Posted by;: Sammi Ibrahem Chair of West Midland PSC
Dear Friends,
Just a quickie tonight. Lots of items that are not included in the 5 below. For instance, sometimes boycott arguments successfully convince artists, writers, and others that by performing in Israel or accepting its prizes, and the like, they are supporting an apartheid state and putting a feather in Israel’s cap. Other times not. So it is that today’s news informed us that “Ian McEwan says he will accept Jerusalem prize
Author – who will travel to city book fair to pick up award – accused of giving support to Israeli leaders”
Another item but not yet in the on-line domestic press, at least not in English, is that the US will not support a Security Council measure to demand that Israel stop building in the OPT. Not surprising. The US track record on the Israel-Palestine affair is pretty much like Israel’s—keep ‘talking’ about talking about peace, and while the smoke is blinding everyone’s eyes, keep colonizing and rush the ethnic cleansing until you’ve gotten where you want to be, or at least convinced the Palestinians that they’d be better off elsewhere. What a pain in the buttocks it must be for Israel’s leaders and the US to have an indigenous people who love their land and just don’t want to leave.
There was another IOF kill today (item 2). This time of a Palestinian who supposedly shot at the soldiers. Don’t know if ever we’ll know the whole story, and perhaps the guy did come out shooting—maybe he’d had enough of life and knew that if he shot, he’d get shot. But keep in mind that the story that we hear from the IOF is unlikely to be the whole truth and nothing but the truth. In this, I’ve had some experience.
What is maddening is the way it is presented to the Israeli public. On the radio today (I don’t listen much except to the news, or, as today, when making lunch, which is when I heard the following)—when reporting the IOF kill and the fact that the Palestinian came out shooting at the soldiers, the woman running the program asked the person whom she was interviewing if there hadn’t been an increase in Palestinian violence lately? Would it ever occur to her to ask how many Palestinian homes Israel demolished every day, how many Palestinian trees Israel uprooted this week? How many Palestinian children Israel had kidnapped from their beds in the middle of the night and thrown into jail and tortured and the rest this week? No! These are subjects that Israelis never hear about, unless they are activists and already know some of the details. But activists are the fringe of society. The majority of Israelis are like the 2 of the 3 monkeys: see no evil, hear no evil. Unlike the 3rd monkey, I can’t say that Israelis speak no evil.
Today is Tu B’Shvat—celebrated in Israel as the New Year of the trees, with schools and organizations taking groups of kids out to plant trees, while the JNF (Jewish National Fund) uproots trees on Bedouin land in the Negev and publicizes its so called forestation of the same area. I can’t stand this so-called holiday! It is so hypocritical. Israel has uprooted thousands upon thousands of olive and fruit trees in the OPT and also trees on Bedouin land in Israel, but ‘innocently’ celebrates the beauty, and desirability of trees, claiming to make the desert bloom, even where it bloomed quite nicely till the uprootings took place. Don’t drop a penny into the blue JNF boxes if they are still around. DON’T, please.
Then there is the issue of Tsipi Livni, who has cancelled her trip to SA (item 3). Very convenient for her to be able to say that the cancellation was due to the Foreign Office personnel being on strike. Could it be possible that she also feared being arrested once there and charged with war crimes, even though it seems that the powers to be in South Africa decided not to arrest her. Who knows?
Item 4 is brief. B’selem asks the government to “probe the Gaza war.” Fat chance. And anyhow it wasn’t a war. It was an invasion!
Item 5 is a list of reports from the Alternative Information Center that it puts out—all very worth your time.
May we see better days, please, soon.
Dorothy
=========================
1. Jerusalem Post,
January 20, 2011
PA FM condemns Israel’s ‘Judaization’ of Jerusalem
In interview with Arab paper, Malki laments “land rush” in east Jerusalem after Shepherd Hotel injunction lifted, says Arab League ignored “Islamic holy city.”
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki condemned the “land rush” and “Judaization” of Jerusalem, in an interview with Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat on Thursday.
After Wednesday’s Arab League economic summit, Malki commented to Asharq that Israel has turned the Shepherd Hotel into an outpost.
“The occupation’s land rush in Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem is in full swing, working for the Judaization of many different neighborhoods of the city,” he said, naming Sheikh Jarrah, Isawiya and the area near the Damascus Gate.
“When Israel announced the construction of 1400 new housing units in east Jerusalem, there were severe condemnations from the United Nations and many other parties,” Malki reportedly said. “Condemnations are important…but this did not stop Israel from Judaizing the city, changing its features and bringing settlers rather than indigenous people.”
“Israel is fully aware that the responses do not rise to more than condemnation and denunciation, and therefore do not bother with them and continue its aggression,” Malki said. “The Lord protects Jerusalem, despite the serious assaults by Israel against its Arab, Islamic holy city.”
In addition, the PA is “frustrated” by the summit’s decision to postpone its planned donation to projects in Jerusalem, Asharq reported.
According to the UK-based daily, Arab leaders, meeting in Sharm e-Sheikh on Wednesday, decided to postpone their decision on giving $430 million to Jerusalem would be postponed until their next meeting, to take place this March in Bagdhad.
Malki reportedly said that he regretted that Arab leaders “ignored the Jerusalem file.”
“We tried to focus on the issue of Jerusalem and the activation of projects in the city, and to remind the Arab leaders that Jerusalem is waiting for them,” Malki told Asharq. “We called for swift action and urgency, and set projects for implementation in the city.”
“Alas, they were rejected and will be submitted to the regular summit in March,” he added.
Arab leaders at the summit drafted two resolutions related to Gaza on Wednesday. One would called for the lift of the blockade on Gaza, and the other is to help the Gazan health sector “to enable it to deal with the challenges after years of blockade,” Asharq reported.
======================
2. Haaretz,
January 20, 2011
IDF soldiers kill armed Palestinian in West Bank
IDF spokesperson says soldiers shot and killed the man after he opened fire on them near Jenin; IDF investigating incident.
A Palestinian was killed by Israeli soldiers on Thursday near the settlement of Mevo-Dotan in the northern West Bank.
The man was shot and killed by Israel Defense Forces soldiers after he opened fire on them, the IDF spokesperson reported on Thursday.
No IDF soldiers were wounded in the operation.
The circumstances under which the Palestinian was killed are currently being investigated.
Two days ago, IDF soldiers opened fire on two Palestinians approaching the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
One of the Palestinians was apparently wounded by a shell fired by an IDF tank.
The IDF said that the Palestinians were attempting to plant an explosive device near the border fence.
Two weeks ago, the IDF killed a 65-year-old Palestinian man in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, during a raid on the city to arrest members of Hamas.
The IDF said in a statement that they regretted the death of the man, and on Wednesday, the IDF discharged a soldier who was involved in the killing of the man.
Foreign Ministry work sanctions mean Kadima leader forced to decline Jewish community’s invitation.
JOHANNESBURG – MK Tzipi Livni’s visit to South Africa has been canceled because of Foreign Ministry work sanctions, leaving the South African Jewish community feeling insulted and embarrassed.
Livni was scheduled to visit South Africa at the invitation of its Jewry this week. Her visit was to include government meetings and public addresses in Johannesburg and Cape Town, but was contingent on the labor dispute talks after Foreign Ministry employees stopped providing consular services as part of their wage dispute with the Treasury.
A number of other scheduled diplomatic visits to and from Israel have also been postponed as a result of the strike, including that of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Recognizing that the visit was particularly pertinent to Israel-South Africa relations, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) appealed to the head of the ministry’s Diplomatic Worker’s Committee Hanan Goder-Goldberger to make an exception that would allow Livni to travel with the cooperation of the Foreign Ministry, as was made for Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman who visited London this week.
Zev Krengel, chairman of the SAJBD, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that he was hopeful that Goder-Goldberger would assist in facilitating the visit, as there had been minimal interaction between South Africa and Israel in the past and Livni’s visit presented the opportunity for both governments to engage.
“The willingness of the South African government to participate in this visit signifies a willingness to reengage with Israel, something that has been lacking for some time, with the last high level Israeli delegation being Ehud Olmert in 2005,” said Krengel.
However, in an interview with the Post on Tuesday evening, Goder-Goldberger remained adamant that an exception would not be made and that the decision was completely based on whether the Finance Ministry would concede to the union’s demand for an increase. He said that although he recognized the importance of the visit, the broader issue of the wage dispute was much more serious.
“I appreciate how important this is for South Africa and for Israel, and it hurts my feelings to see this happen; however, there has to be a responsible adult who must consider the interests of the State of Israel,” he said.
“The Finance Ministry must find a solution because they are harming the State of Israel. They have already realized that the salaries for diplomatic service are much too low, but until now have offered very minor increases,” he added.
Attempts by the SAJBD to garner the support of the Embassy of Israel in Pretoria were also fruitless as Israeli ambassador Dov Segev- Steinberg ignored the pleas of the Jewish communal leadership for assistance, and refused to go against the union and offer his support.
Krengel says the community is feeling distressed over the incident.
“The head of the union kept us on a leash by making false promises, and the relationship between the Israeli ambassador and the local Jewish community is at an all time low,” he said, adding that the Jewish community fights especially hard for Israel in South Africa and now feels betrayed.
“Israel has Diaspora Jewry all over the world lobbying its cause to its people and to its government,” he said. “We are not looking to undermine the labor dispute, but while our Diaspora community should not be involved in this internal dispute, I am feeling that we were used as a pawn in an internal Israeli political conflict.”
The SAJBD says it now remains concerned that another serious ramification of the cancelation will be the perception that the anti- Israel activist groups (Media Review Network and Palestinian Solidarity Association) with their threats of arrest have intimidated Livni into not coming, serving as a victory for them and a setback for the intensive Israel advocacy work the community has done over the years.
=================
4. Haaretz,
January 20, 2011
Israeli rights group B’Tselem urges government to probe Gaza War
B’Tselem provided its own casualty count of the war, saying that 1,390 Palestinians had been killed, at least 759 non-combatants.
An Israeli human rights group Wednesday urged the government to launch an independent probe into a three-week Israeli offensive in Gaza which killed some 1,400 Palestinians, more than half of them non-combatants.
“Better late than never: even two years since Operation Cast Lead, an independent Israeli investigation is crucial to achieve accountability and prevent future violations,” B’Tselem said in a statement, issued on the anniversary of the end of the Gaza War, which took place in the winter of 2008-09.
B’Tselem provided its own casualty count of the war, saying that 1,390 Palestinians had been killed, of whom it said at least 759 were non-combatants. From the AIC January 20, 2011
