NOVANEWS
Posted by: Sammi Ibrahem
Chair of West Midland PSC
Dear Friends,
Tonight a rather long message. Sorry, that’s the way things go. Sometimes there is more news than at other times. The final item (item 10) is a link to a video of about 8 minutes on the conflation of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. Worth watching even if you are not new to the subject, and definitely worth distributing widely.
The lead item is on the recognition of Palestine within the ’67 borders by more South American states, and the expectation of yet more to follow.
Item 2 is about today’s destruction of the Shepherd hotel in the Sheikh Jarrah district of East Jerusalem, and the plan to construct in its place and in the area 20 units for Jews—a move that obviously distresses Palestinians. Will this begin another intifada? I hope not. Israel would love to have the Palestinians become violent. Israel knows how to deal with violence. It uses more force. Israel also deals with non-violent protest, but not with as deadly force as when it fights violence.
Following the report on the event is an update informing us that the “EU denounces Israel’s demolition of Sheikh Jarrah hotel.” Very good, and indeed the EU and the rest of the world should denounce. But unfortunately that is not enough. Actions speak much louder than words. Had the EU accompanied its criticism with sanctions of one sort or another, then it would have been something!
In item 3 the UN warns that Israel intends to make life more difficult for Palestinians by new border controls. Never mind that till now Israel has not settled where its borders between itself and the Palestinians are. The controls will be put in regardless.
Items 4 and 5 are about Jawalier Abu Rahme, killed by tear gas at a protest against the route of the wall in Bil’in. In item 4 her family absolutely disputes the IOF’s attempts to wiggle out of its responsibility for her death. In item 5 Gideon Levy calls the IOF’s lies about her for what they are: propaganda.
Item 6 relates that there is an academic boycott of Ariel college in the colony of Ariel. I appreciate their sentiment, but it is somewhat hypocritical. After all, on whose land were Israel’s other universities built?
Items 7, 8, and 9 are more or less on one and the same subject: the Knesset’s decision to set up a Parliamentary committee to probe Human Rights organizations funding sources. In item 7 Israeli intellectuals decry the setting up of the committee. In item 8 Jewish Peace news discredits it. And in item 9 Zvi Bar’el terms the parliamentary committee “Israel’s very own Revolutionary Guards.”
All the best,
Dorothy
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1. Jerusalem Post,
January 9, 2011
Photo by: AP
More nations will recognize Palestinian state, PA says
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=202727&newsletter=090111&utm_source=Pulseem&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Jpost_Newsletter_09/01
[see also Al Jazeera on the event http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/2011198260555362.html]
By TOVAH LAZAROFF, KHALED ABU TOAMEH AND GIL SHELF
08/01/2011
After Chile’s recognition, Jerusalem worried other Latin American countries will follow suit; statement doesn’t mention pre-’67 borders
Israel fears that most, if not all, Latin American countries will have recognized a Palestinian state by mid-February.
On Friday, Chile became the fifth Latin American country in the last month to recognize a Palestinian state. It followed recognition of Palestinian statehood by Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador.
RELATED:
South American countries recognize Palestinian state
Latin America: Southern discomfort
Uruguay was expected to make a similar declaration in the coming weeks. One Israeli official said he feared that the trend of such recognitions would now seem “irresistible” to other Latin American countries.
“We expect that all the [Latin American] countries who have already recognized a PA state to put pressure on those who have not done so,” the official said.
He added he believed that most, if not all, Latin American countries would recognize a Palestinian state by the time the a summit of Latin American and Arab countries was held in mid-February in Peru.
About 100 other countries world wide have recognized Palestinian statehood — most after Palestinians declared “independence” in 1988, and a few others, mostly former Soviet republics, did so after the 1993 Oslo peace accords. In recent years, Venezuela (2005) and Costa Rica (2008) also provided recognition.
According to the Foreign Ministry, Cuba and Nicaragua also gave past recognition to a Palestinian state.
Palestinians in the last month have preferred to push for unilateral recognition of their state rather than engage in direct negotiations with Israel for a two-state solution.
Fledgling talks between Israel and the Palestinians were held in September, but broke down when Israel did not renew its 10-month moratorium on new settlement construction.
Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno said his country is following UN resolutions with its decision to recognize the existence of the state of Palestine as “a free, independent and sovereign state, coexisting in peace with the State of Israel.”
Chile’s decision follows a meeting in Brazil between Chilean President Sebastian Pinera and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been lobbying his Latin American counterparts to show their support.
Chile, whose Palestinian population of about 400,000 is among the largest outside the Arab world, also had been lobbied intensely by Israeli representatives.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called the Chilean president a number of weeks ago and asked him not to take such a stand.
The Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry did not issue a response. But Israeli officials warned that such declarations were harmful to the peace process because it reinforces the Palestinian belief that they do not need to negotiate.
Netanyahu has continually called to the Palestinians to enter direct negotiations. The Palestinians in turn have refused to do so unless Israel halts all settlement activity.
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki recently told The Associated Press that his government’s aim was to persuade more countries to endorse the 1967 boundaries.
“We are making efforts so that the rest of the countries will first recognize a Palestinian state in the ’67 borders and secondly raise the level of Palestinian diplomatic representation to that of an embassy,” he told the AP.
But Chile’s move on Friday said only that it supported a Palestinian state, but did follow that statement with a show of support for the pre-1967 boundary.
Chile added that it “has completely supported the right of the state of Israel to exist within secure and internationally recognized frontiers.”
Recognizing pre-1967 borders for a Palestinian state could undermine Chile’s own position in a dispute over its maritime border with Peru, now before the International Court of Justice in the Hague. Chile maintains that the border was established by treaty after an 1879 war in which Chile seized a large slice of southern Peru and left Bolivia landlocked, and should not now be changed.
The government’s resolution also noted that both Jewish and Palestinian communities have been key to Chile’s social, cultural, political and economic development for many years, working in harmony that should serve as a model for their both the Israeli and Palestinian states. It’s a message that Pinera plans to make personally during a visit to the Middle East in March.
Gabriel Zaliasnik, president of Chile’s Jewish community, said he was “satisfied” with the wording of the proclamation because it did not refer to borders.
“Israelis and Palestinians will eventually define all the core issues like borders,” he said. ‘For the Jewish people, Jerusalem and borders of the state of Israel can not be provided to third parties.”
Unlike the five previous Latin American countries which have recognized a Palestinian state in the past three months, including Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia and Ecuador, Chile has a right-leaning government whose politics are not necessarily critical of the US, and by extension, of Israel.
Separately on Saturday, the PA renewed its call to the EU to recognize a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders.
“The European position must be developed from the phase of issuing very good statements rejecting settlements and calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital to recognizing such as state on the 1967 borders,” said Nimer Hammad, political advisor to PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
“This is a very important issue because it will boost the peace process remarkably. In addition, it would put pressure on Israel,” Hammad said.
To date, the European Union has consistently said that direct negotiations are the best way to achieve a two-state solution.
AP contributed to this report.
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2. Ynet,
January 09, 2011
East Jerusalem
‘Chance for peace ruined together with hotel’
Israelis, Palestinians gather outside Shepherd Hotel compound in east Jerusalem as bulldozers tear building down in preparation for construction of housing units for Jewish residents.”It’s like tearing down Hitler’s home,” says right-eing activist, while Palestinian Sheikh Jarrah resident describes sight as ‘demolition of chance for peace with Israel’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4011141,00.html
Yair Altman
Residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in east Jerusalem woke up Sunday morning to the sound of bulldozers. Looking out their windows they saw cranes and heavy machinery demolishing the old Shepherd Hotel compound which has recently become another point of contention in the already tense neighborhood.
The building originally served as the home of Jerusalem Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini who was known for his ties with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. After the Six Day War, the building served as a Border Guard HQ before being purchased by Jewish-American businessman Irwin Moskowitz 25 years ago. A plan to build a Jewish neighborhood in the site has prompted criticism which extended all the way to Washington.
Half of the building was demolished Sunday. The remaining part is meant to serve the construction project which has attracted many journalists, Ateret Cohanim activists as well as Palestinians including Adnan Al Husseini, the Palestinian-appointed governor of Jerusalem. The Al Aqsa Mosque Mufti also arrived at the site, which did not see any riots.
Daniel Luria, a member of Ateret Cohanim – a group promoting Jewish settlement in Jerusalem, also visited the site and could hardly contain his satisfaction with the work being performed. “These sounds are special. It’s like destroying Hitler or Himler’s home,” he says. “Haj Amin al-Husseini collaborated with the Nazis and set up a Muslim department which was responsible for the murder of 90% of Yugoslavia’s Jews. This man wanted to kill any Jew who lived in Israel and therefore nothing is more just and satisfying than demolishing this house,” he says.
Demolition works at the Shepherd Hotel compound (Photo: Noam Moskowitz)
Any claims made against the construction at the site Luria rejects out of hand. “Jews purchased this land in a lawful manner. There are those who say it’s an Arab area, but we are near Ramat Eshkol, the French Hill and Mount Scopus. It’s the heart of a Jewish zone and that is why there is no reason to prevent Jews who purchased this land lawfully to build their homes here.”
Adnan Al Husseini, Palestinian-appointed governor of Jerusalem, sees things decidedly differently. While he observed the demolition, his Fatah colleague Nidal Abu Garbiyeh was arrested by the police and taken into custody. “It’s a very dangerous move,” Al Husseini says.
“This hotel is a symbol being ruined, and is sadly not the only one. Many more Palestinian homes will be razed, all this in the future Palestinian capital. If we thought there were some Israelis left who were interested in peace it’s clear we were wrong. All that’s left to do is urge the international community to step in, in order to salvage what is left of the peace process.”
Shepherd Hotel prior to demolition (Photo: Reuters)
Ravi Nasser, a Sheikh Jarrah resident, also has difficulty accepting the hotel’s demolition. “It’s a new settlement here in east Jerusalem,” he says. “I’m a Palestinian and we are in the capital of a future Palestinian state. All the neighbors I spoke to are down too because Israel continues to disregard our right to live here safely and peacefully.”
Nasser stressed that he and his Palestinian neighbors have no plans to ignore this new development. “We started organizing ourselves and will definitely protest what’s happening here. Anything is possible as far as we’re concerned. We oppose the occupation which is illegal according to International Law.”
Like Nasser, some Israeli Jews also protested the construction plan. “What we’re witnessing here is another step in the cruel process called the ‘Judaization of east Jerusalem’,” Assaf Sharon from the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity movement says. “This act is aimed at sabotaging any chance for peace and co-existence in this city. Nothing here benefits Israel. It’s suicidal policy.”
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Ynetnews > News > Breaking News
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4011214,00.html
EU denounces Israel’s demolition of Sheikh Jarrah hotel
Published: 01.09.11,
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton denounced Israel’s demolition of the Shepherd Hotel in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem, saying it was a “Palestinian symbol.” She said east Jerusalem was part of the occupied Palestinian territories and the EU does not recognize Israel’s annexation of this area.
The UK’s Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt also condemned the demolition, saying, “This latest settlement activity does not help – on the contrary, it raises tensions unnecessarily.” (Ronen Medzini and AFP)
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3, West Bank: UN warns of new Israeli controls
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12137377
By Jon Donnison
BBC News, West Bank
The United Nations says it is increasingly concerned that Israel is about to tighten access restrictions to the occupied West Bank.
It has been briefing aid agencies that Israel could soon increase restrictions and strengthen its checkpoints.
The Israeli army declined to comment but privately officials acknowledge that changes will take place in the coming months.
Israel controls all movement in and out of the Palestinian territory.
The West Bank has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967.
It is not know what form those changes will take. But UN officials say they fear they could involve making it more difficult for foreign workers to travel between Israel and the West Bank without getting pre-arranged permission.
They also believe the changes would make it harder for Palestinians living in Israel, especially Jerusalem, to gain access to the West Bank. They also say it would make it harder to get goods in and out.
UNRWA ‘More like Gaza’
The UN says it fears Israel could tighten its procedures so that entering and leaving the West Bank could become more like getting in and out of Gaza, where extremely tight restrictions apply.
“The collective punishment of 1.5 millions in Gaza has severely damaged Israel’s image around the world. I can not see how establishing a Gaza-style crossing regime would be in anyone’s interest,” said Chris Gunness, a spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency which provides support for Palestinian refugees.
“I fervently urge Israel not to push ahead with its plan,” he added.
In recent months Israel has been carrying out building work to expand some of its West Bank checkpoints, making them appear more permanent.
Seeking recognition
All this happens as the Palestinian Authority under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas, is increasingly talking about trying to independently seek a United Nations Security Council resolution to recognise a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders.
In the 1967 Six Day War, Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem It also captured the Golan Heights from Syria.
It is believed Israel has been discussing changing its crossing procedures in and out of the West Bank for some time.
But some analysts believe the government could eventually introduce such measures as a response to any Palestinian move to achieve international recognition of a Palestinian state.
Israel has been very critical of such moves, saying a Palestinian state can only be achieved through negotiation with Israel.
In the past, Israel has argued that by strengthening security at the main checkpoints in and out of the West Bank, it has been able to relax some of the internal checkpoints, making it easier for Palestinians to move around.
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4. The Observer,
9 January 2011
Palestinian mother tells of a family tragedy during protest against separation barrier. Daughter becomes third casualty in a West Bank family dedicated to ‘non-violent resistance’ against Israeli barrier
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/09/palestinians-ramallah-israeli-barrier
Ana Carbajosa, Bil’in, West Bank
The family of Jawaher Abu Rahme, 35, say she died after inhaling massive quantities of tear gas fired by Israeli forces. Photograph: Observer Sitting on a bed in the family house, surrounded by posters that commemorate the death of her son, Subhaia Musa Abu Rahme laments her latest loss. Jawaher, her 35-year-old daughter, died on New Year’s Day after collapsing in her home village of Bil’in during a demonstration against the Israeli separation barrier. Despite assurances to the contrary from the Israeli army, her family insist that she died after inhaling massive quantities of tear gas.
“How do you think I feel?” says Abu Rahme softly, a white scarf covering her head and an almost absent look in her eyes. She can hardly comprehend what has happened to her family or the repeated horrors that have been inflicted on it. The family has come to symbolise the Palestinian struggle against the occupation of the West Bank.
Last year, Abu Rahme’s son, Bassam – a charismatic member of the committees that organise “non-violent resistance” against the barrier – died after being struck by a gas canister at a demonstration. Another son, Ashraf, has been left with a limp after being shot at close range with rubber-coated steel bullets by an Israeli soldier. And now, Jawaher.
“She was the nicest girl in Bil’in. Here, everyone liked her. The wall confiscated our lands, and now my children are gone. I have nothing left”, says Abu Rahme, a 55-year-old widow.
“But every time we lose someone we love, we gain strength to fight against the occupation,” she adds. “This is our land and we are going to defend it. We will not stop until we tear down the wall.”
Outside the house, on the patio, a group of men mourn Jawaher. They eat dates, drink spiced coffee and chain smoke – but barely speak. Next door, the women gather in a separate room, as tradition dictates. Political delegations, friends, relatives and schoolchildren pass by to express their condolences for the kind-hearted young woman who had worked as a carer for two disabled children in nearby Ramallah.
From the Abu Rahmes’ neighbourhood, the barrier that separates the Palestinian territories from Israel – and which cuts off the famil y from its olive groves – is clearly visible. For more than five years, they have participated with their neighbours in the struggle against the construction. But for them, more than for any other family in the village, the battle has brought tragedy. And last week, Jawaher’s death returned them to the headlines.
Her family are adamant she died after inhaling the tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers during the demonstration in Bil’in. The army questions the reliability of Palestinian reports, including the hospital documents, and has complained in a statement of “lack of co-operation with the Palestinians”. It also says that although the army inquiry has not yet been completed, “a number of scenarios have been posited, among them the possibility that Abu Rahme’s death was entirely unrelated to the demonstration last Friday.”
For a visibly exhausted Subhaia Musa Abu Rahme, there is no such doubt.
“I was with my daughter, a bit far away from where the clashes were taking place, when the soldiers started shooting gas,” she remembers. “The wind brought the gas. We were very affected. I was feeling bad when my daughter told me that she could not take it any more and started vomiting.” Another of Jawaher’s brothers, Samir Ibrahim, 34, recalls calling an ambulance to take his sister to the hospital in which she later died.
“She was in a very bad condition,” he says. “They took her to a house and she was vomiting foam from her mouth. In four or five minutes, an ambulance came. They [the doctors] told us that she lacked oxygen due to the gas.”
Every Friday, Samir attends the demonstration against the Israeli separation barrier, built in the aftermath of the second intifada.
Clashes at the protests are common, with some Palestinians throwing stones and the army shooting tear gas, a fetid liquid known as skunk and employing other crowd dispersal weapons. A dense cloud of smoke fills the air and spreads over the village within seconds. It is not unusual for people to vomit in the streets, their eyes burning from the tear gas. But still, Samir, his family and friends keep up their display of defiance.
“We go to show our suffering,” he says. “It is our way to denounce that they are raping our land.” When asked if the hardships his family has gone through make them special, he says no. “We are like the others. This is only a test from God.”
Bil’in, about two miles from the 1967 armistice border, or Green Line, has always been an agricultural village. But the villagers, according to Michael Sfard, the Israeli lawyer representing them, are now prevented from getting to about 50% of their farmlands by the barrier. The impoverished Abu Rahmes are among those who lost their land.
Like the rest they can, in principle, enter their groves through a gate that the army is obliged to open for a certain number of hours a day. However, according to Sfard, the army does not always comply.
Back in the family home, Ashraf, the brother who was shot two years ago, listens attentively to his mother and Samir, a red-and-white Palestinian scarf tied around his neck. His shooting was filmed by an Israeli human rights group and the images travelled around the world. He considers himself lucky; not only did he escape with relatively minor injuries, but the lieutenant-colonel who ordered the shooting is now being judged in a military court. But last week there was no reason to be cheerful. “Our family is destroyed,” he says. “There will always be sadness in our family.”
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5, Haaretz,
January 9, 2011
The IDF uses propaganda like an authoritarian regime
Instead of working toward revealing the truth behind the recent death of an anti-fence demonstrator the IDF is reaching into its bag of lies.
Instead of working toward revealing the truth behind the recent death of an anti-fence demonstrator the IDF is reaching into its bag of lies.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-idf-uses-propaganda-like-an-authoritarian-regime-1.335985
By Gideon Levy
Jawaher Abu Ramah died young. She stood facing the demonstrators against the separation fence in her village, inhaled very large quantities of the gas that Israel Defense Forces soldiers fired that day, collapsed and died several hours later at a Ramallah hospital.
These are definitive facts. The IDF should have immediately issued a statement expressing sorrow for the death of the demonstrator, and said it would investigate the excessive means used for dispersing demonstrations at Bil’in, which had killed Bassem, Jawaher’s brother, for no reason. He was hit by a gas canister fired directly at his chest two and a half years ago.
So, the IDF began with the spreading of lies, making up facts and spinning tales, originating with officers who did not dare identify themselves. Following the investigation into Jawaher’s death, it is also necessary to investigate how the army dares to distort in this way. Perhaps it will disturb Israeli society more than the death of a demonstrator.
It started with the first announcement of the IDF spokesman who spoke of an “illegal demonstration.” Illegal, Avi Benayahu? Stealing land for the construction of enormous settlements and the enrichment of questionable developers is legal; the defense establishment’s continuously ignoring the High Court decision that the fence route needs to be changed is legal; the killing of Bassem is legal; and only the demonstration is illegal. Why is it illegal? Are the Palestinians and the anti-occupation activists not entitled to demonstrate? What demonstrations can be more legitimate than peasants protesting against the theft of their lands – demonstrations that resulted in the High Court ruling? How could the Palestinians demonstrate legally? And why are the IDF and the police capable of dispersing the demonstrations of wild and violent settlers without deaths and only the dispersal of Palestinian demonstrations becomes – not for the first time – fatal?
But that was not enough. The day after Jawaher was killed, the IDF began disseminating lies. It’s not clear why the army chose to embark on this campaign since a day after Jawaher’s death IDF soldiers intentionally killed a youth carrying a bottle at the Bik’ot crossing, but that did not stir any outburst. The IDF left little that it did not disseminate about poor Jawaher. It was said that she died at home in peace, and not in hospital. Oops, it was proved that she died in hospital. When the IDF learned that this trick did not succeed, it came up with other stories, a bag full of lies. Jawaher was not at the demonstration. There are no photos of her. She was there, observing from about 100 meters, and was choked by the smoke.
Another lie from the bag of the IDF: Jawaher had cancer, not just any cancer, but leukemia. She stood at the demonstration and suddenly collapsed and died of leukemia. Where did they pull that from? Perhaps because her father died of leukemia five years ago. Blood? Through its propagandists in the media, the IDF said that the funeral was “strange,” that her face was “covered” and that her body was covered in a “blood-soaked” shroud (perhaps she cut her wrists? ). No one saw the shroud, nor the covered face – only God knows their importance, but whatever. It’s enough that the IDF says leukemia and bloody shroud for the army or right-wing analysts to raid the media and spread their tales.
Jawaher watched the demonstration, inhaled gas, collapsed, was taken, in serious condition, by ambulance, to the hospital and died there the next day. As far as anyone knows, she did not suffer from leukemia. She had complained of vertigo, and the doctor diagnosed an ear infection. There was no autopsy, and the inventions on her medical past only desecrated the honor of the dead and her family. Even if she was taking medicine, as the IDF disseminated, did she not die as a result of inhaling gas?
It’s good to know that the death of Jawaher is on the IDF’s conscience. That is how it should be. All 21 Palestinian anti-fence demonstrators who were killed over the years, and with them dozens activists who were injured, including an American student who lost her eye during the summer, should also be on its conscience. But the way to deal with a troubled conscience needs to be through the exposure of the truth, not through lies. For the attention of the new IDF spokesman: The IDF is not a propaganda ministry of an authoritarian regime.
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6. Haaretz,
January 9, 2011
Israel Prize laureates join academic boycott of settlement university
155 academics sign petition calling Ariel, where the education center is located, an illegal settlement whose existence contravenes international law and the Geneva Convention.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-prize-laureates-join-academic-boycott-of-settlement-university-1.335954
By Or Kashti
Some 155 university and college faculty members have signed a petition calling for an academic boycott of the Ariel University Center.
In the petition, the lecturers state their “unwillingness to take part in any type of academic activity taking place in the college operating in the settlement of Ariel.” Furthermore, the petition states that “Ariel is not part of the sovereign state of Israel, and therefore it is impossible to require us to appear there.”
Among the signatories are three Israel Prize laureates – professors Yehoshua Kolodny of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Benjamin Isaac of Tel Aviv University and Itamar Procaccia of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
“We, academics from a variety of fields and from all the institutions of higher learning in Israel, herein express publicly our opposition to the continued occupation and the establishment of settlements,” the petition states. “Ariel was built on occupied land. Only a few kilometers away from flourishing Ariel, Palestinians live in villages and refugee camps under unbearably harsh conditions and without basic human rights. Not only do they not have access to higher education, some do not even have running water. These are two different realities that create a policy of apartheid,” the petition also says.
The signatories state that Ariel was an illegal settlement whose existence contravened international law and the Geneva Convention. “It was established for the sole purpose of preventing the Palestinians from creating an independent state and thus preventing us, citizens of Israel, from having the chance to ever live in peace in this region.”
The petition was initiated and organized by Nir Gov of the Weizmann Institute’s Department of Chemical Physics. Unlike other such initiatives, over a third of the list’s signatories are from the natural and exact sciences.
Gov, who started organizing the petition a few weeks ago, said it was important to show that not only people known from other petitions support a boycott of Ariel, and therefore this petition has among its signatories many scholars who are not from the social sciences and the humanities.
“Israeli academia must differentiate itself from the ‘settlement’ academia,” said Gov. “Only significant differentiation can help our supporters abroad who are working against an academic boycott of Israel. This assistance is important, but all in all it is secondary to the principled stand that the goal of the establishment of the college at Ariel was not teaching and academic research, but political. It may be too late, but we felt a need to state in the clearest language that Israeli academia must not be involved in the settlement project,” Gov also said.
Gov said he encountered some colleagues who agreed with the message of the petition but were afraid to sign. He said such fear, “in the current atmosphere, is understandable, tangible. Even if there is no official action against the signatories, we may pay some sort of price.”
About three weeks ago, the Council For Higher Education issued a public statement against calls by Israeli academics for an academic boycott of Israel. The council, which is headed by Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar, said such calls “undermine the foundations of the higher education system.”
However, Gov said there is no contradiction between the council’s statement and the petition. “The council says rightly that there is a danger of delegitimization of the academic system in Israel. We say the source of this danger is Ariel and the settlements.”
Yigal Cohen-Orgad, chairman of the Ariel college’s executive committee, said: “A tiny and bizarre minority of some 150 lecturers is behind the petition, out of 7,000 faculty members. The cooperation between the Ariel University Center and many hundreds of scholars from universities in Israel and many hundreds more from 40 universities abroad, is the response to this petition. We know the heads of the universities oppose the call for a boycott and all it entails. I am sure that academia will continue to cooperate with us.”
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7 Haaretz,
January 9, 2011
Israeli intellectuals decry Knesset plan to investigate Leftist groups
In letter sent to all Knesset members, signatories say investigation of citizens by elected officials signals the end of democracy.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-intellectuals-decry-knesset-plan-to-investigate-leftist-groups-1.335967
By Jonathan Lis
A group of Israeli intellectuals has sent a letter to all Knesset members decrying the intent to establish a parliamentary committee of inquiry into Israeli human rights groups.
The group includes a number of Israel Prize laureates, among them professors Yehuda Bauer, Chaim Adler, Yermiyahu Yovel and Micha Ullman, Shulamit Aloni, David Tartakover, Danny Karavan and Ram Loevy. Signatories also include Prof. Haim Ben-Shahar, Prof. Yaron Ezrahi, the painter Yair Garboz, Prof. David Harel and authors Ronit Matalon, Sami Michael, Yehoshua Sobol, Sefi Rachlevsky and Yoram Kaniuk.
“Last week, the Knesset raised its hand against democracy in Israel,” the letter states, adding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had encouraged the initiative by imposing faction discipline on the vote.
“He, and each of the 41 MKs who voted for the establishment of a political committee to hunt the human rights organizations, will be remembered as being the ones who attempted to smash what is left of democracy in Israel and impose a fascist regime. What is worse, only 17 MKs bothered to try to stop the destruction. Each and every MK who did not find time to oppose the initiative to end democracy in Israel bears personal responsibility for the disaster. A black flag now flies above the legislature in Israel.”
The letter also states that in a democracy citizens are sovereign, and the task of elected officials is to supervise the work of the government. “When elected officials, even led by the prime minister, seek to investigate citizens, democracy ends,” the document said.
The letter ends by saying that if the committee is established, “the government in Israel will lose the last of its legitimacy. All its activities, its laws and its demands of its citizens will be patently illegal. Thus, the obligation of citizens in a democracy to respect its laws will be fundamentally undermined.”
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8. Israel’s witch-hunt against leftist organizations
Numerous public figures and organizations — from leftists and liberals in Israel and the US, to centrist journalists and mainstream Jewish Diaspora organizations — have sharply condemned the Israeli Knesset’s January 5th decision, passed by a lopsided 47-16 margin of lawmakers, to investigate the funding sources of Israeli leftist organizations. Many of the following commentaries (links below) discuss the bill’s alarming ramifications for Israeli democracy, even if the planned parliamentary committee never actually conducts the threatened “investigation.” Some see this as a disgraceful Israeli equivalent to the infamous anti-communist investigations of the US House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s and its proceedings against political activists in the 1960s.
Among the views of these commentators: veteran Israeli political activist Uri Avnery points out that many senior figures in the Netanyahu government, including the Prime Minister himself, cravenly absented themselves from the vote. Blogger Mitchell Plitnick, formerly of JPN, argues that the vote is one more sign that extreme-rightist politician Avigdor Lieberman is quickly becoming the gravitational center of Israeli political discourse. Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, one of the targets of the bill, points out that the organization’s funding sources are already transparent, so the bill’s actual aims have nothing to do with its stated intentions.
A number of the commentaries denouncing the bill have pointed out that pro-settlement organizations are funded much more lavishly than Israeli human rights groups by American donors — in apparent contravention of US tax laws regarding charitable donations to organizations that contravene US political policies. And Israel i blogger-journalist Rechavia Berman issues perhaps the sharpest jeremiad against the deterioration of Israeli democracy and human rights discourse that the bill signals, declaring that he cannot be faithful to a state that so brazenly trammels civil and human rights.
Israeli journalist and activist Roi Maor, in an analysis of the bill, offers one unexpected note of optimism: if the Israeli government is so bent on bullying leftist organizations, jailing non-violent activists (such as Jonathan Pollack), and obfuscating its clear responsibility in the killing of innocents (such as Bil’in activist Jawaher Abu Rahma), then it must feel itself deeply threatened — a sign that rights-activism is having its effect and must be increased.
Ofer Neiman, who recently came aboard JPN as an editor, articulates another perspective: “Many Israeli human rights activists agree that if and when the State of Israel decides to turn on its ‘blue-eyed’ dissidents, western public opinion will become more open to calls (emanating from Palestinian civil society as well as from Israeli and international groups) to step-up the boycott, divestment and sanctions efforts against the Israeli economy and Israeli institutions.”
Boycott, divestment and sanctions efforts are undeniably appearing with vigor in unexpected places, such as the halls of Israeli academe, as Haaretz recently reported <http://bit.ly/hQphX7, where 155 university and college faculty members have signed a petition calling for an academic boycott of Ariel University, a newly established institution in the Israeli settlement of Ariel.
Commentators such as Plitnick have suggested, in turn, that European sanctions against Israeli settlement activity could be a convenient vehicle for the US administration to exert pressure on Israel indirectly without running afoul of American domestic political realities <http://bit.ly/hf5zX3>. The Obama administration, as Plitnick and others point out, can send a strong signal simply by not blocking international efforts to nudge the Israelis into a peace agreement — by, for example, not vetoing a soon-to-be-proposed UN Security Council resolution declaring Israeli settlements illegal. As in other cases where states drag out an occupation due to entrenched interests — Indonesia’s former occupation of East Timor comes to mind — international pressure can be at once legitimate and useful.
–Lincoln Z. Shlensky
Links to commentaries on the Knesset’s recent vote to investigate leftist organizations that have been critical of the government and military:
B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights: “The Knesset’s decision is what harms Israel’s international status”
http://www.btselem.org/English/Press_Releases/20110105b.asp
Mitchell Plitnick: “Is Lieberman the New Israeli Mainstream?”
http://mitchellplitnick.com/2011/01/08/is-lieberman-the-new-israeli-mainstream/
Roi Maor: “Knesset Committee on un-Israeli activities”
http://972mag.com/knesset-committee-on-un-israeli-activities/
Rechavia Berman: “To such an Israel I shall be a traitor”
http://972mag.com/to-such-an-israel-i-shall-be-a-traitor/
The American Jewish Committee: “AJC Urges Knesset to Reconsider Measure”
http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=2818289&ct=8995985¬oc=1
Uri Avnery: “Hi, Joe [McCarthy]!”
http://www.avnery-news.co.il/english/index.html
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Jewish Peace News editors:
Joel Beinin
Racheli Gai
Rela Mazali
Sarah Anne Minkin
Ofer Neiman
Lincoln Z. Shlensky
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Alistair Welchman
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Jewish Peace News archive and blog: www.jewishpeacenews.blogspot.com
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