to the Muslim Brotherhood, Enein said of the workers. The Egyptian government has banned the Muslim Brotherhood and declared the group a terrorist organization. But there is no evidence the union was acting on behalf of the Islamist group. They always ask for money, Enein said of the workers. They are criminals. But company labor leaders said Shamss and Eneins close advisers threatened to bring the leaders wives and children to the military base until they promised to leave. A spokesman for the Egyptian armed forces did not respond to requests for comment. They kept saying that if we did not sign, we would go to prison, said Ayman Nofal, one of the union members who was pushed out. The move has paralyzed worker organizing there, current employees said. Like any entity in power, the military does not want strikes, Ramadan said. If he becomes president, Sissi will try to repress the workers, but that means there will be another revolution, she said. They want democracy, but they also want their economic rights.

OCCUPATION PALESTINE

55,000 Palestinians In Occupied Jerusalem Have Had No Water For Over A Month:
The Israeli Gihon Water Company Cut Off The Water Supply Without Notice
"The Israeli Government Practices Organised Terrorism Against The Palestinian People In General And Against Jerusalemites In Particular To Force Them To Leave The City For Settlers We Will Not Leave Our Homes To Strangers
08 April 2014 & 10 April 2014; Middle East Monitor Some 55,000 Palestinians in the Shuafat refugee camp and the neighbourhoods of Ras El-Khaimah, Ras Shehadeh, Al-Awqaf and Daheyet As-Salam in East Jerusalem have had no water for over a month after the Israeli Gihon water company cut off the water supply without notice. Coordinator of the National Committee to Resist Judaisation Khader Dibs told the Saffa news site today that the water crisis is worsening by the day and could lead to the spread of diseases and that the residents are forced to buy water tanks to meet their needs. "The Israeli government practices organised terrorism against the Palestinian people in general and against Jerusalemites in particular to force them to leave the city for settlers and since Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power he has been exercising racism, murder and destruction of the Palestinians rights," Dibs said.

Dibs pointed out that the Israeli government is obliged to provide water to the camps' residents according to an agreement signed with UNRWA but Israel has been evading its obligations. He said residents had petitioned the Israeli High Court in Jerusalem which ordered the Jerusalem municipality and Gihon Company to resolve the crisis within 60 days. "We will not be intimidated by the occupation's practices and we will not leave our homes to strangers. We have many choices to gain our rights and end our people's suffering," Dibs said. A member of Shuafat's People Committee, Abdul Karim Shlodi, told Saffa that the residents will resort to the international courts if necessary to deal with their suffering and pointed out that the Association for Civil Rights is pursuing the case in the Israeli courts. Shlodi demanded the UN Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) assume its role and end their suffering. The Israeli Knesset ordered the Israeli Ministry of Water and Gihon Company in March to resolve the water problem and to provide water tanks to the affected residents until the water crisis is fully resolved. Chairman of Ras Khamis neighbourhood Development Committee Jameel Sandooqa demanded at the time Gihon Company to return the water supply to the neighbourhoods' residents . Indeed, the refugee camp has come under siege-like conditions since the construction of the apartheid wall last decade. Anyone leaving or entering into the camp has to go through an Israeli military checkpoint. The poverty rate for Palestinians living under occupation in East Jerusalem has risen during this time and is now almost 80 per cent, according to UN figures. Meanwhile, Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories enjoy an ample amount of water, used for lavish swimming pools and washing machines. They do not experience any of the suffering of those Palestinians living only a few metres away from them.

Palestinians Break Through Ghetto Wall In Bethlehems Aida Refugee Camp:

Dozens Of Tires Were Set Ablaze, Heavily Damaging The Sniper Tower And The Replaced Section Of The Wall
We Want To Send A Message That We Will Never Accept Living Under Occupation
In The End They Can Take Our Lives But They Can Never Take Our Freedoms!

Breakthrough: Maan Images/Mohammad Al-Azza March 27, 2014 by Adam Wolf, Mondoweiss.net & 03/25/2014 Maan. Additional photography for this article was provided by Mohammed Al-Azza. Al-Azza is the Media Director of the Lajee Center in Aida Refugee Camp. Please visit www.lajee.org for more information. ****************************************************************************

Israeli Border Policeman examines the damage. (Photo: Adam Wolf) Following the Israeli militarys recent surge of killings in the occupied territories the refugees of Aida camp in Bethlehem have renewed a campaign of resistance against the apartheid wall that encircles much of the camp. Israels apartheid wall has come to dominate life in the Aida refugee camp. Directly on the other side of the wall is the only green space that used to exist in Aida camp. Prior to the construction of the wall, refugees barbecued and harvested olives in the spot. In addition, a short distance away from the camp is a compound containing Rachels Tomb, believed to the burial site of the biblical figure, a yeshiva and an Israeli military base. The compound has sniper towers and multiple gates that provide the military direct access to Aida camp and Bethlehem. When the gate is open, visitors to Rachels Tomb often stand beside soldiers and peer into Aida. Before sunrise on Friday, March 21, the youth of Aida drilled a hole in a previously damaged section of the wall. Over the next several days, the Israeli military used various methods to repair the wall.

During these operations, the military used a range of weapons and tactics. Tear gas, flash grenades, rubber coated bullets, plastic coated bullets, and live ammunition were used, and the military occupied Palestinian homes and placed trigger happy snipers on rooftops. Every military assault was met with resistance from the youth of Aida refugee camp, armed only with stones and broken pieces of brick. While the Israeli military cordoned off the wall Saturday afternoon, contractors first installed a piece of sheet metal, ostensibly as a temporary solution. Within 30 minutes of the militarys exit from Aida, the camp youth battered the sheet metal off, leaving a hole that peered into the fields they used to enjoy. The military soon returned and began another assault that lasted until the evening. Sunday saw another full-day operation by the Israeli military. The only injuries inflicted upon the Israeli military occurred that morning, when two Israeli Border Police were injured. A brick dropped from above hit one soldier in the head resulting in a moderate injury. Another soldier was hit with a firecracker and was lightly injured. In response to the injured Border Policemen, the military arrested nine men from the Abu Akar home and took them to police stations for questioning. 57-year-old Mustafa Abu Akar was accused of dropping the brick on the Border Policeman, though he maintains his innocence. After being interrogated for 5 hours and held for 36 hours, Mustafa was released. All other family members have since been released. The attention of the camp turned away from the wall Sunday night to the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona soccer match. The ability of the refugees to endure a military assault and celebrate sports at night demonstrates the collective resilience of Aida in the face of everyday state violence. The Israeli military invaded again early Monday morning. Israeli contractors used an excavator to remove the foundational concrete of the wall. They then replaced the entire damaged section of the wall, and refilled the foundation with several feet of concrete. With soldiers and Border Police strategically placed throughout the camp, the area in near proximity to the damaged wall was relatively calm. Throughout the day, Border Police vehicles delivered fruit and meals. The soldiers could be seen sitting on the ground and rooftops while others fired tear gas and sniper rifles at the refugees.

Injuries And Arrests

On Friday evening, an Italian journalist was shot in the face with a rubber coated bullet as she attempted to flee. The bullet narrowly missed her eyeball. She had surgery the following day and is in recovery.

At least four young refugees were shot between Sunday, March 23rd and Monday the 24th. 15-year-old Ahmed Daajneh said he was been standing near the camp mosque, only looking at the action when he was shot with a rubber coated bullet in the left temple, narrowly missing his eyeball. His father described the mindset of the youth: In 2000, the airplanes shot two missiles at my house. This is nothing. The kids think its a game. Monday afternoon, two young Palestinian refugees said they were shot by Israeli snipers. 17-year-old Mohamed says tear gas canisters landed on both sides of him. He tried to run but was unable to see, and he was then shot with live ammunition in the left thigh. Several people helped Mohamed into a car and driven to the hospital. The doctor removed a bullet from his leg which he now carries in his pocket. He was unable to show me his wound because of the swelling of his leg made it difficult to remove his pants. Doctors have not given him any timetable for recovery. 22-year-old Ibrahim claims to have been sitting on the ground in the camp when he was shot with a rubber coated bullet in the cheek by a sniper. I didnt feel it at first, then my face felt like a balloon. Several youth helped him into a car where he was taken to the hospital. One man was shot in the leg. He declined to give testimony. On Monday night, the military appeared to have exited around 8 pm. Around 9 pm, plain clothed special forces assaulted a 20-year-old Palestinian man named Mutassim Alsurefee. Witnesses say the special forces beat and kicked him against a wall until he fell unconscious. Mutassims brother said soldiers beat him with the butt of a rifle. Alsurefee was then arrested and taken into custody. The military re-entered the camp simultaneously, taking positions to prevent access to the drying concrete. The mother of Mutassim demanded to know why they took her son. After initially refusing to speak to her, the commander informed her that he was suspected of tampering with the drying concrete, and if his hands and clothing were found to be clean, he would be released. The commander also said that a doctor had examined Alsurefee and that he was uninjured.

Numerous witnesses described the beating as extremely violent, making the commanders claim about the doctors evaluation doubtful. Mutassims brother reported that he is in Ofer prison and will speak with a lawyer. Mohammed Al-Azraq, a prominent activist in the camp, was arrested by Israeli soldiers early Wednesday morning. They forced entry into his home and destroyed his personal belongings. No one knows where he was taken, on what charges or when he might be released.

With Hundred Of Tear Gas Canisters Fired Throughout The Camp Every Day, Virtually Every Home Was Hit
With hundred of tear gas canisters fired throughout the camp every day, virtually every home was hit. Several windows were broken, and the burning hot canisters ignited fires. A local activist and Aida resident, Mohammed Lutfi, broke his foot while rescuing three children from tear gas an Israeli soldier fired into their home. The Al-Azza family reported that a tear gas canister broke the window to a bedroom. Ayad Al-Azza and his three daughters, ages 9, 4 and 2, huddled in the kitchen. He closed the bedroom door and put wet towels along the bottom to prevent tear gas from entering. The Malash house is directly across the street from the damaged portion of the wall and the adjacent Israeli military sniper tower. The youngest family member is Bissan, a baby girl born on March 12, just nine days before the latest assault on Aida began. The family attempted to completely seal the home to prevent tear gas from seeping in, though they found a leak in the kitchen foiled their attempt. The family sprayed perfume in a vain effort to counter the tear gas. Bissans aunt Sana said There was perfurme and tear gas, but no oxygen. I became nervous and started screaming. Bissan was in her crib in a bedroom room and suffered the effects of tear gas. Sana said Bissans skin turned pale and she was vomiting. Medics were called in and administered oxygen to Bissan. Again on Saturday tear gas seeped through the kitchen into the Malash house. The grandmother came outside frantic and screaming for medics to come. Ten-day-old Bissan suffered from tear gas inhalation again. Medics gave her medicine and administered oxygen. The following day, a doctor examined Bissan and told the family she must be admitted to Caritas baby hospital. Sana Malash said Bissan has developed acute bronchitis, and she is sometimes unable to sleep. The family hopes she will be released from the hospital soon.

With nowhere else to go, the Malash family worries about the future. If she comes here and they throw gas again, we dont know what will happen. I think she will go stay with another family, Sana Malash told me. Aida resident and activist Munther Amira says he told a soldier that small children were suffering from tear gas shot into their homes, to which the soldier replied Its not my problem.

The Resistance Escalates

After the relative quiet of Tuesday, the refugees sent a clear message to anyone who could see on Wednesday evening. Dozens of tires were set ablaze, heavily damaging the sniper tower and the replaced section of the wall. Thick black smoke billowed into the cool air for hours. As the fire died down, Israeli soldiers once again entered Aida and fired teargas to clear the vicinity of the fire. After approximately 30 minutes, they returned home. The damage was visible Thursday morning. The fire had destroyed chunks of concrete from the tower and the rebar skeleton was visible.

Smoke billows from the fire. (Photo: Adam Wolf)

Tires set ablaze on the sniper tower (Photo: Adam Wolf)

Using Journalists As Human Shields

During Saturdays initial assault, the Israeli military attempted to use myself and two other journalists as human shields. Under threat of arrest, the commander instructed us to march down a narrow street between the youth who were throwing rocks and where soldiers were firing teargas and rubber coated bullets. We refused to do so, and without explanation, the commander confiscated our press cards for approximately 90 minutes before returning them. That evening, as the soldiers were withdrawing from the camp, I was held at gunpoint. As they raised their weapons at me, I identified myself as a journalist, raised my hands and put my face and body against a wall.

They shouted at me in Hebrew, Arabic, and eventually English, saying go! I went where they pointed, and as they walked away a soldier threw a flash grenade a meter in front of me and another American journalist. The flash grenade created a blinding bright light and deafening bang, leaving my ears ringing for several hours. The soldiers are heard laughing as they walked away in footage filmed by the other American journalist.

A boy throws another tire onto the pile. (Photo: Adam Wolf)

Israeli Media Coverage

With the exception of a visit to Aida by two Haaretz journalists, the Israeli media turned a blind eye until the two Border Police were injured.

Three widely read Israeli media outlets falsely reported that the incident took place in Rachels Tomb, which is inside the heavily fortified military compound that Palestinians have no access to, rather than inside Aida refugee camp during an Israeli military assault. These echoed the claims of an IDF tweet. Ynetnews published a piece entitled Two Border Guard officers wounded in Rachels Tomb. Arutz Sheva reported that Palestinian Arab terrorists rioted at Rachels Tomb which resulted in the injury of the two Israeli military injuries. The article asserted that Arabs from the village of Al Aida attacked Border Policemen at Rachels Tomb. Of course, there is no village called Al Aida. More notable is that the article claimed that a military source said the 9 meter tall walls surrounding the compound have proved insufficient to provide security and a roof may be built over Rachels Tomb. Israel Hayom appears to have twice reported the same incident, one being the incorrect location and the other being inside Aida camp. The article claims that dozens of Palestinians began throwing stones and hurling Molotov cocktails at security forces stationed near Rachels Tomb, on the outskirts of Bethlehem. A similar riot was noted in the nearby al-Aida refugee camp. Though media outlets may turn a blind eye, the thick black smoke that filled the sky sent a clear message. In the words of an Aida refugee and activist who wished to remain anonymous, we want to return to all of Palestine and dont want to live under occupation and inside camps. We want to send a message that we will never accept living under occupation. In the end they can take our lives but they can never take our freedoms! Local popular committee member Munthir Amira told Ma'an that Israeli special forces raided the Bethlehem-area refugee camp on Monday evening and detained 24-year-old Muatasim Basim Abu Khdeir. Israeli forces also opened fire on the car of Associated Press photographer Iyad Hamad as he was covering the clashes. Aida camp is a frequent site of clashes because it is located beside Rachel's Tomb, which is surrounded on three sides by the Israeli separation wall despite being in the middle of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. Israeli forces shot more than 20 youths with rubber-coated steel bullets and live bullets during clashes that occurred almost daily in December and January, and clashes continue to break out occasionally in the area. There are 19 refugee camps in the occupied West Bank, within which live about a quarter of the 771,000 registered refugees in the territory.

More than 760,000 Palestinians -- estimated today to number 4.8 million with their descendants -- were pushed into exile or driven out of their homes in the conflict surrounding Israel's creation in 1948. To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation commanded by foreign terrorists, go to: http://www.maannews.net/eng/Default.aspx and http://www.palestinemonitor.org/list.php?id=ej898ra7yff0ukmf16 The occupied nation is Palestine. The foreign terrorists call themselves Israeli.

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

Nation Stunned To Learn Congress Accomplished Something Fifty Years Ago

President Lyndon Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act, 1964. Photograph courtesy Cecil Stoughton, White House Press Office. April 13, 2014 by Andy Borowitz, The Borowitz Report WASHINGTON Millions of Americans were in a state of shock this past week after learning that Congress had accomplished something fifty years ago. Although the incident was widely reported throughout the week, the revelation that Congress had achieved something positive and substantial for the country a half century ago left many incredulous and baffled.

Adding to their disbelief were reports that the accomplishment came as the result of collaboration between a Democrat in the White House and Republicans in Congress. Making the scenario even more far-fetched, politicians of both parties came to an agreement without the interference of corporate paymasters operating them like puppets. Tracy Klugian, thirty-four, was one of many Americans who found the whole thing hard to swallow. I searched for it on Google, and its true: Congress did actually get something done for the good of the country and all, he said. Still, when I first heard about it, it sounded like a hoax.

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