EDITOR: The hysteria is building up in order to derail the social protest in Israel
A week of great developments: The UN report on the attack on the Mavi Marmara – a whitewash id ever there was one – the Turkish government demoting Israeli links to an insignificant level altogether, the ‘Million March’ of the protest movement has produced 450,000 demonstrators against the excesses of Netanyahu’s regime – all in all, not a boring weekend…
In the meantime, Netanyahu and his henchmen try to ratchet up the hysteria for the 20th of September, when the Generall assembly is due to vote on the recognition of Palestine. In preparation, the IDF is arming the settlers to the teeth and training them all like never before. To what extent are these people civilians? To what extent can they be resisted without arms? September can be a dramatic turning point – I believe that the settlers and many Israeli politicians are preparing Nakba 2.0 – a mass expulsion of Palestinians from areas they wish empty – the Jerusalem area is an obvious candidate for this – and using the regional uncertainties and divisions in the Arab world, they plan to use Palestinian mass demonstrations as an excuse for deportations.
Can I prove it? Is a proof necessary, really? To assume the worst is the safest mechanism of survival where Israel is concerned. It is floating in the air, in the Israeli public sphere of hysteria, racism and xenophobia which rules Israel now. It also is the result of a realisation that they need to do something about borders with Palestine, and ‘facts on the ground’ was always their popular choice, from ‘dunam after dunam’ to the apartheid wall. September is unsettling them exactly because of the assumptions about borders which lurk behind it.
Now, you could argue that this is one reason for the Palestinians not to use arms, so as not to give the IDF and the settlers ‘an excuse’. I do not find this argument persuasive – the IDF and the settlers will choose their excuse by themselves, and will not depend on Palestinian actions, obviously. They are most likely to produce the excuse themselves, anyway.
To deny this reality seems to me to abandon Palestine to another Nakba. I feel that only by the careful and well judged use of resistance tactics, can a second Nakba be avoided. Palestinians cannot and should not be left to the mercy of the IDF and the settlers, as the international ‘community’ will do exactly nothing at the the point which will be decisive. We unfortunately cannot rely on them for saving Palestine from another disaster.
While Israel was never more successful financially, it has built itself into a disastrous corner – on the September vote, it will find itself with few friends, indeed. Losing Turkey as an ally is also a heavy blow, and now it has its own citizens against this bizarre governemnt as well – no a success story. Of course, this is the most dangerous time, when they feel threatened they may well go for desparate moves; all this makes the next month intoa very dangerous time in the Middle East.
On top of all this, the news that that famous war-monger, Tony Blair, is planning meetings with leaders in the region, is probably a sign of the times, and of how desperate they have become… Sounds like Netanyahu is using his last card to stop the UN debate!
Report: Turkey seeking strategic alliance with Egypt: Haaretz
Erdogan to visit Egypt on September 12 to discuss strengthening military and diplomatic ties; move comes as Israel-Turkey diplomatic crisis deepens.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyep Erdogan is set to visit Egypt next week in order to discuss a strategic cooperation agreement between the two countries, the Egyptian daily Al-Shorouq reported on Sunday.
Erdogan is scheduled to meet with the Egyptian prime minister and the head of the Egyptian military council on September 12 to discuss increased diplomatic and military cooperation, and overall improvement of ties between Turkey and Egypt.
The two are due to sign a strategic cooperation agreement concerning military, diplomatic, and economic issues.
The moves comes as the crisis in Israel-Turkey relations deepened after the UN-commissioned report on the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid was leaked to the New York Times, foiling a last-ditch effort to patch up relations between the two countries.
Meanwhile, following the expulsion of the Israeli envoy from Turkey, Egyptians called on their government to follow in Turkey’s footsteps, Al Jazeera reported on Sunday, and expel the Israeli envoy in Cairo, as well as alter the Camp David Accords to allow more Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula.
On Friday morning, Turkey announced a series of measures against Israel, beginning with the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and the downgrading of bilateral relations to the level of second secretary.
Another step announced by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu could lead to a military confrontation with Israel. “Turkey would take every precaution it deems necessary for the safety of maritime navigation in the eastern Mediterranean,” Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News quoted him as saying Friday. The paper reported that Turkey’s navy would escort civilian vessels carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and would guarantee free navigation in the zone between Israel and Cyprus.
Over the weekend senior Turkish officials claimed that Israeli government figures engineered the leak as part of what they termed an Israeli disinformation campaign being waged in connection to the UN report. The Turkish sources believe that Israeli cabinet members who oppose issuing an apology to Turkey, such as Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon, or even officials in the Prime Minister’s Bureau, leaked the report to the Times in order to prevent any additional postponement of its publication.
IsraMachina Animation: YouTube
A delightful animation film by Michael Roznov, from Sapir College in Israel
Tony Blair to meet Palestinian and Israeli leaders in peace push: Guardian
Tony Blair to seek path back to peace talks in effort to avert collision over Palestinian bid to win UN recognition of statehood
Tony Blair has been the Middle East quartet’s special envoy for four years. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters
Tony Blair is expected to meet Palestinian and Israeli leaders this week in an attempt to find a path back to peace negotiations and avert a potential diplomatic collision over a Palestinian bid to win UN recognition of their statehood.
The former British prime minister has reportedly been entrusted with the task of finding a formula to restart talks that would be acceptable to the members of the Middle East quartet – the US, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations – as well as to both sides in the conflict.
Blair met Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, last week and has further meetings scheduled for this week.
The US is accelerating efforts to forestall the Palestinians’ bid to win recognition of their state, according to a report in the New York Times. Barack Obama is anxious to avoid a situation where the US has to veto such an attempt, thus risking the anger of the Arab world. The US has made it clear it will wield its veto if the issue comes to a vote at the security council.
Blair is said to be pushing for a consensus around the key issues of borders and acknowledging Israel as a “Jewish state”. However, Israeli officials are unhappy with Obama’s speech in May in which he spoke of a Palestinian state “based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed land swaps”, saying this should not be the starting point of talks.
The Palestinians reject formally acknowledging Israel as a Jewish state as it disregards the 20% of the population that is Palestinian and undermines the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees.
Both sides have little confidence in the other’s expressed willingness to return to negotiations. There are also difference of opinion within the quartet that may prove difficult to bridge.
Blair has a long track record of negotiating between the Israelis and Palestinians built up over four years as the quartet’s special envoy. According to Daniel Kurtzer, former US ambassador to Israel, the US administration needed a high-profile political figure to push the parties towards negotiations.
“There is a bit of outsourcing going on to someone like Tony Blair just to see if he can make something work,” he told Reuters. “If he can, the administration will glom on to it and if he can’t the administration has not soiled its nest.”
World will likely support Turkey’s moves against Israel: Haaretz
Supporting legal actions against Israel by families of the raid victims in Turkish and international courts, and appealing to International Court of Justice against the blockade of Gaza could have far-reaching effects.
By Zvi Bar’el
The expulsion of Israel’s ambassador from Ankara and downgrading of diplomatic ties to the level of second secretary could turn out to be the lightest of the sanctions Turkey intends to impose on Israel. Supporting legal actions against Israel by families of the victims of the 2010 naval commando raid of the Mavi Marmara, in both Turkish and international courts, and appealing to the International Court of Justice against the blockade of the Gaza Strip could prove to be much more powerful. The former could affect the foreign travel plans of Israeli officers and decision makers, while the latter would move the Gaza issue from the local arena, where Israel maintains a relative advantage, to the international stage, which has not as yet interfered in Israeli policy vis-a-vis Gaza.
Turkey is judged likely to gain international support for its actions against Israel, in light of its climb in status in the global community in recent weeks. Contributing to Ankara’s rising star are its harsh criticism of the Assad regime in Syria, despite heavy pressure from Iran; its cooperation with Libya’s provisional government, and its support of the revolution in Egypt. Turkey’s consent to the deployment of early warning radar, part of a NATO missile-defense system whose undeclared purpose is to protect Europe from Iranian missiles, is particularly important in this regard. The decision signals Turkish commitment to its alliance with NATO in general and to the United States in particular, deflecting the “accusation” that Ankara is turning away from the West and toward the East – that is, toward Tehran. It is Israel that may have to pay a price for Turkey’s growing ties with the West and Ankara’s decision to refuse Russia’s entreaties to reject the radar deployment on its territory.
But Turkey’s demand that Israel apologize, compensate the victims and lift the Gaza blockade is rooted primarily in Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s obligation to his electorate. It has become a common, uniting, national denominator, an integral part of Turkey’s national prestige and its domestic policy.
The concept of national prestige has also trapped Israel, which on at least two occasions rejected a skillfully crafted apology to Turkey due to the objections of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon.
Turkey is not an enemy state. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu emphasized that Ankara’s actions are a result of the policies of the Netanyahu government and are not intended to hurt the Israeli or Jewish people. He called on the Israeli government to amend its mistakes, which he said were not constructive to the remarkable friendship between Turkey and the Jewish people.
Davutoglu’s remarks in effect are a declaration that Turkey sees the sanctions as a means of changing Israeli policy rather than as a policy or strategy in themselves. They place all the options for action in Israeli hands and emphasize Turkey’s desire to maintain relations with Israel despite the enormous disagreement between the states.
Egyptians yesterday celebrated the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Turkey. In a headline, Al-Masry Al-Youm termed the action a “lesson that Turkey taught Egypt” – an allusion to what Cairo should have done in the wake of last month’s attack near Eilat. To keep relations with Egypt from deteriorating further, Jerusalem must put aside its “national prestige” and apologize for killing five Egyptian soldiers while responding to the terror attack near the Egyptian border.
Israeli protests: 430,000 take to streetsto demand social justice: Guardian
Up to 300,000 take part in Tel Aviv, 50,000 in Jerusalem and 40,000 in Haifa in Israel’s biggest ever demonstration
Harriet Sherwood in Tel Aviv
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Saturday night in Israel’s biggest ever demonstration to demand social justice, a lower cost of living and a clear government response to the concerns of an increasingly squeezed middle class.
About 430,000 people took part in marches and rallies across the country, according to police. The biggest march was in Tel Aviv, where up to 300,000 took part. There was an unprecedented 50,000-strong protest in Jerusalem, and 40,000 marched in Haifa. There were smaller protests in dozens of other towns and cities.
It had been billed as the “march of the million” but organisers said a turnout matching the 300,000-strong demonstrations four weeks ago would be a triumph. Israel’s population is 7.7 million.
Saturday’s demonstrations followed 50 days of protests that have rattled political leaders and led commentators and analysts to ask whether a new social movement would transform Israeli domestic politics for the next generation.
The movement, which has the support of about 90% of the population according to opinion polls, began when a small group of activists erected tents in Tel Aviv’s prosperous Rothschild Boulevard in protest at high rents and house prices.
Tent cities mushroomed across the country and protesters rallied behind the slogan: “The people demand social justice.” Among the issues raised were the cost of housing, transport, childcare, food and fuel; the low salaries paid to many professionals, including doctors and teachers; tax reform; and welfare payments. The government established a committee led by the economics professor Manuel Trajtenberg to examine the protesters’ demands, which is due to report later this month.
Demonstrators in Tel Aviv on Saturday night blew whistles and banged drums as they marched in a carnival atmosphere to a large square for a rally. Residents hung banners from balconies and cheered as they passed.
“We are the new Israelis,” the student leader Itzik Shmuli told the rally. “And the new Israelis want only one simple thing: to live with dignity in this country.”
He added: “Tonight we make history again. The people are supporting a protest started by the young people and, a week after the protest was proclaimed over, we are on the verge of breaking another record. From now on the government knows that at any given moment Israelis can return to the streets and must therefore deliver the goods.”
Daphni Leef, one of the organisers of the original tent protest, said: “This summer is the great summer of the new Israeli hope born of despair, alienation and impossible gaps … The Israeli society has reached its red line, and has gotten up and said: ‘No more.’ This is the miracle of the summer of 2011.”
Under a homemade banner saying “Walk like an Egyptian”, Ruti Hertz, 34, a journalist, said that until this summer people had been privately ashamed of their inability to make ends meet. “Each person was lonely in their situation, thinking it’s my own problem.” That had changed with the protests.
She said that she and her teacher husband, Roi, were living on the same income as when they met 10 years ago. “We don’t ask for much, just to be able to finish the month without taking from our parents.”
Roi’s monthly take-home pay of 5,500 shekels (£940) went on nursery fees for their two young daughters, she said.
Vered Cohen Nitsan, a primary school teacher from Netanya, said she had joined the march “to protest, to support the people of my country and [because] I wish my children will have an easier life in the future”.
She added: “For years, you think you just have to work harder and struggle. And now people start to talk to one another and you see it’s not your personal problem.”
At a rally in Haifa, Shahin Nasser, an Israeli-Arab, said: “Today we are changing the rules of the game. No more coexistence based on hummus and fava beans. What is happening here is true coexistence, when Arabs and Jews march together shoulder to shoulder calling for social justice and peace. We’ve had it.”
The protests have been criticised by some on the left for not paying more attention to the discrimination suffered by Israeli-Arabs, who make up 20% of Israel’s population, or Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Weekly demonstrations, whose turnout had been steadily building, were suspended for two weeks after an attack by militants near the Egyptian-Israeli border in which eight Israelis were killed. Some commentators suggested that the movement had lost its momentum.
Protest organisers said the tent cities would be dismantled but the movement would continue with other actions. Many tent-dwellers had already left as the Israeli summer holidays ended.