EDITOR: The masters of the blockade allow in canned fruit!

What a great victory… Palestinians now are allowed humus in tins, as well as canned peaches. One does not quite know if we should laugh or cry. After all, even Israel, crazy as it is, cannot quite claim that canned peaches were banned for over three years because of security reasons. This was done in order to make the life of Gazans a real misery, on the daily level, and to leave them on a mere subsistence level, which should weaken and dispirit them, and designed to make them rebel against Hamas. Olmert, the war criminal who is also an everyday criminal, having been caught and tried over corruption charges, has called this “putting Gaza ona diet”. Jewish humour is not what ir was, it seems. From the black humour of the oppressed, it turned into the gallows humour of the exectioners. This announcement now is useful in derailing the ongoing debate about the flotilla massacre, and putting a ‘good news’ item on the media agenda. Westerners are fickle, as we know, and anyway, are now mainly into following the world cup, so it is good time to bury bad news.

That did not happen, like so many other things that Israel planned; The Gazans did not rebel against Hamas. Instead, they rose against their real oppressor, Israel. So why this change now? A simple throwaway to Obama, so he can show some ‘achievment’ for his time in office. It is also the first time a US president can count on canned fruit as a ‘real achievement’. For Gazan, however, this might be welcome, as a brief repreieve from their imposed starvation. Most of them, having no income or work, would not even be able to enjoy this change…

Israel eases blockade by letting in extra food items: The Independent

By Donald Macintyre
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Israel has eased its regime for food imports to Gaza, allowing foods like a range of herbs, biscuits, jam, potato crisps, packaged hummus and canned fruits which had been banned from entering the territory from Israel for three years.

But the relaxation – which also allows in razors – fell far short of the much wider lifting of the economic blockade which has been increasingly urged by the international community since last week’s lethal naval commando raid on a pro-Palestinian aid flotilla.

The British Government among others has been urging Israel to consider a substantially new approach to policy, which would spur post-war reconstruction and revive Gaza’s private sector economy, paralysed when Israel imposes its blockade after Hamas’s seizure of full control in the Strip in June 2007.

The Israeli human rights agency Gisha said yesterday that it was “pleased to learn that coriander no longer presents a threat to Israeli security” but added that Israel continued to prevent the transfer of “purely civilian goods” like fabrics, fishing rods, food wrappers, and raw materials for manufacturing including industrial margarine and glucose.

These were being barred “as part of what Israel calls ‘economic warfare'” and so “denies 1.5 million human beings the right to engage in productive, dignified work.”
The foodstuffs relaxation came to light ahead of a visit by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, to the White House. After the meeting Barack Obama, the US President, said the blockade of Gaza was “unsustainable” and a better approach was needed.

A British paper sent by the Foreign Secretary William Hague to the International Quartet (the EU, US, UN and Russia) is understood to propose the opening of the main Karni cargo crossing; an easing of the naval blockade under which officially sanctioned ships, subject to strict prior checking at an Israeli port, could be used for exports and imports in Gaza; and the substitute of a “white list” of permitted goods for a “black list” of banned ones.

Tony Blair, the Quartet’s envoy, has already held two meetings with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, within a week to urge an easing of the blockade. Some other Western diplomats have suggested to Israel that it would be easier to relax pressure for a full-scale international enquiry into last week’s commando raid if Israel were more amenable to lifting the embargo.

A senior Israeli official said yesterday he was “sceptical” about any relaxation of the maritime embargo but that discussions were ongoing about importing more civilian goods, which did not allow Hamas to build up its military infrastructure.
Israel contests an assertion by Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General, that recent limited and strictly controlled imports of materials for international infrastructure and medical projects are a “drop in the bucket”.

EDITOR: Trust the New York Times…

Here you can learn that the real victims in the Middle East are the Israelis…

More Musicians Cancel Performances in Israel: The New York Times

By DAVE ITZKOFF
A music promoter in Israel said that the country was being subjected to “cultural terrorism” as more artists canceled planned performances there, Agence France-Presse reported.
Over the weekend the alternative-rock band the Pixies withdrew from what would have been its first-ever show in Israel, as part of the Pic.Nic music festival scheduled in Tel Aviv this week. “We’d like to extend our deepest apologies to the fans, but events beyond all our control have conspired against us,” the group said in a statement. The bands Gorillaz and the Klaxons have also withdrawn from the festival, after a raid by Israeli commandos on a Gaza-bound flotilla. Last month, Elvis Costello canceled two concerts he was to perform in Israel this summer, citing the complexities of the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

After the announcement of the Pixies’ cancellation, Shuki Weiss, the promoter of the Pic.Nic festival, said in a statement, “I am full of both sorrow and pain in light of the fact that our repeated attempts to present quality acts and festivals in Israel have increasingly been falling victim to what I can only describe as a form of cultural terrorism which is targeting Israel and the arts worldwide.”

He added: “These ‘sudden’ decisions affect thousands of Israeli music lovers turning them into victims and robbing them of a handful of hours of joy, adrenalin and culture, in the name of suffering they have neither caused nor wish for.”

EDITOR: As BDS bites in, Israel gets even more aggressive

This is real evidence for the success of the Palestinian and international boycott, which Israel and its supporters have argued will never make any difference. If it did make no difference, why all this illegal legislation? It does make a great difference, and it will be a crucial element in breaking Israeli apartheid; this is exactly why Israel has turned even nastier, and demands that Palestine will continue to finance the occupation by being forced to buy its products. While this will not work, it will make things so much more difficult and bloody, no doubt. It is also designed to frighten off Israeli and international activists. It will also fail there, I am sure.

It is also interesting to see how supine ‘Israeli liberals’ have become, with the so-called left-winger supporting this illegal and immoral mesure. Let it not be said that anyone in the Israeli political elite was moral enough to oppose this! It is also good to know that Margaret Atwood, in the past my favourite feminist writer, prefers murder and occupation to the civil struggle against them. Well, a million dollars do not grow on trees…

Israel plans to send bill to Palestinians over boycotts: The Independent

By Catrina Stewart in Jerusalem
Friday, 11 June 2010
What do The Pixies, Elvis Costello, and Salam Fayyad, Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, have in common? A cursory glance might suggest not much yet all have deeply irked Israel.

When Mr Fayyad first embarked on a door-to-door campaign to persuade Palestinians to shun all products made by Jewish settlers, the Israeli public simply shrugged. But when veteran crooner Costello peered into his conscience and pulled a scheduled appearance in Tel Aviv, Israelis sat up and took notice.

Embattled and increasingly isolated, a group of politicians are now proposing a bill that would outlaw boycotts against the Jewish State, both homegrown and international.

The Land of Israel, a right-wing parliamentary lobby group committed to Jewish settlement of the West Bank, submitted the bill with the support of 25 politicians from right wing and centrist parties. If approved, it could theoretically force the Palestinian Authority (PA) to pay thousands of dollars in compensation to Jewish businesses affected by the Fayyad-led boycott campaign, a scenario that would likely spark furious reaction from Palestinians.

The move comes amid a growing global backlash against Israeli policies, which has intensified since Israel launched its bloody raid on a Turkish-led humanitarian convoy trying to breach the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Even before the flotilla affair, a campaign to persuade artists and authors to protest what they describe as an illegal and oppressive military occupation of the Palestinian territories was gaining ground. “Merely having your name added to a concert may be interpreted as a political act… and it may be assumed that one has no mind for the suffering of the innocent,” Costello said in a statement prior to the raid.

After last week’s deadly raid on the flotilla, US rock band The Pixies cancelled their gig. Several other bands have followed suit, prompting Israeli music promoter Shuki Weiss to complain that performers are waging a form of “cultural terrorism”.

Human rights activists, meanwhile, decried efforts by politicians to alienate those critical of Israel with new legislation. “We have wild right-wing politicians presenting wild demagogic bills … which create a very nasty public atmosphere,” said Adam Keller, spokesman for Gush Shalom, an Israeli NGO that has joined calls for a boycott of settler-made goods. “If this is passed into law, it would mean a total breakdown between Israel and the PA.”

Israel has condemned Mr Fayyad’s boycott campaign as harmful to the fragile peace process, and Israeli settler leaders have urged the government to respond with harsh retaliatory measures.

Should the proposal gain traction in its current form, it would force boycotters to pay compensation to settlers who claim their business had suffered. It would also affect foreign citizens calling for a boycott of Israel, potentially barring them from Israel for 10 years.

But activists said attempts to muzzle peace activists would make the movement stronger. “No Knesset laws can stop this tide of non-violent, morally consistent struggle for justice, self determination, equality and freedom,” political activist Omar Barghouti said in a statement.

Mr Fayyad, an economist by training, has provided the boycott campaign with fresh impetus in recent weeks, putting it at the heart of a peaceful resistance movement aimed at winning over international support. The boycott calls for Palestinians to shun all products made in the Jewish settlements, most of which sit on expropriated Palestinian farmland and are regarded as illegal under international law.

The PA has also barred Palestinians from working in the settlements as of the end of this year, an unpopular move only slightly eased by the promise of a $50m “dignity” fund designed to help workers make the transition. The PA has threatened those who fail to comply with fines.

The Jewish settlements, which sit atop the West Bank hills, have long been a thorn in the side of the peace process. Palestinians have maintained that as long as Jews are grabbing Palestinian land in the West Bank, Israel cannot be committed to a two-state solution.

“If I… were a Palestinian, I would certainly join the boycott that is being imposed on the settlements and their products,” wrote Yossi Sarid, a commentator in liberal Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. “After all, it would not be human to expect me to buy my tombstone from people who were determined to bury my hopes for a good life and independence.”

Israeli Minister of Minority Affairs, Avishay Braverman, who is responsible for Israel’s Arab population, said the boycott was a diversion from the pressing need for direct peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians. US-sponsored efforts have brought both sides back to talks, but not in the same room.

“This boycott will have no real impact on Israel, but will harm Palestinian workers,” said Mr Braverman, a former World Bank economist. What it will do “is create a more general boycott on Israel that will harm relations between Israel and the Palestinians”.

And not everyone is moved, Rod Stewart, Elton John and Diana Krall, who is married to Costello, are still scheduled to perform in Israel later this year.

Meanwhile, authors Margaret Atwood and Amitav Ghosh, the joint recipients of an Israeli literary award, have bristled at calls from activists to refuse the prize, with Atwood describing cultural boycotts as “a form of censorship”.

Investigations in the air: Haaretz Editorial

The ministers in the “Forum of Seven” are working night and day to prevent a skilled, credible investigation that would seriously examine a question of public importance: the quality of defense and political preparations before the Turkish flotilla to Gaza and during the takeover of its ships.
The ministers in the “Forum of Seven” are working night and day to prevent a skilled, credible investigation that would seriously examine a question of public importance: the quality of defense and political preparations before the Turkish flotilla to Gaza and during the takeover of its ships.

Sufficient preparation concerns the performance and responsibility of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, of the foreign and information ministers, of the Forum and the security cabinet, as well as the chairman of the National Security Council – Uzi Arad – charged by law with “overseeing the cabinet’s administration” on matters of foreign and defense policy. This is in addition to the chief of staff’s responsibility for the military’s performance in preparing for and conducting the operation.

Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi appointed an internal investigative team for the flotilla affair, headed by retired general Giora Eiland, the former head of the IDF’s Planning Branch and head of the National Security Council. The IDF’s team of experts is designed to exude credibility by detaching its members from current military service. However, one member, Brigadier General Aviv Kochavi, is an officer in active service who until recently headed the Operations Branch of the General Staff. Kochavi is waiting for a promotion to a senior position and the rank of major general. This constitutes a conflict of interests between his role as a member of the investigative team and his own personal and professional interests. This should be enough to disqualify him from a team of experts about to investigate the chief of staff.

Politicians are evading a real investigation that would also examine its own performance. The delay in deciding the substance and composition of the entity to handle the investigation is related to hopes the investigation will be acceptable to the U.S. administration. This, however, is a feeble and unacceptable excuse. The investigation is designed first and foremost to examine any hitches during the decision-making process and in the military preparations before the flotilla, and reach conclusions regarding future procedures – and not to serve as a propaganda machine to mollify the U.S.

The proposed “investigations,” chiefly the international experts’ seminar on maritime law, are appropriate for an academic conference and appear empty of real content. The Forum of Seven is mostly busy preventing the possibility that Netanyahu and Barak be held responsible – responsibility that could force a state commission of inquiry, the most appropriate body to investigate the operation.

Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch would appoint her colleagues, which would grant the commission credibility. Such a commission would carry greater public and international weight than a government committee appointed and authorized by the cabinet. A state commission of inquiry enjoys investigative powers determined by law, which also requires it be headed by a senior judge.

The professional character of a state commission of inquiry, the depth of its investigation and its objectivity, would ensure a thorough and credible examination of troublesome questions regarding the decisions prior to boarding the Turkish flotilla last week. The government’s responsibility to the public requires that it appoint a state commission of inquiry. Any further delay or the choice of an investigation that is fabricated, not serious or substantial, will do even greater damage than that already caused by the affair.

Israelis reflect on flotilla raid: BBC

By Jon Donnison
BBC News, Jerusalem
Israel’s overall policy towards Gaza shows little sign of changing
“Israel’s eases three-year blockade. Gazans get jam and coriander” ran the debatably sarcastic headline in this morning’s left-leaning Haaretz newspaper.
The article by the Israeli journalist Amira Hass, a long-time critic of Israel’s blockade, outlined the first moves to relax the blockade, allowing in goods including canned fruit and crisps.

Ms Hass, one of the very few Israeli journalists to have got into Gaza to report from the territory, by no means represents the majority opinion in Israel, but there is a substantial minority who believes the blockade is at best counterproductive and at worst inhumane.
Israeli tightened the blockade in 2007 after Hamas took power. The Islamist movement had won elections in 2006, but Israel, the EU and the US refused to accept them in government. Hamas then forced their secular rival, Fatah, from Gaza in a violent struggle.

Israel says the blockade is necessary to put pressure on Hamas, which has fired thousands of rockets into Israel over the past decade. Hamas has recently reined in the amount of rockets coming out of Gaza, but other militant factions continue to fire rockets sporadically.
Hamas is also still holding the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured in a raid by militants in 2006.
But four years on, the blockade has not pressured Hamas into releasing him, and the Islamist movement remains in power.

‘More extreme’
Critics say the blockade had encouraged people towards more extreme groups operating in Gaza. Such groups, often called Salafists, share the ideology of al-Qaeda and believe Hamas are too moderate.
But Israel’s overall policy towards Gaza shows little sign of changing despite mounting international criticism, including from Israel’s strongest ally, the United States.

US President Barack Obama, announcing $400m (£273m) worth of aid for the West Bank and Gaza, said the situation in the territory was “unsustainable”.

There has been widespread criticism in Israel of how the raid on the Free Gaza Flotilla, in which nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed, was handled – “Flotilla Fiasco” and “Botched Raid” just two of the headlines in the Israeli newspapers over the past week.
And the Israeli politicians and the military are beginning to blame each other.

On Thursday, a foreign ministry official told the BBC they had warned the navy that carrying out the raid in international waters would be “bad for the country’s public relations”.
They added though that Israel believed the raid was perfectly legal under international law. And Israel insists it would do the same again.

Israeli opinion polls are not necessarily reliable. But one in the Israel Hayom newspaper, carried out by the New Wave Research Institute, suggested 91% of Israelis were in favour of the navy stopping any future attempts to break the sea blockade.
In the same poll, 73% of people asked said they did not believe the blockade of Gaza should be lifted. The researchers polled 561 people from Israel’s Jewish population.

And the rhetoric from some of the military and the politicians backs that up.
Gen Uzi Dayan, a former deputy chief of staff, said if Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was to try to come to Gaza by ship, the Israeli navy should “sink it” and see it as “an act of war”.

EDITOR: US and Egyptian hypocrisy

If indeed, Obama and Mubarak think the blockade on Gaza is ‘unsustainable’, then why are they both sustaining it, and supporting Israel, albeit in different ways? The boycott could not exist for one moment without the active support of them both. Why not send the sixth fleet to break the boycott? One hopes they are not frightened of the Israeli commandos…

Flotilla fallout: Al Ahram

Finding new ways to handle the situation in Gaza could be the first step towards easing the blockade, reports Doaa El-Bey
Click to view caption
Mubarak and Biden discuss ways to handle the situation in Gaza
President Hosni Mubarak’s call for an immediate lifting of the Gaza blockade chimes with growing international demands to ease the suffering of the people of Gaza.
“We are consulting closely with Egypt, as well as our other partners, on new ways to address the humanitarian, economic, security, and political aspects of the situation in Gaza,” Biden said after the meeting.

Emad Gad, from Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, says possible new measures could include an international naval force inspecting all ships going into Gaza, European supervision of vessels, or a combination of both.

“The blockade was initially imposed to punish Hamas, though clearly it is ordinary civilians who have borne the brunt. The US, the Europeans and Egypt feel that there is a real crisis in Gaza and are seriously looking for a solution.”

Abdel-Raouf El-Reidi, a former ambassador to the US, says that while the US administration sympathises with Israel the suffering of Gazans has made it realise that the blockade cannot last. “They are trying to find a way to ensure that more aid reaches Gaza without a total lift of the blockade.”

The Egyptian decision to open the Rafah crossing indefinitely will partially ease the suffering. Egypt declared last week that it would leave its border with the Palestinian territory open indefinitely, for humanitarian aid and restricted travel. The decision came in reaction to last week’s bloody Israeli attack on a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the beleaguered Strip.

Opening the crossing has restored a link to the outside world for some of Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians. It is also likely to defuse anger in Egypt, and in the Arab and Muslim world, over Egypt’s role in the blockade. What it will not do is lead to a radical change in the situation in Gaza. Traffic at the crossing comprises mainly of people, the vast majority of whom are students or those seeking medical treatment in Egypt. Rafah does not cater for large cargo shipments or the transport of construction materials.

Israel has not publicly protested against the Egyptian decision to open the crossing. It was welcomed by Hamas, which said it hoped all Gazans would soon be able to travel freely.

In a statement released after his meeting with Mubarak, Biden said: “It is vital to make progress in the proximity talks between Israelis and Palestinians to enable the parties to move to direct negotiations as soon as possible.”

He expected that direct talks would lead to “an end to the occupation that began in 1967 and to a two-state solution to the conflict, with Israel and a Palestinian state living in peace and security”.

Though the recent Israeli attack on the flotilla is likely to hamper any Egyptian role in boosting indirect talks, Egyptian reassurance and support to the Palestinians remain necessary in order to guarantee that the proximity talks continue, says Gad.

Other issues discussed by Mubarak and Biden included Egyptian support for a strong, independent, unified and democratic Iraq, and Iran’s nuclear programme.

Biden expressed concern about Iran’s non- compliance with its obligations to the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and said the US and Egypt shared worries about Iran’s destabilising activities throughout the region, including its support for Hizbullah and Hamas.

The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to supporting stability in Sudan, the full implementation of Sudan’s comprehensive peace agreement and preparations for the referendum on southern self-determination in 2011.

Biden barely touched on the issues of political reform and democracy, saying only that the US “looks forward to a continuing dialogue”. He did not mention reports of widespread violations in last week’s Shura Council elections.

“Elements such as respect for human rights and the need to continue working for a vibrant civil society and more open political competition are vital for Egypt to remain strong and serve as a model to the region,” he said.

Palestinian peace talks have clearly taken precedence over democracy issues, says Gad.

Mubarak and Biden met in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Egypt was the first leg of a tour that includes three days in Kenya before Biden heads to South Africa to attend Friday’s World Cup opening ceremony. He was originally scheduled to visit Egypt in March. The trip was postponed when Mubarak travelled to Germany for surgery.

Biden’s visit, says Gad, “delivered the message that the US will show solidarity with moderate states, especially after changes in the Turkish position”.

In response to Bernard-Henri Levy: Haaretz

Gideon Levy

Demonization? Perhaps, but the way to fight that is by imposing a siege on its arsenal. Were it not for the blockade on Gaza, were it not for the occupation, there would be no cause for demonization. Was it too much to expect of you, once the voice of conscience, to understand that?

Dear Bernard-Henri Levy, unfortunately we don’t know each other. We met for a moment in Gori’s smoking rubble in the midst of the war in Georgia. You came on a brief visit and as usual attracted attention, as you did in other conflict zones you visited.
I deeply admire prominent intellectuals like yourself, who make a point of visiting the killing fields and speaking out. Your attempt to protect Israel, as demonstrated by your article in Haaretz on Tuesday (“It’s time to stop demonizing Israel”), pleased many Israelis, who were yearning for a good word about their country, a very rare commodity these days.

I won’t spoil their pleasure. But in the name of your call to end the disinformation, I wish to draw your attention to information that may have slipped your memory.

One may hazard a guess that in your younger days you would have joined the flotilla. A blockade of more than four years on 1.5 million people in those days would have awakened a moral urge driving you to join the protest. But today, as far as you and most Israelis are concerned, there is no blockade on Gaza.

Talking about it in your view is “disinformation.”

By the way, since you were here already, why didn’t you pop into Gaza, as your friend Mario Vargas Llosa did, to see with your own eyes whether there’s a blockade? The doctors in Shifa Hospital, for example, would have told you about their dead due to the non-blockade.

True, nobody is dying of hunger. Yet the Gisha organization for freedom of movement released a report this week saying Israel today allows 97 items to be brought into Gaza, compared to 4,000 before the siege. Is that not a blockade?

A large Israeli supermarket holds 10,000-15,000 items; in Paris there are surely more. Yet Gaza is allowed 97. One would expect greater understanding for gastronomic needs from a refined bon vivant such as yourself, of all people.

You mention, as though you were the IDF spokesman, that Israel permits 100-125 trucks into Gaza a day. A hundred trucks for 1.5 million people ¬ is that not a “merciless siege” as the Liberation newspaper you castigated called it?

Eighty percent of Gaza’s residents subsist on aid; 90 percent of its factories are shut down or runing below capacity. Really, Bernard-Henri, isn’t that a blockade? Shouldn’t a great intellectual like you, of all people, be expected to know that people, including Gazans, need more than bread and water?

Let’s leave statistics alone, after all, philosophers don’t deal with numbers.
You write that Israel has been named as responsible for the blockade “ad
nauseum” and that this is a blockade – suddenly even you call it a blockade imposed by both Israel and Egypt.

Correct. Egypt’s participation is indeed outrageous and inexplicable, but
Egypt and Israel should not be judged in the same way. The occupation in Gaza is not over, it has merely moved, to the occupier’s convenience, but Israel is still responsible.

The legal currency in Gaza is the shekel, the population registration is carried out by Israel, which also monitors anyone entering the strip. Decades
of occupation have made Gaza dependent on Israel and Israel cannot shake it off merely by “disengaging.”

But let’s put the blockade aside, whether you deny or justify it. How can you ignore the context? There have been 43 years of occupation and despair for millions of people, some of whom may wish to become Bernard-Henri Levy, and not just pass their lives in a battle for survival.

What are the chances a young Palestinian will achieve something in his life?
Look at the pictures of the Gazans crowding the Rafah border pass yesterday and see their expressions.

Surely you’ve heard of freedom. You cannot blame the occupation on anyone but us, the Israelis. There are many excuses for it, but they don’t change the ultimate fact ¬ Israel is an occupier. This is the root of all evil and this is what you have concealed. Not a word about it.

Israel may have the right to prevent arms supplies from entering Gaza, but you don’t have the right to ignore what has turned Gaza into a desperate refugee region.

True, Bernard-Henri, the world demands more of Israel than of dictatorships. This is not the “confusion of an era,” as you put it, but a new (and just) era, in which the world demands Israel pay a price for its conduct as a democracy.

Demonization? Perhaps, but the way to fight that is by imposing a siege on its arsenal. Were it not for the blockade on Gaza, were it not for the occupation, there would be no cause for demonization. Was it too much to expect of you, once the voice of conscience, to understand that?

Beginning of the end: Al Ahram

While attempting to uphold its siege on Gaza, Israel’s brutality has brought its end to hand, writes Saleh Al-Naami

Hours before US President Barack Obama met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Washington yesterday, Reuters reported that Israel announced a symbolic easing of its Gaza embargo to allow snack food and beverages as of next week.

This token step comes following an international outcry over Israel’s raid on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla, and the killing of nine Turkish activists on board a Turkish ship last week.

Talks between Obama and Abbas were expected to focus on means of easing the siege imposed by Israel on the Strip, in an attempt to contain the fallout over Israel’s criminal attack.

Earlier in the week, a Palestinian Authority (PA) official told the Chinese news agency Xinhua that there are talks between the PA and the European Union to submit a plan to the international Quartet for ending the Gaza blockade. Of this EU role, France’s Foreign Minister, Bernard Koushner, said “We could very well check the cargo of ships heading to Gaza.”

While international efforts — both official and popular — to break the siege gain momentum, the spirit inside the Gaza Strip is one of optimism.

The cell phone of Palestinian MP Gamal Al-Khodari, who is also chairman of the Popular Committee for Confronting the Siege, does not stop ringing. Al-Khodari is bombarded with calls from NGOs around the world and is delighted to hear that these groups and public figures are promising to continue organising more fleets to breach the siege on Gaza.

“It’s a snowball that is gaining momentum, and will not stop until all forms of the unjust siege of Gaza come to an end,” he told Al-Ahram Weekly. “The outcome of Israel’s attack on the Freedom Flotilla has affected them adversely. Through these killings, Israel wanted to deter peace activists who support the besieged Palestinian people from continuing their efforts to challenge the siege and penetrate it. But the blood which was spilled by Israeli bullets has led more international and Arab organisations to sponsor more fleets to break the blockade and reveal Israel’s ugly face.”

Already, a Lebanese ship is expected to land in Gaza next week carrying a large number of Lebanese and Arab journalists, along with European MPs. Also, Jordan’s professional syndicates are planning a sea fleet to head towards Gaza’s shores — indeed, organisers are having difficulty finding enough vessels to carry the large number of activists who want to participate.

In Kuwait, donations are being given to sponsor a fleet heading to Gaza, and Algeria is beginning to organise a similar expedition.

No doubt, the most remarkable reaction of solidarity with Gaza is the announcement of the Jewish community in Germany that it will send out several humanitarian aid vessels to besieged Gaza. Al-Khodari asserted that this would not be the end of it — he expects the Mediterranean to be jammed with ships heading for Gaza if Israel does not end the siege.

The Freedom Flotilla was key in compelling Arabs to play a larger role in ending the blockade, in itself a remarkable development. Writer and researcher Nehad Al-Sheikh believes that Israel’s intention with the blockade was to end Hamas’s control of the Gaza Strip, but its most recent actions resulted in the opposite occurring, because the world has become more sympathetic to and supportive of Hamas.

According to Al-Sheikh, “Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is very embarrassed with the strong reaction to the siege, because he knows that many blame him for helping to tighten the blockade on Gaza.” He continued that Abbas’s position is made worse because of bad political choices, at a time when Israel adamantly refuses to freeze settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem. This makes his visit to Washington to discuss indirect negotiations with Israel a waste of time.

One of the important indicators that Hamas has broken free of its international isolation is the sudden announcement by Arab League Secretary- General Amr Moussa that he will visit Gaza. This is especially significant because for more than two years Moussa has evaded repeated invitations by Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to visit the coastal Strip. Nonetheless, a delegation of Arab parliamentarians went to Gaza to evaluate the situation on the ground.

While Abbas continues to insist that Hamas must sign the Egyptian proposal for reconciliation, Hamas leaders have dug in their heels, saying that their reservations on the document must be taken into account before they put pen to paper. At the same time, Hamas turned down a suggestion by Israel that several crossings with Israel be reopened in return for monthly visits with captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Ayman Taha, a leading Hamas figure, told the Weekly that progress on the Shalit issue will only be made if Israel agrees to release 1,400 Palestinian detainees. “Separating the issues will not help Israel,” noted Taha.

He believes that the proposal reflects the predicament facing Israel after the massacre it committed against international activists, which curtailed the ability of decision-makers in Tel Aviv to manoeuvre. According to him, all signs indicate that the siege will end sooner than expected and that Israel is trying to garner as many gains as possible before it is forced to lift the blockade. Taha stressed that Israel must realise that what it was unable to achieve through brute military force, it will not be able to accomplish through manoeuvring and media games. The only solution is ending the siege without linking it to Shalit or reconciliation.

Meanwhile, Haniyeh’s government said it would not accept any of the aid that the Freedom Flotilla was carrying until Israel releases all activists who were onboard. “We refuse to receive any of the humanitarian aid without the release of all the detainees, without exception,” declared Minister of Social Affairs Ahmed Al-Kard.

The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG) revealed that Israel stole the passports of tens of foreign peace activists on board the Freedom fleet. In a statement, ECESG reported that more than 31 foreign activists had their passports confiscated by the Israelis. The group warned that Israel could use these passports in Mossad assassination operations abroad, similar to the killing of Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai earlier this year.

Calls from inside Israel’s government to end the siege on Gaza, as suggested by Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog, reflect the dilemma facing Tel Aviv after it raided the Freedom Flotilla. It also demonstrates that Israel’s arrogant actions have ushered in the beginning of the end of the blockade on Gaza.

U.S. State Department denies report of push for UN Gaza flotilla probe: Haaretz

The Weekly Standard reports that White House officials told foreign governments Obama would back UN investigation.

U.S. State Department Spokesman Philip J. Crowley denied Friday a report published in American journal The Weekly Standard that the White House supported a United Nations international investigation into the Gaza flotilla affair.

“We are not aware of any resolution that will be introduced at the UN next week,” Crowley said at a White House press conference. “We are in discussion with the UN, and I think UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is evaluating the situation.”
“We support an Israeli led investigation and we are open to the potential ways in which the international community can participate in it,” Crowley clarified, and added that “the investigation has to be impartial si it can been seen as credible. International participation in some fashion can enhance the result, the outcome and the support for the investigation.”
According to the report,  senior White House officials told foreign governments that U.S President Barack Obama’s administration would support a United Nations effort to erect an independent inquiry committee investigating the Gaza flotilla raid.

The Weekly Standard reported that the White House has shrugged off concerns that such an investigation would be singling out Israel while worse incidents took place around the world on a daily basis.
The report also stated that the U.S. was not concerned the investigation would be one-sided, and would focus on the behavior of the Israeli Defense Forces alone, leaving out Turkey and Hamas’ part leading to the fatal raid on the Turkish-flagged ship Mavi Marmara, in which nine activists were killed.

Meanwhile, Israel and the U.S. agreed Thursday on the nature of an Israeli investigative committee that will look into the events surrounding the takeover of the Gaza-bound aid flotilla nearly two weeks ago.
An official announcement on the committee has yet to be made.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to make the announcement; he will also say who will be on the committee and discuss its powers.

Channel 2 reported Wednesday that the committee will be headed by a retired Supreme Court justice. It appears that the Prime Minister’s Office has approached former Justice Yaakov Tirkel to fill the position.
Contacts with the United States on forming the panel have been handled by the prime minister himself and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Their main contact has been U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. It was the Americans who proposed the nature of the committee – similar to the one that investigated the sinking of a South Korean ship by the North Koreans.

Tales from the border: Al Ahram

What makes a 30-minute journey from Gaza into the Egyptian territories take three days, wonders Mohamed El-Sayed
After finishing his Dawn Prayers in the small hours of the morning at his house in Gaza, 65-year-old Haj Mohamed took a taxi, along with his son, to the Rafah crossing. He needs urgent eye surgery, which cannot be done in any of Gaza’s ill-equipped, under-staffed hospitals. Entry to Israel for treatment in its hospitals is a far-fetched dream. Cairo is his only resort.

Mohamed has been waiting for many months to cross the Egyptian border, always with the worry that further delays could cost him his sight.

“I’ve been waiting here since 9am in the morning and now it’s 3.30pm and I don’t know whether I will be allowed entry to the Egyptian territories,” said Mohamed, who cannot travel alone. His son carries his luggage and helps him in walking.

Eventually, Mohamed and his son receive permission to move to the Egyptian side of the crossing point after showing medical papers. Afterwards a bus carries them, along with another 70 passengers, to the Egyptian side of the crossing point.

This is not Mohamed’s first attempt to cross the border since the Rafah crossing opened last week. It’s the fourth.

“I’ve been trying to cross the border for the past three days,” he said while waiting for his son, who was queuing between clearance offices to obtain necessary stamps on their passports. “I prepare my luggage and take a taxi to the crossing point for $25 and wait and wait without being able to make it into the Egyptian side.”

Laborious clearance procedures at the crossing turn what should be a 30- minute journey from Gaza to Egypt into a test of will and endurance for the students, members of families seeking reunion and those needing medical treatment seeking to enter Egypt. And even if those who are ill receive permission to enter, they are often deprived of the escort of other family members.

“I obtained permission to enter Egypt because I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis. I need treatment in a Cairo hospital because we lack good physicians in Gaza,” said the 30-year-old Khadija, whose journey from her Gaza house to Rafah city took 12 hours. “My brother was supposed to cross with me because I cannot cope in Cairo alone with my baby,” she added, as she sheltered from the oppressive heat under a tree.

“He was not granted clearance from the Egyptian authorities despite the fact that the documents issued by the Palestinian health authorities state he would be my escort during my stay in Egypt.”

Khadija’s brother’s name was apparently not registered with the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah which, according to several people interviewed, is necessary to be allowed to cross into Egypt.

“Now I feel stranded. I don’t know what to do without my brother. I feel besieged from all directions — inhumane conditions in Gaza, the Israeli air, land and sea siege, and now I feel besieged by the Egyptian authorities.”

While senior security officials at the crossing insist that an average of 800 Gazans have crossed the border to and from Egypt daily since the crossing opened last week, Gazans interviewed by the Al-Ahram Weekly insist that only tens succeed. “Every day around 10 buses carrying around 700 Gazans travel from the Palestinian to the Egyptian side of the crossing point, but six of these buses are returned to Gaza,” says Khadija.

“Since the opening of the crossing point a week ago, a friend of mine from Gaza has been trying to enter on a daily basis,” said a Gazan student who was waiting on the Egyptian side of the crossing.

Despite the fact that his family lives in a Gazan village which is a 15-minute ride from the crossing point, the 20-year-old tourism student has been unable to visit them for the past two years for fear of being stuck in Gaza and missing his exams.

“The Egyptian authorities allow a limited number of Gazans to enter Egypt everyday, so many of them have no other option but repeat the attempt day after day,” he said.

Security sources approached by the Weekly insist that entry is only allowed for those seeking medical attention, students, Gaza citizens who have leave to stay in Egypt, Gazans seeking to travel abroad, and foreigners who want to depart Gaza. “Just as at any airport, Gazans need to show their reasons for entering Egypt,” an informed security source told the Weekly.

But what makes the short journey from Gaza to Egypt such an ordeal for those who have the right to enter the country?

“Sometimes people fabricate medical documents and attempt to enter the country through the crossing point. The clearance procedures take longer because we have to make sure these documents are not fake,” an official told the Weekly on condition of anonymity.

Egypt’s security apparatuses are keen not to let any Hamas-related Gazans into the country. “The majority of those who are not allowed entry are returned to Gaza for security reasons,” another security source said.

However, officials at the crossing point stress that they make exceptions. Gazans who are evidently ill have crossed without holding travel documents or even IDs, they say.

But Gazans speak of corruption on the Palestinian Authorities’ side as far as seeking the registration that allows them smooth entry into Egypt.

“For a Gazan to be registered with the PA he/she has to pay between $1,000 and $3,000. There is coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Egyptian security authorities,” the tourism student claimed. Registration, he added, is a lucrative business for the Palestinian authorities.

Haj Mohamed was lucky enough to be granted entry clearance along with his son from the Rafah crossing authorities after three attempts. But hundreds of other Gazans who were waiting at the crossing hall were less fortunate. Still hoping to be allowed to enter Egypt at some point, they have two options. Either bed down on the ground near the crossing point or return to their homes and restart the journey the following day.

EDITOR: The footage shot by Iara Lee was included on yesterday’s weblog.

Gaza flotilla attack: activist releases new footage: The Guardian

Documentary maker Iara Lee smuggles out video despite Israeli attempt to confiscate all recordings
Israeli Attack on the Mavi Marmara, May 31st 2010 // 15 min. from Cultures of Resistance on Vimeo. Warning: contains graphic scenes

New footage has emerged of the Israeli assault on a convoy of aid ships headed to Gaza in which nine activists were killed.

The high-quality film was reportedly recorded by New York-based documentary maker Iara Lee aboard the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish ship that bore the brunt of the Israeli attacks.

Israel attempted to confiscate all footage recorded by participants in the Gaza Freedom flotilla – including taking away mobile phones – but Lee managed to smuggle one hour of video out of the country by hiding it in her underwear, it was reported.

The 15 minutes of film posted online shows the moments leading up to and during the Israeli commandos’ assault on the Mavi Marmara.

At one stage, the captain of the boat can be heard over the public address system saying: “Do not show resistance … They are using live ammunition … Be calm, be very calm.” Gunshots can be heard.

The film includes footage of an Israeli inflatable boat carrying commandos, and troops can be seen rappelling from a helicopter on to the Mavi Marmara. While they do so, two men on the Marmara can be seen using catapults aimed at the soldiers, who are high above them, although the projectiles they are firing cannot be ascertained.

At one point, a passenger on the boat says to the camera: “[The activists] hold two soldiers down here, bleeding and wounded.” One soldier can be seen being carried down the stairs of the vessel. In an interview with Democracy Now, Lee said the soldiers were injured in the commotion. “They got treatment by our passengers,” she said.

A number of passengers are shown in the video receiving medical treatment for wounds, including one man being resuscitated. He does not appear to respond. At the end of the footage a woman can be heard shouting: “We have no guns here, we are civilians taking care of injured people. Don’t use violence, we need help.”

Lee described the attack as terrifying. “[The Israelis] came to kill,” she said. “They wanted to take over the ship.”

More than 600 pro-Palestinian activists were detained by Israel in the 31 May raids on the aid convoy. There was global condemnation of the assault but Israel claimed its troops acted in self-defence after coming under attack from members of an “extremist” Turkish group.

It announced on Monday it would conduct an internal investigation into the incident, defying pressure for a thorough international inquiry.

The UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions said any inquiry set up by Israel should include “all video and other records of the incident, including those confiscated from civilians”. Philip Alston said it must be able to interview all key witnesses, including military personnel.

“Any inquiry set up by Israel to investigate the Gaza flotilla incident must be given a genuine capacity to find the facts. Without that capacity an inquiry will simply not be considered credible.”

Alston said the inquiry must be independent of government, have full legal authority to investigate and make its final report open to the public.

EDITOR: If any of the readers knows about a more disgusting and cynical position by any politician, please send me the link. Israel has only paid Tony Liar $1 Million in Tel Aviv University prize, but for this little sum Tony never tires of lendinga helping hand at difficult times like this… Israel can rest assured, as long as Tony is settling the conflict…

Rush to Gaza, Tony! They may have some canned fruit for you!

‘Israel seeks global support to improve flow of goods to Gaza’: Haaretz

Netanyahu and Tony Blair meet in Jerusalem to discuss Gaza blockade, means to increase import of civilian goods, end weapons smuggling, PM’s office says.
Israel said on Friday it wants to enlist global support to improve the flow of civilian goods to the blockaded Gaza Strip, while seeing to it that weapons do not reach the Hamas-ruled territory.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shakes hands with Middle East Quartet Envoy Tony Blair on June 08, 2010 in Jerusalem, Israel.

Photo by: GPO
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under rising pressure to ease Israel’s three-year siege on Gaza since a deadly raid on a Turkish-backed aid ship destined for the enclave last month, held talks on the issue with Middle East envoy Tony Blair.

“The aim of the meeting was to recruit international support behind the principle that weapons and military supportive material will not reach Gaza or Hamas, while humanitarian and civilian goods may reach the area and its residents via additional means,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

Israel further eased restrictions on goods to Gaza this week by announcing it would permit additional food items such as snack foods and carbonated beverages to be imported via Israeli-controlled crossings, starting next week.

The announcement was made on Wednesday as U.S. President Barack Obama and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held talks in Washington about the Gaza embargo, as highlighted by the lethal May 31 raid, and ways to advance Middle East peace talks.

In the seaborne incident, Israeli soldiers shot dead nine Turkish protesters after being assaulted with knives and clubs when they boarded the humanitarian aid vessel to prevent it from breaching the blockade to reach Gaza’s coast.

A variety of goods enter Gaza from neighboring Egypt as well, but aid groups have warned of a looming humanitarian disaster in the area, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, due to Israel’s restrictions on goods transiting its crossings.

Israel says the embargo it imposed when Hamas wrestled power over the Strip in a bloody coup in 2007is aimed at preventing weapons from reaching the Iranian-backed Islamists who have refused peace initiatives with Israel.

Israel has also largely banned cement imports into Gaza, which has limited efforts to rebuild homes damaged in a three-week war launched in late 2008 with the stated aim of curbing cross-border rocket fire.

Mad Israelis section

Don’t do us any favors: YNet

Hanoch Daum responds to latest cancellation of musical performance in Israel
Published:     06.08.10
There is only one way to deal with artists who lack any political and diplomatic understanding, and who make pretenses of serving as judges when it comes to our region: Ignore them.

The State of Israel will remain strong even without a summer performance that aimed to attract 30,000 people and was now cancelled. It’s a pity, but certainly not something that should make us lose sleep. We will not be accepting lectures about morality and have our performance graded by fools who happen to sing well.

This is not the way for members of the Pixies to end the vital blockade around the Gaza Strip.

So are you interested in annulling the blockade? Instead of confronting the producer of your concert in Israel, how about you confront Hamas, dedicate a song to the Shalit family, and demand that the captors allow the Red Cross to visit the Israeli soldier?
Perhaps you should boycott terror-supporters, wherever they are, while condemning people who fire missiles at innocent civilians?

There’s been much buzz about the cancellation of the shows in Israel, but I suggest that all of us calm down. Life was nice enough even without the Pixies, and it will continue to be that way.
A summertime concert is a lovely event, but no more than that. We should stop worshiping these kinds of shows and stop turning these concerts into a barometer for our national strength. It’s pathetic, and mostly unnecessary. They don’t want to come? Go ahead, don’t come.

This pretense to boycott a state, punish it, and screw its citizens is a megalomaniac gesture by people who believe that they’re the center of the universe. So have a great summer, everyone. Don’t come. We’ll be just fine without you.

EDITOR: Now even science proves we have aright to kill everyone – we belong here…

An example of Israeli science, which reminds one of the work of academics in the service of other, unnamed regimes.

Landmark study proves 90% of Jews are genetically linked to the Levant: Haaretz

Jews in communities around the globe show more genetic similarities with each other than they do with their non-Jewish neighbors, except in India and Ethiopia.

Asaf Shtull-Trauring
A  new study shows that Jews in communities around the globe show more genetic similarities with each other than they do with their non-Jewish neighbors.

The only three exceptions were the Jews of India, Ethiopia, and Georgia, who had more similarity to their host nations than to other Jewish communities.
The international study, led by researchers from Rambam Medical Center in Haifa and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, mapped the Jewish genome for the first time. The research encompassed communities representing most of the world’s Jewish population.

The study also showed the genetic ties between the Jewish people and other peoples of the Levant: In communities representing 90 percent of the Jewish people worldwide, Jews were more genetically similar to non-Jewish Levantines than their non-Jewish hosts were.

The analysis discovered genetic substructures not found in most other Middle Eastern populations.
Researchers from eight countries – Israel, Britain, the United States, Russia, Spain, Estonia, Portugal and Italy – compared 600,000 genetic markers in 114 people from 14 Diaspora Jewish communities and 1,161 people from 69 non-Jewish populations.
Their findings were published yesterday in the journal “Nature” and will be presented today at an international conference of doctors and researchers at Rambam.
“Contemporary Jews comprise an aggregate of ethno-religious communities whose worldwide members identify with each other through various shared religious, historical and cultural traditions,” said the introduction to the article, whose lead researchers were Dr. Doron Behar of Rambam and Prof. Richard Villems of the University of Tartu in Estonia. “Historical evidence suggests common origins in the Middle East, followed by migrations.”

“Although many genetic studies have shed light on Jewish origins,” it noted, no previous study has addressed “genome-wide patterns of variation across the vast geographic span of Jewish Diaspora communities and their respective neighbors.”