Denmark’s justice minister, Brian Mikkelsen, said: “Terrorism is defined in relation to a legitimate state which builds on the principles of democracy and the rule of law. Part of the evaluation is also whether an act is targeted at, among others, an occupation power.” The prosecution in the case has argued that the defining factor is whether civilians are killed, regardless of whether a national government is democratic. (more…)

So presumably pro-Zionist charities will be prosecuted in Denmark for sending money to Israel—some of which has been used to finance the killing of civilians?

And Hamas is not alone on the battlefront. Dozens of Fatah gunmen belonging to the faction’s armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, are reportedly participating in the fighting alongside Hamas gunmen. … Hamas is also being aided by other groups such as Islamic Jihad, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Resistance Committees. (more…)

This simply justifies my belief that Israel cannot expect to seriously halt Palestinian attacks by pounding Gaza into powder. Even if they magically kill each and every member of the Qassam brigades, armed Palestinian resistance will continue. There is no way forward but through negotiation.

In the Gaza Strip, there are a vast number of inspiring individuals prepared to put their personal reputation (and even their own physical well-being) on the line for matters of conviction. Dr. Eyad Sarraj is one of the more prominent of these figures and I was fortunate enough to speak with him on several occasions during my time in the Gaza Strip.

Dr. Sarraj, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, is the founder of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme—a groundbreaking NGO in Gaza catering to the masses of Palestinians suffering from emotional trauma, especially victims of torture. Sarraj is well known for his outspoken criticism of the Israeli occupation and of corruption in the Palestinian Authority.

In the excerpts that follow, I discuss the state of Palestinian democracy with Dr. Sarraj. (more…)

When did the Lebanese civil war (the major one) start? Did it start in February of 1975 when Sidon-based leader, Ma`ruf Sa`d, was assassinated by a Lebanese Army intelligence sniper? Or was it the widely accepted “Sarajevo” (of the civil war) of 13th of April, 1975? I think that the civil war started in 1973, in April, when 3 Palestinian leaders (one of them a poet, Kamal Nasir) were shot in their sleep by an Israeli terrorist team headed by Ehud Barak (later prime minister of Israel). It brought the Lebanese internal divisions into the fore.

I was 15 years old, 30 years ago when the civil war started on April 13th, 1975. It was a Sunday that I still remember. My parents were out, and I was home in our middle class neighborhood in Beirut. We did not hear shots fired. We were not close to the scene of the crime. On that day, a bus carrying Palestinians who were earlier attending a rally for the PFLP-GC was ambushed by armed gunmen of the Lebanese fascistic Phalanges Party. My enmity to that party started earlier, much earlier. When I read about the civil war in Spain, I always felt that I could recognize the fascist side. When I read about the communist struggle against the Nazis in Germany, I recognized the Nazi side. I saw them in Lebanon. (more…)