NOVANEWS
Dear Friends,
Only 7 items tonight.
The first two items are on the same subject, but are different responses. My reaction to the first one is in brackets at the item. I acknowledge that I am not a brilliant analyst. I acknowledge that there are lacunae in my knowledge. But even so, this one bugs me, even though I know that United States foreign policy has historically been a debacle. Yet, acknowledging all these, this one beats me! Why does the US feel put upon to censure European criticism of Israel’s building spree? Is the cause the campaign for the office of president? Is Obama kowtowing to the Christian Zionists and to AIPAC? What in the world has gotten into Obama’s mind?
Item 2, as I said, is on the same subject, that is to say, the censure of Israel’s continued building in the WB and East Jerusalem. However, I agree thoroughly with this complaint! Annette Groth, Speaker for human rights policy of the Left party in the German parliament states that it is not enough to talk (talk is cheap). Censure should be followed by acts.
Items 3 and 4 are both by the PCHR (Palestine Center for Human Rights). 3 is the weekly report of Israeli human rights violations in the WB from December 15 through the 21. Item 4 is a ‘Narratives under Siege’ report on saline water and the difficulties it causes for health and for farmers in Gaza.
Item 5, “In the West Bank, a Horror Story” centers on settler violence in the WB and Israeli compliance with it.
Item 6, “The Undeniable Right of Palestinians to Resist,” is one of the best arguments that I have seen on the subject of the Palestinian right to resist the occupation. I totally agree with Noam Sheizaf in his preference for non-violent action and in his argument that we have no right to tell the Palestinians how to resist the occupation. I take exception with one remark, however. Sheizaf towards the end states “Yet Palestinians are expected by the world not only to live under military rule, but also to like Israelis.” I know what he means, but the truth is that there are excellent relations between Palestinians and those Israelis who stand in solidarity with them. I know this for a fact. I experience it. Only today when spouse and I were visiting a family with whom we are very close, and were on this occasion there for a tragic reason, one of the members said, “You must come more often. If we could come to you, we would visit every week. But we can’t . . .” and it was meant with love and sincerity. The reason for the visit was tragic—a death. This is the 3rd of the offspring to have died. The first, a 16 or 17 year old was killed by an Israeli soldier during the 1st intifada (for throwing stones). The 2nd, a lovely young woman whom I cared deeply about, died of cancer at the age of 30. And now, another brother-son-nephew-grandson, was killed in a traffic accident. He was 29 years old, and was on his way home from university after attending his final class before graduation.
Item 7, Today in Palestine, contains a few items that I want briefly to comment on.
First of all, one of the items I’d intended to include in tonight’s items. But since it is in ‘Today in Palestine,’ no need to. It is from Mahsanmilim (Warehouse of Words) and by one of the two women who do a wonderful job of reporting life in the OPT under occupation and making us feel it as well. This story, “Kamil’s Insult,” is not located in the OPT, but somewhere in Israel, and is well worth reading, both for the content and the style of telling.
Then, in the brief report on the 33rd demolition of Al Araqib there is a comment to the effect that it is ‘one of several’ unrecognized villages. The last time I checked stats there were at least 40 of these, which is something more than ‘several,’ I would think. You can check out these 2 sites for more info on Unrecognized villages:
The Association of Forty
http://www.assoc40.org/
“Unrecognized” Villages of the Naqab [‘Negev’ in Hebrew]
http://www.hic-net.org/document.asp?PID=580
Lastly, I normally avoid sending you photos of atrocities, unless they are in a newspaper article or some report that details what the picture is. Pictures can be doctored, and can also give a false impression. But one of the items in ‘Today in Palestine,’ “Israeli troops stripped blindfolded youth . ..” contains a large number of photos. Some I recognize from news items. I periodically receive albums as these. They are not easy to look at. I feel relatively certain that they are authentic. I am not trying to discourage you from looking at them, only to explain why I don’t usually send them.
That’s it for tonight.
All the best,
Dorothy
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1 [DISGUSTING!!! D]
Haaretz
Thursday, December 22, 2011
U.S.: European UN states’ criticism of Israel does not help resume peace talks
State Department spokeswoman says ‘shouting from the rooftops of the UNSC is not going to change the situation on the ground.’
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-european-un-states-criticism-of-israel-does-not-help-resume-peace-talks-1.402894
By Natasha Mozgovaya
The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that the criticism of Israel issued by the European members of the UN Security Council did not aid in resuming Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
“Shouting from the rooftops of the Security Council is not going to change the situation on the ground, which is that these parties have to get back to the table and settle these issues together, and that’s the way we’re going to have a lasting, stable peace,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
Nuland stressed that the U.S. does not recognize the legitimacy of Israeli settlements, but does not think statements in the UN Security Council are the way to get the parties back to the table.
On Tuesday, representatives of Britain, France, Germany and Portugal said a briefing by UN assistant secretary-general for political affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco had made clear to the 15-nation council that Israeli settlement activity was undermining attempts to restart peace talks.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry statement did not mention settlements but said that “interfering with Israel’s domestic affairs, including on issues which are to be solved within the framework of direct talks, does not enhance the status they (the members) wish to be granted”.
Peace talks brokered by the Quartet of Middle East negotiators – the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union – collapsed a year ago over Israel’s refusal to halt construction in settlements. The Palestinians have refused to resume them unless Israel stops building.
Israel says negotiations should resume without preconditions and that most of its settlement construction takes place in areas it intends to keep in any future peace deal.
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2. Thursday, December 22, 2011
Press release from Annette Groth
Criticism of Israeli settlement activity must be followed up with political consequences
“It is commendable that the four European Union Member States represented on the UN Security Council, among them Germany, have finally expressed unequivocal disapproval of Israel’s settlement policy, which violates international law,” said Annette Groth, commenting on a joint statement issued by the four EU member states currently serving on the United Nations Security Council condemning the increased building of new settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The spokeswoman on human rights of the Left Party parliamentary group continued:
“The rapid expansion of settlements is being pursued at the cost of expelling Palestinians from their land. According to Amnesty International 431 houses and buildings were demolished in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank in 2010, an increase of 59 percent compared to the year before. At least 594 Palestinians – half of them children – were rendered homeless due to the demolition of the houses.
“But paying lip service is not enough. Criticism of Israel’s settlement policy must be followed up with political consequences. In cases of serious violations of international law and human rights, privileges such as those granted under the EU-Israel Association Agreement must be revoked.”
Prepared by: Beate Figgener
Annette Groth, MdB
Fraktion DIE LINKE im Bundestag
Menschenrechtspolitische Sprecherin
Deutscher Bundestag
Platz der Republik 1
11011 Berlin
Tel. : 030 227 77207
Fax : 030 227 76207
annette.groth@bundestag.de
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3. http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7972:weekly-report-on-israeli-human-rights-violations-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-15-21-december-2011&catid=84:weekly-2009&Itemid=183
PCHR
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights LTD(non-profit)
www.pchrgaza.org
Weekly report on Israeli human rights violations in the OPT for December 15-21 ________________________________________________________
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)
· A Palestinian civilian was killed when he fell down from his bicycle as he was attempting to escape Israeli gunfire in the Gaza Strip.
– A Palestinian civilian was wounded by Israeli gunfire in the northern Gaza Strip.
· IOF continued to attack Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip.
– A Palestinian fisherman was wounded by Israeli gunfire.
– IOF arrested 4 Palestinian fishermen and confiscated a fishing boat.
· IOF have continued to use force against peaceful protests in the West Bank.
– A Palestinian civilian was wounded and another one was arrested.
· IOF conducted 33 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and a limited one into the Gaza Strip.
– IOF arrested 9 Palestinians, including 2children.
– A dog belonging to IOF bit a Palestinian woman in Hebron.
· Israel has continued to impose a total closure on the OPT and has isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world.
– Israeli soldiers arrested 3 Palestinian civilians, including a child, at various checkpoints in the West Bank.
· IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.
– IOF approved the construction of 1,000 settlement units in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
– Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque and 5 civilian vehicles.
Summary
Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (15 – 21 December 2011):
Shooting:
During the reporting period, a Palestinian civilian was killed when fell from his bicycle as he was attempting to escape Israeli gunfire in the Gaza Strip. Two Palestinian civilians, including a fisherman, were wounded by IOF in the Gaza Strip, and a third civilian was wounded in the West Bank.
In the Gaza Strip, on 16 December 2011, a Palestinian civilian was killed as he fell from his bicycles as he was attempting to escape Israeli gunfire in al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
On the same day, a Palestinian fisherman was wounded by Israeli gunfire in the northern Gaza Strip.
On 21 December 2011, a Palestinian civilian was wounded when IOF fired at a number of Palestinian workers in the northern Gaza Strip.
During the reporting period, IOF arrested 4 Palestinian fishermen and confiscated a fishing boat in the Gaza Strip.
In the West Bank, during the reporting period, 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, a Palestinian civilian was wounded. Dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation. IOF also arrested a Palestinian civilian.
The full report is available online at:
http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7972:weekly-report-on-israeli-human-rights-violations-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-15-21-december-2011&catid=84:weekly-2009&Itemid=183
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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.
4.
PCHR
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22 December 2011
Farming with a grain of salt
Farming on land that has become almost impossible to farm is now daily reality for 62 year old Naeem El Laham, also known as Abu Mohammed. Together with his wife, 6 sons, 5 daughters and grandchildren he lives on his farm west of Khan Yunis.
“Our farming land stretches out over 2 dunums. My sons help me with the work on the land, just like I helped out my father on the land when I was younger,” says Abu Mohammed.
On his land he has small palm trees, beehives, 6 sheep, some olive trees, and a few vegetable plants. At first glance this looks like any small farm. It is only when you take a closer look at the plants and hear the story of Abu Mohammed, that you realize this farm is under serious threat.
“Until eight years ago we were able to buy water from a source nearby. However, that became too expensive.” Like many other farmers in the Gaza Strip the family is struggling for an affordable water supply, they dug their own water well in 2003.
“About four years after digging the well I noticed an increasing salinity in the water coming from our well” says Mohammed. “The plants deteriorated, as did the harvests. We used to plant vegetables on the land for our own consumption but since they only received salty water, these crops have stopped growing. Since 2003 we were growing lemon trees. When the salinity in the well water rose, the trees turned yellow and produced only small lemons with a salty taste.”
In 2010 Abu Mohammed decided to cut the lemon trees as they were no longer productive. He planted several dozen palm trees instead, as they are apparently more adaptable to the high salinity in the water. “It will take a several years for the trees to have a considerable size and even then, the dates that they produce will not be as profitable as the lemons we used to grow,” sighs Mohammed.
Until two years ago the family drank the water coming from the well, which made them ill. Mohammed explains how “most of our family members had kidney problems and the younger children were taken to hospital many times for kidney stones and vomiting. The doctor in the hospital convinced us to stop drinking water from the well and to buy treated water. This has put another big burden on our already stretched family budget.” Abu Mohammed describes how during Operation Cast Lead white phosphorus landed approximately 1.5 kilometers away from his farm. The smoke and fumes reached his farm and he noticed that his olive trees have stopped growing since.
Abu Mohammed and his family have tried everything they can to continue working the farm, but it seems to become more and more impossible. “We need help to replant our lands”, says Abu Mohammed as he speaks of his wish to continue the family tradition of farming.
Approximately 70,000 people work in the agricultural sector in the Gaza Strip, 25,000 of whom are seasonal workers. The coastal aquifer is their main source of irrigation water for the land. Due to a lack of other resources this aquifer is being over abstracted which leads to seawater and saline water intrusion. Sewage leaking into the ground water has also increased the already high nitrate levels. Advocacy group EWASH has stated; “In the past, agricultural production has ensured household food security for the Gazan population as well as contributed to economic security. Currently, agriculture in the Gaza Strip is barely viable.”
Public Document
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For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8 2824776 – 2825893
PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip. E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org
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5. Al Jazeera
Thursday, December 22, 2011
In the West Bank, a horror story
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/12/2011121972625101581.html
Yousef Munayyer
Israeli settlers frequently attack Palestinians; now, the settlers are turning on the Israeli army.
Palestinian protester Mustafa Tamimi, left, was killed when Israeli forces shot a tear gas canister at his face [AFP]
There is a famous scene in Mary Shelley’s classic where Victor Frankenstein realises that he created a monster and that this monster might be the end of him. Such is the scene that comes to mind when thinking about the news emerging from the occupied West Bank in recent days. Israeli settlers, living in illegal colonies in Palestinian territory, rioted again. This time, however, they did not go after their usual target – Palestinian civilians – rather, they raided an Israeli military base where they injured an Israeli soldier.
Suddenly, the Israeli government sprang into action. An emergency meeting of the Israeli cabinet was called. Officials – Israeli officials – even began to use the term “terrorist” to describe the perpetrators.
Olive harvest reaps animosity in West Bank
Just a day earlier, Israeli settlers from the Settlement of Yitzhar raided the Palestinian village of Asira al-Qibliya, causing damage to property and terrifying residents. Also, in the past week alone, three different Palestinian mosques in Ramallah, Salfit and Jerusalem suffered arson attacks at the hands of Israeli settlers.
These sorts of attacks against Palestinians are a regular occurrence. Arsons, stonings, destruction of property, shootings, physical attacks and harassment are but a few of the daily occurring categories we have kept track of in the Palestine Centre’s Settler Violence database. In 2011 there have been a record number of violent settler attacks. In fact, in each of the previous five years, settler violence has increased from one year to the next.
Despite this undeniable fact, the Israeli government has done little to crack down on this type of violence. The main reason why settler violence has been able to increase, year after year, is because the settlers continue to feel emboldened when their attacks against Palestinian civilians go undeterred.
The Oslo Accords divided the West Bank into three geographic areas. In Area A, in which most Palestinian urban centres fall, the Palestinian Authority is responsible for security (although the Israelis routinely enter Area A at will) but in Areas B and C, which comprise over 80 per cent of the territory, it is the Israelis which are responsible for security. This means Palestinian police are not permitted to protect Palestinian civilians from Israeli settlers in most of the West Bank. The problem is, of course, that the Israelis are not doing this job either and so it should come as no surprise that 95 per cent of settler violence occurs in Areas B and C.
Often the Israeli Army turns the other way when Israeli settlers attack Palestinians. In some cases caught on video, Israeli soldiers stand idly by while settlers rampage. In other cases, like the one earlier this year in Qusra, the Israeli army intervenes to protect settlers once they’ve started altercations with villagers. That is how Isam Oudeh was killed – defending his own village – in September.
Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and the Israeli state’s failure to adequately respond to it highlight an important aspect of the Israeli occupation’s Apartheid-like policies. The Israeli Human Rights Organisation B’Tselem documented 835 cases of Palestinian minors being arrested for stone-throwing from 2005-2010. Of these, 99.88 per cent were convicted in military trials. There have been hundreds of stone-throwing attacks by Israeli settlers in 2011 alone, yet few are ever arrested – let alone convicted – and throwing stones is among the least of their crimes.
Last week, a 28-year-old Palestinian named Mustafa Tamimi in the village of Nabi Saleh was protesting the continued expansion of Israeli settlements and particularly the confiscation of land and water resources belonging to his village. These had been taken by the neighbouring Israeli settlement of Halamish with the support of the Israeli military.
Tamimi was shot and killed at near point-blank range with a tear-gas canister to the face.
For years, the Israeli military that governs the West Bank and the state that directs it have supported deplorable policies to repress protesters like Tamimi, who oppose settlement expansion. But the state fails to implement policies to crack down on settlers who seek the exact opposite, and often use violent means to achieve their objectives.
No one should be surprised. The problem of settler violence is a monster that Israel has created, nourished and supported. Now, with attacks on Israeli military bases, the monster may even have turned on its creator.
When will this tragic horror end?
When we realise that it is the military occupation and its underlying policies that have brought it to life.
Yousef Munayyer is a writer and political analyst based in Washington, DC. He is currently the Executive Director of the The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development.
6. Thursday, December 22 2011
Independent commentary from Israel & the Palestinian territories
Wednesday, December 21 2011|Noam Sheizaf
http://972mag.com/the-undeniable-palestinian-right-to-resist-our-occupation/30735/
The undeniable Palestinian right to resist occupation
Slingshot found on Palestinian protester Mustafa Tamimi (photo: IDF Spokesperson)
Following the killing of Mustafa Tamimi in his village Nabi Saleh, Spokesperson for the IDF presented pictures of a slingshot Tamimi had on him when he was brought to the hospital. This was to be the indicting evidence that the protester was taking part in hostile action against the army – i.e. throwing stones – and therefore responsible for his own death.
Only in the context of the occupation can throwing stones at a bullet-proof army jeep be seen as an offense deserving the death penalty, carried out on the spot (clearly, the soldiers weren’t acting in self-defense). Furthermore, as recent attacks by settlers on soldiers – including a brick thrown from close range on the IDF regional commander – demonstrated, the army’s treatment of Jews is very different (to be clear, I don’t call for shooting Jewish stone-throwers either). But there is a larger issue here, concerning the whole notion of “legitimate” resistance to the occupation.
Facts and context are important: Israel took over the West Bank and Gaza more than 44 years ago. Since then, the Palestinians have been under military occupation, which denies their basic human and civil rights. The Palestinians can’t vote. They are tried in military court, where the conviction rate is astonishing. They don’t enjoy due process. Their property rights are limited, and their lands – including private lands – are regularly seized by Israel. All this is well-known and well-documented.
As far as Israel is concerned, this situation can go on forever. Israel is not attempting to leave the West Bank – it actually strengthens its hold on the territory – and it doesn’t plan to give the Palestinians equal rights within the state of Israel.
The Palestinians therefore have a moral right to resist the occupation. It’s as simple as that.
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Asked how what form of protest against the occupation Israel can allow, Peter Lerner of the IDF spokesperson unit wrotethis tweet:
To start, this is simply a lie. Israel doesn’t allow any form of protest in the West Bank (well, except for settler protest). Military law demands IDF permission for any demonstration of more than 10 people. The IDF regularly declares the villages of Nabi Saleh, Bil’in and Ni’lin, where protests take place, as Closed Military Zones, and it charges Israelis who attempt to join those demonstrations with violating of this order. Palestinian protest organizers are tried for long prison terms in military courts.
But more important, the kinds of protest Major Lerner is suggesting are effective under civilian authority, not under military control. Major Lerner is part of Israel’s media war for the hearts and minds of Westerners, and the answer he gives is something that people in democracies can identify with. But this is not the situation in the occupied territories: For all Israel cares the Palestinians can have sit-ins and rallies until second coming; it wouldn’t affect Israeli policy one bit. It is worth remembering that in the two decades following 1967, strikes, rallies and general assemblies were the main protest methods in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel used these years of relative calm to introduce its massive settlement project. The only thing that made Israelis notice the Palestinians and start seriously discussing their rights is the the first Intifada.
In recent years, it seems that the West’s favorite sport is to tell the Palestinians what constitutes a “legitimate” way to fight for their rights, and what doesn’t – as if the Palestinians were full members of society and not subject to a form of control that Amira Hass rightly calls “Israeli dictatorship.” Nobody would denounce Egyptian or Tibetan protesters for such acts, but reports of unarmed Palestinian resistance are usually met with Israel claiming evidence of Palestinian “violence” – mostly stones thrown at soldiers, with the occasional Molotov cocktail. As if those could justify the occupation, while in reality they are the reaction to it.
The same goes for those organizations and Israeli propaganda units specializing in the hunt for “Palestinian incitement.” Any suggestions of the Palestinians not viewing IDF soldiers in a positive light is presented as proof of the fact that “they are not ready” to enjoy their rights to justice, freedom and dignity – as if those are someone’s to give. What is the meaning of the word “rights,” if they can be denied collectively for half a century? Is freedom a trophy you need to win from your oppressor? What do people expect of a prisoner to think of his or her guards? Good relations and understanding can be built after the resolution of the occupation – not in the midst of it. Yet Palestinians are expected by the world not only to live under Israeli military control, but also to like Israelis.
Strange as it may seem, even critics of Israel repeat such demands, or ask, “Where is the Palestinian Gandhi?,” as though a failure to present one means that Palestinian demands are not to be taken seriously.
By the way, the Palestinians have their share of Gandhis – you can find them in Israeli prisons.
I oppose violence, in whatever form. More than anything, I oppose violence against civilians. I think that the Palestinian choice of unarmed resistance and of civil society campaigns against the occupation is both wise and heroic. But the real violence is the occupation, and all its victims are civilians.
It is not for Israel to tell Palestinians how to resist our occupation.
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Tags
IDF spokesperson, intifada, major peter lerner, Mustafa Tamimi, occupation, Resistance, stone-throwing
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7. Today in Palestine
December 21, 2011
http://theheadlines.org/11/21-12-11.shtml