Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Conspiracy of Sirisena-Gota to smuggle out murderers of late Raviraj which makes the hair to stand on end..!

Exposure by a former Intelligence officer of the forces

(Lanka-e-News -29.May.2018, 7.55AM) In Sri Lanka Generals with stars write books on war for competition reasons. They decorate themselves speaking about their accomplishments like how broken pots in an abandoned house are cleansed. But the actual story pertaining to the war is different. Except the operations of the STF , the fourth Eelam war strategies were of inferior standard .

The powerful secret behind the war victory is the multi barrel attacks launched subordinating the international humanitarian laws. The amount of artillery used and the Multi barrel missiles launched reveal the true story about the war .When the request of the forces was for 100, 000 artillery gun fire shells , it was not for nothing 200, 000 of them were supplied. When a 130 m.m.artillery shell can be bought for US dollars 250 , Gotabaya bought them at US dollars 650 each.

Sadly , no forces of the world took any steps to analyze the military strategies adopted against the LTTE.

No security academy uses the war in the north for its case studies. While the war equipment more than fulfilled Gotabaya’s illicit commission desires , what the forces did was firing them recklessly in all directions with gay abandon. That is the true story behind the war victory.

In addition during that period , Sonia Gandhi who was a main figure in the Indian government was waiting to avenge her husband’s assassination. The pressures exerted by the West were curbed because of this background that prevailed in India. .

The dispute between Gotabaya and Raviraj- history …

The anti wa r front of Kumar Rupasinghe received funds from the Norway government.At the same time a number of MPs rallied round the anti war front. Among them the main politicians were Rajitha , Dilan , Vasudeva, Tissa, Mano Ganeshan and Mervyn. Raviraj a true humane politico who did not collect a single cent from Rupasinghe was also among them.

While Mahinda was on a tour of India, the assistants of Kotakadeniya who was a security advisor to Gotabaya killed six innocent students on Dock yard Road , Trincomalee by shooting in their heads . No sooner he heard this report than Raviraj took a phone call to Mahinda

At that time Raviraj and Mahinda were like blood brothers. Mahinda upon hearing this incident berated Gota in raw filthy language.

In Wakare district during the operation to release the East , 28 civilians died due to artillery firing. Raviraj thereafter organized a demonstration in front of the UN office in Colomboo , and subsequently participated in a live program of the Derana TV channel , to reveal the woes and sufferings faced by the people of the North following the closure of the A 9 road.

“ I would like to tell Gotabaya we shall close the road to Hambantota for a week so that all travel and transport will be via ships. It is then and only then the abysmal sufferings of the people will be understood’ announced Raviraj challenging Gota. Even before Raviraj could leave the venue , this information reached the ears of Gota. The latter immediately spoke to the national intelligence division chief Hendavitharne who was the answer to every issue. , and said ,

‘ Look , yesterday that man staged a protest in front of UN office . Today after visiting Derana he challenges to close the Hambantota Road. Don’t you all notice these ? Gota questioned.

Providing ladder to the jumping monkeys ..

To the extortionist group of the Navy and the Air force that was under the cover of the national security division which was collecting extortions , Raviraj was a thorn in their side much more than for Gota.The parents of those who were abducted had by then arrived to meet Raviraj , who is a lawyer cum human rights activist.

Raviraj was in the ready to reveal the names and details of all those in the group of extortionists in parliament . To the extortionist group, just a word of Henda was like providing ladder to monkeys that are dancing and jumping. Raviraj who finished the Derana ‘morning show’went to his home at Martha Road , Borella. Visiting the lawyer’s office at Bastian place between 8.30 and 9.30 a.m was a matter of routine to Raviraj.

On that day Mahinda was scheduled to attend a function at Red Cross Headquarters and the Borella – Narahenpita Road was closed on the pretext of providing security to Mahinda . The route Raviraj takes was obstructed on a premeditated plan. The outcome : Raviraj was shot and killed when nesr the army camp , Narahenpita.

It was the extortionist group comprising Prasad Hettiarachi , Sampath Munasinghe and Gajanayake that was most close to the National intelligence division of Henda. It were Suresh and another ,the sidekicks of Karuna who were used for the assassination. Though it is said , Suresh left the country , in fact he is not among the living. The other was treated as not a suspect because he sacrificed the concealment of evidence.

Sirisena- Gota conspiracy that makes hair to stand on end

It is a well and widely known fact that Gota and Sirisena are now bedfellows in the good governance residence after extinguishing the lamps. Unbelievably to safeguard the assassins of Raviraj they are hatching conspiracies which make hair to stand on end. .

Following the direct intervention of Sirisena and black coat mafia the assassins of Raviraj were released on the first round itself . When Raviraj’s wife filed a revised plaint , the prime suspect Lieutenant Commander Prasad Hettiarachi realizing that is going to give him a deadly blow fled the country .But in fact he did not flee the country, rather on a premeditated plan he was taken by a high speed boat belonging to the SL Navy beyond the territorial waters of SL , and handed over to a craft that arrived from India with security protection. This conspiracy was given effect to by Ravi Wijegunaratne the security council chief and was pursuant to a plan plotted by Sirisena and Gotabaya .

The premonitory warning to Raviraj before his death ..

It is a truth the writer crept into the organization of Rupasinghe and trapped him. It is also true that the writer along with the Hela Urumaya group attacked the anti war meetings. When Rupasinghe felt that the writer was disillusioned , he sought the services of the ‘Pra’ group for his protection.

At that time the leader of ‘Pra’was Sunil Ananda the brother of most infamous Sarath Ananda.Since the advent of Sunil the writer was looked upon with doubts and suspicion . The writer fell into the trap with a T 56 weapon at Rajitha’s anti war rally at Kalutara to Rajitha’s police security detail based on a plot of Sunil Ananda .

Following that incident the writer went to meet Raviraj at his lawyer’s office. The writer knew him somewhat because of his close association with Rupasinghe. That was the first time the writer visited his office. There was a Buddha statue in his office and paying homage to it ,offering flowers and lighting lamp was a daily routine chore. The Sinhalese junior lawyer Ranawake who worked with Raviraj was in the office. A young lady , a an apprentice lawyer who did the typing work was also there . Raviraj was known for his extreme purity of heart.

The writer told Raviraj the situation in the country is most frightening based on reports , and therefore advised him to leave the country if he wanted to save his life. Otherwise be ready to die on the main road , the writer had further warned him. However his answer was quite another …

‘Madness malli , I spoke to Mahinda aiya this morning too. He is a good man…’Raviraj replied.

Yet , Raviraj was murdered in cold blood. After his demise , a large number of books were piled up before his remains to express the deep sorrow . A detailed comment written by Keerthi Ratnayake in his name and in his own hand writing regarding the warning issued by the writer before Raviraj’s death was displayed. That book is no doubt kept safe even today .

Keerthi Rathnayake

translated by Jeff

Next installment …..

How Iqbal Athas was threatened in broad daylight after intruding into Sunday Times office to warn him to suppress Gotabaya’s MiG jet colossal robbery.

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by (2018-05-29 02:32:14)

Foreground

Someone wrote that Gotabhaya is hated by some and loved by others. People took a huge risk by voting Maithree in. They will have to take a similar risk to vote in a Rajapaksa, if that is the desired eventuality. Lanka awaits a history maker.

by Helasingha Bandara- May 28, 2018

( May 28, 2018, Boston, Sri Lanka Guardian) I decided to write this piece whilst firmly rooted in my theory that the next power shift in Sri Lanka will be in favour of the Rajapaksas. It may be Gotabhaya or another Rajapaksa or even some shock and awe candidate. Whoever it may be, he /she will enter the fray from the Rajapaksa camp. Despite all the brilliant objections and revelations that appear in the media at present, warning people of the emergence of a Rajapaksa who has a tarnished image, the boost that has been injected wittingly or unwittingly by Ranil, Maithree and Wigneshwaran for that emergence is no mean contribution. During the past three and half years whilst the Maithree-Ranil duo lived in cloud cuckoo land, Rajapaksa forces were relentless in their pursuit of causes that could turn the tide against those in power. It did not need an elephantine effort to convince the public that the current regime has been lifeless in comparison to the previous one.

Wigneshwaran’s plea for his ‘beloved people’ to follow his resolutions, will inculcate a justifiable fear in the vulnerable Singhala psyche. Such fear invariably pushes people to look up to a saviour. By now that saviour is not inconspicuous.
Mahinda Rajapaksa had the greatest opportunity to become the best loved political leader since independence. His doltish fantasy to be crowned as the modern king of Lanka, combined with his complicity in nepotism, cronyism and other evils caused his unexpected fall from grace and he missed the boat to be in the midst of great Sri Lanka rulers in the by gone era. Thus the history of the country has yet again created a large vacuum in the governing field of Sri Lanka for someone to go into history books as the leader that this country had never seen before, a leader who is selfless and bent on developing the country, raising the living standard of the poor and restoring the dignity of Sri Lanka in the global stage.

The enemy observation principle of a battle field: foreground, middle-ground and the distance, in that order, cannot be new to Gotabhaya. Yet he has so far failed to apply that practice to other real life situations. Here he has started a campaign, reading other peoples’ papers, to preach a subject of which he has no knowledge. He could do better if he were to start with subjects of which he has knowledge and is able to talk without prompting. If he looks around with an open mind, the topics around us are in abundance., My purpose is to shed some light in this regard.

An economy of a country is of paramount importance, there is no doubt. The absence in addressing such an issue is fatal. Yet, considering it as the starting point is just like missing the enemy hiding in the foreground and the middle-ground. Therefore, it would have been better for the resurrecting Rajapaksas to observe the foreground first. It is an essential prerequisite to analyse what made Mahinda unpopular, what made the Ranil- Maithree duo unpopular, what are the day to day burning issues. before dealing with the economy which is hardly understood by the common voter.

Escalating corruption particularly among the politicians and in the state sector, deteriorating discipline in the country in general, rising crime rate including violence against foreign visitors and the propagation of a macho ‘Chandi’ culture, unbearable cost of living, infrastructure development, ethnic divisions are the issues found in the foreground. Devise a strategy to address them first while launching an action plan with the long-term objective of gradual improvement of the economy.

Someone wrote that Gotabhaya is hated by some and loved by others. People took a huge risk by voting Maithree in. They will have to take a similar risk to vote in a Rajapaksa, if that is the desired eventuality. Lanka awaits a history maker. Who knows, Gotabhaya may change himself from Chandashoka to Dharmashoka. Life has to be lived in hope!

ENTER GOTA

By our Political Editor-27 May, 2018

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was the third Roman Emperor. He was popularly known among his Roman subjects by the nickname Caligula.

The first seven months of his reign was peaceful, and he was hailed as a moderate and generous leader. But in the following years, Caligula became a law unto himself. The entire Roman treasury was his largesse and within one year of his reign, he had siphoned off from state coffers monies to the tune of 2,700,000,000 Roman Sersitus – or 50 percent of total state revenue.

When Roman subjects who were struggling to make a living failed to pay tax unto Caesar, they were mercilessly liquidated. The nobility was strongly encouraged to form gambling addictions.
Adding insult to injury the lands of the poor were expropriated and vested with members of the Emperor’s family. If ever there were enterprising businessmen, their wealth and property were craftily vested in Caligula or his near and dear ones.

Caligula’s whims and fancies swiftly became the law of the land and the judiciary was brought under his total control. The story goes that compared to his Roman subjects, the Emperor Caligula’s horses were far better off.

The Emperor adorned his horses with gold, gems, pearls and ivory tusks and other jewellery. Horse-shoes were forged in gold and gold was added to the beasts’ feed to make their coat shine a rich shine. In the end, the Horse Incitatus was appointed an Ambassador of the Roman Empire, of equivalent prominence of a Roman Senator.

For the Romans, Caligula heralded a dark time.

If this article was written three years ago, the story of state capture of
Rome by Caligula would have resonated strongly with Sri Lanka’s own reality at the time. The regime of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa also perpetuated a type of darkness in the country by allowing his family to capture the entire machinery of state and bend it to their will. Rajapaksa was an emperor in his own right, tearing down democratic institution after institution; The State was Mahinda Rajapaksa. And Mahinda Rajapaksa was the State.

The Emperor Caligula’s first priority was to drive the Romans fanatic with patriotism. He set himself up as a divine entity and made the people believe that he was the almighty through constant brainwashing and a publicity blitz. His kindred were showered with riches and titles. Driven by paranoia, Caligula believed that the whole world was his enemy conspiring to destroy him and insisted that it was the duty of his countrymen to protect him.

Now observe the parallels. Three years ago, the Sri Lankan treasury was entirely commandeered and controlled by the Rajapaksa family. According to one budget analysis, some 60% of the Government’s total budget was controlled by the Ministries of Economic Development and Defence – both run by President Rajapaksa’s siblings.

Some 200 members of the extended Rajapaksa and Wickremasinghe families – many of them barely qualified to hold office and run publicly owned institutions - were granted Government positions. The regime undertook a multitude of vanity projects, borrowing recklessly to build ghost airports, harbours, cricket stadiums and convention halls in its sparsely populated ‘kingdom’ of Hambantota. Songs were sung about the “maharajano” even as the former President brought his eldest son into politics and made him a de facto senior minister. Another son was sent off to join the Navy where he virtually became de facto commander of the country’s sea-borne force.

The third and last son studied to become an astronaut and was put in charge of Sri Lanka’s non-existent ‘space programme’. The family stamped the Rajapaksa name on every school, airport and roadway possible.

Even as the Rajapaksa regime heaped tax upon tax on the citizenry as the country dived deeper and deeper into a debt crisis, the former President reared exotic macaws in the gardens of the President’s House and his brother Gotabhaya’s official residence featured massive salt-water shark tanks and a pet elephant, all maintained by armed forces personnel. The Rajapaksa sons made drag races official and raced luxury cars around the sacred Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, ignoring an outcry by the Sangha.

The opulence and excess of the former ruling family rubbed salt in the wounds of ordinary Sri Lankans who were struggling to finance the Rajapaksa regime’s spending – largely on themselves, but the chest-beating about Western conspiracies kept the public largely sympathetic until November 2014, when the tide started to turn when chinks appeared in the Rajapaksa armour for the first time in nearly a decade.

The January 2015 election that ousted the Rajapaksa regime therefore was no ordinary thing. For nearly a decade, the name ‘Rajapaksa’ had resonated in every corner of this island nation. Still, a small band of dreamers, united in the idea of democracy and freedom, prevailed over a juggernaut that was propelling Sri Lanka towards full-fledged autocracy.

Three years later, the Emperor returns wearing new clothes. The Rajapaksa bandwagon seeks to shed its corrupt image – buoyed by the Government’s own failure to prosecute members of the former administration over the past three years – and pick up where it left off. It is counting on public memory about its excess and brutality being short.

For years during his presidency, Mahinda Rajapaksa shadow-boxed senior members of his party and won every round.

He was in no way prepared for the knock-out blow he would receive in November 2014, when in the supreme arrogance of power, he declared elections nearly two years early, never suspecting that the disgruntlement within the ranks of his party was set to explode and tear his world apart. The memory of that implosion must still haunt the former President, but the allure of power is greater.

This time, he will win power even by using his brother to do it. This time too, the Rajapaksas are stepping into the presidential election fray very early, with the country at least 18 months away from the next poll. The Rajapaksas believe that the country is ready for the return of the family; so they have begun construction on the next phase of the dynastic project.

For the moment, the Rajapaksa faction looks spoilt for choice in terms of picking a candidate – part of the JO wants elder brother Chamal Rajapaksa, the ultra-nationalist sections prefer a Gotabhaya candidacy – and there are reports swirling that Basil Rajapaksa – architect of the Pohottuwa miracle in the February local Government poll – is also ready to throw his hat in the ring.

But one thing is clear, Mahinda Rajapaksa cannot be President for a third time, barring a change of the constitution. His target at the next election is securing the position of Prime Minister. The presidency is now Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s dream. The Shangri-La Viyathmaga convention makes that part clear. It is the right of any citizen to harbour dreams of winning thePresidency, and the former Defence Secretary is no different. But the citizenry must be eternally vigilant about presidential aspirants, having learnt bitter lessons in the past.

And in the case of the man who is currently vying to be Sri Lanka’s next Executive President, his recent past tells a terrifying story; and his success could herald an even more terrifying future.
Who is Gotabhaya Rajapaksa?

He is the Chairman of the Urban Development Authority that forcibly evicted thousands of legal residents of the capital Colombo to achieve his dream of a beautiful Colombo. This Colombo would only serve the country’s upper middle classes, while it threatened to wipe away the livelihoods of thousands of the city’s poorest residents. He promised them palaces in the sky in return for evacuating them under armed guard; they ended up in chicken coops, housed by the UDA in barely 400 sq.ft apartments.

Those who resisted the evacuation felt the strong arm of the law and the lack of sympathy from the judiciary, by then run by Chief Justice Mohan Peiris.

This is the ‘Viyathmaga’ way to nation-building. For people at the receiving end of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s nation building policies, it could well be, as Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said this week – a ‘Vipathmaga’ or tragic path.

The ‘Viyathmaga’ Chairman’s idea of lawfulness has proved remarkably fluid in the past. The former regime believed it was lawful to court martial its own Army Commander on the charge of engaging in political activity, through a flawed judicial process – all for the crime of daring to challenge Mahinda Rajapaksa for the Presidency in 2010. This same lawfulness unabashedly permits an incumbent Defence Secretary to grace the opening of a UPFA candidate’s election campaign as chief guest, even though such action is prohibited by the Establishment Code which governs the conduct of public servants.

This is doubly important in the case of ministry secretaries, who as chief accounting officers of their respective ministries must ensure state property is not abused during election season. But back then, since the Rajapaksas were the law, for them, the law was meant to be broken.

Yesterday’s architects of ‘white van’ terror, scribe abductions and attacks; men who shrieked “who is Lasantha?” on international television after the assassination of one of Sri Lanka’s most senior journalists; those who stood mute while villagers protesting for water and fishermen begging for lower fuel prices were shot in cold blood; and those who fanned the flames of racism and presided over the worst communal riot since 1983 in Aluthgama – these are the ‘intellectual’ technocrats of tomorrow.

If the entry of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in the 2020 Presidential fray adequately galvanizes liberals and moderates, the Sri Lankan electorate will go down in history for the second time in five years for defeating the forces of tyranny through the ballot box.

But if the liberal project fails, tomorrow will become the stuff of nightmares.

The ever expanding balloon of plastic

2018-05-28

I recently toured Cairo and was horrified to witness the mountains of plastic garbage stacked on all corners of the streets. In a city that receives less than 4mm of annual rainfall, there is hardly any chance for even biodegradable plastics to fragment. Soon Cairo will experience pyramids of plastic thanks to their recycling policies.
In neurosurgery, when a tumour expands inside the skull or when there is bleeding into the brain, we tag that as a space occupying lesion/haematoma. As the skull

has a compact arrangement if some intruder expands inside, the brain which usually occupies this territory is pushed aside. This ultimately results in death.
Similarly I foresee danger in the heavy use of plastic and the ever expanding balloon of plastics.Unlike balloons, plastic containers do not burst and they tend to occupy space. Even if finely crushed the amazing nature of plastic does not allow compact forms.
There are two types of plastic, thermoplastic and thermo-sets. Thermo plastics can be reheated and moulded into many shapes. These are ideal for recycling. Thermo-sets on the other hand can be heated only once. The only way to get rid of thermo-sets is to burn them. These are not suitable for recycling. Burning released toxic gases which are extremely hazardous. And also result in tiny fragments which pollute air and water without being “wiped away” .

Sri Lanka needs to rapidly impose laws on importing plastic

Will the grounded plastic affect agriculture one day?

Worldwide statistics show that only 30% of plastic waste is recycled

Man created plastic and only man has the ability to halt plastic industry

Imagine a world filled with plastic dumps surrounding houses or even disrupting nice landscapes. Plastics that become a playground to pests and harvest infections. Plastic bottles gently strolling the roads in wind and rain, causing traffic jams. Mountains of polymer dumps which collapse and cause casualties. (We failed to identify, that the Meethotamulla garbage dumps do not undergo natural degradation because of plastics ; the true culprit).
So you may wonder what to do with plastic? The amazing substance which created unimaginable possibilities even in aviation industry is becoming a menace now. Worldwide statistic show that only 30% of plastic waste is recycled. The rest will lie out there in dumps for centuries to come. What about plastic energy? There is some hope on using plastic as an energy source although data shows that the toxic waste and carbon monoxide generated is worse than a thermal power plant.
Will the grounded plastic affect agriculture one day? Will plastic dumps affect the marine biodiversity? Man created plastic and only man has the ability to halt the plastic industry. As a country Sri Lanka needs to rapidly impose laws on importing plastic. Or else our country will be one of the leading plastic disposals in a few decades.

The writer of this article is a Consultant Rheumatologist at the Anuradhapura Hospital

Invisible Barriers: The Struggle to Combat Violence, Online and Off

AMALINI DE SAYRAH AND RAISA WICKREMATUNGE-05/29/2018

Rights activists have been abducted, detained and assaulted in the pursuit of their work in Sri Lanka, both during and after the war. Even under the present government, the crackdown on the freedom of expression continues, with activists subjected to surveillance, threats and outright violence over the past year. Additionally, women activists face other invisible barriers.

Women have played a key role in activism throughout history. Movements such as ‘Kulangana Samithi’ and ‘Mahila Samithi’ became important entry points for women into public life, and to working for women’s interests since the pre-Independence era. And yet, woman activists are perceived as somehow suspect for the most incredible reasons, for example, when speaking out about issues in public fora, traveling frequently, working with men in the field, or simply for using WhatsApp and Facebook – as those interviewed for this piece told Groundviews.

The vicious commentary levelled at women, when they do speak on controversial issues, is revealing. In March 2017, attorney-at-law Ermiza Tegal was subject to profane comments during an interview with BBC Sinhala, where she was speaking on the call for reform of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA). In August 2017, Mariyasuresh Easwary, a key figure among family members of the disappeared participating in a continuous roadside protest in Mullaitivu, was threatened and assaulted by State Intelligence personnel.

Groundviews spoke to women activists in three provinces, who are working on a range of issues impacting their communities, from pushing to abolish discriminatory legislation and protecting survivors of harassment and abuse, to fighting corruption in local authorities. They tell of their experiences in working with those who have experienced technology-based violence, and how they respond when they find themselves targets for hate.

Read the full story on Sway here or embedded below.

24 killed, 170,000 affected due to bad weather

Monday, May 28, 2018

At least 24 individuals killed and more than 170,000 individuals affected in 20 districts due to the ongoing adverse weather condition, the Disaster Management Center (DMC)said.

Water levels of main rivers are currently showing normal levels but water levels at Kalu River and Nilwala River are dropping slowly.

Ratnapura, Kalutara, Kegalle, Nuwara-Eliya districts are still under land slide threats the DMC added.

The DMC urged all relief donating agencies to work with Ministry of Irrigation, Water Resources and Disaster Management and may liaise with NDRSC for relief assistance related matters.

Designers of Sri Lanka’s Future: Episode 3

Technology to ease lives

Monday, 28 May 2018

Channa de Silva, CEO of LankaClear, Sri Lanka’s official clearing and payment services provider, declares convincingly: “I firmly believe that technology should be for improving people’s convenience.”

Channa is correct. For millennia, mankind has invented new technology to ease its life. Oxford-trained historian Noah Yuval Harari, documenting the history of mankind in a book titled ‘Sapiens’, has provided proof of this. He has noted that from the time the hunter-gatherer Homo sapiens got into agriculture some 10,000 years ago, their worldly progress was always marked by the invention of new technologies that superseded the old ones.

Designers of Sri Lanka’s Future Episode 3.docx by Thavam on Scribd

Monday, May 28, 2018

Grief replaces laughter as Gaza marks Ramadan

The Abu Hassanein family is trying to mark Ramadan in the normal way. But it has proven impossible.

Sarah Algherbawi- 28 May 2018

Nobody could convince Shifaa Abu Hassanein to join the family for an iftar – the meal which ends a day of fasting – as the holy month began.

Three days earlier, Shifaa lost her 36-year-old son Mousa. He was one of approximately 60 people killed by Israel during the Gaza massacre on 14 May.

Mousa was a paramedic – the orange vest he was wearing clearly identified him as such. He was providing first aid to the injured when he was hit by a sniper’s bullet.

“I don’t feel like eating or drinking anything,” said Shifaa. “I can’t even handle the family gathering for an iftar without Mousa. Everything reminds me of Mousa. He used to love the food we had at Ramadan. He would always ask me to make pea soup and rice.”

After the evening prayers of Ramadan, Mousa would “make us tea and come and talk and laugh with us, sometimes for hours,” Shifaa added. “I will miss him badly.”

Shifaa, who is 61, last saw her son at around 4 pm on the day he was killed. She had joined the Great Return March in Malaka, east of Gaza City.

Mousa took a selfie with his mother and gave her a kiss. He then left as he had work to do.

Explosions had been heard in the environs of a cemetery about two minutes drive from Malaka. Mousa made his way to that area. He was equipped with just a few tourniquets, which medical staff had been using to try and stanch the loss of blood from people shot by Israeli snipers.

When he reached the area, Mousa went to treat some injured youths, who were near the fence separating Gaza and Israel. As he approached them, Mousa was himself shot in the chest.

He fell down and was on the ground for 30 minutes before other paramedics could reach him. He was already dead when they arrived.

Rafat Daher, a friend and colleague of Mousa’s, was one of those paramedics.

“We needed time to reach Mousa because we had to search for him amid the fire and smoke,” Daher said. “When we reached him it was too late.”

Before he was killed, Mousa had succeeded in rescuing another colleague, Palestinian Canadian doctor Tareq Loubani. Mousa treated his colleague’s wound after Loubani had been shot with a bullet that penetrated both his legs.

In total, four members of the team in which Mousa was working – including himself and Loubani – were shot that day.

Somber

Usually, Ramadan is a time of joy and color.

This year it opened in a somber mood.

Many of Gaza’s families had to attend funerals for the people killed in the 14 May massacre. Economic hardship – caused by Israel’s siege and the refusal of the Palestinian Authority to pay public sector wages – has also dampened spirits.

“Every year, we make a good profit during Ramadan,” said 50-year-old Zuheir Abu Selmia, who sells kitchen utensils at al-Zawya market in the center of Gaza City. “But this year is different. People can’t afford to buy food and other kitchen requirements for Ramadan. I open from 9 am until 6 pm and often I sell to less than 10 customers a day.”

Israel has repeatedly fired on unarmed demonstrators since the Great Return March began in late March – killing more than 100 Palestinians.

Thaer Rabaa, a 29-year-old resident of Jabaliya refugee camp, was killed while taking part in protests on 6 April.

The pain inflicted on his family has been so acute that they have felt unable to celebrate Ramadan together.

“Thaer was the most cheerful one,” said his mother Etaf. “He was the one who started the conversations and made us laugh. Thaer was the family breadwinner, he worked in construction and supported us. Without him our life doesn’t have a meaning.”

Thaer’s wife Shireen is pregnant. The couple’s baby is due within the next few weeks.

As she fed her 18-month-old daughter Mayar, Shireen said: “How will I provide for my baby? All I have is loss, pain and hunger. Thaer was planning to call the baby Mariam.”

Sarah Algherbawi is a freelance writer and translator from Gaza.

Palestinians — 70 Years of Suffering

Israel has extensively used US-supplied arms and money to fight Hamas in Gaza, a clear violation of the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 that bars the use of American weapons against civilian populations.

by Eric S. Margolis- May 26, 2018

( May 26, 2018, New York City, Sri Lanka Guardian) To date, 62 Palestinians have been shot dead in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army and over 5,500 wounded by gunfire. Their crime: protesting the loss of their ancestral homes in the West Bank.

Here was an example of Gandhi-style passive resistance that failed. Israeli sniper teams just fired at will at the protestors, some of who were throwing rocks or firing sling shots. High concentration tear gas was dumped by drones on the demonstrators. Israel claimed it was killing ‘terrorists.’

The United States, Israel’s patron and financier, reveled in the move of its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move seen by Bible Belt religious fundamentalists as a key step to the return of the Christian Messiah and Armageddon. The rest of us, Jews included, are fated to be burned alive. The American Republicans, who have become a far-right theocratic party, cheered this good news. The Trump administration, by now an extension of Israel’s hard right Likud Party, was cock-a-hoop.

There was no joy in Gaza. This miserable, squalid human garbage dump is a giant open-air prison packed with 2 million Palestinian refugees driven from the newly created state of Israel in 1948. Israel and its close ally Egypt keep Gaza bottled up on its land and sea borders. Palestinians are only allowed to fish along the shore. Coastal gas and oil reserves have been expropriated by Israel and Egypt.

Gaza’s two million people subsist on the edge of starvation. Israel openly boasts that it allows just enough food into the enclave to prevent outright starvation. Chemicals to treat water are banned. Electricity runs only a few hours daily because the power plant was bombed by Israel’s US-supplied air force. Hospitals have almost no medicines. In short, wartime conditions in the open-air prison. Even the wretched animals in Gaza zoo are starving.

The intensive punishment of Gaza, a crime under international law, began after its people voted in a free election for the Hamas movement over the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which is more or less run by Israel and the United States. Israel helped found Hamas in 1987, but then sought, with the US, to destroy the organization, branding it ‘terrorist.’

Israel has extensively used US-supplied arms and money to fight Hamas in Gaza, a clear violation of the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 that bars the use of American weapons against civilian populations.

The question remains, where did all the Palestinians come from? Israel long claimed there were no such people, or a made-up nationality. This was a pretty rich claim coming from Israelis, many of whom hailed from Russia, Poland and Eastern Europe and who had assumed biblical identities and asserted a direct link to the Hebrews who had lived two thousand years earlier in the Levant.

When Israel was created by the US and UN (with Soviet support) in 1948, from 750,000 to one million native Palestinians were driven from their ancestral home at gunpoint or panicked to flight by massacres and ethnic cleansing. Their villages were bulldozed.

When Israel conquered and annexed the West Bank and the Old City of Jerusalem in 1967, another 500,000 Palestinians were made refugees. Some 50,000-250,000 Syrians were driven by Israel from the strategic Golan Heights. Bedouins were driven from Israel’s Negev Desert.

By our era, the number of homeless Palestinians has grown to 5 million refugees helped by the UN and at least another million scattered about the Mideast. The actual number could reach as high as 8-9 million thanks to the Palestinian’s high birth rate and strong family values.

Half of Jordan’s people are Palestinian refugees. Kuwait had 400,000 Palestinians until they were expelled in 1990-1991 after their leader, Yasser Arafat, foolishly backed claims by Saddam Hussein that he was occupying Kuwait in order to trade it for a Palestinian state. This was the biggest Palestinian expulsion since 1948. Egypt’s brutal dictator, Gen. al-Sisi, is now the biggest persecutor of Palestinians after Israel, keeping them locked away in the Gaza prison.

The Arab states have done very little for the Palestinians save slogans and hot air. The Saudis are now in cahoots with Israel to repress the Palestinians lest they spread modern secular ideas in the medieval Mideast. Interestingly, some of the most extreme Palestinians, like George Habash, were Arab Christians. Palestinians remain some of the best educated and most commercial of the Mideast’s peoples. For a long while they ran most of the Gulf Emirates until replaced by Indians.

‘Sand in the eye of the Mideast’ is what I called this oppressed people without a home. Their plight could be greatly eased by the creation of a Palestinian state on the West Bank. But this would interfere with plans for Israel’s right-wing government for planned expansion. So, the future for Palestinians is bleak.

Russian jets 'intercept' Israeli planes over Lebanon: Reports

Israel's jets, long used to being unchallenged in Lebanese airspace, face off with Russia's despite a deconfliction mechanism in place

A photo of an Israeli F-35 stealth fighter jet flying over Beirut that was leaked to media outlets. (Screengrab)

Monday 28 May 2018

Russian fighter jets intercepted Israeli warplanes over Lebanese airspace early on Monday morning, according to local outlets.

Reports claimed that two Israeli F-16 jets were challenged by Russian Sukhoi Su-34 jets over Lebanese airspace.

Israeli and Russian officials did not confirm the incident took place.

Videos circulated online showed Russian planes flying over Lebanon. The clips, however, did not show any Israeli jets.

The Russian jets may have been participating in a routine training exercise before intercepting the Israeli warplanes, according to Israeli newspaper Hadashot.

#حربي_بالأجواء من المنية طيران حربي لم يعرف لمن بعد و عل الارجح طيران روسي pic.twitter.com/fKtknLP42S
— Abdallah Samra (@AbdallahSamra92) 27 May 2018

This latest episode marks the first time in months that Russian planes had entered Lebanese airspace from Syria, according to Al-Masdar news.

Israeli jets often fly over Lebanon conducting reconnaissance missions. Lebanon, which considers Israel an enemy state, often complains about its southern neighbour violating its airspace.

Israel in recent weeks has conducted air strikes on military bases in Syria thought to contain Iranian troops or fighters belonging to the Lebanese group Hezbollah. Iran and Hezbollah are fighting in Syria on the side of President Bashar al-Assad. Occasionally missiles used in such strikes are fired by Israeli jets from Lebanese airspace.

Last week, Israeli air force commander Amikam Norkin showed visiting air force officers a photograph of the F-35 stealth fighter flying over the Lebanese capital of Beirut.

Foreign policy circles are viewing the image as a tacit warning against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month said Moscow would not limit Israel's operations in the region.

Both Russia and Israel set up a mechanism in September 2015 to avoid any misunderstanding in light of Moscow's heavy military presence inside Syria.

However, officials from both Moscow and Tel Aviv do not inform each other on their operational plans.

“Cooperating is not the right term. We do not coordinate [with Russia]. It’s about deconfliction and security measures, so they don’t harm us and we don’t harm them,” a senior officer told the Times of Israel.