JULY 2004

STOP PRESS
the abyssmally stupid americans have let george bush develop as hitler re-wired

The White House will neither confirm or deny the report, which suggests Congress might be asked to grant the powers to the election commission.

It is not clear where the final decision would be taken in the event of a terror attack.

However, a senior Democrat, Jane Harman in Congress has signalled her opposition...Jane Harmanon the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, said such a proposal would be "excessive based on what we know".
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WILL THE JEWS EVENTUALLY BE DRIVEN FROM AMERICA!!!

'Ambassador' Dennis Ross whom the 'even-handed' Americans insisted be the top 'peace process negotiator' for a decade or so between Israel and the Palestinians,after immediately moving from the U.S. government payroll to that of Washington's powerful Israeli-Jewish lobby -- with which he was formerly associated by the way -- Ross has gone to work directly for the Jewish Agency and the Israelis urging still more Jews worldwide to 'return to the promised land' and settle in 'the Jewish state'.

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July 7, 2004. Crescent Valley, NV. In spite of heavy opposition from the Western Shoshone Nation, Wednesday morning, the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill was signed into "law" by George W. Bush, President of the United States. The bill would authorize an alleged payoff of approximately 15 cents an acres for tens of millions of acres of disputed lands in Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California.
A majority of tribal councils, representing approximately 80% of the population, the Western Shoshone National Council and all the traditional people strongly oppose the bill, they are supported by the National Congress of American Indians and Amnesty International. This formal opposition was apparently ignored however and an undocumented, unverified straw poll was used instead by the Bush Administration and Nevada legislators to justify the legislation.

White House staffer Jennifer Farley, Deputy Associate Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, informed one Shoshone Tribal Chairman that the bill was "red hot". The significance of the issue to the White House is apparent: Copies of Assistant Secretary of Interior Stephen J. Griles' calendars reflect meetings with Interior Department legal staff, including Bush's Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals nominee, William Myers, regarding "Western Shoshone Trespass (Dann Sisters)" just six months before the Department of Interior started military-style seizures of livestock owned by Western Shoshone traditionalists, including grandmothers Mary and Carrie Dann.

The land base at issue is the third largest gold producing area in the world and cited by a 1999 Interior report as the number one investment opportunity for extraction companies. It is also the site where the nation's nuclear waste repository would be located, Yucca Mountain, and the home to the Nevada Test Site and Federal Counterterrorism Facility where the Bush Administration has talked of reopening nuclear testing. Both Bush and his political advisor Karl Rove, have made personal visits to Nevada in the last thirty days.

"I am utterly disappointed. It's unbelievable that the U.S. body that makes the laws has acted in this manner. The fight is not over. A fraud is a fraud - Individuals cannot sell out a nation and the bill, although a threat politically, does nothing to change our inherent rights or our Treaty rights. Congress and the President were informed of all the facts that touch upon this issue. We will use the Treaty of Ruby Valley to stop Yucca Mountain and to protect our lands. Our title is still intact." Stated Raymond Yowell, Western Shoshone National Council.

"The self-described, private group who pushed for this money are not members of any federally-recognized council and have no authority to speak on behalf of our Tribe or the Western Shoshone Nation. The Nevada legislators and the Bush Administration have been well- advised of this fact. The way this legislation was handled makes an absolute sham of the stated government to government relationship and responsibility of the U.S. government." Stated Hugh Stevens, Chairman of the Te-Moak Tribe of the Western Shoshone Nation. "Senator Reid has made numerous public commitments regarding resolving land issues for our communities. We will be looking for him to stand by that commitment in an expeditious fashion. We demand that our land issues be resolved in good faith in the same "hot line" fashion as the distribution." He added.

Mary Gibson, Western Shoshone states: "It's not over, we still exist and we still have our rights to our land. It makes me sad and angry that myths continue to cloud the Truth in this country. This struggle isn't a Shoshone v. Shoshone battle, the underlying issue here is the U.S. responsibility and accountability for a Treaty with the Western Shoshone Nation. As long as the people in the U.S. allow this to happen it will continue to happen."

For additional info, contact the Western Shoshone Defense Project at
775-468-0230.

Western Shoshone Defense Project
P.O. Box 211308
Crescent Valley, NV 89821
(775) 468-0230
Fax: (775) 468-0237
http://www.wsdp.org

Statement by Carrie Dann on George W. Bush signing into "law" HR 884
July 7, 2004

Today the United States government has officially attempted to complete the largest theft of land in United States history. In violation of United States law, including the Constitution, George W. Bush, signed into law HR 884, an attempted payoff of the Western Shoshone land. However, this bill does not change the fact that title of the land still exists with the Western Shoshone. Fraud is fraud, and no matter what the U.S. does to us we will never give up our struggle to protect
our Sacred Newe Sogobia – the Earth Mother.

The United States government signed the Treaty of Ruby Valley with the Western Shoshone Nation in 1863. According to Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution, the treaty is the supreme law of the land. But the United States government does not view the treaty this way. If they do not want to follow their own laws, that the constitution is the supreme law of the land, then this country is not a democracy. A democracy would be following the laws of the land.

I have said this a thousand times, I am not taking money for this land. This land has no value, there is no price for it. In Western Shoshone culture, the earth is our mother. We can not sell it. Taking our land is a not only a cultural genocide, it is also a spiritual genocide. The United States is attempting to steal our religion and our cultural.

I ask the United States today to show me how they received title to the land. The sole legal theory stated by the Indian Claims Commission (ICC) was that the Western Shoshone land title was extinguished through "gradual encroachment" by non-indigenous miners and settlers. However, such legal theory is no where found in American law. The only issue decided by the Supreme Court was whether the Western Shoshone had been paid, not who has title to the land. We have never had a court hear the issue of who has title to the land. The ICC was not a court. The United States did not give us the land, nor did they sell us the land. The land is ours. The United States can not show how they obtained title to the land.

The government continues to steal our cattle and horses. But I ask them, if they have clear title to the land, why do they come in the night like a thief to take my horses and cattle – why do they make sneak attacks – why do they attempt to take my livestock with no media attention? If the land title is clearly theirs – why do they act like thieves?

Why does the United States want this land? So they can sell it to large inter-national corporate interests, including mining companies, so they can test more nuclear weapons, so they can write the Indians off? The United States should not be allowed to steal the land so they can test more weapons that kill people. In fact, weapons that kill all life, including the plants and the animals. The United States also should not be allowed to steal the land so they can sell it to companies in order to obtain more gold and in the process ruin the water and kill the plant and animal life. This should not be allowed.

Today, the government has attempted to steal our mother earth – but this will not stop our fight to keep our land. We will not stand by to watch the United States steal our religion. We will not stand for the United States to commit spiritual genocide. For today what happens to us, tomorrow will happen to you. Although George W. Bush, Sen. Reid, and Rep. Gibbons believe that they can now sell this land to private interests, we will fight to stop it. This bill changes nothing. We are here to protect our mother earth. That is our responsibility. Our obligation will not be deterred by thieves.

Carrie Dann

Western Shoshone Defense Project
P.O. Box 211308
Crescent Valley, NV 89821
(775) 468-0230
Fax: (775) 468-0237
http://www.wsdp.org

.Irish Peace Activist Completes Fourteen-Day Fast for Human Rights in Palestine

Tomorrow, Thursday June 24, Irish activist Caoimhe Butterly will complete a two-week, water-only hunger strike outside of Cement Roadstone Holdings in Fitzwilliams Square.

The hunger strike was initiated in an attempt to focus attention on direct Irish complicity in the construction of Israel's Apartheid Wall, which violates International Law and contributes to grave human rights violations of the Palestinian people. C.R.H. owns a 25% stake in the Mashav Group, an Israeli holding company for Nesher Cement, which is the sole provider of cement in Israel.

Amnesty International recently stated that C.R.H, through its subsidiaries Mashav and Nesher, is likely to be providing the raw material of the fence/wall so, it would contravene the U.N. norms on the responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with regard to Human Rights (2003).

The Apartheid Wall, which is 8 meters high in some places, is responsible for the de facto annexation of over 50% of Palestinian agricultural land. Although the Israeli Authorities attempt to sanitize its construction by referring to it as a 'security' or 'defensive' measure, it has been repeatedly condemned internationally as a land grab and further solidification of a system of apartheid. Close to 90% of the Wall is being built on Palestinian land inside the West Bank, not on the Green Line. It cuts off families and communities from each other, separates farmers from their land and cuts off Palestinians from their places of work, schools, health care facilities, places of worship etc.

The Wall poses unprecedented restrictions on Palestinians movement within Occupied Palestine. Palestinian activists and farmers have also been killed or wounded while demonstrating against its construction.

Caoimhe Butterly states, "It is shameful that an Irish company should profit from anything that is as immoral, unjust, and destructive as the construction of this Wall." This fast was initiated as an attempt to pressure C.R.H. to divest from these companies. It is the only moral option.

At a time when the Israeli Occupation forces act with increasing impunity in their violent humiliation and brutalization of the Palestinian people, Irish civil society must take a stand. Despite International support for the suspension of the Trade Association agreements between the E.U. and Israel, the Irish government- in its term of presidency of the E.U. - has refused to get off the fence and endorse the growing calls for their suspension.

In this vacuum of any dedication on the part of our government to advocate for genuine self-determination, and basic human rights, for Palestinians, companies such as C.R.H. continue to profit from the Occupation. Consumer boycotts and sanctions contributed greatly to the isolation of apartheid South Africa. 21st-century Israeli Apartheid must be isolated in the same manner and the courage of the growing popular resistance to the Wall, in Palestine, must be matched by an upping of the ante on the outside.

Those who joined, visited or supported the fast were a number of activists and politicians which included Dennis Halliday, former humanitarian co-ordinator to Iraq, Tom Hyland, Senator David Norris and Nuria Mustafa.

There was a constant, 24-hour presence- with candle-lit vigils at night, from the 10th-24th of June.

For more information please contact Caoimhe Butterly at 087-213-4160 or at masasa73@hotmail.com. Caoimhe has worked extensively as a solidarity activist in Palestine, Mexico, Iraq and Ireland, and she was a part of the Voices in the Wilderness team in Iraq during the year 2003.

Posted: June 23, 2004 06:59 PM

Caoimhe Butterly: Caoimhe was born in 1978 in Dublin. She spent most of her childhood in Canada and Southern Africa (Mauritius and Zimbabwe). While growing up she travelled extensively around Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe with her parents who were working with developmental aid and social justice projects. She left Zimbabwe in 1997 and moved to New York, where she spent a year working with The Catholic Worker and other groups. While living at the Worker she participated in a 21-day fast outside the U.N. with Voices in the Wilderness which was her first direct contact with the group. In 1998 she spent a year working in Guatemala with returned refugees, and then spent two years in Chiapas with a community of resistance. The Chiapans' struggle, and the collective and inclusive nature of it both inspired and educated her as to the power of non-violent resistance. Caoimhe then returned to Ireland for 6 months before joining a Voices delegation to Iraq January 2002. She then travelled to occupied Palestine where she spent a year, almost exclusively in Balata and Jenin Refugee Camps. Present in Palestine for the massive military invasions of Febuary and April of that year, she volunteered with the Red Crescent, U.P.M.R.C., and I.S.M. Having lost a number of close friends in the Jenin massacre, Caoimhe lived on in the camp until she was shot and shortly after deported by the Israeli army late last year. She spent the four months after her deportation giving over 80 talks, public meetings, and interviews across Ireland, London, and Wales. Having participated in the Shannon Peace Camp, set up to oppose the Irish government's decision to allow U.S. warplanes to refuel in Ireland in the lead-up to the war, she was arrested on a number of occasions. Caoimhe travelled to Iraq in mid-April to join Voices in the Wilderness in Baghdad. She has spent the past five months meeting and working with Iraqi grassroots groups and individuals who are attempting to mobilise Iraqi civil society in exploring non-violent means of resistance. She is also working to help initiate a campaign seeking justice for the relatives of Iraqis killed by Occupation forces.

Peace Under Fire

Frances Barber, Jeremy Hardy, Alexei Sayle and Louise Delamere of hit TV series 'No Angels present a special reading to celebrate the publication of 'Peace Under Fire' (Verso) - directed by the celebrated young director Robert Delamere of the Almeida Theatre.

7.30pm, Wednesday, July 14th at Cecil Sharpe House, 2 Regents Park Road.
London NW1

‘Peace Under Fire’ is an intensely moving account of two years of life and resistance under occupation in Palestine, 2002-2004. It is woven together from the diaries, interviews and speeches of Palestinians, Israelis, as well as English and American 'internationals' of all faiths and none, and also includes contemporary news articles from the period.

There will be an interval.
Entry £10. Reservations Richard Thomas <rthomas1@supanet.com>

All proceeds to the International Solidarity Movement
For further information: nicholas@blincoe.com


Israeli occupation forces killed 3 Palestinian children yesterday. Above is the the child Ehab Abdul Karim Shatat (9) who was killed in Bait Hanoon. His brother was crying bidding him farewell during the funeral yesterday. The other two children were Izhaq Mu'een Abu Talib (14), and Tariq Jamal Ghannam (8). Israeli occupation soldiers also killed Mahmoud Saleh Allahawani (18) in the Balata refugee camp, near Nablus, yesterday (Alhayat Aljadeeda, 7/4/04).


DID YOU KNOW . . .

. . . that under:

Article 12 of Chapter 5 of the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the EU,

a blanket, life-time immunity has been extended to all members of the EU's governing structure for all acts and deeds committed, and this includes the tens of thousands of bureaucrats and civil servants who run the union - all have been granted a lifetime immunity from prosecution for anything they do?

This also goes for the new European police force, Europol, and the commanders and soldiers of the new European Army.

All buildings, offices, records, archives and minutes belonging to the EU and its institutions are inviolate. They cannot be entered or inspected by the public.

So all personnel serving the EU are above the law, as declared in the treaties which our successive politicians have signed on our behalf.   Forwarded by Martin Webster

The International Court of Justice will release its advisory opinion, on the Israeli Wall,on the 9^th of July
July 9 & 10: Days of Action: "We Demand Justice for Palestine Now!"
Call to Action, PENGON/Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, June 28th, 2004

It has taken over 50 years of relentless oppression and a monstrous Wall for even a single Israeli crime to be brought before an International Court. The foundation of Israel in 1948 has resulted in the destruction of over 400 Palestinian villages, dozens of massacres of Palestinians at the hands of Israeli Forces and the destruction and theft of massive amounts of land. Occupation of what remained of historic Palestine in 1967 was an overt and devastating injustice as was the illegal annexation of the heart of Palestine - Jerusalem. With
some 5 million refugees, Palestinians are becoming the largest population of refugees in the world while almost half of the Palestinian male population has been through Israeli prisons Despite all of this, the International community has remained essentially idle in front of these blatant violations of Human Rights and International Law, offering no significant challenge and failing to demand proper accountability.

Today, the Apartheid Wall is condensing all of the crimes of Israeli Occupation into one project.

* The Wall condemns an entire population to open-air prisons, restricting free movement and stifling all forms of productive economy;

* The Wall threatens the livelihood and existence of over 300,000 Palestinians by separating them from their land, resources, families, schools, medical centers and livelihoods, imposing conditions in which they are forced to abandon their cities and villages, thus becoming part of the growing number of Palestinian refugees;

* The Wall illegally confiscates land, valuable underground water aquifers and other earthly resources.

* The Wall is a clear continuation of Israel's racist Apartheid policy of land annexation, dispossession and expulsion of the Palestinian people.

* The Wall will put an end to a viable two-state solution and will lock Palestinians into ghettos or bantustans throughout historic Palestine, imposing an Apartheid system of extreme magnitude.

Since the beginning of the construction of the Wall in June 2002, Palestinians have been protesting against it and international organizations have repeatedly highlighted ways in which the Wall violates Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law. In October 2003, the United Nations' General Assembly passed resolution ES 10/13, demanding that Israel stop construction of the Wall and demolish the existing sections within one month's time. Israel refused to comply with this resolution as it has done with all other UN resolutions regarding the rights of the Palestinian people. Nonetheless, ongoing Palestinian pressure, supported by international censure pushed the United Nations General Assembly on December 8 2003 to pass a resolution requesting that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague give an Advisory Opinion on the "legality" of the Wall. Hearings were thus held in the Hague in February 2004.

On the 9th of July, 3 pm, the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice will be issued.

The importance of the Court's opinions is well known. A positive Court opinion can make a difference. In 1971, after the ICJ brought a verdict against South Africa's Occupation of Namibia, the international community imposed sanctions on the Apartheid State. Subsequent International isolation, economic sanctions and diplomatic pressure have supported the South African Anti-Apartheid Movement in its struggle against a racist and colonialist regime and have brought South Africa Apartheid to an end.

The release of ICJ advisory opinion is not only occasion to evaluate the readiness of the international community to take up its responsibilities towards Palestine, but also a time to highlight the devastating effects of the Wall, its racist and colonialist motives and to prompt all further steps to tear down the Apartheid Wall. We must engage in an increasingly determined, coordinated and Palestinian-led effort in order to see the Wall fall as a first step to ending Israeli Apartheid and Occupation.

On July 9th, remain critical and expose the political implications of the ICJ decision - whatever its content may be -to support us in raising up the Palestinian voice to the world's public opinion.


The international community has a responsibility to take into strong consideration not only the legal but also the political consequences of the Court's decisions. We are calling upon all seekers of justice and friends of Palestine to act in solidarity with our struggle against the Apartheid Wall and Israeli occupation.

The Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign is asking for immediate action - sanctions and boycott on Apartheid Israel until the Wall falls and Israel complies with International Law and the UN resolutions.

WE ARE CALLING FOR DAYS OF ACTION ON THE 9TH & 10TH OF JULY

Take the demands of the affected Palestinian communities in resistance and the Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign to the streets and make them heard:

Tear down the Apartheid Wall! Stop the Occupation! Sanctions and Boycott on Apartheid Israel! Justice for Palestine!

We are urging you to support our efforts and make our voices heard: Mobilize in your streets and organize protests and info events.

Distribute our press releases; use independent media, lobbying and pressure mainstream media to report on the ICJ opinion taking into account the Palestinian voice, the construction of the Wall, the Palestinian struggle against it and world wide solidarity.

Thank you for your support!

Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
www.StoptheWall.org

Dear Friends of Palestine and Supporters of the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign,

The International Court of Justice will release its advisory opinion on the 9^th of July and the Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign is calling upon you to mobilize in support of demonstrations that will take place in Palestine and to highlight the importance of this day giving it a strong political meaning. (Please not that the appeal is available in printable pdf format at the bottom of the text.)

Please inform us of the actions you are planning making coordination easier.

Tear Down the Apartheid Wall!

Free Palestine!            

Maren Karlitzky

(PENGON/Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign - outreach Europe)

europe@stopthewall.or

http://www.stopthewall.org/

phone: +39-3473479329