EDITOR: The Backlash against Israel
During the long year since the murderous attack on Gaza, many cracks have shown in the broad support for Israel, all around the globe. What was considered quite normal, like twinning with Israeli towns and cities, has come under much liberal examination, with millions of people now being careful to no longer offer Israel such unthinking and uncritical support. The sea change is about, and likely to spread and grow.
Irish town criticised for snubbing Israeli ambassador: BBC
The council said Zion Evrony’s visit was organised without their approval
Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin has criticised an Irish town council’s decision to remove a page signed by the Israeli ambassador from its guestbook.
Carrickmacross representatives voted to remove Zion Evrony’s signature in protest at Israel’s diplomatic record.
Mr Martin said diplomatic representatives should always be treated with respect.
But a local councillor defended the town’s decision, saying he hoped it would send a serious message to Israel.
“I think if a government is responsible for a wholesale disregard for international law then local authorities, as well as our own government, have a responsibility to tell them we expect a higher standard,” Matt Carthy said.
He added that although Carrickmacross is a welcoming town, “it was important that we took a stand”.
Civility
The council’s move follows reports that Irish passports were used by those allegedly behind the Dubai killing of Palestinian militant Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in January.
Dubai’s police chief says he is convinced of the involvement of Israeli agents in al-Mabhouh’s death, but Israel says there is no proof.
Mr Martin said that while he understands and shares the “deep concerns” of many in Ireland about Israel’s policies on a number of issues, the action violated a basic tenet of relations between states.
“It is a basic principle of relations between states that we treat each other’s diplomatic representatives with civility and respect, regardless of any policy differences,” he said.
Mr Martin said he has raised concerns about the passport controversy during a meeting with Israel’s foreign minister last week.
He added: “Ambassadors represent not just their governments, but their peoples”.
“The way that foreign ambassadors are welcomed and received in Ireland says something about us as a people.”
EDITOR: Jews are sought! Prizes for finders!
With the founts of immigration in the west drying up, and with North American Jews showing no signs of moving en masse to the promised land, Israel is looking for Jews of any kind just about anywhere this side of the Milky Way. Afghanistan, Mexico, Africa – all have been scoured for groups which can be declared Jewish. In the numbers demographic war which Israel is fighting with Palestinians, it is crucial to remain a majority in Palestine, so any Jews are good Jews for settlements, proper gun fodder for the escalating conflict. This is a BBC ‘good news’ story, of saving Jews from India, and liberating them in Hebron, the very heart of the settlement movement.
Jerusalem Diary: Found tribe: BBC
THE TRIBE NO LONGER LOST
There are some East Asian faces to be seen around Israel. Up in the fields of the far north, by the Lebanese border, or the groves of the far south, en route to Eilat, Thai farm workers rattle past on tractors.
In the big cities, Filipina women offer care to elderly Israelis.
But until I had been to Kiryat Arba, deep inside the occupied West Bank, I had not seen East Asians the other side of the Green Line – the internationally recognised boundary between Israel and the West Bank.
Kiryat Arba is a slightly down-at-heel place these days. It lies next to Hebron, the tense and divided city that exerts a strong historical pull for Muslims and Jews.
The story that we tend to report is the hotly-contested dispute as to whether Jews should be allowed to settle here at all – on what all governments outside Israel regard as occupied territory.
But there is another remarkable and little-told story at play here: the story of Indians from a remote part of that vast country, who have come to this place, believing that they are one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel.
On the side of a plain, pre-fabricated building in Kiryat Arba is a plaque, proclaiming that this is a community centre for “our Bnei Menashe brethren”. The brown-skinned, almond-eyed children playing inside have travelled thousands of kilometres from north-east India.
Rabbi Yehuda Gin stabs his forefinger at a map of the region, sandwiched between Burma and Bangladesh. The story of the “children of Menashe” is that they were exiled from Israel, 2700 years ago, by the Assyrians. Their wandering took them, in the end, to north-east India.
“In the external appearance,” Rabbi Gin says, “it is very hard to prove that we are part of the Israel nation, or part of the tribes.” But he insists that the kipot (skullcaps) which most of the Bnei Menashe men wear symbolise their commitment. “We – having been lost – still adhere to our love for the land of Israel: this is a very, very strong part of the identity of the Bnei Menashe.”
The community centre is named Beit Miriam, after the grandmother of Michael Freund. He set up an organisation, called Shavei Yisrael (Israel Returns), to gather in the communities which he believes are the lost tribes.
“I myself was sceptical,” he concedes. “But once I travelled to the north-east of India and I met with the members of the community and I learned more about their history and their tradition and their customs, I became convinced that they are in fact descendants of a lost tribe – that they do have a deep connection to the people of Israel.”
In a quiet room away from the hectic games of the Bnei Menashe children, Tsvi Khaute takes a prayer-book down from a shelf. He opens to a page from the Shabbat morning service, and the traditional Ayn Keiloheinu prayer, which is sung by Jewish communities around the world. The Hebrew words are the same, but the tune he sings has a distinctly pentatonic, East Asian flavour.
Kiryat Arba is at the edge of Hebron, a regular flashpoint between Palestinians and Jewish settlers
The faith, then, appears to have deep religious roots. But that still leaves the possibility that the Bnei Menashe may have wanted to come to Israel for economic reasons – to improve their standard of living.
Tsvi Khaute insists not. His family, he says, includes a state minister and the head of the secret police.
“We are a well-to-do family. So it is not an economic consideration. If you live outside Israel,” he says, his voice becoming impassioned, “it’s as if you don’t have God.”
Tzvi Khaute is equally certain about his right to live here, on what governments outside Israel regard as an illegal settlement on occupied territory. “Those who claim that Hebron is not Jewish, they don’t know their identity. This is a very, very important place where the Jews belong.”
There is another, more prosaic reason that the Bnei Menashe ended up in Kiryat Arba. Fifteen years ago, it was one of the only Israeli-run councils willing to accept these unusual-looking immigrants.
The international consensus is that Jews should not be settling in Kiryat Arba at all – that it should be part of a new Palestinian state. And if that were ever to happen then the Bnei Menashe’s remarkable story of wandering may well take another turn.
Senior Hamas leader disowns son who spied for Israel: Haaretz
A senior Hamas leader publicly disowned his son Monday, days
after Haaretz revealed that the young man had secretly spied for Israel and helped authorities hunt down members of the Islamic militant group.
Hamas Web sites published a letter Monday by Sheikh Hassan that the militant group said was smuggled out of the Israeli prison where he is serving a six-year sentence.
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In the letter, he said his family announced its “complete renunciation of the one who was once our eldest son, who is called Mosab.” The father said though he was sorry to take such, he had no choice after his son “disbelieved in God…and collaborated with our enemies.”
Mosab Hassan Yousef , who famously converted to Christianity, served for over a decade as the Shin Bet security service’s most valuable source in the militant organization’s leadership, Haaretz reported Wednesday.
The intelligence he supplied Israel led to the exposure of a number of terrorist cells, and to the prevention of dozens of suicide bombings and assassination attempts on Israeli figures.
Yousef was considered the Shin Bet’s most reliable source in the Hamas leadership, earning himself the nickname “the Green Prince” – using the color of the Islamist group’s flag, and “prince” because of his pedigree as the son of one of the movement’s founders.
During the second intifada, intelligence Yousef supplied led to the arrests of a number of high-ranking Palestinian figures responsible for planning deadly suicide bombings. These included Ibrahim Hamid (a Hamas military commander in the West Bank, Marwan Barghouti (founder of the Fatah-linked Tanzim militia) and Abdullah Barghouti (a Hamas bomb-maker with no close relation to the Fatah figure). Yousef was also responsible for thwarting Israel’s plan to assassinate his father.
“I wish I were in Gaza now,” Yousef said by phone from California, “I would put on an army uniform and join Israel’s special forces in order to liberate Gilad Shalit. If I were there, I could help. We wasted so many years with investigations and arrests to capture the very terrorists that they now want to release in return for Shalit. That must not be done.”
The story of Yousef’s spiritual transformation appeared in Haaretz Magazine in August 2008. Only now, however, is Yousef exposing the secret he kept since 1996, when he was first held by Shin Bet agents seeking to enlist him in infiltrating the upper echelon of Hamas.
Their efforts proved successful, and Yousef was released from prison in 1997. His former handler, who no longer serves with the security service, says Yousef collaborated with Israel because he wanted to save lives.
“So many people owe him their life and don’t even know it,” said the handler, named in Yousef’s book as Captain Loai. “People who did a lot less were awarded the Israel Security Prize. He certainly deserves it.”
Loai makes no secret of his admiration for his former source. “The amazing thing is that none of his actions were done for money,” he says. “He did things he believed in. He wanted to save lives. His grasp of intelligence matters was just as good as ours – the ideas, the insights. One insight of his was worth 1,000 hours of thought by top experts.”
Loai recalled one time when the Shin Bet received information that a suicide bomber was going to be picked up at Manara Square in Ramallah and be given an explosives belt.
“We didn’t know his name or what he looked like – only that he was in his 20s and would be wearing a red shirt,” he said. “We sent the Green Prince to the square and with his acute sense, he located the target within minutes. He saw who picked him up, followed the car and made it possible for us to arrest the suicide bomber and the man who was supposed to give him the belt. So another attack was thwarted, though no one knows about it. No one opens Champagne bottles or bursts into song and dance. This was an almost daily thing for the Prince. He displayed courage, had sharp antennae and an ability to cope with danger. We knew he was one of those who in any situation – rain, snow, summer – give their all.”
With his memoir, Yousef hopes to send a message of peace to Israelis. Still, he admits he is pessimistic over the prospect of Israel signing a peace agreement with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, let alone Hamas.
“Hamas cannot make peace with the Israelis. That is against what their God tells them. It is impossible to make peace with infidels, only a cease-fire, and no one knows that better than I. The Hamas leadership is responsible for the killing of Palestinians, not Israelis,” he said. “Palestinians! They do not hesitate to massacre people in a mosque or to throw people from the 15th or 17th floor of a building, as they did during the coup in Gaza. The Israelis would never do such things. I tell you with certainty that the Israelis care about the Palestinians far more than the Hamas or Fatah leadership does.”
‘U.S. seeks to restrain any Israeli plan to attack Iran’: Haaretz
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will address the Israeli public directly next week during a speech he is scheduled to deliver at Tel Aviv University, focusing on American commitment to Israel’s security, Iran’s nuclear program and the peace process.
Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Monday in Jerusalem that Biden is seeking to ensure that Israel and the United States are in alignment on the issue of preventing the Iranian nuclear threat.
Kerry, who is privy to the details of efforts to impose sanctions on Iran, hinted Monday at a press conference in Jerusalem after a meeting with the prime minister that Biden’s visit to Israel, and that of other senior administration officials, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Michael Mullen, aims at restraining Israel against the possibility of unilaterally attacking Iran.
To date the U.S. administration has not made a serious effort to reach out to the Israeli public, unlike addresses by President Barack Obama aimed at the Arab and Muslim world. Obama will continue to convey his message, which began during speeches in Turkey and Egypt, with another during an official visit to Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country.
Obama has also not yet visited Israel as U.S. president.
Biden is due in Israel on March 8, for a three-day visit that will also include the Palestinian Authority.
An Israeli political source has told Haaretz that Biden would like “to make a speech that is important and significant for Israeli-American relations.”
The political portion of his visit will likely concentrate on the Iranian nuclear question, with Biden stressing before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. expects Israel to assist in the effort to foil, using diplomatic means, Iran’s nuclear ambitions through the imposition of effective sanctions at the UN Security Council, thus avoiding unilateral steps that may include an attack on Iran’s nuclear installations.
In response to a question on whether the U.S. is concerned about the possibility of such Israeli action, Senator Kerry said Monday that “the prime minister is more than aware through his conversations with the Secretary of State and the President himself, as well as just through his own common sense – I think he is very tuned in to not being rash or jumping the gun here or doing something that doesn’t give those other opportunities a chance.”
Kerry explained that one of the reasons for the sort of dialogue that has been taking place with the visits of U.S. officials and “one of the reasons that I am here and other people were here and VP Biden is coming shortly – is to make sure we are all on the same page and that we are all clear about what time frames may exist or what threat levels may be real or unreal and what options may be on the table for us. I think we are on the same page and I found the prime minister tremendously supportive of the initiatives that we are taking right now, and other countries are taking, and very hopeful that they can have an impact.”
EDITOR: deconstructing the myth about Israeli justice
In the ‘only democracy in the Middle East’, the argument about independent judiciary is often presented as a sign of Israel’s deep democratic traditions. This myth has continuously covered up the systemic collusion by the judiciary in the process of settling the Palestinian occupied territories illegally, ever since 1948, rather than just after 1967. The following three articles are examples of the ‘legal’ actions, especially through the Supreme Court, in aiding the illegalities under the cover of the law.
Supreme Court abetting, not curbing, illegal settlements: Haaretz
By Akiva Eldar,
Next week will be five years since the publication of the report on the outposts by former top prosecutor attorney Talia Sasson at the request of prime minister Ariel Sharon.
That report was released in the wake of the government’s decision to adopt the road map for peace, according to which it undertook to “immediately dismantle” all the illegal outposts established after March of 2001.
The document listed 24 such outposts and noted that the vast majority of them are located, at least in part, on private Palestinian land.
The current uproar from the construction freeze in the settlements has moved whatever remaining interest there is in the outposts scandal, both in Israel and abroad, off the agenda. Has anyone heard recently about a plan to evacuate Migron? Now there is no time for nonsense. The inspectors are busy handing out freeze orders.
Under the cover of the partial and temporary freeze, the outposts are putting down deeper roots. Some of them, such as Givat Habreikha, are operating right under the Supreme Court’s nose. The outposts report determined there was no decision by the government or the defense minister to establish the outpost, which is located northwest of Ramallah, east of the separation fence.
It is not contiguous to the nearest Jewish settlement, Talmon Aleph, and it is built in part on private Palestinian land. This has not impeded the Housing Ministry from allocating the outpost NIS 1,385,000.
At the time the Sasson report was published, there were 30 housing units at the site. Today, according to photographed documentation by Yesh Din Volunteers for Human Rights and Bimkom Planners for Planning Rights, there are already 72 units there, and still counting. Very much so.
In April of last year the Civil Administration published an announcement concerning the deposit of a detailed plan to change the land-use designation for Givat Habreikha in Talmon from agricultural zone to residential neighborhood of 300 housing units. The plan covers about 860 dunams of agricultural land belonging to the Palestinian village of al Jania.
Bimkom has filed an objection to the plan on its behalf and on behalf of the head of the village council and three inhabitants who own land adjacent to the area of the plan.
They say that expanding the settlement will prevent them from reaching about 1,000 dunams of olive groves they own, to which the only access is by means of Route 4556. (In recent years they have been allowed to go to the groves twice a year, for about two weeks during the olive harvest and about one week during the planting season, in coordination with the Civil Administration and with Israel Defense Forces escorts).
During the deliberations on the objection the inhabitants of the village and the Bimkom people discovered, to their surprise, that a short time earlier the planning authorities at the Civil Administration had approved a smaller plan for the area on 33 dunams included in the overall plan. The small plan includes a segment of Route 4556, as well as a plot intended for a school, bordering the road. In the absence of objectors, the school plan had been validators.
While Jordanian planning law obligates publication of building plans in two local newspapers, the information about this was published in two newspapers in Hebrew and in the Nazareth-based Arabic-language Israeli weekly Kul al Arab, which has limited distribution in the West Bank. In violation of military law, the announcement was not displayed in the home of the village head.
In mid-October of 2009, Judge Yoram Danziger of the High Court of Justice issued an interim order prohibiting any construction work in the area of the school plan, in response to a petition filed by attorney Michael Sfard on behalf of the inhabitants of al Jania. The justice also ordered the state to respond to the additional requests for a restraining order.
At the end of December Sfard, on behalf of the villagers, Bimkom and Yesh Din, filed a petition against approving the plan to build 300 units. The petition stressed that the settlements are saturated with outposts and that approving the plan would constitute legitimization for offenders.
The prosecution informed the High Court of Justice that it had no objection to the issuance of an interim order prohibiting construction in the area of the plan. Its representatives explained that in any case a general freeze applied to the area.
Here another surprise awaited the petitioners. Supreme Court Justice Neal Hendel rejected the request for an interim order and refused to issue an order prohibiting construction in the area of the plan. He contented himself with passing the case along to a bench of three justices, without setting a date for the deliberations.
This was enough for the settlers. On January 28 Bimkom people documented construction work for the building of 13 new housing units at Givat Habreikha. Haaretz obtained the photos. The petitioners therefore went back to Justice Hendel and asked him to reconsider his decision. Without asking for the state’s response, Hendel rejected the request without giving any reasoning.
In the meantime work began to lay groundwork for the school, in blatant violation of Danziger’s order.
Night digging
Hiding among the materials the Binyamin Council submitted to the High Court of Justice in the process of the deliberations on the petitions against the new plans for the expansion of Talmon is a remarkable document. Apparently the settlers did not notice that above the Civil Administration announcement of the granting of validity to the plan for the neighborhood published in the Talmon information bulletin, under the heading “From the Secretariat” the following lines were published: “Possible excavation work at night: Because of the diplomatic developments, we are making every effort to advance possible construction before ‘the decrees come to bear.’ In light of the above, we are preparing to carry out to carry out excavation work during the coming nights as well and we ask your understanding and forbearance, especially with respect to the inhabitants of Neveh Talmon (Givat Habreikha) and especially the families living adjacent to the works.”
The bulletin with the apology for the works is dated November 26, 2009 – the day the freeze went into effect.
Jerusalem mayor to retroactively legalize East Jerusalem buildings: Haaretz
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat is to hold a press conference Tuesday in which he will unveil his plan for solving some of the capital’s thorniest construction issues, in Silwan in East Jerusalem.
Barkat is expected to announce that he wants to pursue a plan that will retroactively legalize housing, including Beit Yonatan, owned by settlers. State Prosecutor Moshe Lador has instructed that Beit Yonatan be sealed in compliance with a court order.
According to the plan, most of which was reported in the New York Times a few days ago, Barkat wants to reach an agreement with the residents of 89 illegal buildings slated for demolition in the Palestinian area known as Al Bustan or Gan Hamelech.
About a year ago Barkat became embroiled in a high-profile conflict with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over his intention to demolish the homes. Barkat is now offering permits to some residents to legalize their buildings. Others will be demolished and replaced with a tourist park. The Palestinians whose houses are demolished will be able to operate tourist-related businesses in the park.
Barkat has been attacked on the left because it is believed that this will allow him to avoid sealing Beit Yonatan. Meanwhile, not far from Gan Hamelech a large pit opened near one of Silwan’s mosques. According to the Palestinians and the leftist organizations that support them, the pit, the fifth to open over the past two months, is due to archaeological excavations underway by the Elad association and the Israel Antiquities Authority. The excavations have uncovered a street from the Second Temple period.
About two months ago Supreme Court Justice Edna Arbel rejected a petition by Palestinian residents of Silwan against the dig, saying that there was no proof it was responsible for the pits and cracks in homes.
Rabbi Arik Asherman, CEO of Rabbis for Human Rights, said: “Despite the High Court ruling that the excavations and the cracks and pits are unconnected, we saw today more proof of the very direct connection.”
Elad said they had not heard about the pit; however, the Supreme Court had twice rejected Palestinian claims on the matter, the houses were “irregularly built and with problematic infrastructure,” and such things happen after heavy rain. “Funding of NIS 30 million to restore the road and infrastructure is being delayed by the human rights groups’ petition,” Elad said.
Silwan: ‘Residents won’t agree to Barkat plan’: Ynet
Burning issue of illegal construction in east Jerusalem neighborhood reaches boiling point. Mayor wants to raze 20 houses to build park, grant evacuated residents permits to build on roofs of existing houses on other side of neighborhood. Residents’ lawyer denies city’s claims that many have agreed to plan
The mayor of Jerusalem has high ambitions with regards to the sensitive matter of illegal Arab construction in the east of the city, but the residents have no intention of giving up their homes.
According to a plan slated to be presented by Mayor Nir Barkat on Tuesday, some 20 houses on the western side of the Silwan neighborhood are to be demolished, to make way for the construction of an archaeological park. In return, the evacuated residents are to receive permits to rebuild their homes up to four stories high on top of buildings on the eastern side of the neighborhood.
There are currently some 88 houses in the neighborhood that have been built without permits, and are at the center of a very sensitive controversy in the city, which has turned into a political issue. The municipality has indicated a number of times that these houses cannot remain in their current formula. As part of the plan, other houses will receive retroactive permits.
According to the new plan, the neighborhood will become more crowded, as a complex including shops and restaurants will be constructed in the al-Bustan area slated to be evacuated. Sources close to the mayor say the residents will live near the shops and will benefit financially from the new complex, both in daily life, and in the long term, as this would lead to a rise in real estate value.
Sources from the municipality said many have expressed consent to the proposed plan, but Attorney Ziad Kawar, who represents the residents, paints a different picture. “Yesterday I sent Barkat a letter and I made it clear that we are against this. There is not a single resident that agrees to the plan,” he told Ynet.
“These are 20 houses that house 40 families who will have to rebuild their homes elsewhere, at an estimated cost of some NIS 2 million (roughly $500,000) per family, and they cannot manage that. Barkat is asking the residents to ‘demolish and move, because I want to rebuild the ‘king’s garden’ with religious, political and historic symbols.’ This is a very sensitive site, very close to the Western Wall and al-Aqsa (mosque).”
‘We can barely afford a tent’
Fakhri abu-Dihab, a resident of al-Bustan, said negotiations are being held, but that the residents are not familiar with the details of the plan and have not agreed to what was offered to them. “We are almost the poorest neighborhood in Jerusalem. So what is he saying, go and rebuild at your own expense? We will barely be able to buy a tent after he razes (the houses).
“Besides,” he added, “who says the neighbors will agree to construction on top of their houses? We are open to the development of the area, but not at our expense. This is my home, with my memories and my children’s memories. We object to any demolition of houses.”
MK Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List – Ta’al) also expressed concern over the plan. “Barkat is acting like a pyromaniac who ignites fire and strife in east Jerusalem,” the MK said, “He must be stopped in time to prevent violence.”
The non-profit organization, Ir Amim, also warned of the danger at one of the most volatile locations in the conflict.
“There is no doubt that the planned chaos in east Jerusalem in general, and in the al-Bustan neighborhood in particular, is the result of years of neglect on the part of the Israeli authorities and needs to be addressed thoroughly and urgently by the Jerusalem municipality.
“Hopefully the Jerusalem municipality will act in accordance with the responsibility it bears for more than one third of the Palestinian residents of the city and will not use this new building policy as a cover for promoting a political agenda,” said the organization.
Deputy Jerusalem Mayor David Hadari (National Religious Party): “Jerusalem’s sovereignty is no merely to oppose Arabs, but to know how to let them live with us as well. Under certain circumstances, and if the details were as I would expect, I would be in favor.
“If we are speaking of such a building arrangement by which some of the houses are demolished, some are transferred to the other side of the neighborhood and the ‘King Garden’ is refurbished as a tourist and heritage site, this definitely has many advantages.”
In the past, when individual illegal structures were razed in Silwan, the issue even reached US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, who said the move was “not helpful”. Clinton has said the US administration was following up on the matter with the Israeli government and the Jerusalem Municipality.
Hass: Quietest Year for Israelis, Worst Year for Palestinians: The Only Democracy?
By Jesse Bacon.
Amira Hass quotes Palestinian Agriculture Minister Ismail Daiq as saying that “The year 2009 was the quietest for Israelis from the security point of view and the most violent for the Palestinians from the point of view of attacks by settlers in the West Bank.” This simple equation shows us that the Palestinians are not being punished for their own actions, rather for their simple existence.
Hass backs up Daiq’s quote with data from the Palestinian Monitoring Group for a single day.
That Wednesday, a total of 212 occupation-related incidents were recorded. Examples include: four physical assaults (which took place in the West Bank, and included civilians being beaten in Nablus and Jerusalem); one injury (a civilian hurt in a clash in Daan); eight military shooting attacks (two of which took place in Gaza, two were in the midst of raids, and one came from a military outpost; 39 army raids (one in Gaza); 28 arrests; and 12 detentions at checkpoints and in residential areas. The items on the checklist include home demolition (none that day), the leveling of agricultural land (one, in Gaza), and construction of the separation wall (at 22 locations).
The report also includes categories for property destruction (seven cases, including the destruction of wells and crops); checkpoint closure (eight cases at five checkpoints, including instances of impeded access); mobile (“flying”) checkpoints (23); permanent closure of village access roads (seven); closure of main roads (40, (including four in Bethlehem and 14 in Hebron, and the village of Jaba east of Ramallah); closure of main crossing points (four, including the permanent blockade of Gaza); disruptions at school (three cases, including the throwing of two tear gas canisters); violence on the part of settlers (one, in Sheikh Jarrah); demonstrations (one, in Hebron). The checklist also includes Palestinian attacks (none on that day).”
Hass identifies the things the report leaves out.
No statistics can express the emotional and social distress that accompanies every event and non-event, such as the incarceration of 1.5 million people inside the Gaza Strip or the fact that tens of thousands still have not been able to reconstruct homes that were damaged during the Israel Defense Forces offensive in the winter of 2008-2009.
The statistics do not include the practical difficulties that stem from this discrimination or the permanent insult it creates.”
Nor do these statistics include the discrimination of Palestinians inside Israel or the loss of freedom for all Israelis as their democracy contracts.
She goes on to cite similarly horrifying statistics about homes demolished and children detained on spurious charges or no charges at all. Her final paragraph is quite applicable to any US news article about the conflict.
Any news item we report that deals with Israeli rule over the Palestinians is misleading. It creates the impression that whatever has been reported is all that has happened on the Palestinian side and that otherwise everything is normal, or even flourishing. Any news item that is published in Israeli papers is a sign of what is missing, what no one wants to know.”
Here at The Only Democracy?, we want to know. And we also want to give you the stories of the people working to make sure there are no more such statistics.
Israeli rights group to The Pixies: Don’t perform in Israel: Haaretz
An Israeli human rights group is urging the American alternative rock band the Pixies to cancel their June 9 concert in Israel.
“As much as some of us are huge fans and would love to hear your show, we won’t cross the international picket line that is growing in numbers steadily nowadays to come and see you,” the group Boycott! wrote Monday.
The organization urges academics and artists to shun Israeli institutions in protest of the government’s policies in the West Bank. “The picket line might not always be visible; yet it is there.”
Last month, a group of British academics unsuccessfully called on singer Elton John to cancel his scheduled performance in Israel this June.
“Political or not political, when you stand up on that stage in Tel Aviv, you line yourself up with a racist state,” the British Committee for Universities of Palestine wrote in an open letter to John on Monday. “Do you want to give them the satisfaction? Please don’t go.”
In the letter, the group urged John to read the Goldstone Commission’s report on Israel’s conduct during the war in Gaza last year in order to understand why his performance carried an inherently political undertone.
Israel boycotters succeeded just weeks ago in convincing Santana to cancel his own performance. Similar attempts to get Leonard Cohen and Paul McCartney to stay away, however, failed
EDITOR: BBC linguistics tells a story
The following item is interesting. The BBC has chosen to term this new planned Palestinian community a ‘settlement’ as if Palestinians can be called settlers in their own land, as if they were colonisers, on par with Israel. This of course also normalises the use of the term – no longer is settlement a term for aggressive and illegal occupation, but one describing normal habitation of communities in their own country.
Building the first ‘Palestinian settlement’: BBC
Standing on the hills of Rawabi just north of Ramallah on the West Bank, at the moment there’s little more than a stunning view. On a clear day you can see as far as Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean.
But the bulldozers are here and building is now under way in what will be the biggest construction project in modern Palestinian history.
Rawabi, which actually means “hills” in Arabic, will be the first purpose-built Palestinian city.
The developers say it will eventually house more than 40,000 people, and will take more than five years to build.
It’s costing more than US$700m (£458m) most of which has been invested by the Qatari government.
Most major housing construction in the occupied West Bank tends to be building in Israeli settlements.
These are illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
From Rawabi itself you can see several Jewish settlements perched on the surrounding hills.
Some have called Rawabi the first “Palestinian settlement”.
Indeed when you look at the developer’s slick promotional video with computer-generated images of the eventual city, it does actually look very much like a classic Jewish settlement, with neat rows of white houses spiralling round a hilltop.
‘A dream’
Some Palestinians have criticised the Rawabi project for accepting a donation of trees from an Israeli organisation.
Rawabi is very much being pitched at a certain type of Palestinian. The promotional video, with the slogan “Rawabi: a place to live, work and grow”, shows idyllic-looking young families, picnicking on sun-kissed hills.
“This project is kind of like a dream for me,” says Omar al-Assouli, who is planning to buy one of the houses at Rawabi when it’s finished.
He acknowledges he’s pretty much the ideal client for Rawabi: young, professional, just married and planning a family.
“It will be clean with fresh air, with parks and places for children to play and properly planned in advance.”
Mr Assouli lives in the nearby city of Ramallah at the moment, but finds it too crowded and busy.
RAWABI & THE WEST BANK
New development will house 40,000 people
financed by $700m investment from Qatar
Will take five years to build
Israel controls 60% of West Bank
Palestinians control 17% of land
West Bank economy grew 7% in 2009
Unemployment is at 20%
30% of the West Bank economy based on aid
Minimum price of an apartment in Rawabi is $50,000
Rawabi is very much being marketed as a green, eco-friendly city, although the developers admit some of the green ideas for the city have had to be scaled back because of cost.
“We have not been able to get a good standard of living because of the Israeli occupation. Projects like this mean we will able to match them,” says Mr Assouli.
He says there is a real shortage of quality housing on the West Bank. Hundreds of thousands of West Bank Palestinians still live in UN-run refugee camps.
They were forced to move there after the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948 following the establishment of the state of Israel.
These camps are not tents, but sprawling urban neighbourhoods often with poor housing, roads and amenities.
There is also a shortage of land.
Under the the Oslo Peace Accords signed in 1994, Israel has full control of about 60% of the occupied West Bank.
Palestinians have full control and building rights in only a small proportion of the territory, about 17% of the total.
Access denied?
The Oslo accords were only meant to be temporary, but their provisions have lasted 16 years.
And therein lies a big problem with the Rawabi proposals.
The Palestinians control the land on which Rawabi will be built, but not the area through which its access road will have to go.
Israel has yet to grant permission for the road, which will be essential for the project to succeed.
At the moment, the only way to access the site is via a narrow and bumpy back road.
However, the developers got fed up of waiting for Israeli permission for the new road and started building the city anyway.
“Is it hasty? Well perhaps it is,” says Bashar Masri, chairman of Massar, the developers of Rawabi.
“But maybe it is our only way of nicely saying to Israel that we are ready, we’ve been planning, we’ve invested, we took the risk. We’re starting construction. What’s next? Give us the road and let us move on.”
Mr Masri admits though that if permission for the road is not given, Rawabi will fail.
Huge deal
For the moment, a spokesman for the Israeli government would only say it supports Rawabi and “is working for the project to succeed”.
Rawabi could be a huge deal for the Palestinian economy, creating thousands of jobs in the construction process alone.
Mr Masri says the very fact it is happening represents a growing sense of confidence in the Palestinian economy.
The International Monetary Fund says the West Bank economy showed 7% growth last year.
It’s important to note though that this was from a very low starting point. Unemployment is still about 20%.
Poverty levels are high, and according to the World Bank 30% of the West Bank’s economy is based on foreign aid from international donors.
Which brings up the issue of cost.
Will people be able to afford to buy houses at Rawabi? Mr Assouli says he hopes to pay about $80,000 for his new house.
The developers say they will be promoting US style “affordable mortgages”, where people with lower incomes are still entitled to borrow.
But some Palestinians who have witnessed the recent housing crisis in the United States stemming from so-called “cheap mortgages” might be wary.
Rawabi will take years to complete.
So what about the prospect that the relatively stable current situation on the West Bank could very quickly deteriorate?
“That is the reality in this region,” says Masri, “but if we spent all our time worrying about that, we’d never get anything done.”
Russell Tribunal aims to hold the international community to account: The Electronic Intifada
Frank Barat, 1 March 2010
Israel is continuously violating the principles of the 1949 Geneva Conventions that sought to ensure crimes against humanity would never happen again. (Oren Ziv/ActiveStills)
Today, the first session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RTP) will be held in Barcelona. The RTP is a peoples’ tribunal focusing not on Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL) such as the Fourth Geneva Convention, but on the obligations of the international community of signatory states which sustain and enable Israel’s continuous violations of international law.
Israel has violated more than 60 UN resolutions and countless legal and diplomatic calls to abide by international law in relation to the expansion of illegal settlements, denial of the right of return and the continuing occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights. Dozens of reports, investigations and inquiries have produced evidence of alleged Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity, including massacres, collective punishment, home demolitions and extrajudicial killings on a cyclical scale over the past 62 years.
In 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion finding Israel’s wall in the West Bank illegal and contrary to international law. The opinion was the key tenet of a 54-page document covering illegal settlements, the appropriation of natural resources and Israel’s violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention over the past 40 years, and reminded that IHL signatory states had an obligation “not to recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by such construction” and “to ensure compliance by Israel with international humanitarian law as embodied in that Convention.”
The ruling sparked hopes in the Palestinian community and international solidarity movements that finally, not only had Israeli violations been legally judged but that the responsibilities of the states which enable Israeli impunity to continue would be put to the test. Six years and 500 kilometers of wall on, the continued construction of the wall casts a shadow over international law.
Or does it?
The RTP is an independent initiative which intends to generate a public literacy in international law and the possibilities for the rule of law if respected to dismantle and disempower the reproduction of the occupation as a military, cultural and economic movement.
Israel is an international entity, kept afloat not just financially and politically by international state partners and supporters, but “legally” by the continued legitimization of illegal acts and “facts on the ground” by these states. Israel’s most important market is not economic or military — it is the market of legitimacy, the permission it receives to normalize crimes against humanity to its own citizens and the international community. This can only happen with the complicity of non-IHL compliant states. The RTP is a way of publicly pointing the finger at these states and mobilizing public opinion towards holding them accountable for the ongoing human rights violations in Palestine.
The RTP is composed of four sessions. The first in Barcelona from 1-3 March, focuses on establishing whether the European Union as an entity has fulfilled its obligations under international law. At the end of 2010, a London session will scrutinize the complicity of corporations in normalizing and perpetuating Israel’s violations of international law as well as labor rights in Palestine/Israel. In mid-2011, a session in South Africa will examine the applicability of the crime of apartheid in the context of Israel. The final session will be held in the United States in late 2011 and will analyze the role of the US within the United Nations and decision-making processes on issues of violating international law.
The RTP is not a talking shop. For too long Israel has been the focus of international campaigning as if it alone is responsible for the oppression of the Palestinian people, and as if it has been acting alone. The RTP is about making the links between the crimes committed on the ground in Palestine and their international sponsors. If we want to popularize the notion of “normalization” of the occupation as a key obstacle to a just peace, then understanding how this “normalization” operates on an international legal level in the corridors of Washington, Brussels and London, as well as Tel Aviv, is a vital part of challenging it.
As Israeli think tanks and lobby groups bemoan the rise of “delegitimization” of Israel on a popular level within Europe, the actual, pragmatic delegitimization of Israeli criminal policies is still unrealized and unimplemented by countries that have not just the means but the obligations to do this. The RTP contributes to the growing movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions by popularizing the facts behind the arguments for why states have a responsibility to implement sanctions against Israel, and for companies to withdraw from illegal projects and for the public to boycott Israeli institutions, goods and the normalization of apartheid.
The Geneva Conventions were created and agreed upon by the countries of the world in 1949, under popular pressure, as the legal means to ensure that crimes against humanity committed around the world during the Second World War would never happen again. The principles and tenets of these laws are being violated by Israel continuously. These laws stem from liberation struggles and sacrifices of movements in the past, and are on our side, the side of the people. We can use these laws as guides to build the conditions for genuine justice and universal human rights, and a world based on solidarity and equality.
Frank Barat is coordinator of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine (http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com). A live streaming of the session can be viewed here: http://www.bcnsolidaria.tv/tv/ and a list of jury members as well as experts and witnesses participating in the tribunal is available for download (PDF)
New East Jerusalem plan unveiled, and then delayed: BBC
Mr Barkat said the development would be a “win-win” situation
The Mayor of Jerusalem has announced a plan to demolish an area of Arab East Jerusalem to make way for an upmarket district of luxury hotels and gardens.
But hours before Mayor Nir Barkat was due to announce his scheme – called the King’s Garden – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said work should be delayed.
The Israelis say the Palestinian houses to be demolished have been built without permits and have become a slum.
Palestinians say it’s their land and want it to be part of their capital.
Breaking the ground for the development has been put on hold after Mr Netanyahu called Mr Barkat and told him to carry out more public consultation.
Archaeology and the struggle for Jerusalem
But the public launch went ahead, with reporters invited to look at architect’s models for the new tourist district, thought to be the location of a garden where the biblical King David wrote his psalms.
Palestinian cabinet ministers have told reporters they believe that the plans will still go ahead eventually.
Mr Barkat called the plan a “bold move” and said it would be beneficial for both Palestinians and Israelis.
“The plan is a win-win plan for the future of the city, taking into consideration the public and private interests, taking an area that has been neglected and turning it into an area that we can all be proud of,” he said.
Legal recognition
The plan for the area near the Temple Mount known to Palestinians as al-Bustan, will see 22 houses demolished.
Journalists were invited to see architects’ plans for King’s Garden
The residents would be moved to an alternative location, the mayor said.
Another 66 homes would be legally recognised and their residents given legal right to stay in the contested area.
The mayor’s office says that until 1967, when the Israelis occupied the land, the area was a park.
Palestinians have built their houses illegally, and, without infrastructure, the neighbourhood has turned into a slum.
But Palestinians living there say it’s their home.
“It’s our forefathers’ land, Arab land, Muslim land, I refuse to give up this land,” said a man who gave his name as Abu Mohammad.
Israeli rights organisations said the plan could foment violent reaction from Palestinians.
“Any unilateral step on behalf of the Israeli authorities which aims to expand the Israeli grasp over this very sensitive area is very dangerous both to the political future of this city and the conflict in general,” said Orly Noy, for Israeli human rights organisation (Ir Amim).
A statement issued by the prime minster’s office said Mr Netanyahu was concerned that “parties interested in sowing discord” would present a “distorted picture” of the plan, news agency Reuters reported.
EDITOR: An academic speaks
Professor Breiman is not the extreme right in Israel; he is just an extreme rightist. In Israel there are even strongest advocates of militarist Zionism… But nonetheless an interesting man to listen to! If you do not recognise the country he calls Britain, then it is your problem. Speaking about obsessions, isn’t he one obsessive jerk?
End British obsession with anti-Israel propaganda: Haaretz
By Ron Breiman
In recent years, Britain has taken France’s dubious place as the nexus of anti-Israel activity in Europe. Muslim anti-Semites, Christian anti-Semites, Jewish anti-Semites and even Israelis have united in an unholy alliance with the aim of giving the Jewish state a rotten smell in the world. With this in mind, it is appropriate to remind Britain of its not-so-splendid heritage, both past and present.
Only 90 years ago, Britain made a commitment to establish a national home for the Jewish people in the land of Israel – for the Jewish people and not for any other people. This commitment was anchored in the San Remo agreement and the borders of the British Mandate. But, despite this promising start, the eastern part of the land of Israel was torn from the national home and the Hashemite family governed there over “the Jordanian people”. If there is a “Palestinian people”, Jordan is their land.
Britain even raised and armed in Jordan the Arab Legion, the same army which invaded the young state of Israel and captured Judea and Samaria, which are “the West Bank” only from the Jordanian point of view. Today in the West Bank, United States General Keith Dayton is training and arming the “security forces” of the supposedly demilitarized state of “Palestine”.
Now, “friendly” Britain works to give the heart of the land of Israel – which was captured in 1948 by the Arab Legion and in 1993 by Yasser Arafat and the hordes of terrorists who returned under the banner of “peace” during the Oslo peace accords – to “the Palestinian people” who will establish another state, this time in the western part of the land of Israel. Toward this goal, strengthening voices in Britain are calling for an academic boycott on Israel, an economic boycott of Israeli exports to Europe and an end to the Israeli “occupation” of its own land.
One must tell Britain – particularly the English who control Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – that they should truly understand what is before their eyes. Ancient peoples – particularly the Irish – show signs of bitterness against the ongoing British occupation. Also the mediator George Mitchell, a man known well to us, who seemingly ended the war in Northern Ireland, will be exposed in the future as a failure. The Irish people have not truly reconciled themselves to the occupation of the northeastern quarter of their island by the British. Indeed, the Irish also participate in the anti-Israel choir, but their central and ongoing ambition is to end the British occupation of their island. The prevailing calm state of the Irish-British affair is only temporary.
These days, we are also told that the righteous British, the advocates against the Israeli “occupation” in the land of Israel, are attempting to strengthen their hold over the Malvinas Islands (known as the Falklands to the British) and are searching for oil there. These are islands thousands of kilometers from Britain which were captured from the Argentineans in the 19th century and again in1982. Today, all Latin American countries support the Argentine position that the islands belong to Argentina and even U.S. support of the ongoing British occupation has weakened compared to the past.
Britain, with a growing Muslim population that continues to expand, is an example of European hypocrisy. It is not the only one. It is right to expose Britain’s shameful actions and to neutralize its threatening anti-Israel propaganda. British and European support for a Palestinian state, as well as Britain’s and Europe’s hypocritical hesitancy to act against Muslim terrorism, contradict British and European interests. This is the line that needs to be taken by Israeli representatives overseas.
The author is a former chairman of Professors for a Strong Israel