MONDOWEISS ONLINE NEWSLETTER

NOVANEWS

11/12/2010

• Video shows Israeli soldiers celebrating the demolition of houses in Gaza

• We would not have had to interrupt Netanyahu if the world listened to Palestinian voices

• Israeli military threatens to raid West Bank secondary school unless they end commemoration of Yasser Arafat

• Dana: ‘I ask myself if I would have the moral clarity to behave as the Palestinians do if I were in their situation’

• An open letter to participants in the Arava Institute’s online event “With Earth and Each Other”

• Now On Display: Israel’s Palestinians

• Arizona State University students protest IDF speaker

• Would Julius and Ethel be Zionists had they lived?

Video shows Israeli soldiers celebrating the demolition of houses in Gaza

Nov 11, 2010

Adam Horowitz

The video above was posted to YouTube by Assaf Kintzer, an Israeli activist with Anarchists Against the Wall. The caption reads, “IOF soldiers celebrating the destruction of houses in Gaza during ‘Cast Lead’.” Kintzer says the video, which was shot using a mobile phone, was sent to him by an anonymous Israeli soldier who served in Gaza.

We would not have had to interrupt Netanyahu if the world listened to Palestinian voices

Nov 11, 2010

Emily Ratner 

Screenshot from Israeli news of Ratner being removed from the General Assembly.

There’s no getting around it:  What we did during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech was shockingly rude.  We interrupted a head of state, repeatedly, shouting from the tops of chairs into a darkened hall of largely like-minded people, who most likely thought their space was safe from the ever-increasing disruptions of “Israel’s delegitimizers,” as some would call us.  Worse still, we did this in my community.  Neighbors, co-workers, professors, and fellow students were in attendance, or they’re otherwise finding out what we’ve done. My cheeks are still burning at the thought of what’s to come.  And, of course, there’s family.  Family.  Family.
But each time I think about the hurt I’ve caused with my actions, I’m reminded of the hundreds upon hundreds of New Orleanian Palestinians who have marched this city’s streets, demanding justice in a nation that isn’t listening.  I’m reminded of the dozens of Palestinians who stood outside of the Jewish Federations General Assembly on Sunday, braving the cameras of Israeli and US security, facing the very real possibility that because of their protest they’ll be permanently denied entry the next time they attempt to visit their homeland. 

Their demonstration was featured for fifteen seconds on a single local news channel, and those Palestinian protesters have far more to risk than I do.  I am ashamed of the hurt I have caused people that I love, but I am overcome with the bravery of the millions of Palestinians who struggle daily to carve justice into a global structure that finds their very existence inconvenient and inappropriate.  I am doubled over by the reality of more than sixty years of displacement, of the state-sanctioned murder of so many mothers, sisters, brothers, and fathers; of homes destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again. Of checkpoints.  Of landlessness.  Of criminalized identity.  Of siege.  

And I am pulled to my feet by the steadfastness of the people who are at the heart of this struggle.  From the Palestinians who remain incarcerated for the crime of protest, who have found themselves barred from home forever for the truths they’ve spoken, who have been shot down by soldiers as they held a rock, a Palestinian flag, a child.
The five of us who jumped onto our chairs on Monday and the others who worked hard to realize this effort have received an incredible wave of support from so many people around the world.  Young and older Jews alike have called, emailed, reposted, and in other ways embraced us for shouting truths that hurt their hearts daily.  Some Palestinian friends and their allies have celebrated this momentary injection into a “dialogue” that silences and criminalizes an entire people. 

And while I’m proud of what we’ve done, our actions are a small, highly-documented moment in a long history of resistance, led by people who have risked and lost far more than we have, or will.  As we celebrate the possibilities that some are seeing in this moment, it feels important to remember where we’ve come from, and to think about how our history informs a responsible future.
Certainly there is a long history of Jewish resistance to injustice, and a specific history of Jewish resistance to the crimes our people have perpetrated in Palestine.  Many of us might not be willing to add our voices to the growing call for justice had we not, for example, read the diligently documented and painful histories of exiled Israeli scholar Ilan Pappe, or encountered the wisdom of elders like Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, who has been fearless in her demands for justice in Palestine.  As Jews we take inspiration from Israelis who demonstrate against the apartheid wall and housing demolitions, and the  shministim who have been incarcerated for refusing to serve in the IDF. 

We draw strength from the fearless actions of young people like Emily Henochowicz, the college student who lost her eye to a deliberately fired tear gas canister in the wake of Israeli attacks on the Freedom Flotilla.  There is a proud and strong legacy of Jewish resistance that, while small, must inform our efforts as Jews who work for justice in Palestine.
There is also a beautiful and inspiring history of allies, and especially allies of color, who have been fearless in their demands for justice for the people of Palestine.  We can take inspiration from organizations like Incite! Women of Color Against Violence, who lost $100,000 in Ford Foundation funding for publishing their Palestine Points of Unity, and were thus inspired to literally write the book on the non-profit industrial complex.

Or the incredible members of COSATU, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, which has refused to unload Israeli ships and has shown the rest of the world what overcoming apartheid through true solidarity can mean.  There are the brave activists who join the International Solidarity Movement, risking their physical safety and even their lives in efforts to prevent and document incidents of Israeli violence against Palestinians.  Rachel Corrie, whose family is still struggling for justice from the Israeli government.

 Furkan Dogan, the 19-year-old Turkish American who was killed along with eight others aboard the Mavi Marmara.  There are the millions of people around the world who take to the streets to demand justice for Palestine every time the Israeli government’s criminal actions hit a new low.
But most of all, there are the Palestinian heroes who have shown their allies how to struggle for justice.  Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians continue to inspire the world with their nonviolent and creative civil disobedience and protests, a method they’ve been employing for over sixty years.  The Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions National Committee (BNC) have offered a clear strategy for forcing the Israeli government to comply with international law, and we can see their strategy working within campuses, corporations, and governments around the world.  Families in Bil’in protest the apartheid wall weekly, and are regularly shot at and arrested. 

Residents of Silwan in East Jerusalem continue to resist illegal housing demolitions and forced evictions.  Scholars and professors like Dr. Haidar Eid teach traumatized students in Gaza while offering us a remarkable analysis from behind the walls of an awful siege.  Edward Said and Ali Abunimah reframe the conversation about occupation, while poets like Mahmoud Darwish and Suheir Hammadlace words through the emotions occupation can make difficult to express. 

Filmmakers like Annemarie Jacirproject the crimes of the past and present, as well as stunning visions of possible futures.  There are so many Palestinians who act and speak from a place of justice, patiently guiding us in solidarity efforts, but all too often their voices are distorted or completely lost in the haze of anti-Arab racism, Islamophobia and “Israel, right-or-wrong” lenses through which mainstream knowledge and experience are filtered.
Yes, what we’ve done is extremely rude.  But what’s far worse is the erasing of the people at the center of this struggle.  I understand why so many have called our actions inappropriate, but I don’t accept the idea that there is some better method available to us that we didn’t use.  I don’t accept the suggestion that we are silencing free speech when we disrupt an Israeli Prime Minister with calls for justice as he beats the drum yet again for war with Iran, or confronting delegitimizers, or whatever might next emerge from the ever-expanding grab-bag of “Israel’s Greatest Threat.”  But on one point I can agree with our detractors: This disruption never should have happened at all.
It shouldn’t take this kind of action to draw attention to these crimes.  The media should have cared this much about the dozens of Palestinians who marched outside the GA the day before Netanyahu arrived.  Palestinian voices should be heard, respected, and reflected in all coverage of Palestine.  The myriad examples of Palestinian nonviolence should be better known than those far fewer examples of violence that dominate Israel’s security narrative. 

And Israel’s violence should be known fully, and properly contextualized.  Most of all, Palestinians should guide us in understanding how best to address the atrocities perpetrated against them.  Until that day comes, there will be no end to the “delegitimizing” of a country that seems determined to delegitimize itself.
Love and thanks to the folks who planned and executed this effort, and to Jewish Voice for Peace  Some of you are risking far more than I have, and I have great respect for that.  So much love and respect also for New Orleans Palestine Solidarity (NOLAPS)–I am so proud to know and work with you.
Emily Ratner is a student at the College of Law at Loyola University New Orleans.  She is a member of New Orleans Palestine Solidarity (NOLAPS).

Israeli military threatens to raid West Bank secondary school unless they end commemoration of Yasser Arafat

Nov 11, 2010

Seham

 And more news from Today in Palestine:

Settlers/ Land, Property, Resource Theft & Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing
Israeli Bulldozers Demolish Sheep Farm in the Village of al-Issaweyeh, Jerusalem
Palestinian sources in Jerusalem reported, on Thursday, that bulldozers belonging to the Israeli controlled Jerusalem municipality demolished a sheep and horse farm in al-Issaweyeh village in North East Jerusalem.

http://www.imemc.org/article/59886
Gaza ministry condemns Israeli plan to build 1,000 new units in J’lem

The religious affairs ministry in Gaza denounced a plan by Israel’s Jerusalem municipality to build a thousand residential units in the southern section of the city.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k
Clashes as Israel demolishes East Jerusalem building

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli authorities demolished part of a Palestinian-owned

sheep bard in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Al-Isawiya on Thursday, the

owners said.  Photojournalists with the PA government news service WAFA captured

the demolition, which officials at the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem said they had

nothing to do with.  An Israeli police spokesman said he was unaware of the event.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=332990
Palestinians Will Ask Security Council to Halt Israel’s West Bank Building

The Palestinian Authority will begin negotiations with members of the United Nations Security Council on a draft resolution demanding that Israel halt West Bank settlement activity, its envoy to the world body said.  Palestinian Authority Ambassador Riyad Mansour met today in New York with Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant of the U.K., which holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council this month, to inform him of the plan to meet with the representatives of the panel’s 15 member governments. Mansour said he hoped the council would take action before the end of November.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-10/palestinians-will-ask-security-council-to-halt-israel-s-west-bank-building.html
US rebukes Israel on settlements

Hillary Clinton joins international leaders in denouncing Israel’s plans to build new settler homes in East Jerusalem.

http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2010/11/20101110151411751598.html
US to pledge to veto Palestinian state if Israel freezes settlement for 3 month

An Israeli political official said the US administration may use its right of veto against any unilateral decision recognizing the Palestinian state in exchange for Israeli settlement freeze.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq
Kerry: Israel may extend settlement freeze (AFP)
AFP – Senior Democratic US Senator John Kerry, fresh from meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, said Wednesday that Israel could decide to extend a freeze on settlement construction.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101110/pl_afp/israelpalestiniansconflictsettleruspoliticskerry
Crowley Reaffirms Obama’s Stance Against New Settlement Construction In Jerusalem
State Department Spokesperson, Philip J. Crowley, reaffirmed the stance of American President, Barack Obama, against the new Israeli plan to build hundreds of units for Jewish settlers in occupied East Jerusalem, and described the move as counterproductive to peace talks.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59872
Interactive: “Judaising” of Jerusalem
Since Israel’s establishment in 1948, its occupation of Jerusalem in June 1967, and subsequent annexation of the city in 1980, it has implemented policies that have shrunk the size of Occupied Jerusalem’s Palestinian population as well as its Arab and Islamic heritage. The ongoing light rail project is just the latest in this steady entrenchment of Israeli control.
http://gulfnews.com/multimedia/graphics/interactive-judaising-of-jerusalem-1.707942
J’lem attorney discloses Israeli plan for full destruction of city
The Israeli government is “planning to completely destroy the city of Jerusalem and a erect a new Jerusalem with a Zionist vision,” a Jerusalem attorney said Wednesday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6
Settlement fatigue
If Israel were serious about negotiating a peace deal, wouldn’t it stop building? The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that a segment of the Israeli political establishment simply refuses to accept the new reality — and that segment, mostly made up of right-wing and religious political parties, is crucial to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s delicate coalition government. Truthfully, the settler movement’s political power extends beyond the right wing; that’s why settlements have grown steadily regardless of what government was in power, including those of Labor Party Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-settlements-20101111,0,727949.story
MIDEAST: In Jerusalem, East Is Nobody’s
The Palestinian Prime Minister ventured into Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem bypassing Israeli security authorities who tried to stop him. The city’s Israeli mayor, who also wanted to venture into the eastern of part of ‘his’ city, was unable to because of objections from those same Israeli authorities.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53513
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions

Bil’in invaded for the fourth time in three days, Hamde Abu Rahme
Today, November 10th, the village of Bi’lin was raided again. The Israeli Army entered at around 8 pm for the second time today. In the morning, at around 3.00 am, they entered the village with five jeeps and searched Ashraf al-Khatib‘s home. The soldiers also broke down the door of the neighbor’s house, and went in. However, they were not able to find who they were looking for in either of the houses.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/bilin-invaded-for-the-fourth-time-in-three-days.html
VIDEO: From the Front Lines of the Palestinian Popular Struggle, Joseph Dana
Palestinian popular resistance to the Israeli occupation, settlements and the wall are a regular occurrence in the West Bank. Despite this, the overwhelmingly non-violent protests, often put down harshly by occupation forces, rarely make the mainstream news. Here is video of my lecture yesterday in Washington.
http://josephdana.com/2010/11/video-from-the-front-lines-of-the-palestinian-popular-struggle/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=video-from-the-front-lines-of-the-palestinian-popular-struggle
Euromed canceled again due to Arab threat to boycott over Israel
Some 50 presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers were due to attend the summit, which now has been canceled for the third time.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/euromed-canceled-again-due-to-arab-threat-to-boycott-over-israel-1.324052?localLinksEnabled=false
Greek Ship Captain Threatens to Leave the Gaza Road to Hope Convoy
(TOBRUK / SALEM) – “Now the captain is threatening to leave without us despite 75,000 dollars being paid to his agent for the charter of this ship. We are on the verge of a stand off using our bodies on the back of the ship,” wrote Ken O’Keefe, minutes ago.  And now, “We are being forcefully taken out of the harbour with the captain going crazy ordering the ship to leave!!!”  O’Keefe is a part of the Road to Hope convoy, over a dozen vehicles on their way to Gaza to deliver much needed aid. They have been stuck in Libya at the Egyptian border for over two weeks, hoping to gain entry and passage to Gaza.  Things looked quite hopeful at first, and the group was confident that they would be successful in getting through to Gaza with the aid. But things change very quickly, when politics and bureaucracy are concerned.
http://salem-news.com/articles/november102010/gaza-okeefebk.php
Arizona State University students protest IDF speaker
On November 2, 2010 Sun Devils for Israel invited Sergeant Nadav Weinberg who is a Israel Defense Soldier (IDF) to speak about the “Ethics of the IDF.” This is how ASU students responded.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/arizona-state-university-students-protest-idf-speaker.html
Thinking of Rachel Corrie during the olive harvest in the Galilee, Hatim Kanaaneh
It is olive gathering season and people in Arrabeh are at it again. This year the crop is good. A friend from Jerusalem had asked us for two jerry cans of fresh olive oil direct from the press. Raja Shehadeh was scheduled to have a book launch in Jerusalem and we decided to kill two birds. That morning, the next session of the Rachel Corrie case was being held in Haifa. We loaded the olive oil and headed to Haifa to start the day with this third bird. Knowing our friends in Jerusalem to be olive oil connoisseurs we loaded the new fifty-liter Italian-made stainless steel special container that we had purchased for our own use in the trunk of the car and headed out for a day of adventure and Palestinian camaraderie.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/thinking-of-rachel-corrie-during-the-olive-harvest.html
US Campaign to End the Occupation:  Rachel Corrie Foundation Joins First-Ever U.S. Universal Periodic Review
(Olympia, Washington) – The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva yesterday released its draft report on the first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the U.S. human rights record. The report called for greater transparency and accountability in U.S. foreign military aid and programs. On Thursday, November 4, Gina Patnaik spoke at UN headquarters in Geneva, representing the Rachel Corrie Foundation in a side panel to the U.S. review, and called upon the U.S. Government to enforce two existing mechanisms for monitoring human rights abuses – the “Leahy Amendment,” and the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
http://endtheoccupationblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/rachel-corrie-foundation-joins-first.html

#BDS: Click here to download “Consumer Boycott” flyer for the US
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/11/bds-click-here-to-download-consumer.html
#BDS: Why the Cape Opera is wrong to tour Israel
The reaction by Zionists to the appeal by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu for the Cape Town Opera to reconsider its proposed tour of Israel with Porgy and Bess echoes, unsurprisingly, what we used to hear from the apartheid regime when confronted with the cultural boycott of South Africa. His point is that it would be “unconscionable” for Cape Town Opera to perform in Israel while millions of people living there are denied access to culture and education.
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/11/bds-why-cape-opera-is-wrong-to-tour.html
Dana: ‘I ask myself if I would have the moral clarity to behave as the Palestinians do if I were in their situation’,  Philip Weiss
And a week or two after that, Dana himself came to New York and showed the sensational video of Adeeb Abu Rahmah confronting the soldiers in Bil’in– a video that has all the transformative power of the legends of the American civil rights movement.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/dana-i-ask-myself-if-i-would-have-the-moral-clarity-to-behave-as-the-palestinians-do-if-i-were-in-their-situation.html
Visit MediaMarathon.StoptheWall.net
The New Stop the Wall site features an action and media calendar, a world map of activities, a constantly updated list of media coverage, an media kit for all those that want to participate in the Media Marathon and much more.Click here to visit the site!
http://mediamarathon.stopthewall.net/
Israeli Abuse of Palestinian Children

30 students inhale tear gas during Arafat memorial
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Thirty students under the age of 14 suffered tear-gas inhalation Thursday when an organized march commemorating the death of former president Yasser Arafat came into proximity with an Israeli patrol vehicle.  The children, part of a group of 300 marching from the school toward the town of Beit Ummar in Hebron, threw stones at a military vehicle, an Israeli army spokesman said, prompting the use of riot dispersal mechanisms from soldiers.  Officials from the primary school said some of the children threw up and others were nauseous for hours following what they described as an attack on the group.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=332998
Israeli Settler Attacks Two Palestinian Children and Elderly Woman
Palestinian sources reported on Thursday that two Palestinian children and an elderly woman were wounded when an Israeli settler from the settlement of Tekoa, southeast of Bethlehem, attacked them with stones.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59884
Soldiers accused of attacking children near Nablus
NABLUS (Ma’an) — Villagers accused Israeli checkpoint soldiers of beating two 13-year-old boys on Thursday, as the two crossed a flying checkpoint near the town of Beit Furiq.  The parents of Mustafa Ahmad Maletat, said he and his friend Ahmad Basem Taweel were taken aside and hit repeatedly when they attempted to pass the temporary road block in the northern West Bank.  An Israeli military spokesman said he was unaware of any incident in the area.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=333066
School closes ‘to avoid Israeli raid’
QALQILIYA (Ma’an) — Israeli forces surrounded a school in the northern West Bank to prevent students from marking the death of anniversary of the death of Yasser Arafat, the late Palestinian president.  Forces threatened to raid the school if the celebration did not immediately end, the director of education at the Jeet Male Secondary School east of Qalqiliya said. The principal said the school was evacuated.  An Israeli military spokesman said forces were responding to rock-throwing.  The school is on a main road between Qalqiliya and Nablus near the illegal Qedumim settlement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=332952
Child Labour in Jordan Valley Settlements
Dorien Vanden Boer – Jordan Valley Solidarity – The legal age for workers in Palestine was recently increased from 14 to 16, but this change has not materialised on the ground. Settlers avoid this law by recruiting through subcontractors, so that they have no direct contracts with minors, who have no official employee status or rights. Nonetheless, settlers are fully aware that children are working on their fields.
http://www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=114:child-labour-in-jordan-valley-settlements&catid=15:2010&Itemid=21
Refugees

Palestinian refugees suffering mental strain – study
BEIRUT: The destitute conditions of Palestinians living in refugee camps in Lebanon has left a psychological strain on refugees, resulting in a high level of aggressive behavior toward their families, the neighborhood and the camp environment, according to a study by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released this week.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=121433
Special Report: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon
A special CBC/Radio-Canada web collaboration documents the life of Palestinians in Shatila refugee camp in Lebanon.  The French and English services of CBC have teamed up to produce a web documentary about Palestinians in Lebanon. This week, CBC News correspondent Nahlah Ayed and Radio-Canada’s Ahmed Kouaou and Danny Braün are in Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, one of 12 such camps that have existed in Lebanon for decades.  Ayed and Kouaou are filing daily blog posts from the camp — in English and French, respectively — providing glimpses of life in Shatila and sharing their experiences as they make the documentary, which will appear on this site in January.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/10/26/f-lebanon.html?ref=rss#ixzz14vQLRe6d
Siege/Humanitarian Issues/Rights Violations/Restriction of Movement

Gaza Health Ministry: The strip out of 79 critical drugs
Amid plummeting medical conditions in the Gaza Strip, the territory’s Health Ministry warned Wednesday that around 80 basic drugs have become out of stock.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Q
A glimpse at the Palestinians who build Israeli settlements
In the settlement of Ariel, Palestinian laborers readily admitted they were torn between politics and paychecks.   …Sitting inside a yellow tractor, Abed Abdel-Karim, 41, said he’d been working in settlements for 15 years. He said they threaten the future Palestinian state but said he has no other way to earn a living. He acknowledged it was a problem, but “it’s not my job to fix it … I’m married and have kids. I don’t want to be a millionaire. I just want to pay my bills.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/a-glimpse-at-the-palestinians-who-build-israeli-settlements-1.324108?localLinksEnabled=false
ISRAEL: Border barrier to keep asylum-seekers out
TEL AVIV, 11 November 2010 (IRIN) – Israel is building a 60km-long barrier on its southern border with Egypt aimed at physically keeping out African asylum-seekers amid a rising tide of intolerance towards people widely referred to as “illegal workers”.   The barrier will be built at two locations which witness the most crossings – near the Gaza strip and near Eilat. The estimated US$1.35 billion project is due to be completed at the end of 2013.   Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted in July [ http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/netanyahu-illegal-african-immigrants-a-threat-to-israel-s-jewish-character-1.302653 ] as saying that the “flood of illegal workers infiltrating from Africa” into Israel was “a concrete threat to the Jewish and democratic character of the country”.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/21fa3da4b933ae6efad05bb3cb14e76d.htm
Who Controls the Palestinian Population Registry?
When the Palestinian Supreme Court in Ramallah issued a new ruling on 22.10.2010, commentators were quick to declare a breakthrough for the 35,000 Palestinian residents who live in the West Bank but whose registered addresses are in Gaza and who therefore live under the threat of deportation. The ruling ordered the Palestinian Interior Ministry to carry out all the necessary procedures to change these residents’ addresses from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank.
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/11/who-controls-the-palestinian-population-registry/
New Report on Women’s Rights in Palestine
Bethlehem – PNN – Euromed Gender Equality Programme (EGEP) released a new report about gender equality and women’s rights in Palestine on Wednesday. The EGEP is an organization that studies and reports the gender equality issues around the world.  In a recent study they looked at Palestine, including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, to study the role that women play in the society.  The report found that, although Palestine is making improvements in the region, there are still significant hurdles to cross.  Some of these hurdles can be attributed to Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9132&Itemid=63
Racism and Discrimination

Gang suspected of attacks on Arabs in Jerusalem
Young men have reportedly been roaming in and around Independence Park seeking Arabs to attack, trying to identify them by their accent.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/gang-suspected-of-attacks-on-arabs-in-jerusalem-1.324050?localLinksEnabled=false
Israeli Police: violent, trigger-happy and politically biased
This week, a policeman shot and killed a suspect. The deceased was suspected of harassment, of resisting arrest and of simply being too obsessive. There are those who also say he was suspected of an attempted vehicular assault, and he discovered that these were capital crimes. The late suspect was lucky not to be an Arab. As a Jew, the circumstances of his death are at the very least questioned.
http://972mag.com/israeli-police-violent-trigger-happy-and-politically-biased/
Bnei Brak to ‘expose’ landlords who rent out flats to Africans
City officials say landlords subdivide flats, cram refugees in them with ‘total disregard for general population’.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3982899,00.html
Netanyahu’s father vomits his racism
“Q: You don’t like the Arabs, to say the least.
A: “The bible finds no worse image than this of the man from the desert. And why? Because he has no respect for any law. Because in the desert he can do as he pleases.
The tendency towards conflict is in the essence of the Arab. He is an enemy by essence. His personality won’t allow him any compromise or agreement. It doesn’t matter what kind of resistance he will meet, what price he will pay. His existence is one of perpetuate war.”
Q: Is there any hope of peace?
A: “Out of agreement? No. the other side might stay in peace if it understands that doing anything [else] will cause it enormous pain.
The two states solution doesn’t exist. There are no two people here. There is a Jewish people and an Arab population… there is no Palestinian people, so you don’t create a state for an imaginary nation… they only call themselves a people in order to fight the Jews.”
Q: So what’s the solution?
A: “No solution but force… strong military rule”
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/11/netanyahus-father-vomits-his-racism.html
Now On Display: Israel’s Palestinians,  Audrey Farber
Come visit the Jewish state and while you’re at it, look at these primitive Arabs in their small, confined space – just like they lived before we swooped in and civilized this desert wasteland with milk and honey and fruits and wine and all that jazz. And guns. (Never mind the decades of British rule and before that centuries of Ottoman administration that preceded us.) We are preserving their heritage for them … by denying them opportunities to advance and succeed and confining them to their narrow, scuzzy alleyways, selling eggplants at a discounted rate and smiling and nodding ahlan wa sahlan for tour buses full of middle aged Americans. (You know they aren’t birthright kids because birthright kids aren’t allowed near Arabs: danger, danger!) Of course, not one of Haifa’s several museums – dedicated to everything from Japanese Art to Clandestine Immigration to the Israeli Oil Industry – represents Palestinian culture, art, or history.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/now-on-display-israels-palestinians.html
Violence & Aggression

IDF strikes target in central Gaza Strip
Aircraft, ground troops exchange fire with militants in Gaza; no injuries sustained by IDF soldiers.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-strikes-target-in-central-gaza-strip-1.324179?localLinksEnabled=false
Nights of Terror Continue in Silwan, Palestine Monitor
A week of terror in Silwan continued early this morning with the violent arrest of four youths during Israeli raids on several homes. The East Jerusalem suburb has been plagued by incursions throughout the week, with seven more arrests on Monday. All those arrested are under 21.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1607
East Jerusalem’s Issawiya Under Attack
Last Saturday (November 6), undercover Israeli police forces entered the East Jerusalem village of Issawiya in an attempt to get information from residents. Since then, Israeli police have set up daily roadblocks, disrupting the neighborhood and its residents.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/jerusalem/2991-east-jerusalems-issawiya-under-attack
Firing at workers near the Gaza perimiter fence
B`Tselem – Over the past year, B`Tselem has documented eleven cases in which soldiers fired at and wounded Palestinian civilians working in areas near the perimeter fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel. In these eleven cases, the gunfire struck civilians who, because of the lack of jobs in the Strip, were compelled to earn a living by collecting building materials for recycling. The lack of jobs has grown since Operation Cast Lead and following the continuing siege on the Strip.
http://www.btselem.org/English/Gaza_Strip/20101103_Shooting_at_workers_near_the_Gaza_perimeter_fence.asp
Israeli police fire at, arrest Jordanian
Israeli police arrested a Jordanian citizen in Wadi Ara, north of Palestine occupied in 1948, on Wednesday after a few hours chase, a police report said.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd8
Detainees

Gaza prisoners ass’n says detainees need coats
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The Center for Detainees in Gaza City said Wednesday that they had received word from several inmates kept in Israeli detention centers that they were in dire need of warm clothing and blankets.  The complaints, the center said, came from the Ramon and Nafha prisons, in central Israel and the Negev dessert.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=332828
Hamas denounces political arrest of senior PLC member 
Sabr 10 Nov 2010 – [ 10/11/2010 – 04:26 PM ] DAMASCUS, ( PIC )– The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas strongly denounced Israeli authorities for the arrest of senior Palestinian Legislative Council official Mahmoud Al Ramahi Wednesday, calling for his immediate release.
http://palestinianprisoners.blogspot.com/2010/11/hamas-denounces-political-arrest-of.html
   
Rights group slams detention of Hamas MP
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A local Palestinian human rights group condemned on Thursday Israel’s arrest of a leading Palestinian lawmaker a day earlier.  The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights issued a statement strongly condemning Wednesday’s arrest of Mahmoud Al-Ramahi, the secretary of the Palestinian Legislative Council representing Hamas. Such detentions constitute “reprisals and measures of collective punishment against the Palestinian civilians, which are prohibited according to article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949,” the statement said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=332941
Israeli policemen humiliate Sheikh Salah during his trial
Israeli policemen on Wednesday deliberately insulted and humiliated Sheikh Ra’ed Salah as they were escorting him to a court in occupied Jerusalem to defend himself against new charges.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xy
Israel’s Arab Helpers

Report: Egypt aided Israel’s assassination of top Gaza militant
Time Magazine claims Egyptian intelligence tipped Israel off ahead of the arrival of a senior Army of Islam militant as part of its attempts to thwart terror activity in Sinai.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-egypt-aided-israel-s-assassination-of-top-gaza-militant-1.324151?localLinksEnabled=false
Behind an Israeli Strike in Gaza, Help from Egypt (Time.com)
Time.com – An Israeli missile assassinates a Gaza militant allegedly plotting against US forces in the Sinai Peninsula. Did Cairo provide the key assist?
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20101110/wl_time/08599203067100
Fayyad admits to violations against Hamas supporters in West Bank
Palestinian president in Ramallah Salaam Fayyad admitted to the existence of human rights violations in West Bank prisons under his jurisdiction, guaranteeing that all violators will be prosecuted.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6
Egypt’s national flags made in Israel?
Al-Masry al-Youm newspaper reports Cairo imports its national flags from Jewish state, but country’s industry and trade minister insists report based solely on rumors
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3983198,00.html
A Husni Mubarak journalist calls on Arabs to visit Israel, As`ad Abukhalil
Israel can’t get Arab world’s gifted writers, like Ala’ Aswanti, to support normalization with it.  So it is reduced to promoting the lousy writers of the Saudi sleaze website, Elaph, to endorse normalization with it.  One such writers on Elaph is a former functionary of Abu Nidal organization–kid you not.  This guy (another guy–not the Abu Nidal organization guy) appears on Aljazeera and rails against Israel on regular basis.   Here, he is inviting Arabs to visit Israel.  Left unmentioned is that this is a Mubarak regime tool.  It seems that orders have arrived to rush to Israel–all for you, o Jamal Mubarak. 
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/11/husni-mubarak-journalist-calls-on-arabs.html
Commemorating Arafat

Fatah: Hamas police quash Arafat memorial
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — A Fatah lawmaker said Thursday that Hamas police entered his office in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah ahead of planned celebrations marking the death of the late President Yasser Arafat.  Ashraf Jom’a told Ma’an that he had announced a small event marking the sixth anniversary of the death of Arafat, which was set to include a film screening featuring Khalil Ibrahim Al-Wazir (Abu Jihad), a slain resistance fighter affiliated with Fatah.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=333022
FPA: Hamas detains journalists at Arafat memorial
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — The Foreign Press Association in Israel condemned on Thursday the reported arrest of a television crew at a Rafah event celebrating the life of former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat.  In a statement, the FPA denounced “in the strongest terms,” the detention of the journalists, who the association said were detained and ordered to turn over news footage to the authorities.  “The total ban by the authorities on all stills photographers wanting to cover the same event is unacceptable,” the statement continued.  According to the association, “This is the latest in what seems to be a systematic campaign by Hamas to harass and intimidate journalists. Our members are professional journalists working for respected global news organizations. We demand that Hamas let journalists do their work and respect the basic right of freedom of the press.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=333140
Palestinians gather in Ramallah to mark anniversary of Arafat death
President Abbas scheduled to address memorial of the former PLO chief who died 6 years ago, as Hamas reportedly break up private memorial of long-time rival.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinians-gather-in-ramallah-to-mark-anniversary-of-arafat-death-1.324167?localLinksEnabled=false
PA begins Arafat commemoration; millions to new museum
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — One and a half million dollars was approved by the PA Cabinet on Wednesday, for the completion of construction on the Yasser Arafat Museum in Ramallah.  The move comes as the PA prepares celebrations marking the 6th anniversary of the death of the former president, with provisions made in Wednesday’s cabinet meeting for free public transportation for West Bankers heading to the Ramallah festivities.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=332743
  
Bethlehem celebrates Arafat
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – Fatah movement officials in Bethlehem called on residents to gather in the Nativity Square Wednesday and commemorate the late President Yasser Arafat.  In the presence of several Fatah Revolutionary Council members, local mayors and officials, young and old lit candles and carried photos of Arafat, praying in unison for his soul to rest in peace.  Revolutionary council member Muhammad Taha Abu Alia spoke to those present, commenting on how Arafat had loved to visit Bethlehem, and did so frequently to spend time in its mosques and churches.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=332848
Arafat; Do Palestinians Still Remember How He died?
Ghassan Bannoura – Bethlehem – PNN/exclusive – Today Palestinians marked the sixth anniversary of President Yasser Arafat death, the question I am asking, do they still remember how he died?
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9130
Other Political “Developments”

Abbas wants more than U.S. “slogans” on statehood
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday U.S. support for Palestinian statehood had yet to move beyond “slogans”. Abbas said views in the United States and Europe had started to shift in favour of the Palestinians but expressed frustration at recent U.S. opposition to the idea of taking the quest for statehood to the U.N. Security Council.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6AA17F.htm
Palestinian leader: Peace better than settlements
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday appealed to Israelis to choose peace over settlements, saying that opportunities for a peace deal must not be wasted.  Abbas spoke to thousands of flag-waving supporters at a rally marking the sixth anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Yasser Arafat. In the Gaza Strip, Abbas’ bitter political rival, the Islamic militant Hamas, suppressed all Arafat commemorations, a sign of the deepening political rift despite renewed attempts by the two sides to reconcile.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/11/AR2010111102097.html
Haneyya: Damascus meeting complicated
Palestinian premier Ismail Haneyya has affirmed that the current national dialog session in the Syrian capital Damascus would not solve all pending problems between Hamas and Fatah.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87
Hamas: “Israel Seeking Failure Of Palestinian Unity Talks”
The Hamas movement issued a press release slamming the kidnapping of the secretary-general of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Dr. Mahmoud al-Ramahi, and stated that, by the ongoing arrests and the abduction of elected officials, Israel is seeking the failure of internal Palestinian unity talks.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59870
Hamas, Fatah fail to reach agreement at reconciliation talks
Rival Palestinian factions end their latest round of talks in Damascus without an agreement to narrow their differences on security issues.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-fatah-fail-to-reach-agreement-at-reconciliation-talks-1.324125?localLinksEnabled=false
‘US Support for Israel Must Continue Forever,’ says Biden
He reiterated what he said was the Obama administration’s deep commitment to Israel’s security and to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=194410
Clinton warns Palestinians and Israelis against ‘unilateral’ Mideast steps
Secretary of State criticizes Israel’s settlement plans as ‘counterproductive’; Egypt: Israel not doing what it is supposed to do.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/clinton-warns-palestinians-and-israelis-against-unilateral-mideast-steps-1.324038?localLinksEnabled=false
PM: Disagreements with US ‘temporary’
In New York meeting with senior media figures, Netanyahu plays down recent differences of opinion with US.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3982821,00.html
US giving Palestinians $150m aid  [Enough aid, they want freedom]
The United States is to transfer an additional $150m in aid to the Palestinian Authority and calls on other donor nations to increase their aid.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-us-canada-11729423
Other News

U.S. to store another $400m worth of emergency military equipment in Israel
Equipment to stand at Israel’s disposal in an emergency; hike will bring the value of American military equipment stockpiled in Israel to $1.2 billion by 2012.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/u-s-to-store-another-400m-worth-of-emergency-military-equipment-in-israel-1.324046?localLinksEnabled=false
US to Increase Arms to Israel by Additional $400 Million
Bethlehem – PNN – The United States has approved a plan to add 400 million dollars worth of military equipment to its emergency stockpile in Israel by 2012. This will bring the total value of stockpiled goods to 1.2 billion dollars.  The US Congress approved an increase late last month, as reported earlier this week by Barbara Opall-Rome for Defense News magazine. Such a show of military support for Israel undermines the position of the US as the unbiased moderator it has presented itself as in current peace talks.  The military equipment would be administered by US forces, but the Israeli military would be given control over the equipment in the event of a conflict. Such use is allowed according to a clause in the US foreign aid law which regulates military stockpiles for US allies.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9129&Itemid=61
IDF officer: Clash with Hamas inevitable
A clash with Hamas is inevitable and the IDF’s Gaza Division is taking steps to prepare for escalation, outgoing Division Commander Brigadier-General Eyal Eisenberg said Thursday.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3983356,00.html
No thaw in relations with Israel without apology for boat raid: Turkey
PARIS: Turkey will not begin to restore relations with Israel unless it apologizes for its “savage attack” on a Turkish protest vessel, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.”Israel will apologize. And Israel will have to pay compensation.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=121418
Lieberman: Syria a peace partner? No way
During visit to Golan Heights, foreign minister says ‘only a political hypochondriac can say Syria is a peace partner, especially under the current regime’.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3983162,00.html
Bodies of IAF pilot and navigator found after F-16I crash in Negev
Pilot Maj. Amichai Itkis and navigator Maj. Emanuel Levy took off from the Ramon Air Force base and crashed during training exercise.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/bodies-of-iaf-pilot-and-navigator-found-after-f-16i-crash-in-negev-1.324188?localLinksEnabled=false
International aviation chief slams Israel for poor flight safety
Israel’s aviation safety status was downgraded to category two by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in January 2009.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/international-aviation-chief-slams-israel-for-poor-flight-safety-1.324055?localLinksEnabled=false
Ayalon: Recognize Mizrahi Jews as refugees
Deputy foreign minister supports new initiative calling on Palestinians to recognize Jewish refugees from Arab lands, says topic must be discussed in any future negotiations.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3982859,00.html
Public Security Ministry D-G quits suddenly, apparently over sex harassment complaint
External ministry adviser said that Peleg tried to harm her and her professional status, using verbal abuse and sexual harassment over a period of several months.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/public-security-ministry-d-g-quits-suddenly-apparently-over-sex-harassment-complaint-1.324049?localLinksEnabled=false
Analysis/Op-ed/Human Interest

The Palestinians of Israel are poised to take centre stage | Seumas Milne
With the peace process going nowhere, common experience on both sides of the Green Line is creating a new reality.  In a quiet street in the Sheikh Jarrah district of occupied East Jerusalem 88-year-old Rifka al-Kurd is explaining how she came to live in the house she and her husband built as Palestinian refugees in the 1950s. As she speaks, three young ultra-orthodox Jewish settlers swagger in to stake their claim to the front part of the building, shouting abuse in Hebrew and broken Arabic: “Arab animals”, “shut up, whore”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/10/palestinians-poised-to-take-centre-stage
Israel’s Arab citizens are not a negotiating chip, Jonathan Cook
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has insisted from the launch of the current peace talks that the Palestinians set no preconditions, while making his own precondition the centrepiece of negotiations. Mr Netanyahu has said talks are futile unless the Palestinians and their leader, Mahmoud Abbas, first recognise Israel as a Jewish state. “I recognised the Palestinians’ right to self-definition, so they must do the same for the Jewish people,” he told American Jewish leaders recently.
http://www.jkcook.net/Articles3/0523.htm#Top
Hey Obama: These are Israel’s red lines!
As President Obama and his advisors contemplate which of these paths to chose, it is vital that Prime Minister Netanyahu take this opportunity to once again clearly state Israel’s red lines in negotiating with the Palestinians. Whether this clarification serves to bolster our friends in Congress, or remind the Administration as they plan any new initiatives, it is crucial that our American allies understand where we stand on these issues as we inch closer to returning to direct negotiations with the Palestinians. Thankfully, the prime minister does not need to start from scratch. In his historic speech at Bar Ilan University in June of 2009, Netanyahu laid out three key areas where Israel’s red lines cannot be crossed. The Palestinians must agree to recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people…. Israel must remain within defensible borders as the result of any peace agreement. We cannot compromise on territorial concessions in the Jordan Valley or on the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria which overlook the center of our country… Finally, Jerusalem can never be divided… Without a clear stance on this most basic issue we will soon find ourselves chased out of the city we dreamed of for 2,000 years..
http://friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com/2010/11/hey-obama-these-are-israels-red-lines.html
“Netanyahu convinced himself that the US needs him more than he needs it….”
“… The whole thing is playing out exactly as it did in March: Biden visit; housing announcement; U.S. pushback. In March, Prime Minister Netanyahu retorted with the defiant declaration: “Jerusalem is not a settlement”; yesterday, Prime Minister Netanyahu retorted with the defiant declaration: … I’ll just let you guess. The latest to-do, Aaron David Miller told me this morning, “reflects a much-diminished administration that got off on the wrong foot from the beginning.” Prior history as well as the prospects of continued Israeli-Palestinian negotiations give Netanyahu greater leverage, according to the former negotiator. The prime minister “knows that the administration believes the only way this Israeli-Palestinian problem is going to be resolved is negotiations, and so he’s convinced himself that they need him more than he needs them,”…. The timing of the announcement again seemed calculated to provoke and to assert Netanyahu’s (new?) upper hand ….  So, where are we now? A crucial thing to watch is Netanyahu’s meeting Thursday in Washington, D.C., with Secretary of State Clinton. Her bona fides as a friend to Israel are pretty much impeccable. But she was the one who, in March, famously upbraided Netanyahu on the phone for 43 to 45 minutes (depending on your source) for that prior settlement announcement. “If it’s a reprise of what happened in March,” explained Miller of the Clinton-Netanyahu get-together, “we’re not prepared to back it up. We just look weak—we look pathetic, frankly, it’s beyond weak.” How she and the administration handles this situation, I think, will be the most telling hint over the direction the circus will travel over the next few months.
http://friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com/2010/11/netanyahu-convinced-himself-that-us.html
Why Netanyahu is engaging Obama in a spat over E. Jerusalem ‘settlements’ (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is engaging the US administration in a high-profile debate over settlement building two days before he meets Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to address the impasse in negotiations.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20101110/wl_csm/342420
Peace Will Not Be Achieved By Deception
Henry Siegman – Huffington Post – Equally misleading has been Netanyahu`s repeated declarations that a peace accord depends on Palestinians matching Israel`s “painful concessions” with their own painful concessions. In fact, no one has ever asked Israel to make any concession to the Palestinians — whether territory, water resources, Jerusalem or sovereignty. All of these concessions are to be made on the Palestinian side of the 1967 border. No concessions were asked of Israel on its side of that border.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=43317
Why I still have faith in the American people, Stephen M. Walt
… some of the time” (or at least enough of them to get elected twice).  But when you lead the country into a series of debacles and disasters, it turns out they really don’t want to watch you rationalize your blunders on national TV. In other words, Bush’s interview with Matt Lauer, touting his new book, was a ratings bomb.
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/11/10/you_can_fool_some_of_the_people
Obama Can Still Do It, George S. Hishmeh
Though obnoxious, Benjamin Netanyahu is no dummy. After all, the Israeli prime minister knows that if he got away with something the first time, he might as well take another shot at it the second time. And lo and behold, his victim on both occasions was Joe Biden, the ever-smiling American vice president.  When Biden visited Jerusalem last March in an attempt to help kick-start the Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations, stalled by Israeli expansionism into the occupied West Bank, the Israeli government unbeknownst to the visiting vice president, simultaneously announced its intention to build 1600 housing units in occupied Arab East Jerusalem which the Palestinians hope will be their capital once their state is established.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16406
Peace Held Hostage to US, Israeli Elections, Nicola Nasser
The statement by former U.S. President George W. Bush in his 497 – page memoir of ‘Decision Points’ that a secret peace deal was worked out between the then-prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, and Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, which “we devised a process to turn .. into a public agreement” had not Olmert been ousted by a scandal to be replaced in the following elections by Binyamin Netanyahu, who reneged on his predecessor’s commitments, is a piece of history which highlights the fact that peacemaking in the Arab – Israeli conflict and the peace process have been hostages to the rotating U.S. and Israeli elections since the Madrid peace conference of 1991
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16408
The Mavi Marmara is set to hit the big screen in Turkey, Adam Horowitz
Polat Alemdar is back! And this time he’s kicking ass and taking names in none other than the Holy Land.  f you don’t know what I’m talking about, Alemdar is the hero of the popular Turkish television show, and now film series, Valley of the Wolves. A 2006 film took aim at the American invasion of Iraq, and the upcoming movie is focused on exacting revenge for the Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/the-mavi-marmara-is-set-to-hit-the-big-screen-in-turkey.html
U.S. Justice Department prepares for the ominous expansion of law prohibiting ‘material support’ for terrorism, Michael Deutsch
In late September the FBI carried out a series of raids of homes and anti-war offices of public activists in Minneapolis and Chicago. Following the raids the Obama Justice Department subpoenaed 14 activists to a grand jury in Chicago and also subpoenaed the files of several anti-war and community organizations. In carrying out these repressive actions, the Justice department was taking its lead from the Supreme Court’s 6-3 opinion last June in Holder v. the Humanitarian Law Project which decided that non-violent First Amendment speech and advocacy “coordinated with” or “under the direction of” a foreign group listed by the Secretary of State as “terrorist” was a crime.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/u-s-justice-department-prepares-for-the-ominous-expansion-of-law-prohibiting-material-support-for-terrorism.html
Right-wing Zionism and Islamophobia Meet Up in Tennessee, Alex Kane
Case in point to my contention that Islamophobia in the United States and the right-wing, Likudnik strain of Zionism are inextricably linked:  a Christian Zionist group is helping to fund a lawsuit against the construction of a mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
http://alexbkane.wordpress.com/2010/11/11/right-wing-zionism-and-islamophobia-meet-up-in-tennessee/
NYT implies Muslims are the hostile ‘other’, James North
The New York Times is at it again.  In an article about President Obama’s mild criticism of Israel’s plans to build more settlements in occupied Palestine, the newspaper said:  Despite their efforts to build mutual trust, Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu seem to keep talking past each other. On Tuesday, they were worlds apart in symbolism as well as substance: the president voiced his criticism of Israel while on a visit to Jakarta, capital of the world’s most populous Muslim country.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/nyt-implies-muslims-are-the-hostile-other.html
Why the Oklahoma Shariah Law is Unconstitutional
On November 2, 2010, an overwhelming majority of Oklahoma citizens (slightly more than 70%) approved State Question (SQ) 755, as a state constitutional amendment, forbidding Oklahoma courts from “considering or using” international law or Shariah law. Oklahoma State Representative Rex Duncan, the amendment’s principal author, characterized the Shariah as a “cancer that must be removed with a preemptive strike.” A petition has already been filed with the United States District Court to seek a temporary restraining order against the enforcement of SQ 755. It remains to be seen whether the federal courts will strike down the amendment under the supremacy clause of the United States Constitution.
http://www.counterpunch.com/khan11112010.html
Lebanon

Six Israeli warplanes fly over Lebanon
Six Israeli warplanes have penetrated the Lebanese airspace again and flew over parts of the country in flagrant violation of a UN Security Council resolution.  The Israeli aircrafts crossed into Lebanese airspace over the southern border village of Kfar Kila at 9:30 a.m. local time (0630 GMT) on Tuesday and conducted several unwarranted flights above southern Lebanon as well as the capital Beirut, a Press TV correspondent in Beirut cited a statement released by the Lebanese military.  The jets left the Lebanese airspace at 11:05 a.m. local time (0805 GMT) while flying over Alma al-Shaab – a town in southern Lebanon.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/150340.html
Sayyed Nasrallah to Address Recent Developments on Martyr’s Day
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is to deliver an important  speech on Thursday evening during Martyr’s Day festival, which would include Hezbollah position on the recent political developments in Lebanon.   The festival will take place at six-thirty in the evening, Beirut time (16:30 GMT) in Sayyed Shuhada’a complex in the southern suburbs of Beirut (Dahiyeh)- Ruwais.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=161849&language=en
Cabinet Convenes in ‘Tense’ Session over False Witnesses
10/11/2010 Once again, the national-unity government in Lebanon seems to be “fighting”…  On Wednesday, the cabinet faces once again the “challenge” represented by the most sensitive issue nowadays, the false witnesses’ file.  The false witnesses in the assassination of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the witnesses who led to the arbitrary detention of four innocent officers for four years and who harmed the Lebanese-Syrian relations, are threatening the “divided” Lebanese cabinet… While the loyalty camp is seeking to “protect” them by rejecting the transfer of their file to the Judicial Council, the opposition is insisting such step should be the cabinet’s priority. The opposition says that resorting to the voting process is required whereas the loyalty is threatening to withdraw from the session in such case.  President Michel Sleiman and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt are exerting, in the meantime, intensive efforts to prevent such scenario.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=161770&language=en
Lebanon postpones debate on UN tribunal witnesses
BEIRUT (DPA) — The Lebanese cabinet postponed on Wednesday a debate on witnesses accused of misleading UN investigators probing the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, in a bid to avoid more tension in the country.  The Hezbollah-led opposition and its pro-Syrian allies have insisted on a vote inside the cabinet on the issue in order to hand it over to the nation’s highest court.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=332917
Report: Saudi court rejects death for Lebanese ‘sorcerer’
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia’s high court has rejected the execution sentence of a Lebanese man convicted of sorcery and recommended that he be deported after a new trial, a newspaper reported Thursday.  The Supreme Court in Riyadh said that the death sentence for Ali Sabat was not warranted because he had not harmed anyone and had no prior offences in the country, Okaz said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=332997
Iraq

Wednesday: 8 Iraqis Killed, 38 Wounded
At least eight Iraqis were killed and 38 more were wounded in new violence. Most of the attacks in the capital targeted Christians.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/11/10/wednesday-8-iraqis-killed-38-wounded/
UN condemns attack on Iraqi Christians (AP)
AP – The U.N. Security Council said Wednesday that it’s appalled by the latest terrorist attacks on Iraqi Christians, calling them a blow against religious diversity and democracy.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101110/ap_on_re_us/un_un_iraq
Iraq’s Christians Vow to Survive — With Muslim Help (Time.com)
Time.com – After the horrific church invasion on Halloween, Baghdad’s Christians suffer another day of assaults. But they have also won the sympathy of their Muslim countrymen
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20101111/wl_time/08599203074700
Another Baghdad Massacre: Iraqi Christians Are Already at Home, Ramzy Baroud
On Sunday, October 31, when a group of militants seized a church in Baghdad, killing and wounding scores of Iraqi Christians, it signaled yet another episode of unimaginable horror in the country since the US invasion of March 2003. Every group of Iraqis has faced terrible devastation as a result of this war, the magnitude of which is only now beginning to be discovered.  True, the situation in Iraq was difficult prior to the war. Having visited the country in 1999, I can testify to this. But the hardship suffered by many Iraqis, especially political dissidents, was in some way typical characteristic of authoritarian and dictatorial regimes. Iraq could, at that time, be easily contrasted with other countries living under similar hardships. But what has happened since the war can barely be compared to any other country or any other wars since World War II. Even putting aside the devastating death toll, the sheer scale of internal displacement and forced emigration is terrifying. This is a nation that had more or less maintained a consistent level of demographic cohesion for many generations. It was this cohesion that made Iraq what it was.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/11/another-baghdad-massacre-iraqi-christians-are-already-at-home/
Cluster munitions maim and kill Iraqis every day
Iraq – Every year hundreds of Iraqis are killed or maimed by cluster munitions and landmines, due to Iraq’s contamination of millions of explosive remnants of war (ERW). According to Iraqi figures, the contamination claimed 14,000 victims between 1991 and 2007, while in the three Kurdish governorates the estimated number of victims (both injuries and deaths) was 8,174 between 1991 and 2008.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EGUA-8B3T2N?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
Two asylum seekers deported to Baghdad and allegedly tortured were not Iraqi
Exclusive: Foreign Office letter seen by Guardian admits to confusion over men’s nationality and the claims of mistreatment made by them.  Two asylum seekers who were deported to Baghdad and claim they were tortured on arrival by Iraqi officials have been returned to Britain because they were found not to be Iraqi.  The confusion over the men’s nationality and the allegations they have made are among admissions made by the Foreign Office in a letter to the European court of human rights (ECHR) arguing for a resumption of removals to Baghdad.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/10/asylum-seekers-deported-baghdad-torture
Iraqi leaders reach deal to form new government; Maliki to retain power
BAGHDAD – Iraq’s political leaders have reached a deal on forming a new government that will break the political stalemate that has plagued the country for eight months and give Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki a second term as Iraq’s leader.
http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=786daefcbb7c709dae56f584a715c5b2
Iraqi parliament seats distribution (AP)
AP – A look at the distribution of seats in Iraq’s parliament for various parties and alliances, based on vote returns from the March 7 parliamentary elections.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101111/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_parliament_glance
2000-year-old monastery found in Iraq’s Najaf
An ancient monastery dating to the 1st century A.D. has been discovered in the religious city of Najaf, an Antiquities Department official says.  Nazar al-Nafakh, Najaf’s leading archaeologist, said the monastery was revealed as bulldozers were leveling ground for Najaf’s new airport.  “It is about 2000 years old,” he said.  So far Nafakh has no clue of the name of the monastery, but Christianity was practiced widely in the area of Najaf south of Baghdad at the time.  The province of Najaf, of which the religious city of Najaf is the capital, has several monasteries but most of them are merely heaps of debris.
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2010-11-10\kurd.htm
U.S. & Other World News

‘US World’s Biggest Arms Seller’
The United States has topped the list of global arms sellers, with Israel, UAE and India purchasing the bulk of arms including fighter jets, says a think tank.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/150343.html
Amnesty: prosecute Bush for admitted waterboarding
LONDON, Nov 10 (Reuters) – The United States must prosecute former President George W. Bush for torture if his admission in a memoir that he authorised waterboarding holds true, rights group Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6A92G2.htm
Former British intelligence chairman all but calls Bush liar, says waterboarding didn’t stop terror plots
The ex-minister, Kim Howells, all but accused Bush of lying in a radio interview. He said he wasn’t convinced that waterboarding produced intelligence that helped foil terror plots at Heathrow Airport and Canary Wharf, in London, though he agreed that the plots were real. Howells is currently a Labour MP and served as a foreign minister of state from 2005 to 2008.  “I don’t think there was any doubt there were real plots,” Howells told the BBC Radio 4 Today. “Where I doubt what President Bush has said is that this, what we regard as torture, actually produced information which was instrumental in preventing those plots coming to fruition. I’m not convinced of that.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/british-minister-calls-bush-liar-waterboarding-stop-terror-plots/
Video of Torture Hearing Released (VIDEO)
Some of war’s most disturbing moments don’t happen on the battlefield. Such was the case when Sergeant Chuck Luther sat before a Congressional committee and described how he was tortured by U.S. Army officials.  Luther had been confined to a closet at Camp Taji, Iraq. He was held there for over a month, under enforced sleep deprivation, until he agreed to sign documents saying his mortar fire wounds were caused by a pre-existing condition, making him ineligible for benefits.  Below is a video of Luther’s testimony, as he lays out the graphic details of his torture. As a reporter who covers veterans’ issues, I’m often asked what Americans can do to honor our soldiers. My answer: watch this video. Share it with your friends. Ask them to share it with theirs.  On this Veterans Day, don’t let the voices of soldiers like Sgt. Luther go silent.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joshua-kors/video-of-torture-hearing_b_781993.html
US close to decision on 9/11 trial for Mohammed
WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (Reuters) – The Obama administration is close to deciding where the self-professed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks will be tried and whether he will face a military tribunal, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Wednesday.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N10205316.htm
NATO says occupation troops may have killed 3 Afghan civilians
It said four Afghan civilians had been brought to a nearby ISAF base after the fighting and that three of them had subsequently died.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/11/11/3063025.htm?section=justin
‘US to stay in Afghanistan until 2014’
Senior US officials have told McClatchy newspapers that the new policy will be made pubic soon during an upcoming conference of NATO countries in Lisbon.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/150467.html
Obama officials moving away from 2011 Afghan date
The Obama administration has decided to begin publicly walking away from what it once touted as key deadlines in the war in Afghanistan in an effort to de-emphasize President Barack Obama’s pledge that he’d begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011, administration and military officials have told McClatchy.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/11/09/103468/obama-administration-moving-away.html
Canada ‘to extend’ Afghan mission
Canada considers keeping up to 1,000 soldiers in a non-combat role in Afghanistan beyond the 2011 pullout deadline.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/11/201011904741985694.html
US soldier on trial for Afghan murders
A US soldier accused of leading a murder squad that killed and allegedly mutilated Afghan civilians for sport, has appeared before court.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/150415.html
Iran slams Israeli war threats
Iran has lashed out at Israeli prime minister’s comments that encourage the US to take military action against Tehran.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/150330.html
Iran plans to test own model of Russia S-300 missile
Medvedev banned delivery air defense system to Iran in September, saying it would violate expanded UN sanctions against the country imposed in June.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/iran-plans-to-test-own-model-of-russia-s-300-missile-1.324008

A Backdoor to War with Iran?
Some Members of Congress are trying to create a “backdoor” to war with Iran by pushing a resolution supporting Israel’s “right” to launch a military attack on Iran.
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1439/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4557
Study: 100,000 Hispanics have fled Arizona since immigrant law
PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico — A controversial immigration law in Arizona has likely provoked the voluntary departure of 100,000 Hispanics from the southern US state, according to a study released Wednesday. “Several months after the law was applied, it’s possible to observe a lower number of Hispanics in that area of America. We estimate there are 100,000 less Hispanics compared to the start of 2010,” said the report by the private BBVA Bancomer foundation, released at the two-day Global Forum on Migration and Development, in the Pacific resort of Puerto Vallarta.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/hispanics-fled-arizona-law/
Photos allege Sri Lanka massacre
Photographs obtained by Al Jazeera appear to show massacre of Tamils during final stages of Sri Lanka’s civil war.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/
Loyalists sweep Jordan Parliament elections after opposition boycott
AMMAN: Jordanians voted in large numbers to elect a parliament dominated by pro-government loyalists, with 13 women winning seats, after a boycott by opposition Islamists, official results showed Wednesday.The Islamic Action Front (IAF) disputed the official turnout figure, insisting most voters had stayed away, while US poll observers criticized the electoral system.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=121443
Fourth New Arab Woman Forum set to kick off in December
BEIRUT: The fourth New Arab Woman Forum (NAWF) was announced Wednesday amid calls for greater efforts from governments and private sector firms in advancing gender equality throughout the Middle East. The forum, which will kick off in December and bring together more than 400 representatives from 20 countries, was welcomed to Beirut.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=121432
Christianity’s place in the Middle East
Overextrapolating from the al-Qaida church attack plays into the hands of radicals wanting to push the clash-of-civilisations myth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/nov/11/christians-middle-east-al-qaida-cathedral-attack
Disney world in which Chinese children ‘toil for 76 hours a week’
To Western children, Disney is a fairytale world of talking mice, princesses and dragons. To Chinese children, it sometimes means working from 8am to 10pm, handling chemicals without protection, being chastised for failing to hit production targets, and eating food laden with cockroaches.  Staff at two factories making Disney toys for Westerners employed children between the ages of 14 and 16 in breach of local labour laws and the entertainment giant’s own code of conduct, according to a report by China Labour Watch (CLW), a US NGO.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/disney-world-in-which-chinese-children-toil-for-76-hours-a-week-2130870.html

 www.TheHeadlines.org

Dana: ‘I ask myself if I would have the moral clarity to behave as the Palestinians do if I were in their situation’

Nov 11, 2010

Philip Weiss 

Why is the struggle changing? Why are perceptions of it changing? In large part through the cellular work of social media.

A week or two back Joseph Dana, an American-Israeli journalist, came to New York and showed the sensational video of Adeeb Abu Rahmah confronting the soldiers in Bil’in– a video that has all the transformative power of the legends of the American civil rights movement.

Two days ago Dana gave a talk on the theme of social media at the Jerusalem Fund in Washington on Tuesday called Video from the Front Lines. Measured and factual, it was addressed to the new audience: “Everyone here in internet world.” For at a time when the peace process is dead in the water, this is an area of real progress.

Notice his description at 26 and 27 minutes or so of the nature of this collective punishment. The Skunk is a chemical the Israeli soldiers shoot randomly into Palestinian villages, it gets on to people’s skin with a noxious smell and they can’t wash it off for three weeks. He shows photographs of the Israelis’ repeated invasions of the occupied Palestinian village of Nil’in after they had killed a ten-year-old boy and the Palestinians had demonstrated their outrage at the killing.

Dana explained how Israel’s only recourse to Palestinian nonviolence is to crush resisting villages and try and make the response violent, so that the resistance can then be processed and contained. He showed this photo of the tear gas blanketing the sky over the village due to a new Israeli device that shoots off scores of tear-gas canisters in no time, inside the village itself.

“It’s really not fun… [Though] it’s quite pretty to photograph. It’s really chaotic…

“Oftentimes the Israelis are trying to paint these demonstrations as violent because of the stone-throwings.”

The villages’ popular committees are against youths’ stonethrowing, as it plays into the Israelis’ hands. But how to quell stonethrowing? Two months ago I went to Bil’in and watched the “cycle of violence:” I saw the occupying soldiers being aggressive against peaceful Palestinian villagers, I saw the young men crying Allahu Akbar as they took great risk to throw stones at the soldiers. I saw the international photographers rushing after them, wearing white vests so that the soldiers wouldn’t shoot them.

Dana pointed out that stone-throwing is inevitable given the brute force of collective punishment. The Israeli court system has a 97 percent incarceration rate when it comes to Palestinian protest, and an average trial length of 13 minutes. What an outrage. If they put your father away under such a process, what would you do?

He said that most injuries caused by the stones are to Palestinians themselves, because there are usually activists between stonethrowers and soldiers.  I’m not condoning; I don’t think stonethrowing achieves anything. But to think for one second that American teenagers would do any differently under similar circumstances… (And yes, if these demonstrations were happening in occupied Afghanistan, I believe we would read more about them in the mainstream than we do about the Israeli occupation.) 

Palestinian protesters pulling down a section of the wall on the anniversary of the Berlin wall’s fall.

Dana also spoke of coexistence. How astonishing that despite the radicalized environment, the Popular Committees have called for the release of Gilad Shalit, and they regularly do so in Hebrew statements to the invading Israeli soldiers….

And this experience has transformed Dana himself:

“I’m going to Nil’in every Friday… If you ask me why I am doing this, I would say I’m against the occupation, these are my friends. It’s just that simple, it’s not some grand political platform I’m trying to disseminate. It’s that these are my friends. We talk about the sports, we talk about the weather.”

He is regularly invited into Palestinian homes in the midst of all this to eat and rest. “I ask myself if I would have the moral clarity to behave as the Palestinians do if I were in their situation.” Would Israelis do such a thing in Tel Aviv if Palestinian soldiers were gobbling their lands? (I think not; I think we are dealing with cultural issues here, including the Jewish history of ghettoization and, yes, the hospitality tradition…)

Yes the peace process is going nowhere; but Dana has noticed that the simple message he is bringing to the U.S. is having a profound effect on audiences. And it is difficult for him not to be hopeful when he sees their response to evidence of the grassroots movement of Israelis and Palestinians building friendships and a means of co-existence. The battle in the U.S. is to get these people oxygen, give oxygen to the new model of coexistence.

Look at the photo below that Dana showed, of an Israeli hugging a Palestinian (both men on the ground) to try and prevent the man from being arrested, and tell me that new ways of being are not emerging.

All photos are from Activestills.org. Joseph Dana will be speaking at Hunter College a week from Friday. Go to his site for the detail

An open letter to participants in the Arava Institute’s online event “With Earth and Each Other”

Nov 11, 2010

Adam Horowitz 

November 11, 2010

Dear Participants in “With Earth and Each Other,”

We are writing because we’ve uncovered very troubling new information to add to the information that we have already publicized[1] about Israel’s Arava Institute for Environmental Studies[2] and the online event “With Earth and Each Other: A Rally for a Better Middle East.”[3] We fully understand that many of you are participating in the event from a sincere desire to build “a better Middle East.” Unfortunately, it has become increasingly clear to us that supporting the Arava Institute and this event will actually damage the causes of justice and peace in the Middle East because Arava is a close and seemingly uncritical partner with right-wing institutions that continue to dispossess Palestinians from their homes and communities.

Any efforts by Arava and the November 14th event to foster dialogue and improve the environment are just minor sideshows to the larger projects of Palestinian dispossession implemented by Jewish National Fund[4] and the Israeli government that Arava is serving to legitimize. Therefore, the best action that you can take to help create a better Middle East is to withdraw from this event.

Recap of reasons to boycott the event: We’ve previously explained that, modeled on the movement against apartheid South Africa, Palestinian civil society has overwhelmingly called for a boycott of businesses and academic and cultural institutions[5] that are complicit in denying Palestinian rights. The Jewish National Fund is one of the primary institutions involved in taking over Palestinian land, erasing Palestinian communities by planting trees over Palestinian villages that were destroyed by Israel, and thereby privileging the rights of Jews and discriminating against Palestinians.

Arava and the JNF are close partners, and the JNF helps to fund Arava. According to the Arava Institute, Arava and “the Jewish National Fund (JNF) share a common mission to protect and preserve the land of Israel. This common mission has resulted in a formal partnership.”[6] Arava does not speak out against the JNF’s projects to secure Palestinian land for Israeli Jews, including this summer’s demolition of the Palestinian Bedouin village of Al Araqib in the Negev,[7] the home of Arava.

Arava claims that it is “nonpolitical,” and that the purpose of November 14th event is “not to take a side.” However, self-described “neutral” efforts to foster “dialogue” that fail to confront oppression merely serve to further an unjust status quo.

Arava Leaders featured at JNF Conference: Arava Institute Director David Lehrer notes on his blog that the Arava Institute has worked to keep folksinger and social justice activist Pete Seeger in the November 14th event, despite a number of public letters to Seeger calling on him to withdraw. In addition to Seeger, other participating entertainers include Ian Anderson, Dan Bern, Mandy Patinkin, Tuck and Patti, David Broza and Shuly Nathan. Lehrer explains on his blog that he met with Pete Seeger and Seeger’s daughter Tinya on October 8th at Seeger’s Beacon, New York home where “I also discussed the concerns raised about the Jewish National Fund’s sponsorship of “With the Earth and With Each Other.”[8]

Lehrer’s blog includes many of his daily activities. However, what he omitted from his blog, and what has just come to our attention, is that just two days after his visit with Seeger, Lehrer was a “Featured Speaker” at the Jewish National Fund’s National Conference in Atlanta, along with Friends of the Arava Institute Executive Director, David Weisberg, according to JNF’s program for the event.[9]Lehrer was rubbing shoulders with other featured speakers like JNF Board Chair Ronald Lauder, Likud stalwart and Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau, and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, a leader in implementing the Judaization of Jerusalem, and described by JNF in the conference program as “a rising political star.” Barkat unequivocally promotes a “united Jerusalem” under Israeli rule. On “60 Minutes” in October,[10] Barkat angrily defended the blatant takeover by Jewish settlers of the Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.

Arava silent on demolitions while others protest: Jewish activists protested both outside[11] and inside the JNF Conference,[12] and Jewish groups delivered a letter from 28 Israeli organizations and eight American Jewish organizations criticizing the JNF’s policies in the Negev and the JNF’s destruction of Bedouin villages like Al Araqib.[13] The JNF responded to the letter with an angry rebuke, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.[14] David Weisberg has claimed in emails to Adalah-NY that Arava supports the Bedouin residents of the Negev, but Arava did not sign the letter to the JNF, and made no public comments supporting the protests. Instead, as mentioned above, Arava’s leadership spoke alongside leading right-wing Israelis.

Arava partners with the Israeli government: David Lehrer never mentioned on his blog or elsewhere, the repeated demolitions of Al Araqib by Israeli forces between July and October, though these events occurred in Arava’s “backyard.” Instead, in his blog, Lehrer highlighted Arava’s negotiation “with the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s Development Aid Department (MASHAV) on an expanded program for 2011.” Lehrer wrote that members “were thrilled to hear about these global developments taking place in their own backyard.”[15] 

In another blog post during the same period, Lehrer wrote that on “August 24th, Dr. Shmuel Brenner, straight back from Brazil, Dr. Clive Lipchin and I met in Jerusalem at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs,”[16] to discuss once more strengthening Arava’s partnership with the Israeli government. Lehrer’s actions and words clearly demonstrate that Arava has prioritized strong partnerships with the JNF and the Israeli government, the main actors in dispossessing the Bedouins in the Negev, over actions in support of the Bedouins. It appears clear that Arava has taken a political stand with the oppressors.

Recap of Israeli government and JNF Role: The Israeli government’s denial of rights and dispossession of its Palestinian citizens, including the Bedouin in the Negev, and the JNF’s role in that process, have been carefully documented by human rights organizations like Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and Human Rights Watch.[17] The JNF has been engaged in the “Judaization” of Palestine[18] for more than 100 years.

After the 1948 expulsion of two-thirds of the Palestinian people from their lands, the JNF planted[19] fast-growing non-native trees on the ruins of Palestinian villages in a deliberate attempt to prevent refugees from returning to their land. Today, the JNF directly controls 13% of the land in Israel and effectively controls more than 93% of the land, renting and leasing only to Jewish citizens of the state in violation of the rights of the Palestinian minority.[20]

The growing boycott movement: In comments that are directly applicable to “With Earth and Each Other,” the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel has emphasized that “Under conditions of colonial oppression… joint projects claiming to be ‘apolitical’ or aimed at promoting music, science, environmental protection, etc. as domains that are ‘above politics’ are misleading and injurious to the struggle against injustice.

By overlooking the oppressive reality of Israel’s atrocities and gradual ethnic cleansing, these projects in effect legitimize and contribute to perpetuating and normalizing oppression…. More than twenty years of such projects in Palestine… have led to nothing but further entrenching Israel’s colonization and progressive denial of Palestinian rights.”[21]

Palestinian civil society has issued a boycott call because close examination showed that so many businesses and academic and cultural institutions, including many that claim neutrality or appear well-intentioned, are actually complicit in Israel’s denial of Palestinian rights. Many organizations and artists are now refusing to conduct business as usual with a country that places itself above international standards. Elvis Costello,[22] Gil Scott Heron, Carlos Santana, Roger Waters,[23] Devendra Banhart,[24] and the Pixies are but a few of the artists who have refused to perform in Israel in the past year.

Our research has demonstrated that the Arava Institute is yet another Israeli institution that is deeply complicit in Israeli oppression, and therefore deserves to be boycotted. If you participate in the November 14th event, you will share in Arava’s complicity.

Thank you,

Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel (New York)
www.adalahny.org

American Jews for a Just Peace (US)
www.ajjp.org

Artists Against Apartheid (International)
www.artistsagainstapartheid. org

Boycott! supporting the Palestinian call for boycott divestment and sanctions (BDS) from within (Israel)

boycottisrael.info

Educators for Peace and Justice (Toronto)

International Solidarity Movement – Palestine (Palestine)

www.palsolidarity.org

Jews Say No! (New York)

jewssayno.wordpress.com

---

[1] Letter to Pete Seeger from Jeff Halper, Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, http://icahdusa.org/2010/09/ jeff-halper-pete-join-the- artists-who-are-boycotting- israel/; Letter from over 40 organizations to Pete Seeger (including Adalah-NY), http://adalahny.org/letters/ letter-to-pete-seeger-from- over-40-orgs; Letter from 17 groups in the Gaza Strip to Pete Seeger, http://www.pacbi.org/ etemplate.php?id=1360; Letter to Pete Seeger from Israelis from BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS call from within http://boycottisrael.info/ content/boycotts-letter-pete- seeger; Fact Sheet: Boycott the Arava Institute’s “With Earth and Each Other,” Adalah-NY, http://adalahny.org/cultural- bds/fact-sheet-boycott-the- arava-institute-s-with-earth- and-each-other-a-virtual- rally-for-a-better-middle- east-October-20-2010; International Groups Urged to Abandon Online Israel Event, Adalah-NY,http://adalahny.org/press- releases-other/international- organizations-urged-to- abandon-online-israel-event

[2] http://www.arava.org/

[3] http://withearthandeachother. org/

[4] http://www.jnf.org/

[5] For more information, see the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (www.pacbi.org) and the Global BDS Movement (http://www.bdsmovement.net/)

[6] See Arava’s website, http://www.arava.org/cat.asp? catid=6&subcatid=46. According to the JNF’s form 990 for 2008, the JNF granted $357,315 to the Arava Institute in 2008,http://www.jnf.org/assets/pdf/ 20100604094231.pdf

[7] Israel Demolishes Bedouin in Village in the Negev for the Fifth Time, The Alternative Information Center, http://www.alternativenews. org/english/index.php/topics/ news/2853-israel-demolishes- bedouin-village-for-fifth- time-in-two-months-

[8] http://aravadirector.blogspot. com/2010/10/weekly-report- september-24th-to-october.html

[9] Draft Program: JNF National Conference, http://support.jnf.org/site/ DocServer/DraftProgram.pdf? docID=5201; JNF National Conference: Featured Speakers, http://support.jnf.org/site/ DocServer/Speakers.pdf?docID= 5202

[10]http://www.cbs.com/ primetime/60_minutes/video/? pid=uy1G4SkPH_4h5_u3BD_BNFT_ JuQxPgPb

[11]Bulldozers Return to a Bedouin Village for the Sixth Times, The Jerusalem Post, October 14, 2010,http://www.jpost.com/Israel/ Article.aspx?id=191324;

[12] Activists Disrupt JNF Conference, Mondoweiss, http://mondoweiss.net/2010/10/ activists-disrupt-jnf-conferen ce-including-not-in-my-name- jews-who-are-labeled-traitors. html

[13] Open Letter to the Jewish National Fund: Equal rights, sustainability, and development for Israel’s Negev – not dispossession of the Bedouin!; http://bedouinjewishjustice. blogspot.com/2010/10/open- letter-to-jewish-national- fund.html

[14] JNF Rebukes Pro-Bedouin Petition, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, October 12, 2010,http://www.jta.org/news/ article/2010/10/12/2741250/ jnf-ceo-shoots-back-at- petition-criticizing- organizations-bedouin- activities

[15] http://aravadirector.blogspot. com/2010/08/weekly-report- august-1st-13th-2010.html

[16] http://aravadirector.blogspot. com/2010/08/weekly-report- august-15th-27th-2010.html

[17] Special Report: The Jewish National Fund, Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel,, http://www.adalah.org/eng/jnf. php; Land Controlled by the Jewish National Fund for Jews Only, Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, July, 2007, http://www.adalah.org/eng/ pressreleases/pr.php?file=07_ 07_29; Off the Map: Land and Housing Rights Violations in Israel’s Unrecognized Bedouin Villages, Human Rights Watch, March, 2008, http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/ 2008/03/30/map-0;

[18] Trees of Reconciliation, Curriculum and Teacher’s Guide, September, 2009, Philadelphia Jews for a Just Peace, http://phillyjjp.org/ Philadelphia_Jews_for_a_Just_ Peace/Projects_files/Trees_ Curriculum_&_Teachers_Guide. pdf

[19]Trees of Reconciliation, Curriculum and Teacher’s Guide, September, 2009, Philadelphia Jews for a Just Peace

[20] Land Controlled by the Jewish National Fund for Jews Only, Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, July, 2007, http://www.adalah.org/eng/ pressreleases/pr.php?file=07_ 07_29

[21] West-Eastern Divan Orchestra: Undermining Palestinian Civil Resistance and Violating Palestinian Cultural Boycott Guidelines, Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel,http://www.pacbi.org/ etemplate.php?id=1196&key= Normalization

[22] It Is After Considerable Contemplation, Elvis Costello, http://www.elviscostello.com/ news/it-is-after-considerable- contemplation/44

[23] We Shall Overcome, Roger Waters, http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=vnMMHepfYVc&feature=player_ embedded#!

[24] Folk Singer Devendra Barnhart Cancels Israel Show, YNet, http://www.ynetnews.com/ articles/0,7340,L-3905372,00. html

Now On Display: Israel’s Palestinians

Nov 11, 2010

Audrey Farber 

Sign on the times. (Photo: Audrey Farber)

My neighborhood doesn’t have street signs. And when it does, they don’t refer to names of streets anyone is familiar with. House numbers, too, are scarce. I didn’t know my own street address until yesterday – four and a half months after my arrival. My neighborhood doesn’t have the big plastic-and-glass street-side recycling cages that are conveniently placed around the rest of the city. Its streets are narrow and winding, and children on bikes navigate the obstacle course created by their siblings and cousins and neighbors playing soccer between doorway goal posts. There is one bus stop, few taxis, and I’d be surprised if there were street lights.

But it does have public restrooms, and signs directing adventurous tourists towards them in no less than three languages. It’s featured in all the guidebooks as the neighborhood in which the best falafel can be found, down a side alley in an unassuming hole in the wall. Although if you ask me, I think it’s on a pretty average street in a pretty average storefront. I guess it depends on your perspective.

My neighborhood is the location of the “Middle Eastern bazaar” and outdoor market, obligatory shawarma “stalls” and baklawa shops, and deliberately-placed public art pieces by, for the most part, Jewish artists depicting various themes of cooperation and coexistence. But no Jewish Israelis live in my neighborhood – indeed, most Jewish Israelis I know are shocked that I live here. “Is it safe?”

My neighborhood is condescendingly? patronizingly? affectionately? referred to in Lonely Planet as “Haifa’s grizzled old Christian-Arab quarter” and all signs (literally) point to it being maintained as such to lend the city an air of authentic “Middle Eastern-ness”, as long as it stays within its confines and preset boundaries. This is where the tourists go to get a taste of the old-school Middle East, a little Arab flavor in a Jewish-only melting pot.

It is smack dab in the middle of one of Israel’s few examples of pseudo-co-existence; one of the only places the Israeli government could stomach such a blatant display of the persistent existence of non-Jewishness. Throwing a tired old gnawed-out bone to all the civil rights defenders out there: look at our diversity!

Come visit the Jewish state and while you’re at it, look at these primitive Arabs in their small, confined space – just like they lived before we swooped in and civilized this desert wasteland with milk and honey and fruits and wine and all that jazz. And guns. (Never mind the decades of British rule and before that centuries of Ottoman administration that preceded us.)

We are preserving their heritage for them … by denying them opportunities to advance and succeed and confining them to their narrow, scuzzy alleyways, selling eggplants at a discounted rate and smiling and nodding ahlan wa sahlan for tour buses full of middle aged Americans. (You know they aren’t birthright kids because birthright kids aren’t allowed near Arabs: danger, danger!) Of course, not one of Haifa’s several museums – dedicated to everything from Japanese Art to Clandestine Immigration to the Israeli Oil Industry – represents Palestinian culture, art, or history.

This is a community on display. It is “the famous Wadi Nisnas whose charming alleyways have turned it into a tourist spot.” It’s the only remaining part of its Middle Eastern-ness that Israel can exploit without fear of criticism or retaliation, because the Orientalist inside all of us doesn’t see the ghettoization of the Arab as something that needs to be rectified. This community is stuck inside its bars, fed scraps of economic opportunity to pacify it but never allowed to forget that it is not equal in the eyes of the state. Capital “S” State.

Overshadowed by the imposing hotel towers at the top of the hill (read: affluent Jewish neighborhoods) and bound at its base by the militarized industrial port, it’s a small haven of an increasingly smothered culture, a segment of society whose rights are diminished by the day. And the best part is, living here makes you feel like you’re a part of the zoo, too. On display with the pita bread and fresh-caught fish, for the enjoyment of tourists everywhere. And they can even find the restrooms.

Audrey Farber did her undergrad at UPenn majoring in  Modern Middle East Studies. Her activism has involved resettling Somali, Iraqi, and Burmese refugees in Maine, researching forced migration issues in Amman, and she is currently interning at Mada al-Carmel – Arab Center for Applied Social Research, in Haifa. This post has been cross posted with Jewish Voice for Peace’s blog The Only Democracy?.

Arizona State University students protest IDF speaker

Nov 11, 2010

Adam Horowitz 

IDF soldiers seem to be facing similar protests wherever they speak:

Would Julius and Ethel be Zionists had they lived?

Nov 11, 2010

Philip Weiss 

The Nation has an excellent piece by Victor Navasky on the latest chapter in the Rosenberg saga– a new book that fingers Ethel Rosenberg’s brother and sister-in-law the Greenglasses as the spies. I will save you the details, it’s not my cup of tea. But what impressed me about Navasky’s piece was his willingness to look on the Rosenberg saga for what I have always seen it as, a reflection of the Jewish response to modernity:

Pardon me if I ask, “The Rosenbergs, the Rosenbergs’ in-laws… From the perspective of history, what’s the difference?” After all… both were poor, first-generation Americans whose immigrant parents had come from Russia. Both had joined the Communist movement. Both were Jewish in a post-Holocaust moment when fears of anti-Semitism were matched by fears of being charged with anti-Semitism (it was no accident that the sentencing judge, Irving Kaufman, was Jewish; that the prosecutor, Irving Saypol, was Jewish; and that his assistant, Roy Cohn, was Jewish)…

What I hear Navasky saying is that the Jewish attraction to Communism was sociocultural, that it reflected in part the Jewish experience of anti-Semitism in eastern Europe.

Jerry Muller says it best in his recent book, Capitalism and the Jews— when he says that often before the ideology came political identity formation issues:

Before addressing the issue of Jewish ideological responses to capitalism, it is worth recalling the range of Jewish political responses to modernity. For the sake of analysis, one can group them under four broad rubrics: integrationist, isolationist, socialist, and nationalist….

Muller says that integrationists were the largest group, and sought to make peace with modernity while keeping a distinctly Jewish identity. They were least concerned about anti-Semitism and tended to be pro-capitalist. As for Jewish communism, he treats it in part as a revolutionary/idealistic Jewish response to pervasive anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe.

There the Jewish experience was played out against a background of deeply ingrained anti-Semitic sentiment. In the Russian empire and in Romania, that sentiment was expressed on the official level by the denial of citizenship rights, by restrictions on residency, and by limited access to educational institutions, and on the popular level by pogroms [The whole Palestinian experience today]…

Both authors show how the primal Jewish response to anti-Semitism and modernity predicts a lot of Jewish political behavior. And this explains why many nationalists and Communists have a lot more in common even today than either group has with the integrationists; for they are both more concerned with anti-Semitism than the integrationists are, they just have different ways of addressing it. My mother, for instance, took the side of the Rosenbergs back in the ’50s, brought me up to see the case as a bright-lights demonstration of how the U.S. treated Jews; and today she supports Israel because it is the place that the Jews made in a hostile world. She’s never been an active Communist or an active Zionist; but the two currents flow through her worldview, and they are not incompatible.

Obviously these are historical generalizations. Many former Jewish Communists are today anti-Zionist; they are a key component of anti-Zionism in the U.S. today. But I’d say that many more former Communists have morphed into liberal and rightwing Zionists– look at Israel itself– because even their Communism had an ethnocentric basis. 

And this demonstrates why, when Walt and Mearsheimer had the indelicacy to point out that neoconservative Zionists helped push the U.S. into war with Iraq, they were attacked not just by the neocons, but by former socialist Jews, many of whom are now liberal Zionists. Both groups share a concern for anti-Semitism, and both groups saw Walt and Mearsheimer through that lens, as goyim attacking Jews. “In Dark Times, Blame the Jews,” said the reactionary Forward headline.

I am saying that the response to anti-Semitism may be the baseline issue for predicting a Jew’s political behavior. For instance, my readiness to hear Walt and Mearsheimer’s teaching reflects my integrationism. I don’t mistrust the goyim, I don’t think anti-Semitism is a big problem. I was myself drawn to what was left of Communism as a kid in my own way– there were Communists around in my Jewish community and I care about economic justice– but I believe one reason I didn’t trend that way is that I liked the goyim.

And meantime some of the old Communists and Zionists have regrouped around a fresh Jewish concern, as dire in its way as anti-Semitism: assimilation, all the Jews marrying out, the disappearance of Jewish life. A real concern, yes… But that’s another issue.