NOVANEWS
Dear Friends,
The past few days have been heavy ones, and today’s bombing in Jerusalem did not lessen the weight.
The first item below, Amira Hass’s furious explosion at those in Gaza who fired the rockets, expresses my feelings exactly. Yes, Israel provoked. But nothing could have pleased Israel’s leaders more than the rocket barrage. Israel’s leaders have always devaluated the lives of their citizens in favor of expansion, colonization, and ethnic cleansing. Apparently the missile shooters on the other side likewise throw the lives of their fellows to the wind in favor of violent response, in favor of honor or whatever. Don’t they realize that they cannot beat Israel by violence, that Israel has more power and means to kill more Palestinians than they have to kill Israelis.
Things were finally beginning to go in favor of the Palestinians. The bds movement is picking up steam, and diplomatically Palestinians were making some gains. At the same time Israel was acquiring more and more delegitimization.
The militants in Gaza by reacting to Israel’s provocation in killing 2 of their important people was just what Israel wanted! Israel does not know how to deal with non-violent resistance. Violence on the part of the Palestinians gives Israel the ‘right’ to shout ‘wolf’ and to use means to kill more Palestinians.
The violent response to Israel’s affront may well have set Palestinian goals a number of stages backwards, including all the work that those Palestinians who promote non-violent resistance have put into calling attention to their plight. Much depends on how the Western world will react to the present situation. My guess is that the missiles and Jerusalem bombing will take at least some of the wind out of the recent diplomatic gains, and will cause more suffering to Palestinians on the West Bank as well as in Gaza. Time will tell. May I be proven wrong.
Item 2 is a list of links to media reports on the Jerusalem bombing. The earlier reports say that 20 were injured, the later ones say that 1 person was killed and 30 or so injured.
Item 3 comments on the 2 fascist laws passed by the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) today. Perhaps they will help the world to see what Israel really is, missiles or not.
In item 4 Aluf Benn, an editor for Haaretz, writes in the Guardian about Israel’s supercilious attitude towards the events occurring in the Arab world.
Item 5 is a brief report informing us that IOF soldiers attacked a Palestinian procession.
Item 6 is a CPT description of what Palestinian children have to go through to get to school via a checkpoint.
Well, there are also some positive events, and on one such I end this message. Thanks to Terry for forwarding the info that the University of Johannesburg has cut its ties with the Israeli Ben Gurion University. bds is still rolling!
That’s my tiny flicker of light at the end of the tunnel. May the beams grow brighter, and soon.
Dorothy
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1, Haaretz,
March 23, 2011
The sanctity of the soaring Qassam
Perhaps Hamas thinks the Palestinians in Gaza were ready for another high-tech Israeli onslaught, for another IDF video game in which children playing on a roof are identified as lookouts and sentenced to death.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-sanctity-of-the-soaring-qassam-1.351249
By Amira Hass
The Hamas authorities once again forgot that the neighbor/occupier to its east is crazy. Fact: Over Shabbat, Hamas’ military wing fired more than 50 mortar shells at Israel. Or perhaps it didn’t forget: Perhaps it merely thought the Palestinian people in Gaza were ready for another high-tech Israeli onslaught, for another Israel Defense Forces video game in which children playing on a roof are identified as lookouts and sentenced to death.
In this testosterone-rich competition, there will always be more checkmarks on the Israeli side. But Israel is clever enough to act like the threatened party and to hide its deadly performances. Who cares that the “appropriate Zionist response” to 50 mortar shells, which sowed fear but did not kill, was the killing of two 16-year-olds? Imad Faraj Allah and Qassam Abu Uteiwi, from the Nuseirat refugee camp, were the people killed by Israel’s retaliatory bombing later that evening – not “two terrorists,” as our media obediently said, parroting the commanders’ dictation.
Those 50 mortars were the “appropriate Hamas response” to the death of two members of its military wing, Iz al-Din al-Qassam, in an Israeli airstrike. That teaches us that armed men are worth more than boys: The response to the teenagers’ death was a lone Qassam rocket.
Nor did the dialogue of testosterone end there. Tuesday morning, we learned of another Israeli assault that wounded some 20 Palestinians, including children. Due to lack of space, we won’t detail what came in between or what came before. But what will come next is frightening.
In the binary thinking of those who oppose the Israeli occupation (Palestinians, Israelis and foreigners ), public criticism of the tactics used in the struggle of an occupied and dispossessed people is taboo. It is as if criticism would create symmetry between the attacker and the attacked. To a large extent, this taboo has been broken with regard to the Palestinian Authority: Many opponents of the occupation have no qualms about portraying the PA as a collaborator, or at least as the captive of its senior officials’ private interests. But when it comes to Hamas’ use of arms, silence falls. As if there were sanctity in the Qassam soaring high into the sky, only to fall amid the clamor of Israeli propaganda.
The Goldstone report – so widely reviled by Israelis, but endorsed by the Palestinians – actually did force Palestinian human rights organizations to accept the application of the term “crime” to Palestinian rocket launches at Israel’s civilian population, both before and during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in 2009. In other words, it forced them to distinguish between the Palestinians’ right to defend themselves (albeit unsuccessfully ) by force of arms against Israeli military assaults and their lack of right to put on an act of being an army, one that targets civilians, and thus provide Israel with more ammunition for its victim show. But this distinction is not in use for whatever doesn’t appear in Goldstone’s report.
Though they didn’t denounce those 50 mortars, Palestinians who are not Hamas supporters did give them a political interpretation. This wasn’t “the attacked party’s right to respond” (or, more accurately, the fly’s right to play Ping-Pong with the elephant ), but a clear message to young Palestinians, reinforced by the brutal suppression of their demonstrations: You aren’t in Cairo or Tunis, so stop pestering us with theories about a smart popular struggle in our emirate.
But the neighbor/occupier to the east is crazy. It’s wrong to provide it with pretexts that would enable it to once again put Gaza’s children and old people through an ordeal like Cast Lead, or even one half as bad.
So for all those who demonstrated in support of the Gazans when they were trapped under Israeli fire, all those planners of past and future flotillas, this is your moment to raise your voices and say clearly: The Qassams merely feed Israel’s madness. It is not the Qassams that will ensure the Palestinians, both in and out of Gaza, a life of dignity. It is not the Qassams that will topple the Israeli walls around the world’s largest prison camp.
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2. The Jerusalem bombing today,
March 23, 2011
BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12836224
Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/23/jerusalem-bus-bomb
The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/jerusalem-rocked-by-bomb-blast-2250627.html
The NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/world/middleeast/24israel.html?_r=1&ref=middleeast
Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/bomb-explodes-in-jerusalem-wounding-25-authorities-say/2011/03/23/ABPuVnIB_story.html?hpid=z4
Palestine news and info agency WAFA http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=15608
Al Jazeera http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/201132313166975300.html
Haaretz http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/bomb-explodes-in-central-jerusalem-1-dead-at-least-30-hurt-1.351377
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3. Ynet,
March 23, 2011
Racism?
MK Rotem: Proud to protect state Photo: Noam Moskowitz
Knesset passes ‘Nakba bill’
Arab, left-wing MKs fume as bill allowing small communities to reject residents also approved. MK Tibi invokes Nazi ‘final solutiion’ while ACRI files petition with High Court saying bill sanctions discrimination against Arabs, haredim
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4046440,00.html
Roni Sofer
The Knesset passed two controversial bills late Tuesday night, infuriating many MKs from Arab and left-wing parties, who claim the bills are racist and run counter to democratic values.
The “Nakba bill”, proposed by Yisrael Beiteinu, requires the state to fine local authorities and other state-funded bodies for holding events marking the Palestinian Nakba Day by supporting armed resistance or racism against Israel, or desecrating the state flag or national symbols.
On Nakba Day Palestinians mark the “catastrophe” of Israel’s inception in 1948.
The bill, which was reworked before its final passing, states that the finance minister will be charged with deciding when to withdraw funds from various groups after considering the opinions of the attorney general and a professional team comprised of members of the ministries of finance and justice.
Thirty-seven MKs supported the bill in its final form, while 25 opposed it.
‘Thought police in Israel’
MK David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu) was among the supporters. “I am not ashamed for wanting to protect this state as a Jewish and democratic state,” he said. “You are concerned about democracy, but if your way triumphs there won’t be a state.”
But critique against the bill was harsh. “On this day the thought police is being established in Israel,” said Isaac Herzog (Labor). Herzog added that the bill had been formulated in contrast with the attorney general’s recommendations. “It will exacerbate tension in Israel,” he said.
MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) called it “another dark night”, adding that “this bill will greatly contribute to Israel’s de-legitimization in the world”.
MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) was also outraged. “You are creating a monstrous state that will enter the thoughts and emotions of citizens. Is accepting my history considered incitement?” she asked. “The Nakba is a historic truth, not a position or freedom of expression.”
ACRI: Bill sanctions discrimination
The second bill, which passed by a majority of 35 to 20, formalizes the establishment of admission committees to review potential residents of Negev and Galilee communities that have fewer than 400 families. It was passed after 2 am.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel immediately filed a petition against the bill, claiming that it sanctions discrimination against Arabs, haredim, Mizrahi Jews, and even single mothers.
The petition gives a long list of court cases in which plaintiffs were rejected by admissions committees, including a handicapped IDF veteran, Arab and immigrant families, and Jews with Mizrahi roots. The committees turned them down with explanations about “suitability for community life”, according to the petition.
After the passing of the bill the Knesset erupted in riots as MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al), refusing to limit himself to the comparison of the bill to South Africa’s apartheid,mentioned the Wannsee Conference in which the Nazis decided on the Holocaust’s “final solution” – or the gassing of Jews.
Arab and left-wing MKs claim the bill, which was proposed by MKs from Yisrael Beiteinu and Kadima, is aimed at preventing Arabs from residing in the communities that choose to adopt admission committees.
But its initiators claim in their explanation of the bill that it is “a balanced bill and not racist, and does not intend to harm the Arabs or the weaker members of society”.
‘We will make sure world boycotts towns’
MK Taleb El-Sana (United Arab List-Ta’al) said the bill’s initiators should be ashamed. “How can a country determine for its citizens where to live and die?” he asked.
“The Knesset is broadcasting a message that was received by the rabbis in Safed, who prevent Arab students from residing there. Imagine if Britain or France had made a law preventing Jews from living in certain communities,” El-Sana added. “This is a racist law, a law against Arabs.”
MK Hanna Swaid (Hadash) announced “the clinical death of the State of Israel.” He added that although the law prohibits denying anyone residence based on his race, it was still possible to do so on cultural grounds. “We will make sure the towns, local authorities, and communities that adopt the law are boycotted in the world,” he said.
MK Tibi: Read Jewish history
But the Knesset truly erupted in violence when MK Tibi took the stand. “You must read Jewish history well and learn which laws you suffered from. Do you remember anything about the prohibition of interracial marriage? Do you need an Arab on the stand to remind you of your history?” he asked.
“When 14 representatives gathered in Berlin, they discussed which policy to use against the Jews. It was then they discussed pushing them aside and limiting their living space…”
At this point MKs from other parties interrupted Tibi, yelling at him to leave the podium. MK Uri Ariel (National Union) refused to let him continue, yelling out, “Go back to Ramallah.”
Tibi was eventually allowed to continue, and said Arabs felt as though they were being pushed aside. He said he was not comparing the law to the final solution, but that he had brought it up in order to stress the level of hatred.
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4. The Guardian,
23 March 2011
Israel is blind to the Arab revolution
Israel’s view of the Arab uprising reflects ideas of itself as a liberal bastion in a sea of backwardness
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/23/israel-blind-to-arab-revolution
Aluf Benn
Tel Aviv at sunset. Israeli ministers prefer to close their eyes to the reality of change around the region. Photograph: Ariel Schalit/AP Even in its third month, the Arab revolution fails to resonate positively in Israel. The Israeli news media devote a lot of space to dramatic events in the region, but our self-centered political discourse remains the same. It cannot see beyond the recent escalation across the Gaza border, or the approaching possibility of a Palestinian declaration of statehood in September. Israel’s leaders are missing the old order in the Arab world, sensing only trouble in the unfolding and perhaps inevitable change.
Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, defence minister Ehud Barak, and the opposition leader, Tzipi Livni, have all reacted to the Arab revolution by reciting long-held positions. Netanyahu has warned of an “Iran next door” scenario in Egypt, pledging to fence off Israel’s peaceful borders with Egypt and Jordan. Asked by CNN’s Piers Morgan if he was sad to see Hosni Mubarak go, Netanyahu admitted that he was.
No serious political figure in Israel has reached out to the revolutionaries, celebrating their achievement or suggesting we need to know them better since they might share values and ambitions with secular, liberal Israelis. Barak, Israel’s top strategic mind, was kind enough to tell Sky News last weekend that “in the long run, the shakeup in the Arab world is a positive and promising phenomenon”. But the long run is an accumulation of short runs, in which Barak warns of “irresponsible popular opinion”. And Livni, the peace process champion, published an article in the Washington Post calling for a western-imposed “code for new democracies”.
There are obvious reasons for Israel’s timidity towards the uprising in the Arab streets. Israel’s foreign policy is focused on survival in an unfriendly neighbourhood, and favours the status quo. The collapsing dictatorships, residing on the same status quo, provided its necessary “stability”. In his earlier days Netanyahu preached for regional democracy as the cornerstone of peace, but from the PM’s office he sees things differently, praising democracy in principle while warning of its perils in practice. “Those leaderships,” said Barak this month, “as much as they were unaccepted by their peoples, they were very responsible on regional stability … They’re much more comfortable [to us] than the peoples or the streets in the same countries.
Following decades of “cold peace” with Egypt and Jordan, Israel’s foreign policy establishment developed an instinctive fear of Arab public opinion. Mubarak was not always friendly, but he watched Israel’s back when it fought wars on its eastern and northern fronts. Even adversaries like Syria’s Assad regime have been predictable, and not prone to risky adventures. Dealing with open societies could be much more complicated than assessing an autocrat and his bunch of cronies.
But there’s a deeper motive underlying the Israeli attitude. They see their country as a western bastion, a modern democracy that is unfortunately surrounded by less developed nations. Reflecting this, Barak coined the phrase “a villa in the jungle” to describe Israel’s regional stance; recently he updated it to “an oasis fortress in the desert”.
Beyond eating hummus in local Arab restaurants, the wider Middle Eastern culture is largely shunned by Israeli Jewish society. Arabic is not mandatory in Israeli Hebrew schools, and those who bother to learn the neighbours’ language want to spend their military service in the intelligence corps. Otherwise Arabic is hardly a career-booster.
Israelis are so arrogant and ignorant about their vicinity that whenever we make comparisons, the benchmarks are always the US, western Europe, or countries of the OECD. It’s never Egypt, Syria, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority or even Dubai.
The western self-perception affects political views, too. Mainstream support for the peace process saw it as a means of pleasing the west, rather than integrating in the east. Netanyahu and Barak treat the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a nuisance in Israel’s relations with the US, not as a moral or legal issue that Israel needs to resolve on its merits. So much so that Netanyahu considers launching a new peace policy during a visit to Capitol Hill, rather than at home.
This attitude leads to a policy of self-isolation from neighbouring societies, along with complaints about western “ungratefulness” over Israel raising the lonely flag of liberal democracy in a sea of backwardness. That explains the narrow Israeli opinion of the Arab revolution, ranging from indifference to anxiety, if not rejection. Changes, schmanges, let us roll down the blinds and look westwards. After all, sunsets are way more beautiful and romantic than sunrises.
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Palestine News and Info Agency WAFA
Israeli Forces Attack Palestinian Funeral in Beit Ummar Date : 23/3/2011 Time : 16:20
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HEBRON, March 23, 2011 (WAFA) – Israeli soldiers Wednesday attacked a Palestinian funeral procession in Beit Ummar, a village north of Hebron, and fired live bullets, rubber bullets, sound bombs and gas bombs at Palestinians, injuring one and tens of suffocation.
Witnesses said that Israeli forces arrested three Palestinians from the funeral, adding that they blocked the main entrance of the town and searched Palestinian vehicles on the main road between Jerusalem and Hebron.
F.R.
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6. From CPT Hebron cptheb@cpt.org
March 23, 2011
REFLECTION
Morning Reflection in Hebron
Inger Styrbjorn
“Biladi, Biladi … my country, my country …” the Palestinians’ national anthem echoes in Hebron, where I and Nina stand at the checkpoint and note how many children, have their bags searched.
I count the children, but I also see that today the soldier stays inside the trailer, probably so I cannot see how he treats the Palestinians.
The metal detector beeps for each person who passes. Now I hear the beep several times without anyone coming out, which means that the person inside is undergoing a thorough search. A young boy waits, presumably for his school mate. He is trying to see what’s happening, but the brusque soldier pulls the door shut. When the door eventually opens a small child comes out. After several walks through the detector, the boy is finally free. His smile is a little embarrassed when he joins his waiting companion with his backpack, belt and cell phone in hand.
A small girl, maybe seven years, tries to take the shortcut past the trailer, but is observed by the soldier, who hastily comes out and sends her back. When she comes out of the trailer I see that her school bag has been searched. She stops and does up the zippers and hurries to her school.
I glimpsed a green shirt in there with the soldier. I hear the beep several times, yet another child being searched by the “most moral” army.
“Wohaad, tneen, tlaate …”. From Ibrahimi Boys’ School. The voice of the leader of the morning assembly echoes throughout the neighborhood, so I know that the time is a quarter to eight and the boys are doing their morning exercises.” One, two, three … forward, upward, outward.”
Some children are late, I can see them running towards the checkpoint and I suspect they are wondering, “What will happen today? How long will it take to get through?”
I never get used to the morning. It turns my stomach when I see the soldiers’ behavior. I wonder what goes on in their heads? What do the children feel when they see their parents, teachers or siblings humiliated in front of everyone? The adults react differently. Sometimes I see the anger boiling in their breasts, other times our eyes meet in a shared smile over this dismal situation. Some have pushed aside any emotions and hide them behind an impenetrable facade.
During the week I was asked, “What is the worst thing that you face down here?” When I think about it, it is precisely these mornings at the checkpoint. It is the humiliation and harassment from these very young soldiers with their big weapons, which makes me feel the worst.
On the way back to the team, some soldiers were training. As we entered the street, I saw two soldiers, one on each side of the street, with their guns pointing at me, while another, seemingly finished shooting, ran into an alley. Their exercise interrupted, the commander and soldiers moved on. An ironic confrontation: we train constantly to love our enemy, while our enemy trains to the hit the target with his weapon. If only they knew that we go straight home to pray for them. It’s a morning like any other.
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7. FYI
Terry
From: bds-alerts-sa@googlegroups.com On Behalf Of BDS Working Group (SA)
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 5:50 PM
Subject: PRESS RELEASE: UJ ENDS ISRAELI LINKS – Historic moment for boycott of Israel movement
