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Palestinian Authority Has No Authorization
to Cut a Deal

My Dear Palestinian Friends:

As you can see from the US Government's list of Invitees to the Annapolis Conference, it has only invited the Palestinian Authority, not the PLO. But only the PLO has the authority under international law to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinian People and the State of Palestine. That is why the Chairman of the PLO Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo Agreement in the name of the PLO. The Palestinian Authority has no authorization under international law to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinian People, let alone the State of Palestine, whose Provisional Government is the PLO Executive Committee. Indeed, an entire series of UN General Assembly Resolutions have made it clear that only the PLO is the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian People. Hence this delegation of the Palestinian Authority to the Annapolis Conference has no legal authority under international law to conclude anything on behalf of the Palestinian People, let alone the State of Palestine

I would appreciate it if you would be so kind as to bring this matter to the attention of the Palestinian People around the world.

Thank you.
Francis A. Boyle
Professor of International Law
Legal Advisor to the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace Negotiations
and His Excellency Dr. Haidar Abdul Shaffi (1991-1993)

Gazan dies of cancer after being refused
entrance into Israel

Nail al-Kurdi, a 20-year-old Gaza resident, died over the weekend from cancer while awaiting approval to enter Israel for medical treatment.

Despite numerous requests by the Physicians for Human Rights, the Shin Bet denied his entrance due to security reasons.

for more click here

Clergymen Want Israelis to Stop Spitting on them

An article in the Israeli paper Ha'aretz detailed complaints of Christain clergymen who say they are often spit upon by Israeli Jews.

Daniel Rossing, former adviser to the Religious Affairs Ministry on Christian affairs said, "There are an increased number [of spitting attacks] at certain times of year, such as during the Purim holiday.'I know Christians who lock themselves indoors during the entire Purim holiday,' he says. "

In his book "Jewish History, Jewish Religion" the late Israeli human rights activist Israel Shahak wrote that abuse of Christians were considered by some a religious duty and that a custom arose of spitting three times upon seeing a church or a crucifix. Evedently the practice is getting a revival in Israel.

Clergymen have said that they believe the practice would stop if Jewish rabbis would criticize it. There were no reports in the Israeli press of any such criticism in the days following the Ha'aretz report.

Break the Siege

PRESS RELEASE Stop the Genocide of Palestinians in Gaza

Gaza is not only starving; it is dying before the eyes of the international community. If the international conspiracy of silence does not come to an end, and if the policy of blaming the victim continues, the 21st Century will witness its first brutal genocide. Thousands of Israeli soldiers are surrounding Gaza in a hermetic manner, shooting and killing any Palestinian trying to escape. The Rafah Crossing, the only exit to the external world, has been closed for two years.

The Gaza Strip has been turned into the largest concentration camp with the largest population of prisoners in the world. Gazans have repeatedly reiterated their view that the international conspiracy of silence towards the genocidal war taking place against them indicates complicity in these war crimes.

As a result of Israel's blockade on most imports and exports and other policies designed to punish Gazans, about 70% of Gaza's workforce is now unemployed or without pay, according to the United Nations, and about 80% of its residents live in grinding poverty. About 1.2 million of them are now dependent for their day-to-day survival on food handouts from U.N. or international agencies, An increasing number of Palestinian families in Gaza are unable to offer their children more than one meager meal a day, often little more than rice and boiled lentils. Fresh fruit and vegetables are beyond the reach of many families. Meat and chicken are impossibly expensive. And fish is unavailable in its markets because the Israeli navy has curtailed the movements of Gaza's fishermen.

It is a violation of international law to collectively punish more than a million people for something they did not do. But Israel has shrugged off the law, has ignored the repeated demands of the U.N. Security Council. Which leaves us with Civil Society organizations, solidarity campaigns and freedom loving people: BREAK THE SIEGE AND STOP THE GENOCIDAL WAR BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.

The One Democratic State Group University Teachers’ Association in Palestine Ajras Alawda-Editorial Board Arab Cultural Forum

For Comments +972 599 880608 + 972 599 441766 + 972 599 322636

New Palestine Banner Unfurled on the 27th

MECC's new banner was front and center at the rally of 7,000 in Boston on Oct. 27.

An Alternative to the racist IslamoFascism Campaign

Famous anti-Zionist historian Lenni Brenner crafted a petition campaign calling for an end of arms sales/gifts to both Saudi Arabia and Israel. See it by clicking here.

Report in Chicago Tribune Blows Lid Off "Liberty" Coverup

In a major article in the Chicago Tribune a reporter uncovered testiomony that several US military officers read the Hebrew transcript of conversations between Israeli military controllers and figher jets. They say the conversations show that the controllers knew full well that the "Liberty" was a U.S. ship when they ordered it attacked. The attack that took place during Israel's war on Egypt in 1967 and claimed the lives of 34 U.S. sailors. For the article click here.

Now would be an excellent time to contact you member of Congress and demand that their be a public Congressional investigation of what really happened in 1967.

Palestinian Authority Has No Authorization to Cut a Deal