DOROTHY ONLINE NEWSLETTER

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Dear Friends,

Win some, lose some.  Item 1 reports a loss. 

Notwithstanding Desmond Tutu’s eloquent plea to the Cape Town opera not to perform Porgy and Bess in Israel, not to perform at all in Israel until it ended its apartheid regime, the opera company has rejected his appeal. 

I must say that this surprised me.  I thought that if there is one country, or opera company in that country, that Tutu’s appeal and those of others not to come would stir to act on it, it would be a South African opera company.  Of course there is no question that to break a contract would have cost the company money—very likely a great deal, but is that all that counts?

Item 2 consists of reports about several recent occurrences in the West Bank—things that you should know.  None of these is long.  Just remember not to forget that life for Palestinians in the West Bank is often unpleasant—especially when settlers burn Palestinian olive trees, and chase Palestinian children.

Item 3 is Amira Hass’s idea of how to wean Palestinians away from Hamas.  I have added a link there to an Israeli General’s plan for easing life for the population of Gaza.  He has much the same aim, perhaps, as Hass, but . . .

The final item consists of links to one of today’s main Israeli news items: the fundamentalist right-wingers march through the Palestinian city (in Israel) of Um al-Fahm.  The links are to international sources, most of which I found more thorough than the Israeli reports.

All the best,

Dorothy 

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1. Cape Town Opera to go on Israel tour despite Tutu plea

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11635418

Desmond Tutu was an outspoken critic of apartheid and was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1984

South Africa’s Cape Town Opera has turned down an appeal from Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu to call off a tour of Israel.

He said it would be as inappropriate as it had been for international firms to visit South Africa during apartheid.

But Cape Town Opera’s managing director said the company was reluctant to take the political stand of shunning cultural ties with Israel.

An Israel government spokesman told the BBC such boycotts did not aid peace.

Continue reading the main story

Related stories

• Archbishop Tutu in his own words

• Looking back on Desmond Tutu’s remarkable career

The opera’s production of Porgy and Bess will be performed in Tel Aviv next month.

In his letter the archbishop, who retired from public life earlier this month, said it would be wrong for the Cape Town singers to perform “in a society founded on discriminatory laws and racial exclusivity”.

‘Vicious propaganda’

He said the tour should be postponed “until both Israeli and Palestinian opera lovers of the region have equal opportunity and unfettered access to attend performances”.

“Only the thickest-skinned South Africans would be comfortable performing before an audience that excluded residents living, for example, in an occupied West Bank village 30 minutes from Tel Aviv.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Our artists act as ambassadors and exemplars of the free society that has been achieved in democratic South Africa”

End Quote Michael Williams Cape Town Opera

“To perform Porgy and Bess, with its universal message of non-discrimination, in the present state of Israel, is unconscionable.”

Israeli government spokesman Andy David said boycotts were not the way forward and cultural tours were the best way to bring peace in the violent region.

“Cultural relations sending messages of peace and co-operation – that’s the only way to promote peace,” he told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme.

Mr David also dismissed any comparison between apartheid South Africa and Israel.

“There are no discriminatory laws in Israel, there are no racial issues in Israel – we have Arabs in the government.”

The spokesman added that he felt that the archbishop’s comments were “one-sided” and were a cause for concern.

“I think that people from the opera who never visited Israel are listening to vicious propaganda against my country.”

‘Food for thought’

Cape Town Opera’s managing director said he believed in the “transformative power of the arts”.

“I am proud that our artists, when travelling abroad, act as ambassadors and exemplars of the free society that has been achieved in democratic South Africa,” Michael Williams said in a statement.

He said the company was “reluctant to adopt the essentially political position of disengagement from cultural ties with Israel or with Palestine”.

Mr Williams said was aware of the possibility of being seen as partisan, so has ongoing negotiations to perform within the Arab world.

“In particular, Cape Town Opera welcomes the opportunity to perform within Palestine as well,” he said.

The production of the Gershwin opera has “much which should provide food for thought for audiences in Israel”, he added.

More on This Story

Related stories

• Archbishop Tutu in his own words 22 JULY 2010, AFRICA

• Looking back on Desmond Tutu’s remarkable career 07 OCTOBER 2010, FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT

• Country profile: Israel and Palestinian territories 08 MAY 2010, COUNTRY PROFILES

• Country profile: South Africa 10 AUGUST 2010, COUNTRY PROFILES

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2.  Notes from the West Bank

From Iyad Burnat Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Racism Even In The Image Of The Wall
http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=319&Itemid=1

26 Oct 2010 

I went on a tour to photograph the Apartheid Wall that was built on the territory of the Palestinian village of Bil’in, located in the West Bank.

After a ruling of the highest Israeli Court, the path of which the first wall had been built had to be changed and now the Israel has to build a new wall: the new wall is a set of concrete cubes ranging in length up to eight meters tall. The old wall was an electric fence with barbed wire which would send an electric shock at the slightest touch. This first wall was set up by Israel on Palestinian land and has been extremely dangerous (in some cases deadly), not only to human beings but also to animals and other wildlife. Many animals lost their lives after running into the fence and being instantly electrocuted.

The Palestinian resistance has been ongoing and consistent for the past five and a half years. The people insist on continuing this resistance and do not want to give up their rights to their land. They refuse to be silent about the theft by Israeli companies building illegal settlements on Palestinian land. The people also refuse to be silent about the destruction of their olive trees; these trees are not only considered a living for some but a symbol of strength for all Palestinian people …

This “Non-Violent” Resistance that started in most Palestinian areas after the building of the Wall and the building of illegal settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will continue and will not cease. This new kind of resistance has an unprecedented amount of support from Palestinian, Israeli and international activists and volunteers alike.
After the changes of the route of the old Wall in Bil’in, 1000 dunums of land located behind the wall will be returned to the respective owners in the village.

When I arrived at the Israeli side of the new Wall, I saw a strange thing. This wall is not only racist in its completion but also in its composition. I am familiar with the cubes on the Palestinian side of the Wall, but I discovered that on the other side the Wall is decorated with beautiful motifs. So people on the Israeli side of the wall do not feel the same as people on the Palestinian side of the wall. To me it seemed that if one did not know what the real purpose of the wall was, from the Israeli side it looks like a decorated highway partition….however, on the Palestinian side it’s concrete cubes stacked one above the other, which is ugly and not pleasant and looks exactly how the wall of a maximum security prison looks like.

This type of racism is applied by the Israeli government on Palestinians. This and other types of scams deceive people and does not show them the truth. It paints a picture that is beautiful on the outside but on the inside, in reality, is grim.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=684992153&v=info#!/profile.php?id=100000131186902
Iyad Burnat
[email protected]
0598403676

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 from Amos Gvirtz

Don’t say we did not know #235

On Saturday, 9th October, 2010, Palestinian farmers, residents of Palestinian Sussya, accompanied by Israeli human rights activists, went to plough their fields in ‘Atariyya (located south of the access road to the outpost Mitzpe Yair). The activity was co-ordinated with the Civil Administration (IDF). Settlers who came from Sussya started to attack. The IDF soldiers declared the area a closed military area and drove the farmers and accompanying group out, instead of kicking out the attackers.

When the Israeli activists returned to their vehicle (Ezra Nawi’s car) they were attacked by three settlers with covered faces.  The settlers smashed the front window and hurt one of the activists. Soldiers and policemen who were only 120m away did nothing to stop the attack or detain the attackers. The soldiers even mocked the activists…

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 On Wednesday, 20th October, 2010, government representatives accompanied by police went to Bedouin villages in the Negev and demolished homes. In Bir el-Hamam a home was demolished; 12 people were made homeless.  In el-Gara a home and two structures were demolished; eight people were made homeless.

 Questions & queries: [email protected]

From CPT Tuwani Team <[email protected]>

AT TUWANI

October 26, 2010

On the afternoon of Monday October 25th, Palestinian schoolchildren from the villages of Tuba and Maghayir al Abeed were threatened by four adult Israeli settlers from the Havat Ma’on outpost while walking home from school. The children, aged 6-13, were walking without their normal Israeli military escort because the military had, for the second consecutive afternoon, failed to arrive to accompany the children.

After waiting for the military for over an hour, the children were forced to take a longer route on which masked Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinians and Internationals on three separate occasions over the past two weeks (see release, http://www.operationdove.org/?p=417). Internationals from the Christian Peacemaker Teams accompanied the children home and were present to observe the four Israeli settlers leave a house on a ridge above the path and begin to run towards the children and Internationals. The schoolchildren immediately began to run away, at which point the settlers slowed to a brisk walk but continued to follow the running children for a few more minutes until all were safely out of sight.

The Israeli military is mandated by the Israeli Knesset to escort these children to and from school each day because Israeli settlers from the Ma’on settlement and Havat Ma’on outpost have repeatedly attacked schoolchildren on their way to and from school. On the afternoons of the 24th and 25th, Internationals from Operation Dove and the Christian Peacemaker Teams made repeated calls to the Israeli military to notify them that the children were ready and waiting for the escort, but the army never arrived. This is the third incident this month in which the army has failed to arrive to escort the schoolchildren.

Operation Dove and Christian Peacemaker Teams have maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004. 

[Note: According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havot Ma’on (Hill 833) are considered illegal under Israeli law.]

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3.  Haaretz,

 October 27, 2010

The Israeli General in charge of Coordinating Israeli government policies in Gaza set out a plan for improving life there.  If it interests you, check it out and compare to Amira Hass’s program and decide for yourselves which is the most likely to succeed–http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3975423,00.html

Of course Israel’s leaders would gladly do away with Gaza.  It’s a bone in their throats, since it is part and parcel of historic Palestine, but thanks to Israel colonizing the area between Gaza and the West Bank, is now physically separated from the WB.  Israel has no intention of allowing Gaza to reunite with the WB.  Hamas is a convenient excuse for keeping Gaza under Israel’s foot.  Had there been no Hamas, Israel would have had to invent it.

—–

Want to weaken Hamas? Open Gaza’s gates

Israel’s policy, meant to overthrow Hamas by prohibiting production and manufacturing, has failed miserably.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/want-to-weaken-hamas-open-gaza-s-gates-1.321366

By Amira Hass

Do you really want to weaken Hamas? Surprise it. Go back and open Gaza’s gates – to ordinary human movement, not just to cherries, shavers and a handful of pious Muslims who manage to wend their way past the Egyptian bureaucracy. Open the Erez checkpoint. Then you’ll see how Gazans yearn for life.

Let young people study outside the Gaza Strip. Despite the exasperating presence of Israel’s foreign rule, in the Palestinian enclaves in the West Bank those young people will encounter a form of diversity that is becoming extinct in Gaza. They will discover that such diversity is better than the monolithic reality imposed by Israel’s siege and messianic politics. Allow female pupils and female teachers to tour their land and see that the world is more complicated than brainwashing television programs and competitions to obtain relief packages. Consider this: Diplomats report that most Hamas summer camps in Gaza have been closed; most children preferred camps operated by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

Stop suffocating manufacturers who have become impoverished over the past five years. Challenge those who call for a boycott, and allow the forcibly unemployed to find work in Israel. Let’s see if Hamas can stop them from doing that. The Kav La’oved worker’s hotline will campaign devotedly against their exploitation, while Palestinian organizations will try to dissuade them, softly or not, from working in Israel.

Yet their self-esteem, buoyed by the fact that they are again providing for their families, will find its place among such internal contradictions. Let cement and iron enter Gaza so engineers, builders and painters can get back to work. They will rebuild the rubble, along with their attitudes on life.

When residents from Hebron, Nazareth and foreign countries travel to the Khan Yunis coast, or visit a cultural center north of the Al-Shatti refugee camp, their illusions about the wonders of the religious-totalitarian regime will evaporate. The earlier the quarantine in which Gazans were put some 20 years ago is broken, the harder it will be for Hamas to tighten the bridle.

The apocryphal legend says that the closure – the regime of movement restrictions – was imposed on the Palestinians because of the strengthening Islamic movement and the terror strikes against Israeli citizens. But the sequence of events should be read the opposite way: The policy of mass confinement took root in January 1991, before the suicide attacks in Israel. This is a society that was progressively allowed less access to the outside world and experienced ever-more sophisticated variants of Israeli oppression and a lack of concrete solutions from the PLO leadership. Under such circumstances, is it any wonder Allah’s earthly emissaries managed to find their way to people’s hearts?

If the Israeli government’s policy indeed meant to overthrow Hamas by prohibiting production and manufacturing, and by using mathematical formulas to make sure that the animals’ – excuse me, the human beings’ – nourishment does not slip beyond a red line, then it has failed miserably. This failure was evident before Israel was compelled by international pressure to annul the restrictions on the entry of consumer goods. Gaza residents’ famously high threshold of pain and endurance levels let them get by the past three dark years. Unjustly, this resilience is attributed to Hamas.

Appearing increasingly self-confident and self-satisfied, Hamas is consolidating its rule. True, it relies on stifling dissent, intimidation and oppression (like its rival, the Palestinian Authority ). But thanks to its strong talent for improvisation, Hamas is learning to serve the population and supply vital needs under extremely hostile circumstances. Are those policy makers who devised the draconian restrictions that foolish to think that bans on chocolate and toys and the destruction of the manufacturing sector would stir an uprising against Hamas or convince it to deliver the keys of power to Mahmoud Abbas?

It would be wrong to dismiss the wisdom of our leaders. Perhaps they’ve gotten exactly what they wanted – to strengthen Hamas in the Gaza Strip, both for perpetuating the intentional division between Gaza and the West Bank and to encourage perpetual low-intensity warfare (which sometimes escalates ).

Only under such circumstances do our leaders know how to function, while securing their people’s support.

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4.  Links to one of today’s top stories in Israel: Fundamentalist Israeli rightists march in Um al-Fahm, a Palestinian city in Israel—1000s of police to protect 50 or so marchers and to keep the Palestinians (all citizens of Israel) in line.  Reports are also in the three main Israeli daylies, but I found some of the international ones more objective and in some cases better.  You can judge for yourselves. If  you decide to read only one, then I recommend Al Jazeera, and if 2, then also the Independent.

International news reports about today’s (Oct. 27) Israeli fundamentalist march in Um al-Fahm.

BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11634259 (includes video)

CNN http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/10/27/israel.march/index.html

Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/27/israeli-marchers-clash-arab-youths

Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/clashes-between-police-and-protesters-in-israel-2117767.html

Al Jazeera [the only report that I have seen that mentions the ‘plain clothes policemen’—a military unit that dresses like Arabs and then operates from within the crowd or  Palestinian city, or neighborhood, or at demonstrations.  They infiltrate and seeming to be Arabs do not draw attention, which enables them to kill, detain, whatever without at first being suspected.  http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/10/2010102783751347869.html

The LA Times, NY Times, and Washington Post had nothing about the events, yet.