Corporate Welfare

THE ABSURD TIMES

You can find more of these cartoons by Kieth Tucker at www.whatnowtoon.com

Illustration: A pretty good example of how socialism is still alive in the U.S. It's just that we've got it all upside down, that's all.

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I wanted to pass along the following since Hillary had been crushed out of the race and McCain may die before election day. Right now things are getting pretty comical between them, but that's for another edition. Here is an article of one President we can still be proud of:

A Human Rights Crime in Gaza

May 09, 2008 By *Jimmy Carter*

Jimmy Carter's ZSpace Page </zspace/jimmycarter>

The world is witnessing a terrible human rights crime in Gaza, where a
million and a half human beings are being imprisoned with almost no
access to the outside world by sea, air, or land. An entire population
is being brutally punished.

This gross mistreatment of the Palestinians in Gaza was escalated
dramatically by Israel, with United States backing, after political
candidates representing Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian
Authority parliament in 2006. The election was unanimously judged to be
honest and fair by all international observers.

Israel and the US refused to accept the right of Palestinians to form a
unity government with Hamas and Fatah and now, after internal strife,
Hamas alone controls Gaza. Forty-one of the 43 victorious Hamas
candidates who lived in the West Bank are now imprisoned by Israel, plus
an additional ten who assumed positions in the short-lived coalition
cabinet.

Regardless of one's choice in the partisan struggle between Fatah and
Hamas within occupied Palestine, we must remember that economic
sanctions and restrictions in delivering water, food, electricity, and
fuel are causing extreme hardship among the innocent people in Gaza,
about one million of whom are refugees.

Israeli bombs and missiles periodically strike the encapsulated area,
causing high casualties among both militants and innocent women and
children. Prior to the highly publicized killing of a woman and her four
little children last week, this pattern was illustrated by a previous
report from B'Tselem, the leading Israeli human rights organization: 106
Palestinians were killed between February 27 and March 3. Fifty-four of
them were civilians who didn't take part in the fighting, and 25 were
under 18 years of age.

On a recent trip through the Middle East, I attempted to gain a better
understanding of the crisis. One of my visits was to Sderot, a community
of about 20,000 in southern Israel that is frequently struck by
rudimentary rockets fired from nearby Gaza. I condemned these attacks as
abominable and an act of terrorism, since most of the thirteen victims
during the past seven years have been non-combatants.

Subsequently, I met with leaders of Hamas, both a delegation from Gaza
and the top officials in Damascus, Syria. I made the same condemnation
to them, and urged that they declare a unilateral ceasefire or
orchestrate with Israel a mutual agreement to terminate all military
action in and around Gaza for an extended period.

They responded that such previous action by them had not been
reciprocated, and they reminded me that Hamas had previously insisted on
a ceasefire throughout Palestine including both Gaza and the West Bank,
which Israel had refused. Hamas then made a public proposal of a mutual
ceasefire restricted to Gaza, which the Israelis considered and also
rejected. There are fervent arguments heard on both sides concerning
blame for a lack of peace in the Holy Land. Israel has occupied and
colonized the Palestinian West Bank, which is approximately one-fourth
(28.5%) the size of the nation of Israel as recognized by the
international community. Some Israeli religious factions claim a right
to the land on both sides of the Jordan River, and others aver that
their 205 settlements with some 500,000 people are necessary for "security."

All Arab nations have agreed to full recognition of Israel if it will
comply with key United Nations resolutions. Hamas has agreed to accept
any negotiated peace settlement between Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, provided it is
approved in a referendum among the Palestinian people.

This holds promise of progress, but despite the brief fanfare and
positive statements at the peace conference last November in Annapolis,
Maryland, a retrogression has occurred in the process. Nine thousand new
Israeli settlement housing units have been announced in Palestine, the
number of roadblocks within the West bank has increased, and the
stranglehold on Gaza has been tightened.

It is one thing for other leaders to defer to the US on the crucial
peace negotiations, but the world must not stand idle while innocent
people are treated cruelly. It is time for strong voices in Europe, the
US, Israel, and elsewhere to speak out and condemn this human rights
tragedy among the Palestinian people.

/Jimmy Carter, a former President of the United States, is founder of
The Carter Center, promoting peace, health, and human rights worldwide.
This commentary is published by DAILY NEWS EGYPT in collaboration with
Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org).
<http://www.project-syndicate.org%29.%3c/i%3E>// /