Dorothy Online Newsletter



Dear Friends,

The first and final items of the 8 below raised my ire!

About a week ago I sent you a video of a terrific performance of a terrific song “Freedom for Palestine.”  If you missed it, you can hear and see the performance by clicking the link to item 1.  Turns out that there is now a controversy over the song, with one person calling it propaganda.  Of course the fact that this person is from Fox explains why he would say that.  But the song is as much propaganda as the Beatles ‘Give Peace a Chance’ is.  It became the theme song for ending the Vietnam war, and the ‘Freedom for Palestine’ clip could well become the theme song for ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine.  If you have any doubts that it is not propaganda then check out Today in Palestine (link in item 2), and after the weekly report from PCHR (item 3).  The present ‘Today in Palestine’ has in addition to information a number of videos that you undoubtedly will want to see.  But don’t neglect the summaries, especially of the first part.  I promised you that today would be mainly about what is actually happening here, and items 2 and 3 give you much of that information

As for item 8, it requires work on your part.  Jennifer Rubin blogs in the Washington Post.  Her blog, “Right Turn,” is justly named, as she  quite obviously and intentionally supports right-wing causes. The present one that she supports is a resolution to oppose Israel returning to the 1967 line.  Please read it and respond.  Flood her blog with rejections of the resolution.  If you are an American citizen, write to your congress persons to oppose it.  To respond to Rubin, use the link.

The title to item 4 “Young, frustrated and in Gaza” is what the piece is about.

Item 5 reports that the Jerusalem municipal planning committee has approved construction of the revised plans for the Museum of Tolerance to be constructed on the site of a Muslim cemetery.  Some tolerance!

Items 6 and 7 contain just the titles and introductory statement.  They furnish all you need to know what the issue is.  If you want more, use the links.  Item 6 informs us that Israeli forces are still searching for the perpetrators of the Mosque destruction several days ago.  My guess is that they will search till the end of time without finding the culprits. So it goes with colonists and the military and police who defend them.

Item 7 is Gideon Levy’s post for today—comparing how the Israeli media report what Syria is doing vs reports on what Israeli forces do when they kill unarmed Syrians.

And then there is 8!  Please do comment.  Tell her what you think.  You are likely to get back a nasty remark (I did when I commented once), but never mind.  She should learn that there are hosts of people who disagree with her.

Thanks.

Dorothy

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1. The Guardian,

June 09, 2011

View from Jerusalem with Harriet Sherwood

Palestine campaign song generates controversy ahead of release

Coldplay removes link to video after 7,000 comments as Glenn Beck describes ‘Freedom For Palestine’ as evil propaganda

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/view-from-jerusalem-with-harriet-sherwood/2011/jun/09/palestinian-territories-gaza

A campaign song, to be released early next month, called Freedom For Palestine, is already kicking up a row.

It’s a compilation number, along the lines of Feed The World or Free Nelson Mandela, and its artists include Dave Randall of Faithless, Maxi Jazz and the Durban Gospel Choir. Images from the West Bank and Gaza, along with the separation barrier, are featured in the video.

Its lyrics refer to catastrophes, refugees, crimes against humanity, prison camps, occupation, human rights and justice. “We are the people and this is our time, stand up, sing out for Palestine,” goes the refrain.

Coldplay initially linked to the video from the band’s Facebook page, prompting around 7,000 responses, both for and against. Earlier this week, the band removed the link (see update below).

The US media host Glenn Beck drew attention to the song on his Fox show, describing it as “evil” and “pure propaganda”. Referring to the song’s lyrics, he said: “Before you know it, ‘Israeli occupation’ will be standard fare. Everyone will just see it as they’re just occupying that land. That is a lie.”

If the song makes it into the UK charts, it is likely to cause a dilemma for the BBC. The corporation ran into controversy last month for masking out the words “free Palestine” from a number recorded by Mic Righteous. It did it in order “to ensure impartiality was maintained”, it said. On another recent occasion, the word “Palestine” was excised from a BBC script.

I have no idea whether this campaign song will sink or soar. But the controversy building around it even before release is an indication of what could be yet to come.

1.42pm update: I’ve just had an email from Frank Barat at OneWorld who tells me:

“Coldplay did not remove link from its Facebook page. Facebook removed the link because thousands of people (and computer generated posts) reported it as abusive.”

My apologies to Coldplay for misrepresenting them.

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2.  Today in Palestine Wednesday, June 8, 2011

http://www.theheadlines.org/11/08-06-11.shtml

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3.PCHR,

June 09, 2011

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights  LTD(non-profit)

www.pchrgaza.org

___________________________________________________________________

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)

A Palestinian civilian was wounded in the Gaza Strip

·           A Palestinian child was wounded in an attack launched jointly by IOF and Israeli settlers.

·               IOF used force to disperse peaceful demonstrations commemorating the Palestinian Naksa.[1]

–        Twenty six demonstrators, including 11 children and a woman, were wounded near Qalandya checkpoint, north of Jerusalem.

·               IOF continued to use force against peaceful protests in the West Bank.

–        Two Palestinians, including a journalist, were wounded.

·               IOF conducted 38 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

–        IOF arrested 14 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children.

–        The arrested Palestinians include two PLC members.

·               IOF continued settlement activities and Israeli settlers continued their attacks in the West Bank.

–        Israeli settlers set fire to wheat farms in Qalqilya.

–        Israeli settlers damaged 20 grape trees and set fire to a wheat farm in Beit Ummar village, north of Hebron.

·               Israel has continued to impose a total siege on the Gaza Strip and tightened the siege on the West Bank.

–        IOF held a PCHR fieldworker for several hours in the north of Hebron.

–        IOF held a PCHR fieldworker at a military checkpoint in the north of the West Bank and questioned him about PCHR’s annual report.

=============

Summary

Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (02 – 08 June 2011):

Shooting:

During the reporting period, IOF wounded 30 Palestinian civilians, including 12 children and a woman, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  Twenty nine of them were wounded in the West Bank and the thirtieth was wounded in the Gaza Strip, and the majority of them were wounded in peaceful demonstrations.

In the West Bank, On 02 June 2011, a Palestinian child from Fraata village, northeast of Qalqilya, was wounded when a group of settlers from “Havat Gilad” settlement raided Palestinian lands in Fraata village and set fire to lands planted with wheat and stoned Palestinian farmers.  The settlers then called IOF who rushed to the scene to provide protection to settlers.  IOF started firing tear gas canisters and rubber-coated metal bullets at Palestinians.  Asaad al-Tawil, 16, was hit as a result by a tear gas canister to his left eye.

IOF used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank.  As a result, Khaled Sabarneh, 42, reporter of the Iranian TV, was wounded by a tear gas canister in the right leg, and Mousa Ahmed Mohammed Abdul Karim, 45, sustained shrapnel wounds to the head.

On 05 June 2001, Palestinians organized a peaceful demonstration on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the occupation of the rest of the Palestinian territories by the Israeli occupation, calling for putting an end to the occupation. IOF used excessive force to disperse this demonstration.  As a result, 26 Palestinians, including 11 children and a woman, were wounded.  Paramedics who were in the scene told a PCHR fieldworker that only five of the wounded were transferred to Palestine Medical Compound in Ramallah for treatment while the others were treated on the spot and refused to give their names to the paramedics.

In addition, dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation and bruises as they were beaten by IOF in peaceful demonstrations in the West Bank.

In the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian civilian was wounded on 07 June 2011 when IOF positioning on observation towers at the border near Beit Hanoun “Erez” crossing, in the far north of the Gaza Strip, opened intensive fire at a group of Palestinian and international demonstrators who were nearly 300 meters from the border fence to the north of the Agricultural School of al-Azhar University, north of Beit Hanoun.

Incursions:

During the reporting period, IOF conducted at least 38 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they arrested 14 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children.

The arrested Palestinians included two members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) of the Hamas Change and Reform Bloc who are Abdul Rahman Fehmi Abdul Rahman Zidan, 51, from Deir al-Ghsoun village in the north of Tulkarm and Ahmed Ali Ahmed al-Haj Ali, 73, from Ein Beit al-Maa refugee camp, west of Nablus.  Also Hussam Mahmoud Abdul Rahman Khader, 48, former PLC member of the Fatah parliamentary bloc from Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, and Dr. Ghassan Nayef Talab Thougan, 54, an academic and a leader of Hamas, were among those who were arrested by IOF.

Israeli Settlers’ Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property:

Israeli settlers living in the OPT in violation of the international humanitarian law have continued to commit systematic crimes against Palestinian civilians and Palestinian property with protection provided by IOF who ignore conducting investigations into complaints submitted by Palestinian civilians against settlers.

On 02 June 2011, a group of settlers from “Havat Gilad” settlement raided Palestinian lands in Fraata village, northeast of Qalqilya, and set fire in lands planted with wheat and stoned Palestinian farmers.  Farmers and some Palestinians from the village who rushed to help the attacked farmers tried to drive the settlers away, but the settlers called IOF who rushed to the scene to provide protection to settlers.  IOF started firing tear gas canisters and rubber-coated metal bullets at Palestinians and beat them.  As a result, a Palestinian child was wounded and another civilian sustained wounds in his left leg as IOF pushed him to the ground.  Another 3 Palestinians sustained wounds when they were attacked by Israeli settlers.

On 06 June 2011, Israeli settlers from “Karmei Tzur” settlement established on Palestinian lands in “Khellet al-Kutleh”, south of Beit Ummar village and north of Halhoul town in Hebron, sprayed incinerating chemicals at 20 grape trees owned by Ali Ayad Issa Awad, 45.  The grape trees were damaged as a result.

On 07 June 2011, Israeli settlers set fire in a wheat farm to the north of Hebron also owned by Ali Ayad Issa Awad.  The fire damaged 2 dunums[2] and a half of the farm which measures 3 dunums.

Also on 07 June 2011, dozens of Israeli settlers chased a number of Palestinian shepherds from “Um al-Kheir” village, southeast of Yatta in the south of Hebron, and prevented them from watering and grazing their sheep. IOF also held Belal Mohammed al-Hathalin from from “Um al-Kheir” village for allegedly “taking his sheep to a military zone.”

Restrictions on Movement:

Israel has continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT and has imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

The full report is available online at:

http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7495:weekly-report-on-israeli-human-rights-violations-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-02-08-june-2011&catid=84:weekly-2009&Itemid=183

—————————————-

Public Document

For further information please visit our website (http://www.pchrgaza.org) or contact PCHR’s office in Gaza City, Gaza Strip by email (pchr@pchrgaza.org) or telephone (+972 (0)8 2824776 – 2825893).

*Office Hours are between 08:00 – 16:00 hours (05:00 GMT – 13:00 GMT) Sun – Thurs.

——————————————————————————–

[1] The beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territory.

[2] One dunum is equal to 1,000 square meters.

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4.  BBC,

June 9, 2011

Young, frustrated and in Gaza

As Arab Spring lengthens into Arab Summer, Newsnight’s Tim Whewell travels to Gaza – one of the most enclosed societies on earth – to find out what freedoms and changes revolutions elsewhere in the Middle East have brought to young Palestinians there.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/9508060.stm

In the front room of a house in the tightly-packed concrete slum that is Gaza’s Jabaliya refugee camp, they are learning to dance.

A group of young teenage girls are stepping high in the air, hands on hips, as they practice the debka. Traditionally, it was performed by boys and girls together. But since the Islamist movement Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, mixed dancing has been stopped.

“ The ridiculous game between Hamas and Fatah has ruined every Palestinian life ”

Osama Shomer

“I feel sad and depressed that I can’t have freedom in my own country,” says Roba Salibi, the university student who teaches the debka in her spare time. “The government puts pressure and does not allow us to do what we love.”

Even to criticise Hamas so publicly is daring in Gaza.

But Roba has gone much further. She is one of a group of students who organised an unprecedented independent demonstration in March, calling on the movement to end its bitter, sometimes murderous feud with the rival secular faction, Fatah, and concentrate instead on a united struggle for Palestinian rights.

“We said we were sick of political games and we want to be part of a society more tolerant and open to new ideas,” says Roba’s friend Osama Shomer. “The ridiculous game between Hamas and Fatah has ruined every Palestinian life.”

In December, Osama was among the authors of a deliberately provocative Facebook manifesto that cursed all the forces they felt were imprisoning Gazan youth.

Fighting uniformity

“That was the reason for the frustration,” says another member of the group, Ruwan Abu Shahla. “No-one cared what we felt, what we had to offer, what we could be.”

It was a passionate cry for both political and social freedom. Ruwan is one of only 15 or so female students, of a total of 9,000 at Gaza’s al-Azhar University, who do not wear the hijab head-covering.

“The faction which is controlling us is trying to make every person be the same thing. A girl like me not putting on hijab is not acceptable.”

“You used to look around to see if someone is listening, so we used to stay silent, not even to think,” adds her colleague, Abu Yazan.

He was called in for questioning by Hamas after the publication of the manifesto.

During the March demonstration, many protestors were beaten by police. But three months on, the atmosphere in Gaza has changed, if only slightly.

“We made mistakes,” says Hamas’ deputy foreign minister Ghazi Hamad, referring to some of the Islamic restrictions imposed by his movement – an admission he would have been unlikely to make before this year’s youth activism.

‘Quarrelling’

More importantly, pressure from the street helped lead to the reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah signed in Cairo in May, though mediation by the new Egyptian government and the current political weakness of both Palestinian factions, played a more important role.

“ Abu Mazen is committed to his regime, and we are committed to ours ”

Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas

Overnight, the pact brought new colour to the streets of Gaza. The yellow flag of Fatah – banned for the past four years – reappeared above rooftops alongside the green of Hamas.

But that has been virtually the only change.

The promised new joint government of technocrats which is supposed to govern both Gaza and the West Bank until elections next year, has still not materialised.

The parties are quarrelling over candidates for key posts.

Even if they do agree a brief interim administration, that will probably be the limit of their unity.

Mahmoud Zahar, the most senior Hamas leader in Gaza, is unequivocal.

“Abu Mazen (the Palestinian president and Fatah leader) is committed to his regime, and we are committed to ours,” he tells me.

Zahar says Hamas will not consider itself bound by any progress Abu Mazen, also known as Mahmoud Abbas, may make in talks with Israel.

More surprisingly, he is critical of Abbas’ plan to seek recognition of Palestinian independence at the United Nations in September – a move Fatah hoped would be strengthened by the unity deal.

One of the few things the factions have agreed on – to the frustration of the young people who pressed for a deal – was to limit the size of protests in Gaza on 5 June, the anniversary of the 1967 Six Day War, in order to avoid provoking Israeli forces.

Only a few dozen activists turned out to march towards the border, instead of the hoped-for hundreds or thousands.

Symbolically, they baked flat Palestinian bread and danced the debka – this time boys only – within range of Israeli guns.

But Abu Yazan, one of the organisers, did not hide his disappointment.

“Palestinians do want to come out,” he said, “but they are afraid of the political factions, they are afraid of the Israelis. Everyone’s working against us.”

His group’s slogan: ‘Gaza Youth Breaks Out’, is still no more than a dream.

Watch Tim Whewell’s film from Gaza on Newsnight on Thursday 9 June 2011 at 2230 on BBC Two and then afterwards on the BBC iPlayer and Newsnight website.

Story from BBC NEWS:

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5.  Haaretz ,

June 09, 2011


Jerusalem approves revised plan for contested Museum of Tolerance site

The controversial project by the Simon Wiesenthal Center is located on a medieval Muslim cemetery, which opponents say defeats the museum’s goal of building tolerance.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/jerusalem-approves-revised-plan-for-contested-museum-of-tolerance-site-1.366683

By Nir Hasson

Tags: Jerusalem

After a two-year delay the Jerusalem municipal planning committee approved on Monday the plan to build the Museum of Tolerance in the city center.

The controversial project by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, based on a similar museum in Los Angeles, is located on a medieval Muslim cemetery. During the construction work, as Haaretz reported, hundreds of ancient skeletons were evacuated from the area.

The substantial changes made in the original plan of the museum have rekindled objections to the project, whose opponents demand the new plan be submitted for reapproval.

The original plan was designed by the renowned architect Frank Gehry. But the Simon Wiesenthal Center halted the project due to the 2008 economic crisis. The center subsequently held a competition for a new design which was won by Tel Aviv based Chyutin Architects, who came up with a very different structure on a much lower budget.

In order to prevent further delays, the Weisenthal Center did not submit the new plan for approval; instead it merely asked the city for building permits and for changes in the original plan.

The new building will have three floors and two additional underground ones, compared to the five floors above ground in Gehry’s design. An archaeological garden, with a Roman aqueduct discovered at the digs on the site, will be built in the museum center.

The museum is expected to change the entire area. “The square is designed with an archaeological garden and a depressed amphitheater serving as a link between the urban street and the museum structure,” the entrepreneurs wrote in the request for a building permit.

“The museum structure is designed as a linear chunk, part of which is submerged in the ground and facing the archaeological garden, and another part floating above the surrounding street level,” they wrote.

Opponents say there is a need for a debate on the entire plan and the museum in general. Municipal opposition head Yosef Alalu, of the Meretz faction, says the original building was approved because it was designed by Gehry and it would not be fair to take advantage of that to construct another building on such a sensitive site.

“The Museum of Tolerance should have been a model of understanding and coexistence among all religions. It should have sent a message of tolerance and patience to all populations. But building it on the site of a Muslim cemetery defeats that goal,” says Alalu.

To this day, he says, the museum’s content is not clear because Yad Vashem – the Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority insisted the museum refrain from dealing with the Holocaust. Presumably, political and religious pressures will prevent the museum from dealing with gay rights or Jewish-Arab relations, says Alalu.

The Muslim Council, an organization that manages cemeteries and holy sites, also objects to the museum plan. The council said in a letter to the city that the new plan consists of a “considerable divergence” from the original plan and ought not to be approved.

The Wiesenthal Center said in a statement “the approved plan is for building a tolerance museum on a certain site with certain functions. No change has occured in this purpose and site and there is no need or point in presenting a new plan. The design changes are not a matter for a planning procedure but for a permit procedure and will be managed in keeping with the decisions of the authorized planning institutions – Jerusalem’s local and regional committees.”

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6.  Haaretz,

June 09, 2011


Israeli forces still searching for suspects behind West Bank mosque attack

Perpetrators sprayed ‘Price Tag – Alei Ayin’ outside mosque entrance in arson attack Tuesday, indicating intention to avenge recent building demolition in unauthorized West Bank outpost Alei Ayin.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-forces-still-searching-for-suspects-behind-west-bank-mosque-attack-1.366680

By Barak Ravid, Amos Harel and Chaim Levinson

Tags: IDF Israel police Israel settlers Palestinians

======================

7.  Haaretz Thursday, June 09, 2011

Latest update 02:19 09.06.11

Syrian slaughter and Israeli restraint

We see Bashar Assad’s regime slaughtering dozens of unarmed Syrian demonstrators every day, and say he is ‘slaughtering his own people.’ But when the Israel Defense Forces killed 23 unarmed Syrian demonstrators in one day, we boasted that the IDF ‘acted with restraint.’

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/syrian-slaughter-and-israeli-restraint-1.366703

By Gideon Levy

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8.  The Washington Post

Posted:06/09/2011

The Hatch-Lieberman resolution: Pushing back on Obama on Israel

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/the-hatch-lieberman-resolution-pushing-back-on-obama-on-israel/2011/03/29/AGARuJNH_blog.html

By Jennifer Rubin

Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) have introduced a resolution that reads:

Declaring that it is the policy of the United States to support and facilitate Israel in maintaining defensible borders and that it is contrary to United States policy and national security to have the borders of Israel return to the armistice lines that existed on June 4, 1967.

Whereas, throughout its short history, Israel, a liberal democratic ally of the United States, has been repeatedly attacked by authoritarian regimes and terrorist organizations that denied its right to exist;

Whereas the United States Government remains steadfastly committed to the security of Israel, especially its ability to maintain secure, recognized, and defensible borders; Whereas the United States Government is resolutely bound to its policy of preserving and strengthening the capability of Israel to deter enemies and defend itself against any threat;

Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 242

(1967) recognized Israel’s ‘‘right to live in peace within

secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or

acts of force’’;

Whereas the United States has long recognized that a return to the 1967 lines would create a strategic military vulnerability for Israel and greatly impede its sovereign right to defend its borders; and

Whereas Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu correctly stated on May 20, 2011, that the 1967 lines were not ‘‘boundaries of peace. They are the boundaries of repeated war’’: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That, (1) it is the policy of the United States to support and facilitate Israel in creating and maintaining secure, recognized, and defensible borders; and (2) it is contrary to United States policy and our national security to have the borders of Israel return to the armistice lines that existed on June 4, 9 1967.

President Obama’s spinners will certainly argue this is unnecessary and point that he called for 1967 borders with “land swaps.” But the point of the resolution is clear: The United States has a long bipartisan position on the primacy of defensible borders and that the U.S. role is to “facilitate” Israel’s security, not undermine its bargaining position.

Moreover, if this is the Obama position, why have no Democratic senators signed on? And if it’s precisely what Obama meant to say, why not signal his approval? Unless, of course, Obama is playing a double game — signaling to the Palestinians one position and voicing platitudes to quiet critics at home.

By Jennifer Rubin  |  11:35 AM ET, 06/09/2011

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