Dorothy Online Newsletter

NOVANEWS

 
Posted by: sammi Ibrahem
Chair of West Midland PSC

Dear All,

I admit that it’s difficult to concentrate on local events when Libya is so much in the news.  But we have our own problems here—namely occupation, colonization, ethnic cleansing, demolitions, uprooting of trees, and the like.

Item one furnishes a case study that shows how industries in the Israeli colonies benefit from perks as, for instance, tax deductions.  If you have not yet checked out www.whoprofits.org you should at your earliest opportunity.

Item 2 includes a few summaries from today’s compilation in ‘Today in Palestine’ just so that you will have an inkling of what is taking place in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which (the latter) is rapidly vanishing.

Item 3 is more on the Seattle Metro bus ads.  Thanks to Maggie, who forwarded the link, you can see a terrific action taken by those involved in the ad after Metro reneged on its agreement to carry the posters.  The video is about 4-5 minutes.  A second longer video gives you the background on the issue.  Additionally, there is an article on the judge’s verdict that Metro has the right to refuse to carry the ad.  But the activists are not giving up.  They are pursuing the subject in a court trial.

Item 4 relates that notwithstanding all that is happening in the Middle East that in Abu Dhabi it’s business as usual at an international arms fair.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the industrialists involved in the manufacture of arms are delighted with the present situation, hoping that it will increase sales.

Lastly, is a report on Israel’s bombings last night of Gaza and the missile shot into Be’er Sheva.  Seems that other things happening are more important.  Of the 7 or 8 international media that I glanced through, only one carried the report about the incident: BBC.

That’s it for tonight.

Hopefully there will be no more killing in Libya or elsewhere.

Dorothy

 

1. Who Profits Newsletter

www.whoprofits.org

Production in Settlements: The Case of SodaStream

Using SodaStream as a case study, a new report by Who Profits discusses key issues in industrial production in illegal West Bank settlements. SodaStream is a manufacturer of home beverage carbonating devices, whose main production site is in the West Bank Settlement of the Mishor Edomin Industrial Zone. The report provides an extensive overview, including the identity of the manufacturers, employment conditions, land confiscation and trade in settlement products. The report shows how the success of SodaStream and other companies which produce in settlements is based, at least in part, on the structural advantages that these companies enjoy, such as tax incentives, lax enforcement of regulations, as well as additional governmental support.

The report also exposes the manner in which the company conceals the fact that its products are manufactured in a West Bank settlement by using the Made in Israel label. The company, therefore misleads consumers to believe that its products are manufactured in Israel rather than in occupied land.

The business of SodaStream is growing rapidly. Its products are sold in 39 countries and can be found in retail stores like Macy’s, Bed Bath and Beyond, Bloomingdale’s, Coop, Carrefour and Migros. On November 8, 2010, the company has gone public and its shares are traded on NASDAQ. The SodaStream devices are especially popular in Sweden; the company has recently announced that it has sold more than 1 million devices there.

The report provides an unprecedented insight into the internal considerations of a settlement producer, weighing consumer boycotts and possible negative publicity against the economic benefits of operating from a settlement. By its own admission, SodaStream states that calls for boycott are indeed a “risk factor” and a cause for “rising political tensions and negative publicity”. However, the company declares that moving its factory out of the settlement would require the expenditure of resources and, more importantly, “limit certain of the tax benefits for which we are currently eligible.” These benefits stem from the fact that the Israeli government provides economic incentives, including tax deductions, for businesses operating in West Bank settlements.

To read the full report go to: whoprofits.org/articlefiles/WhoProfits-ProductioninSettlements-SodaStream.pdf

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2.  Knesset debates bill to abolish the status of Arabic as an official language in Israel

MEMO 24 Feb — Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, is looking at a draft bill which proposes the abolition of Arabic as an official language in the Zionist state… The proposed law is one of a number of initiatives designed to undermine the status of Arabic, which is the mother-tongue of more than 1.25 million Palestinian citizens of the state, one-fifth of the population. A draft constitution, for example, supported by a number of Israeli institutions, also proposes the removal of Arabic’s official status.

http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2083-knesset-debates-bill-to-abolish-the-status-of-arabic-as-an-official-language-in-israel

Israel destroys hundreds of West Bank olive trees to lay settlement water line / Circarre Parrhesia

23 Feb — …Abu Taha’s struggle with the so-called Civilian Administration, i.e. the Israeli military that occupies and controls the West Bank, began when the Israeli water company applied to the Israeli military to build a water pipe on his land. Without consulting Abu Taha, permission was granted, resulting in the destruction of 60 of his trees, and the paving of part of his field . This water pipe supplies Israeli settlements with water that is, of course, not allowed to be used by the Palestinian population in the area.

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/02/israel-destroys-hundreds-of-west-bank-olive-trees-to-lay-settlement-water-line.html

Israel destroys agricultural lands near Salfit

SALFIT (Ma‘an) 24 Feb — Israeli bulldozers tore up recently cultivated agricultural lands north of Salfit on Thursday morning, mayor of the nearby Deir Istiya village told Ma‘an. Starting a few hours after sunrise, Mayor Nathmi Suleiman said, the bulldozers entered the village, accompanied by Israeli forces, and began destroying a stone fence separating fields in the Qattan Al-Jame area west of the village. During its work, the bulldozer ripped out several olive trees, and obliterated the half-meter high hand-crafted stone wall.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=362997

Vanishing East Jerusalem: EU must use association council to ensure Israel respects international law

AIC 24 Feb — In view of the upcoming EU-Israel Association Council scheduled for 21 February 2011 we, the undersigned Palestinian human rights organisations committed to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), would like to express our grave concerns about the continuous deterioration of the human rights situation. In particular, we are alarmed by Israel’s protracted policies aimed at entrenching the illegal annexation of East Jerusalem … The centre-of-life policy requires Palestinian residents of East-Jerusalem (whom Israel considers as “permanent residents” rather than citizens) to consistently prove that their “centre of life” is in East Jerusalem or else they risk losing their residency rights. Since this policy was adopted, in 1995, Israel has revoked the status of over 10,000 Palestinian residents of the city.

http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/3342-vanishing-east-jerusalem-eu-must-use-association-council-to-ensure-israel-respects-international-law

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3.  Seattle –a continuation of the ad campaign re Israeli war crimes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrR8GYPKi9k this link is to an action

after Metro decided not to carry the ads—the video is about 4 minutes and is great.

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http://wn.com/Seattle_Metro_pressured_by_zionist_groups_over_anti_isreal_bus_ad’s

This video is probably about 15 or more minutes (forgot to time it) and gives the background of why the Metro renaged.  As you can imagine, Jewish pro Israel right-or-wrong groups put pressure on Metro.

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The verdict

February, 18, ‏2011

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2011/02/18/judge-king-co-doesnt-have-to-run-israel-war-crimes-ads/

Judge: King Co. doesn’t have to run Israel ‘War Crimes’ ads

A federal judge in Seattle has rejected a group’s attempt to force King County to run ads on Metro buses that were critical of Israel, saying the space was a “limited” public forum and therefore not subject to full First Amendment protections.

The Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign and the American Civil Liberties Union had sued the county after it approved then rejected ads that said “Israeli War Crimes Your Tax Dollars At Work.” The groups said the county’s action violated the Constitution and sought a preliminary injunction to force the county to allow the ads.

Judge Richard A. Jones denied that request late Friday. He said the county has a Metro bus advertising policy that is restrictive, which indicates its intention not to have a free-for-all of messages on the side of its buses.

“Because King County’s policy and practice indicates that it consistently applied content restrictions on advertising to further its purpose of using its property to provide orderly and safe public transportation, the forum at issue is a limited public forum,” Jones wrote (click here to read the decision).

“We are pleased with the court’s finding that the decision to pull the ad was reasonable, in light of the threats of violence and disruption from members of the public and the safety concerns of bus drivers and law enforcement,” King County attorney Del Kolde said in a statement.

Doug Honig, spokesman for the ACLU of Washington, said the underlying case is strong and the lawsuit will proceed.

“Having a full trial would enable us to develop further facts to buttress our contention that the County had established a “designated public forum” in its program for bus ads,” Honig said.

In late December, Executive Dow Constantine reversed an earlier decision allowing the SeaMAC advertising. County officials cited an an overwhelming number of complaints and threats of violence. The County is working on a new advertising policy. Metro’s current one about bus advertising restricts messages containing pornography, tobacco and alcohol and images and material that could threaten public safety.

But Jeffrey Grant, SeaMAC’s lawyer, told Jones during a Monday hearing that the county was responding to fear and not actual evidence of specific threats. He said the county had taken no legal action against people making such statements. He said since 2005 about 15 percent of the approximately 6,600 ads Metro had run were “non-commercial.” Those ads included a previous message – in 2009 – specifically referencing the unrest in the Gaza Strip, as well as statements questioning the existence of God.

And he said the “Israeli War Crimes” message had been disseminated elsewhere, including the media, and there had been no mayhem.

In its lawsuit, the group says the buses were a public forum and therefore First Amendment protections apply. In its response, the County says the sides of buses are a “limited” public forum, which allows Metro to apply standards to prevent “harm and disruption” to the system.

County attorney Endel Kolde told Jones that Constantine changed his mind because of the furor that erupted over the proposed advertising – something unprecedented. The County has the right and responsibility to make sure that the transit system operates safely, Kolde said, not to run a “mobile debate club” that could threaten public order.

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4.

By Janine Zacharia

Washington Post Foreign Service

February 24, 2011

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/24/AR2011022404838.html

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – As Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi ordered attacks on his own people this week, thousands of arms sellers from the United States and other countries hawked their aircraft, riot gear and rifles to Middle Eastern buyers at the Persian Gulf’s preeminent arms show.

The decisions by Britain and France to suspend weapons sales to Libya and Bahrain, where security forces also fired live ammunition at protesters, did little to dampen the fervor of the vendors packing the sprawling Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center for the biannual convention, known as IDEX.

The business-as-usual, big-ticket fighter jets and armored vehicles on display drew plenty of attention. But interest also appeared to be up this year in less dazzling “non-lethal armaments” of the kind put to overwhelming use recently in Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and elsewhere.

A sales representative for a Beijing-based maker of anti-riot gear noted that all her wares were attracting more attention – especially a fire-resistant police uniform.

Condor, a Brazilian company, displayed tear-gas grenades alongside rubber-coated bullets but was gun-shy about speaking to the media. “I can talk to you about soccer, Rio De Janeiro or carnival,” a company executive said apologetically. “But not this.”

Amid all the change sweeping the region, the multibillion-dollar business of arms sales to the Middle East may remain the one constant. The rich Persian Gulf states – particularly the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia – are scooping up as much weaponry as they can. Some of it could, in theory, be turned on their own populations. But diplomats and defense industry representatives say the goal is to defend against Iran and to secure energy infrastructure that has become even more valuable with oil at $113 a barrel.

The potential profit is enormous: The UAE alone is planning to spend $6 billion on defense over the next eight years. The United States sells more than a third of its arms to the Middle East, and increasing numbers of manufacturers want a piece of the sales: This year’s arms show is 30 percent larger than the previous one.

But some at the convention worried that the wave of regional uprisings, which has led leaders from Saudi Arabia to Jordan to announce new subsidies to appease disgruntled populations, could shift resources to domestic spending.

“They’ll have money to do everything” if oil stays above $100 a barrel, said one U.S. arms contractor with long experience in the region. “But there will still be the political sensitivity of people saying to their governments, ‘Even if you can afford it, why are you putting money into airplanes or helicopters? You should be putting it into education.’ “

The convention drew an array of VIPs, from Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, to top generals of Persian Gulf militaries. Few, if any, representatives were to be seen from the North African nations rocked by revolution, such as Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. But Jordan, which has had domestic disturbances, sent a huge delegation, led by King Abdullah II’s brother.

Selling arms might seem inappropriate when weapons are being used to crush civilians. But major rethinking is seen as unlikely in the United States, whose strategic priority remains to help allies protect their oil and defend themselves against Iran.

“Governments change all the time, but the security threats that the new government faces don’t change as rapidly,” said retired U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Charles W. Moore, a former commander of the Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet who is now president of Lockheed Martin’s Middle East division.

At the display mounted by the U.S. firm Meggitt, which specializes in shooting instruction, a Saudi from the national oil company, Aramco, screamed at a reporter to take his picture as he and several colleagues grabbed rifles and took aim during a simulated terrorist attack.

The Meggitt representatives were happy to let them play: Saudi Arabia is expected to spend a quarter of a billion dollars over the next five years on shooting ranges and simulators alone.

They know “they need to increase their anti-terrorist capability” with al-Qaeda in the area, said Stuart Westlake-Toms, Meggitt’s regional director. Kuwait also wants the training for its police, he added, and Bahrain made deals, as well.

All of the countries in the region are aware, Westlake-Toms said, “that internal security needs to be improved.”

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5.  BBC 24 February 2011 Last updated at 10:30 GMT

Israeli jets hit Gaza after Palestinian rocket attacks

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12564546

Beersheba residents took shelter in safe rooms before the rocket hit

Israel has bombed four Hamas training sites in Gaza, a day after Palestinian militants fired rockets into Israel.

The overnight air raids came hours after a Palestinian militant was killed and 10 others injured in clashes with the Israeli army near the border.

No casualties resulted from the air strikes or the rocket in Beersheva – the first attack on that city since Israel’s 2009 Gaza offensive.

Israel says it holds Hamas responsible for all attacks emanating from Gaza.

Palestinian witnesses said the the fighting started on Wednesday after an Israeli tank entered northern Gaza. The Israeli army says it was trying to stop militants planting explosives along the fence.

Islamic Jihad said its militants opened fire on the tank, and that one man was killed and two wounded when the tanks returned fire.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said three children were among those wounded by the shrapnel.

Doctors in Gaza said that in a separate incident, two Palestinian workers collecting rubble were injured after being shot by Israeli soldiers close to the border fence.

Later on Wednesday, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a house in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, about 30 km (20 miles) from the Gaza Strip. No casualties were reported.

Officials said one house was extensively damaged when it was hit by a Grad rocket, which have a longer range than the homemade rockets which have been fired from Gaza before.

Residents took refuge in safe rooms prepared for such incidents before the rocket hit.

A second Grad rocket was reported to have fallen near the town of Netivot, causing no injuries.

Also overnight, the Abu Ali Mustafa brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said fighters launched three mortar shells toward the Nahal Oz military base military, and another two toward Israeli infrastructure east of al-Zaitoun, the Maan news agency reported.

The Islamist group Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, and Israel have largely halted hostilities since the 2009 war in Gaza, but skirmishes often break out around the border area.

Although members of Hamas’s military wing rarely carry out attacks, the Israeli military says it holds the group responsible for all militant activity in the Gaza Strip.