IDF ceased long ago being 'the most moral army in the world'
by Gideon Levy.

From the article:

The testimonies from the graduates of the Oranim pre-military course were a bolt from the blue - accounts of soldiers butchering a woman and two of her children, shooting and killing an elderly Palestinian woman, how they felt when they murdered in cold blood, how they destroyed property and how there was not even fighting in this war that was not a war.

But this is neither a bolt nor blue skies. Everything has long been known by those who wanted to know, those who, for example, read Amira Hass's dispatches from Gaza in this paper. Everything started long before the assault on Gaza.

The soldiers' transgressions are an inevitable result of the orders given during this brutal operation, and they are the natural continuation of the last nine years, when soldiers killed nearly 5,000 Palestinians, at least half of them innocent civilians, nearly 1,000 of them children and teenagers.

Everything the soldiers described from Gaza, everything, occurred during these blood-soaked years as if they were routine events. It was the context, not the principle, that was different. An army whose armored corps has yet to encounter an enemy tank and whose pilots have yet to face an enemy combat jet in 36 years has been trained to think that the only function of a tank is to crush civilian cars and that a pilot's job is to bomb residential neighborhoods.

To do this without any unnecessary moral qualms we have trained our soldiers to think that the lives and property of Palestinians have no value whatsoever. It is part of a process of dehumanization that has endured for dozens of years, the fruits of the occupation.

Read the entire article over here.

Testimonies of Israeli soldiers reveal (or rather confirm) IDF's barbarities in Gaza.

Interesting article on how Zardari might have duped us once again:

There is much talk of an embattled and defeated man in the Presidency. The chief justice has been restored. The Zardari government has surrendered, it is claimed. So why has Zardari's smile gotten wider?

As night fell on March 15, the long march was making history. The people of Pakistan refused to be cowed by lathis or unending tear gas. Senior police officials refused to obey orders from Salmaan Taseer's government to use deadly force against unarmed citizens. Every hurdle on the road to Islamabad was simply melting away in face of the Black Coats' revolution.

However, on announcement of the restoration of Iftikhar Chaudhry as chief justice, the revolution has retreated. The Long March and dharna have been called off by lawyers and politicians. President Zardari's government is taking credit for fulfilling the promise of Benazir Bhutto.

Prime Minister Gillani's announced on state television that Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry will be restored as chief justice on March 21, only after the retirement of the incumbent chief justice, Abdul Hameed Dogar. He reiterated that Mr Zardari had been unable to fulfil the promise of restoration because Abdul Hameed Dogar was already chief justice and that there could not be two chief justices. Prime Minister Gillani also committed that all other deposed judges will stand restored, but notably there was no mention of restoring the Nov 2, 2007, judiciary. In fact, Gillani clearly stated that the restoration of Iftikhar Chaudhry was fulfilment of President Zardari's pledge that the term of any existing judge will not be disturbed.

Read more.

CJ restored

Chief Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar is to be restored. While only time will tell if there are any loopholes in this decision or not, its a brilliant victory for all the lawyers, civil rights workers and all those who bore the brunt of the government's ruthlessness in this. It wouldn't have happened if it weren't for these brave souls. Lets just hope that this is a sign that perhaps democratic forces might still take root in this battered country.

I don't want to be cynical about the Long March, but I just read this post on Teeth Maestro, how there might be a Deal going on underneath all of this. Worth reading I suppose.

Absolute insanity hits the country

Well, they never learn, do they? The dictators who rule us.

Crackdown on lawyers, political workers is in full swing. Severe confrontation between the police and the protestors is underway right now in Lahore. If this is what we do to those who peacefully protest, I can't imagine how there's any hope for us.

Really, it seems to me the government is totally going round the twist, anyone with a tiniest bit of intelligence can see that such violent means to suppress will only gift more sympathy and more publicity to the protestors. And so whether they manage to reach Islamabad or not, their stated goals have already been accomplished.

By the way, I just saw this bit of news. Suspension of text-messaging services in Islamabad. Seem like desperate measures to me. Anyway, for live coverage of the Long March, visit these links:

• OnePakistan
• Dawn
• Geo.tv
• Teeth Maestro

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Meanwhile, after the 'Festival of Death' was allowed to continue, there have been several throat-slitting incidents, and the death of two little girls. One seven, and the other eight (heard that on TV, will post the links later since there are none available right now). And there are still several hours left before it comes to a close. This is in addition to the three who died while celebrating on the 28th of Feb.

So should Basant be celebrated or not? Seems like a plain decision for anyone with sense. Hundreds of people have died in this; more who remain alive with severe disabilites. No amount of speeches containing words such as 'culture' and 'tradition' can justify these deaths. Unless its the culture of death we are seeking to promote.

Entire villages wiped off the map in Gaza, Channel 4's Jonathan Miller reports.

Song for Gaza

A very moving song. Found it on StumbleUpon, thought I would post it here.

Composed and sung by Micheal Heart.

Lyrics:

A blinding flash of white light
Lit up the sky over Gaza tonight
People running for cover
Not knowing whether they're dead or alive

They came with their tanks and their planes
With ravaging fiery flames
And nothing remains
Just a voice rising up in the smoky haze

We will not go down
In the night, without a fight
You can burn up our mosques and our homes and our schools
But our spirit will never die
We will not go down
In Gaza tonight

Women and children alike
Murdered and massacred night after night
While the so-called leaders of countries afar
Debated on who's wrong or right

But their powerless words were in vain
And the bombs fell down like acid rain
But through the tears and the blood and the pain
You can still hear that voice through the smoky haze

We will not go down
In the night, without a fight
You can burn up our mosques and our homes and our schools
But our spirit will never die
We will not go down
In Gaza tonight

We will not go down
In the night, without a fight
You can burn up our mosques and our homes and our schools
But our spirit will never die

We will not go down
In the night, without a fight

We will not go down
In Gaza tonight

By Carlos Latuff


I am trying, a tiny bit, to cover Israel's current brutality on Gaza on my StumbleUpon page. Please check it out to read the articles. You have to be a member though for fully viewing the links I've saved (view it in list mode btw)

She died. My cousin. Just like that. A phone call; my dad crying on the phone: she is dead, hira, don't tell anyone yet, okay, we'll let them know when the dead body arrives.

Four months gone and I still can't comprehend the meaning of it. It feels strange to write about it. Like I am making use of her death somehow. For writing.

But writing is all I have, to relive, the pain, the grief; to understand the meaninglessnes of it.

What are these hollow words going to do anyway? She is dead. Nothing is going to change that. The finality of it. Her eyes. Her voice. Her laugh. The images of all these pass by like an unending stream. All gone. Where? And then the words: she is dead. The same words, ringing always. Dead, Dead, Dead. And yet they do not register. How can she be gone. She was just 22. God? A live person, their heart beating, their lungs breathing. Gone, in an instant.

Maybe its because I had always thought of death as something in the abstract, that I do not get its meaning when its here. Why do we think that we are going to continue forever as we are, things are always going to be the same, never change?


I can't stop wondering where she would be. Where is she in Death's other Kingdom. Is she happy? Then I think of her body, buried; probably decaying slowly; I try to imagine her hands, her face, in that soil. And I close my eyes, with a strange terror. God let her be okay, wherever she is.

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Is she alive in some other world? I have so many dreams where she comes back and somehow everything is back to normal again. Had one today once again. She was coming from somewhere, I was waiting for her. Thinking I would beat her into a pulp orchestrating this drama. Or perhaps just hug her tight. But it can't be real. One cannot create a fake body of their own. Why is it that I cannot accept her nonexistence? She was alive, I can hear her voice as clear as anything. If a phone were to ring just now, and there would be her voice at the other end, no shock would jolt me. Death is strange. One feels. Sees. Smells. And its gone. Just like that. How? Why do we feel so much if it goes away like this. Why can't we know whats on the other side. Its cruel.

My memory isn't good. But there are still things that I remember. I remember, as kids, setting up that makeshift tent in our backyard lawn. Or going up to the roof early in the morning and eating chips and coke. Or watching Cinderella, or Beauty and the Beast or any of those Disney movies. Or fighting, there was one so bad we ended up with scars. Or looking up for the crescent, one night before Eid every year. Or filling up those transcription pages we were given as summer homework in grade 3. Or flying those kites on Basant. Or when there were power failures, making those shadow bunnies and fish with our hands, in the candlelight. Or eating oranges on the roof, in the winter sunlight. Or playing hide and seek. Or hopscotch on the roof. Or 'kho kho' or 'barf pani' or 'pithoo gol garm' or hopscotch or any of those games they used to play in those days. Or taking swings in our neighbour's lawn.

Think I should probably stop. I know perhaps there's no one that visits this blog now. But if you are reading this and you believe in prayers, please pray for her soul.