Ilan Pappe says Israel needs to acknowledge the crime it committed against the Palestinian people

As part of Al Jazeera's coverage of the anniversary of the creation of Israel and the Palestinian 'Nakba', Israeli historian Ilan Pappe reflects upon the events of 1948 and how they led to 60 years of division between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Between February, 1948 and December,1948 the Israeli army systematically occupied the Palestinian villages and towns, expelled by force the population and in most cases also destroyed the houses, looted their belongings and took over their material and cultural possessions. This was the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

During the ethnic cleansing, wherever there was resistance by the population the result was a massacre. We have more than 30 cases of such massacres where a few thousand Palestinians were massacred by the Israeli forces throughout the operation of the ethnic cleansing.

The Israeli army became a bit tired toward the end of the operation and the Palestinian villages became more aware of what was awaiting them and therefore in the Upper Galilee the Israeli army did not succeed in expelling all of the villages. This is why today we have what we call the Arab-Israelis or Israeli-Arabs.

This is a group of 50 to 60 villages that remained within the state of Israel and its population was steadfast and was not expelled over to the other side of the border - to Lebanon or Syria.

The international community was aware of the ethnic cleansing but the international community, especially in the West, decided not to confront head on the Jewish community in Palestine after the Holocaust.

And, therefore, there was a kind of conspiracy of silence and again the international community did not react and was complacent and this was very important for the Israelis because it showed them that they can adopt as a state ideology ethnic cleansing and ethnic purity.

Erasing history

Part of any ethnic cleansing operation is not just wiping out the population and expelling it from the earth. A very typical part of ethnic cleansing is wiping people out of history.

For ethnic cleansing to be an effective and successful operation you also have to wipe people out of memory and the Israelis are very good at it. They did it in two ways.

They built Jewish settlements over the Palestinian villages they expelled and quite often gave them names that reflected the Palestinian name as a kind of testimony to the Palestinians that this is totally now in the hands of Israel and there is no chance in the world of bringing the clock backwards.

The other way they did it is planting trees - usually European pine trees - over the ruins of the village and turning the village into recreational spaces where you do exactly the opposite of commemoration - you live the day, you enjoy life, it is all about leisure and pleasure.

That is a very powerful tool for 'memorycide'. In fact, much of the Palestinian effort should have been but was never unfortunately - or only recently began - was to fight against that 'memorycide' by at least bringing back the memory of what happened.

I think that there should be no reason in the world that two people - the Palestinians and the Jews - despite everything that happened in the past should not be able live together effective and in one state.

You need three things for that to happen. You need closure for the 1948 story - namely you need an Israeli acknowledgment of the crime it committed against the Palestinian people.

The second thing that you need is you need to make Israel accountable for this and the only way of making Israel accountable is by, at least in principle, accepting the Palestinian refugees right of return.

And thirdly you need a change in the Palestinian and Arab position towards the idea of a Jewish presence in Palestine as something legitimate and natural and not as an alien colonialist force.

I think these principles have to emerge and so far the political elites on both sides are unwilling to accept them.

source : AlJazeera

(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama has surpassed Sen. Hillary Clinton in the race for superdelegates, according to CNN's latest count.

Obama on Monday picked up an endorsement from Tom Allen, a Maine representative and U.S. Senate candidate.

"Most of the primary voters across the nation have now spoken. It is time to bring a graceful end to the primary campaign.

"We now need to unify the Democratic Party and focus on electing Sen. Obama and a working majority in the United States Senate. That is how we can change the direction of the country," Allen said.

Allen said Obama and Clinton are both "supremely qualified to be president."

Obama released a statement praising Allen's record, saying, "I'm thrilled to be working alongside him in this critical election, and I look forward to working with him as president."

With Allen's endorsement, Obama now leads in the race for superdelegates, 274 to Clinton's 273.

At the beginning of the year, Clinton led the superdelegate race by more than 100.

Superdelegates are party leaders and officials who will vote for the candidate of their choice at the Democratic convention in August.

The focus of the Democratic race has largely turned to the superdelegates because they outnumber the remaining pledged delegates that are up for grabs.

Obama has a comfortable lead in overall delegates, 1,865 to Clinton's 1,697.

The Democrats next face off Tuesday in West Virginia, where Clinton is expected to win by big margins.

Her campaign is renewing the argument that if she leads in the popular vote, she should be the Democratic nominee.

"Hillary is within striking distance of winning the popular vote nationwide -- a key part of our plan to win the nomination," campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said in a letter to supporters Sunday.

"That means we need every last vote we can get in West Virginia on Tuesday and in the races to follow."

Her campaign is trying to turn out the vote in the remaining six contests, hoping the popular vote argument will persuade superdelegates to endorse her instead of Obama.

Clinton's campaign has argued that she would be more electable in a general election because she has done well in swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as Florida and Michigan, which were stripped of their delegates.

West Virginia is also a key swing state. Bill Clinton won in 1992 and 1996, and George Bush carried it in 2000 and 2004.

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, an uncommitted superdelegate, said the delegate numbers are in Obama's favor, but the popular vote is important to the people of his state.

"I think we see what happened in 2004, when Al Gore won the popular vote, and where the country has gone and the feelings toward government since then. I put a lot of stock in that," he said on CNN's "American Morning."

"If the people believe that it was over, they wouldn't be voting maybe in the way they might vote tomorrow or in the next few campaigns," he said.

Clinton is expected to trounce Obama in West Virginia, but Manchin said he thinks Obama would also be able to carry the state in the general election.

The senator from New York has a 43-percentage-point advantage over Obama, 66 percent to 23 percent, according to a survey from the American Research Group released Friday.

The poll was conducted after last Tuesday's contests and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Following Obama's double digit win in North Carolina and Clinton's narrow victory in Indiana, party leaders have suggested Clinton has reached the end of her campaign.

But Clinton has vowed to stay in the race until someone gets enough delegates to clinch the nomination.

Just 28 delegates are up for grab in West Virginia.

Source : CNN .

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Hezbollah militias pulled back from positions in western Beirut and government troops took over checkpoints there as peace returned to the Lebanese capital after days of deadly violence between rival Sunni and Shia Muslim gunmen.

Fighting was reported overnight in mountains overlooking Beirut, and pro- and anti-government forces clashed in Lebanon's northern port city of Tripoli. A cease-fire has been reached, but it is unclear if the truce will take effect.

At least 47 people have been killed and more than 188 wounded since the fighting broke out on Thursday, Lebanon's Internal Security Forces said Monday.

The initial clashes were concentrated in Beirut, and spread to other areas of Lebanon. It was the worst sectarian violence since the end of the country's civil war in 1991.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said the group rejected the gunmen's actions and he offered "logistic support" to the Lebanese army.

He said a delegation from the Arab League -- made up of Arab foreign ministers -- would visit Lebanon in hopes of negotiating an agreement between Lebanon's government and Hezbollah's Shiite movement.

The U.S. government -- which supports Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and condemns Hezbollah as a terror group -- has praised Lebanese forces and the prime minister for trying to restore order in the streets. The Bush administration considers Hezbollah a destabilizing force in the Middle East with its strong ties to Iran and Syria.

The Hezbollah-led opposition has delivered a series of crushing blows to its Western-backed political opponents by imposing itself in the mountains, asserting dominance over predominantly Muslim West Beirut, silencing key pro-government television stations and closing Beirut's international airport.

The embattled government still stands, but the coalition that backs him has been severely weakened. The Lebanese army, it seems, can do little but deploy in positions where the opposition has made substantial gains in power and authority.

On Sunday people in Beirut could hear explosions from fighting in nearby mountain villages in the Mount Lebanon area, the stronghold of pro-government Druze leader Walid Jumblatt.

Anti-government forces bombarded Jumblatt's area with artillery while ground forces attacked Druze positions using rockets and machine guns, according to Western military observers. The fighting set off renewed panic among city and mountain dwellers as columns of smoke rose from Druze communities.

"What is happening now in Mount Lebanon is a threat for civil peace," Jumblatt told Lebanon Broadcasting Corp.

The battles prompted Jumblatt, a key government supporter, to back down in the face of what his supporters called an onslaught from the anti-government forces.

"It's useless to fight," he said.

Jumblatt authorized his Druze rival, Talal Arslan -- who is allied with the Hezbollah-led opposition -- to effectively negotiate a truce in the region.

"My peers in the opposition have agreed that the centers and arms should be handed over to the Lebanese army, in coordination with Jumblatt," Arslan said.

"I ask the opposition members, of all sides, to come to an immediate cease-fire. I will contact Gen. Michel Sleiman after this press conference to lay a plan to have the army take full control of the entire region of Mount Lebanon."

Arab foreign ministers met in Egypt on Sunday to try to find a solution to the latest deadly crisis and Pope Benedict XVI urged the Lebanese people to find a "reasonable compromise" to end their conflict, The Associated Press reported.

Benedict told pilgrims in St. Peter's Square that he was following "with deep concern" the developments in Lebanon, where, "with political initiative at a stalemate, first came verbal violence and then armed clashes, with many dead and wounded."
Source : CNN.

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- A U.S. Air Force plane brought cyclone relief supplies to Myanmar on Monday and two more are on the way, U.S. military officials said.

The first airlift, a C-130 Hercules loaded with 28,000 pounds of supplies, including water, mosquito netting and blankets, landed in Myanmar about 2 p.m.

The next two planes are scheduled to leave Tuesday with more humanitarian aid supplies.

The shipment landed Monday as U.S. officials met with Myanmar government representatives to discuss plans for further aid.

A source described the talks as "cordial" and "preliminary."

Officials hope the missions will forge a relationship that will allow the United States to send in disaster experts.

"As of right now, visas for them have not been approved," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. "So we'll keep on working on this. We hope this is the beginning of a long line of assistance from the United States to the people of Burma."

Four ships that are in the region for an annual military exercise can also help in the relief mission if the Myanmar government gives the go-ahead.

The Myanmar regime is wary of Western nations, including the United States -- which does not recognize the military junta.

The United States has been a vocal critic of the junta, which maintained control of the country even after 1990, when an opposition political party won victory in democratic elections.

But the government conceded to the flights after long negotiations following the deadly cyclone a week ago. The United Nations estimates the death toll from Cyclone Nargis ranges from 63,000 to 100,000, well above the Myanmar government's estimate of about 28,000. Tens of thousands of people are missing.

"Clearly the junta has determined that the magnitude of this disaster requires additional assistance," Johndroe said.

The U.S. relief plane took off from an air base in Utapao, Thailand.

"One flight is much better than no flights," Johndroe said. "And we're going to keep on working to provide as much assistance as possible in the coming days, weeks and months, because they're going to need our help for a long time."

The military junta has said it will accept international aid but insisted it would distribute the supplies itself.

Debbie Stothard, head of the Southeast Asian human rights group ALTSEAN-Burma, said her organization has received reports of aid packages being distributed with the names of military leaders on the labels.

The country's name was changed from Burma to Myanmar in 1989, but many who do not recognize the current government still use its former name.

"There's people who are very concerned now that the reason the aid workers are being blocked is so that the military can deliver aid selectively and so that they can appropriate the aid and pretend it was from them in the first place," Stothard said.

A French naval ship is also on its way toward Myanmar, transporting 1,500 tons of medical equipment, food and water.

Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, said French aid will go directly to the victims.

"We won't give aid to Burma's junta, even if they would accept it. We will use our own channels in the country."

On Sunday, Australia pledged $25 million in aid to Myanmar.

Meanwhile, a double-decker boat packed with enough relief supplies for 1,000 people hit a submerged tree in the cyclone-stricken region and sank Sunday morning, leaving nearly all of its cargo at the bottom of the muddy river, a Red Cross official said.

More than a week after the cyclone hit the south Asian country, getting relief there has been a daunting task for international aid agencies.

The Britain-based international aid agency Oxfam warns that without the proper relief -- particularly clean water -- nearly 1.5 million people could be affected by a wider humanitarian crisis.

In Bogalay township, people pumped water out of ponds filled with dead bodies, according to a situation report from the United Nations' Children's Fund.

A refugee camp in Pyanpon township was operating with five latrines for 3,500 people, UNICEF said.

The shore along the Irrawaddy River Delta remains lined for miles with bloated corpses. In the village of Da Mya Kyaung, only four of the 200 homes were partially intact.

"When I saw the water coming, I just put my two nephews on my shoulders and ran," villager U Wen Say said.

His son and his son's family drowned. Of the 500 people who lived in the village, two-thirds were missing.

Source : CNN.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton's superdelegate lead over Sen. Barack Obama was narrowed even more Saturday, according to CNN's latest delegate estimate.

Sen. Barack Obama greets supporters Friday as he campaigns in Beaverton, Oregon.

Obama closed to within one superdelegate of Clinton, picking up the support of four party leaders after a flurry of new endorsements over the past two days. Clinton, meanwhile, picked up the votes of two superdelegates but lost one to Obama.

That brings Clinton's superdelegate total to 273 and Obama's to 272.

At the beginning of the year, Clinton led the superdelegate race by more than 100.

Superdelegates are Democratic officials who hold the balance of power in determining the party's presidential nominee.

Obama holds a commanding lead in the number of pledged delegates awarded from primaries and caucuses: 1,592 to Clinton's 1,424.

Since Friday night, Obama has picked up four superdelegates, including Arizona congressman Harry Mitchell and Carol Burke and Kevin Rodriquez of the Virgin Islands.

"Like the primary voters of my congressional district, which Sen. Obama carried, I am inspired by Barack's vision for America, his ability to unify our country and bring much-needed to change to Washington," Mitchell said in a statement Saturday.

Rodriquez had backed Clinton but decided to switch his endorsement, citing Obama's ability to unite the Democratic Party and win the White House, according to Obama's campaign.

Kristi Cumming, named an add-on superdelegate by the Utah Democratic Party late Friday night, also said she will vote for Obama.

U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez of Texas announced his support for the New York senator Saturday, and Arthur Powell was named an add-on superdelegate by the Massachusetts Democratic Party and said he would vote for Clinton.

The Obama campaign had announced the support of seven superdelegates Friday, including one previous Clinton backer.

A flood of superdelegate endorsements for Obama could effectively end the Democratic race.

Neither candidate has the 2,025 total delegates needed for the nomination. Obama has 1,862 total delegates and Clinton has 1,697, according to a CNN survey.

There are only 217 pledged delegates up for grabs in the remaining contests.

After Clinton's narrow win Tuesday in Indiana and and her double-digit loss in North Carolina, former Sen. George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee, said he had decided to back Obama over the former first lady. McGovern is not a superdelegate.

But Clinton is not going down without a fight, making arguments to superdelegates that she is the best candidate to lead a Democratic ticket in November.

Her campaign tried to appeal to elected Democrats in Republican-leaning districts, arguing that Clinton can win more votes there than Obama and thus help their re-election prospects.

In a PowerPoint presentation e-mailed to the nearly 800 superdelegates, the campaign detailed how she had defeated Obama in GOP-leaning congressional districts and had consistently topped him among key voting blocs such as senior citizens and Hispanics. View the PowerPoint presentation

Despite those efforts, the Clinton camp appears to be planning an exit strategy, according to Lawrence O'Donnell, a Huffington Post contributor who cited Clinton insiders.

"What the senior campaign official has told me is that they will go through the final votes on June 3," O'Donnell said on CNN's "American Morning." "Remember, Hillary is going to win maybe three of the elections, and Obama is going to win maybe three elections coming out of it."

O'Donnell said the source told him that the Clinton campaign would make its case to the superdelegates for about a week after the primaries ended.

Meanwhile, former Democratic contender John Edwards said Friday on NBC and MSNBC that Obama is the likely nominee. Edwards is not a superdelegate.

Both the Clinton and Obama campaigns have heavily wooed the former senator from North Carolina since he ended his presidential run in January, but he has not publicly endorsed either candidate.

Edwards said Friday that he worried the continuing campaign could take a toll on the Democratic Party's chances in November.

"I think it's fine for Hillary to keep making the case for her," he said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "But when that shifts to everything that is wrong with [Obama], then we're doing damage instead of being helpful."
Source : CNN

A power plant in Gaza City has shut down, affecting 500,000 local inhabitants and forcing local hospitals to run on reserve fuel.

Large parts of the Gaza Strip, particularly Gaza City, were in darkness after the main power station shut down its generators on Saturday.

The Hamas government's energy department said that about 55 per cent of Gaza City and 35 per cent of the territory's other areas had power outages as a result of the shutdown.

With hospital generators running out of fuel, it is feared that medical equipment will stop functioning soon

Border opened

An estimated 60 per cent of Gaza's power supply comes from its own power station and the rest from Israel.

In the past, Israel has resumed fuel supplies just hours before Gaza's stocks ran out.

As the siege of Gaza continued, Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, said that the main border point between the Gaza Strip and Egypt had been reopened to allow Palestinians in need of medical treatment to pass through.

"This is part of an agreement that has been reached between Egypt and Hamas," he said.

"To keep the atmosphere of a possible ceasefire agreement alive, the Egyptians have told the Hamas authority they will allow for the next four days this restricted movement of people to go through and to come back but ... the situation in Gaza remains dire and it is not open to the general public."

Source : Al Jazeera.

LONDON, England (AP) -- Tony Blair's former deputy says he intervened in dozens of angry disputes between the prime minister and his eventual successor Gordon Brown, even advising Blair to sack his colleague.

Former prime minister Tony Blair finally relinquished power to Gordon Brown in September 2007.

John Prescott, deputy prime minister from 1997 to last June -- when he stepped down alongside Blair -- said in an interview with Britain's Sunday Times that Brown could "go off like a volcano" during the arguments.

Brown was "frustrating, annoying, bewildering and prickly," and often sulked or brooded during meetings with Prescott and Blair, Prescott is quoted as saying.

Prescott, who will quit as a legislator at the next national election, said Blair broke several promises to step down and allow Brown to lead the Labour Party, and the country.

Blair finally quit in June after 10 years as prime minister and 13 as party leader.

"I have no doubt that Tony was most to blame," Prescott is quoted as saying. "He broke his agreement with Gordon, not once but several times."

The ex-deputy is known for his bullish style and for punching a heckler in the jaw after he was hit by an egg during the 2001 election campaign.

Blair and Brown were the architects of the revival of Britain's Labour Party, broadening its appeal to middle-class voters who had previously backed the Conservatives and winning back power for the first time since 1979. They won three straight national elections from 1997.

But Prescott told the newspaper that during bitter rows he advised Brown to resign from Blair's Cabinet -- and told Blair to sack his troublesome colleague.

"Neither could take the final step," Prescott said, according to the newspaper.

Prescott's comments come as Brown faces further woe in a special election in the Crewe and Nantwich district, in northern England, on May 22, following his drubbing in recent local elections.

Brown led Labour to its worst showing in 40 years in municipal polls on May 1, and saw the main opposition Conservatives take control of London's City Hall for the first time

An ICM poll for The Mail on Sunday put the Conservatives ahead in Crewe and Nantwich, a previous Labour stronghold that Brown would be expected to retain.

The poll put the Conservatives on 43 percent, Labour on 39 percent and the Liberal Democrats trailing on 16 percent.

ICM interviewed 1,004 people by telephone on May 7 and 8. No margin of error was given, but in samples of a similar size it is plus or minus 3 percent.

Former Trade Secretary Stephen Byers said Sunday that Brown's government appeared "out of touch" to many voters.

Byers, who served under Blair, wrote in an op-ed for the Sunday Times that some now believed the party was "distant and uncaring."
Source : CNN.