FASAYIL AL-WUSTA, West Bank — The Israeli troops and bulldozers arrived in the early morning and quickly got to work, tearing down shelters made of plastic netting and poles that had served as homes for about 100 people in this impoverished Bedouin community in the parched Jordan Valley.
The aftermath of the sweep last month against what Israeli authorities said were illegally built structures was still visible on a recent afternoon. Battered appliances, broken furniture, tattered clothing and other belongings that residents said they were prevented from removing were strewn in the dirt piled on the collapsed dwellings.
People took cover from the baking sun in makeshift tents constructed from the remains of their former homes and in others supplied by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. Mobile tanks and electricity cables temporarily strung across the ground were the only sources of water and power.
“We have nowhere else to go,” said Talib Abayat, sitting in the shade of a lone tree.
The desolate scene reflected the state of the neglected Palestinian communities of the Jordan Valley, an area that amounts to more than a quarter of the West Bank but remains largely under Israeli control, with wide gaps between the resources allocated to Palestinians and Israeli settlers.
Running along the West Bank’s border with Jordan, the Jordan Valley has long been considered an area of strategic importance by Israel, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has demanded a long-term military presence there as part of any future peace deal with the Palestinians.
Israeli settlements housing about 9,400 people line the road through the valley, scattered among ramshackle villages and encampments where about 80,000 Palestinians live. Nowhere in the West Bank is the contrast more stark between the settlements, with their intensively irrigated farmland, red-roofed homes and streets shaded by shrubs and trees, and the dusty Palestinian communities and their fields, dependent on limited water supplies.
A series of demolition operations last month underlined Israel’s claim to the area, which a recent poll showed most Israelis believe is part of Israel, not occupied territory, and populated mostly by Israelis. The poll was commissioned by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has asserted that there can be no Palestinian state without the Jordan Valley, which he called the Palestinian breadbasket. Yet with more than 70 percent of the area under Israeli control — designated as state land, military firing zones or nature reserves — the Palestinian Authority has little influence over the region’s development and the use of its resources.
Along with the demolitions at Fasayil al-Wusta, structures were torn down in two other sites in the Jordan Valley last month, part of what the United Nations and human rights group say is an increase this year in demolitions of Palestinian homes in areas of the West Bank that are under direct Israeli control.
According to figures compiled by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, the Israeli authorities have so far this year demolished 103 Palestinian residential structures in “Area C,” the designation for the 60 percent of West Bank lands that remain under full Israeli control. In 2010, 86 structures were demolished, and in 2009, 28 were torn down, according to B’Tselem.
Planning policies that limit the growth of Palestinian communities in the Israeli-controlled areas leave little room for authorized construction, forcing people to build homes without permits, which are then torn down, rights advocates say.
Officials of the Civil Administration, the Israeli military government in the West Bank, say that the demolitions are carried out because Palestinians build illegally on state lands and in military zones and that similar measures are taken against wildcat building by Jewish settlers in unauthorized outposts.
Capt. Amir Koren, a spokesman for the Civil Administration, said master plans are being drawn up that would permit new building in Palestinian villages in Area C and cited broader plans to provide water and power hookups for large Bedouin encampments.
An official involved in building regulation, who spoke on the condition he not be identified by name because he was not authorized to speak on the record, said a plan that would allow construction in the area of Fasayil al-Wusta was expected to be approved soon.
In al-Hadidiya, another Bedouin community where shelters were torn down last month, Abdel Rahim Bsharat, 63, said his family had land-ownership registration going back many decades and had been living in the area well before the neighboring settlement of Ro’i was established.
Bsharat recalled that when soldiers came to demolish his family compound of shelters and livestock pens, an officer told him that it was a military zone and that he needed a building permit.
“I’m on my land. I don’t need a permit,” Bsharat said. “They want to empty the area. They want us to go.” He said settlers have fired warning shots at Palestinians herding sheep on the surrounding hills and ordered them away.
At Fasayil al-Wusta, where men earn about $15 a day doing seasonal farming work at the neighboring Israeli settlement of Tomer, people said they were in dire need after the loss of their homes and possessions. A Danish church group has contributed materials to help them rebuild, but the threat of more demolitions remains.
“We need a solution,” said Abed Yassin, standing near the wreckage of his shelter. “We need a place to live.”
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2. Ynet,
July 05, 2011
Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch Photo: Hagai Aharon
Aharonovitch: Fly-in ‘hooligans’ will be deported
Internal security minister clarifies any illegal provocations by pro-Palestinian activists arriving in airport will lead to expulsion
While the Gaza-bound flotilla has suffered some setbacks, Israeli security officials are still gearing up Tuesday for the expected pro-Palestinian fly-in.
Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch addressed the issue Tuesday, saying: “Any hooligans who might try to break the law – will not be permitted to enter Israel and will be sent back to their countries of origin.”
“In the coming days we’re expecting hundreds of radical activits to arrive from all over Europe with the intent of creating provocations and illegal protests aimed at hurting our legitimacy,” Aharonovitch remarked. “I want to clarify that as a sovereign and democratic state Israel will not allow propaganda, incitement or illegal demonstrations – not at the airport and not anywhere else.”
The minister sent a clear message to the activists – “You should know that your way will not succeed, so you would be better off avoiding coming to this country.
“The State of Israel would be happy to host you here as tourists, so you might enjoy its wonderful views and people.”
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3. The Guardian,
July 4, 2011
LettersDouble standards over Salah’s arrest
Share89 reddit this guardian.co.uk, Monday 4 July 2011 21.00 BST Article historyI was deeply disturbed to learn Sheikh Raed Salah is under threat of deportation on grounds that this action would be “conducive to the public good” (Inquiry after banned Palestinian enters UK, 30 June). On the contrary, it would be very harmful to the public good, at least if the public good is construed as encouraging free and open discussion of issues of great significance. Sheikh Salah, former mayor of the most important Arab town in Israel, Umm al Fahm, has played a very important role as a representative of the Arab community, domestically and internationally. He has been a respected voice advocating rights and justice, a voice that most definitely should be heard in the west. I trust that this decision of the government will be rescinded, that he will be released from detention without delay, and that he will be able to continue with his talks and discussions in Britain.
Noam Chomsky
Cambridge, Massachusetts
• How interesting that the same Mike Freer MP who demanded the banning of Sheikh Raed Salah from Britain should also have, in effect, supported the entry of suspected Israeli war criminals into this country. As my constituency MP, he brusquely rejected my appeal in November 2010 to vote against the government’s proposed change to the law of universal jurisdiction, which would make it easier for visiting Israelis accused of alleged war crimes to evade arrest here. By contrast, Sheikh Raed has committed no crime in Britain or elsewhere. But perhaps his criticism of Israel’s policies against his fellow Palestinians is the real crime for Freer and other supporters of Israel.
Ghada Karmi
London
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4. Al Jazeera,
July 1, 2011
Fighting ‘hate speech’ smears on Sheikh Salah
Palestinian activist Sheikh Raed Salah was barred from the UK due to unfair allegations from neo-conservatives.
Like other Muslim leaders, Sheikh Raed Salah (C) has been unfairly targeted by British authorities, author says [EPA]
Writing in the Guardian newspaper Hanan Zoabi, a member of the Knesset, where she represents the Balad Party, asks how Sheikh Raed Salah’s “struggle for equality” has become a “form of racism?”
She is no doubt perplexed to find a fellow defender of the Palestinian liberation struggle defined as a ‘hate-preacher’ by the British Government. “Since when” she pleads, “have states that boast of their democratic credentials acquired the right to arrest people for their political views?”
To answer Zoabi’s questions and to explain the extraordinary decisions to ban, arrest and deport the Palestinian leader Sheikh Raed Salah from Britain it is necessary to understand the long standing role of influential pro-Israel, neo-conservative lobby groups in Westminster and Washington.
The best place to start is 9/11. As we approach the tenth anniversary of al-Qaeda’s terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon it has become fashionable to suggest that the worst excesses of the war on terror are behind us.
In truth, the pro-Israel, neo-conservative architects of the war on terror in Washington will be celebrating their ongoing success in falsely conflating a war against Palestinian resistance with what might otherwise have been a legitimate counter-terrorism strategy against al-Qaeda terrorists.
A key ingredient in this success has been to adopt the powerful and pejorative term ‘hate-preacher’ to describe leaders of Palestinian resistance against Israeli oppression and to put them in the same category as al-Qaeda terrorists.
Although taking their cue from sister think-tanks like Middle East Forum in Washington, Westminster based lobby groups and their media acolytes including Policy Exchange, Henry Jackson Society and the Centre for Social Cohesion, have been at the forefront of a decade long campaign to reduce Palestinian resistance leaders to the same status as al-Qaeda terrorists.
When the Washington based cheerleader for the war on terror Daniel Pipes came to Westminster in 2006 to chastise Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London at the time, for inviting Sheikh Yusef al Qaradawi to London, he insisted that politicians in Westminster should adopt a tougher response to ‘hate preachers’ like Qaradawi. Policy Exchange led the Westminster based campaign to endorse and cement Pipes’ recommendation as policy.
Regrettably Westminster politicians like Ken Livingstone and Jeremy Corbyn, who was due to share a platform with Sheikh Raed Salah in London this week, are few and far between. Whether Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat, those politicians with their hands on the levers of power in Westminster have consistently adopted pro-Israeli recommendations to denigrate Palestinian support as anti-Semitic ‘hate speech’.
‘Hate speech’ and ‘hate preacher’ has also been used to conflate Palestinian resistance leaders with leaders of far right organisations like Nick Griffin of the British National Party. This invidious denigration has been aimed at Muslim leaders in Britain as well as those abroad. Dean Godson, the architect of Policy Exchange’s strategy in this arena, was the first to argue that mainstream Muslim leaders in Britain who failed to condemn Palestinian resistance in the same terms as al-Qaeda terrorism were on par with racist leaders like Griffin.
Established visitors to Britain like popular Muslim speaker Zakir Naik have also fallen foul of this same policy to ban ‘hate preachers’. Naik’s case in particular highlights the double standard that is being applied to the detriment of Muslim leaders in and outside Britain. It is inconceivable to think that a charismatic religious speaker of any other faith would have been banned from Britain for saying exactly the same as Naik.
Since British Home Secretary Theresa May unveiled a tough new ‘Prevent’ strategy last month that aims to crackdown on ‘extremists’ it has become inevitable that the pro-Israel, neo-con think-tanks in Westminster would become pro-active in their efforts to highlight candidates for exclusion like Sheikh Raed Salah. They will be delighted with the outcome, notwithstanding an apparent administrative slip up that initially allowed Sheikh Salah to enter Britain without question.
It is the great success of the pro-Israel, neo conservative lobby in Washington and Westminster that they have achieved an exceptional status for Palestinian and Muslim leaders. The war on terror has provided them with perfect cover.
However, Sheikh Salah and his supporters may have the last laugh. The British judiciary remains a thorn in the side of Westminster politicians who attempt to side step legal process in the name of the war on terror – or now, as part of a strategy to prevent extremism and hate speech as this counter-subversion strategy has been re-branded. If he is allowed to appeal the deportation decision, a British judge may well take the view that Sheikh Salah has far more in common with Nelson Mandela than the late Osama bin Laden or Nick Griffin.
Anger and frustration with Israeli oppression is hardly the same as unwarranted hatred of a minority or majority community of any kind.
Moreover, it is widely understood in Britain that Mandela’s resort to terrorism against the apartheid regime in South Africa is inherently distinguishable from al-Qaeda’s development of the same terrorist tactic. Former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband went further and suggested that the terrorist tactics of Mandela’s group, the African National Congress, could be morally justified.
However, unlike Palestinian and Muslim leaders since 9/11, Mandela has never been asked to renounce the political grievances that prompted his resort to terrorism – merely the tactic of terrorism. The same is true of former Sin Fein and IRA leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness who remain staunch Irish republicans to this day.
It is difficult to find anything in Sheikh Salah’s so-called hate speech that would not have occasioned an entirely opposite response from the British Home Secretary had the words been uttered by a non-Muslim visiting Britain.
It is to be hoped that common sense will prevail in this case. If Sheikh Salah is able to share future platforms with the London MP Jeremy Corbyn they will form a strong alliance against political injustice which is the only sound basis for public safety in the age of al-Qaeda inspired terrorism. Corbyn has demonstrated how effective Palestinians such as Mohammed Sawlaha have been against al-Qaeda propagandists in London. Together Corbyn and Salah offer justice and hope against the real purveyors of hate speech in Westminster and Washington.
Dr Robert Lambert is Co-Director of the European Muslim Research Centre and the University of Exeter and author of Countering al-Qaeda in London which will be published by Hurst in September 2011.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.
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5. Al Jazeera,
July 4, 2011
The Flotilla embodies the Arab Spring spirit
As governments sit by idly, civilians from multiple countries challenge Israel’s unjust occupation of Gaza.
Israel’s illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip has led to an almost complete collapse of Gaza’s economy, making the people dependent on international aid [GALLO/GETTY]
Earlier this year we watched with amazement as hundreds of thousands of Arabs charged into the streets of their cities demanding reform. The uprisings led to the departure of several leaders who had ruled for decades and also tested (and continue to test) several others.
But what led to this outpouring is much the same as the motivation behind the flotilla initiative which seeks to challenge the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.
When fundamentally unjust situations are left unaddressed by states, the people must step in. That is precisely what happened in Tahrir square when hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Egyptians lost all faith in the government’s ability to reform.
That is also precisely what drives the flotilla and the activists aboard it. They have watched as the collective punishment of 1.5 million civilians lingers with no objections coming from states that can change the situation. In fact, the siege of Gaza has been supported by Israel, the United States and Mubarak’s Egypt (though post-Mubarak Egypt promises to be different).
The blockade of Gaza is just one part of a multilayered siege on the Gaza Strip. The layers include control of land entry and exit points for commercial and humanitarian goods, control over the amount of electricity and water available to the people of Gaza, control of the air and sea lanes, and so on.
The vast majority of water in Gaza is not fit for human consumption. The vast majority of people live on less than $2 a day and rely on daily handouts from aid organisations due to rampant unemployment.
The Israelis try to whitewash the devastating effects of the siege by ignoring the exhaustive documentation by aid organisations and human rights groups, and by claiming they facilitate the entry of hundreds of trucks a day into Gaza. This is tantamount to justifying the encaging of an innocent person by claiming to shove some bread and water through the bars once a day.
In reality, the number of trucks getting into Gaza are far below what the UN believes is necessary to meet the minimum standards of the population.
Exports, which are commercial goods leaving Gaza, have been stymied as well. In fact, in 2005, Israel agreed to allow 400 trucks of exports per day out of Gaza by 2006 yet less than 200 trucks of exports were permitted exit throughout all of 2008-2010! There is yet to be any rational argument from the Israelis as to why they prevent exports from leaving Gaza, and the only plausible explanation is that they want to emaciate the Palestinian economy in the strip.
It should also come as no surprise that Israelis are working around the clock in an attempt to vilify the people on these boats, just like the when the Mubarak regime attempted to do the same with the Egyptians that challenged his rule.
But the passengers on the flotilla realise that nonviolent disobedience is key to the success of their mission to raise awareness about the unjust blockade. The Israelis have even been caught distributing fake videos accusing the flotilla organizers of homophobia, alliances with terrorists and even suggesting the passengers might use chemical weapons.
For a state that claims to be a “democracy”, their response to nonviolent disobedience is as irrational as any neighbouring autocrat’s.
Vilification is, of course, the first step to justifying violence, and there has been no shortage of violence used against nonviolent activists during the Arab Spring. It seems Israel is laying the groundwork to apply similarly repressive techniques against the good-willed passengers of these boats.
So what will the reaction be?
As the flotilla approaches Gaza, another January 25th moment presents itself. You either stand with members of civil society who have challenged the unjust practices of states, or you stand with those states and their unjust practices.
About 40 brave Americans have cast their lot with civil society by setting sail on the American-flagged ship to Gaza, the “Audacity of Hope”. Among them are men and women, elderly, and many Jewish-Americans as well. They will be joined by about ten ships and 300 other activists. They simply refuse to sit idly by like their governments as the crime of the siege of Gaza continues.
As the collective punishment of 1.5 millions civilians persists, it’s time to ask yourself: which side are you on?
Yousef Munayyer is a writer and political analyst based in Washington, DC. He is currently the Executive Director of the The Jerulsalem Fund for Education and Community Development.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.
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6. Ynet,
July 05, 2011
Pro-Palestinian activists at embassy Photo: AP
Pro-Palestinian activists occupy embassy in Athens
Activists from flotilla banned from sailing to Gaza by Greek authorities occupy Spanish Embassy in Athens, drape Palestinian flag from balcony
Pro-Palestinian activists from an international flotilla banned from setting sail for Gaza by Greek authorities occupied the Spanish Embassy in Athens on Tuesday, a diplomatic source said.
“It’s somewhat of a symbolic occupation. There are only four activists currently in the embassy, all of whom are Spanish,” the source said.
The activists “want us to ask the Spanish government to put pressure on Athens to authorise the flotilla to set sail for Gaza,” she said.
A dozen supporters were gathered outside the embassy, she added.
Activists protesting from embassy balcony (Photo: AP)
Thirty mainly Spanish activists had met with their ambassador to ask Madrid to put pressure on Greece to allow them to sail, one of the protesters, who called himself Santiago, told AFP by telephone.
They had then “decided to occupy the rooms,” he said.
The activists had draped a Palestinian flag from one of the embassy’s balconies, an AFP photographer said.
Flotilla boat captain released
Meanwhile, Greek authorities detained three activists attempting to breach Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, after a boat set sail in defiance of a Greek ban, officials and pro-Palestinian activists said Tuesday.
David Heap, a spokesman for the Tahrir, identified those detained as Canadians Sandra Ruch and Soha Kneen, and Australian Michael Coleman. The boat tried to leave the southern Greek island of Crete on Monday, but was forced to turn back by Coast Guard vessels.
Activists onboard vessel detained by Greece
The Greek Merchant Marine Ministry said one of the Canadians, who was responsible for the boat, was arrested on charges of illegally sailing without permission. The other Canadian national and the Australian were arrested for using kayaks to block a coast guard vessel from setting sail to stop the flotilla boat.
Greece last week banned all boats participating in the Gaza flotilla from leaving port, citing security concerns after a similar flotilla last year was raided by Israeli forces, leaving nine activists on a Turkish boat dead. The Greek foreign ministry has offered to deliver the humanitarian aid the activists want to take to Gaza.
French pro-Palestinian activists said in Paris Tuesday one small boat was in international waters and on its way.
Jean-Claude Lefort, a spokesman for the group, told The Associated Press Tuesday that the Dignite-Al Karama left a port near Athens early Monday with eight activists and two crew members on board. If true, it would be the first flotilla boat to leave Greece.
However, the claim could not be confirmed. Greek authorities said they were looking into the report. Greek activist Dimitris Plionis said during a news conference in Athens that the boat had been in a “safe” area “in this part of the Mediterranean.” He said it was not sailing to Gaza at the moment, but was waiting for other boats from the flotilla to join it.
In the meantime, a Greek court has released from custody the American captain of a flotilla boat, who was arrested over the weekend.
John Klusmire, the captain of the Audacity of Hope, had attempted to set sail from a port near Piraeus last week in defiance of the Greek ban on the flotilla boats leaving port. He was arrested on Saturday on charges of setting sail without permission and endangering passengers, and had been in custody since then.
One of his lawyers, Manolis Pefanakis, said a court in Piraeus released him from custody Tuesday. Supporters at the courthouse cheered and chanted slogans in celebration.
“It’s a terrible, terrible thing that the government of Greece has done. We are here in support of the captain, an honorable man and a professional sea captain,” said one campaigner, retired US Army Col. Ann Wright, at the courthouse. “It is terrible that they feel they had to keep him in jail.”
