Otherwise Occupied

DEFYING SILENCE: Otherwise Occupied: As if Israel Did Nothing Shameful Before the Advent of Smartphones Amira Hass This article first appeared in Haretz of April 16, 20...

“With all due respect, I don’t get confused.” ..Nikki Haley.

Nikki Haley next President of USA? In 2028? 2024? 2020? Even sooner?

Or will she end up getting fired?

By Gulamhusen A.Abba

Nikki Haley is a smart, tenacious and ambitious woman. She shot to the national stage when she, as Governor of South Carolina, took down the Confederate flag. She moved a step higher when Trump appointed her as the US Ambassador to United Nations.

When she, in that capacity, appeared at the 2016 annual convention of AIPAC, she played to the hilt to the gallery, stating that in their company she felt like she was among friends. And she, instead of blowing kisses to the audience, wafted her heart to them. She clearly was the star of the show, eclipsing even the Jewish Democratic leader in the Senate Schumer, and got a thunderous applause.

The moderator almost blurted out, “Here is your next President of the US.”!!!

I posted about this and remarked that she was clearly positioning herself for that post.

However, it seemed for a time that she became overconfident and crossed her limits.

In the UN she has hit Russia hard. According to New York Times, Trump is upset over Nikki’s strong rhetoric on Russia and he has grown suspicious of her ambition, convinced that she was angling for Secretary of State Tillerson’s position and increasingly wondering whether she wants his own. Trump reportedly does not like such people. He particularly does not like people who pre-empt him, especially when they work for him.

Though Trump is reportedly looking to avoid levying new economic sanctions on Russia in response to a suspected chemical attack by Syria, Nicki Haley on Sunday, in Face the Nation program, announced sanctions would be unveiled on Monday, designed to send "a strong message" denouncing Russia's backing of the Syrian government. She did this reportedly before Trump had approved the sanctions.

According to the New York Times, he grew angry and yelled at the TV during Haley’s appearance, as he believed he hadn’t approved any new sanctions.

This led to the White House publicly backpedaling Haley's statement on Monday. When asked about the discrepancy between Nikki’s statement in the interview and the official White House statement, a White House official said there was “internal confusion” about the plan.

The situation escalated. On Tuesday afternoon, chief White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow denied that the misstatement was the result of “internal confusion” in the White House, and suggested it was solely Haley’s blunder. Here is what he said: “She got ahead of the curve. She’s done a great job, she’s a very effective ambassador. There might have been some momentary confusion about that,” he told reporters.

Nikki shot back. “With all due respect, I don’t get confused,” she told Fox News’ Dana Perino, in a statement that was read on-air Tuesday evening.

There was speculation that this might lead to her undoing. Trump, already upset with her and suspicious of her ambitions, might take this opportunity to cut her to size. But it turned out to be otherwise,

Kudlow called Haley to apologize and admitted he was mistaken in a statement to the New York Times. “She was certainly not confused,” Kudlow said. “I was wrong to say that — totally wrong.”

This attests to Niki’s confidence in herself and to the position she holds in the White House....for now.

‘Palestinian Gandhi’ welcomed with a hail of Israeli bullets.

Another Nakba awaits?

By Gulamhusein A. Abba

For years Palestinians have been taunted with “Where is a Palestinian Gandhi”? It has been an unwarranted and uncalled for question. The real question was and continues to be, “Why is Israel not being compelled to vacate its long lasting and brutal occupation of Palestinian land – an occupation internationally recognized as being illegal.

A few months back a social-media activist in Gaza started the idea of a mass non-violent protest. Hamas adopted it and organized the protest.

The plan envisaged 45 days of protests along the border with Israel, starting on March 30, which Palestinians observe as Land Day, and leading up to May 15, the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel, the day Palestinians observe as Nakba or catastrophe.

The plan required setting up camps between 700-1000 meters from Israel’s border fence, outside the Israeli army’s unilaterally imposed buffer zone, where anyone who enters is liable to be shot.

Tents were pitched to accommodate the protestors.

To a casual observer it might seem rather callous on the part of Palestinian leaders to plan this action, knowing fully well that the Israelis are bound to respond with brutal force.

Let it be remembered that no one was dragged by their hair, or at gun point, to participate in this sit-ins and march. If thousands came it is because the international community has, through all these years, turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to their suffering, to their cry for justice

This is no terrorist attack or incitement to violence. This suicidal march is their last hope to awaken the conscience of the international community. It is a testimony of the hopelessness of the Palestinians and the blindness and deafness of the international community.

If it takes the deaths of hundreds or even thousands of innocent, unarmed, nonviolent martyrs to make the world take notice, the indomitable Palestinians are ready to pay it.

The leaders of the protest took pains to emphasize that this was going to be a nonviolent, peaceful march. The participants would carry no arms, not even stones.  Al-Kurd. one of 20 organizers of the planned march, reiterated again and again that the protest will be completely nonviolent, contrary to how it is being described in Israeli media.

Israel immediately dubbed it as a Hamas organized event designed “to wipe Israel off the map”! This in spite of the fact that the flag waved was not a faction flag but the Palestinian flag. Introducing Hamas into the equation serves as a justification for Israel to employ violence against them

On its side, while the Palestinians were pitching tents and preparing for the march. Israel deployed a large contingent of armed forces, including several infantry brigades, along the border, with orders to shoot to kill. Israel Defense Forces warned that it would open fire on anyone who tries to breach the border fence and enter Israel or even come into the unilaterally imposed buffer zone imposed by Israel inside Gaza

On March 30 the opening day of the protest, an estimated 30,000 Palestinians gathered at the border.18 protesters were killed by IDF and hundreds injured, making this the deadliest day of the ongoing conflict since the 2014 Israel Gaza war

With the stage set for an imminent massacre, Kuwait requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss “grave concerns at the border” in Gaza, reaffirm "the right to peaceful protest", express the council's "sorrow at the loss of innocent Palestinian lives" and call for an "independent and transparent investigation" of the violence.

A closed meeting was held late evening on March 30. On March 31 the United States Representative to the UN dismissed the Palestinian March as “bad actors, who use protest as a cover to incite violence and endanger innocent lives.”

The Palestinian Ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mandsour, explained what happened on the Gaza border. “Those who wrought the violence and the killing are the Israeli armed forces. Our people in the Gaza Strip, raising, not a banner of faction but the Palestinian flag, demonstrated peacefully, peacefully, peacefully and they were attacked by the Israeli armed forces. It is a massacre by them.” 

UN Secretary General and the EU diplomatic chief called for an independent investigation but Israel’s Defense Minster rejected the idea.

Israel has said it will not soften its response to the Hams-led demonstrations and may target militant groups within Gaza

On April 7, 9 Palestinians were killed, 293 shot, over 1,000 wounded. This makes it at least 30 killed since the protest began last Friday. All for no other reason than demonstrating non-violently on their own land.

“March of Return” could end in Palestinians attempting to cross the Gaza border on May 15, the last day of the protest and the anniversary of the 1948 Nakba.  This could well be their second Nakba