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Biggest Star in BollyWood detained by US Homeland Security
This made laugh then angry, because if the biggest star in the Sub continent can be the victim of profiling what hope is there for the rest us nobodies. Shah Rukh Khan has been a major star for more than a billion people for a long time, as far as it is known, he has no political affiliations and none that could be termed in the least controversial. He is a proud Indian citizen so why was he detained for more than two hours? Firstly because his name is Khan and because he is Muslim.
This will do wonders for the American tourist industry.
How serious is Israel about Peace?
The straight answer would be to say “is it ever?”
Recently there is some hope that with a popular new US president willing to, at best, be firmer with Israel on its obligations that there may be some space to start the peace process proper. The Islamic Conference has re-iterated its support for the Saudi plan for the full recognition of Israel and its territory if it accepts it as The Haaretz said…”……The plan offers Israel recognition and permanent peace with all Arab countries in return for Israeli withdrawal from lands captured in the 1967 Six Day War. It also calls for setting up a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and a just solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees.
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah called at the summit for an end to the international blockade on the Palestinian government and to revive efforts to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict”.
Also as I said earlier, the USA for the first time since President Bush Senior have sought to put pressure on the Israeli administration to stop the enlarging of present settlements and the establishment of new settlements called initially “outposts”.
So how as the Israeli government reacted? Well as usual with total disdain. As far as it is concerned it can do what it wants as reports come of new laws being proposed to further discriminate against Israeli Arabs. The foreign minister of Israel is proposing that no Israeli Arab can be allowed to serve in the diplomat corps, hardly a problem as there are only a handful but even that handful is an affront to Mr Lieberman it seems.
While on settlements, this report in the UK newspaper The Guardian illustrates how new “facts on the ground” are being established with the full connivance of the military. The report tells of a new outpost beyond even the land grab of the “security wall” . What is quite telling is the unrestricted access given by the military and how close the new outpost is to Palestinian homes. The usual process is to then provoke a demonstration or even a violent backlash from the Palestinians then to demand protection from them by the Israeli army – then to demand a “buffer zone” then of course they need land for expansion, roads to connect and of course water and where does that come from but from the Palestinians of course – and so a new settlement is established where NONE existed before.
A good article on the modus operandi of successive Israeli administration on scuttling any peace plans is this article by Uri Avnery. It shows how the Israelis have torpedoed every peace plan since its creation as a state even to the extent of assassinating people. The one “peace” plan that succeeded The Carter/Sadaat/Begin plan only succeeded for three reasons 1. Sadaat turned the tables and went to Jerusalem. 2. It left out/fudged the Palestinian problem as the Israelis wanted 3. An American president wasn’t prepared to let it go down. Not to mention it neutralized a serious military threat for the price of a desert where it had no interest.
The question is this time is how much is the American President prepared to push especially in his first term? With the destroyer of the Oslo accords as Prime Minister and Avigdor Lieberman as Foreign Minister has Israel ever been less serious about peace?