Israeli and Palestinian kids play soccer together

click through for full screen
Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa reports on the combined Israeli - Palestinian Peace team, playing in a tournament called "Football for Hope".

United States Contributes $20 Million to Relief Effort for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon

Of course this money is dwarfed by the billions (?) the U.S. spends on Israel each year, but...

According to a Department of State Press Release dated May 14, 2010:

"U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michele Sison announced on May 12, 2010, that the United States is in the process of contributing $20 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to support reconstruction and emergency relief at Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in Lebanon. Fighting destroyed the camp in 2007, displacing 30,000 refugees.

"This $20 million contribution will support the reconstruction of homes, schools and health clinics in the camp and provide assistance to the most vulnerable of the displaced refuges by supplying food, shelter, water and sanitation facilities, healthcare and access to basic education while the camp is being reconstructed. With this contribution, the U.S. will have provided more than $91 million for Nahr al-Bared and encourages other donors to strongly support UNRWA’s relief and reconstruction efforts.

"The United States is UNRWA’s largest bilateral donor. In 2009, the United States provided over $267 million to UNRWA. With this contribution, the U.S will have provided $115 million to UNRWA in 2010, including $35 million for emergency operations in the West Bank and Gaza and $60 million for the General Fund, which supports core services for 4.7 million refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, including providing education for nearly 500,000 Palestinian children in 691 UNRWA schools."

VICE Gives Camera to Palestinian Filmmaker in Refugee Camp

Palestinian Rappers DAM Perform in Brooklyn

Palestinian rap group DAM have an insightful and funny song with the refrain, "I Fell in Love with a Jew," about a Palestinian and a Jewess alone together in an elevator during a power outage. One of the lines is, "I said '69' and she thought I said '67." This song is in English. They also rap and sing in Arabic and in Hebrew.

DAM were featured in the motion picture, Slingshot Hip Hop.

Petraeus on Israel, Iran & Human Rights

Zionist hardliners 
are unhappy with Gen. Petraeus. Perhaps Islamist hardliners are too. The Statement Gen. Petraeus filed with the Senate Armed Services Committee is shockingly frank. 

"The Iranian regime’s domestic activities are also troubling, as its recent violent suppression of opposition groups and popular protests has violated the human rights of the Iranian people and fomented further instability and unrest and increased the role of the security forces in the affairs of the state." pg. 10

"...there are a number of cross-cutting issues that serve as major drivers of instability, inter-state tensions, and conflict. These factors can serve as root causes of instability or as obstacles to security. Insufficient progress toward a comprehensive Middle East peace: The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests in the AOR. Israeli-Palestinian tensions often flare into violence and large-scale armed confrontations. The conflict foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples in the AOR and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda and other militant groups exploit that anger to mobilize support. The conflict also gives Iran influence in the Arab world through its clients, Lebanese Hizballah and Hamas." pg.12

"A credible U.S. effort on Arab-Israeli issues that provides regional governments and populations a way to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the disputes would undercut Iran’s policy of militant “resistance,” which the Iranian regime and insurgent groups have been free to exploit. Additionally, progress on the Israel-Syria peace track could disrupt Iran’s lines of support to Hamas and Hizballah." pg.33

All excerpts from STATEMENT OF GENERAL DAVID H. PETRAEUS, U.S. ARMY COMMANDER U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND BEFORE THE SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE ON THE POSTURE OF U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND 16 MAR 2010, found at: http://armed-services.senate.gov/statemnt/2010/03%20March/Petraeus%2003-16-10.pdf

Consider Sanctions Against Israel

Knesset Member Aryeh Eldad compared British to dogs.

by Julie Jigsawnovich

There's a Persian saying that 'the yellow dog is the brother of the jackal.' In other words, the yellow dog cannot be controlled--it is not loyal like other dogs.

As Britain reacts to forged British passports possibly having been used by Israeli agents, Press TV reports: "The expulsion of an Israeli 'diplomat' from Britain over the terrorist murder of a Palestinian leader in Dubai has provoked outrage in the Israeli Knesset, comparing the British to 'dogs'. "I think [the] British are behaving hypocritically and I don't want to offend dogs on this issue, since some dogs are utterly loyal,' said Aryeh Eldad, National Religious Party lawmaker in the Israeli Knesset (parliament), quoted by the Sky News." (I take Iran state media Press TV with a grain of salt--but check the link. This was reported in Sky News.)

So, is Eldad implicitly saying the US are Israel's loyal "dogs"? The US carries the burden/moniker of being 'Israel's closest ally.' US taxpayers are stuck with billions of dollars in military aid to Israel each year. Yet Israel is biting the hand that feeds them in ignoring US demands that Israeli construction in occupied territories stop.

At the same time the US searches for a solution to what it perceives as a potential nuclear threat from the (coup government) of the Islamic Republic of Iran, perhaps the US should consider not only a sharp reduction in aid, but even sanctions --against Israel, not just Iran. The Israeli mistreatment of Palestinians is a major rallying point for the minority in Iran who still support Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Khameini.

"The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests in the AOR. Israeli-Palestinian tensions often flare into violence and large-scale armed confrontations. The conflict foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples in the AOR and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda and other militant groups exploit that anger to mobilize support. The conflict also gives Iran influence in the Arab world through its clients, Lebanese Hizbullah and Hamas."--STATEMENT OF GENERAL DAVID H. PETRAEUS, U.S. ARMY COMMANDER U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND BEFORE THE SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE ON THE POSTURE OF U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND 16 MAR 2010, pg.12 

UPDATE After I posted this article on Iranian.com, the following comment was posted there by Bavafa, "Don't impose sanction on Israel JUST because it is a rallying point for the IRI hardliners--but because it is the right thing to do. Here is a country that has been occupying their neighbors country/land, accused of a number of war crimes, has imprisoned million of people of Gaza because they have elected a government that is not to the liking of Israel, and practices apartheid regime in its own land."

VIDEO: Palestians protest land seizure

Non-violent Palestinian protests over stolen land are met with tear gas, green slime, arrests, detainment, by Israeli forces. A barrier built by Israel, which even an Israeli court declared illegal, remains.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/09/200994121346155494.html

Jerusalem-born Jew elected to Fatah Revolutionary Council

Dr. Uri "Davis, who in the 1980s abandoned his Israeli citizenship in protest over Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and later received Palestinian citizenship, was the only non-Arab to run for a seat in the Revolutionary Council, Fatah's legislative body."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1107668.html