“In the past three days, 77 Palestinians, over half of them children, have been made homeless,” said Rawley. “Some of the demolished structures were provided by the international community to support vulnerable families. Demolitions that result in forced evictions and displacement run counter to Israel’s obligations under international law and create unnecessary suffering and tension. They must stop immediately.”

Israeli apartheid authorities make it very difficult for Palestinians to get building permits. The lack of building permits then serves as a pretext for home demolition. Israeli authorities also routinely destroy the homes of Palestinian freedom fighters.

#Israel #Palestine #UnitedNations #homeDemolitions #MiddleEast

The Americans were in four different Syrian cities, but their experiences were largely the same. They witnessed an outpouring of sentiment by 11 million Syrians for an end to the foreign-backed invasion of their land, and national unity to reconstruct a society that is secular and prosperous. They expressed this mainly by a vote for President Bashar al Assad, who has led the country in defeating the extremist, Al Qaeda-linked armies.

The observers are united in returning home to work against the American government’s intervention in Syria, without which this war would have been over long ago.

The following is a statement by Joe Iosbaker at the press conference:

My name is Joe Iosbaker. I’m an activist with the Anti-War Committee-Chicago, and also I’m part of the leadership of the United National Antiwar Coalition.

The Syrian people are an inspiration. They have withstood a terrible war, brought to their country by my government and its allies.

I observed the elections in Homs, where the death toll has been in the thousands, and one week after our visit, a car bomb targeting civilians was exploded by foreign-backed right-wing rebels.

I spoke with a medical student who wants to be an ophthalmologist like her president, Bashar al Assad. She and her young friends were confident that the Syrian people would go forward and rebuild their country.

The U.S. government denounced the election before it was held, and the governments that are behind the war in Syria closed the Syrian embassies in their countries so Syrians abroad could not participate. The Western media was shocked by the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in Beirut, Lebanon who lined up for three days to vote at the embassy there. These things showed me what these elections represent: a defeat for the U.S., NATO, the Zionists and the Gulf States, and a victory for the Syrians.

#NewYorkNY #AntiwarMovement #Elections #Syria #JoeIosbaker #UnitedNations #DrBasharJaafari #MiddleEast

This advance for Palestinian national rights may bring real benefits. It opens a path that may allow Palestine to bring Israel and the U.S. up on charges before the International Criminal Court. The illegal Zionist settlements built by Israel in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are a violation of international law. The UN vote brings prestige.

Israeli officials, staggering from the worldwide opposition to their bombing of Gaza, at first attempted to label the Palestine vote at the UN as “diplomatic terrorism.” Realizing their absurdity, the Zionists then took to saying the UN vote amounted to a violation of the peace process. A peace process that no reasonable person believes exists.

This victory at the UN is only possible due to the continued resistance of the Palestinian people, especially in Gaza. Israel bombed and killed over 150 people in the past two weeks in Gaza, creating a worldwide storm of outrage.

The U.S. empire continues to find itself challenged across the Middle East. Peoples across the Middle East, from Iraq to Afghanistan, from Libya to Syria, Yemen and Iran continue to resist Washington’s attempts impose its rule. Meanwhile, the Israelis grow more desperate as their apartheid state erodes. Israel is a castle made of sand, funded by the U.S., and the waves of struggle are causing it to crumble. The Zionist response is more war upon the Palestinian people and aggressive threats towards other nations.

The Palestinian people have a long and difficult struggle as they continue to fight and die for the liberation and the return of their land. The Israeli apartheid state is growing more isolated and unstable, however. Israel’s main backer, the U.S. government, continues to pursue wars and military interventions in the Middle East, to control the land, labor and natural resources of others. The threats of direct U.S. military action against Syria are real and the talks with Iran may be a prelude to war. Now is the time to stand with Palestine and the peoples of the world for freedom and peace. The anti-war movement needs to organize protests against U.S. and Israeli war and act in solidarity with Palestine and the nations of the Middle East.

#NewYorkNY #Palestine #UnitedNations #MiddleEast