 | Samouni Family Community Centre & Classroom |
We are looking at sending at least one bus from the UK to Gaza, loaded with materials to set up the Samouni Family Community Centre/Classroom. We would like to do this in the next couple of weeks so we need many things to happen very fast if we are to meet such a deadline. Keep in mind that there are about 112 Samouni kids, two years on from Operation Cast Lead with hardly any support in so many regards, so the sooner we make a difference the better. For 112 kids the requested items that follow are pretty modest; we will look to expand the facilities for sure, with a full educational complex planned, but the goal at this moment is ambitious yet realistic, it really is up to all of us. I am hoping everyone who reads this will give something, big or small. Now is the time to have a functioning classroom and community centre ASAP for this family. We have met with the family and consulted them at length, what they want, including the children, is a real learning facility where the kids can get back to where they were before Operation Cast Lead. We have the teachers ready to go here in Gaza, teachers the kids love, we just need to get the classroom up and running.
Yesterday we managed to arrange an Internet connection for the classroom; this took some bargaining I can tell you as the Samouni’s are not in the urban part of Gaza. We are building the official Samouni Project website right now, we have some great people on this; the site is going to be outstanding. The website will have photos and videos of the family, the children are keen to begin writing blogs (with automatic translations from Arabic to English), and there will eventually be a forum where the family can interact with people from around the world. This is one of my primary goals, to connect people outside of Gaza with the family, to create an extended Samouni family.
Items/Materials/Support sought immediately;
1) A UK based coordinator to facilitate this project, this is a volunteer job.
2) A mechanic or someone very good with vehicles that can travel to Retford, Nottinghamshire, in order to make sure the vehicle is sound and as purchased.
3) We need the vehicle MOT’d and taxed by hopefully the same person above.
4) Costs covered to put vinyl graphics on the bus, such as the Samouni Project logo as well as the logos of our sponsors.
5) Costs for food, fuel, tax, MOT, and insurance for the drive to Gaza.
6) Sponsors; we seek sponsors from unions, organizations, Mosques, community and Palestine Solidarity groups. We propose a minimum donation of £100 to become a sponsor, but anything will help so we encourage everyone no matter what you can contribute.
7) We will need at least two or three drivers who will have to sleep in or just outside the bus in order to ensure security.
8) More Vehicles: if we can get a couple more vehicles, possibly even a bus that can carry the whole family in Gaza, which would be great. There are good deals on vehicles and maybe people will have a vehicle or two that they would like to donate to the family, a work van would be ideal, but any working vehicle will be extremely valuable to the family.
9) Computers: Ideally we will bring 12 desktop computers, mouse, keyboard, computer speakers and if possible, 12 laptop computers so each household will also have something in their home.
10) Office Chairs – 12 is perfect.
11) Webcams with Microphone Headsets for Skype calling.
12) Laser Jet Printer/Copy/Fax/Scanner with refill ink cartridges.
13) Laminating Machine with lamination sheets.
14) Digital Cameras, the more the better, all the kids love cameras.
15) LCD Projector and screen.
16) Small generator, big enough to power a small home.
17) A nice Globe for teaching.
18) Large World Map for wall.
19) Quality books with emphasis on education, history, science, etc. English is great, but if people have Arabic language books as well, that will be fantastic.
20) We hope to bring 50 English teaching books which we already have a teacher to teach with, here is the link to the book we need; http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Headway-Beginner-Students-English/dp/0194376311/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301319517&sr=8-1-fkmr1
21) We are looking for a carpenter to build Custom Bookcase and deliver to London very soon.
22) If a carpenter can work right away, we can give dimensions and precut some material for long desktops to be used for the computers and classroom.
23) Lighting, good quality lighting, LED’s lighting would be ideal so the electricity consumption is low. But we want something other than fluorescent lights, something warm and nice to read and learn with.
24) Musical instruments, if you have an instrument that you can give for these children to experiment with and play; this will be a beautiful contribution. Does somebody have a Piano?
25) Office supplies, paper, paper clips, notebooks, pens, pencils (coloured as well), markers, pencil sharpener, etc.
26) Arts & Crafts of all sorts.
27) Puppets and educational toys.
28) A telescope, this has been asked for, would be great.
29) Tiles to lay on the floor, this is roughly a 10x15 metre space.
Items that would be good to bring now as well;
1) Blankets.
2) Clothes.
3) Kids football shoes.
4) Anything of value that might be useful.
If you have or are willing to purchase any of these items then please do so and email me at 1worldcitizen@spamarrest.com (please put ‘Samouni Project’ in the subject field). If you can provide a service, volunteer to drive to Gaza or be a coordinator then again, please email me.
The following are not likely to be arranged immediately, but maybe, you never know. But even if we cannot get these things now, I would like people to know of our longer-term goals and start looking around for ways to make this happen as well.
Supporting Independence for the family; long-term items sought;
1) We would bring a machine that can process Tomatoes into sauce. The Samouni family are farmers and if they had an industrial machine of this type they would be able to really get back on their feet and be independent soon. I will get more details of the exact type of machine that would be ideal tomorrow, if you think you can help with this then message me please.
2) A loom, an industrial loom that would allow the family to make Kuffiyeh’s, if we do this I am sure the family will have a real income with exported Kuffiyeh’s, made in Gaza, with the Samouni Family brand on it.
3) Building materials to make a small factory/warehouse.
And last, something that would just be wonderful for the entire family, especially the boys;
1) 1) The materials to build a 5 on 5 football pitch, the cement for the foundation, the padding and artificial grass, the walls, goals, bleachers, lighting for night time play.
I am already planning to make a video with the kids inviting FC Barcelona to come out this summer and do a football camp. I am making it clear to the kids that there are no guarantees, but if we try, we have a good chance of getting a result.
I would like to say to everyone reading this just one thing. If we really care, we will make this next phase happen and we will do so within a couple of weeks. We can do anything we set our minds to and what is asked for to make this project happen is completely doable. We all have something to offer, the question is what do you have to offer?
To my Muslim and Arab brothers and sisters, the Samouni’s are your direct family; please make this project happen now. As a community, you alone could make this happen within a week.
Love and respect to everyone who is helping with this, you are blessing yourself big time by contributing, believe me I know this all too well.
To make a contribution right now go to; http://www.indiegogo.com/Samouni-Family-Community-Centre-Classroom-1?c=comments%2F923%2Fdescription%2F0%2F0
TJP,
Ken O'Keefe
Yesterday we managed to arrange an Internet connection for the classroom; this took some bargaining I can tell you as the Samouni’s are not in the urban part of Gaza. We are building the official Samouni Project website right now, we have some great people on this; the site is going to be outstanding. The website will have photos and videos of the family, the children are keen to begin writing blogs (with automatic translations from Arabic to English), and there will eventually be a forum where the family can interact with people from around the world. This is one of my primary goals, to connect people outside of Gaza with the family, to create an extended Samouni family.
Items/Materials/Support sought immediately;
1) A UK based coordinator to facilitate this project, this is a volunteer job.
2) A mechanic or someone very good with vehicles that can travel to Retford, Nottinghamshire, in order to make sure the vehicle is sound and as purchased.
3) We need the vehicle MOT’d and taxed by hopefully the same person above.
4) Costs covered to put vinyl graphics on the bus, such as the Samouni Project logo as well as the logos of our sponsors.
5) Costs for food, fuel, tax, MOT, and insurance for the drive to Gaza.
6) Sponsors; we seek sponsors from unions, organizations, Mosques, community and Palestine Solidarity groups. We propose a minimum donation of £100 to become a sponsor, but anything will help so we encourage everyone no matter what you can contribute.
7) We will need at least two or three drivers who will have to sleep in or just outside the bus in order to ensure security.
8) More Vehicles: if we can get a couple more vehicles, possibly even a bus that can carry the whole family in Gaza, which would be great. There are good deals on vehicles and maybe people will have a vehicle or two that they would like to donate to the family, a work van would be ideal, but any working vehicle will be extremely valuable to the family.
9) Computers: Ideally we will bring 12 desktop computers, mouse, keyboard, computer speakers and if possible, 12 laptop computers so each household will also have something in their home.
10) Office Chairs – 12 is perfect.
11) Webcams with Microphone Headsets for Skype calling.
12) Laser Jet Printer/Copy/Fax/Scanner with refill ink cartridges.
13) Laminating Machine with lamination sheets.
14) Digital Cameras, the more the better, all the kids love cameras.
15) LCD Projector and screen.
16) Small generator, big enough to power a small home.
17) A nice Globe for teaching.
18) Large World Map for wall.
19) Quality books with emphasis on education, history, science, etc. English is great, but if people have Arabic language books as well, that will be fantastic.
20) We hope to bring 50 English teaching books which we already have a teacher to teach with, here is the link to the book we need; http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Headway-Beginner-Students-English/dp/0194376311/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301319517&sr=8-1-fkmr1
21) We are looking for a carpenter to build Custom Bookcase and deliver to London very soon.
22) If a carpenter can work right away, we can give dimensions and precut some material for long desktops to be used for the computers and classroom.
23) Lighting, good quality lighting, LED’s lighting would be ideal so the electricity consumption is low. But we want something other than fluorescent lights, something warm and nice to read and learn with.
24) Musical instruments, if you have an instrument that you can give for these children to experiment with and play; this will be a beautiful contribution. Does somebody have a Piano?
25) Office supplies, paper, paper clips, notebooks, pens, pencils (coloured as well), markers, pencil sharpener, etc.
26) Arts & Crafts of all sorts.
27) Puppets and educational toys.
28) A telescope, this has been asked for, would be great.
29) Tiles to lay on the floor, this is roughly a 10x15 metre space.
Items that would be good to bring now as well;
1) Blankets.
2) Clothes.
3) Kids football shoes.
4) Anything of value that might be useful.
If you have or are willing to purchase any of these items then please do so and email me at 1worldcitizen@spamarrest.com (please put ‘Samouni Project’ in the subject field). If you can provide a service, volunteer to drive to Gaza or be a coordinator then again, please email me.
The following are not likely to be arranged immediately, but maybe, you never know. But even if we cannot get these things now, I would like people to know of our longer-term goals and start looking around for ways to make this happen as well.
Supporting Independence for the family; long-term items sought;
1) We would bring a machine that can process Tomatoes into sauce. The Samouni family are farmers and if they had an industrial machine of this type they would be able to really get back on their feet and be independent soon. I will get more details of the exact type of machine that would be ideal tomorrow, if you think you can help with this then message me please.
2) A loom, an industrial loom that would allow the family to make Kuffiyeh’s, if we do this I am sure the family will have a real income with exported Kuffiyeh’s, made in Gaza, with the Samouni Family brand on it.
3) Building materials to make a small factory/warehouse.
And last, something that would just be wonderful for the entire family, especially the boys;
1) 1) The materials to build a 5 on 5 football pitch, the cement for the foundation, the padding and artificial grass, the walls, goals, bleachers, lighting for night time play.
I am already planning to make a video with the kids inviting FC Barcelona to come out this summer and do a football camp. I am making it clear to the kids that there are no guarantees, but if we try, we have a good chance of getting a result.
I would like to say to everyone reading this just one thing. If we really care, we will make this next phase happen and we will do so within a couple of weeks. We can do anything we set our minds to and what is asked for to make this project happen is completely doable. We all have something to offer, the question is what do you have to offer?
To my Muslim and Arab brothers and sisters, the Samouni’s are your direct family; please make this project happen now. As a community, you alone could make this happen within a week.
Love and respect to everyone who is helping with this, you are blessing yourself big time by contributing, believe me I know this all too well.
To make a contribution right now go to; http://www.indiegogo.com/Samouni-Family-Community-Centre-Classroom-1?c=comments%2F923%2Fdescription%2F0%2F0
TJP,
Ken O'Keefe
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Although I planned to film 30 separate family profiles here in Gaza, to have these families tell their story directly to a western audience, I did not plan to meet the Samouni family as their story had been told many times before. Fate had other plans however and this meeting was arranged without my knowledge.
It is ironic how unplanned events often impact your life far more
than those that are planned. Before you know it you are taken down a
path of which the universe, God, some unknowable force is clearly in
charge, we become but a passenger. Meeting the Samouni family has been
like that, it has caused a chain reaction of events that has dominated
my life for the last 18 months. In that time I have known the greatest
of joy, the joy of receiving a child’s smile upon your return for
instance. I cannot guess at the amount of smiles reciprocated with the
Samouni kids and yet the joy it produces never diminishes.
In the last 18 months I have also known rage, primarily from the betrayal of those I trusted. To trust is to love, it is expose one’s underbelly in the interest of union. It is the cornerstone of partnership, it is essential for any significant progress in effecting a better world. Those that are afraid to trust, to love, will never know the joy of love, and my willingness to trust has been one of the greatest sources of the immense blessings I have known. I have no regrets, even with the betrayals.
So the price one inevitably pays for misplaced trust is to be praised one day, and then slandered with the most filthy lies the next. This is the tactic of infiltration, get inside, develop trust, establish an apparently credible basis to defame the target, then attack. For me this extends not just about me, but of my wife, my mother and even my children who have been called “illegitimate”. I have even seen Palestinians create a Facebook page designed purely for the purpose of defaming me (a blatant violation of Facebook’s duplicitous, Israel slanted policies). I have been unlawfully arrested by the UK police, my family home has been violated and my property stolen by thieves in uniform. And yet I am grateful for it all because it is in these greatest of challenges, the injustices, that one finds the greatest opportunities to grow, to become wiser and stronger.
I am grateful because through the joy and through the hardship I have never lost sight of how blessed I am. When I look back at my life there is such richness in the stories I have accumulated and the friendships I have developed. I have thought with my heart more than with my head and in a world of collective insanity I realised long ago that popularity and approval is not what a content and honourable life generally provides, in fact it almost never does. The path of popularity is not for me, it is self-respect, service to life, commitment to truth and justice that I am committed to. The hardship, ridicule and slander is all part of the path and ultimately can only be overcome by steadfastness and love, love of truth, love of justice, and ultimately love of peace.
Indeed I have taken the path less travelled by and without doubt this has made all the difference. This path has lead me back to Gaza, and as potentially dangerous as this path is it doesn’t really matter, if my mortal life ends today I will leave behind an example of what blessings await those that “think” with their heart and more importantly, act in accord with their heart.
So I am back in Gaza, and I am back with the Samouni family. What we have shared is what we shared before, love. If the full truth be known about all that has been employed to tear or relationship apart it could be made into a movie. Even a prominent human rights organisation has been advising the Samouni family to divorce themselves of me because I was all that I was accused of being by the slanderers. What makes this shocking is that this “human rights” organisation indicted me based on one source and one source alone, Facebook!
This organisation went even further to pressure the Samouni family to press charges against me. When the family asked for one simple thing, evidence, this organisation refused. Indeed this has been the judge of me for many, Facebook. What does this say about some of the so-called “friends” of Palestine, that they are so incredibly stupid as to validate a known CIA/Zionist tool as a source to crucify one of Palestine’s most easily verified allies?
What I find myself saying more and more about the plight of the Palestinians is, “with friends like these, who needs enemies.”
Between the human rights organisation and the corrupt UK police and court system and Zionist agents online and importantly, the idiots who give credence to all of the above, it is safe to say that the only thing that has truly protected me is integrity. And the only thing that will save the Samouni Project and the educational program it entails is steadfastness. And even if these poor, poor human beings who wish otherwise were to succeed, I will die with my integrity as it is not subject to the whims of a human society that is, literally, collectively insane to the point that we remain on the brink of the human caused end of the world as we know it.
But make no mistake at all, those who have instigated baseless slander against me, those that have stolen resources for the Samouni Project, Aloha Palestine, Trade Not Aid, those that have been stupid enough to propagate lies without any critical thought, have not attacked me primarily, they have attacked Palestine and in particular, the Samouni family. A massive amount of effort has been invested in destroying the trust between myself and the Samouni family, it has not worked. I remain a loved member of this family and I love this family as if they were my blood.
In the next few days prepare to feel the joy I am feeling with me, as something beautiful is about to happen here in Gaza.
It is Ken O’Keefe back in Gaza. For the last 14, 15 months, I have been dealing with the results of the hijacking of the Trade Not Aid Mission, now I have provided a link to a video on Vimeo which gets into greater detail about this.
Back in Gaza with Max Igan &
the Samouni Family
When I came to Gaza in November 2011 I planned to stay for 2 months maximum, at least that was the deal I made with my pregnant wife. But as happens Palestine has a way of seducing you, and in my case the Egyptian authorities have a way of imprisoning you, so my stay lasted 6 months rather than 2. In turn I ended up missing the birth of our second child.Although I planned to film 30 separate family profiles here in Gaza, to have these families tell their story directly to a western audience, I did not plan to meet the Samouni family as their story had been told many times before. Fate had other plans however and this meeting was arranged without my knowledge.
Back in Gaza with the Samouni kids
What is a child’s smile worth?
In the last 18 months I have also known rage, primarily from the betrayal of those I trusted. To trust is to love, it is expose one’s underbelly in the interest of union. It is the cornerstone of partnership, it is essential for any significant progress in effecting a better world. Those that are afraid to trust, to love, will never know the joy of love, and my willingness to trust has been one of the greatest sources of the immense blessings I have known. I have no regrets, even with the betrayals.
Max Igan meets the Samouni kids
So the price one inevitably pays for misplaced trust is to be praised one day, and then slandered with the most filthy lies the next. This is the tactic of infiltration, get inside, develop trust, establish an apparently credible basis to defame the target, then attack. For me this extends not just about me, but of my wife, my mother and even my children who have been called “illegitimate”. I have even seen Palestinians create a Facebook page designed purely for the purpose of defaming me (a blatant violation of Facebook’s duplicitous, Israel slanted policies). I have been unlawfully arrested by the UK police, my family home has been violated and my property stolen by thieves in uniform. And yet I am grateful for it all because it is in these greatest of challenges, the injustices, that one finds the greatest opportunities to grow, to become wiser and stronger.
I am grateful because through the joy and through the hardship I have never lost sight of how blessed I am. When I look back at my life there is such richness in the stories I have accumulated and the friendships I have developed. I have thought with my heart more than with my head and in a world of collective insanity I realised long ago that popularity and approval is not what a content and honourable life generally provides, in fact it almost never does. The path of popularity is not for me, it is self-respect, service to life, commitment to truth and justice that I am committed to. The hardship, ridicule and slander is all part of the path and ultimately can only be overcome by steadfastness and love, love of truth, love of justice, and ultimately love of peace.
Indeed I have taken the path less travelled by and without doubt this has made all the difference. This path has lead me back to Gaza, and as potentially dangerous as this path is it doesn’t really matter, if my mortal life ends today I will leave behind an example of what blessings await those that “think” with their heart and more importantly, act in accord with their heart.
So I am back in Gaza, and I am back with the Samouni family. What we have shared is what we shared before, love. If the full truth be known about all that has been employed to tear or relationship apart it could be made into a movie. Even a prominent human rights organisation has been advising the Samouni family to divorce themselves of me because I was all that I was accused of being by the slanderers. What makes this shocking is that this “human rights” organisation indicted me based on one source and one source alone, Facebook!
This organisation went even further to pressure the Samouni family to press charges against me. When the family asked for one simple thing, evidence, this organisation refused. Indeed this has been the judge of me for many, Facebook. What does this say about some of the so-called “friends” of Palestine, that they are so incredibly stupid as to validate a known CIA/Zionist tool as a source to crucify one of Palestine’s most easily verified allies?
What I find myself saying more and more about the plight of the Palestinians is, “with friends like these, who needs enemies.”
Between the human rights organisation and the corrupt UK police and court system and Zionist agents online and importantly, the idiots who give credence to all of the above, it is safe to say that the only thing that has truly protected me is integrity. And the only thing that will save the Samouni Project and the educational program it entails is steadfastness. And even if these poor, poor human beings who wish otherwise were to succeed, I will die with my integrity as it is not subject to the whims of a human society that is, literally, collectively insane to the point that we remain on the brink of the human caused end of the world as we know it.
But make no mistake at all, those who have instigated baseless slander against me, those that have stolen resources for the Samouni Project, Aloha Palestine, Trade Not Aid, those that have been stupid enough to propagate lies without any critical thought, have not attacked me primarily, they have attacked Palestine and in particular, the Samouni family. A massive amount of effort has been invested in destroying the trust between myself and the Samouni family, it has not worked. I remain a loved member of this family and I love this family as if they were my blood.
In the next few days prepare to feel the joy I am feeling with me, as something beautiful is about to happen here in Gaza.
New post on KOK |
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Transcript & Video – Update from Ken O’Keefe in Gaza Trade Not Aid/Samouni Project – Oct 2012by 1worldcitizen |
It is Ken O’Keefe back in Gaza. For the last 14, 15 months, I have been dealing with the results of the hijacking of the Trade Not Aid Mission, now I have provided a link to a video on Vimeo which gets into greater detail about this.
But
the short version of the story is that I made a massive mistake by
trusting some horrible people particularly Catherine Myles. But she was
partnered with Saeb Shaath and some others that effectively infiltrated
the Trade Not Aid Mission and stole money, donated goods and vehicles,
two vehicles including an 18 ton truck that had been filled with donated
goods for the Trade Not Aid Mission.
Catherine Myles & Saeb Shaath, "co-leaders" of the hijacked Trade Not Aid mission
Now,
the trade not aid mission is effectively the brand name for a
partnership between the two nonprofit companies, social enterprises that
I am the Director of. One, Aloha Palestine CIC, a Community Interest
Company and the other one, the Samouni Project.
Now,
the Samouni project was formed on the back of my relationship with the
Samouni family here in Gaza. I formulated the plan for the Samouni
Project with the Samouni family. In fact, the Samouni family put
together a board that was comprised of all family members and those
family members are the ones that gave me the direction to move forward
with the formation of the Samouni Project and the carrying out of the
objectives. Now, the two main objectives of the Samouni Project were;
- To get the kids the education that they need because after operation Cast lead and the slaughter of the Samouni family by the Israelis, the children obviously were just a little bit traumatized to say the least. This has adversely affected their school and in this sense, they are just like the rest of the kids of Gaza. It is not just a Samouni family, but the Samouni’s have been so incredibly violated and traumatized that these children are suffering. And, one of the things that they are suffering from is lack of ability to concentrate on school and thus they need real special attention—many of them—to even think about concentrating on school again. Well, here we are nearly four years later and they really don’t have that yet. So this was the goal that was set a year and a half ago when I was here with the Samouni family.
- The other objective of the Samouni Project is in line with Aloha Palestine and my goals as a whole which is “Fuck aid”. Aid is not the answer. Aid, okay, in the extreme circumstances where people are literally going to starve to death, yes, you have to do it. But generally, aid is for the aftermath of a natural disaster when you have a hurricane or a tornado or an earthquake or something like that. Then you need send aid because the people clearly in that emergency situation would not have everything they need to survive. But this is not an emergency situation and natural disaster. This blockade of Gaza is now five years plus; it is human created. It is carried out by both the Israelis and definitely under Mubarak it was the Egyptian side, and more importantly for us in the west, it is carried out with the complicity in the cooperation of our corrupt western governments who are taking all our money and giving’em to the banksters and all this sort of stuff. So without our western governments, this blockade of Gaza which is five years plus couldn’t continue and my goal with the Samouni family is to get beyond the blockade to be able to export products that they can produce because they are far worse (off then so many), be able to have them produce their goods, vegetables, chilies, tomatoes, things like this, dehydrate them. I wanted to bring them a dehydrator and use that dehydrator to dehydrate their vegetables and fruits and then we in turn would work to get them out. The plan of this was really that we would guarantee that those things they produced, we would market abroad. People would pay for them. We would pay the Samouni family with those funds and then it would be our task to export them out. So any of the purchasers of the products would have to understand that if we can’t deliver the product, it is because the blockade is still in place.
So,
that was the plan with the Samouni family. That is complemented by
Aloha Palestine which I formed with Lauren Booth in late 2008 and the
whole objective of Aloha Palestine way back in 2008 was trade not aid,
to establish a trade route in and out of Gaza so that the people could
import and export and basically be able to develop their economy and get
back on their own two feet and live a life of dignity. Even just
recently here in Gaza, there is an organization set up on the principle
of dignity by the youth here and the only way that dignity can be
achieved is by the ability to do trade. And, the trade doesn’t sound as
sexy and altruistic as aid and charity but it is more important than aid
and charity. This is where we as people really need to think about our
critical thinking skills. Do we have them or are we continuously being
manipulated in the one stupid dead end or another. Aid is not the answer
and I am not the only one saying that. It has been said by the
Palestinians for a long time. Go watch a video called Donor Opium on
youtube, excellent video. It will tell you a lot about how aid is
actually insidious and destructive towards the Palestinians who are now
per capita the biggest receivers of ‘AID’ in the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVTYyRLMljc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVTYyRLMljc
So
that was Samouni project in Aloha Palestine. Now, I fucked up. I
trusted the wrong people; they got on the inside. In that position of
trust, they breached the trust, they stole vehicles, they stole donated
goods, they stole money. Now, I from the beginning, if this had been
dealt with properly by the UK police, this could have been sorted. On
August 23rd, I submitted a report to the UK police
establishing who raised the money for those vehicles. What the purchase
of those vehicles was for which I purchased them. The transfer of funds
for those vehicles while I was here in Gaza last year to trusted people
on the European side back in the UK. The funds were transferred,
authorized by me, the purchase of the vehicles authorized by me, the
raising of the money by me and those vehicles were registered in the
name of the people who I trusted on that end. They were never the legal
owners of the vehicles. They were never the legal owners of the donated
goods and they certainly were never the legal owners of the donated
moneys which I authorized to be put in the Catherine Myles account
because I trusted her. This is my fuck up and I apologize to everyone
for my screw up as the leader of the mission, I cannot do anything but
take responsibility for my fuck up and I fucked up.
Now,
what can I do to recuperate that and correct. What did I do? I went to
the UK police. I handed them all the evidence to show the ownership of
the vehicles. What did the UK police do? Well, they did what the UK
government does and that all the western governments are doing. They
acted like the corrupt puppet bastards that they are. They didn’t arrest
the criminals who provably had shown had stolen vehicles, donated goods
and moneys, no, they arrested me. They ‘investigated’ me for five
months and then said, “Oh! No further action.” Yeah no shit no further
action. Keep in mind, these people had nine hard drives of mine, had
every hard drive I had. They had two computers, the only computers I
had. They had paper work. They went through my home; they took
everything they wanted. They went through my wife’s underwear drawer.
They went through everything in my house. Everything that might have
established any kind of criminal activity on my behalf, they had access
to it and they had it for five fucking months. I had to deal with that
crap. I didn’t have any representation for a while and finally I did get
a defense attorney, great man, thank you so much Simon Natas and
ultimately the police dropped their farcical bullshit investigation and
then they said, “Oh, the vehicles, it is a civil matter.” I then had to
file a civil case to recover stolen vehicles which is the 18 ton truck
and mini bus converted into the mobile office. Now, that is now still
in process and the court system, another story but nonetheless, it looks
like I should be recovering in the court system because quite frankly
there is no evidence on the side of the criminals to defend what they
have done.
I
provided that initial report. That was about 108 pages, that initial
report. I then supplied a year later, I supplied another 106 page report
on the stealing of the vehicles, the stealing of the moneys, the
stealing of the donated goods. I handed that over to the police. Who do
you turn it over to? I handed it over to the UK police. That was three
months ago, haven’t heard back from them and I am talking about bank
transfers, witness statements, emails, screenshots, all of it
establishing that moneys were taken by Catherine Myles and moneys were
transferred into her account and that those moneys are unaccounted for,
that they have been stolen based on a principle of some collective and
some bullshit group that somehow claims to have taken over the Trade Not
Aid mission which they clearly did not. The UK police have dishonored
themselves big time. FUCK the UK police that are at the top levels who
are corrupt. I don’t fear you, I don’t give a shit what you do. I know
who you are and plenty of people know who you are. Just like the UK
government. I don’t care what you think you are going to do to me.
Anyway,
I have done everything I could to affect legal remedy. But we don’t
live in a lawful society. We don’t live with law. Law is violated. Tony
Blair’s and George Bush’s, what happens to them? They kill people, what,
a million, two million in Iraq, what happens to them? Nothing, there is
no law. So the law did not help me. I was foolish to think that they
would have. But nonetheless, I have supplied all the evidence to so
called legal authorities in the UK; they have done nothing. Now in
September just last month, I also compiled a 336 (page) report. This was
the conclusive report of everything that happened with the Trade Not
Aid Mission. Going back to the formation of Aloha Palestine, all the way
through to the present day, this is a conclusive detailed report with
every single piece of evidence to establish that those that hijacked the
Trade Not Aid Mission, are in fact nothing more than common criminals
and thieves. I have established with the evidence that clearly Catherine
Myles in particular has committed fraud, she has committed theft. She
has committed blackmail and blatantly, fourth, perverted the course of
justice. She perverted the course of justice by lying on record to the
police saying that she thought that I was the head of a charity, that I
had defrauded her and others into thinking that I was a head of a
charity and so therefore, they went out to solicit donations for a
nonexistent charity. This is bullshit.
Catherine Myles acknowledging Trade Not Aid as a "CIC (non-profit making) trading company"
Every
single thing I have ever said publically, in email privately, has
always made clear. I am actually not a fan of charity. Charities are
often times the means to infiltrate places like Palestine with over paid
NGOs that can buy out the best of the private sector and ultimately get
the agenda of the outside powers, the colonial imperial powers into
lands like Palestine. I am not a fan of charity. I wouldn’t want to
live on charity. I want equality. I want justice and in a just
environment, if we partner together, we will be able to provide for
ourselves. Fuck charity.
So
the idea I ever said that I was the head of a charity is ridiculous.
Not only that, but I actually went to Sheikhs, more than one because
there is something called Zakat. Muslims are honor bound if they have
the means to give a certain amount of their money to charity each year.
Now, because my nonprofit companies are not technically a charity, I
went to sheikhs, and I asked them listen, is this possible that it would
qualify—the zakat—that it would qualify for charity? And effectively,
the answer was no. This was very frustrating to me because I knew I
couldn’t say that it would qualified as zakat. I wanted to make sure and
I did make sure by asking sheikhs, respected sheikhs about this. So I
have never once represented myself as the head of a charity. The police
could have easily verified that. They could have asked me questions and
they could have shown some evidence. Where is the evidence? There is no
evidence. And that’s why now, I have got the services of a law firm in
London that is representing me in a complaint against the UK police and I
can tell you what, they have taken this case free of charge; it is
costing me nothing. You know why they are taking the case? Because I
have got the fucking police by the balls, that ‘s why, because they have
violated my rights. They unlawfully arrested me. They falsely
imprisoned me. They assaulted me by taking my DNA and they violated my
rights in the European Convention on Human Rights on two different
levels.
So
all the proof is there, just waiting for the police to give me through,
my law firm, to give us all the information that they used to justify
my arrest which I can’t wait for that because you know what they is
going to do? That is going to show that Catherine Myles once again lied
blatantly, perverted the course of justice.
Catherine
Myles perverting the course of justice by lying to the police and
public that she never knew Trade Not Aid involved non-profit trading
companies
What are the UK police going to do then? Are they going to arrest
Catherine Myles? I don’t think so. You know why? Because I believe she
is definitely an asset of so called intelligence agencies or perhaps
special branch. If not, its impossible to explain why are the UK police
protecting this criminal? Why? What is the reason for this? I have the
proof. I have submitted some of that proof online. You can look at it if
you want.
http://www.trade-not-aid.net/documents/
http://www.trade-not-aid.net/documents/
And for you idiots out there that continue to believe in lives of these criminals, who are you? What have you done?
So,
I am here in Gaza, amongst the millions of lies that have been told
about me over the last 14 months, especially by Catherine Myles once
again. One, I am not welcome. I am barred from Gaza. Here I am, I am in
Gaza.
Catherine Myles repeating her slander by claiming I am "banned from Gaza"
That
screen shot will be put up for you to see as well. I am barred from
Gaza am I? Well I’m here! I am also been suspected of luring young
women into my apartment in Gaza and Hamas nearly arrested me twice. Is
that right? Well here I am again. Why aren’t they arresting me?
More blatant slander from Catherine Myles
Not only that, but I have come to Gaza for two primary reasons. Two:
- To apologize to the Samouni family directly. Especially, to the kids. I love those kids and I am so sorry for what I have done to them by my failure to have the right people who can be trusted inside the Trade Not Aid Mission. I have done that now and I have come and I have explained to them my perspective and I have also submitted to them the evidence that I am talking to you about tonight.
- The other reason was to go to the government here. And I have done that now. I have gone to the Minister of Interior and I have gone to the Minister of Justice and I have submitted 4 reports—the ones I have just told you about—the initial report that I wrote in August of 2011, the 80 pages, excuse me it was 80 pages of evidence to the UK police in July of 2012 establishing the fraudster, the criminal, the hijacker, the absolute criminal, Catherine Myles with evidence, verifiable evidence I gave to the UK police in July of 2012. I then have the chronological report—336 pages of it—absolutely conclusive establishing everything that the UK police would need to arrest the right people. And lastly, the complaint filed on my behalf by law firm in London. I have handed all that over. All of that has been handed over to the officials here.
I
have made it very clear to the government here in Gaza. I am here, I am
ready to answer any question at all. In fact, I want to answer any
question and I would like to see any evidence, any evidence that indicts
me of anything not only illegal but immoral. Show it to me; I am ready
for it. And if there is any legitimate evidence against me, which there
isn’t but if there is, let’s go! Let’s go! I am here ready to face it.
So, I don’t consider the UK government anything but a bunch of corrupt
bastards quite frankly and their little quisling underlings or the UK
police. Which, let’s make no mistake as we get closer to the third world
war are going to be called on to do horrible things to the UK people.
So, I hope you do the right thing, the good people within the UK police.
I don’t believe the government here in Gaza is as corrupt as you are in
the UK. And I have handed over all the evidence to the officials here
and I have requested that they take all the evidence they have and if
there is sufficient evidence to indict me of anything to charge me, I
will come back to Gaza. I am coming back to Gaza because I would not be
able to stay here too long this time around. But I am here if any
charges need to be leveled. And I am coming back as well and here is my
open proposal to Catherine Myles:
Catherine
Myles, you still maintain possession of stolen vehicles, donated goods
and also at least £20,000 of donated money went into your account all
verifiable. You say I stole it, show the proof. How did I get money put
into your account? Why was I so stupid as to allow it to be put into
your account is really the question for me. But nonetheless, me being as
stupid as I was, how did I get my hands on money put into your account
because you are going to have to show somehow that it was put into my
hands. You can’t do that because you stole it. Now, all evidence is
there; it’s all there. Catherine Myles, I have found the funds for you
to come to Gaza. We will pay for you to go to Gaza. I will pay for your
tickets from the UK to Cairo and then your taxi fare to Gaza and your
accommodation in Gaza and your return taxi fare back Cairo, back to the
UK. You have a paid, PAID trip to Gaza. You come down to Gaza and all
those things that you have said about me, everything you have said about
me. I am a white supremacist, I am a Nazi, I am a fraudster. My wife is
worse than me. My children are illegitimate.
Shame to everyone who supported this and so much of the other slander that even targets my wife and children
All of these lies that you have told, all of them, include accusations
that I have stolen money and that I have somehow dishonored myself and
harmed the Palestinian cause. You bring all your evidence to Gaza and
you face the authorities here in Gaza. If you are not willing to do
that, now, today, with the Simouni family coming out and making the
statement calling on you, demanding you return all of the items back to
me. If you don’t do that, let the whole world know and every single
person who cares about Palestine, let them all know you have stolen
directly from Palestine. You have stolen directly from the Simouni
family and even after the Simouni family have demanded that you return
all the stolen property back to me as their friend, as their brother, as
their trusted partner. If you refuse to do that, let the wrath of the
Palestinian Solidarity Movement come to you. Let it come to you. And
Saeb Shaath, as a Palestinian, I suggest you tell Catherine Myles to
return the stolen goods now as well.
That
is my report from Gaza. I look forward to seeing what happens in the
near future but let us make no mistake, NO mistake, no matter how
corrupt, no matter how evil, no matter how servile and disgusting, there
will be justice in this world, there will be justice in Palestine. And
we will never give up and you can make damn sure that I will never give
up. I will die with my honor and integrity and I believe that we will
see Palestine free in the not too distant future.
| Comment | See all comments |
Why I
Dislike Israel
By Philip Giraldi
October 06, 2012 "Information Clearing House" - Even those pundits who seem to want to distance U.S. foreign policy from Tel Aviv’s demands and begin treating Israel like any other country sometimes feel compelled to make excuses and apologies before getting down to the nitty-gritty. The self-lacerating prologues generally describe how much the writer really has a lot of Jewish friends and how he or she thinks Israelis are great people and that Israel is a wonderful country before launching into what is usually a fairly mild critique.
By Philip Giraldi
October 06, 2012 "Information Clearing House" - Even those pundits who seem to want to distance U.S. foreign policy from Tel Aviv’s demands and begin treating Israel like any other country sometimes feel compelled to make excuses and apologies before getting down to the nitty-gritty. The self-lacerating prologues generally describe how much the writer really has a lot of Jewish friends and how he or she thinks Israelis are great people and that Israel is a wonderful country before launching into what is usually a fairly mild critique.
Well, I
don’t feel that way. I don’t like Israel very much. Whether or
not I have Jewish friends does not define how I see Israel and
is irrelevant to the argument. And as for the Israelis, when I
was a CIA officer overseas, I certainly encountered many of
them. Some were fine people and some were not so fine, just like
the general run of people everywhere else in the world. But even
the existence of good upstanding Israelis doesn’t alter the fact
that the governments that they have elected are essentially part
of a long-running criminal enterprise judging by the serial
convictions of former presidents and prime ministers. Most
recently, former President Moshe Katsav was
convicted of rape, while almost every recent head of
government, including the current one, has been
investigated for corruption.
Further, the Israeli government
is a rogue regime by most international standards, engaging as
it does in torture, arbitrary imprisonment, and continued
occupation of territories seized by its military. Worse still,
it has successfully manipulated my country, the United States,
and has done terrible damage both to our political system and to
the American people, a crime that I just cannot forgive,
condone, or explain away.
The most
recent outrage is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
direct interference in U.S. domestic politics through his
appearance in a television ad appearing in Florida that serves
as an endorsement of Republican candidate Mitt Romney. The
Netanyahu ad and his involvement in the election has been widely
reported in the media and has even been
condemned by several leading Jewish congressmen, but it has
elicited no response from either Obama or Romney. Both should be
condemning in the strongest terms the completely unprecedented
intervention by a foreign head of government in an American
election. That they are saying nothing is a testament to the
power that Israel and its friends in Congress and the media have
over the U.S. political establishment. Romney might even
privately approve of the ads, as he has basically promised to
cede to Netanyahu the right to set the limits for U.S. policy in
the Middle East.
And why is
Benjamin Netanyahu in such a lather? It is because President
Barack Obama will not concede to him a “red line” that would
automatically trigger a U.S. attack on Iran. Consider for a
moment the hubris of Netanyahu in demanding that Washington meet
his conditions for going to war with Iran, a nation that for all
its frequently described faults has not attacked anyone, has not
threatened to attack anyone, and has not made the political
decision to acquire a nuclear weapon in spite of what one reads
in the U.S. press. At the U.N., Netanyahu’s
chart showing a cartoon bomb with a sputtering fuse
reminiscent of something that might have been employed by an
anarchist in the 1870s failed to pass any credibility test even
for the inevitable cheerleaders in the U.S. media. If the U.S.
is to go to war based on a Netanyahu cartoon then it deserves
everything it gets when the venture turns sour, most likely Iraq
Redux, only 10 times worse.
Even more
outrageous, and a lot less reported in the media, were the
comments made by Patrick Clawson, director of research for
the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), an
organization founded by the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC). WINEP is widely viewed as a major component
of the Israel Lobby in Washington and is closely tied to the
Israeli government, with which it communicates on a regular
basis. Clawson heads WINEP’s Iran Security Initiative. At a
briefing on Sept. 24 he said, “I frankly think that crisis
initiation is really tough, and it’s very hard for me to see how
the United States … uh … president can get us to war with Iran.…
The traditional way America gets to war is what would be best
for U.S. interests.”
Note that
Clawson states his conviction that initiating a crisis to get
the U.S. involved in a war with Iran and thereby fooling the
American people into thinking that it is the right thing to do
is actually a “U.S. interest.” He cites Pearl Harbor, Fort
Sumter, the Lusitania, and the Gulf of Tonkin as models
for how to get engaged. Which inevitably leads to Clawson’s
solution: “if the Iranians aren’t going to compromise it would
be best if someone else started the war … Iranian submarines
periodically go down. Some day one of them may not come up…. We
are in the game of using covert means against the Iranians. We
could get nastier at that.” Clawson is clearly approving of
Israel’s staging an incident that would lead to war, possibly
even a false-flag operation carried out by Israel that would
implicate the United States directly, or he is urging the White
House to do the job itself.
Clawson
not surprisingly has never served in the U.S. military and has a
Ph.D. in economics from the New School for Social Research,
which would at first glance seem to disqualify him from figuring
out how to set up a covert operation to sink a submarine and
thereby start a war. He might be seen as moderately ridiculous,
but like many of his neoconservative colleagues he is well wired
into the system. He writes regularly for The Washington Post,
The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal;
appears on television as an “expert”; and is a colleague at
WINEP of the ubiquitous Dennis Ross, sometimes called “Israel’s
lawyer,” who was until recently President Obama’s point man on
the Middle East. Clawson is a useful idiot who would be
registered as an agent of the Israeli government if the Justice
Department were doing its job, but instead he is feted as a man
who tells it like it is in terms of American interests. The
distortion of the foreign-policy decision-making in this country
is something that can be attributed to Clawson and his host of
fellow travelers, all of whom promote Israel’s perceived
interests at the expense of the United States. And they do it
with their eyes wide open.
I will
deliberately avoid belaboring another Israel Firster Pamela
Geller and her New York subway posters
calling Palestinians savages and Israelis civilized, as I am
sure the point has been made about how any lie that can serve
the cause of Israel will be aggressively defended as “free
speech.” A poster excoriating Jews or blacks in similar terms as
“savages” would not have seen the light of day in New York City,
another indication of the power of the Lobby and its friends to
control the debate about the Middle East and game the system.
And then
there are the reasons to dislike Israel and what it represents
that go way back. In 1952’s
Lavon Affair,
the Israelis were prepared to blow up a U.S. Information Center
in Alexandria and blame it on the Egyptians. In 1967, the
Israelis attacked and nearly sank the
USS
Liberty, killing 34 crewmen, and then used their
power over President Lyndon Johnson to block an investigation
into what had occurred. In 1987, Jonathan Pollard was
convicted of spying for Israel with investigators
determining that he had been the most damaging spy in the
history of the United States. In the 1960s, Israelis
stole uranium from a lab in Pennsylvania to construct a
secret nuclear arsenal. And the spying and theft of U.S.
technology continues. Israel is the
most active “friendly nation” when it comes to stealing U.S.
secrets, and when its spies are caught, they are either sent
home or, if they are Americans, receive a slap on the wrist.
And Israel
gets away with killing American citizens — literally — in the
cases of
Rachel Corrie and
Furkan Dogan of the Mavi Marmara. And let’s not
forget Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians which has made the
United States complicit in a crime against humanity. Tel Aviv
has also played a key role in Washington’s going to war against
Iraq, in promulgating a U.S.-led global war on terror against
the Muslim world, and in crying wolf over Iran, all of which
have served no U.S. interest. Through it all, Congress and the
media are oblivious to what is taking place. Israel is a
net recipient of over $123 billion in U.S. aid and continues
to get $3 billion a year even though its per capita income is
higher than that of Spain or Italy. No one questions
anything having to do with Israel while Congress rubber-stamps
resolution after resolution virtually promising to go to war on
Israel’s behalf.
I have to
admit that I don’t like what my own government is doing these
days, but I like Israel even less and it is past time to do
something about it. No more money, no more political support, no
more tolerance of spying, and no more having to listen to
demands for red lines to go to war. No more favorable press when
the demented Benjamin Netanyahu holds up a cartoon at the U.N.
The United States government exists to serve the American
people, no more, no less, and it is time that our elected
representatives begin to remember that fact.
Philip Giraldi,
a former CIA officer, is a contributing editor to The
American Conservative and executive director of the
Council for the National Interest.
his
article was originally posted at
AntiWar
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