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Reveal of Israel-South Africa Weapons Talks

During the final brutal years of Apartheid, top Israeli officials were preparing to sell deadly nuclear weapons technologies to the South African racist regime, a new book asserts. Such sales were forbidden by U.S. sanctions in force at that time.

According to the riveting book making waves worldwide, officials from the two countries met in 1975. South Africa's defense minister, PW Botha, asked for the warheads and Shimon Peres, then Israel's defense minister and now its president, responded by offering them "in three sizes". The "three sizes" are believed to refer to conventional, chemical and nuclear weapons.

Sasha Polakow-Suransky, the author of “The Unspoken Alliance: Israel’s Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa,” uncovered the 1975 meeting minutes while reviewing some 7,000 pages of newly-declassified material relating to the two allies.

"Israel tested its own weapons and helped South Africa build highly advanced nuclear weapons delivery systems, long-range missiles, throughout the ’80s, at a secret South African testing range where hundreds of Israelis were employed," he said in an on-air interview with Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman.

“This lasted almost up until the transition to democracy in South Africa. As late as 1989, the two countries were still cooperating in this field.”

A spokeswoman for President Peres called the report baseless and said there were "never any negotiations" between the two countries. Former South African Foreign and Defense Minister P. W. 'Pik' Botha also rejected suggestions of a nuclear weapons pact.

The documents released in South Africa were declassified over Israeli objections, said Polakow-Suransky. "The South Africans didn't seem to care,” he said, adding: “they blacked out a few lines and handed it over to me. The ANC government is not so worried about protecting the dirty laundry of the apartheid regime's old allies."

Celebrities Ripped in New Book on Sudan’s War

A new book says Mia Farrow, George Clooney and other Hollywood celebrities may have done more to prolong the suffering of Darfur than resolve the crisis in Sudan's war-torn region.

The problem is not the publicity they bring, but their agenda, says Rob Crilly, author of Saving Darfur, Everyone's Favourite African War.

"My concern is when they get too involved in proposing solutions and they become too wedded to one way of doing things,” said Crilly, now on a book tour.

He blames the Save Darfur Coalition in part for the failure of the 2006 Darfur peace agreement, which only one of the many rebel factions signed up to.

"If you understand it as a black and white war between rebels and the government then all these other players are left out of the negotiations and you can't really have peace in Darfur."

"I think [it] is wonderful that people want to have concerts to raise awareness, raise money - but I think they shouldn't get too bogged down in policy prescriptions because they can run into trouble."

The book has been praised by actress Farrow. 'While I disagree with much of Mr. Crilly's analysis, he provides us with a solid journalistic account of his first-hand experiences in Darfur.'

A British/Irish freelance journalist, Crilly spent four years reporting on Sudan and traveled extensively through the region. Published by Reportage Press in the UK.

Title: South African Art Now
Author: Sue Williamson
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 320
Price: $65.00

In this inspiring compilation of South African artwork, Sue Williamson does indeed bring it all closer. South African Art Now unveils the passion, struggle, and artistic cultural emergence of South Africa over the past four decades. Through in-depth essays and stunning photographs, South African Art Now documents the compelling work of nearly 100 South African artists working in every medium from painting, sculpture, traditional craft making, and video to cutting-edge performance art.

Beginning with the dark years of apartheid, which saw the rise of resistant art, to the long-awaited achievement of democracy and freedom in 1994, and up to the present-day struggles for reconciliation, South African Art Now showcases more than 500 full-color works from some of the art world's most well-known names, including Marlene Dumas, William Kentridge, and Gerald Sekoto, as well as up-and-coming art stars, such as Robin Rhode, Nicholas Hlobo, and Mustafa Maluka.

Nobel laureate and South Africa-based Nadine Gordimer contributes a moving foreword, and leading art critics, including Okwui Enwezor and RoseLee Goldberg, offer insightful essays that place the works included into a truly international context.

Author Sue Williamson is herself recognized as one of South Africa's leading artists, and she has artwork in the collections of internationally acclaimed museums including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the National Museum of African Art in Washington D.C. A vehement activist during the apartheid era - an experience that informs her writing today - she is founding editor of www.artthrob.ca.za, and she is considered one of South Africa's most influential art critics and editors.

South African art is quickly emerging as an exciting, dynamic scene that is receiving the attention of international museums, auctions, art fairs, and collectors and curators alike. Beautifully designed and a stimulating read, South African Art Now is perfect for anyone interested in the pulse of the contemporary art world.

Title:  LIFELINES - The Black Book of Proverbs
Author:Askhari Johnson Hodari & Yvonne McCalla Sobers
Publisher:Random House
Pages:256
Price: $19:99

Inspired by the biblical Book of Proverbs,this is a wondrously illustrated collection of aphorisms, witticisms, and sayings from Africa and the African Diaspora that will entrance, entertain, and enlighten readers of all ages.

Authors Askhari and Yvonne share a passion for proverbs. Short snappy sayings surround their lives. During their upbringings, they both learned, "proverbs are daughters of experience" (Sierra Leone). Thus, Lifelines draws inspiration from the authors' experience and proverb gathering during their wide travels and particularly in their home communities on different sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Readers experiencing new births, weddings, career changes, death and other rites of passage will find truth in the saying, "When the occasion arises, there is a proverb to suit it"(Rwanda).

Indeed, Lifelines offers wisdom for every stage of our lives. Here are some samples from this unique offering: Birth and Parenting: "When a yam does not grow well, do not blame the yam; it is the soil." (Ghana); Marriage: "Getting married is nothing: it is assuming the responsibility of marriage that counts." (Haiti); Money Problems: "The poor person does not experience poverty all the time." (Ghana) Peace and War: "To engage in conflict, one does not bring a knife that cuts but a needle that sews." (Kiswahili).

Unlike other proverb collections, Lifelines is uniquely arranged by life cycle themes from birth to death and speaks to the tragedy and triumph in between. Intuitive illustrations introduce each section along with unforgettable vignettes showing how African proverbs comfort, inspire, and instruct during different phases of life.

Lifelines is a gift for the young and the old, mothers, fathers, daughters and sons especially as we rapidly approach the family holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukkah and New Year. Its wide reach - from Nairobi to New Orleans and from birth to death - coupled with its small trim size make it the perfect companion for a christening or a baptism; a wedding or an anniversary party; the joyous celebration of birthdays or the quiet sadness of funerals.

Lifelines sharpens understanding of how traditions, civilization, and spirit survive and thrive, despite centuries of loss of freedom, family, identity, language, land, and wealth. No wonder, no less a personality like Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu penned the foreword.