VIDEO: Parliamentary Friends of Palestine Dinner with Diana Buttu 22Jun10 July 5, 2010
On Tuesday 22 June 2010, Palestinian advocate and spokesperson Diana Buttu was guest-of-honour at a Parliamentary Friends of Palestine dinner at Parliament House in Canberra. The dinner was attended by Members of Parliament from from both sides of the house and also from the Greens and National parties, a number of union officials, media representatives and all the Arab ambassadors. The dinner was organised by Australians for Palestine.
Diana’s talk:
[flv:http://australiansforpalestine.net/vids/buttu-01.flv 355 290]
Q&A Time:
[flv:http://australiansforpalestine.net/vids/buttu-qa.flv 355 290]
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Buttu Lied in the Q and A section. She said that Palestinians haven’t been allowed to enter the settlements that Israel left. In Gaza, Areas like Gush Katif, Palestinians were aloud to enter. Instead of taking over the farms and houses the burnt them to the ground and then they went further and desecrated the cemeteries. To go one step further they desecrated the cemetery of our ANZAC fighters in World War One
Evidence please, Tim, especially regarding the war cemetery.
I seem to have a different version to yours.
There’s lots of evidence that Buttu is a propagandist and not an “activist”.
Here’s one ugly example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
Buttu says of kassam rockets: “It’s important to note that these rockets do not have explosive heads.”
I’d be more than happy to provide anybody with a rewired unexploded head from a kassam rocket (a few of the thousands of kassams crashed without exploding) and demonstrate how they do indeed explode.
We’ll bury you beside some of the other victims.
Buttu is a highly paid, very slick and good looking propagandist. Her goal is not to seek out the truth, but to exact as much damage against Israel as possible while defending Palestinian war crimes. (Yes, even Goldstone said that the Palestinians have war crimes policies – let me know if you want his evidence as well).
I wonder how you would describe Mark Regev who’s been having such a hard time lately spinning something credible out of murder and thuggery. It doesn’t matter what you call Diana Buttu, people are making up their own minds about where the truth lies and resorting to gutter tactics only makes Israel and her apologists look pathetically desperate.
Sorry, editor, but if Dianna Buttu is knowingly perjuring herself for the Palestinian cause, it is cause for her to be disbarred.
As well, it puts a huge question mark over the legitimacy of what the Palestinians are doing now. Why are they resorting to employing foreign propagandists for their cause?
Buttu was born and raised in Canada and is a registered lawyer there. I wonder what the Ontario Barr Association would think of one of their members who parades herself as a lawyer and knowingly perjures herself on live tv.
Who pays her salary, and who funds her massive travel and hotel bills? Who are her media handlers who are coaching her to lie on the record?
Buttu lying to try and cover up Palestinian war crimes (kassam rockets are indeed war crimes, as determined by Goldstone, Amnesty and HRW… I’m happy to post the links if you want the proof) by lying – this does not serve the Palestinian cause at all.
Diana Buttu is not perjuring herself. She has lived for 10 years in Palestine and is a practising lawyer there appearing for Palestinians whose homes have been demolished by the Israeli state. A lot of her cases come from ICAHD, the Israeli organisation founded by Israeli professor and activist Jeff Halper which works to highlight this cruel policy and to help rebuild the houses. Her trip to Australia was funded by six large unions and by us and every penny was worth it.
You asked for evidence about Buttu lying about Israel not letting Palestinians access to old settlements.
Palestinian militants ransack former Gush Katif greenhouses
Damage is irreparable; international donors had purchased the greenhouses from evacuated settlers for benefit of the Palestinians.
By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent
Some 200 dunams of greenhouse space in the Gaza Strip were ransacked recently by dozens of armed Palestinians and residents of Khan Yunis.
International donors had purchased the greenhouses from evacuated Gush Katif settlers for the benefit of the Palestinians.
According to Palestinian and international sources involved in running the greenhouses, the armed robbers belonged to two militias, the Assistance Committees and the Popular Army, affiliated with former Palestinian ruling party Fatah. These militias had been hired by the Palestinian Authority to guard both the ruins of the former settlements and the greenhouses, which were all under cultivation. But instead of guarding the greenhouses, the guards decided to rob them.
According to the sources, the robbers used bulldozers to break the iron supports of the buildings’ frames, then swarmed over the equipment inside, which included piping and irrigation computers. The damage to the greenhouses, which are meant to provide employment for hundreds of Palestinians and increase the PA’s exports, is irreparable, the sources added.
The incidents were accompanied by exchanges of fire between the militias and Palestinian policemen, in which several policemen were wounded.
However, the police were unable to halt the robbers.
The greenhouses were purchased from evacuated settlers by a consortium of international donors that included USAID, the American government’s development assistance fund. They were then transferred to an economic corporation affiliated with the Palestinian Finance Ministry. In total, some 4,000 dunams are under cultivation in these greenhouses.
This is not the first time Palestinian vandals have attacked the greenhouses, but the previous incidents caused less damage.
Perhaps you ought to read the article published in the New York Times by Steven Erlanger on 15 July 2005;
Israeli settlers demolish greenhouses and Gaza jobs
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07.....gewanted=1
“Under international pressure to save what is left for Palestinian economic development, Israeli and international officials are working on a plan to pay settlers to hand over the remaining greenhouses and a dairy to Palestinians, to preserve jobs and production. These businesses provide thousands of jobs to Gazans.
Of the roughly 1,000 acres of agricultural land that were under greenhouses in the 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza, only 500 acres remain – creating significant doubts that the greenhouses could be handed over to the Palestinians as “a living business,” the goal cited by the Israeli coordinator of the pullout, Eival Giladi.
James Wolfensohn, the former head of the World Bank, who is representing the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations in coordinating the economic aspects of the pullout, has been pressing Israeli officials to resolve the issue before it is too late.
The cost of the proposed deal is being estimated at between $8 million and $10 million, the officials said. Earlier proposals to pay for the greenhouses had been held up in part because the Palestinians have objected to the settlers being paid extra compensation for leaving Gaza. For this reason, and because the laws of many donor countries and international institutions prevent giving aid to a relatively wealthy country like Israel, the money is being put together by foundations and wealthy individuals, the officials said.”
Funny how the truth gets twisted by Israel’s apologists. And yes there were Palestinian looters who came and took irrigation hoses, water pumps and plastic sheeting. This is an impoverished population and there is nothing unusual in some people trying to get something for themselves after all the years of deprivation. Furthermore, Israel had a siege on Gaza even then and most of the products from those greenhouses that were supposed to revive the Gaza economy, were simply not allowed out. Many of the strawberries, tomatoes etc were left to rot on the trucks that had been refused exit from Gaza. Flowers too were refused. There is also the problem of water that Israel stole from the Palestinians, most barely having enough to drink for daily requirements let alone irrigate the greenhouses.
The whole story
Edtior – how can you say “Diana Buttu is not perjuring herself”?
Buttu is on the record saying “It’s important to note that these rockets do not have explosive heads.”
Any grade 5 schoolkid can Google for “qassam rocket” and see that the Palestinians have improved the qassam rocket’s payload capacity from 1/2 kg of high explosive in the early models, to 10 kg in the current models.
Perjury = lying on purpose.
Buttu is obviously lying. You can’t be an intelligent, knowledgeable and aware lawyer who is pretending you believe that these rockets have no warhead – especially after they’ve killed people.
Why are you saying Buttu is not perjuring herself?
Are you yourself also committed to disseminating false information?
In which case, would you agree to a demonstration where you yourself stand beside a qassam rocket warhead when it is detonated? If, as Buttu claims, in has no warhead, then you should be fine.
However, I strongly suggest if you accept the offer that you put your personal affairs in order first with instructions on how you would like to be buried.
Right there….that’s it ….everything answered in that last paragraph ! If you speak against Israel you are either threatened ,labelled or worse .Once….I used to sit on the fence…no longer! Thank you Diana Buttu for helping me , as an ordinary Australian, see just how easy it is for injustice to prosper . Steve