Overnight Music Video - Joe Cocker - Noubliez Jamais

"The War On Christianity" Syria - Military chief of the armed opposition: " ultimatum to Christians: Leave Qusayr".

"The War On Christianity" Syria - Military chief of the armed opposition: " ultimatum to Christians: Leave Qusayr".(VI).An exodus of Christians is taking place in Western Syria: the Christian population has fled the city of Qusayr, near Homs, following an ultimatum issued by the military chief of the armed opposition, Abdel Salam Harba. This is what local sources told Vatican news agency Fides, pointing out that since the conflict broke out, only a thousand of the city’s ten thousand faithful, were left and they are now being forced to flee immediately. Some of the city’s mosques have issued the message again, announcing from the minarets: “Christians must leave Qusayr within six days, ending Friday.”
The ultimatum therefore expired on 8 June and spread fear among the Christian population which had started to regain hope as a result of the presence of the Jesuit Fr. Paolo Dall’Oglio, who stopped off in Qusayr for a week to “pray and fast in the name of peace, right in the midst of conflict.” The reasons for this ultimatum remain a mystery. Some say it is necessary in order to protect faithful from further suffering; other sources reveal “a continuity in discrimination and selective repression.”
Others still claim that Christians have openly expressed their loyalty to the state and this is why the opposition army is chasing them away. Now Christian families in Qusayr have begun their exodus as displaced persons, towards the surrounding valleys and rural areas. Some have taken refuge in parents’ and friends’ homes in Damascus. Very few families have courageously decided to stay behind in their birth city but who knows what fate will meet. Fides sources have reiterated that groups of Salafi Islamic extremists within the armed opposition consider Christians as “infidels”; they confiscate their belongings, carry out mass executions and are ready to declare a “denominational war”.Hmmmm..........“Violence does not build up the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity. On the contrary, it is a favorite instrument of the Antichrist, however idealistic its religious motivation may be,” ~ Pope Benedict XVI . Read the full story here.

Video - Iranian Basij Commander General Mohammad Reza Naqdi: If Israel Attacks Iran, It Will Be the "Last Stupid Act in Its History"

Following are excerpts from an interview with Iranian General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, commander of the Basij, which aired on Al-Manar TV on May 28, 2012.

General Mohammad Reza Naqdi: Israel is much too small to carry out [an attack]. The [Israeli] statements serve only to amuse the terrified tyrants, who say: “We are here.” If Israel commits even the slightest mistake or the slightest act of stupidity, it will be the last stupid mistake in its life. Any stupid military act that Israel carries out will be the last stupid act in the history of Israel. Israel is not capable of harming Iran. We consider this laughable. 
It’s not just about Iran. If Israel attacks any people in the region, it will be the last mistake Israel makes. They tried this mistake twice in South Lebanon and several times in Gaza, in an area of no more than several square kilometers, and they failed. The Gaza Strip is no larger than the smallest city in Iran. They could do nothing there, so how could they possibly fight Iran?Source: Memri.

French student jailed one month for attending May 1 celebrations in Turkey.

French student jailed one month for attending May 1 celebrations in Turkey.(HD).A French university student of Turkish origin who came to Turkey from France to study as part of the Erasmus program has been under arrest for one month on charges of attending May 1 celebrations, daily Milliyet reported today. The 19-year-old woman, Sevil Sevimli, who has lived in France since she was born, came to the central Anatolian province of Eskişehir 10 months ago as part of a university exchange program after she decided it was a good opportunity to get to know her original homeland, Turkey, better. Six students including Sevimli were arrested in Eskişehir on May 10 during operations against the DHKP/C terrorist organization. The woman has been accused of attending a concert by the left-wing band "Grup Yorum" held in Istanbul on April 12, participating in May 1 celebrations, hanging a banner for free education and more, according to Sevimli's lawyer. "I am a leftist person, I was reading all the leftist journals in France," Sevimli said. "I hung a banner at school once after I heard about the campaign for free education conducted by Turkish students, as I know the economic problems. It is not an illegal action. I am a student, and I have no links with any organizations."Hmmmm......"Liberté, égalité, fraternité." not in Turkey it seems.Read the full story here.

"Finally" - Zeal of Turkey’s ruling Islamists worries EU diplomats.

"Finally" - Zeal of Turkey’s ruling Islamists worries EU diplomats.(AA).European Union diplomats are expressing growing concern at what they see as the increasingly militant stance taken by Turkey’s ruling Islamists. They accuse Ankara of using probes into alleged plots against the government as a tool to jail and silence opponents and compromise the country’s secular credentials by introducing Koran studies in public schools. 
Other measures include lowering the age at which parents can send their children to Islamic religious schools, increasing pressure on those criticizing Islam and restricting abortion. Turkish authorities accuse the so-called Ergenekon network of being behind several plots to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Dozens of retired or serving senior military figures, intellectuals, lawyers and journalists have been put behind bars.
On Thursday Stefan Fuele, European commissioner for enlargement, cited this and other obstacles in the way of Turkey’s membership bid while in Istanbul for talks. “I have used this meeting to convey our concerns about the increasing detention of lawmakers, academics and students and the freedom of press and journalists,” he said. Changes due to take effect when the new academic year starts this autumn also have also ruffled feathers. The Islamist-rooted ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government is introducing Quran lessons. And from the end of primary school, more parents will be able to opt out of the secular education system and send their children to Islamic religious schools. Previously these schools could not recruit children under the age of 15: now children as young as 11 will be allowed to attend. 
There is concern too over plans by state broadcaster TRT to launch a religious channel and proposals for prayer rooms in newly built public buildings such as creches, theatres and even opera houses. “A series of recent moves show that the conservative tendency has the upper hand and faces no opposition,” said Marc Pierini, a former head of the EU diplomatic team in Turkey. “Civil society exists, but it is hardly audible,” said one Ankara-based diplomat. “The media are for the most part directly or indirectly controlled by the AKP and the opposition is powerless,” the diplomat added.
Plans to restrict the abortion laws and other moves that critics say will would make Islam a more visible part of daily life are added areas of concern. Turkey’s acclaimed composer and pianist Fazil Say faces trial in October on charges of insulting religious values in a series of provocative tweets about Islam. If convicted, he could face up to 18 months in prison. In April, Say told the Hurriyet daily that he felt completely ostracized by Turkish society since having declared that he was an atheist, an experience that for him highlighted a growing culture of intolerance.
One European diplomat in Istanbul remarked: “It’s not just the fact that he is being put on trial, but also what the pro-government newspaper Sabah says, which has made a hero out of the guy who denounced him.” Sabah has lavished praise on the person who alerted the authorities to Say’s comments on Twitter, with one headline describing him as “The man who gives no respite to the enemies of Islam”. Erdogan has also just announced that a giant mosque is to be built on one of Istanbul’s most hills, which will become one of the city’s most visible landmarks. This latest announcement on top of the other developments have been seized on by the critics of Erdogan and the AKP, who suspect the government has a covert agenda to promote Islam -- and undermine Turkey’s secular traditions. “He fuelled this debate himself recently with certains utterances, one example being that he and his party wanted to see ‘the emergence of a religious generation’,” noted Semih Idiz, a leader writer for Milliyet newspaper.Hmmmmm.......Obama's BFF, the man he has a 'trusted relationship' with."A man is known by the company he keeps"?Read the full story here.

"Harakiri" - Flame Operators Command Software to Remove Itself from Infected Machines to Make Further Analysis More Difficult.

"Harakiri" - Flame Operators Command Software to Remove Itself from Infected Machines to Make Further Analysis More Difficult.(CIO).Via: Cryptogon.The creators of the Flame cyber-espionage threat ordered infected computers still under their control to download and execute a component designed to remove all traces of the malware and prevent forensic analysis, security researchers from Symantec said on Wednesday. Flame has a built-in feature called SUICIDE that can be used to uninstall the malware from infected computers. 
However, late last week, Flame’s creators decided to distribute a different self-removal module to infected computers that connected to servers still under their control, Symantec’s security response team said in a blog post. The module is called browse32.ocx and its most recent version was created on May 9, 2012. “It is unknown why the malware authors decided not to use the SUICIDE functionality, and instead make Flamer perform explicit actions based on a new module,” the Symantec researchers said. However, even though it is similar in functionality to the SUICIDE feature — both being able to delete a large number of files associated with the malware — the new module goes a step further. “It locates every [Flame] file on disk, removes it, and subsequently overwrites the disk with random characters to prevent anyone from obtaining information about the infection,” the Symantec researchers said. “This component contains a routine to generate random characters to use in the overwriting operation. It tries to leave no traces of the infection behind.”Hmmmmm....."The ultimate cyber ninja?"Read the full story here.

Egypt’s Mubarak in critical condition, ‘slipping in, out of consciousness’.

Egypt’s Mubarak in critical condition, ‘slipping in, out of consciousness’.(AA).Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s health is in critical condition, with reports that he is slipping in and out of consciousness, a security official said on Sunday. Mubarak was sent to prison on June 2 to begin serving a life sentence after being found guilty of failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising that overthrew him in 2011. Since then, his health has been rapidly deteriorating, according to Egyptian media reports, with rumors of his death spreading rapidly. “The former president’s health is in decline, but now it’s stable in its deteriorated state,” an Egyptian official told The Associated Press news agency. Authorities have granted his wife, former first lady Suzanne Mubarak, and the couple’s two daughters-in-law special permission to visit him in Cairo’s Torah prison early on Sunday. Since his wife’s visit, Mubarak has suffered from an irregular heartbeat and required assistance in breathing, AP reported. The official told AP that the former president now lives only on liquids and yogurt. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. On Wednesday, prison sources told Al Arabiya that Mubarak’s health is “severely deteriorating.” Sources inside Cairo’s Tora said that Mubarak collapsed following visits on Monday by his wife Suzanne, and his sons Alaa and Gamal. His wife reportedly sobbed after she saw him in a prison suit. Alaa was reportedly moved to a cell near his father, whose personal doctors were not allowed to oversee his health condition. Egypt’s state news agency said “the severe deterioration in the former president’s condition” prompted prison staff to bring in a medical team from the interior ministry. He was given sedatives and placed under observation, it added. It said the family visit, the first since his sentencing, caused him to suffer from depression, prompting him to stop eating. Mubarak’s health is reported to have collapsed since his June 2 conviction. His life sentence saw him transferred immediately to a prison hospital, instead of the military hospital and other facilities where he had been held since his April 2011 arrest. Mubarak’s two sons Alaa and Gamal, who are still in detention, were acquitted on June 2 of corruption charges, but still face separate charges of insider trading. Authorities have turned down several requests by Mubarak’s family to transfer the ousted president back to a military facility, the official said. On Saturday Mubarak’s wife was denied access to the Intensive Care Unit where he was placed, as authorities limit family visitations to one a month. According to security officials quoted by al-Masry al-Youm daily, Mrs. Mubarak lashed out at wardens for not giving her husband permission to seek treatment outside the prison. “You will be responsible for his death,” she allegedly said.Read the full story here.

"FORWARD" - U.S. Army Vessel Grounds itself Near Kodiak to Avoid Sinking.

"FORWARD" - U.S. Army Vessel Grounds itself Near Kodiak to Avoid Sinking.(KTUU).By By Matthew Simon, Chris Klint and AP.KODIAK, Alaska—

A U.S. ArmyReserve vessel that struck an object and began taking on water late Friday night grounded on a small island near Kodiak to avoid sinking, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

According to Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Grant DeVuyst and radio station KMXT, the crew of the landing craft Monterrey, assigned to the 481st Transportation Company in Vallejo, Calif., placed a mayday call after the vessel hit Humpback Rock in Chiniak Bay at 10:16 p.m.

Maj. Annmarie Daneker, an Army Reserve media relations officer, said the Monterrey’s crew of 16 to 18 people subsequently grounded on Puffin Island at the request of the Coast Guard.

An Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter launched at 10:44 p.m. to assist the Monterrey, and the good Samaritan fishing vessels Resolution and Peggy Joe also responded to the scene. Two Monterrey crew members with minor injuries were transported to Kodiak aboard the Peggy Joe.

The Coast Guard says the Monterrey may be carrying up to 40,000 gallons of diesel fuel. Two tanks aboard the 174-foot landing craft were reportedly damaged and leaking 15,291 gallons of fuel, and the Coast Guard has contracted with Alaska Chadux Corp. to contain and clean up the leak.

DeVuyst said Alaska Chadux’s initial steps include setting up three containment booms around the Monterrey, in the area of the spill and around the mouth of the Buskin River. The firm has also contracted a skimming vessel to clean up oil between the Monterrey’s initial impact point and the site of its grounding.

A report from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation suggested that the damaged tank had completely emptied. Four response vessels were on scene as of noon Saturday, with an estimated 3,000 total feet of containment boom deployed so far.

In a Saturday statement from the Coast Guard, Daneker thanked those who responded to the grounding.Read the full story here.

Canada - Farsi classes funded by Canadian public school system use Iranian textbook that depicts Jews as apes.

Canada - Farsi classes funded by Canadian public school system use Iranian textbook that depicts Jews as apes.(YNet).While Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper believes Iran is the biggest threat to world peace and security, some Canadian school kids taking Persian weekend classes, study from Iranian text books depicting Jews as "sons of apes", Canadian network Sun News reported.
In an interview with The Source, Director of the International and Terrorist Intelligence Program at INSIGNIS Strategic Research Inc. David Harris noted that textbooks issued by the Iranian Education Ministry have made their way into public Canadian schools. "Ottawa Carlton Public School Board, a publically funded school board had until 2011 allowed its courses in Farsi on the weekend to use Iranian Ministry of Education textbooks." Harris noted.
"These textbooks included hate literature that included the glorifying of a 13-year old child soldier who had strapped a grenade to himself and blown himself up under an Iraqi tank during the Iran-Iraq war. We've also seen multiple pictures of Ayatollah Khamenei." Harris noted that "these books were given to elementary school students, and even third graders," adding that "Israel of course was vilified. "The Israeli soldiers (in the book) looked ape-like and very much reminiscent of the popular Jihadist portrayal of Jews as the 'sons of apes,'" he said.
"There was a grade three text that portrayed a situation in which a six-year-old Palestinian was instructing his three-year-old brother how to stone Israeli soldiers, and then the passage ends with one of the soldiers beating the young child over the head with blood flowing everywhere." Asked whether Canadian Authorities have done anything to remove the textbooks, Harris noted that the response was unsatisfactory. "We know that some objections were made to senior board officials. The board has since issued a rather vague kind of statement (about) how they then did some sort of review and response to the objections and removed a few images, as they put it, in one story. "Iranian Canadians that have exposed this have emphasized their conviction that the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa in various senses was involved in facilitating this, thereby hijacking in effect an Ottawa Carlton School Board course," he noted. Canada has seen a few anti-Semitic incidents in the past year. In august, culprits sprayed anti-Semitic hate slogans in a synagogue in Toronto. According to a report by CTV news network, employees found slogans reading: "Islam will rule" and swastikas drawn on the walls of the synagogue.Hmmmmm........"Never Again?" there are surely enough preparing for it.Read the full story here.More here.

When it comes to Israel: "World Leaders Ignore International Law".

                      Israel's 'Strongest Ally'


When it comes to Israel: "World Leaders Ignore International Law".(MythsandFacts).By Eli E. Hertz.The U.S. Administration, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia's decision to rewrite history by labeling the Territories 'Occupied Territories,' the Settlements as an 'Obstacle to Peace' and 'Not Legitimate,' thus endowing them with an aura of bogus statehood and a false history. The use of these dishonest loaded terms, empowers terrorism and incites Palestinian Arabs with the right to use all measures to expel Israel.

The Jewish People's Right to the Land of Israel

The "Mandate for Palestine" & the Law of War

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, United States President Barack Obama, and the European Union Foreign Affairs Chief Catherine Ashton became victims to the 'Occupation' mantra their own organization has repeated over and over in their propaganda campaign to legitimize the Arab position.

Continuous pressure by the "Quartet" (U.S., the European Union, the UN and Russia) to surrender parts of the Land of Israel are contrary to international law as stated in the "Mandate for Palestine" document, that in article 6 firmly call to "encourage ... close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands and waste lands not required for public purposes." It also requires, under Article 5 of the Mandate to "seeing that no Palestine territory shall be ceded or leased to, or in any way placed under the control of the government of any foreign power."

Any attempt by the World Leaders to negate the Jewish people's right to Palestine - Eretz-Israel, and to deny them access and control in the area designated for the Jewish people by the League of Nations, is a serious infringement of international law, and as such - illegitimate.

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International Law - The "Mandate for Palestine"

The "Mandate for Palestine" an historical League of Nations document, laid down the Jewish legal right under international law to settle anywhere in western Palestine, the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, an entitlement unaltered in international law. Fifty-one member countries - the entire League of Nations - unanimously declared on July 24, 1922:

"Whereas recognition has been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country."

On June 30, 1922, a joint resolution of both Houses of Congress of the United States unanimously endorsed the "Mandate for Palestine":

"Favoring the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.

"Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That the United States of America favors the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which should prejudice the civil and religious rights of Christian and all other non-Jewish communities in Palestine, and that the holy places and religious buildings and sites in Palestine shall be adequately protected." [italics in the original]

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Law of War - Arab Unlawful Acts of Aggression in 1948

Six months before the War of Independence in 1948, Palestinian Arabs launched a series of riots, pillaging, and bloodletting. Then came the invasion of seven Arab armies from neighboring states attempting to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state in accordance with the UN's 1947 recommendation to Partition Palestine, a plan the Arabs rejected.

The Jewish state not only survived, it came into possession of territories - land from which its adversaries launched their first attempt to destroy the newly created State of Israel.

Israel's citizens understood that defeat meant the end of their Jewish state before it could even get off the ground. In the first critical weeks of battle, and against all odds, Israel prevailed on several fronts.

The metaphor of Israel having her back to the sea reflected the image crafted by Arab political and religious leaders' rhetoric and incitement. Already in 1948 several car bombs had killed Jews, and massacres of Jewish civilians underscored Arab determination to wipe out the Jews and their state.

6,000 Israelis died as a result of that war, in a population of 600,000. One percent of the Jewish population was gone. In American terms, the equivalent is 3 million American civilians and soldiers killed over an 18-month period.

Israel's War of Independence in 1948 was considered lawful and in self-defence as may be reflected in UN resolutions naming Israel a "peace loving State" when it applied for membership at the United Nations. Both the Security Council (4 March, 1949, S/RES/69) and the UN General Assembly (11 May, 1949, (A/RES/273 (III)) declared:

"[Security Council] Decides in its judgment that Israel is a peace-loving State and is able and willing to carry out the obligations contained in the Charter ..."

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Arab Unlawful Acts of Aggression in 1967

In June 1967, the combined armies of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan attacked Israel with the clear purpose expressed by Egypt's President: "Destruction of Israel." At the end of what is now known as the Six-Day War, Israel, against all odds, was victorious and in possession of the territories of Judea and Samaria [E.H., The West Bank], Sinai and the Golan Heights.

International law makes a clear distinction between defensive wars and wars of aggression. More than half a century after the 1948 War, and more than four decades since the 1967 Six-Day War, it is hard to imagine the dire circumstances Israel faced and the price it paid to fend off its neighbors' attacks.

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Who Starts Wars Does Matter

Professor, Judge Stephen M. Schwebel, past President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) states the following facts:

"The facts of the June 1967 'Six Day War' demonstrate that Israel reacted defensively against the threat and use of force against her by her Arab neighbors. This is indicated by the fact that Israel responded to Egypt's prior closure of the Straits of Tiran, its proclamation of a blockade of the Israeli port of Eilat, and the manifest threat of the UAR's [The state formed by the union of the republics of Egypt and Syria in 1958] use of force inherent in its massing of troops in Sinai, coupled with its ejection of UNEF.

"It is indicated by the fact that, upon Israeli responsive action against the UAR, Jordan initiated hostilities against Israel. It is suggested as well by the fact that, despite the most intense efforts by the Arab States and their supporters, led by the Premier of the Soviet Union, to gain condemnation of Israel as an aggressor by the hospitable organs of the United Nations, those efforts were decisively defeated.

"The conclusion to which these facts lead is that the Israeli conquest of Arab and Arab-held territory was defensive rather than aggressive conquest."

Judge Sir Elihu Lauterpacht wrote in 1968, one year after the 1967 Six-Day War:

"On 5th June, 1967, Jordan deliberately overthrew the Armistice Agreement by attacking the Israeli-held part of Jerusalem. There was no question of this Jordanian action being a reaction to any Israeli attack. It took place notwithstanding explicit Israeli assurances, conveyed to King Hussein through the U.N. Commander, that if Jordan did not attack Israel, Israel would not attack Jordan.

"Although the charge of aggression is freely made against Israel in relation to the Six-Days War the fact remains that the two attempts made in the General Assembly in June-July 1967 to secure the condemnation of Israel as an aggressor failed. A clear and striking majority of the members of the U.N. voted against the proposition that Israel was an aggressor."

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Israel Has the Better Title to the Territory of Palestine, Including the Whole of Jerusalem

International law makes it clear: All of Israel's wars with its Arab neighbors were in self-defence.

Professor, Judge Schwebel, wrote in What Weight to Conquest:

"(a) a state [Israel] acting in lawful exercise of its right of self-defense may seize and occupy foreign territory as long as such seizure and occupation are necessary to its self-defense;
"(b) as a condition of its withdrawal from such territory, that State may require the institution of security measures reasonably designed to ensure that that territory shall not again be used to mount a threat or use of force against it of such a nature as to justify exercise of self-defense;
"(c) Where the prior holder of territory had seized that territory unlawfully, the state which subsequently takes that territory in the lawful exercise of self-defense has, against that prior holder, better title.
"... as between Israel, acting defensively in 1948 and 1967, on the one hand, and her Arab neighbors, acting aggressively, in 1948 and 1967, on the other, Israel has the better title in the territory of what was Palestine, including the whole of Jerusalem, than do Jordan and Egypt."

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"No legal Right Shall Spring from a Wrong"

Professor Schwebel explains that the principle of "acquisition of territory by war is inadmissible" must be read together with other principles:

"... namely, that no legal right shall spring from a wrong, and the Charter principle that the Members of the United Nations shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State."

Simply stated: Arab illegal aggression against the territorial integrity and political independence of Israel, cannot and should not be rewarded.

Professor Julius Stone, a leading authority on the Law of Nations, stated:

"Territorial Rights Under International Law.... By their [Arab countries] armed attacks against the State of Israel in 1948, 1967, and 1973, and by various acts of belligerency throughout this period, these Arab states flouted their basic obligations as United Nations members to refrain from threat or use of force against Israel's territorial integrity and political independence. These acts were in flagrant violation inter alia of Article 2(4) and paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of the same article."

Thus, under international law Israel acted lawfully by exercising its right to self-defence when it redeemed and legally reoccupied Judea and Samaria, known also as the West Bank.

Legalities aside, before 1967 there were no Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and for the first ten years of so-called occupation there were almost no Jewish settlers in the West Bank. And still there was no peace with the Palestinians. The notion that Jewish communities pose an obstacle to peace is a red herring designed to blame Israel for lack of progress in the 'Peace Process' and enable Palestinian leadership to continue to reject any form of compromise and reconciliation with Israel as a Jewish state. Guest Comment: This is a history lesson that must be repeated over and over again so the "pundits" and the media finally GET IT! These facts have been conveniently forgotten – by Jews and non-Jews alike - in order to delegitimize Israel. Why would Jews rather see Israel as a vassal of the Arab world than as an independent Jewish State is beyond all comprehension. Before 1967, the year Israel redeemed the land of Judea and Samaria (to which many who are up to delegitimize Israel call "West Bank"), an ancient Jewish land that by modern international law belongs to the Jewish nation, there were no Jewish settlements in what Jordan named West Bank, and for the first ten years of the so-called occupation, following the Six Day War, there were almost no Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Yet, there was no peace with the Arab-Palestinians. The notion that Jewish communities built in Judea and Samaria pose an obstacle to peace is a red herring designed to blame Israel for lack of progress in the 'Peace Process' and enable Arab- Palestinian leadership to continue to reject any form of compromise and reconciliation with Israel as a Jewish state. Nurit G.