DAWN RAIDS - IN A DEMOCRACY???

        When you read about dawn raids on homes and people and their kids being pulled from their beds and taken away by officials of the State, and this without being able to feed their kids first, you breathe a sigh and say, "Thank goodness we live in the UK", and "How lucky we are to live in a democracy". Of course that's all an illusion, the dawn raids on families with children happens here in Scotland. This barbaric state procedure was, because of persistent protest, halted for a spell. Well its back and it will take the same solidarity and persistent protest to have it halted again, this time it should be for good.

ann arky's home.

CHILD POVERTY - AGAIN!!!

       One of the advantages/problems with living a long life is you get to hear the same old crap being mouthed by our prancing, pontificating, parasitical politicians, time and time again. Each time they come up with their new-regurgitated heart felt rendering, the new generation think it is a new problem and the mouthing politician's feelings are for real. I was born in one of Glasgow many slums, and there was poverty a plenty. Now heading for my eighties, and with Edwina Currie's remark, that no one in the UK goes hungry, ringing in my ears, I hear once again the latest primadonna politicians shedding tears over child poverty, and with that gravitas they perfected at the Oxbridge Club, stating how something will have to be done about this dreadful problem. They have been mouthing this after every election during my long life, and we still have nearly 3 million children in poverty in this country with 1.6 million in severe poverty. After so many years highlighting the problem of child poverty, I think we now have to come to the conclusion that either they don't want to fix the problem, or under the present system it can't be fixed. I'm firmly in the camp of the latter, as evidence across the globe points to increased child poverty as the capitalist system develops.

This isnae wit a voted fur.

Pinpointing child poverty also helps to obscure other factors, that are wrong with the system. Child poverty doesn't exist in isolation. Every child in poverty is in a home that is in poverty, and every home that is in poverty has a family in poverty. Nearly 3 million children in poverty, and 1.6 million in severe poverty, how many homes, how many families? In other words we have a society that has widespread poverty. Further more it has been with us throughout the history of capitalism, and the theatrics of our well-heeled political class will do nothing to alleviate the problem. It is the system that is wrong and our millionaire politicians are merely milking it for all they are worth at the expense of the ordinary people.

EIGHTEEN HUNGRY CHILDREN.

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day

eighteen of tomorrow’s people

cruelly thrown away.

When pandering to a fashion

gratifying our greed,

think, theirs is no desire

but a basic need.

Envisage a familiar face

a child that calls your name,

try to be the parent

try to place the blame.

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day,

eighteen little faces

that never learnt to play.

Walk past your local school

listen to the shrill,

stand and count to sixty

imagine hunger start to kill.

Fingers must be pointed

at decisions made on high,

questions must be asked

loudly asked by you and I.

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day,

eighteen precious lives

the claws of hunger slay.

WHY?



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FROM DREAMS TO REALITY.

         When ordinary people across the world talk to each other, ordinary people across the world can change the world. With modern technology we can be in touch with each other in an instantaneous basis. When you protest people across the world can see it and can support that protest, when police try to break that protest the world is watching. It becomes increasingly difficult for the mainstream media to lie about it or to ignore the brutality. Today, global revolution is possible, as long as the ordinary people keep control. Grassroots movements can now shape the world the way they want, we can weave our dreams into a reality as long as we keep talking to each other and working in solidarity, never losing sight of the world we want.

        The truth can spread like wildfire, the lies can be exposed and dispelled like the smoke and illusions they are. Information is freely available, we can open up the world, we can make it our world, the world of the ordinary people.

Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com

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PEACEFUL PROTEST IS OK, -- ISN'T IT??

     
      Media clamp down, co-ordinated nation wide move against peaceful protest, police brutality? Surely not in the West? It must be some foreign banana republic with a despot dictator!! This is the free democratic West where we value freedom of speech and expression, after all we export such values to repressed people across the globe, don't we??

      You can take it that there is more of this to come, as the so called "crisis" takes a tighter grip of our lives. The corporate financial mafia are determined to cover any losses by taking all public spending and transferring it to their coffers. The might call it deficit reduction, but it still amounts to taking tax payers money and putting into the bank accounts of the big boys who control the financial mafia.

     You can debate how the "crisis" came about, who was responsible, until you're blue in the face, when the simple answer is that the system is inherently flawed as far as the ordinary people are concerned, but works well if you happen to be one of the billionaire parasites with their hands on the roulette wheel. It is a gambling club, but you and I are not in the club, we just provide the wealth that they gamble over.

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THE FRUITS OF CAPITALISM!!

         Capitalism is certainly filled with stories of misery, heartache, frustration, deprivation, and exploitation and we are fortunate that there are those who can record some of this human struggle to survive in a repressive system. Yes there are those who have made a fortune and those who have lived comfortably, but the majority never get beyond the struggling stage. Music and art can be a powerful way to record the injustices of the system. This does it in a simple but poignant way.

ann arky's home.

OCCUPY THE STREETS, AND THEN---??

         With the two technocratic unelected governements in Europe, Greece and Italy, trying to push through more draconian "austerity" cuts, only on the working class of course, we are seeing the Western developed countries rising in anger. There is massive resistance in New York and other cities across America, while in Athens  there is running battles with the police and in Italy, likewise, there has been large demonstrations. This is not a few radical leftwingers being troublesome, but a general uprising of ordinary people who are at last beginning to see through the illusion that is woven with the smoke and mirrors of the politicians and the media. The attack on the ordinary people has not peaked yet, there is more to come as the financial mafia do everything in their power to hold onto and increase their wealth and power.
        The ordinary people of Spain, and the UK are facing more cuts to their living standards and the "markets" are starting to put pressure on France to contribute more to the financial parasites coffers. What ever is hapenning in Greece is coming our way, and the only real answer as far as the ordinary people of the world are concerned, is to destroy this exploitive system run by the IMF (International Mankind Fuckers) and the finanicial mafia.

Live from New York:

From Athens:

ann arky's home,

COME TO THE VILLAGE SQUARE.

The village Square project
         While there are many interesting avenues of change around the city. There are groups, campaigns, projects and activities, working in the common good, but many of them are invisible to a lot of people. The Village Square will act as a focus point for what is happening around the communities and city. The project will operate from the Pearce Institute, Govan, Glasgow and be run by volunteers, on a daily basis also with evening events. There will be as well as hands on workshops on model making, mapping, meetings, discussions, talks, films, bookstall and an info shop.
          Groups working in the cities communities will be invited to exhibit, what they do, share and swap knowledge, ideas, organisational skills and build solidarity with each other. We would like to persuade folk to invent their own meet-up ideas and topics and to encourage those already working in the community to create awareness of what they are doing. There are a multitude of ideas that will unfold in the square, but the main aim is to encourage, parents and
children, young folk, older folk to think about, question and help to articulate ideas interests and issues in their patch. 

Let's get doon theerr.  

       We can do this in entertaining and inventive ways through cultural activities, actions, interventions, politics, education, art, drama, geography, mapping, technology, different mediums, film, photography, internet, walking, and such, can all be brought into play.
         You can find out more about the village Square at the LEGUP dinner nights, Govan conversations next Tuesday at the Pearce Institute and every following Tuesday at the Pearce cafe from 6: 30 or see city strolls for details.

Check the website:http://themeetingsquare.wordpress.com

 www.citystrolls.com

While we all watch television business gets organised.

ann arky's home.

STOP DAWN RAIDS! STOP DETAINING CHILDREN!

STOP DAWN RAIDS! STOP DETAINING CHILDREN!
Come to the protest Monday 21 November, 10.00 am at Festival Court

        Following the dawn raid on two families early last week Unity is calling for a protest outside of the UKBA reporting centre and headquarters of the Immigration Enforcement Team on Monday 21 November. Unity hopes it will be a well-attended protest that will make it clear once and for all that the UKBA using dawn raids and the detention of families is just not acceptable. Monday 21 November is the next working day after the UN's Universal Children's Day on 20 November - a day set aside for promoting the welfare of the children of the world. (http://www.un.org/en/events/childrenday/).

SOLIDARITY.

        We want as many people as possible to come to Brand Street on Monday to make a noisy colourful protest against the resumption of dawn raids that the UKBA cannot ignore. More information about how Funke and Joseph were treated can be seen below this call-out. People involved with Unity are particularly angry that the dawn raids were carried out on families containing young children who were asleep when immigration officials forced their way into the homes. The children were woken up by immigration officials wearing uniforms and stab-proof vests only to see their mothers being handcuffed.
       This barbaric treatment of families who have not been convicted of any crime is something many people thought had disappeared following widespread community protest and opposition from all Scottish political parties in 2006. We want the protest on Monday to be a big day-long action, so tell as many people as possible. The protest will continue into the afternoon so even if you can't make it for 10am, come along when you can.
        Join the protest outside the UKBA office on Brand Street from 10am on Monday 21 November to show your opposition to dawn raids and child detention. We will be running a banner and prop making workshop and preparation meeting from 1pm on Sunday afternoon. If you'd like to come and help then please contact Unity to find out details of the venue.
And if you'd like to come from out of town - we can provide accommodation!

Just get in touch J
Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=272568582785246

Unity!
         The protest on Monday is being held outside the UKBA reporting centre at 200 Brand Street, Ibrox, Glasgow. It is very close to Cessnock underground station and less than 100 metres from the Unity Centre. There is a map and directions on how to find the centre on our website at http://unitycentreglasgow.org/?page_id=16
          Funke Olubiyi and her son Joseph were forcibly removed from the UK on Saturday evening despite a last minute attempt to get an injunction on medical grounds. Speaking from Nigeria, Funke described how nine immigration officials and guards and a doctor accompanied her and her son onto the plane. On the phone Funke thanked everyone who had tried to fight for her and told us that she was OK for now and staying with friends.
        Funke and Joseph were the first family from Scotland known to have been detained in the new family detention centre called 'Cedars' in the village of Pease Pottage close to Crawley in Sussex.
The family had been detained following a 'dawn raid' at their home when little Joseph aged only 5 and 2 months had been asleep in his bed. Funke had been preparing to have a bath and had been undressed when seven immigration officials forced their way into the family's small flat on Shaw Street in Govan. Joseph was not allowed to have any breakfast in his house and was only given some food after the family had been taken to the reporting centre at Brand Street.
         A day earlier the UKBA had detained another single mother and baby during a dawn raid but she had managed to convince the immigration officials to realise her after being held at Brand Street with her baby for over seven hours. These two raids mark the return of dawn raids to Glasgow following a period of several years when the UKBA had almost totally stopped raiding asylum seeker families. Despite holding Funke and Joseph for three days and three nights in their 'pre-departure accommodation' at Cedars which with its 2.5 metre tall perimeter fence is run by security firm G4S the UKBA still insist "We do not detain children for immigration." Unity calls on all campaigners and supporters to work to make sure that for once this becomes a reality.

Come to teh protest on Monday 21 November.

The UNITY Centre
30 Ibrox Street
Glasgow
G51 1AQ

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EX-CIA AGENT ON THE MIDDLE EAST.

       An interesting interview with an ex-CIA agent. He seems to talk with a load of common sense and in a way that so many of the ordinary people with a little political savvy talk. Of course I don't think that he will get much cover in our mainstream press.

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LOCK THEM UP - MAKE A PROFIT??

         I am always appalled at the fact that locking people up can be a lucrative business. Our corporate world knows no limits, if it can make a buck, then it will, no matter the method. The corporate prison business in America, as else where no doubt, is pouring large sums of money into lobbying to have new laws passed that will hand out bigger sentences and leave fewer opportunities for parole. That is one business plan to increase you business, of course the fact that it is human misery that you're creating as a by product, doesn't in the least matter. Immigrants are seen as another possible growth area.

       A Corrections Corporation of America report from 2010 actually stated that;

“The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by---leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices---”

Read the full report here.

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ANOTHER PROFIT BEFORE WELFARE.

        An appeal from IUF for your show of solidarity. Unfortunatly these types of brutal attacks on the living conditions of the ordinary people will continue in all countries across the world until we get rid of the capitalist system of exploitation.

        The New Zealand lamb processor, CMP, has brutally locked out 111 workers at its plant in Marton in order to force them and their union, the New Zealand Meatworkers Union, to sign off on pay cuts and unacceptable changes to terms and conditions.
To learn more and send a message to CMP's parent company, ANZCO Foods, demanding an end to the lockout and a return to the bargaining table, click here!

Ron Oswald
General Secretary, IUF

International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)

8, rampe du Pont-Rouge
1213 Petit Lancy, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 793 22 33
Fax: +41 22 793 22 38
website: www.iuf.org

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CAPITALISM - PROFIT = MISERY.

           The capitalist system is in crisis, it sounds all so rational and academic, but what it means is that across Europe people are suffering in ever increasing numbers, and to an ever degrading degree. Country after country comes under the spotlight of the media and all the talk is about the “debt” crisis, never the human side. In Greece, a country with an unelected Prime Minister, unemployment has risen from 6.6% in 2008, to 16.6% in 2011, while youth unemployment went from 18.6% to 40.1%, and heroin addiction rose by 20% during the same period. Add to this human disaster the fact that the government during the same period has cut the health budget by 40% and reduced the street-work programs by 33%. Put that toxic cocktail together and you have human suffering and deprivation approaching third world proportions. Spain fares little better, with unemployment at 20%, and 10% of families with no wage earner, plus, during 2011, 1 in 8 business closed. Italy another country with an unelected Prime Minister, is about to embark on a series of vicious slashes to public spending, which will heap more people on to the already mountainous mound of misery that exists in Europe. Here in the UK we have now passed 2.6 million unemployed, 8.3% and rising. Our youth unemployment is now over 1 million and rising, add to this our wage freeze/cuts and an inflation rate of 5% and you can see the misery indicator shooting up. Meanwhile our Millionaire cabinet cabal, keep blaming the Euro-Zone for all our ills. The fact that growth in Europe is above that in the UK, and inflation is lower than the UK, doesn't seem to register with them, it is all Europe's fault.

CRISIS? What crisis?

         The simple fact is that capitalism is crisis, it can't work for the benefit of the ordinary people, it is basically a system that feeds the rich at the expense of the poor. Profit is the aim, not human welfare, and as such, that profit must be protected at all costs. The human misery resulting from this type of value structure is never taken into account on the balance sheets of the corporate world. Throughout the entire period of history where capitalism has been the main system we have had continuous wars, raging poverty, mass unemployment and the resulting misery such circumstances produce. Of course the numbers who gain a reasonable life varies from time to time, but it is a temporary respite, soon along comes another recession, or crisis and the numbers change again, with poverty and misery growing, wiping out any benefits that some of the ordinary people had fought for and temperaly gained.

        If we want to fix the “crisis” so that all the people will benefit, then we have to demolish the present system and change our value structure to one of profit free thinking. The only answer is to create a society of mutual aid and co-operation based on sustainability. The present “crisis” of the system can only be remedied by eliminating capitalism and building a needs based system. Only then will be see an end to the misery of deprivation, only then will our youth be able to flower to their full potential.

ann arky's home.

ROSA PARKS LIVES.

      

       Another post on the Palestinian's fight against the Israeli state's apartheid. Apart from all its other injustices against the Palestinian people, the country that shouts about being the only democracy in the Middle East, doesn't let Palestinians ride on the same buses as Israeli settlers, and those courageous individuals that set about challenging that injustice have been forcibly removed from the buses by the Israeli army and the Israeli police, then arrested. Democracy my arse. This report from the CodePink Group.

Dear John,

       I just returned home to Washington after spending 72 hours in Israeli prison. Why? Because I was aboard the Canadian boat that tried to sail to Gaza, part of the most recent “Freedom Waves” flotilla that was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters, breaking international law. I was the only American civilian delegate* on the boat and am returning to the US with a clear message for our lawmakers: Tell Israel to lift the unlawful blockade on Gaza and stop enabling Israeli war crimes!

        There’s another dangerous passage – this time over land – that just happened this morning: six courageous Palestinian activists boarded a settler-only public bus and attempted to sit down and ride it from the Ramallah area into East Jerusalem, in the great tradition of the Freedom Rides that challenged segregation in the South. At approximately 5:15pm in the occupied West Bank today Israeli military forces boarded the buses and violently arrested the Freedom Riders. They were taken to a detention center at Atarot Prison and held for hours. Replay the livestream here.

► URGENT: Send a letter to the State Department.► Tweet this!
► Find local actions planned around the US today here. CODEPINKers plan to join actions in NYC, DC, LA, and SF.

       Want to do more? Palestinian Freedom Riders will be riding Veolia and Egged buses – Veolia is the target of an international BDS campaign. Are there Veolia buses, offices, or SuperShuttle (a Veolia subsidiary) in your city? Click here to download an organizing toolkit from Jewish Voice for Peace and find out how to participate in the Veolia boycott here. You can also make your local bus a vehicle for change: Join DC CODEPINK, Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine, Sabeel and allies to bring this ad campaign to your public transit.

        This courageous action is part of the Week Against the Apartheid Wall. Last week the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, held in South Africa, concluded that the situation in Palestine and Israel is apartheid. Read the findings here. Testimony on Ahava by CODEPINK’s Nancy K and Rae is included in a new book from the Russell Tribunal titled Corporate Complicity in Israel's Occupation.

* Would you like me to speak in your community or school? Email me at marnykit@gmail.com – I’m eager to share my experience on the flotilla, and also during past trips to Gaza with CODEPINK.

Riding the waves of change,
Kit Kittredge

… and the CODEPINK Middle East Team: Alli, Kristen, Nancy K, Medea, Rae, Sasha, and Tighe
PS: More breaking news: Occupy Wall Street was raided by police last night. Support the national day of action at the Occupy near you Thursday, Nov 17. Follow @womenows for the latest updates.

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EXPLOITATION -- SHE GOT IT RIGHT.

          It is strange that the Western mainstream media made very little, if any mention, of the Occupy Wall St movement. That is until the eviction in Wall St., then, lo and behold, there it was on my TV  midday news. Now it was just an argument between some protesters and the city authorities. To have reported on the occupation before the evictions would have meant discussing why they were there. That is not what the media want to do, they don't want to show ordinary people being organised and conducting themselves in a democratic and dignified way, putting forward coherent and valid arguments against the present system. Much better to show them in conflict with the police. So as the evictions move across the American continent we can expect to see more cover in the mainstream media. However what we should take from this is that it is a national movement, across the whole country, and not as they would have us believe, a bunch of young hippies. Not only is it happening in America but it is also happening in Europe, and with the "austerity cuts" set to bite harder in Greece and Italy, almost immediately, and then to other countries, we should hope to see that the ordinary people across America and the whole of Europe will take the occupy movement to its natural and logical conclusion and occupy everything.

ann arky's home.

DIAMONDS AND DEPRIVATION??

         An item of news that might not catch the eye of those at the receiving end of the financial Mafia’s drive for austerity cuts, I'm referring to the coming sale of the Sundrop yellow diamond. This is quite a pretty piece of shiny stuff, kinda like yellow glass. This piece of carbon rock that was dug out off the ground, might not be your thing or mine, but, it is expected to go in the auction for somewhere around £7 million. So as you and your friends sit around discussing the hardships being inflicted on you, don't for one moment think we are all in this together. The hardship is for you and I, the fat-richcats, responsible for devising these austerity cuts, have no intention of including themselves. They and their millionaire friends will be at the diamond auction, throwing in a bid or two for that Sundrop yellow diamond. After all, what is £7 million here or there for such a lovely piece of rock.

Times are hard, I had to drop out of the Sundrop diamond auction.

      Wages cut/frozen, pensions cut, education decimated, health care privatised, libraries closed, social benefits slashed, uneployment rising, the very fabric of what little social justice we have won, being viciously removed, and Victorian poverty the only future our kids are being offered. That's the deal, you sink in the shit, and those who created this mess and pass the legislation to ensure your poverty and the protection of their wealth, flutter around the diamond markets of the world nodding a million bid here and a million bid there.

       I see this diamond auction as a graphic display of all that is wrong in this corrupt and exploitive system. The few throw millions at trinkets, while the millions struggle to live a half decent life, and in most cases, fail miserable. Their failure is not down to their lack of ability, but directly linked to the grasping greed of those in control of this stinking system, the ones who throw the millions at glossy trinkets.

ann arky's home.

ISRAELI APARTHEID.

 

         Day and daily the Palestinian people face the harsh and brutal repression of the Israeli apartheid system. It took many years of struggle by the people of South Africa to dismantle the apartheid system in that country, and let's not forget the civil rights movement in America to break down such a system in that country, here we are in the 21 century and the stench of apartheid has not been removed from the earth. The fact that such an inhumane system is still pursued is not just an indictment against the Israeli state, but also an indictment against the international community, that includes you and I.

This is an appeal for support for the Palestinian people from AVAAZ.

  

Dear friends,

In hours, brave Palestinians will risk attack and arrest to board public buses that are forbidden to Arabs. This could be the beginning of a game-changing, non-violent Palestinian spring -- direct action to win freedom and a new state. Avaaz is webcasting the action LIVE -- click to watch, and provide the global solidarity the activists need to win:

     In the next few hours, history could be made in Palestine. A small number of brave Palestinians will risk attack and arrest to commit a forbidden act -- they will board a public bus.
     Lacking their own state, Palestinians are forbidden to use buses and roads reserved for non-Arabs -- part of a host of race-based rules that US President Jimmy Carter has called "apartheid". 50 years ago, African-Americans in the US challenged these rules by simply and non-violently refusing to follow them. In a few hours, Palestinians will take the same approach, and their actions will be live webcasted by Avaaz teams at the link below.
    As diplomats stall in the fight for a Palestinian state, the Palestinian people are taking the fight into their own hands, one public service at a time. And they're doing it with the simple, elegant and unstoppable moral force of non-violence in the tradition of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. The Palestinian spring begins right now - click below to watch it LIVE, register support, and give these brave activists the global solidarity and attention they urgently need to win:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/palestine_freedom_riders/?vl

     Non-violence is the game-changing force in this long-standing conflict. Boarding buses is a symbolic act, but so was Gandhi's salt march, and Rosa Park's own courageous ride on a segregated bus in the US. Just as non-violent protest was able to topple dictators in Egypt and Tunisia, so can it finally free the Palestinian people from 40 years of crippling military oppression by a foreign power.
     There are many dangers. Israel has been arming the extremist settler population, a tactic which is likely, if not intended, to provoke awful violence that will draw the news cameras away from the brave acts of non-violence. Even the Palestinian authorities are pushing back on the action which they fear will start a democratic protest movement that they cannot control. But these few brave Palestinians have had enough, and if we stand with them now, we can help them ignite a flame that will burn its way all the way to a free and peaceful Palestinian state:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/palestine_freedom_riders/?vl

     We have no idea what will happen in the next 24 hours. Maybe the authorities will crush this brave action. Maybe it will spark into a massive conflagration. Maybe it will sow the first seed of an unstoppable movement with tremendous integrity. But we can watch it live, and lend our voices to the effort. And maybe one day, we can tell our grandchildren that we were there when Palestinians boarded the buses that would ultimately take them to freedom.

With hope and determination,
Ricken, Emma, Alice, Raluca, Pascal, Diego and the rest of the Avaaz team

 

Sources:
I Woke Up This Morning with My Mind Set on Freedom
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/clarence-b-jones/i-woke-up-this-morning-wi_b_1087407.html

Freedom Riders: 1961 and the struggle for racial justice
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/books/review/19foner.html

Palestinian Freedom Rides echo the Civil Rights Movement
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/3888-freedom-rides

'Freedom Rides' to Resume in Palestine
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=17242

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