Canada's Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff backs Israel's offensive and says Hamas is to blame. Did he learn to be this stupid at Harvard or is this why they call him "the Prince of Darkness?"

By Jonathan Cook - January 08, 2009

During its lengthy blockade, Israel has been able to prevent goods, including food, medicines and fuel, from entering the Gaza Strip through crossing points on its two land borders while its navy patrols the sea coast. But Gaza also shares a short southern land border, next to the town of Rafah, with Egypt...Before the 2005 disengagement, Israel sought to control this fourth border too by bulldozing swathes of Palestinian homes to create a no-man's land between Rafah and Egypt.

by Linda McQuaig - The Harper Index

On Israel's 60th anniversary last April, Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised Canada's "unshakable" support for Israel...Indeed, last March Canada signed an agreement with Israel establishing co-operation in "border management and security".

By LAWRENCE DAVIDSON - Counterpunch

What turns out to be the new aspect of this tale is the collusion of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority in this aggression toward the Palestinians of Gaza. It would seem that Fatah's leadership has actually decided to ally with the enemy that seeks to ethnically cleanse them. They remind this writer of the Jews who served the Nazis as policemen in the ghettos of German controlled Europe during World War II...The behavior of Fatah means that this organization and its leaders are almost certainly doomed.

By WILLIAM BLUM - January 7, 2009

The building and protection of oil and gas pipelines in Afghanistan, to continue farther to Pakistan, India, and elsewhere, has been a key objective of US policy since before the 2001 American invasion and occupation of the country...A planned Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline has strong support from Washington because...the US is eager to block a competing pipeline that would bring gas to Pakistan and India from Iran. But security for such projects remains daunting, and that's where the US and NATO forces come in to play.

The Quartet's complicity in Israeli war crimes.

by Gary Leupp - January 5th, 2009

The political party Hamas was elected to power in January 2006 with 44% of the vote to Fatah’s 41%, receiving 76 of 132 parliamentary seats, in the first democratic election held in the Palestinian territories. This was not what Washington wanted.

"[The Canadian Union of Public Employees] condemns all acts of violence in the Middle East, including the Hamas rockets being launched into Israel and the Israeli offensive...To date, [the Canadian] government has stated publically [its] support for the Israeli people to protect themselves from attack. This is a woefully inadequate and frankly shameful response on behalf of Canadians."

By Uri Avnery - January 05, 2009

For years, the Israeli occupation authorities favored the Islamic movement in the occupied territories. All other political activities were rigorously suppressed, but their activities in the mosques were permitted. The calculation was simple: at the time, the PLO was considered the main enemy, Yasser Arafat was the current Satan. The Islamic movement was preaching against the PLO and Arafat, and was therefore viewed as an ally.

By Stephen Zunes - January 05, 2009

No one in the mainstream media or government is willing to acknowledge America's sordid role interfering in Palestinian politics...The United States bears much of the blame for the ongoing bloodshed in the Gaza Strip and nearby parts of Israel. Indeed, were it not for misguided Israeli and American policies, Hamas would not be in control of the territory in the first place.

By BRIAN CLOUGHLEY - January 5, 2009

There is little doubt that the bias towards Israel will continue in the legislature and administration of the United States of America, no matter what Obama might really think, and no matter how many Palestinian children the Zionists have slaughtered. The Israelis are behaving like genocidal filth, but those who stay silent about their atrocities are not far behind in the gutter stakes.

January 5th, 2009

Like much of the world, we have spent the last week watching in shock and disgust as Israel continues its assault on the Gaza Strip. With the body count rising and a new tragedy in full bloom, we feel that it is important to speak out as Jewish youth in Canada and to denounce what Israel is doing in our name.

by James Petras - Dissident Voice

Israel’s sustained and comprehensive bombing campaign of every aspect of governance, civic institutions and society is directed toward destroying civilized life in Gaza. Israel’s totalitarian vision is driven by the practice of a permanent purge of Arab Palestine informed by Zionism, an ethno-racist ideology, promulgated by the Jewish state and justified, enforced and pursued by its organized backers in the United States.

"The real crime of the Palestinians are not the rockets, not the suicide bombers, but resistance itself: whether peaceful or violent. Non-violent protests have also evoked brutal and even murderous responses from the Israeli army. The Palestinian's very existence denies the legitimacy of the Zionist claim of Palestine having been 'a land without a people.' That they don’t agree to being exiled forever, to being denied their human, civil and political rights, that they don’t agree to disappear—that is the real crime of the Palestinians."

--Statement from Dr. Gabor Mate, an anti-Zionist Jew who spoke at a rally in Vancouver on Jan. 3, 2009 to protest the latest Israeli assault in Gaza

By Bashir Abu-Manneh - January 04, 2009

Mass Palestinian and Arab mobilization and organisation is the only way forward. Active political participation can guarantee that what Palestinians are fighting for today is what they will be getting tomorrow, without being fooled or lied to by one elite group or another...It is true that since Israel has the 4th most powerful army in the world, and is stacked with hundreds of nuclear warheads, no armed struggle by Palestinians can ever defeat Israel militarily. But popular mass struggle like the first year of the first Intifada can certainly defeat it politically. It can also create better conditions for Palestinians to achieve their much needed independence, national freedom, and sovereignty.