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Protests in Jordan
February 22, 2001
PROTEST MARCH THIS SATURDAY IN THE
THE HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF JORDAN
"A symbolic day of rage against US and Zionist Oppression"
If it weren't for the Hashemite Regime in today's Jordan, yesterday's Transjordan,
and before that the East Bank of Palestine, the Israelis would never have been
able to vanquish the Palestinian people in days past and would never be able
to do to the remaining Palestinians what is happening today. The Hashemite
Regime, established by the British in the 20's, has played a critical role
in allowing the Western world to keep the Arab world divided and co-opted,
weak and submissive. At crucial times the Hashemite Regime has also conspired
with the West, and with Israel from the beginning, against its own people,
most of whom of course are of Palestinian origin. Today's King -- himself
named for the original Abdullah who was rewarded by his British patrons with
the area of the region that became Jordan, an area incidentally which he had
never even visited previously -- was mothered by a British woman, schooled
in Britain and the U.S., and has always been more fluent in English than Arabic.
But of course much of these matters are off limits to the media in the "Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan".
The Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty, signed by today's Abdullah's father
in his last days, was the culmination of a long secret courtship, Hussein having
been kept in power by a combination of CIA and Mossad money and assistance.
Hussein then paid off -- as he had long promised to do -- by signing a formal
treaty with Israel as soon as he could, Yasser Arafat and Oslo giving him the
excuse to do so. Hussein also paid off by snatching his brother off the throne
at the last minute, and turning it over to his son, also something the Americans
and the Israelis wanted and helped bring about.
Today's Jordan, now ruled by a weak and even more co-opted son of Hussein,
is ripe for not only political and military manipulation and chicanery, but
also for economic penetration, the following information but the tip of the
proverbial iceberg.
The text from a flyer about a demonstration in Amman on Saturday is below.
And for more background information about the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
and the Israeli/U.S. connection in the past go to:
http://www.MiddleEast.Org/jordan.htm
ISRAEL FIRM BUYS JORDANIAN FACTORIES
[Jerusalem Post, 19 February]:
The Soleg Textile company, a clothing manufacturer, has
bought three textile factories in Jordan.
Soleg purchased the factories for $1.5 million and gave
the Jordanian owners a 15% share of Soleg stock.
The Jordanian businessmen agreed to ensure that Soleg
receives $10 million worth of orders from the US
market, Israel Radio reported.
This is indeed true. It is in fact a replay of the Zionist ploy in Palestine.
Over fifty years since the Basil Conference, and until the declaration of
the Zionist state on the 15th of May, the Zionists only managed to buy out
only 5.6 % of Palestinian land, out of which more than one third was bought
under Ottoman rule by the way. But that 5.6 % turned into the foothold from
which the rest of Palestine was to be occupied. Since the Wadi Arabah Treaty,
Zionists have been buying lots of land n Jordan in shady deals that are not
well-publicized. But the concept of control has changed drastically since
the first half of the twentieth century. It is not longer mainly geographic,
but also economic, political, and cultural. Hence, the Zionists are buying
land as well as economic and other establishments in Jordan. In the grand
Zionist plan, Jordan is to serve as a gateway to the rest of the Arab World
and markets. Therefore, the current official Jordanian onslaught on the anti-normalization
movement in Jordan should be viewed from that perspective. Basically, the
regime is suppressing those who are trying to expose and slow down the Zionification
of Jordan. It is important, therefore, to raise our voices in support of the
anti-normalization movement in Jordan.
Ibrahim Alloush
Israeli have a preferential treatment when it comes to exporting to the U.S.
with or without Jordan being involved. The U.S.-Israel 16 year old Free Trade
Area Agreement(FTA) states that all bilateral trade in industrial goods between
Israel and the US will be exempted from tariffs. However, Israel has many other
things to benefit from having its businesses in Jordan including cheap labor
and an existing infrastructure in areas called Qualifying Industrial Zones
(QIZs).
There are two essential conditions for goods imported from Jordan to the
U.S. to be free from tariffs . First, the product has to be produced in a
QIZ which by definition should encompass portions of territory of both Jordan
and Israel. Second, at least 8% of the appraised value of any product has
to come from Israeli sources (the number originally stood at 11.7% but that
proved to be an obstacle for attracting investors apparently due to the high
prices of Israeli inputs).
One missing condition is that of local ownership. Operations with 100% foreign
ownership are allowed in QIZs. The largest QIZ investments to date are in factories
(many of which owned wholly or in part by Israelis) producing ready-made clothing
destined for major US retail chains, including Walmart and GAP Sportswear.
Jordan's
government argues that the QIZs have created many new jobs for Jordanians,
but workers are getting paid no more than 60 cents an hour and some of the
labor are foreign workers from Sri Lanka.
Needless to say, the U.S. is not only fully aware of but has thrown its full
weight behind QIZs. The QIZs are integrating Israel into Jordan's economy,
and encouraging the local Jordanian business community to normalize its relations
with Israel.
The first QIZ was established in Irbid in 1998. A total of five are currently
in operation and another nine are in the works. The new FTA between Jordan
and the U.S., which was signed last October and will take effect in the middle
of this year, promises to transform Jordan into one enormous QIZ possibly without
the condition of
Israel's participation. However, it will probably be a long time before the
products produced under the FTA enjoy the same status as those currently produced
in QIZs.
Osama Qasem
-----------------------------------------------
Flyer Received Today:
INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN A MARCH
No to U.S. hegemony,
No to the continuation of the sanctions on Iraq,
No to the Submissive role of United Nations,
Yes to Arab Unity in facing all powers of Tyranny
The Professional Syndicates and the Political Parties call for your participation
in a March from the Professional Unions Building to the UNDP Building in Shmeisani.
This March is organized in response to the call by Iraq to the people of Arab
world to consider Saturday 24-2-2001 a symbolic day of rage against US and
Zionist Oppression and to show Unity with the people of Iraq and Palestine.
This day also coincides the arrival of US Foreign Minister Colin L. Powell
(The Gulf War General ) to the region.
Your Participation is an expression of your refusal of US and British hegemony;
your refusal of Arab Silence and your support for the people of Iraq and Palestine.
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February 2001
PERES UNMASKS AND JOINS SHARON (February 27, 2001) Was it the Likud Party, or the Labor Party, that authorized more illegal
settlements in the occupied territories since the Gulf War and the Madrid Peace
Conference?
PERES AND COLLEAGUES "SLITHER ON THEIR BELLIES" (February 26, 2001) For those who still needed proof of the cravenness and duplicity of Israel's
Labor Party, the party that spawned "Peace Now" and "Oslo" among other gross
deceptions, it came today.
Defectors say Iraq tested Nuclear Bomb (February 25, 2001) When Iraq was more overtly building nuclear weapons, the Israelis struck
in 1981 destroying the Osirak reactor near Baghdad that could have provided
the crucial processed uranium fuel.
"Go back, we don't want you" (February 24, 2001) General Colin Powell, now combining even more closely than usual the Pentagon
with the State Department, was afraid to go to Gaza; and rightly so.
The Hebron MASSACRE - 7 long years ago (February 24, 2001) Abraham's dysfunctional family has had unbelieveable historical ramifications
for which the focal point today is Hebron, site of Abraham's burial place,
a religious site to both Jews and Muslim alike who are today quite literally
at each other's throats.
Council on foreign relations help legitimize Sharon (February 23, 2001) The Council on Foreign Relations, New York-power elite-based but in recent
years integrating more with the Washington government and corporate elite,
has been for quite some time, to put it bluntly, a rather tricky and chicanery
Israeli-oriented Zionist center when it comes to matters relevant to Israel.
Iraq - The great Cover-Up (February 23, 2001) As terrible as what the Israelis, with their superpower American ally (and
European connivance), are doing to the Palestinians, what has been and is being
done to the Iraqis and the Chechnyans is also truly appauling.
Arab expulsion admitted by Sharon Ally (February 22, 2001) One day maybe Israel -- like South Africa and Chile before it -- will have
some kind of "truth finding" commission to try to purge itself of the past.
Protests in Jordan (February 22, 2001) If it weren't for the Hashemite Regime in today's Jordan, yesterday's Transjordan,
and before that the East Bank of Palestine, the Israelis would never have been
able to vanquish the Palestinian people in days past and would never be able
to do to the remaining Palestinians what is happening today.
Powell and Sharon - Street protests? (February 21, 2001) Clearly, the US is rushing to court
unpopularity across the world, contrary
to expectations that the Bush national
security establishment would conduct
itself with a degree of sophistication.
"This is only the beginning" (February 21, 2001) The crippling is not just physical. Psychologically, culturally, economically,
and even morally, the Palestinian people are being twisted and tortured beyond
all recognition of their former selves.
Gaza Ghetto, Gaza Concentration Camp, Gaza Prison (February 19, 2001) For four months, the Gaza Strip has been effectively isolated from the world.
Over 1 million Palestinians are caged in an area of not more than 365km2.
Locked in an Orwellian eternal war (February 19, 2001) President Bush Jr didn't seem so confident the other day as he told the
world of the newly increased bombing of Iraq. But he made it clear that "until
the world is told otherwise" the Americans are convinced they run the world
and it is up to them to decide whom to bomb, whom to favor, whom to take out,
whom to reward.
Arafat collapsing (February 16, 2001) The Arafat Regime is collapsing. Here are some of the details, twisted
somewhat of course because the reports are from Israel's best newspaper, Ha'aretz,
in view of the fact that Palestinian and Arab news sources are unable and unwilling
to provide such insights.
The realization, "perhaps the dream" (February 16, 2001) Out of the cycle of violence the
gradual, hesitant understanding -
perhaps the dream - will grow, that
the only way is through a struggle
to create a land of Israel/Palestine
that is undivided in both physical
and human terms, pluralistic and open;
a land in which civilized relations,
human touch, intimate coexistence and
a link to a common homeland would be
stronger than militant tribalism and
the separation into national ghettoes.
"Collective suicide" or Zionism united? (February 15, 2001) If there is a national unity government,
it will be evident that the differences
between Labour as the main branch of the
left and the Likud as the main branch of
the right are not that big.
Death and assissination (February 14, 2001) It didn't take long for the Israelis, now Sharon-led, to start creating
the escalating provocations that will then bring about still more Palestinian
rage which will then give the Israelis the excuse they seek to pulverize the
Palestinians still harder, possibly destroying the regime they earlier created,
and possibly leading to another Palestinian "nakbah" (disaster).
Israelis strike, Palestinians without strategy (February 13, 2001) The Israelis have had a long-term strategy for a very long time; and they
have pursued it regardless of what party was in power and who happened to be
Prime Minister of the moment.
Dozens of Palestinians wounded (February 12, 2001) Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians
in the
West Bank Monday as Israel's rightwing Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon sought
to
forge a unity government.
"Holy war" is forever (February 12, 2001) Fifty four years ago when an international commission of that day was hearing
from Jews and Arabs about what the new U.N. should do about Palestine there
was testimony from very credible and very establishment Jewish Zionist sources
opposing creation of a "separatist Jewish State" precisely because it would
bring about an unending conflict with the Palestinian Arab population.
War preparations continue (February 11, 2001) The Arafat Regime, the "Authority", is near collapse -- not just financially,
but credibility wise as well.
The Israeli government is near "unity" -- with General Sharon in charge.
The PA is about to collapse (February 10, 2001) How ironic history can be. After generations of struggle and such suffering
the regime that rules the Palestinians is now in the hands of Ariel Sharon
representing Israel, the U.S. Congress representing the financial levers of
the American Empire, and the European governments which in this situation operate
on the pretense that they are better than either of the above.
Rocking Israel to its Biblical core (February 9, 2001) Well if King David was a nebbish (modern translation might be "nerd"), one
has to wonder how history will record Ariel Sharon, the man with such a past
whom the Jews of Israel have just overwhelming elected their leader.
Sharon maneuvers for starting position (February 9, 2001) It's time for serious political confusion and disinformation now. As the
armies prepare themselves for the clashes likely to come in one form or another,
the politicians maneuver for new starting positions.
Clinton pardoned Mossad spy for Israelis (February 9, 2001) The Israelis adore Bill Clinton, as all the pollsters know. Deep down
even the common everyday Israelis know he was their man in the White House.
The many crimes of Ariel Sharon (February 8, 2001) Some incorrigible optimists have suggested that only a
right-wing extremist of the notoriety of Likud leader
Ariel Sharon will have the credentials to broker any
sort of lasting settlement with the Palestinians.
Sharon wastes no time - Arafat bows (February 7, 2001) We will give him the benefit of the doubt.
If he comes with good ideas that will bring
us closer to the peace process, why not?
The world has seen many such situations before.
Holy war for Jerusalem (February 7, 2001) We're on the way now to a new and expanded struggle, maybe even a religious
war, Jerusalem the focalpoint.
The cold logic of Sharon (February 7, 2001) Many Israelis just stayed home. Others cast a blank vote. But a considerable
minority thrust Ariel Sharon into the greatest electoral landslide in that
country's history -- obviously as well an overwhelming majority of those who
did vote.
Sharon wins and Peres wants in (February 6, 2001) He may be a brutish thug, he may fit the definition of war criminal, he
may be a Jewish racist -- but now he is also the Prime Minister-elect of Israel,
overwhelmingly swept into power in a way few imagined possible just a year
ago.
All sides now committed to escalation (February 6, 2001) Now the real craziness begins. The Palestinians are committed to heating things
up to demonstrate their resolve and their capabilities. The Israelis are committed
to "stopping the violence" which means clamping the boot down on the Palestinians
even more harshly.
The legacy of Ariel Sharon (February 5, 2001) This is a place of filth and blood which will forever
be associated with Ariel Sharon. In Israel today, he
may well be elected prime minister.
BBC casts doubt of Pan AM convictions (February 5, 2001) In advance of whatever the Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi is going to produce
as "evidence" of innocence today, the BBC has published the following story
quoting the very Scottish law professor who arranged the trial in The Netherlands
casting great doubt about the veracity of the verdict reached:
What's left of Israel's left (February 5, 2001) What's left of Israel's left is in a fractured and demoralized state of
affairs. Not only is Ariel Sharon about to become Israel's Prime Minister,
but in all likelihood he is to be swept into power tomorrow in a landslide
unprecedented in Israel's history.
The Pan Am 103 Verdict (February 3, 2001) The papers are filled with pictures of happy relatives of the victims of
the 1988 bombing of PanAm 103. A Libyan, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi,
was just found guilty of the bombing by a Scottish court in the Hague, his
co-defendant, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, being acquitted... What's wrong is that the evidence against Megrahi is thin to the point of transparency.
Rivers of blood (February 2, 2001) The bloodiness and racism of Sharon's past is fact. And these two articles
help bring that past forward to the present.
Waiting for Sharon (February 2, 2001) They believe a Sharon victory will be a boon for their cause.
'He will expose the true face of Israel,' says an activist
in Yasir Arafat's Fatah movement in Nablus, 'and force the
world, including the US, to address its real responsibilities
to the peace process...
Israeli Arabs boycott Barak, await Sharon (February 1, 2001) As the extreme right-wing revolution in Israel nears, as Ariel Sharon and
friends prepare to take over political power, the "Israeli Arab vote" will
not be enough to save Ehud Barak, and in fact it will not even be mobilized
on his behalf this time, though Yasser Arafat and his friends have surely tried.
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