‘Israel may compensate Turkish families of Gaza flotilla raid victims’: Haaretz
Ben-Eliezer and Davutoglu discussed during their meeting acceptable version of apology and compensation, amid covert efforts to rebuild shaky ties.
A senior Israeli minister indicated during secret talks in Turkey this week that Jerusalem may be willing to compensate the families of those killed in an Israel Navy raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reported on Thursday.
The clandestine meeting between Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu in Brussels on Wednesday, which raised a storm both in Israel and in Turkey, was the first high-level talks between the tense allies since the May 31 raid that left nine Turkish national dead.
“Davutoglu reminded Ben-Eliezer of Turkey’s demands from Israel, including an apology, payment of compensation to families of those killed and wounded, an international inquiry and an end to the blockade of Gaza,” a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters.
According to Hurriyet, moves toward such compensation would be made only after Israel completed its internal investigation into the raid.
Turkish sources have reported that during the meeting the two ministers tried to hammer out an acceptable version of the apology Turkey is demanding from Israel, as well as agree on compensation for the families of those killed in Israel’s raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. “There has to be a clear Israeli statement that is not just an expression of regret at the deaths of the victims,” one Turkish source stated.
The Turkish foreign minister had originally asked the Turkish aid organization IHH to postpone its flotilla and allow the government to reach an agreement with Israel.
Davutoglu was concerned that such aid organizations might force Turkey into a foreign policy that conflicts with its own strategic interests. However, these organizations enjoy broad public support and can impact elections.
Davutoglu also believes both that Israel’s response was disproportionate and that it is not in Turkey’s interests to create an irreparable rift between the countries. This contradicts the position of several senior members of the ruling party who – more than they want to penalize Israel – fear a boosted Davutoglu seeking party leadership if not the premiership, should Erdogan run for the presidency.
Meanwhile, a Turkish human rights organization announced that preliminary findings indicate that some of the victims were killed by gunfire from inside Israel Navy helicopters and not by soldiers who had boarded the ship.
They cite the angle of the wounds and the type of head wounds of some victims. However, because the bodies were washed before they were transferred to Turkey, it is difficult to determine if they were shot from close or long range.
“Davutoglu reminded Ben-Eliezer of Turkey’s demands from Israel, including an apology, payment of compensation to families of those killed and wounded, an international inquiry and an end to the blockade of Gaza,” a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters.
According to Hurriyet, moves toward such compensation would be made only after Israel completed its internal investigation into the raid.
Turkish sources have reported that during the meeting the two ministers tried to hammer out an acceptable version of the apology Turkey is demanding from Israel, as well as agree on compensation for the families of those killed in Israel’s raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. “There has to be a clear Israeli statement that is not just an expression of regret at the deaths of the victims,” one Turkish source stated.
The Turkish foreign minister had originally asked the Turkish aid organization IHH to postpone its flotilla and allow the government to reach an agreement with Israel.
Davutoglu was concerned that such aid organizations might force Turkey into a foreign policy that conflicts with its own strategic interests. However, these organizations enjoy broad public support and can impact elections.
Davutoglu also believes both that Israel’s response was disproportionate and that it is not in Turkey’s interests to create an irreparable rift between the countries. This contradicts the position of several senior members of the ruling party who – more than they want to penalize Israel – fear a boosted Davutoglu seeking party leadership if not the premiership, should Erdogan run for the presidency.
Meanwhile, a Turkish human rights organization announced that preliminary findings indicate that some of the victims were killed by gunfire from inside Israel Navy helicopters and not by soldiers who had boarded the ship.
They cite the angle of the wounds and the type of head wounds of some victims. However, because the bodies were washed before they were transferred to Turkey, it is difficult to determine if they were shot from close or long range.
Chavez denounces Israel as a ‘genocidal’ government”: The Independent
Monday, 28 June 2010
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez denounced Israel as a “genocidal” government yesterday as he hosted Syrian President Bashar Assad on his first visit to Latin America.
Chavez has drawn close to Syria and Iran, and cut ties with Israel last year to protest its military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
“We have common enemies,” Mr Chavez said, describing them as “the Yankee empire, the genocidal state of Israel.”
Mr Chavez had particularly strong words for Israel throughout Assad’s visit. He reiterated his view on Saturday that the Golan Heights – captured from Syria by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war – should one day be returned to Syria.
“Someday the genocidal state of Israel will be put in its place, in the proper place and hopefully a real democratic state will be born,” Mr Chavez said. “But it has become the murderous arm of the Yankee empire – who can doubt it? – which threatens all of us.”
Yesterday Mr Assad called Israel a state “based on crime, slaughter.”
“It’s a state without limits,” he said through an interpreter.
Mr Assad praised Mr Chavez for standing up to the US and supporting the Palestinians. Mr Chavez’s outspoken stances in favour of Iran and against Israel have given him a following in the Middle East, and Assad referred to him at one point as an “Arab leader.”
The two allies spoke to an audience of Syrian immigrants at a Caracas hotel on Sunday before Mr Assad left for Cuba, where he did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport.
His regional tour will also eventually take him to Brazil and Argentina.
Before leaving Venezuela, the Syrian leader condemned Israel’s blockade of Gaza and said Syria wants peace in the Mideast but not “submission” on Israel’s terms.
Assad also sardonically suggested Venezuela and Syria could help form an “an organisation called the ‘axis of evil,’ in which good governments would participate.”
Former US President George Bush once used that term for enemies such as Iran and Syria.
Terry Crawford-Browne: To end the occupation, cripple Israeli banks: The Electronic Intifada
By Terry Crawford-Browne, 30 June 2010
The international banking sanctions campaign in New York against apartheid South Africa during the 1980s is regarded as the most effective strategy in bringing about a nonviolent end to the country’s apartheid system. The campaign culminated in President FW de Klerk’s announcement in February 1990, releasing Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners, and the beginning of constitutional negotiations towards a non-racial and democratic society.
If international civil society is serious about urgently ending Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights, including ending the occupation, then suspension of SWIFT transactions to and from Israeli banks offers an instrument to help bring about a peaceful resolution of an intractable conflict. With computerization, international banking technology has advanced dramatically in the subsequent 20 years since the South African anti-apartheid campaign.
Although access to New York banks remains essential for foreign exchange transactions because of the role of the dollar, interbank transfer instructions are conducted through the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), which is based in Belgium. So, instead of New York — as in the period when sanctions were applied on South Africa– Belgium is now the pressure point.
SWIFT links 8,740 financial institutions in 209 countries. Without access to SWIFT and its interbank payment network, countries are unable either to pay for imports or to receive payment for exports. In short, no payment — no trade. Should it come to a point where trade sanctions are imposed on Israel, it may be able to evade them. Instead of chasing trade sanctions-busters and plugging loopholes, it is both faster and much more effective to suspend the payment system.
The Israeli government may consider itself to be militarily and diplomatically invincible, given support from the United States, and other governments, but Israel’s economy is exceptionally dependent upon international trade. It is thus very vulnerable to financial retaliation. South Africa’s apartheid government had also believed itself to be immune from foreign pressure.
Without SWIFT, Israel’s access to the international banking system would be crippled. Banking is the lifeblood of any economy. Without payment for imports or exports, the Israeli economy would quickly collapse. The matter has gained additional urgency with the bill now before the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, to penalize any person who promotes the imposition of boycotts against Israel. Another important political factor is that SWIFT is not only outside American jurisdiction, it is also beyond the reach of Israeli military retaliation.
Israel has long experience in sanctions-busting since the 1948 Arab boycotts. Apartheid South Africa was also well experienced in sanctions-busting — breaking oil embargoes was almost a “national sport.” Trade sanctions are invariably full of loopholes. Profiteering opportunities abound, as illustrated by Iraq, Cuba and numerous countries against which for many years the United States unsuccessfully has applied trade sanctions. Iran conducts its trade through Dubai, which happily profits from the political impasse.
Suspension of bank payments plugs such loopholes, and also alters the balance of power so that meaningful negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians become even possible. This is because banking sanctions impact quickly upon financial elites who have the clout to pressure governments to concede political change. Trade sanctions, by contrast, impact hardest on the poor or lower-paid workers, who have virtually no political influence.
SWIFT will, however, only take action against Israeli banks if ordered to do so by a Belgian court, and then only in very exceptional circumstances. Such very exceptional circumstances are now well-documented by the UN-commissioned Goldstone report into Israel’s winter 2008-09 invasion and massacre in Gaza and by the attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on 31 May 2010. There is also a huge body of literature from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other organizations detailing Israeli war crimes and violations of humanitarian law.
The Israeli government, like that of apartheid South Africa, has become a menace to the international community. Corruption and abuses of human rights are invariably interconnected. Israel’s long military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, for example, has corrupted almost every aspect of Israeli society, most especially its economy. The Organization For Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported in December 2009 that the Israeli government lacks commitment in tackling international corruption and money laundering.
The international financial system is exceedingly sensitive about allegations of money laundering, but also to any associations with human rights abuses. Organized crime and money laundering are major international security threats, as illustrated by the United States subpoena after the 11 September 2001 attacks of SWIFT data to track terrorist financing. The website Who Profits? (www.whoprofits.org) lists hundreds of international and Israeli companies that illegally profiteer from the occupation.
Their operations range from construction of the “apartheid wall” and settlements to agricultural produce grown on confiscated Palestinian land. As examples, Caterpillar, Volvo and Hyundai supply bulldozing equipment to demolish Palestinian homes. British supermarkets sell fresh produce grown in the West Bank, but illegally labelled as Israeli. Ahava markets Dead Sea mud and cosmetics.
The notorious Lev Leviev claims in Dubai that Leviev diamonds are of African origin, and are cut and polished in the United States rather than Israel. They are sourced from Angola, Namibia and also allegedly Zimbabwe, and can rightly be described as “blood diamonds.” Israeli diamond exports in 2008 were worth $19.4 billion, and accounted for almost 35 percent of Israeli exports. Industrial grade diamonds are essential to Israel’s armaments industry, and its provision of surveillance equipment to the world’s most unsavory dictatorships. Such profiteering depends on foreign exchange and access to the international payments system. Hence interbank transfers are essential, and SWIFT — willingly or unwillingly — has become complicit, as were the New York banks with apartheid South Africa.
Accordingly, a credible civil society organization amongst the Palestinian diaspora should lead the SWIFT sanctions campaign against Israeli banks. And, per the South African experience, it should be led by civil society rather than rely on governments.
Each bank has an eight letter SWIFT code that identifies both the bank and its country of domicile. “IL” are the fifth and sixth letters in SWIFT codes that identify Israel. The four major Israeli banks and their SWIFT codes are Israel Discount Bank (IDBILIT), Bank Hapoalim (POALILIT), Bank Leumi (LUMIILIT) and Bank of Israel (ISRAILIJ).
Such a suspension would not affect domestic banking transactions within Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip — or international transfers to Palestinian banks that have separate “PS” identities. The campaign can be reversed as soon as the objectives have been achieved, and without long-term economic damage.
What is required is an urgent application in a Belgian court ordering SWIFT to reprogram its computers to suspend all transactions to and from Israeli banks until the Israeli government agrees to end the occupation of the West Bank including East Jerusalem, and that it will dismantle the “apartheid wall;” the Israeli government recognizes the fundamental rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and Israel recognizes, respects and promotes the rights of Palestinian refugees.
The writer is a retired banker, who advised the South African Council of Churches on the banking sanctions campaign against apartheid South Africa. He spent October 2009 to January 2010 in East Jerusalem monitoring checkpoints, house demolitions and evictions, and liaising with Israeli peace groups. He lives in Cape Town.
Israel will free 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit: Haartez
Binyamin Netanyahu draws the line at paying ‘any price’ for freedom of soldier, who was abducted in 2006
Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, tonight confirmed he was prepared to release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, but drew the line at paying “any price” for the soldier’s freedom.
In a live broadcast, clearly in response to pressure brought by a 12-day march across the country by the soldier’s supporters, Netanyahu spoke emotionally about the Shalits’ ordeal but insisted he bore responsibility for the nation’s interests.
“I look into the pained eyes of Shalit’s family and feel the pain with them,” the prime minister said. “The call to pay any price is a natural cry from the hearts of his fathers, mothers, grandparents, brothers and sisters. As a brother, as a father, as a son, I understand this cry from the depths of my heart. But before me I see the security of all the state’s citizens.
“The state of Israel is willing to pay a heavy price for the release of Shalit, but it cannot say ‘at any price.’ ”
Germany has brokered intense negotiations between Israel and Hamas, who abducted Shalit just over four years ago, but the talks ground to a halt in the new year. The stumbling blocks, confirmed by Netanyahu last night, were over some of the names on Hamas’s list of prisoners to be released in the deal, and Israel’s refusal to allow the prisoners to return to the West Bank. Israel insists on releasing them to Gaza or deporting them outside Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Netanyahu said last night: “The German mediator’s offer, which we agreed to accept, called for the release of 1,000 terrorists. This is the price I am prepared to pay to bring Gilad home. I said yes to the deal and it is ready for immediate implementation.” But, he went on, “there are prices that I am not prepared to pay … I am steadfast on two basic principles: the first principle is that dangerous terrorists will not return to the areas of Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] from where they can continue to harm Israel’s citizens”.
The second principle, he said, was that no “arch-terrorists” would be released.
Noam Shalit, the abducted soldier’s father, said Netanyahu’s statement was a “recycling” of the position taken by the former prime minister, Ehud Olmert.
However, Zvi Shalit, the soldier’s grandfather, said Netanyahu’s position represented a “death sentence for Gilad”.
The march, which will end outside the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem on 8 July, has attracted huge support from both the public and the media. Thousands of people have joined the core marchers each day, attending rallies and tying yellow ribbons along the route.
Shalit’s fate has huge resonance in a country where military service is a requirement for all young adults.
Shalit was abducted on 25 June, 2006, when militants burrowed beneath the Gaza perimeter fence to raid a military post. Two fellow soldiers were killed.
There has been no concrete proof-of-life evidence since Hamas released a video of the soldier last September.
Israeli PM Netanyahu renews Shalit prisoner swap offer: BBC
Israel has renewed its offer to release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners if the captured soldier Gilad Shalit is freed.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned he would not pay “any price” for the release of Sgt Shalit, seized by militants on the Gaza border in 2006.
Talks to free Sgt Shalit broke down last year, after representatives of Israel and Hamas, which controls Gaza, failed to agree on a list of prisoners.
Hamas wants militants freed who Israel says have “blood on their hands”.
On Sunday, Sgt Shalit’s family began an 11-day cross-country march to the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, where they say they plan to camp until he comes home.
‘Difficult deal’
In a televised address, Mr Netanyahu said the people of Israel were united in their desire to bring the captured soldier home, but that the nation could not pay any price because experience showed that many Palestinian militants released before had returned to violence.
Thousands joined Sgt Shalit’s parents on their long march to Jerusalem
“The most famous case is the ‘Jibril Deal’, in which 1,150 were released. Almost half went back to terrorism,” he said.
Mr Netanyahu then alleged that those released under the 1983 agreement – including Ahmed Yassin, who went on to found Hamas – “went back to murdering hundreds of Israelis and constituted the hard-core of the second Intifada”.
“In the deal presented by the German mediator, to which I agreed, there were 1,000 terrorists – that’s the price I am willing to face to bring Shalit home,” he added.
Mr Netanyahu said the offer from December was “ready for immediate implementation”, and no response had been received from Hamas.
“But there are prices that I am not prepared to pay and they are not included in this difficult deal,” he added.
“I stick to two principles – the terrorists must not return to Judea and Samaria [the West Bank], and no arch-terrorists will be released.”
Israeli media said Hamas quickly dismissed Mr Netanyahu’s offer.