Rania Al-Yassin,Queen Rania of Jordan blood donor for palestinian in Gaza.

U.S. must engage with the international community to monitor the situation in Gaza and Palestine as the main responsible for the problem of human righs and humanitarian that were created based on the respect to PALESTINIAN-arab identity and arab muslims culture by UNESCO and UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY PUBLIC RITGHS. ISRAEL HAVE NO RIGTHS TO MAKE THE RULES IN GAZA AND PALESTINE BY HIMSELF AGAINST INTERNATIONAL ORDER AND HUMAN RIGTHS BECAUSE IT MEANS THE SAME ORDER OF SUDAFRICA REGIME OF APARTHEID FOR PALESTINIAN BASED ON ANTITERRORISM OPERATION.THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MUST MONITORED THES SITUATION AGAINST PALESTINIAN PEOPLE VERY EXPLOSIVE IN THE MIDLED EAST.AN ETIC COMISSION IN THE CONGRESS OF UNITED STATES MUST MONITORED THE BEHAVIOR OF ISRAEL'S ANTITERRORIST OPERATION IN GAZA BASED ON HUMAN RIGTHS AND PALESTINIAN IDENTITY. Hamas must stop terrorist attacks against the civilian population of Israel. There is no other solution.

The degree of respect for the identity and integrity of Palestine depends on two factors: 1) Control of Palestinian extremist groups that use terrorism against Israeli civilians 2) The behavior of Washington, the provider of Israel, to Palestine. Washington ultimately decides on everything that happens in Gaza and is the primary responsibility of what happens there. Gualterio Nunez Estrada, Sarasota, Florida



Israel's conduct towards Palestine is nothing but an appendage of the White House policy in the Middle East. The Israeli army's actions, the degree of respect for the Palestinian civilian population, the Palestinian identity, the human rights of the Palestinians is dependent on Washington, not Washington behind each maneuver Israel can not move an inch or outside its territory. Ultimately, who leads Washington's policy towards Palestine and Israel is primarily responsible for what happens in Gaza. Israel relies on the supply and permit the United States. Israel itself, not behind Washington can not move. Gualterio Nunez Estrada, Sarasota, Florida.

U.N.: Gaza faces 'alarming' humanitarian situation
By Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS — Gaza's 1.5 million residents are facing an "alarming" humanitarian situation under constant Israeli bombardment, with the main power plant shut down, overcrowded hospitals struggling to cope and very limited food supplies, U.N. officials said.
The power plant shut down on Tuesday because Israel has blocked fuel delivery through the main pipeline since Dec. 26, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said Wednesday. This has forced hospitals to use generators, which have limited fuel supplies, and left many of the 650,000 people in central and northern Gaza with power cuts of 16 hours a day or more, he said............................................................

The Jewish Journal:Novelist A.B. Yehoshua raises the question: Can Jewishness be shed?

November 26, 2008
Novelist A.B. Yehoshua raises the question: Can Jewishness be shed?
By Adam Kirsch, Nextbook
http://www.jewishjournal.com/books/article/novelist_ab_yehoshua_raises_the_question_can_jewishness_be_shed_20081126/

A.B. Yehoshua, long recognized as one of Israel's best novelists, has in recent years also emerged as one of its most prominent scolds. On Tisha B'Av this year, he published an op-ed in the Guardian deploring the "moral deterioration" of Israel's public life. Contrasting scandal-plagued politicians like Moshe Katsav and Ehud Olmert with the austere founders of the Jewish state, Yehoshua argued that the lawlessness and immorality of Israel's occupation of the West Bank was now bleeding back into the state itself. But if he is tough on Israelis, Yehoshua is no gentler on American Jews. On the contrary, in 2006, during a heated panel discussion at the American Jewish Committee's 100th anniversary celebration, Yehoshua proclaimed the futility of American Judaism. Only in Israel was an authentic Jewish life possible, he insisted. Diaspora Jews change their nationalities as if they were changing jackets, whereas for Israelis, Jewishness is a skin that cannot be removed.Yehoshua must have been brooding on that image, which provoked understandable anger among American Jews, as he wrote "Friendly Fire," his quietly impassioned new novel. For at the moral center of the book is an Israeli who desires to do exactly what Yehoshua said was impossible -- to abrade away his Jewishness like a layer of flesh. Yirmiyahu, a retired Israeli diplomat, has chosen to spend his old age in Tanzania, working as the bookkeeper for a team of African anthropologists. To Africans, he reports to his visiting Israeli sister-in-law, white people are muzungu, "not actually white but peeled. Our black skin has been peeled from us." In just the same way, he defiantly says, he means to spend the last years of his life becoming muzungu to the Jews. And he means it. When his sister-in-law, Daniela, arrives at Yirmiyahu's remote house, she gives him a parcel of Hebrew newspapers and Chanukah candles; he immediately tosses them into the stove, neatly erasing all traces of both Israel and Judaism.The reader does not have long to wonder about the reasons for this disaffection. Yirmiyahu's wife, Daniela's sister, has recently died in Africa, and Daniela's visit is ostensibly a pilgrimage in her memory. But beneath this natural grief, the family is really suffering from an unnatural and incurable one: the death of Yirmiyahu's son, Eyal, seven years before, in an army operation on the West Bank. What makes this loss so intolerable is that, as the novel's title reveals, Eyal was not killed by a Palestinian bomb but by his fellow Israel Defense Forces soldiers in a case of "friendly fire." This dull euphemism becomes on Yirmiyahu's lips a kind of curse word, which he can't stop repeating to himself. The State of Israel took his son from him, the way God nearly took Isaac from Abraham, but this time, there was no last-minute reprieve.This is a fictional premise fraught with dangers: The temptations to sentimentalize, moralize and sermonize are great. But Yehoshua deftly sidesteps them, choosing instead to lower the temperature of the novel to a slow, meditative burn. He accomplishes this, in part, by alternating the scenes of Daniela and Yirmiyahu in Africa with an entirely different kind of story -- the domestic and professional troubles of Amotz, the husband Daniela left behind in Tel Aviv. If the Tanzania sections of the novel deal with the deepest moral problems -- by the end, the two Israelis are debating the ethics of the prophets under an African sky -- the Tel Aviv sections are a comedy of manners, taking the reader adroitly through all the phases of contemporary Israeli life: family, army, work, sex, even traffic jams.Yehoshua's decision to cut back and forth between the two stories -- each section is just a few pages long -- keeps "Friendly Fire" from gathering much narrative momentum. But as the novel progresses, it becomes clear that Yehoshua's mastery of fictional technique has not decayed. On the contrary, the slow pace helps the reader see how carefully Yehoshua has devised the symbolic scheme of the book. In time, every event and every setting starts to seem like a metaphor. Quietly, without insisting, Yehoshua allows these metaphors to echo and interrogate one another.Take the run-of-the-mill problem that faces Amotz, a building engineer, as "Friendly Fire" opens. He has designed the elevator for a new high-rise apartment building in Tel Aviv, but the residents are complaining about flaws in the shaft that cause "an insufferable roaring, whistling and rumbling" whenever the winds blow. When Amotz rides the elevator to find out where the wind is leaking in, he observes: "Without question, within this shaft that was meant to be completely sealed off from the world swirl uninvited spirits." Yehoshua says nothing more than this, but it is impossible for the reader not to make the parallel with Israel itself. Despite the Zionist dream of a self-sufficient Jewish homeland, Yehoshua suggests, the country can never be truly sealed off from the outside world, and it, too, is haunted by the "uninvited spirits" of its neighbors.Yehoshua makes even as mundane a detail as time zones carry a hidden symbolic charge. Amotz is expecting a phone call from Daniela in Tanzania, but he gets the time wrong, since Dar es Salaam is actually an hour ahead of Tel Aviv, not an hour behind, as he assumed. "The African continent is west of Israel or east?" he asks, and, of course, the answer is both: Israel is geographically between east and west, just as it occupies an in-between space in the world's political and cultural imagination.As the novel goes on accumulating these layers of meaning and symbol, it becomes clear that Yehoshua is not just writing an Israeli novel: He is evoking an Israeli and Jewish way of being and thinking, in which nothing in the world is simply what it is but comes to us multiply encoded. This endless meaningfulness, which forces Jews to be ever-vigilant interpreters, is exactly what Yirmiyahu has gone to Africa to escape: "A place where we do not exist in any memories. Not religious, not historical, not mythological.... Everything that has oppressed me begins to fall off, without argument or debate."Yet it cannot escape the reader that even in Africa, Yirmiyahu shares the name of one of the great Hebrew prophets (as, for that matter, do Amotz and his father, the Parkinson's-afflicted Yoel). Yirmiyahu is fully conscious of this irony, and he lectures Daniela at length about the cruelty of the God whose threats fill the Book of Jeremiah: "A prophecy of destruction, with relish. Disaster and death and cannibalism.... You worshiped other gods, so you deserve that your sons and daughter be eaten."Yet what is Yirmiyahu himself if not a Jeremiah, whose rage at Israel is immense because his disappointment in it is immense? The friendly fire that claimed his son did not break that connection. On the contrary, over the course of the novel, we learn that Yirmiyahu has done his own investigation into Eyal's death, and what he learns -- about Israelis, Palestinians and their violent embrace -- only deepens its tragic ambiguity. So, too, Amotz decides that he is ultimately responsible for the flaws in the elevator shaft, even though he did not build it himself -- that an obligation to the community is not less binding because it is unasked for and even unfair.By the time Daniela and Amotz are reunited in the novel's last pages, none of the novel's breakages have been permanently repaired. But Yehoshua's subtlety and compassion allow "Friendly Fire" to offer the only kind of affirmation we need or can accept from art -- not a false consolation, but a true image of solidarity. Adam Kirsch is the author of "Benjamin Disraeli," a new biography in Nextbook's Jewish Encounters series. Reprinted from Nextbook.org, a new read on Jewish culture.
© Copyright 2008 The Jewish Journal and JewishJournal.comAll rights reserved. JewishJournal.com is hosted by Nexcess.net

Amos Oz, Israeli writer seeks truce in Gaza.עמוס עוז, סופר ישראלי מבקש הפסקת אש בעזה

Lo scrittore israeliano
«Chiedo a tutti: cessate il fuoco.Non rinunciamo al sogno di pace»
Amos Oz: «Hamas va isolata, ma in Cisgiordania si deve negoziare»

CORRIERI DELLA SERA, ITALIAN NEWSPAPER, ROME.

Ulteriori violenze non condurranno a nulla, se non all’inasprimento del circolo vizioso fatto di attacchi e contro-attacchi sempre più gravi e senza fine. L’unico obiettivo delle operazioni militari di Israele a Gaza è di raggiungere la fine degli attacchi contro i propri cittadini e la sua società civile. Va detto che non deve esistere alcun altro obiettivo che Israele possa raggiungere tramite il ricorso alla forza militare. D’altra parte, noi tutti dobbiamo adattarci all’evidenza della profonda divisione esistente all’interno del campo palestinese e prendere atto che oggi convivono due Palestine: una nella striscia di Gaza e l’altra in Cisgiordania. Gaza è stata sequestrata da una banda di estremisti islamici che si muovono sulla falsariga dei talebani e sono sostenuti dall’Iran, il quale a sua volta da tempo proclama la necessità di perpetrare un grande genocidio ai danni di Israele. La Cisgiordania è controllata dall’Autorità palestinese, che si è dimostrata pragmatica e moderata. Detto ciò, va però anche ricordato che Gaza resta un luogo di immense povertà, disperazione e miseria.
Ed appare dunque ancora più assurdo e tragico che questa comunità di profughi palestinesi sia controllata da un gruppo di cinici assetati di guerra dediti alla causa della distruzione di Israele e che considerano qualsiasi cittadino israeliano come una loro vittima più che legittima. Gaza merita molto meglio di Hamas. Se dunque è indispensabile che il governo dello Stato israeliano faccia del suo meglio per stipulare immediatamente il cessate il fuoco con Hamas a Gaza, resta anche prioritaria la ripresa dei negoziati di pace con l’Autorità palestinese in Cisgiordania, e, anzi, proprio di questi tempi tali sforzi vanno raddoppiati. I termini delle intese sono ormai ben noti a tutti: tornare ai confini precedenti il conflitto del giugno 1967 con leggere reciproche modificazioni tracciate di comune accordo; due città-capitali a Gerusalemme; non deve esistere alcun insediamento ebraico all’interno del territorio del futuro Stato palestinese e va imposta un’autentica demilitarizzazione nelle regioni che Israele dovrà evacuare. Sarà di grande aiuto l’impegno della comunità internazionale nel favorire gli accordi tra Stato israeliano e dirigenti palestinesi in Cisgiordania.
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In particolare l’Europa potrebbe giocare un ruolo trainante incoraggiando, aiutando e rassicurando entrambi i contendenti chiamati comunque a fare reciprocamente gravose concessioni e ad assumersi una lunga serie di rischi. L’intesa tra Israele e l’Autorità palestinese sulla falsariga di questi principi è giusta e possibile. E io ritengo che, se Israele avrà il coraggio di concludere la pace con i responsabili palestinesi della Cisgiordania, alla fine seguirà anche quella con Gaza. Ma, lo ripeto, il primo passo deve essere un immediato cessate il fuoco con Hamas, accompagnato dal raddoppio degli sforzi per giungere all’intesa con l’Autorità palestinese. L’alternativa è semplicemente troppo orribile per essere presa in considerazione.
Amos Oztraduzione di Lorenzo Cremonesi© Corriere della Sera 29 dicembre 2008

Israel, Hamas, and moral idiocy.ישראל, החמאס והמוסרית טמטום המוח

(" SOME CIVILIAN CASUALTIES ARE INEVITABLE...")

THIS IS THE PSICOLOGY OF THE PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT THE ATTACKS AGAINST PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS,(State terrorism by Israel in Gaza) ACTUALLY WOUNDED BY HUNDREDS, ALMOST TWO THOUSANDS BY THE LAST REPORT. Gualterio Nunez Estrada, Sarasota, Florida.

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR.
Israel, Hamas, and moral idiocy
By Alan M. Dershowitz Alan M. Dershowitz Wed Dec 31, 3:00 am ET
Cambridge, Mass. – Israel's decision to take military action against Hamas rocket attacks targeting its civilian population has been long in coming. I vividly recall a visit my wife and I took to the Israeli city of Sderot on March 20 of this year. Over the past four years, Palestinian terrorists – in particular, Hamas and Islamic Jihad – have fired more than 2,000 rockets at this civilian area, which is home to mostly poor and working-class people.
The rockets are designed exclusively to maximize civilian deaths, and some have barely missed schoolyards, kindergartens, hospitals, and school buses. But others hit their targets, killing more than a dozen civilians since 2001, including in February 2008 a father of four who had been studying at the local university. These anticivilian rockets have also injured and traumatized countless children.
The residents of Sderot were demanding that their nation take action to protect them. But Israel's postoccupation military options were limited, since Hamas deliberately fires its deadly rockets from densely populated urban areas, and the Israeli army has a strict policy of trying to avoid civilian casualties.
The firing of rockets at civilians from densely populated civilian areas is the newest tactic in the war between terrorists who love death and democracies that love life. The terrorists have learned how to exploit the morality of democracies against those who do not want to kill civilians, even enemy civilians.
The attacks on Israeli citizens have little to do with what Israel does or does not do. They have everything to do with an ideology that despises – and openly seeks to destroy – the Jewish state. Consider that rocket attacks increased substantially after Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005, and they accelerated further after Hamas seized control last year.
In the past months, a shaky cease-fire, organized by Egypt, was in effect. Hamas agreed to stop the rockets and Israel agreed to stop taking military action against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. The cease-fire itself was morally dubious and legally asymmetrical.
Israel, in effect, was saying to Hamas: If you stop engaging in the war crime of targeting our innocent civilians, we will stop engaging in the entirely lawful military acts of targeting your terrorists. Under the cease-fire, Israel reserved the right to engage in self-defense actions such as attacking terrorists who were in the course of firing rockets at its civilians.
Just before the hostilities began, Israel reopened a checkpoint to allow humanitarian aid to reenter Gaza. It had closed the point of entry after it had been targeted by Gazan rockets. Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, also issued a stern, final warning to Hamas that unless it stopped the rockets, there would be a full-scale military response. The Hamas rockets continued and Israel kept its word, implementing a carefully prepared targeted air attack against Hamas targets.
On Sunday, I spoke to the air force general, now retired, who worked on the planning of the attack. He told me of the intelligence and planning that had gone into preparing for the contingency that the military option might become necessary. The Israeli air force had pinpointed with precision the exact locations of Hamas structures in an effort to minimize civilian casualties.
Even Hamas sources have acknowledged that the vast majority of those killed have been Hamas terrorists, though some civilian casualties are inevitable when, as BBC's Rushdi Abou Alouf – who is certainly not pro-Israel – reported, "The Hamas security compounds are in the middle of the city." Indeed, his home balcony was just 20 meters away from a compound he saw bombed.
There have been three types of international response to the Israeli military actions against the Hamas rockets. Not surprisingly, Iran, Hamas, and other knee-jerk Israeli-bashers have argued that the Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians are entirely legitimate and that the Israeli counterattacks are war crimes.
Equally unsurprising is the response of the United Nations, the European Union, Russia, and others who, at least when it comes to Israel, see a moral and legal equivalence between terrorists who target civilians and a democracy that responds by targeting the terrorists.
And finally, there is the United States and a few other nations that place the blame squarely on Hamas for its unlawful and immoral policy of using its own civilians as human shields, behind whom they fire rockets at Israeli civilians.
The most dangerous of the three responses is not the Iranian-Hamas absurdity, which is largely ignored by thinking and moral people, but the United Nations and European Union response, which equates the willful murder of civilians with legitimate self-defense pursuant to Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.
This false moral equivalence only encourages terrorists to persist in their unlawful actions against civilians. The US has it exactly right by placing the blame on Hamas, while urging Israel to do everything possible to minimize civilian casualties.
• Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter professor of law at Harvard Law School. His latest book is "The Case Against Israel's Enemies: Exposing Jimmy Carter and Others Who Stand in the Way of Peace."

Israel intelectuals wans to stop the war in Gaza,HAARETZ.COM.

אינטלקטואלים ישראלים רוצה לעצור את המלחמה בעזה.Gualterio Nunez Estrada, Sarasota, Florida.

Last update - 14:56 30/12/2008
David Grossman / Is Israel too imprisoned in the familiar ceremony of war?
By David Grossman
Tags: ISrael, Israel News, Hamas

After its severe strike on Gaza, Israel would do well to stop, turn to Hamas' leaders and say: Until Saturday Israel held its fire in the face of thousands of Qassams from the Gaza Strip. Now you know how harsh its response can be. So as not to add to the death and destruction we will now hold our fire unilaterally and completely for the next 48 hours. Even if you fire at Israel, we will not respond with renewed fighting. We will grit our teeth, as we did all through the recent period, and we will not be dragged into replying with force. Moreover, we invite interested countries, neighbors near and far, to mediate between us and you to bring back the cease-fire. If you hold your fire, we will not renew ours. If you continue firing while we are practicing restraint, we will respond at the end of this 48 hours, but even then we will keep the door open to negotiations to renew the cease-fire, and even on a general and expanded agreement. That is what Israel should do now. Is it possible, or are we too imprisoned in the familiar ceremony of war?

Until Saturday, Israel under Ehud Barak's military leadership showed remarkable cool. It should not lose its cool in the heat of battle. We should not forget even for a moment that the people of the Gaza Strip will remain our close neighbors and that sooner or later we will want to achieve good neighborly relations with them. We should in no way strike them so violently, even if Hamas, for years, has made life intolerably miserable for the people of southern Israel, and even if their leaders have refused every Israeli and Egyptian attempt to reach a compromise to prevent this lastest flare-up. The line of self-control and the awareness of the obligation to protect the lives of the innocent in Gaza must be toed even now, precisely because Israel's strength is almost limitless. Israel must constantly check to see when its force has crossed the line of legitimate and effective response, whose goal is deterrence and a restoration of the cease-fire, and from what point it is once again trapped in the usual spiral of violence. Israel's leaders know well that given the situation in the Gaza Strip, it will be very hard to reach a total and unequivocal military solution. The lack of a solution might result in an ongoing ambiguous situation where we have already been: Israel will strike Hamas, it will strike and be struck, strike and be struck, and will become unwillingly enmeshed in every trap a situation like this entails, and will not attain its true and essential goals. It might very quickly discover that it is swept up - a strong military power, but helpless to get itself out of the entanglement - into a maelstrom of violence and destruction. Therefore, stop. Hold your fire. Try for once to act against the usual response, in contrast to the lethal logic of belligerence. There will always be a chance to start firing again. War, as Barak said about two weeks ago, will not run away. International support for Israel will not be damaged, and will even grow, if we show calculated restraint and invite the international and Arab community to intervene and mediate. It is true that Hamas will thus receive a respite with which to reorganize, but it has had long years to do so, and two more days will not really make a difference. And such a calculated lull might change the way Hamas responds to the situation. The response could even give it an honorable way out of the trap it has set for itself. And one more, unavoidable thought: Had we adopted this attitude in July 2006, after Hezbollah abducted the soldiers, had we had stopped then, after our first response, and declared we were holding our fire for a day or two to mediate and calm things down, the reality today might be entirely different. This is also a lesson the government should learn from that war. In fact, it might be the most important lesson.

The Israeli army's anti-terrorist operation in the Gaza Strip is becoming a sloppy and brutal bloodshed against the Palestinian civilian

"We are living in horror, we and our children. The situation is not just bad, it is tragic," said Gazan Abu Fares, standing outside his home near the rubble of a building bombed overnight.(Reuter)"Israel and Hamas under pressure for Gaza aid truce"
Tue Dec 30, 2008 11:34pm EST

PUBLICO.ES MADRID SPAIN

"THE BLOODY LANGUAGE OF ISRAEL IN GAZA." (SPANISH)
El mapa del mundo International.
"En época de mentiras, contar la verdad se convierte en un acto revolucionario" (George Orwell)
Inicio
El lenguaje de la sangre
28 Dic 2008
18:11
La guerra es un instrumento más de comunicación en el lenguaje político israelí. Es mucho más efectiva que una ley o una declaración porque a fin de cuentas los muertos casi siempre los ponen los otros. Su valor aumenta de forma exponencial en las campañas electorales. Tzipi Livni y Ehud Barak ya tienen su guerra y en ella han puesto sus esperanzas de cara a las elecciones del 10 de febrero.
Los sondeos y los medios de comunicación dudaban de que Livni pudiera hacer frente a Netanyahu y se burlaban de los patéticos intentos de Barak por sacar la cabeza. Ahora cuentan que las opciones de Kadima pueden mejorar y que los laboristas no están acabados. Nada está escrito ya en las urnas. Todo dependerá del desenlace de la campaña de bombardeos, no del número de muertos que origine sino de las ventajas que Israel aspira a obtener de la matanza.
Además del electorado israelí, el otro destinatario del mensaje pasa estos días unas vacaciones en Hawai. Obama ya sabe cómo se las gastan los israelíes. Si contaba con esperanzas de promover negociaciones de paz u ofrecer algún tipo de diálogo a Irán o Siria, el Gobierno israelí se ha encargado de enterrar sus opciones bajo toneladas de bombas.
Los norteamericanos tienen el derecho de elegir a un joven idealista para la Casa Blanca, pero siempre es Israel quien marca las reglas del juego. Como ha dicho Aaron Miller, experto en el asunto en la época de Clinton, las probabilidades de que Obama pueda implicarse en un proceso de paz entre israelíes y palestinos con garantías de éxito “se han reducido a cero”.
Obama podría ser valiente y negarse a que sean los militares israelíes los que le impongan su política en Oriente Próximo. Los precedentes invitan, sin embargo, al pesimismo. Durante la tregua, para nada perfecta pero real, que acabó hace una semana, no murió ningún israelí por los cohetes lanzados desde Gaza. En teoría, intentar prorrogarla parecía la salida más razonable. Pero ésa no era la prioridad de Livni y Barak.
Lo dijo el periodista israelí Amnon Levy tras la guerra de Líbano en 2006: “Todo el país se vio arrastrado a una fantasía absurda y pidió sangre. Y cuando la gente quiere sangre, el Gobierno se la concede”. Evidentemente, siempre es la sangre de los otros. Y los que mueren son los responsables, nunca los que matan. Así se escribe la política israelí.
Iñigo Sáenz de Ugarte

Assaulting the identity and personal integrity and family of the Palestinian people is not a solution to the terrorism of extremist groups is not the most intelligent way to peace and concord in Gaza. This type of operation and slipshod mnal organized, must cease immediately.Gualterio Nunez Estrada, Sarasota, Florida.

לתקוף את זהותו האישית ואת שלמותו והמשפחה של העם הפלשתיני אינו פתרון טרור של קבוצות קיצוניות, היא לא הכי אינטליגנטי דרך השלום ועל Concord בעזה. סוג זה של פעולה ו mnal מסודר מאורגן, חייבת להפסיק מיד

الجيش الاسرائيلي لعملية مكافحة الإرهاب في قطاع غزة أصبحت ضعيفة ، وسفك الدماء وحشية ضد السكان المدنيين الفلسطينيين ، ضد شعب اعزل : كبار السن والنساء والأطفال / وهذه الأعمال ضد المدنيين الفلسطينيين ويجب أن تدان من جانب المجتمع الدولي. انها كانت ضعيفة ووحشية تجلب سوى المزيد من سفك الدماء والكراهية تجاه اسرائيل

The Israeli army's anti-terrorist operation in the Gaza Strip is becoming a sloppy and brutal bloodshed against the Palestinian civilian population, against defenseless people: the elderly, women and children / These actions against Palestinian civilians must be condemned by the international community. It was a sloppy and brutal bloodshed only bring more hatred toward Israel.

L'armée israélienne anti-terroriste dans la bande de Gaza est devenue une effusion de sang bâclée et brutale contre la population civile palestinienne sans défense contre les personnes: les personnes âgées, les femmes et les enfants / Ces actions contre des civils palestiniens doivent être condamnés par la communauté internationale. Il s'agissait d'un brouillon et brutal de sang seulement apporter plus de haine envers Israël.

Die israelische Armee die Anti-Terror-Operation im Gaza-Streifen wird ein schlampiger und brutalen Blutvergießen gegen die palästinensische Zivilbevölkerung, gegen wehrlose Menschen: Senioren, Frauen und Kinder / Diese Aktionen gegen palästinensische Zivilpersonen sind zu verurteilen von der internationalen Gemeinschaft. Es war eine brutale und schlampig Blutvergießen nur mehr Hass auf Israel.

American can travel to Cuba with Obama:Cuba's expert opinion.

The American people is the first worker and peasant class in the history of mankind with his own nature. The American people was the manager of the Revolution most beautiful in the world, according to Lenin. The Constitution of the United States of America did not even lie on private property and only recognizes the sovereign right to Common defenseless. The most objective way to begin discussions with the Cuban government and restore diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States is to facilitate communication and contacts between the American people and the Cuban people. The exchange of views and cooperation between the Cuban and American intellectual elite, doctors, scientists, academics, engineers, professors and teachers will make the conduct of the two countries move towards higher goals of peace, harmony and geopolitical balance in the area America THAT WE NEED TO AFFORD TECNNOLOGY TRANSFERENCE AND BUSSINES. Changing to a new policy toward Cuba is not only a purpose to the island, but a geopolitical shift toward Latin America of its powerful neighbor nearest :United States WITH HIS ECONOMY VERY LINKED TO CHINA AND IN SOME ASPECTS TO RUSSIA(NASA-LARGE AIRPLANE PRODUCTION). OBAMA has all the prestige and the ability to carry out this purpose because it is a political leader with African and Muslim roots, the same that exist in the Caribbean and, perhaps, for their identity as black, but a representative, OBAMA, is above all, a leading espiritual around the world.Gualterio Nunez Estrada, Sarasota, Florida.

(This informacion from Reuter appears in caribbeans webs news, today)

"Obama's new policy- based on communication people to people- toward Cuba, will allowed Americans to travel to the island."(Experts opinion)

Obama may set new policy on Cuba's aging revolution
Published on Tuesday, December 30, 2008
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By Anthony Boadle WASHINGTON, USA (Reuters): Five decades after Fidel Castro toppled a US-backed dictator to take power in Cuba, the Cold War rivalry with Washington could be thawing as US President-elect Barack Obama looks to ease sanctions against the communist-run island. Obama has made clear he favors relaxing restrictions on family travel and cash remittances by Cuban Americans to Cuba, which this week marks the 50th anniversary of Castro's revolution.
US President-elect Barack Obama. Bloomberg Photo Obama could also reverse other steps taken by outgoing President George W. Bush to tighten sanctions on Cuba, such as the prepayment of food imports from the United States, and he is expected to restore migration talks broken off by Bush. Experts on Cuba believe modest changes in policy will come quickly, but stop short of lifting the trade embargo first imposed in 1962 or allowing all Americans to travel to the island 90 miles off the coast of Florida. Obama, who takes office on January 20, will be the 11th US president to deal with the Cuban revolution in a dispute that has outlived the Cold War and took the world to the brink of nuclear war during the 1962 Soviet missile crisis. On the campaign trail, Obama said the embargo should stay in place to press for democratic reforms in Cuba, but he said he was open to dialogue with the Cuban leadership. Cuba has welcomed Obama's proposals as a good first step and President Raul Castro, who took over from his older brother Fidel Castro early this year, has offered to free political dissidents in exchange for the release of five convicted Cuban spies in US prisons as "gestures" to help set up a meeting with Obama. While such an exchange is unlikely and Obama will not end the embargo without major concessions from Castro, his arrival is seen by some as opening a window of opportunity for improved relations at a time of political transition in Cuba. "The potential for change is more real than ever," said Katrin Hansing, associate director at the Florida International University's Cuban Research Institute. An FIU poll conducted in November showed that 55 percent of Cuban Americans in Miami, an anti-Castro bastion that has long backed a hard-line US stance on Cuba, now favor lifting the 46-year-old trade embargo. Cuba watchers agree the embargo has failed to bring about political change in Cuba, like earlier CIA efforts to assassinate or overthrow Fidel Castro, who retired in February due to illness but still wields power behind the scenes. Experts say Obama may want to move quickly on Cuba in order to send a clear signal of change in US policy toward Latin America, where US influence has declined under Bush and where the embargo against Cuba is very unpopular. Obama will meet Latin American and Caribbean leaders in April at a summit meeting in Trinidad and Tobago. Some US businesses are banking on a better climate for trading with Cuba, which has bought $2.6 billion in US food since Congress approved an exception to the embargo in 2000. In a letter to Obama this month, a coalition of business, agriculture and trade groups called USA*Engage said it was time for a new Cuba policy and proposed lifting all sanctions and allowing American tourists to travel to Cuba. The coalition --which includes the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the National Retail Federation -- called for an immediate exemption for the sale of farm machinery and heavy equipment to Cuba. "We support the complete removal of all trade and travel restrictions on Cuba," it said. "The United States could engage in bilateral discussions with the Cuban government." It further proposed that Obama license direct banking services with Cuba, a major obstacle of the embargo that pushes up the cost of doing business with Cuba. The Cuba Study Group, a moderate organization funded by Cuban American businessmen, has also recommended lifting all travel restrictions and allowing remittances by any US citizen as a way to "strengthen the internal pro-democracy movement" in Cuba. Carlos Saladrigas, a businessman and founder of the group, believes the best way to promote change in Cuba is through US tourism. "We should allow the forces of American culture creep into Cuba and then let the Cubans be the agents of their own change. That would put the Cuban government on the spot," he said. Saladrigas said the US president has wide discretionary powers to engage Havana, even to restore the diplomatic ties severed by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1961, and allow Cuba back into the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. But lifting the travel ban requires Congressional action and that would be difficult to get passed without clear signs from Cuba that political reforms are forthcoming, he said. "Is the Cuban government really interested in significant change? I really do not see it."

Caribbeans wil be safe by solidarity, education and his own culture.

Jean H Charles MSW, JD is Executive Director of AINDOH Inc a non profit organization dedicated to build a kinder and gentle Caribbean zone for all. He can be reached at: mailto:jeanhcharles@aol.com

Culture as an engine of peace and development

Published on Monday, December 29, 2008

.By Jean H Charles

My own empirical survey has indicated there are three soft engines of peace and welfare that a nation can build its development upon. They are: ideology, religion and culture. To end poverty in our time, the major stakeholders must agree to play together a partition that includes taking into context those variables that will lead to a better world. The United Nations, the United States, Canada, Japan, the European Union, Russia, China, India and Brazil should help to create nations out of the countries of the world with creativity and engagement using culture as a strategic tool.

Peace and prosperity in the underdeveloped world is above all a cultural demarche before it can be processed into a political reality. The fact that the Kurds, the Shiites and the Sunnis are fighting each other in Iraq constitutes the major detriment to that country’s economic development. There are enough resources for each Iraqi to lead a prosperous life, yet each clan is postponing the advent of prosperity through infighting and self destruction. Afghanistan offers the same macabre spectacle of self destruction because of the ill apprehension of its cultural assets and impediments. Peace will not happen until the cultural barrier that impedes the integration of all the sectors is broken down to create a united front.

Northern Ireland’s former arch rivals Ian Paisley and Sinn Fein embracing each other at the Good Friday agreement is the ultimate example that democracy is first a cultural process. As soon as the Protestants and the Catholics have understood they are the sons and the daughters of the same nation, sharing the same cultural values, peace and prosperity have became the lot of the entire country. The same concept will be true for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Algeria, Nigeria, Somalia and the Sudan.

My novel advocacy centered on the concept that the culture of nationhood should be the first building block, even before you lay down the notion of free and fair election as the panacea for democracy building. A nation is a country that is willing to unite all the composites of its population to enjoy the glory of its past and forge a future together where no one will be left behind. The few countries that have taken the steps to use that tool as an ingredient of peace and development have achieved great success in very little time: Singapore, Malaysia (Muslim), Ireland (Christian) are model nations to emulate. In Haiti, eighty years ago, an icon of cultural renaissance, Dr Jean Price Mars, in a seminal book, “Ainsi parla l’oncle” (As told by the uncle), galvanized the Haitian people in particular, and all the black people in general, into looking into themselves to find the courage to find the beauty within, to build the indigenous movement that should have led to the renaissance of their respective countries. He was the precursor of the notion in America that Black is Beautiful as well as the father of the cultural self revaluation that produced Senghor of Senegal, Sekou Toure of Guinea, Martin Luther King of America and even later Nelson Mandela of South Africa. This cultural revival has also been, alas, prostituted by self serving and venal black politicians, to produce also Duvalier and Mugabe who contributed and contribute encore to abort the emancipation of the left behind in Haiti or in Africa. The United Nations peacekeeping missions, in spite of their role of preponderance in alleviating the world problems, have been a disconcerting factor in bringing about world peace. The UN missions around the globe have been bureaucratic machines, busy seeking a major role and a bigger mandate in each conflict, yet unable to satisfy the most minimal goal. It reminds me squarely of the position of the child who keeps asking for a bigger toy while leaving aside the ones already at hand. The UN missions have not been using the tools of cultural integration to produce nations out of the countries at war. East Timor (10 years of UN engagement), Haiti (20 years) and Congo Brazzaville (40 years) are excellent examples of the arrogance and the ineptitude of those missions. Those three states are plunging deeper and deeper into the failed state status while they have been under the watch of the UN Missions for decades. Creating nations out of the countries in conflict should have been the primary goal of the UN peacekeeping missions. This task requires specialists with knowledge and skills beyond the handling of an AK100. The UN will have to recruit entire army of young specialists in conflict resolution, coalition building, cultural anthropology and community organization if it wants to have a positive impact on war and peace on poverty and wealth on ecologic degradation and nature rehabilitation in this damaged world. On the other side, the major global nations cannot continue to play at best a flawed note, at worst a discordant one. Now is the time for the United Sates and Europe to help China and India make a quantum leap towards a green and sustainable development module towards their industrialization process. This step alone will contribute to create a better world for everybody. The engine of the green revolution retooled in China and India will facilitate the propulsion of the entire globe. The universe cannot afford for those countries (each with one billion plus population) to follow the old model of the West in reaping the raw material of Africa and of the rest of the underdeveloped world to satisfy the needs of their growing middle class population. There are not enough resources for the bandit’s culture of tabula rasa of the past. Damn the Americans and the Europeans as long as we the Chinese and the Indians can put our hand unto the oil and the ore of Africa and the rest of the underdeveloped world! In this time of peace on earth, a paradigm shift must be found to seek out the best angels out of the souls of the warring sectors so they themselves can turn into agents of peace and development. Cultural traits and indigenous values can also be an impediment to development. My own empirical observation has indicated that the countries formerly colonized by France and by Belgium have a much more difficult time achieving indices of democracy and prosperity than those that were colonized by England or other colonizing empires. The seeds of cultural dissension planted by the French or the Belgians are strong and deep into the ethos of the former colonized citizens. They are still haunting the people in places as diverse as Haiti and Louisiana in the Western Hemisphere, Congo Brazzaville, Guinea, Chad, Algeria, Senegal, and Niger in Africa and Cambodia in Asia. The French people should look into their own soul to find the roots of this destructive cultural trait and share that knowledge and the remedy with their former colonized entities. Nicholas Sarkorzy may have an inkling. He is trying to change the French people, malgré eux… but, this is the topic of another essay!

The United Nations Security Council urged an immediate halt to all military activities in the Gaza Strip .

والأطفال الذين كانوا في الشوارع متجهة إلى البيت من المدرسة وكان من بين القتلى والجرحى ، في حين أن كل مبنى واحد من الحكومة المنتخبة ديمقراطيا في فلسطين ، وكان المستهدف في الغارة الجوية. بعض المصادر أن أكثر من 100 تقريرا التفجيرات -- والعمليات لم تنته بعد
"Children who were on the streets heading home from school were among the dead and injured, while almost every single building of the democratically elected Government of Palestine was targeted in the airstrikes. Some sources report more than 100 bombings - and the operations are not yet finished"(Yndimedia)

A Massacre in Palestine - Responses & DevelopmentsSunday, 28 December 2008, 10:03 pmPress Release: Indymedia
A Massacre in Palestine - Responses and Developments
IndyMedia.org
The Palestinian Resistance has issued a general call for an all out response to the Israeli massacre of Gaza - military, political and diplomatic action is already underway. Popular mobilizations in solidarity with the Palestinian people are sprouting up everywhere, both organized and spontaneous: within Israel itself, and in every country of the world, communities are mobilizing for demonstrations and other solidarity actions.
US-supplied Israeli warplanes struck heavily populated areas of Gaza in Palestine today, killing more than 200 people and injuring more than 700. Gaza's population of a million and a half has been under an Israeli blockade and military siege for the last eighteen months.
Children who were on the streets heading home from school were among the dead and injured, while almost every single building of the democratically elected Government of Palestine was targeted in the airstrikes. Some sources report more than 100 bombings - and the operations are not yet finished.
Some buildings were struck repeatedly in second and third waves of airstrikes, so that medics who rushed on site to rescue the injured were caught in the subsequent bombings and were killed as well.
TV stations in the Middle East are showing scenes of the streets of Gaza filled with dead bodies were they fell among the rubble and the flames. Some images of mutilated and grossly butchered bodies are so gruesome that digital masking was used to spare the viewers. Ma'an News Agency reports that according to medical sources most victims are being brought to hospitals "in pieces". Also, that hospital corridors and morgues have run out of space.
Kristen Ess, writing for the Palestine News Network reported that local stations are providing live coverage of the attacks, showing "...bodies are blown apart, children’s heads are split, there is blood everywhere and the cameras are shaking from the explosions."
The photo that accompanies this article was taken by a viewer watching Al Jazeera on television and published by the International Middle East Media Center. The dead pictured are civilian Police; the willful targeting of civilians is a violation of the Geneva Convention.
Many Governments around the world are condemning the actions, calling for a cease-fire and protesting the disproportionate force exerted by Israel. Many European and Arab Governments have been calling for calm and an immediate end to the operations. Russia, the Vatican and the EU also joined in expressing deep concern over the slaughter of innocents. Only the US and UK Governments have refused to join the world community, siding with the Zionist Israeli regime and making inflammatory and provocative statements calculated to add insult to the massacres.
Protests in solidarity with Palestine are springing up all over the world in every major city. Many political parties in Europe are issuing condemnations of the Israeli massacre.
In Palestine itself, as soon as news of the attacks spread to the communities and the scale of the atrocities was beginning to be known, demonstrations broke out everywhere, leading to battles of youth armed only with sticks and stones against Israeli troops who fought them with chemical and many other weapons - there were also arrests. Demonstrations took place in every city in the West Bank and also in East Jerusalem and Hebron.
Three days of mourning are being called all over the country, and a general strike is being organized in protest for the massacre.
Palestinian militia and resistance groups have launched about 70 improvised rockets targeting locations in Israel. One person has died in these attacks. Most of the rockets hit empty areas, causing no damages or injuries. There is a high possibility that the airstrikes might lead to a ground war and all the resistance forces are preparing to defend the neighborhoods.
Within Palestinian society, there is now a renewed urging for unity among the many factions, with a special concern for unity between Hamas and Fatah, the two largest and most influential of the Palestinian organizations.
The political leadership of Hamas has called for a Third Intifada (uprising). The call is for a Military Intifada against Zionist forces, and for a Peaceful Intifada "internally", meaning that there is concern to keep minimizing the scale of conflict between Hamas and Fatah and especially to avoid bloodshed.
As the world mobilizes to oppose Israel's atrocities, the cause of Unity is going to be the most crucial factor that will determine the outcome of every effort.
Cyprus IndyMedia Collective
ENDS

اسرائيل هي ذبح الشعب الفلسطيني من خلال استخدام القوة المفرطة. من قبل ، فإن الشعب الفلسطيني قد تعرض للموت جوعا قبل الحصار الاسرائيلي. حماس للانتقال إلى مرحلة المحادثات السياسية paz.La يجب على المجتمع الدولي العمل من أجل السلام في قطاع غزة وحقوق الشعب palestino.Gualterio نونيز استرادا ، ساراسوتا بولاية فلوريدا.

"This is a bloodbath, the bloodiest bloodbath since 1967," he told Al Jazeera. "This is an attack on the civilian population of Gaza."

Israel is massacring the Palestinian people by using excessive force. Earlier, the Palestinian people were subjected to starvation by the Israeli blockade. Hamas has to go to a phase of political talks of peace.The international community must work towards peace in Gaza and the rights of the people of Palestine.Gualterio Nunez Estrada, Sarasota, Florida.

Israël est de massacrer le peuple palestinien en utilisant une force excessive. Plus tôt, le peuple palestinien a été soumis à la famine par le blocus israélien. Le Hamas a pour aller à une phase de négociations politiques paz.La communauté internationale doit oeuvrer en faveur de la paix à Gaza et les droits du peuple palestino.Gualterio Nunez Estrada, Sarasota, en Floride.

from "Al Jazeera":...............................................

"The United Nations Security Council urged an immediate halt to all military activities in the Gaza Strip and called for the humanitarian crisis faced by Gaza's 1.5 million residents to be addressed."

"Neven Jurica, Croatia's ambassador to the UN and president of the council, read out a non-binding statement on behalf of the 15-member body that called on the parties involved in the conflict "to stop immediately all military activities". The statement, however, did not mention either Israel or Hamas by name."

"Palestinian medics say that more than 280 people have been killed and more than 600 injured in continuing Israeli bombardment of the impoverished Gaza Strip."

"Israeli television has reported that hundreds of infantry and armoured forces were massing on the border of the territory."

The Argentine Foreign Ministry: note. Military escalation in the Middle East / Testimony

An Argentine near the fire in Gaza Haim Jelin, head of a regional council, heard from his house the beginning of the bombing Foreign News: previous next Sunday December 28, 2008 Published in print edition.
"LA NACION", Argentina.(The Nation, newspaper)

The Argentine Foreign Ministry yesterday called on the Israelis and Palestinians to "cease immediately all acts of violence" in the Gaza Strip. Moreover, in a statement expressed "its deep sorrow and rejection of violence once again enlutar to more Middle East, which left a tragic loss of life and injuries among the civilian population." "Israel must stop the bombing in the Gaza Strip and Hamas to stop rocket attacks at Israeli territory. Without delay, you must restart the path of dialogue. Israel must preserve and provide a permanent normal flow of supplies and services address the most urgent needs of the population in Gaza, "the note added.

La Cancillería argentina pidió ayer a israelíes y palestinos que "pongan fin de manera inmediata a todo acto de violencia" en la Franja de Gaza. Además, expresó en un comunicado "su profundo pesar y rechazo por los actos de violencia que una vez más vuelven a enlutar a Medio Oriente, que dejaron un trágico saldo de muertos y heridos en la población civil". "Israel debe detener los bombardeos en la Franja de Gaza y Hamas debe cesar los ataques con cohetes al territorio israelí. Sin demoras, debe retomarse la vía del diálogo. Israel debe preservar y facilitar en forma permanente el normal flujo de suministros y de servicios para atender las necesidades más urgentes de la población en Gaza", añadió la nota.

JERUSALEN (Para LA NACION).- Cuando la fuerza aérea israelí inició ayer su amplio operativo contra blancos de Hamas en la Franja de Gaza, el argentino-israelí Jaim Jelin oyó todo claramente desde su casa, a muy pocos kilómetros del territorio palestino.
"A las 11.30, oí el comienzo del bombardeo. Mi casa lo sintió, así que no quiero ni pensar lo que fue del otro lado", dijo Jelin, que no dudó ni un momento de que no se trataba de misiles que impactaban en Israel, sino del operativo contra Hamas.
"Oí los aviones y les dije a todos: «Empezó». Luego, alerté a quienes integran el consejo regional que yo encabezo de se quedaran en sus hogares, porque sabemos ya lo que es la guerra. Uno tira y después recibe del otro lado."
Jelin, llegado a Israel desde Buenos Aires en 1976, es el jefe del Consejo Regional Eshkol, una de las voces más escuchadas de los líderes de la población del sur de Israel, objetivo de los ataques palestinos desde Gaza. La mayoría de los 11.000 habitantes del área de su jurisdicción están al alcance de los cohetes Qassam y morteros disparados desde la Franja.
Cuando aparece en los medios israelíes para analizar la situación y presentar las reivindicaciones de la población local, Jelin exige que el gobierno israelí se mantenga unido, que sea firme y no se confunda.
"Lo que siento es que esto ya se tiene que terminar. No puede ser que acá haya guerra, luego tres meses de silencio y después otra vez guerra. No podemos seguir así", dice categórico.
Consultado sobre la situación en el terreno, Jelin opta por no entrar en detalles, pero es elocuente. "Nosotros, la izquierda en este país, ponemos todo el tiempo la mano para tratar de hacer la paz. ¿Y qué recibimos? ¡Qassam!", dice, en referencia a los cohetes que lanza Hamas.
Jelin, que reside en un kibbutz, habla con una combinación de línea dura, de cansancio por la situación, y con visión liberal respecto a parte de sus vecinos.
"Creo que va a tener que pasar esta guerra para que haya paz. No habrá otra. No comprenden que hay que sentarse a la mesa y que cada uno escriba lo que necesita, para tratar de entenderse. Ellos [por Hamas] entienden únicamente la fuerza", señala Jelin.
Además, el argentino-israelí se mostró en desacuerdo con la declaración formulada días atrás por la canciller israelí, Tzipi Livni, sobre la necesidad de poner fin al gobierno de Hamas en Gaza. "No creo que eso sirva. Ya trataron de hacerlo en el Líbano. El problema es que ellos, los palestinos, eligieron el gobierno de Hamas."
"Hamas nos tira todo el tiempo misiles. A los chicos que van al colegio a la mañana... Es imposible que los niños crezcan sanos en una situación así. Ahora espero que entiendan lo que es la fuerza", expresa.
Intenciones
Si bien en Israel han muerto 13 personas desde 2001 por los cohetes Qassam, Jelin considera que el problema no se puede reducir a cifras, sino que debe ser medida en términos de intenciones.
"Esos 13 muertos son civiles. En la Franja de Gaza, los más de 225 que murieron [ayer] en su mayoría no son civiles, sino soldados. Ellos [por Hamas] no atacan a nuestro ejército. No es una guerra de ejército contra ejército, sino de misiles disparados hacia la población civil", señala.
Pero Jelin no se hace ilusiones. Sabe que tampoco el operativo en curso hallará una solución rápida e ideal al problema de los cohetes lanzados por Hamas. Pero tiene certeza de que, finalmente, va a funcionar.
"Esto no será nada fácil, lo sé. Ahí está nuestro trabajo: ser firmes. No hay alternativa."
El Gobierno pidió el fin de la violencia
La Cancillería argentina pidió ayer a israelíes y palestinos que "pongan fin de manera inmediata a todo acto de violencia" en la Franja de Gaza. Además, expresó en un comunicado "su profundo pesar y rechazo por los actos de violencia que una vez más vuelven a enlutar a Medio Oriente, que dejaron un trágico saldo de muertos y heridos en la población civil". "Israel debe detener los bombardeos en la Franja de Gaza y Hamas debe cesar los ataques con cohetes al territorio israelí. Sin demoras, debe retomarse la vía del diálogo. Israel debe preservar y facilitar en forma permanente el normal flujo de suministros y de servicios para atender las necesidades más urgentes de la población en Gaza", añadió la nota.

HAROLD PINTER WAS A REVOLUTION INSIDE CUBAN THEATER AND FILMS.

Harold Pinter, the other dimension in the theater, film scriptwriter, man and friend, has died leaving a strong legacy within the Cuban culture which impact on the theater and film from the decade of 60.PINTER , as LORD BYRON who died fighting for freedom of Greece, was ethical and moral defender of the peoples of Africa and the Caribbean in general, all the oppressed of the earth. Along with Arthur Miller and Italian neorealism, the dramatic English that is gone, but we have his legacy, was one of the most influential intellectuals in Cuba today. PINTER For the period from 1965 to 1970 was a revolution of the theater in Cuba more a trend in Cuban cinema already having an impact by Pier Paolo Pasolini WITH ARTHUR MILLER.

HAROLD PINTER IN CUBA WAS AN EXPLOSION OF IDEAS AND A BREATH OF SPIRITUAL LIFE THROUGH DRAMA.

JAMAICA: Solidarity and love to face the coming economy crisis.

Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Professor Sir Kenneth Hall (right), presents the Jamaica Agricultural Society's (JAS) Gold Medal Award to his predecessor, the Most Hon. Sir Howard Cooke (left), at a ceremony, held at King's House on December 5. The award was presented to the former Governor-General in recognition of his outstanding contribution to nation building, particularly, in agriculture and the development of the JAS. At centre is JAS President, Senator Norman Grant.

"Simpson Miller also urged persons to help the weak and the less fortunate especially those confined to the various institutions.
In calling for personal and domestic disputes to be settled without violence and bloodshed, she also made a special plea for children.
"Give them all the love and attention they need," she said."
"JAMAICAN OBSERVER",12/26/2008.
Jamaicans urged to remain positive despite economic crisis
Thursday, December 25, 2008
JAMAICA's leaders are urging persons to remain positive this Christmas, despite the shadow cast by the recession in the global economy.
Governor General Sir Kenneth Hall in his message said while the recession is predicted to have "an adverse effect on the country", Jamaicans should identify and implement measures that can be adopted to overcome the challenges.
"We must revisit those fundamental values that have sustained the nation in our struggle for development over these many years and then see how they can be strengthened and applied to the present circumstances," he said.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding, in acknowledging that Christmas for many Jamaicans here and abroad will be "dampened by the economic turmoil unfolding all across the world and fears of what next year will bring", urged persons to remember Jesus Christ, the reason for the season.
"We must give thanks for his continuing goodness and mercy because despite the difficulties we face, there is much for us to be thankful for," the Prime Minister said.
He further urged persons to be careful on the roads and show particular care for the children. He said at this time individuals should remember the poor, the bed-ridden and abandoned children and families who have lost loved ones.
And Opposition leader Portia Simpson Miller in her address said she was confident Jamaicans would find a way to celebrate even with the challenges.
"We are a resilient people and adversity often brings out the best in us. If our foreparents made it through the trauma and indignity of slavery and our national heroes could come through times of great social upheaval and economic deprivation, then we too can summon the courage and determination to make it through these testing times," she said.
Simpson Miller also urged persons to help the weak and the less fortunate especially those confined to the various institutions.
In calling for personal and domestic disputes to be settled without violence and bloodshed, she also made a special plea for children.
"Give them all the love and attention they need," she said.

Mote Marine laboratory has provide of BLACKBERRY to lifeguards at 31 beaches of Southwest of Florida...

Tourist down from South of United States to Sarasota pay for some camping area the same as a hotel, because they prefeer to be close to the nature. Some europeans tourist do the same. Many Canadian prefeer to live in his own or rented motorhome.

Thousands of volunters care in Sarasota county, Florida, the police, nature,habitat, the education board, hospitals and beaches working hard under the City Manager regulations.(Source: "Sarasota Herald Tribune", front page, 12/26/2008)

"SARASOTA, FLORIDA HAS THE MOST BEATIFUL AND VERY CLEANS BEACHES...."

Mote Marine Staff Biologist Valeriy Palubok takes a sample of sea water from a dock along New Pass in Sarasota Bay on Dec. 12, a daily exercise in monitoring for potential levels of red tide at the laboratory.

SARASOTA HERALD TRIBUNE, FRONT PAGE, 12/24/2008(a very usefulk professional reportage full of data to caring beaches in caribbeans countries. Sarasota City Mayor is the most succefull in Florida about caring enviroment and beaches with many task and regulation that must be studied by caribbean goverments. Sarasota Mote Marine Lab and the City Mayor are paradigmatical for caribbean area. It is very usefull to match with them)

The beaches of Sarasota are protected by sanitary regulation"s City Mayor for tourist and visitors, they are very clean, with the highest quality water an sand that you can compare with some beaches of Cuba where you walk a long way far from the coast without swiming and in a very safety condition. The beaches are under surveillance 24 hours a day by camera, lifeguard, biologist and marine tecnologists and City Mayor officers, planes and helicopters. They really care the beaches because they love the nature. The gold of the biologist and policemaker of Florida is going back the nature to the XIX century.The problem is the infraesructure of the non-green industry.

Thanks Blackberry'phones in the hands of biologist and lifeguards in the beaches ABLE everybody around the world to see what is happening in real time in 31 beaches of Sarasota and Souhwest Florida, boosting the tourist bussines and care and protection of the beaches with the lifeguards and biologist in duty. Mote Marine Lab is creating and interactive communication network updated two times in 24 hours for tourist, bussines, researcher and monitoring special weathers condition.The website is:http://www.mote.org/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=beach%20conditions%20reports&category=Main Gualterio Nunez Estrada, Sarasota, Florida.
SOURCE: "SARASOTA HERALD TRIBUNE", front page, 12/24/2008.(article about "red tide")
HISTORY ABOUT RED TIDE IN SARASOTA, FLORIDA.On a sultry Fall morning of 1947, the community of Venice, Florida, awoke to thousands of dead fish along the beaches and a stinging, choking "gas" in the air. Some blamed nerve gas, others a chemical spill, but scientists soon discovered the cause RED TIDE. Although this was the first scientific documentation of this catastrophic event along the Florida Gulf coast, reports of similar events have been recorded as far back as the mid 1800's.
Red tides occur throughout the world, drastically affecting Scandinavian and Japanese fisheries, Caribbean and South Pacific reef fishes, and shell fishing along U.S. coasts. Most recently, it has been implicated in the deaths of hundreds of whales, dolphins, and manatees in North American waters. These red tides are caused by several species of marine phytoplankton, microscopic plant like cells that produce potent chemical toxins. The Florida red tide is caused by blooms of a dinoflagellate that produce potent neurotoxins. These toxins cause extensive fish kills, contaminate shellfish and create severe respiratory irritation to humans along. (SOURCE:MOTE MARINE WEBSITE)

Benedict XVI:"the world was headed toward ruin if selfishness prevails over solidarity"

Benedict said. "If people look only to their own interests, our world will certainly fall apart."

Pope decries selfishness in economic crisis
By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer Frances D'emilio, Associated Press Writer – Thu Dec 25, 10:50 am ET

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI warned in his Christmas message Thursday that the world was headed toward ruin if selfishness prevails over solidarity during tough economic times for rich and poor nations.
Speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, Benedict said he was trying to inspire hope in the world.
"Brothers and sisters, all you who are listening to my words: this proclamation of hope — the heart of the Christmas message — is meant for all men and women."
The traditional papal Christmas Day message "Urbi et Orbi" — Latin for "to the City and to the World" — usually covers the globe's hot spots, but this year Benedict also addressed the economic conditions worrying many across the planet amid near-daily news of layoffs, failing companies and people losing homes.
Benedict said his Christmas message applied to "wherever an increasingly uncertain future is regarded with apprehension, even in affluent nations."
"In each of these places may the light of Christmas shine forth and encourage all people to do their part in a spirit of authentic solidarity," Benedict said. "If people look only to their own interests, our world will certainly fall apart."
Benedict said he hoped the light of Christmas would radiate to places where "the basics needed for survival are missing."
Wearing a crimson mantle against a damp chill, Benedict told tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square that God's saving grace could "alone transform evil into good" and "change human hearts, making them oases of peace."
Benedict dedicated part of his message to Africa, singling out Zimbabwe, where hunger is spreading and deepening. He said that people there were "trapped for too long in a political and social crisis which, sadly, keeps worsening."
International pressure has been mounting for longtime Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe to step down, following disputed elections in March. Millions of Zimbabwe's people need food aid, and a cholera epidemic has sharpened problems in a country once considered African's breadbasket.
Suffering also continues in the war-ravaged region of Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in Darfur, Sudan, the pope added. In Somalia, people are weighed down with "interminable sufferings" as "the tragic consequences of the lack of stability and peace," he said.
Benedict spoke of violence and tensions in the Middle East, lamenting that "the horizon seems once again bleak for Israelis and Palestinians."
He denounced what he called the "twisted logic of conflict and violence" and said he hoped dialogue and negotiation would prevail to find "just and lasting solutions to the conflicts troubling the region."
Benedict also cited Lebanon and Iraq.
Without naming any particular groups, the pope called for an end to "internecine conflict" dividing ethnic and social groups and disrupting peaceful coexistence. He also denounced terrorism "wherever" it continues to strike.
After reading a litany of the world's woes, the pope added a lighter touch, reciting holiday greetings in 64 languages, including Latin, the Church's official tongue.
The pope had rested for a few hours after celebrating Midnight Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the early hours of Thursday.
During that ceremony, the pope lamented the suffering of children who are abandoned, living on the streets or forced to serve as soldiers in conflicts.

Economy crisis impact: A meeting of tourism ministers of the Caribbean only, not ideal for addressing the economic crisis.

JAMAICAN OBSERVER CARTOON TODAY

Despite discounts on travel packages to more than 60% of the Caribbean tourism industry is in red numbers, affecting the economy of our small and poor nations in all aspects of life, The Global Economic Crisis is worse in the coming months, NOW JUST START. The outlook is worrying for all concerned that only survive if they, THE CARIBBEAN NATIONS adopt common strategies in all areas of civic life, immigration and business. Single country, ISOLATE, can survive only at the expense of the misery OF THE CITIZENSHIP. Gualterio Nunez Estrada, Sarasota, Florida.
"The poor performance of the industry has already resulted in a number of job losses in the hotel sector. While the impact on ancillary services and other linked sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing is as yet unknown, there are concerns that it could be significant. "

Caribbean minister of tourism are in emergency meeing discussing the crisis of the indusry and he economical impact in the region.OECS tourism ministers discuss impact of global financial crisis
Published on Wednesday, December 24, 2008
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CASTRIES, St Lucia: Ministers of Tourism from the OECS met on Monday in a video conference convened by the OECS Secretariat, to discuss the impact of the current global financial crisis on the respective national tourism industries and to help formulate a strategy that would allow the regional industry to respond to the crisis. The Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank also participated in the video conference.

The meeting noted that recessions in key source markets have significantly depressed consumer demand, and the November to April period, normally the high season for the region’s tourism industry, is now characterised by an abnormally low level of bookings. Hotels across the region are also reporting poor responses to stepped-up marketing efforts, which have included discounts of as much as 60 per cent on room rates at a time when prices are usually at their highest. The poor performance of the industry has already resulted in a number of job losses in the hotel sector. While the impact on ancillary services and other linked sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing is as yet unknown, there are concerns that it could be significant. Monday’s Tourism Ministers meeting was a precursor to a special Joint Meeting of the OECS Authority and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Monetary Council that will be held in St. Kitts and Nevis in January 2009. Among the recommendations coming out of the Tourism Ministers meeting was the development of a paper, by the OECS Secretariat, that will be presented to the Special Meeting of the Heads of Government and Ministers of Finance that articulates the issues confronting the industry, identifies the steps being taken in the respective Member States to address the challenges, and suggests additional measures that could be employed to assist the region’s most vital foreign exchange earner to remain viable in the face of the most serious crisis it has yet had to confront.

Olga Lepeshinskaya:Душа русского балета это работа Бессмертных.

December 22, 2008
Olga Lepeshinskaya, 92, Soviet Ballerina, Is Dead
"SHE DANCE FOR THE "RED ARMY"'S TROOPS IN THE FRONT LINE DURING WORLD WAR II"
By ANNA KISSELGOFF
Olga Lepeshinskaya, a leading ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet in the 1940s and ’50s whose bravura and vivacity served her both in the 19th-century classics and in uplifting roles as the heroine of contemporary Soviet works, died on Saturday in Moscow. She was 92.
The Itar-Tass news agency said she died in her sleep in her apartment.
Ms. Lepeshinskaya (le-pe-SHIN-sky-uh) was a highly popular ballerina in the Soviet Union who appealed to a large public with her stunning virtuosity, dynamism and dramatic expressiveness. In her view, ballet should be imbued with life, not artificiality.
Even critics and choreographers who did not see her as a model of academic form praised her spirited projection and versatility. These qualities were evident in one of her best-known parts, the title role in “Cinderella,” which she created in 1945 when Prokofiev’s now-celebrated ballet score had its Soviet premiere (choreographed by Rostislav Zakharov).
Ms. Lepeshinskaya was also rumored to be one of Stalin’s favorite dancers, and the government honored her with four Stalin Prizes, its top award.
Soviet audiences themselves were easily won over by her exuberance, especially in comic works like “Coppélia” and Igor Moiseyev’s “Three Fat Men.” Her fiery temperament in one of her best roles — Kitri in “Don Quixote” — swept her to the Bolshoi’s top rank.
Yet the West saw little of Ms. Lepeshinskaya’s dancing, although she taught for many years abroad after she retired from the Bolshoi in 1963.
A few years before that, when the company arrived from Moscow in 1959 to make its American debut in New York, she was not on the roster. No dancer of her generation could compete with Galina Ulanova, then Soviet ballet’s major star, and Sol Hurok, the American impresario, focused the Bolshoi season on Ulanova. Like Ms. Lepeshinskaya, she was approaching the end of her career, but her depth and projection in “Romeo and Juliet” and “Giselle” caused a sensation.
With Ulanova, the younger Maya Plisetskaya and the even younger Ekaterina Maksimova destined to take New York by storm, Ms. Lepeshinskaya may have been past her prime. She was also identified in part with Soviet ballets that could be construed as Soviet propaganda, ballets Hurok never brought to the United States.
Born in Kiev on Sept. 15, 1916, she graduated from the Bolshoi school in 1933 and made an acclaimed debut in “La Fille Mal Gardée” that year. Still a young dancer in 1939, Ms. Lepeshinskaya came to more notice in the title role of “Svetlana,” portraying a patriotic heroine who foils saboteurs. She danced in “Path of Thunder,” which dealt with apartheid, and in a revised version of “Red Poppy,” which concerned Chinese revolutionaries.
Ms. Lepeshinskaya joined the Communist Party in 1943 and was elected several times to the Moscow City Council. She danced for Red Army troops on the front lines during World War II.
She was reportedly married twice to generals (both deceased) in the state security services, and she was initially denied and then granted a visa in 1998 to visit the United States as president of the Russian Dance Association.
Kasyan Goleizovsky, George Balanchine’s mentor and long suppressed as an experimental choreographer in Moscow, noted nonetheless in his memoirs that Ms. Lepeshinskaya offered him strong support for a ballet in 1962. It was staged and retired after 12 performances.