[Reposted with permission from Sibel Edmonds' blog 123 Real Change.]

Seeking Our Iranian Comrades’ Solidarity

Dear Activists in Iran:

We stand in solidarity with you and your movement against the alleged election fraud you’ve claimed. In return we hope you will reciprocate by supporting us in our struggle here in which we’ve been engaged for hmmmm…more or less eight years now – the following is an abbreviated list of our grievances:
 

Yesterday and today Huffington post has had live, updated on-the-ground coverage from within Iran, including this video that reports on the demonstrations yesterday.

There is however, a school of thought including the Washington Post (which has a consistent pro-Israeli line) , that suggests that Ahmadinejad,did win a landslide victory. Robert Parry reflects this point of view in a post on consortium What If Ahmadinejad Really Won?

[A]strong case can be made that the large turnout, which was estimated at about 85 percent, was the key to a genuine landslide for Ahmadinejad, who is viewed as a friend of more traditional Iranians from the working classes and among the rural peasants.

That is the assessment expressed by Ken Ballen and Patrick Doherty in a Washington Post op-ed citing their findings from extensive polling across Iran in mid-May that detected roughly the same 2-to-1 margin in favor of Ahmadinejad that emerged from the final tallies

This coincides with Ahmadinejad's claim that the US and Israel have conspired to topple his regime; but it  choses to overlook Pres. Obama's speech in Cairo. opposing Netanyahu's resumption of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory. 

At the same time, Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.

Israel must also live up to its obligations to ensure that Palestinians can live, and work, and develop their society. And just as it devastates Palestinian families, the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza does not serve Israel's security; neither does the continuing lack of opportunity in the West Bank. Progress in the daily lives of the Palestinian people must be part of a road to peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such