10/15/15 10/15/15 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! life,erit the love of my my best friend. my greatest fear is jeffrey going to jail. scared ofm absolutely me being sent to prison. particularly for something i did not do. myselfm comfortable with and the choices that i have made. i know i would not have done it any other way. i like who i see in the mirror. in an unprecedented news

conference, the spouse of a jailed cia whistleblower will speak out today for the first time. her she heads to the national press club, holly sterling, the ,ife of imprisoned former cia will join us. then to israel and the occupied territories. have killed more than 30 palestinians in the last two weeks. with tensions rising over is really control of the temple mount in jerusalem, palestinian authority president abass accuses them of sparking a religious war. >> these days the israeli aggressive assault against our people in its land and its holy places is escalating in the racism is showing its ugly face and making the occupation uglier. threatening peace and stability and threatening to spark a religious conflict that would burn everything. not only in the region, but also in the whole world.

amy:. we will go to tel aviv, haifa, jerusalem to get the latest on the worst violence in over a year. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president obama has announced the united states will halt its military withdrawal from afghanistan, instead keeping thousands of troops in the country through the end of obama's term in 2017. there are currently 9800 u.s. troops in afghanistan. the new timeline has this force remaining in place through 2016, before dropping to about 5500 troops around early 2017, depending on conditions on the ground. after 14 years of war the , taliban now controls more of the country than at any point since the 2001 u.s. invasion. president obama had declared an official end to the u.s. combat mission in afghanistan last year.

the israeli government has deployed thousands of soldiers and border police and erected checkpoints to seal off palestinian neighborhoods amid escalating violence in israel and the occupied territories. the crackdown comes after a series of uncoordinated stabbing attacks by palestinians on israelis. in the latest violence wednesday, israeli police shot and killed a palestinian youth at the damascus gate in occupied east jerusalem. palestinian news agencies reported witnesses said basel sider was "executed in cold blood" and left bleeding on the ground. israeli police initially said sider tried to stab a bodyguard, then later said he lunged at officers with a knife after they approached him because he seemed nervous and suspicious. graphic video shot by msnbc appears to show sider was shot after fleeing down a flight of steps before big shot multiple times at a distance. a second palestinian was shot dead wednesday in west jerusalem

after israeli police said he stabbed and injured an israeli woman at the central bus station. in total, more than 30 palestinians and seven israelis have been killed in the recent violence. we'll have more on the situation when we go to tel aviv, haifa, in jerusalem later in the broadcast. president obama has told congress he will send approximately 300 u.s. troops to cameroon to help fight extremist groups, such as boko haram. 90 of these troops have already been deployed. this comes about a month after boko haram militants killed about 30 people in an attack on a market and an infirmary in northern cameroon last month. meanwhile, in the neighboring country of nigeria, multiple bomb attacks killed at least seven people tuesday night. authorities have blamed the attacks on boko haram. in saudi arabia, the mother of a protester sentenced to death by beheading for his role in the 2012 pro-democracy uprising, has begged president obama to intervene to save her son's life. ali mohammed al-nimr was

arrested at the age of 17 and convicted of encouraging protests during the arab spring. he faces execution any day now. al-nimr is the nephew of a prominent cleric who has also received a death sentence following pro-democracy protests. his mother, nusra al-ahmed, condemned her son's sentence. >>human being would rule against a child of 17 years old using such a sentence. and why? he did not shed any blood. he did not steal any property. amy: this comes as britain has canceled a multimillion dollar contract to provide training to saudi prison officers, amid concerns about human rights abuses in the saudi criminal justice system. meanwhile, texas has executed death row prisoner licho escamilla, who was convinced of -- convicted of killing a dallas police officer in 2001. he was the 12th person executed by the state of texas this year. this comes amid reports texas

may be using a lethal injection drug that is expired and could prolong suffering. in baltimore, police have arrested at least a dozen protesters who occupied city hall overnight wednesday in protest of the plan to permanently appoint baltimore's interim police commissioner. the occupation came after a city council committee approved interim commissioner kevin davis' permanent appointment. activists say since davis has taken office, there has been a heightened aggression toward protest. a coalition of baltimore activists have issued a list of demands to baltimore's mayor and davis calling for more respect for non-violent protest, a ban on military-style police equipment such as armored vehicles and rubber bullets, and more investment in education. during the occupation, one of the protesters, trey murphy, spoke out. thate demands we have is the police commissioner, [indiscernible]

letters addressed to him [indiscernible] chargessexual assault claims have been filed against him and members of the housing department, as well as the third when we allocate $20 million in set of next year's budget, fiscal year 2016-2017, to reallocate $20 million toward education. amy: in chicago, a man who says he was tortured by chicago police officers into confessing to a murder he did not commit has been released from prison after spending a quarter of a century behind bars. shawn whirl says he was slapped, stepped on, and cut with a set of keys by a detective working under chicago police commander jon burge, who has been convicted for lying about torturing prisoners into making confessions. under burge's reign from 1972 to 1991, more than 200 people, most of them african-american, were tortured with tactics including electric shocks and suffocation.

shawn whirl walked free on wednesday. the british government reportedly is refusing to grant wikileaks founder julian assange safe passage out of the ecuadorian embassy in london so he can go to the hospital for an mri. assange's doctor says he is in constant and severe pain from a shoulder injury that requires an mri scan to diagnose. assange's lawyer carey shenkman says -- "by claiming that mr. assange must give up his asylum in order to receive medical treatment, the uk government is forcing him to choose between the human right to asylum and the human right to medical treatment. no one should ever have to face that choice." germany has ordered volkswagen to recall 2.4 million of its diesel cars equipped with software intended to manipulate emissions test results. this is the first government-ordered recall since volkswagen admitted last month that it had installed the emissions cheating software in

11 million diesel cars worldwide. meanwhile, u.s. regulators are saying they have more questions for volkswagen about the engineering of the 2016 diesel models, which includes software that might have their exhaust systems run cleaner during government tests than in regular driving mode. in argentina, a prominent lgbt activist has been found dead in her buenos aires apartment on tuesday. diana sacayan is the third trans woman to have been murdered in argentina over the last month. in 2012, president president -- president cristina fernández de kirchner personally gave sacayan her national identification card recognizing her as a woman. president de kirchner called for an investigation into her death on wednesday. woman, dianaf a sacayan, the first trans woman who are disturbed documents was murdered, i ask for cooperation

between the national security forces and the metropolitan police to quickly get to the bottom of this terrible crime. republican presidential candidate donald trump has weighed in on the first democratic presidential debate tuesday night. speaking in virginia wednesday, trump called vermont senator and self-described democratic socialist bernie sanders a communist and a maniac. >> i watched hillary lost that with, we're going to get this and that. the poor woman, she is going to give everything away because this maniac that was standing on her right is giving anything away, so she is following. that is what is happening. [applause] this socialist/communist, ok? nobody wants to say it. amy: trump's speech was interrupted by a group of immigrant rights protesters who unfurled a banner which read, "no human life is illegal" and began shouting, "dump trump." a trump supporter reportedly spit on one of the protesters.

environmentalists held protests in cities across the united states calling for action on wednesday climate change and protesting against the institutions that continue to drive fossil fuel extraction. in washington, d.c., activists held a die-in and a march on the american petroleum institute to demand a clean energy economy. in normal, illinois, activists gathered in front of the office of a local official to demand a plan to move toward renewable energy. and in new york city, about a -- protesters gathered in front 100 of jp morgan chase's office in manhattan to protest the bank's investments in fossil fuel companies. protester jesse andre sassine spoke out. >> jp morgan connection is that they are the number two investor in fossil fuels, outdated energy. they are a bad player as far as green energy is concerned. and their mode of, just

day-to-day business for them, because they don't only suck the life out of our planet, but they suck the life out of our community. enoughven't done nearly to modify the mortgages that were predatory lending in the first place in my community. amy: a newly released government documents have provided an unprecedented window into the secret u.s. drone assassination program across the globe. in the drone papers, the website the intercept reveals drone strikes have resulted from unreliable intelligence stemming in large part from electronic communications data or signals intelligence that officials acknowledge is insufficient should -- insufficient. it also says the drone strikes have been precise -- it also says at least 219 other people were killed. this is jeremy scahill of the intercept which just published an eight part series on the

leaked arguments. >> the fact this is the first time that primary source documents have been published that detail the chain of command for assassinating people around the globe. the finality of the bureaucracy of assassination is so clear in documents, the cold corporate words that they use to describe killing people, the basics of man hunting is one of the terms they use, the tyranny of distance is another term they features to describe people there looking at from thousands of feet above -- the corporate coldness of the way that these documents reflect what is actually a process of his to medically hunting down and assassinating -- systematically hunting down human beings should sin chills to the spines of those who care

about democracy. amy: the documents were leaked by an unnamed u.s. intelligence source. the source told the intercept "it is stunning the number of instances when of come across intelligence that was faulty will stop when sources of information used to finish targets work misattributed to people. and it isn't until several months or years later that you realize that the entire time you thought you were going after this target, it was his mother's .hone the whole time anyone caught in the vicinity is guilty by association. ," thea phenomenal gamble source said. we will have a link on the drone papers on our website. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. in an unprecedented news conference later this morning,

the wife of imprisoned cia whistleblower jeffrey sterling, holly sterling, will speak at the national press club in washington, d.c. monthsg is serving a 42 prison sentence for leaking classified information to "new york times" reporter james risen about a failed u.s. effort to undermine iran's nuclear program. risen later exposed how the risky operation could have actually aided the iranian nuclear program. in sterling was convicted of january, nine felony counts, including espionage. his case was the subject of the documentary short "the invisible , man." here's a clip. >> they are ready had the machine geared up against me. the moment that they felt there was a leak, every finger pointed to jeffrey sterling. notword retaliation is thought of when anyone looks at the experience that i've had with the agency, then i think

you're just not looking. amy: that's a clip from "the invisible man," produced by norman solomon of exposefacts.org and judith ehrlich, who directed, "the most dangerous man in america: daniel ellsberg and the pentagon papers." well we're joined now in , washington, d.c. by the wife of jeffrey sterling, holly sterling, who will be holding -- speaking at the national press club after she leaves this broadcast. also with us is norman solomon, longtime activist, executive director of the institute for public accuracy, co-founder of rootsaction.org, and coordinator of exposefacts.org. we welcome you both to democracy now! we want to start with holly sterling. can you talk about what you will be saying at the national press club today? what happened to your husband? why is he in jail and what are you demanding? >> jeffrey is in prison currently right now because he was convicted of espionage. is toess conference today

make people aware of what has happened, but most important, i have written a letter to president obama asking for the immediate pardon of jeffrey. nermeen: norman solomon, can you explain for people are not that familiar with jeffrey sterling's case, why was it significant and what kind of president might it set? >> the case is significant for civil liberties and for freedom of the press and really the public's right to know with informed consent in what is supposed to be a democracy. the challenge is for people to recognize that at many levels, the obama administration is continuing to wage an enormous war on whistleblowing and investigative journalism, in tandem with the tightening even further through technology and political choice of the surveillance state and continued warfare around the planet, as we have heard again in the news

today in terms of a warfare state. so the presidents are chilling and many respect. a few of them briefly conclude that jeffrey sterling was convicted on the basis entirely of circumstantial evidence. the government resented a mosaic of supposedly incriminating information that involved entirely elective it is by jeffrey sterling. it should be made clear that jeffrey is a whistleblower because through legal channels he went to the senate intelligence committee as a former cia case officer to give information about a botched dangerous cia operation involving nuclear weapon design to the ram. the precendece are dangerous because in a real sense, they are a warning shot across the bow not only for journalists and

potential whistleblowers, but for any government official who even legally those through channels to provide concerns and information to appropriate officials, who legally speaks to journalists. what happened to jeffrey, and the trial itself, those legal activities or turned against him and used as circumstantial evidence toward conviction. amy: i want to turn to a clip from "the invisible man" about jeffrey sterling's case. this is a clip. >> i reached out to the senate intelligence committee. i gave them my concerns about an operation i was involved in. and i thought it could have an impact, a negative impact, on our soldiers going into iraq. operation merlin was a cockamamie harebrained scheme developed by covert action

operators who had lots of money. >> the senate intelligence committee and the house committee, they have clearances to hear this. that is what they are therefore. they're there for oversight. >> they are not oversight committees, they are overlooked committees. >> before reporting to congress, sterling had sued the cia for racial discrimination. >> sterling became the first african-american case officer to sue the cia for racial discrimination. he claimed a pattern of prejudice derailed his career. shortly after 9/11, i felt anger -- anger to the point, you know, i want to do something about this. i will drop my discrimination claims. i want to come back and help. there -- the response i got of dropping my offer was, you are fired. john brennan, the head of the

cia at the moment, he personally came down to the administrative office to tell me i was fired. someone tell me, well, you pulled on superman's cape. amy: that is now jailed cia whistleblower jeffrey sterling explaining how he first expressed concerns about what the cia was doing. , could norman solomon tell us, how was he caught? what did the government do? and explain exactly how this case relates to the many year legal struggle of james risen, the leading "new york times" reporter who himself faced jail for not talking about who his source was. >> the government raided the home of jeffrey sterling and holly sterling in 2006, as i recall. holly was hauled before a grand jury and in front of the fbi in the d.c. area.

for several years, nothing happened. it wasn't until the obama administration came in when suddenly, jeffrey, who had gone back into private employment, exemplary inspector against insurance fraud, was suddenly indicted and arrested and taken into custody. then there was a dragged out several years while the government attempted to force the excellent "new york times" investigative reporter james risen to essentially rat on his sources for his book "state of war" about the bush administration. and his test to his credit, risen refuse to do that. after many years, jeffrey sterling was finally taken to trial early this year. holly sterling, can you talk about the role of race in your husband's case? >> absolutely. as you had stated, jeffrey was

the first african-american case officer to file a suit against the cia. and that played a major part in the trial. i believe. you know, jeffrey had upset the cia and because of that, they went after him as really the sourceurce -- potential for mr. james risen's book. know, -- notly, you one else was investigated except jeffrey. amy: holly, what happened when the authorities came to raid your home? can you describe the day, where you were? were you at home? was jeffrey at home? >> yes. i had just gotten home from testifying at the grand jury. jeffrey and i were home.

proximally 20 minutes after arriving home, my lawyer called it, the fbi was on their way because they did have a search warrant. i would like to note that my lawyer said that this never happens. he's never had in the history of him being a criminal lawyer the fbi calling to alert him that his client's home is going to be rated. he says, that means they have nothing on jeffrey. approximately about 10 minutes later after that phone call, there was a knock at the door. about 15 agents surrounded our home, came in, went methodically through our home. they were very polite. they asked, was this the room where you said you had a computer? took everything out, wearing gloves, putting things in brown paper bags, you know, and went through -- put everything back. at one point, one of the agents went over to jeffrey and showed

him a subpoena for his work laptop. the agent when to take jeffrey's actual suitcase that had the laptop in it. many people may not know, but jeffrey was a licensed lawyer before he was convicted, and read the subpoena and said, it does not include the contents of the bag only includes the laptop. so took out the laptop and gave that to the agent. nermeen: norman solomon, could you what president obama could do now? what is in his executive power to do on sterling's case? >> president obama has the power to respond to holly sterling's letter today by issuing an immediate pardon for jeffrey sterling and getting him out of prison where he is been now for four months and is scheduled not for release until the middle of the year 2018.

so the president could hold this this persecution, i would say, of this persecution that has been going on for more than a decade when you trace back the origins of what ordeal he and holly sterling have gone through. amy: holly sterling, why have you decided to do this now? you are the first spouse of a cia whistleblower, in prison now, to hold a news conference and speak out. norman has stated, this has been going on for over a decade. reallynately, jeffrey was -- did not get any press coverage during this. it's somewhat became the risen case. he has been done a great injustice. he is completely innocent. evidenceabsolutely no to state that jeffrey had done this.

special agent ashley hunt on cross examine state that fact that there was absolutely no e-mail records, no phone call records, no one had witnessed the two been together exchanging classified information. in fact, she said she speculated that jeffrey was the source. convictedeen wrongly -- he has been wrongly convicted and i just think that he needs to be pardoned, that this was a grave injustice. he does not need to be in prison for the next 3.5 years. nermeen: can you tell us also where exactly he is in prison and how often you have been able to visit him and what the process is for you to see him, your husband? >> he actually is in colorado. during the sentencing hearing, the judge disputed he should be placed nearest to our home. we live in sailors, missouri.

colorado, obviously, is not near our home. it is approximately 900 miles away. i had to get permission to see jeffrey. i have been able to see him three times, once a month, since he has gone in. it is extremely costly for me to go there. flight, airfare -- excuse me, hotel, rental car. we get to visit approximately six hours a day on saturday and sunday. we sit in a room. we are able to sit next 1 -- next to one another. but the enforcement thing is that jeffrey is demoralized when i visit by having to go through a strip search before and after our visit. amy: jesselyn radar wrote a piece for salon.com in may called "the shocking court case , that proves the government's shameful petraeus hypocrisy." in it, she asks why former cia officer jeffrey sterling faced

two decades in prison, while former cia director general david petraeus got two years probation for similar charges. radack writes -- "petraeus, who gave a far greater volume of classified and potentially harmful information to his mistress, was given a sweetheart plea deal and was never charged with anything. conveniently, his sweetheart plea deal was to a misdemeanor not under the espionage act. similarly, former cia directors leon e. panetta and john o. brennan, both of whom disclosed the identities of undercover operatives, were never charged." norman solomon, can you talk about this difference and how people are treated? >> this entire episode, which continues with jeffrey sterling, is part of a huge pattern of and then prosecution in the case of leon panetta, selective sentencing in terms of general david petraeus. and it shows how the entire judicial and executive branch process in terms of assessing a

prosecuting classified leaks is just riddled with pollution and poisoned by political power. this administration, worse than any other in memory in this regard, has totally turned the prosecution of leaks into a politicized set of vendettas. i think it is necessary -- it is essential that we recognize that there is no equality ordinary equality or justice under the law in this regard. i should add that jeffrey sterling was convicted on the basis of metadata, which totally undermines the claims of this administration and defenders in terms of surveillance that metadata is not an intrusion. point of fact, it is part of a speculative process where the government is able to inject and project into the proceedings its own assumptions and fantasies actuallyt the metadata

indicates in terms of content that is not provided. and i should add that the news conference today featuring holly sterling not only is cosponsored by rootsaction.org as part of the institute for public accuracy where i work, but significantly, leadership has been taken by reporters without borders. and this is very important because we need -- and it is essential -- for journalistic organizations to recognize and fight for the rights of whistleblowers which are tightly intertwined with the rights of an independent and free press. and i have to say that the good news/bad news/good news is that reporters without borders is a conspicuous organization by forthrightly challenging this very oppressive treatment of jeffrey sterling. we need many other journalistic organizations to step to the fore and begin a show courage,

which has been lacking from them. nermeen: i want to ask about another whistleblower, during the first of a credit debate on tuesday, candidates were asked if they viewed nsa whistleblower edward snowden as a hero or a traitor. this excerpt begins with former rhode island governor lincoln chafee. >> bring him home. the court several that what he did was -- what he did -- >> no gel time? >> the federal courts have said they were acting illegally. snowden showed the american government was acting illegally. i would bring him home. >> he broke the laws of the united states. he could have been a whistleblower ngun the protections of being a whistleblower and raised all the issues that he has raised, and i think there would have been a positive response to that. >> should he get gel time? in addition, he stole very important information that has, unfortunately, fallen into a lot of the wrong hands will stop i

don't think you should be brought home without facing the music. anderson, snowden put a lot of americans lives at risk. snowden broke the laws. whistleblowers do not run to russia and try to get protection from putin. >> senator sanders? >> i think snowden played a very important role in educating the american people to the degree in which our civil liberties and our constitutional rights are being undermined. >> is he a hero? >> he did break the law and i think there should be a penalty to that, but i think what he did in educating us should be taken into consideration. bernie: that was sanders, one of the democratic presidential candidates speaking tuesday night at the first democratic debate. presidential debate. norman solomon, could you respond to what each of the candidates said about edward snowden? >> well, was one of the few bright spots for lincoln chafee

in the debate in terms of making some coherent sense. martin o'malley is somebody who used to be governor of maryland where the nsa, where the huge complexes, near the airport. a lot of vendor corporations are making billions of dollars in profits off of exportation of fear from 9/11, sucking dry the trough of taxpayer money to the nsa. and under o'malley, as under other governors, the nsa is basically running the state. his preposterous claims in the debate are pretty much par for the course for high a maryland officials. killer clinton gave hypocrisy a bad name -- hillary clinton gave hypocrisy a bad name. was she said had no intersection with reality. we have talked about how the case of jeffrey sterling, but in many other is its is such as the nsa whistleblower thomas drake

him another brave whistleblower, going through channels actually marked them for persecution and prosecution and the idea that hillary clinton was floating that somehow there are channels for whistleblowers to go through in the so-called national security arena as whistleblowers -- that is ridiculous. either she was being mendacious or ignorant or some, nation. i think bernie sanders handled it the best in terms of scoping out in describing the terrain, and for the most part, i think edward snowden would agree with what he said. snowden is willing to say, well, i broke some laws which are greatly superseded by the necessity to act on one's conscience and defend the constitution. and snowden said he is willing to maybe, with a fair trial, do a little bit of jail time, but not with what the government is try to do, which is give him the chelsea manning treatment and put him in prison and throw away the key and they can basically

and camino kotto. i think sanders handled that pretty well. amy: we're going to end with holly sterling on your husband jeffrey sterling. what is giving you the strength today? you have never spoken out in public. your holding up news conference at the national press club. >> the strength is just the foundation of jeffrey and i, you know, we basically have endured this our entire relationship and i have to be our voice since he doesn't have the opportunity to have the voice. at the strength also comes from the support of wonderful people like norman solomon, our friends and family. there are people that truly care about jeffrey and want to see that justice is done in this case. ,nd so i'm not going to stop actually, until i get an answer from the president. jeffrey is owed that.

amy: thank you for being with us, holly sterling the wife of , former cia officer jeffrey sterling. and norman solomon executive , director of the institute for public accuracy, co-founder of rootsaction.org, and coordinator of exposefacts.org. when we come back, we're going to tel aviv to haifa come into jerusalem. it is the third intifada underway. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: we turn now to the latest round of violence in israel and the occupied territories, the worst since last year's israeli assault on the gaza strip. a series of uncoordinated stabbing attacks by palestinians on israelis has sparked a new israeli crackdown on arab areas. israel says seven of its

citizens have been killed and many more wounded by palestinian assailants armed with knifes and -- knives and other weapons this month. four of the deaths came on tuesday when separate knife-wielding attackers targeted a bus and a busy thoroughfare. another rammed a car into civilians standing on a street. israel has imposed new checkpoints and closures around arab neighborhoods in east jerusalem and intensified military attacks in the west bank and gaza. israeli forces have shot dead at least 11 suspected palestinian assailants, though questions have been raised over whether all were armed or posed a threat. in the latest violence, two knife willing the specs were fatally shot on wednesday. overall at least 33 , palestinians, including eight children, have been killed and more than 1600 have been wounded this month. in a speech on wednesday, palestinian president mahmoud abbas said israel is threatening to spark religious war.

quick these days, the israeli aggressive assault against our people in its land and its holy thees is escalating in racism is showing its ugly face and is making the occupation unclear. it is threatening peace and stability and threatening to spark religious conflict that would burn everything. not only in the region, but also in the whole world. amy: in the deadliest day of violence so far, israeli forces killed seven palestinians in gaza on friday as hundreds marched on the border wall with israel. meanwhile, a jewish assailant killed four but when arabs in a stabbing attack in the israeli city of dimona. on wednesday, state department spokesperson john kirby said the u.s. considers the dimona attack an act of terrorism. he also said raised concerns the israeli military is using excessive force. quick i think you're going to ask me what do we consider an act of terrorism, and we do. surly, individuals on both sides of this divide have proven

capable of an interview, tilt he of acts of terror. we certainly have seen reports couldurity activity that indicate the potential excessive use of force. we don't want to see that anywhere. we don't want to see that in our own country. so, yeah, we're concerned about that. amy: the new flare-up appears partially fueled by palestinian concerns over israeli control of the al-aqsa mosque compound in jerusalem and ongoing attacks by jewish settlers on palestinians. it's also sparked new demonstrations across the occupied west bank that have revived talk of a third intifada. for more we are joined by two -- three guest. diana buttu is an attorney based in palestine. she has served as a legal advisor to the palestinians in negotiations with israel. she was previously an advisor to palestinian president mahmoud abbas. didion levy is a member of the newspaper editorial board.

he is the author of "the punishment of gaza turk." budour hassan is a palestinian writer, activist and law student at the hebrew university in jerusalem. her most recent piece for electronic intifada is called, "son of palestine' mourned by thousands." are we seeing a third intifada? a doesn't matter how you classified, if you classified as an intifada or not, but what is happening is palestinians are being killed at will by the israeli government and by israelis. it is turned into a lynch mob scene where all it takes is for one person to scream out that the person is an air or terrorist and suddenly, you see the shoe to kill orders that have been issued by the government come into effect. we have seen this with at least a future in just this past week. one was killed last week. and all that it takes is one shoe to kill order and there you have it.

what we're seeing now is protests. we're seeing people who are fed up with living under israeli military role and demonstrating and demanding they be free. , could youana buttu give us some account of what you think accounts for the upsurge in violence and talk specifically about what is happening in east jerusalem? many of theealed neighborhoods there. tell us a little bit about who the residents principle he are of jerusalem and what this means. first, terms of ease jerusalem, we're talking about a population of 200,000 palestinians, many of whom hail from west jerusalem but were removed from the city and 1948 and now reside under israeli military role. these are people who are not citizens of the state of israel am a but permanent residents .ean is considered temporary even though generations of these people have lived there.

new measures put in place are everything from searching cities, demanding proof that people have paid their taxes for some reason i'm also, things such as indicating if they're going to demolish homes of anybody who is suspected of being involved in any resistance or otherwise. to killy, the shoe orders that i have been speaking about, some of the videos that ufc that have gone viral videos of children who have been -- one in particular of a young boy who was hit in the head with a metal rod who was run over by a jeep and then stood overbite and israeli settler telling him that he should die. as the top of activity that is taking place in jerusalem. in terms of the protest themselves and what is happening and what is going on or the reasons for it, it is because this is a new generation that has lived exclusively underl military control. this is a generation that has not seen anything but the false

promises of the oslo agreements, generation that has to apply for permits to be able to go visit the sea, to go to jerusalem, generation that recognizes the denial of freedom is not something that is normal or natural, and there are resisting this and standing up and saying to the israelis, once and for all, we want to be free and enough is enough. if the world is very concerned about these protest, etc., they should be demanding that israel and its occupation rather than demanding the protest he quashed. diana want to turn to nermeen: .utt budour hassan you have had the chance to speak person wasly of stabbed on thursday. can you talk about what the family said and what you understand is happening now? ghetto,s living in a

under the occupation since the 1970's, has tried to turn it -- putting drugs in the camp, smuggling arms to some of the residents. try to do everything not only to destroy the community, but [indiscernible] despite all the attempts to destroy this generation, he earned his brother and his family and thousands -- despite the hardships are standing up against the israeli occupation and resisting. what was astonishing about the interview with his family is his father told me that just one day after the alleged stabbing, he was fired from his job because he was [indiscernible]

you tell me, i will never value my job over a dignity. as grandmother said the same. saying, i will not accept my children and grandchildren will see the occupation colonize our , and step our children slaughter our children in front of our eyes and be silent. this is just the case of one, but there are tens of thousands who have carried out -- there are many who have carried out these attacks. not only are they set up with it, there are fed up with the palestinian authority, with the oslo accords, any liberalization -- [indiscernible]

most respectable army in the world. they're fed up with being told we should be nonviolent when the so-called nonviolence -- [indiscernible] further attempt to erase. in identity and take over the urban space they once had in jerusalem. overacify and try to take the palestinian mentality. what is harder are the attempts -- to pacifytain the spirits of people in jerusalem. these people are saying, no, we will never be contained. we will never be domesticated by all these attempts, even the attempt of the israelis to sugarcoat the occupation by

putting all of these community centers, by trying to sound sweet and kind and visit palestinian neighborhoods. are notung people stupid to be deceived by this kind of sugarcoating. --don't accept [indiscernible] amy: we're going to take a break and come back to this discussion. budour hassan is a palestinian writer, a student at hebrew university in jerusalem. diana buttu is a palestine-based attorney. she is joining us from haifa. when we come back, we will also be joined by gideon levy, the hearts columnist --haaretz columnist. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. , inguests are diana buttu the studio in haifa, palestinian

attorney. budour hassan is joining us by video stream, a palestinian writer and activist and gideon levy is with us, a haaretz columnist. nermeen: john kerry appeared to draw a link between the wave of violence and increased israeli settlements in the occupied west bank. ,> unless we get going conceivably could be stolen from everybody. there's been a massive increase in settlements over the course of last years a know you have this violence because there is a frustration that is growing and a frustration among israelis who don't see any movement. so i look at that and i say, you if that did explode, and i pray and hope and think their options to prevent that, but we would inevitably be, some point, we're going to have to be

engaged in working through those kinds of difficulties. so better to try to find the ways to deal with it before that happens than later. nermeen: that was secretary of state john kerry speaking tuesday. gideon levy, could you respond to what he said and give us a sense of what the mood there is? >> and forcefully, i must say john kerry's declaration is rather hippocratic. the americans could have prevented a long time ago -- the americans know exactly how to prevent it. if they really wanted to put in into the occupation, it would have come to an end a long time ago. this policy of only serving care to israel, a flattering to israel again and again, is now worked.long and never

never, ever work. and the americans never really tried the alternative part of putting pressure on israel in order to bring israel back to the international law, back to legal and order, back to morality. and now john kerry is saying and this can be prevented should be prevented. 48re were you in the last years yet though -- where were you in the last 48 years? you just gave israel a carte blanche to go wild in gaza, in the west bank again and again, big settlements, go for wars, and never try to push israel and to put an end to all of this. so, really, with all the respect to john kerry's good intentions, this is not the way to deal with this after all those years. nermeen: israeli government

officials, gideon levy, if you could give us a sense of how they have responded to remarks made by u.s. officials. the defense minister, for example, accused washington of completely misreading the situation on the ground in israel-palestine. the public security minister called the west remarks foolish. yes, they got all the same message from the prime minister's office, now to condemn the united states. in the last years, they found out that condemning the united states doesn't take any price. israel can talk to and about the american administration as if israel is the superpower and the united states is just like one of those small countries which depends on israel. they allow themselves what no country in the world allows

themselves, vis-à-vis, the united states, going and trying to sabotage an international agreement with iran, and the merrick in congress again -- in the american congress, against the american a administration, things which are unheard of by any other country, israel learned in the recent years that they are possible. not only possible, there -- they are productive and working. bring diana buttu back into the conversation, also netanyahu speaking at the yuan journalist and lee saying israel will negotiate with the palestinians without any preconditions. >> it is a farce. one of the things that non-yahoo! said over netanyahu said over and over again as he is not going to stop settlement construction, effect, he is

going to continue it. in fact, this is what has happened. in addition, he is also said they reserve the right to continue to kill palestinians. so while he indicates yes no preconditions, in fact, it is quite the opposite. the issue is not whether there whether thetions, negotiations process works, and it doesn't. i was part of the negotiations process. you cannot negotiate with one very powerful party backed by a superpower, the united states, and a very weak party kind we call that dictation. it has failed over the past 22 years. now is the time, rather than owing back to negotiations which only served to give israel more legitimacy and more international recognition, more countries started recognizing israel after the negotiations process began them before it, rather than going back to that process which was failed and futile for palestinians, there needs to be a different way. and that is for pushing for boycotts and development and sanctions, for israel to be held

accountable under international pushing fore israel's isolation. all of those measures will work. and going back to a failed negotiations process will not. and he got how did the mosque fit into the current unrest? amy, this is one of the reasons that we are seeing these latest ways of protests. if you look back about a year ago, a year ago there was a very brutal israeli attack on gaza in killedhe israeli army more than 2000 palestinians, including more than 500 children. 100,000 palestinian homes and businesses were demolished or destroyed. and still to this day remain unbuilt. add to that this summer's attacks by palestinian -- excuse me, israeli settlers on palestinians including the burning of a palestinian home in the west bank town of douma the ended up killing an 18-month-old

and his parents. after that the israeli measures to allow the temple mount faithful, a group that actually believes in the destruction of the mosque, allowing them onto the compound under the guise of religious freedom when there is nothing involving of prayer there at all, allowing them to be able to go there while simultaneously denying palestinians and denying muslims the ability to be able to go to their holy sites. this is exactly the recipe that the israelis have been laying out time and again in order to spark another wave of protests or intifada, what have you. the issue is central, but it is not just that, but all of the other measures taken as well. amy: diana buttu, thank you for joining us attorney based in , palestine. budour hassan joining us from jerusalem and palestinian writer, writes for the electronic intifada. ,nd writer gideon levy, haaretz

joining us from tel aviv. that does it for the show. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

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