More evidence to substantiate Piththala junction bomb attack was orchestrated by Gotabaya..! -Intelligence officer also discloses !

(Lanka-e-News -06.May.2016, 4.45AM) An important piece of evidence has been received by Lanka e news substantiating the allegation made by Sarath Fonseka that the Pithala junction bomb explosion was planned and orchestrated by ex defense secretary  Gotabaya Rajapakse. Following our request via our news report last evening under the caption “ ‘Piththala junction bomb was orchestrated by Gota ’ More evidence surface in support of Fonseka’s statement”  , to our viewers to furnish us with evidence , if any they have in connection with this incident ,    a high rung officer (whose name cannot be disclosed) of the Intelligence division at night, disclosed a most important piece of evidence to Lanka e news.

He disclosed that in the Piththala junction bomb explosion incident  the individual who was in the three wheeler in which the bomb was, had been an informant of the defence intelligence for a long time , and was a government spy who knew Tamil language well., and the  three wheeler was given to him by the forces. The defense ministry was crediting monies secretly to his account monthly for his services , the same officer further stated.

After the bomb explosion , the supposed head of the dead suicide bomber shown to the mass media after the attack , was in such a state of mutilation   , that the remains of the bomber could not be identified. Usually in the case of an LTTE  suicide bomber , it is the body that is destroyed in the attack , and the head gets dislocated and thrown off , but  in this instance it was just the other way about.

The Intelligence division without revealing who was riding the three wheeler , only stated the bomb was transported from Kilinochchi, and arrested a   vehicle driver , a Tamil national by the name of Ponnasamy Karthigesu who was working for CARE International organization, thereby diverting the public resentment and anger towards the NGO. The Intelligence division also without revealing whose three wheeler it was  , arrested a Muslim National  Latheef Mohomed Farees who was supposed to have been  the broker in the purchase  of the three wheeler. In any event  in the end , no case was filed against these two individuals.

Meanwhile , another piece of evidence had surfaced earlier on linked to the gas mask that was found in the vehicle in which Gotabaya travelled on that day. Information in this  connection had been received by Lanka e news inside information division. This  gas mask is not mentioned in  the ‘VIP check list’ though every item providing security for the VIP’s vehicle must be indicated in that check list. This omission has now been confirmed. The CID officers  who conducted the investigation that time have made a record of this omission. 

It is obvious , Gotabaya has taken a gas mask on that day because he was aware well ahead of this bomb explosion. The bullet proof vehicle had been so manufactured that in case there is an attack , the doors will automatically close forbidding exit and entry. This system (security option) is to safeguard the individual within the vehicle . The vehicle in which Gotabaya travelled, this system was in place.

Gotabaya on that day has therefore taken the gas mask to overcome the  situation if the doors get locked and he experiences breathing difficulties. Perhaps the gas mask was not mentioned in the VIP check list  because Gotabaya wanted this secret to be known only to him. Moreover , in the vehicles in which Gotabaya travelled subsequently , the gas mask was never carried. This was because Gotabaya was so sure such a bomb attack will not recur .

This high ranking Intelligence officer who gave graphic details , said , it is a matter for doubt whether the spy  of the  forces was sacrificed in order to execute Gotabaya’s  conspiracy. In the forces there could have been many officers who are skilled in producing bombs   like those of the LTTE. Hence , investigations shall  be launched to ascertain whether such a bomb that was made via an officer was fixed in the three wheeler of the informant even without the latter’s knowledge , and made to explode 25 meters away from target in order that Gotabaya’s vehicle will not be seriously damaged.

This aforementioned bomb exploded at Piththala junction . Kollupitiya on 1 st  December 2006. 7 Civilians and 7 members of the security detail of Gotabaya sustained injuries following this bomb attack. Two of the 7 members of the army died owing to grave injuries they sustained. 8 vehicles including Gotabaya’s were also damaged.

In the light of  the exposure made by Field marshal Fonseka in Parliament , and this latest evidence  furnished to Lanka e news , the investigation into this grave conspiracy shall be revived compulsorily.

By a Lanka e news staff reporter 
Translated by Jeff

Related News - ‘Piththala junction bomb was orchestrated by Gota ’ More evidence surface in support of Fonseka’s statement

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by     (2016-05-05 23:35:04)

Give Mahinda An Army? Can’t Joint Opposition Stop Joking? 

By Shyamon Jayasinghe –May 5, 2016

Shyamon Jayasinghe

I tell you, these guys in the self-styled Joint Opposition (JO) are plain crazy. Imagine an opposition demanding full-scale military security to their electorally defeated leader to enable the latter to go round the country at will and pleasure with the sole and concentrated purpose of undermining the government! Scores of military men and policemen hanging around him from Dondra to Point Pedro and buckets of money as attendant expenses for fuel and salaries and overtime? All this day in and day out? At taxpayers’ expense? That is simply outrageous.

I scaled the history of governments world over in order to see if anything like this privilege had been granted to a fallen leader. “Nope,” is my answer.

Mahinda is testing his luck in a context where he and his family are under scrutiny for various alleged misdeeds and serious frauds. Any decent statesman will lie low and gladly submit himself and his kith and kin for examination in order to clear his and their names. That’s the most appropriate thing for him to do. On the other hand, Mahinda Rajapaksa wants all investigations stopped. Does he recommend such a privilege to ordinary private citizens? Giving up the lawful and civil course, Mahinda Rajapaksa is organising a revolt against the yahapalana government. Bring down the government and crush the investigations!The strategy is “attack as the best form of defence.” In the unlikely event that the government will crumble all investigations will come to a halt. And if he gets back sufficient domination in a kind of counter revolution all government leaders would probably be safely under lock and key; if not missing altogether.

Mahinda’s ruling record was developing into such brutality. With the 18th Amendment under his sleeve what couldn’t he have done? Mahinda Rajapaksa as President never listened to anyone but himself and never thought of anyone but himself and his. I am reminded of Trujillo, the Columbian dictator, who figures in the novel tilted “The Feast of the Goat,” written by Nobel Laureate, Mario Vargas Llosa. When Mahinda jailed Sarath Fonseka and when he sacked the Chief Justice he showed his true character.

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SRI LANKA - The new AG and IGP – Tasked to revitalise the dying system

by Basil Fernando-May 5, 2016

Now, there is a new Attorney General and a new Inspector General of Police. Whatever be the disputes about the manner in which their appointments were made, they are now the operators of two of the most vital systems of the state apparatus in Sri Lanka, the Attorney General’s Department and the police service.

That both of these vital institutions have been in a state of serious crisis and even decline, are a fact that is known to everyone; and is also acknowledged by the political and all other authorities. For at least the last 16 years, there had been a constant discussion on the state of collapse of the state institutions, including the Attorney General’s Department and also the policing service. An important landmark in this discussion was the debate in the Sri Lankan Parliament on the 17th Amendment to the Constitution.

Reading the literature of the debates surrounding the move to introduce the 17th Amendment we find a very in depth discussion on the extent to which all the basic institutions of the state have been very seriously undermined due to the constitutional adjustments by way of the 1972 and the 1978 Constitution. That debate was made around particularly; the vicious impact the executive presidential system has the entire state apparatus of Sri Lanka. The key word that was used during this time was ‘politicisation’. The word politicisation was connoted as much of a danger signal as HIV Aids or terminal cancer. The problem was so serious.

The 17th Amendment was passed almost unanimously because of the consensus that existed even then, that unless something radical was done, the country was heading towards a serious peril.The 17th Amendment proposed a change of the manner of appointments to the most important functions of the state, having impact on various sectors of life in the society, so that the people who are really suitable for being the leaders of these various institutions will be appointed by following a methodology of merit rather than political preference.

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‘Piththala junction bomb was orchestrated by Gota ’ More evidence surface in support of Fonseka’s statement

(Lanka-e-News -05.May.2016, 3.30PM)  In support of the statement made by Minister cum Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka in parliament on the 3 rd, that the bomb attack on ex defense secretary Gotabaya  Rajapakse at Piththala junction was planned and orchestrated by Gotabaya himself , further evidence have surfaced , based on reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division.

Fonseka said,  the terrorists would not explode a bomb 25 meters away from the target , and they are not that stupid to attack a vehicle that is immune from bomb attacks. In other words the bomb had exploded 25 meters away from Gota’s vehicle.

Based on reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division , in the bullet proof vehicle Gota was travelling on the day of the incident , there was a gas mask (face protective  gas mask ) though he does not usually carry such  a mask in the vehicles he travels. But on that day , he had carried it. Moreover, no record of that gas mask has been made in the VIP check list

It is the responsibility of the security personnel who are detailed for duty in respect of every VVIP to keep a record of all the security equipments in the VVIP’s vehicle when he travels. Its named as 'VIP check list'.  Yet the gas mask that was found in the vehicle of Gota on the day of the incident had not been recorded in said SIP check list
 
It is deducible from this ,on that day  Gota was aware  and secretly had been  prepared for the bomb attack. In this context , an investigation shall be launched following the lead in  the exposure  made by Fonseka .

Lanka e news hereby urges others too to furnish any information they have in regard to this incident to Lanka e news in the national interest . Lanka e news also assures all such information will be treated with strict confidentiality. 

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by     (2016-05-05 10:01:20)

Debt-ridden Sri Lanka snuggles up to China again at India’s expense

Apr 30, 2016

NEW DELHI: India is hoping to host Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena this month for a multi-religious event at Ujjain which will be inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi. The visit by Sirisena, if it happens, will come at a time when India's strategic gains in the island nation over the past 15 months, or since the ouster of Sirisena's predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa, seem to be fast petering out.

India was looking to sign an Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) with Sri Lanka, which the two countries decided to negotiate after Lanka backed out of CEPA, but the proposal has run into resistance from the Rajapaksa-led Joint Opposition. China has managed to not just revive its flagship $1.4 billion Colombo Port City project, but it is now also engaged in expansion of major infrastructure projects it built in the past and which were seen as impracticable until recently.

These projects include expansion of the Hambantota port and the Mattala airport which were built by the Chinese under Rajapaksa and whose commercial viability was always suspect. China and Sri Lanka, in fact, are now also considering setting up an SEZ in what is also Rajapaksa's home district.

While Sri Lanka has assured India that it won't allow China any outright ownership of land as part of the Colombo Port project, its revival of Chinese projects, according to strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney, is likely to have a long-term geopolitical significance.

"Lanka, under Maithripala Sirisena's government, has reversed course and is returning into China's embrace, in part because of its precarious balance-of-payments situation and in part because Indian diplomacy still lacks teeth," says Chellaney.

Sri Lanka owes $8 billion as debt to China and it announced recently that it was looking to convert a portion of this debt into equity for infrastructure investment by Chinese companies.

READ ALSO:Short of options, Sri Lanka turns back to China's economic embrace

As India implores China to distance itself from terrorists operating out of Pakistan, Chellaney says Sirisena's government knows that India will impose no strategic costs for reviving the very Chinese projects that Sirisena had put on hold after coming to power. "It now appears that Rajapaksa's ouster only temporarily represented a setback for China's 'string of pearls' strategy in the Indian Ocean," he says.

In fact, after PM Ranil Wickremesinghe's visit to China last month during which he reiterated Lanka's endorsement of Beijing's Maritime Silk Road, Rajapaksa was quoted as saying that he stood vindicated by the Lankan government's recent

Sri Lanka’s Inconclusive Corruption Investigations

Taylor Dibbert- 05/03/2016

Sri Lanka’s new government was supposed to prioritize anti-corruption and improved governance. Corruption was arguably the principal reason why Mahinda Rajapaksa lost his bid for an unprecedented third term as president in January 2015.

Why aren’t we hearing more positive news about ongoing anti-corruption efforts? The current coalition government, which is led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, still hasn’t convicted anyone for high-level corruption. What’s more, there have been relatively few indictments. Is the lack of movement cause for significant concern? Are domestic and international observers right to be worried about the pace of progress thus far?

This seems to be a real problem. Jehan Perera, executive director of the Colombo-based National Peace Council, has recently written a good piece, part of which ponders the fate of the nation’s ongoing corruption investigations.

Here’s a paragraph from the article:

Unfortunately in the past several months, the government [of Sri Lanka] appears to have run out of steam in regard to pursuing general crimes and economic corruption of those who held and who hold high positions in government. The zeal with which it was seen to be pursuing corruption has been seriously undermined by incomplete and partial investigations into past acts of corruption and due to allegations of new ones committed by those appointed by the new government also. In addition, Western diplomats stationed in Colombo have also begun to complain about apparently inexplicable government decisions relating to trade and investment which can have negative consequences on Sri Lanka’s access to those markets and to investments from them.

Here’s Perera’s next paragraph:

One of the basic problems appears to be lack of transparency in the government’s decision making, which is not a positive sign of good governance. The terms and conditions under which projects with China have been restarted are also not entirely known, which is not helpful in generating the trust needed for investments in the country. The other is the slow pace of investigations that is constantly given as the reason for the failure of the law enforcement agencies to act. Whether it is the care taken by the investigators to get all their facts right, or whether it is the entrenchment within the systems of government of those from the past who have a vested interest in stalling the investigations is a point to be considered. However, with the passage of time and the promotion of new persons into positions of authority, such as the new Inspector General of Police, there is the possibility of change.

A few days ago, I e-mailed the director general of Sri Lanka’s Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption with a list of rather perfunctory questions about the progress of investigations and the outstanding concerns that people may have about how things have been going. After not getting a response, I reached out to another Sri Lankan government official who does not work on anti-corruption issues. I was subsequently informed that “they [people working for the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption] are not authorised to respond to queries and they don’t have a separate unit to deal with the public/queries either.” Evidently this has to do with the strict confidentiality laws pertaining to the commission’s work. An annual report would be published “in the coming months” I was told.

While there are various entities working on anti-corruption in Sri Lanka, this information came as a bit of a surprise. If there were a piece of good news to report, how would people know? If there were smaller and more incremental ways for the commission to allay peoples’ worries, how would those messages be conveyed? Would the public need to rely on hearsay, leaks and secondhand stories?

Aside from the lackluster performance thus far, across all areas of reform, Colombo’s public messaging has been (at best) consistently underwhelming. Let’s hope that things change for the better - and soon.

Follow Taylor Dibbert on Twitter: www.twitter.com/taylordibbert

Sweeping Bond Scandals Under The Carpet Biggest Blemish On Government, Chandra Warns Sirisena

May 5, 2016 

Good governance activist and former chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Chandra Jayaratne has warned President Maithripala Sirisena that due to the bad governance at Central Bank, the good governance government is facing its biggest credibility threat.

Chandra Jayaratne

In a letter addressed to Sirisena, Jayaratne reminded how civil society and media protested early in the administration under his leadership, when a purported bond scam was reported at the end of February, 2015.

“Despite investigations by a Committee appointed by the Prime Minister and later by COPE, the elections of August 2015 intervened and there was no further progress despite several promises of further action. Civil Society efforts to have a Judicial review via a fundamental rights petition was also frustrated by not gaining the right to proceed. Financial media, financial analysts, securities management professionals and intellectual voices of advocacy prevailed long after these initiatives but regrettably brought forth no redress. The Monetary Board did not actively investigate nor initiate necessary additional controls and process changes to reverse the several weaknesses pointed out by civil society advocates and professionals,” Jayaratne said in his letter.

He also highlighted about the strong possibility where the latest bond issuance this year is also riddled with continuing bad governance practices. “These include facilitation of interests of third parties via information leakages and questionable collusive transactions by managers in State-controlled entities. These deficiencies in ethical conduct and professional integrity are believed to have resulted in avoidable losses to the State, State institutions, the public at large and stakeholders of institutions such as the Employees Provident Fund,” he said.

Jayaratne warned Sirisena that the continuation of such practices reflects poorly on his administration and leadership.

We publish below the letter in full;

President Maithripala Sirisena,
President of Sri Lanka,
Janadhipathi Mawatha,
Colombo 1.

Dear Mr. President,

MAINTAINING PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN “YAHAPALANAYA” IN THE FACE OF PURPORTED CONTINUING MAL PRACTICES IN BOND ISSUES

We in civil society are heartened by your May Day speech and recognize your commitment to good governance and to take hard action against actors and actions that are detrimental to peace, harmony and equitable socio-economic development.

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Thewarapperuma and Ranaweera suspended from Parliament for a week 


May 5, 2016 

Parliament today recommended the suspending of Deputy Minister Palitha Thewarapperuma and UPFA MP Prasanna Ranaweera from Parliament for a period of one week in connection with the tense situation which erupted last Tuesday.  

Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella had made the proposal while the suspension will come into effect from tomorrow (May 06), Ada Derana reporter said. 

 Government and opposition MPs were involved in the clash within the chamber while Cabinet Minister for Regional Development Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka was delivering a statement regarding the decision to replace the military security of the former President with police personnel.  

This prompted Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to adjourn Parliament for the day and call for a report from the Deputy Speaker and the Deputy Chairman of Committees in connection with the incident. 

He also informed Parliament that suitable action would be instigated against the MPs involved in the incident.  The report, which was handed over to the Speaker yesterday at his office, has reportedly made several observations and recommendations including highest possible disciplinary action against Thewarapperuma and Ranaweera for causing the tense situation to escalate into an exchange of blows.

Shani the Sherlock Holmes of SL gets his richly deserved promotion !

(Lanka-e-News- 03.May.2016, 11.30PM) Popular and respected crime detection officer Shani Abeysekera of the CID best known as Sri Lanka’s Sherlock Holmes was promoted from his present ASP rank to SP . This promotion was  given with  retrospective effect  - that is , his SP appointment  takes effect as if he was promoted   four years ago . This is a most  salutary decision vis a vis the unfair treatment meted out to  him during the ‘nefarious decade .’

During  the recent past , whenever there was a controversial crime, its investigation  was entrusted to Shani  , and every criminal in those cases was  sentenced to the gallows.

The murder of Assistant Customs authority Sujeeth Prasanna , murder of Royal park youth  , Angulana murder that was committed  by the police, Shyam murder committed by Vaas Gunawardena DIG and his son , Hasitha Madawala murder, the assassination bid on  former president Chandrika at Town hall premises  by a suicide bomber and other similar grave crimes were investigated  by Shani Abeysekera . Another most controversial crime of abduction  of Lanka e news journalist Prageeth Ekneliyagoda is also  being investigated by the CID  under him.

While the people of the country are in earnest anticipation of a great service from Shani Abeysekera in the future as in the past , Lanka e news editorial board along with the  millions of Lanka e news viewers too wish him all the best in his new ventures!

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by     (2016-05-03 23:16:16)

As the climate shifts, tradition threatens Sri Lanka's rice harvest

A worker carries a sack of rice at main market in Colombo January 29, 2016. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

By Amantha Perera-Wed, 4 May 2016

Sri Lanka, May 4 

(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In mid-April, at the same time of year as their families have done for generations, Sri Lanka's paddy farmers started cultivating their rice fields.

But this year, that may be too late.

President Maithripala Sirisena has warned Sri Lanka' farmers that they may run out of water before their crops are ready to harvest. Devotion to tradition - in particular, planting spring crops after a traditional New Year's holiday in mid-April - could now prove devastating, he said.

But many farmers are so far not convinced that old schedules need to change to match new climate patterns - a problem many countries around the world face as they try to adjust to changing weather patterns.

Ranjith Sumanadasa, 50, a paddy farmer from Rajanganaya region in Sri Lanka's north-central province, has been cultivating his rice for close to four decades based on traditional timetables.

"I learned from my father that after the March harvest we will celebrate Avurudhu, and then prepare the fields around a week or two later, then the water comes," he said. "There is no other way I know of."

In early April, at a public rally in his native Polonnaruwa District, Sirisena explained how he had tried to convince Sri Lanka's rice farmers to start cultivating a few weeks earlier than normal, to take advantage of recent rains that had filled some of the country's reservoirs almost to capacity.

Sticking to the traditional timetable, he said, would mean losing much of that needed water to evaporation.

"I instructed the Water Management Committee to release water for paddy farmers as soon as possible," Sirisena said on April 2. "But the paddy farmers remain unmoved. They want to start the cultivation after the (traditional) New Year."

Rains during the last weeks of March filled some reservoirs in the north and central parts of the country. As authorities released water from hydropower reservoirs to generate electricity, they also sent some to the smaller irrigation reservoirs to water rice fields, in the hopes the farmers would take advantage and use it right away.

But farmers instead waited over two weeks before using it, Sirisena said. With the island experiencing temperatures between 2 degrees Celsius and 4 degrees Celsius above average, according to the Meteorological Department, some of that water was lost.

"Because of the hot temperatures we are losing hundreds of cubic meters of water daily due to evaporation," the president told the gathering in Polonnaruwa District. "You have to reconsider getting into the fields before the end of the month," he pleaded.

HARVESTS EVAPORATING?

When Sirisena spoke to the country's paddy farmers in early April, the main irrigation tanks in the north central and central provinces were at around 80 percent capacity. But by the third week of April - when farmers wanted to start watering their crops - the levels had dropped by 20 percent, officials said.

Water management officials estimate that close to 300 million litres of water were evaporating daily across Sri Lanka. That could mean trouble for the paddy farms, which cover over 10 percent of the country's land area.

"You will have to bear responsibility if there is a water shortage mid-season," the president told farmers.

To make matters worse, Sir Lanka has experienced below-average rains across most of the island through April, according to the Met Department. May is also predicted to be unseasonably dry.

In 2014, a similar spell of dry weather hit Sri Lanka's rice farmers, resulting in a harvest of 3.3 million tons, 17 percent less than the year before. Although Sri Lanka's farmers are aware of the shift in the country's climate patterns - and the potentially dire consequences - many refuse to change the way they farm.

Sri Lanka's paddy farmers have long followed a cultivation schedule based on two monsoon seasons: Maha, between November and March, and Yala, between April and October. Based on that timetable, paddy farmers begin to prepare their fields for cultivation only after Avurudhu, the Sinhalese and Tamil New Year that falls between April 13 and April 14.

According to Namal Karunaratne, national organiser of the All Ceylon Peasants' Federation, the country's monsoons used to bring around 4.5 million metric tons of rain each year.

But the seasonal rains have become unreliable, with one study by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology suggesting rainfall over the Indian subcontinent has decreased between 20 and 30 percent over the last century.

"Our farmers are yet to get used to these changes. They are still used to the government providing water on time," Karunaratne said. "They are not used to water management."

(Reporting by Amantha Perera; editing by Jumana Farouky and Laurie Goering :; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, women's rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit http://news.trust.org/climate)

The Holocaust survivor who's had enough of memorials in Israel 

A survivor of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany says Israel should have learned a moral lesson not to mistreat Palestinians 

71-year-old Mira Knei-Paz in her Jerusalem apartment (MEE/Rori Donaghy) -Pazi's birth certificate issued by Nazi Germany (MEE/Rori Donaghy) 

A photo of Pazi's father David before he was murdered by the Nazis (MEE/Rori Donaghy)-The cover of Pazi's book (MEE/Rori Donaghy)

Rori Donaghy-Thursday 5 May 2016

JERUSALEM - Israelis should not use the Holocaust for political gain and must instead learn a moral lesson about not victimising Palestinians, a leading Holocaust survivor told Middle East Eye.

Mira Knei-Paz, 71, said the Holocaust has become politicised in Israel and called on Israelis to learn from the mass murder of six million Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II.

“I’m very much against using the Holocaust to gain compassion,” she told MEE in her apartment, just a stone’s throw from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in the upscale Jerusalem district of Rehavia.

On Thursday at 10am sirens sounded across Israel to signal a two-minute silence that brought the country to a standstill to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

Paz said Israelis don't think deeply about the commemoration, that instead it has been politicised to legitimise the country acting “cruelly” towards Palestinians.

“People commemorate the Holocaust, but they don’t think why they are doing it. It was a big trauma, but it’s over,” she said, adding that she has “had enough of Holocaust Memorial Day.”

“Now we, fortunately, have a state, we can defend ourselves and so we should look at the Israeli-Palestinian problem from a completely different angle.

“We were persecuted, now we are conquerors.

“The moral lesson from the Holocaust is that we as victims should not victimise others. We should do everything in our power to have some kind of arrangement with our neighbours.”

Paz was born on 14 June 1944, just as the Nazis had begun to carry out the mass exterminations of Jews in her home country, which was then Yugoslavia and is now part of Hungary.

The swift organisation of the Nazis saw 88 percent of Hungarian Jewry exterminated in just four months.

Her father, David, was one of the first people to be killed at the notorious Polish concentration camp of Auschwitz, where the Nazis murdered an estimated 1.1 million Jews.

A photo of Pazi's father David before he was murdered by the Nazis (MEE/Rori Donaghy)

Paz was born while her mother was working on a farm in Austria, after having escaped from a train that was carrying her towards a fate probably the same as her husband's.

Secretly given birth in a pig shed, Paz was kept in a hospital for the first 11 months of her life, separate from her mother, because she suffered from a range of serious illnesses including lung disease. A self-described "miracle baby", Paz pulled through, was reunited with her mother and even now holds onto one of a handful of Nazi birth certificates given to Jews.

After the war, Paz moved with her mother to Israel when it was established in 1948, after the mass expulsion or killing of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, who refer to this as their Nakba, or catastrophe.

Since then Paz has lived in Jerusalem and has had a long career in the media, as a producer for Israel’s Channel 1, as well as building a reputation as a speaker on the Holocaust, particularly to schoolchildren across the country.

From her modest flat, with birds heard singing outside on a tree-lined avenue, Paz said that the Holocaust survivors' community in Israel is a small but close one.

This closeness was borne out of families coming to Israel and most having lost at least one parent, she said. But she added that this community, which “built this country”, has become disillusioned with the government and its direction.

“The cruelty with which we have acted towards the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza is very painful for me,” she said. “And this racism has been imported to Israel, where Israeli Arabs and Ethiopian Jews are subjected to tremendous prejudice.

“It shouldn’t be this way.”

Paz said that she supports Zionism, but that the ideology is about having a home for the Jews, not “abusing” Palestinians.

As a survivor of the Holocaust, it might be expected that Paz’s voice would be respected, but she said the survivors are not only ignored, but also face avoidable hardships themselves.

“Israel got a lot of money to be given to the survivors as compensation. But many survivors don’t know about their rights and many of them are living in poverty.

“It’s not just that we are ignored – many of the survivors can barely raise their voice because they are living in terrible poverty.”

Paz is the editor of the book, “Only Childhood Does Not Age: We Were Children In The Holocaust,” which charts the experiences of eight Jews, including her, during World War II.

She said she is passionate about preserving these memories, because when the survivors die out it will form an important part of history, but she is insistent that they must be used to awaken Israelis to the reality of the occupation of the Palestinian Territories.

“At the moment, Israeli society is sheltered from how we treat the Palestinians,” she said. “Most people are completely unaware about what is going on just next door.

“Saying there is apartheid here is not extreme – this is for sure. Since 1948, we have handled Palestinians differently, with different laws, and this is the definition of apartheid.”

Paz didn’t offer a solution to the conflict, but said the basic right of every human being is to be treated “equally”.

“There are Palestinian areas under Israeli control where there are few schools, rubbish is not collected, and they are left destitute – and that’s on top of the Israeli violence in the West Bank and Gaza.”

Paz said on several occasions that she feels “despair” when she thinks about the future. She referred to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “racist” for his controversial call for Israelis to vote in the 2015 general election because “Arabs” were voting “in droves”.

In Israel, May is a month of nationalism, beginning with Holocaust Memorial Day and continuing with Independence Day on 11 May.

Outside Paz’s home, cars whizzed by with Israeli flags stuck to the windows. Authorities have adorned nearly every lamppost in the city, including in the Palestinian areas, with the blue-and-white flag of the Jewish state.

Paz said she doesn’t see this May as being a time to celebrate Israeli nationalism, and instead called on people who “think like her” to do more to challenge a government she described as “almost fascist”.

“People like me are not doing enough. I don’t know what we can do, but it clearly isn’t enough,” she said.

Paz ended the interview by saying it isn’t a question of left- or right-wing political beliefs when it comes to changing Israel, it is simply a question of being human.

UK chief rabbi owes us Palestinians an apology

For Palestinians, Zionism has meant war, forced displacement and diaspora.Abed Rahim KhatibAPA images

Kamel Hawwash-5 May 2016

The chief rabbi of the United Kingdom has weighed in on the row over alleged anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.

Writing in The Telegraph this week, Ephraim Mirvis claimed that Zionism is not separate from Judaism as a faith. He astonishingly implied that no one can have a view on this except Jews and Zionists.

So much for open debate and discussion!

He further claimed that “Zionism is a belief in the right to Jewish self-determination in a land that has been at the center of the Jewish world for more than 3,000 years.” The reality is that not all Jews agree with his definition, let alone non-Jews.

A survey of British Jews by City University London last year shows deep disagreement on the term, with 41 percent not taking up the political identifier “Zionist.” Thirty-one percent identified as anti-Zionist or non-Zionist, while 10 percent said they were unsure.

The survey also found that the number of British Jews who call themselves “Zionist” dropped from 72 percent in 2010 to 59 percent in 2015.

Muslims have a strong attachment to the cities of Mecca and Medina – and of course to Jerusalem – but should all Muslims have a right to move to Saudi Arabia?

And what about Christians? Where was Christianity born? The answer is in historic Palestine. Should all Christians have a right to go and live there?

Invisible

The chief rabbi and Zionism both ask us to accept that only Jews have a right to determine where they live and never mind the impact of their demand on whoever already lives on that land.

In his article, Mirvis astonishingly fails to mention my people, the Palestinian people, even once. His anger with the left has unfortunately left him ignorant of our plight.

To the chief rabbi, we are invisible.

He did not once acknowledge our existence on the land, our own unshakable connection to it or that it was and still is our home – whether for those living in historic Palestine or in the diaspora.

We are in the diaspora because of Zionism.

The chief rabbi implies that we cannot disassociate Zionism from Judaism – by implication accusing all Palestinians who oppose Zionism – as indeed we do – of anti-Semitism.

This is why Ephraim Mirvis is wrong, with the greatest respect to him, to conflate the two – a religion and a political ideology.

Racism

Palestinians do not have a problem with Jews – or with any other group – wanting to live in a state or entity of their own.

However, Zionists chose a land with a people, not an empty land for their state. That is the key issue here. 

In 1948, 750,000 Palestinians were violently driven from their homeland to make way for the realization of Zionism’s goal, and since then millions of Palestinians have been deprived of their most fundamental rights.

As British Palestinians we abhor all forms of racism including anti-Semitism. We will stand with our fellow citizens who follow the Jewish faith in striving to eradicate the scourge of all racism in this country, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

However, we will not accept the conflation of Judaism and Zionism to label us and those who support our legitimate right to self-determination in our homeland as anti-Semites.

The chief rabbi owes us Palestinians an apology for this conflation which suggests we are anti-Semites. Zionism owes us much more than an apology for our dispossession.

Kamel Hawwash is a British Palestinian academic and vice-chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, writing here in a personal capacity.

 

Syrian government accused of airstrike on refugee camp

UK-based monitor says dozens have died after airstrike near border with Turkey, with toll likely to rise

Firefighters battle flames refugee camp following airstrike – video

UK-based monitor says dozens have died after airstrike near border with Turkey, with toll likely to rise

Kareem Shaheen in Beirut-Thursday 5 May 2016

The government of Bashar al-Assad has been accused of bombing a Syrian refugee camp near the Turkish border, in an attack that activists and officials said left dozens of civilians dead and wounded.

The airstrikes on Thursday afternoon near Sarmada, a town in Idlib province just 20km away from Reyhanli, left the camp in ruins, with one witness describing a scene of horror, with tents on fire and body parts strewn around the area.

“We don’t know yet if it’s Syrian or Russian aircraft, but they struck in the middle of the camp and many of the tents have been burned,” said Alaa Fatraoui, a journalist based in the area who visited the scene after the attack.

He added: “There are many martyrs and body parts. I saw with my own eyes nearly 30 dead. It’s a very bloody scene. It’s revenge against civilians. There are absolutely no armed men there, they’re all civilian refugees, homeless people living on the street.”

The opposition’s Syrian National Coalition said that more than 30 people were killed in the attack and dozens were injured. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group with contacts inside Syria, said dozens had been left dead or wounded, seven of whom were children.

Images provided by activists in the area showed civil defence workers putting out fires with debris and burned-out tent husks on the ground.

The camp, called al-Kammouneh, is believed to have as many as 500 tents, with about six or seven family members on average per household. The majority of them are civilians who fled the fighting in the countryside in nearby Aleppo province, where an offensive by the Syrian government is threatening to cause a humanitarian catastrophe.

A cessation of hostilities brokered by Russia and the US brought a measure of relief to Aleppo on Thursday. But fighting continued nearby and Assad said he still sought total victory over rebels in Syria.

Syrian state media said the army would abide by a “regime of calm” in the city that came into effect at 1am (2200 GMT on Wednesday) for 48 hours, after two weeks of death and destruction.

The latest attack highlighted the growing savagery of the conflict in the aftermath of the collapse of a ceasefire deal brokered by the US and Russia meant to pave the way for peace negotiations.

The talks in Geneva were deadlocked amid the government delegation’s refusal to discuss a transition that would see Assad eased out of power, and the ceasefire’s fate was effectively sealed by the launch of the regime’s offensive last weekend in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and its former commercial capital.

It comes days after the government destroyed a hospital backed by the Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières, killing the last paediatrician left in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, and a rebel attack on a maternity hospital in the government-controlled west of the city.

The attack raises questions over the safety of refugees who were uprooted in the war and settled in refugee camps near the Turkish border. Ankara has repeatedly called for safe zones in the area to protect the refugees from airstrikes, but the proposals have been met with a shrug by western powers involved in the conflict. Refugees fleeing recent fighting have been kept on the Syrian side of the border rather than being admitted into Turkey.