NOVANEWS
-
America is fed up with the ‘old man’s commiseration club’
-
And this is just England
-
More on the late Safire, gunnin for Israel
-
All star ensemble– ‘We are the people, this is the time– Stand up, sing out for Palestine’
-
2nd class citizens: Palestinian city inside Israel hasn’t had phone or internet access for weeks following accident
-
A (half-hearted) defense of the Congressional Democrats
-
George Mitchell says, Well, 10 presidents and 19 secretaries of state also failed
-
Shame: 9 of 15 signers of intolerant Congressional letter on Goldstone are Jewish
-
Obama can’t stop talking about love (and that’s bad news for the Israel lobby)
-
Not to be a buzzkill– but what Rafah opening does and doesn’t mean
America is fed up with the ‘old man’s commiseration club’
May 31, 2011
Philip Weiss
Karen Kwiatkowski, former US Air Force lieutenant, is fed up, at Lew Rockwell’s site:
Earlier this week I participated in a panel discussing military aid to Israel, and why it should be reduced drastically….
Far more vulnerable to an imminent pop, with few tears by average Americans, will be foreign financial aid to all countries, including Israel, the largest recipient of such aid. AIPAC is stale and aging, an old man’s commiseration club, sufferable only because it is habitual. Christian Zionists, some of whom I witnessed earlier this week engaged in verbal and physical violence towards a CNIF [Council for the National Interest Foundation] member, are losing their cool in more ways than one. For the first time, I met an infamous supporter of U.S. tax-funded assistance to Israel and its geographical expansion, a retired three star Army general and helpful contributor to our current pro-Israel policy that includes several wars and occupations in the Middle East, and our torture and rendition of detainees. He worked as a second to Stephen Cambone and was part of the neocon cadre so prominent in the Pentagon and Executive corridors in 2002 and afterwards. The portly and emotion-driven Jerry Boykin must have been a weak and angry shadow of his former self, I thought to myself.
But indeed, he is what he is, and what he always was. What changed was my perception of him, my new and concrete awareness that he was a fraud, a walking sale pitch for more war and war spending when, in fact, none was or is necessary. Oil will be pumped, processed and traded, and Israel will survive and prosper, even as the United States withdraws financial aid and symbols of military might from the region. The great build-up of bases in the region, from Saudi Arabia to Iraq, in Bahrain and Kuwait, in North Africa and Afghanistan – all without a serious defensive debate or justification is amazingly typical of a bubble in the months and years before it decisively collapses. It’s the hurry up and get on board phase of the Ponzi scheme, the mad rush to get in on the deal, because it is almost too good to be true.
Americans are beginning to ask questions, and the answers they are getting from the U.S. Government, the Israel lobby and Israel’s political leadership amount to “…move along, nothing to see here, folks.” When pressed for details, Americans are getting congressional obsfucation, bumper sticker-style labels, and a bit of self-righteous anger.
And this is just England
May 31, 2011
annie
Following a major study on television coverage of the Second Intifada by Glasgow University Media Group, several journalists from the BBC continued to stay in touch with the media group. Greg Philo, research director of the group reports in the Guardian Israel’s PR victory shames news broadcasters: “The propaganda battle over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has reached a new level of intensity.”
Since then we have been contacted by many journalists, especially from the BBC, and told of the intense pressures they are under that limit criticism of Israel. They asked us to raise the issue in public because they can’t. They speak of “waiting in fear for the phone call from the Israelis” (meaning the embassy or higher), of the BBC’s Jerusalem bureau having been “leant on by the Americans”, of being “guilty of self-censorship” and of “urgently needing an external arbiter”. Yet the public response of the BBC is to avoid reporting our latest findings. Those in control have the power to say what is not going to be the news.
Exposing a “relentless” barrage of coordinated messaging from Israel endured by broadcasters and journalist alike, the toll it has taken on both the coverage and public impression of the conflict is predictable.
In a new project , we have analysed more than 4,000 lines of text from the main UK news bulletins of the attack, but there was no coverage in these of the killing by the Israelis of more than 1,000 Palestinians, including hundreds of children, in the three years before it. In the TV news coverage, Israeli statements on the causes of action overwhelmed those of the Palestinians by more than three to one. Palestinian statements tended to be only that they would seek revenge on Israel. The underlying reasons for the conflict were absent, such as being driven from their homes and land when Israel was created…….We interviewed audience groups and found the gaps in their knowledge closely paralleled absences in the news. A majority believed Palestinians broke the ceasefire that existed before the December attack and did not knowIsrael had attacked Gaza during it, in November 2008, killing six Palestinians. Members of the public expressed sorrow for the plight of Palestinians but, because of the Israeli message so firmly carried by TV, they thought the Palestinians had somehow brought it on themselves. As one put it: “When I saw the pictures of the dead children it was dreadful, I was in tears but it didn’t make me feel that the Palestinians and Hamas were right … I think the Palestinians haven’t taken the chance to work towards a peaceful solution. Hamas called an end to the last ceasefire.” This participant was surprised to hear Hamas was reported to have said it would have stopped the rockets if Israel had agreed to lift its economic siege. The source was Ephraim Halevy, former head of the Mossad intelligence service.
(my bold)
We have to keep the pressure up, this is a crucial period. I am reminded of the thrill I experienced the other night reviewing the amazing evening Blueprint for Accountability when Naomi Klein called Mondoweiss a ‘lifeline’ (@ 28 minutes). This is what the internet means to Palestine and Israel. This is what we mean for justice and freedom, all of us. We have to keep the pressure up because we can win this. They can’t fool everyone forever and it is up to us to balance out this constant onslaught of propaganda by exposing the truth.
(hat tip seafoid)
More on the late Safire, gunnin for Israel
May 31, 2011
Philip Weiss
Last week I did a post in which John Mearsheimer said that the late William Safire of the New York Times pushed for an independent Kurdistan because he had an agenda, to break up Israel’s enemies. Well here is MJ Rosenberg at Media Matters describing how Safire became an attack dog for Benjamin Netanyahu in 1988 when Rosenberg’s boss, Senator Carl Levin, was calling for the United States to enforce the UN Resolution that barred Israel from colonizing the occupied territories.
The tale of Levin’s congressional letter is a vivid example of the Israel lobby at work, though I gather that Jonathan Chait at the New Republic has dissed the story with the usual analysis that the lobby is just like big pharma or something. Here’s the problem with that analysis. Senator Levin was taking on colonization. Ronald Reagan was opposed to that colonization. So was every other president. And still the colonization went on unabated for 44 years in defiance of a country that has given Israel billions every year, and why? Because of the lobby. And now when the existence of Israel is in the balance, you’d think that more supporters might be questioning the tactics of its American host. I’m stepping on Rosenberg’s story. Here it is:
In the meantime, Levin heard from President Ronald Reagan, who thanked him for organizing support for the administration’s position. Meanhile, [Israeli P.M. Yitzhak] Shamir began calling senators to express “astonishment” that his policies had been criticized.
Then came a moment that was, for me, the most shocking experience I ever had during my years working for the United States government.
William Safire, the most influential New York Times columnist, phoned me in a rage. He told me that he knew for a fact that neither Levin nor I had drafted the letter. He said that he knew that the letter was written by an aide to the leader of the Labor Party opposition in Israel, Shimon Peres. He said that aide, one Yossi Beilin, had hand-delivered the text to me, and that I had convinced Levin to circulate it. He said that my goal was to unseat Shamir and replace him with Peres.
I almost laughed. The very idea that a Senate aide had such power was astounding. But then Safire asked if I thought it was appropriate for a Senate aide to be the agent of a foreign political party, and what would Levin think when he read about that in Safire’s column.
That was scary. As a Senate aide, I had sworn allegiance to the United States and the Constitution. I also had a security clearance. This could be serious.
I told Safire that I had written the draft and that Levin had (as is his wont) extensively edited it. I told him I had no idea who Beilin was (which was the truth). Safire then got really nasty and told me that he knew I was lying because he had the story on good authority (Israeli U.N. ambassador Binyamin Netanyahu and AIPAC’s number two guy, Steve Rosen, who was subsequently indicted for espionage). I said I didn’t care who he heard it from, it was a lie. Additionally, Levin had undertaken the initiative to help Israel because he thought that if Israel ruled out territorial withdrawal, the conflict would never end.
The call concluded with Safire backing down after warning me that if he ever found out I was lying, I would be “finished.” He said he would not write the column because — get this — in the end he believed me more than his sources.
All star ensemble– ‘We are the people, this is the time– Stand up, sing out for Palestine’
May 31, 2011
annie
UPDATE: 6/1 12:07 PST, we are up to 8,657 hits and going viral. PUSH IT PEOPLE if you twitter, if your mother belongs to a knitting bee.. SHARE IT. 😉
I love this! My heart is pounding the chorus is so beautiful. OneWorld has produced a fantastic hit, all proceeds supporting projects in Palestine. The song features an all star ensemble of musicians from around the world including Randall, Jamie Catto (1 Giant Leap), Maxi Jazz (Faithless), LSK, Harry Collier (Kubb), Andrea Britton, Sudha (Faithless), Andy Treacy (Faithless/Moby/Groove Armada), Attab Haddad and Joelle Barker plus over the top Durban Gospel Choir and members of the London Community Gospel Choir and comedian Mark Thomas, rapper Lowkey and poet Michael Rosen.
Check out Disco Nutter mix by Yasen Velchev and the Drum&Bass mix by Dan BirchWILD!
The songs will be released July 3rd but are available for pre-order now from iTunes and HMVdigital. Let’s celebrate this kick off, it’s history in the making!
Supported by War on Want, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, A Just Peace for Palestine, Friends of Al Aqsa, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions UK, Stop the War Coalition, Trust Greenbelt and the A.M.Qattan Foundation. Proceeds from the single will go to UK Charity War on Want for projects in Palestine.
2nd class citizens: Palestinian city inside Israel hasn’t had phone or internet access for weeks following accident
May 31, 2011
Kate
and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Settlers
Mayor: Settlement activity in Jerusalem will continue
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 31 May — Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barakat on Tuesday said the municipality would continue to build Jewish-only housing in the occupied city. Barakat told Israel Radio that all construction plans would be completed regardless of “political issues.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392500
Solidarity protest on Jerusalem Day, Wednesday 6 June
SJS 30 May — In the past few weeks we have witnessed the attempts of the Israeli Government to annex East Jerusalem, being intensified. These growing attempts are seriously jeopardizing any possibility for future agreement … As if this is not enough, Jerusalem Municipal authority, together with Jerusalem’s police and the settlers, decided to move, for the first time, the traditional Jerusalem day’s march of the settlers to the East part of the city. The March will take part mostly in Sheikh Jarrah. Tens of thousands of settlers will arrive, this Wednesday to the Palestinian neighborhood — an act of pure provocation. We will be there standing in protest — ‘Solidarity’ activists and residents of East Jerusalem — as we did in Ras El-Amud!
http://www.en.justjlm.org/485
Israeli national parks policy used to dispossess Palestinians
MEMO 31 May — An Israeli organization has warned against the dangerous repercussions of the implementation of a new Israeli plan to establish a national garden in the East Jerusalem towns of Issawiya and Al Tur. The Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement has said that if the plan to establish the Mount Scopus Slopes National Park is implemented, it will cause great damage to land reserves intended for the future development of Issawiya and Al Tur and their 30,000 residents. In a press release from the Movement, it stated that the town of Issawiya which is fenced in by Israeli settlements and institutions from most directions, “is able to develop only southward, onto the land approved for the national park. Without this important land, Issawiya will be forced to build inward and onto itself until it becomes another poverty-stricken slum…
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2417-israeli-national-parks-policy-used-to-dispossess-palestinians
IOF tears down 13 structures in Jordan Valley
JENIN, (PIC) 31 May — The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) led military bulldozers into the Al-Farisiyya and Al-Meita areas in the Salt Valley in the northern Jordan Valley, and destroyed 13 structures owned by Arab Bedouins. The force crushed eight homes in Al-Meita in the upper Salt Valley where Bedouins have been residing for many years, although the homes were remote from Israeli military camps. It destroyed six more buildings in neighboring Al-Farisiyya … Locals say Israeli forces seek to restrict shepherds in the area in order to curtail their usage of the land for grazing and it also seeks to push them out. The Salt Valley is characterized by warm and plentiful water resources. It is also an agricultural and pastoral area valuable to many farmers in the provinces of Tubas and Tamoun. There are five Bedouin hamlets and communities that live there.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO
Prayer, politics collide on midnight pilgrimage
NABLUS, West Bank (AP) 31 May — A modest stone building holy to Jews in the midst of this Arab city is becoming an increasingly volatile friction point, drawing growing numbers of pilgrims on nighttime prayer visits, unnerving Palestinian residents and putting Israel’s military into conflict with some of the worshippers it is meant to protect … Organizers, members of the hard core of Israel’s settlement movement, see the visits to the traditional gravesite of the biblical Joseph as a mix of religious duty, assertion of ownership and show of force … Palestinians view them as a provocation and an attempt by Israeli extremists to create a political foothold inside their city, which is one of the main autonomous zones established by the interim peace accords of the 1990s … To secure the Jewish worshippers, the military takes up positions in nearby buildings. Sahar Mussa, 38, lives on the top floor of an apartment building overlooking the tomb, making it both a potential threat to the worshippers and a useful position for troops, who typically take it over before the buses come in, she said. The soldiers usually arrive before midnight, move Mussa, her husband and her children into one room and take up posts at the windows until the last worshippers leave, she said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110531/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_joseph_s_tomb
VIDEO — Going back to Lifta: a Palestinian exile returns / Mat Heywood
Guardian 30 May — Yacoub Odeh, a Palestinian who fled from Lifta, west Jerusalem in 1948, shows film-maker Mat Heywood around his deserted home village, now under threat from Israeli plans to build a luxury resort
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/may/30/palestinian-israel-back-to-lifta-video
Israeli forces
East Jerusalem residents face police violence: study
JERUSALEM (AFP) 31 May — An Israeli rights group on Tuesday called on Jerusalem’s new police chief to “fundamentally change” what it said was his officers’ violent treatment towards the city’s Palestinian residents. In a report timed to coincide with the anniversary of Israel’s 1967 occupation of east Jerusalem, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel said that over the past two years it had received a rising number of complaints and mounting evidence of abuses suffered by Palestinian residents … It called on police chief Nisso Shaham, appointed in April, to curb what it called “excessive” riot-control methods, to scrupulously observe regulations on the treatment of minors and to protect Palestinians from Jewish settlers.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110531/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestiniansjerusalemrightspolice
Israeli forces raid village near Tulkarem
TULKAREM (Ma‘an) 31 May — Israeli forces raided Tuesday the Kafr Al-Labad village in Tulkarem. Forces toured the village and raided a school that is still under construction. There were no reports of clashes or arrests.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392677
Israeli tanks invade central Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip, (Pal Telegraph) 31 May — Israeli military vehicles invaded Tuesday morning limited areas in the east of al-Buriage refugee camp in central Gaza Strip. No causalities were reported. According to SAFA News agency, eight Israeli bulldozers accompanied by three tanks stationed at the east of al-Buriage refugee camp and started razing operation to the agricultural lands, terrifying many citizens in fear of being hurt by Israeli fire.Gaza borders regularly witnessed brutal attacks since Israel targets every moving object got near the border fence, causing great damage to several farmlands that supported hundreds of families.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/gaza-strip/9312-israeli-tanks-invade-central-gaza-strip.html
Soldiers play loud music, porn to disturb Palestinians
PSP 31 May — During the day of Wednesday, May 25, Israeli forces stationed at the entrance of Beit Ommar played music and audio from pornographic media over speakers at high volumes. The audio assault was intended to disturb and repulse Palestinian villagers.
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2011/05/31/soldiers-play-loud-music-porn-to-disturb-palestinians/
Gaza – under siege for 1448 days
OPT: Freedom of movement in Gaza gets a boost
RAFAH, 31 May 2011 (IRIN) – The opening of Rafah on 28 May, the only official border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, has created a lifeline for Palestinians living in Gaza, but some, mostly refugees, will still be restricted to their localities because they lack identification papers … There are also hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza, mostly refugees, without identification documents who cannot leave. While it officially withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Israel retains control of its maritime, air and most of its land borders. It also retains control of its population registry, including the issuance of Palestinian ID numbers without which it is impossible to travel. Sana Easa, 39, has not seen her family in Cairo since she moved to Gaza to marry her husband Salah 12 years ago. Both need medical treatment unavailable in Gaza’s hospitals, but even with the new policy at Rafah, they are stuck. Sana is a Palestinian but was born in Cairo and lived there most of her life. Her parents left Gaza as refugees in 1967. Her Egyptian passport expired in April 2004 but in order to renew it, she must go to Cairo in person. She is still waiting for the Palestinian ID number she applied for 12 years ago.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=92848
Hamas urges Gazans not to jeopardize Rafah reopening
GAZA CITY (AFP) 31 May — …Ismail Haniyeh welcomed Egypt’s decision to fully reopen the crossing last week, and warned Palestinians “to refrain from any breach of Egypt’s security.” “Don’t do anything that could compromise the reopening of the terminal,” he said. “We assure our Egyptian brothers: ‘Your security is ours and your stability is ours.'”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392683
All quiet in Rafah: Egypt’s Gaza border opens not with a bang but a whisper
TIME 31 May — …opening day marked one of the slowest business days that Rafah Crossing had seen in years. Egyptian officials reported that roughly 400 people crossed into Egypt at Rafah on Saturday, and 153 into Gaza … Indeed, the atmosphere inside the arrivals terminal was mysteriously subdued for much of the day … And only several dozen travellers seemed to populate the hall at any given time … others suggested: not a whole lot has changed. A huge proportion of Gaza’s population (those men ages 18 to 40) are still largely banned from travel … At Rafah, at least thirty angry men were turned away on Saturday, deposited on buses and sent back to Gaza after their names showed up on an Egyptian security blacklist. It’s a blacklist that dates to well before Mubarak’s departure … Indeed, much to Palestinians’ dismay – and perhaps, to Israel’s comfort – Egypt’s feared intelligence service, the mukhabarat, continues to wield control over the border terminal, just as it always has.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20110531/wl_time/08599207464200
Health ministry says Gaza hospitals still suffering from lack of medicine
GAZA, (PIC) 31 May — The Gaza health ministry said Monday that hospitals in the besieged Gaza Strip are still suffering from lack of medicines and medical supplies as 310 medicines and consumables are completely out of stock …It pointed out that the Norwegian health mission recently made a four-day visit to Gaza and was briefed on the severe medical deficit and subsequently released a report about it in the Lancet health magazine distributed worldwide. The mission called the situation in the Gaza Strip heart-breaking and called on the world community to help supply the region with its medical needs.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2b
Israel allows 280 trucks into Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 31 May — Israel on Tuesday allowed 280 trucks of goods and aid into Gaza through the sole operating supplies terminal Kerem Shalom, Palestinian officials said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392464
Flotillas
Flotilla Gaza-bound again, as anniversary is remembered / Roee Ruttenberg
972mag 31 May — Tuesday marks the one year anniversary of an Israeli raid on a group of ships in the Mediterranean that left nine Turkish nationals dead. The ships, known as the Freedom Flotilla, were bound for Gaza and said to be containing $20 million dollars worth of aid for the Palestinian territory. But with Gaza’s shores blocked by Israel, many predicted – correctly – that a confrontation was inevitable. On this one year anniversary, organizers say they are still determined to break what they call an illegal blockade … and they have more ships are ready to set sail.
http://972mag.com/flotilla-gaza-bound-once-again-as-anniversary-is-remembered/
Hamas opens memorial to dead flotilla activists
GAZA CITY (AP) 31 May — The Islamic militant group Hamas has unveiled a memorial for nine activists killed last year in an Israeli raid on an international flotilla seeking to break a blockade of the Gaza Strip. The memorial at Gaza’s harbor includes nine 12-yard-(meter)-high metal statues shaped as sails, and a new public park. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday the memorial commemorates “the heroes who drew the world’s attention to the siege of Gaza.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110531/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_gaza_blockade
Photos of flotilla monument and ceremony
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.225637677448162.68861.173475609331036&l=ac0306cf73
Israeli prepping to block next Gaza flotilla
Haaretz 31 May — While Israel says it prefers a diplomatic move to thwart the flotilla, Netanyahu has indicated that, if necessary, force would be used against anyone who tries to disobey the navy orders.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-prepping-to-block-next-gaza-flotilla-1.365036
Activism / Solidarity
Palestinian youth movement plans 5 June march on Jerusalem
AIC 31 May — Next week, on the 5th of June, the Palestinian people commemorate the 44th anniversary of the Naksa, the beginning of the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and Syrian Golan. The Palestinian youth movement is organising a large demonstration in the village of Qalandiya, located between Ramallah and Jerusalem, after which thousands of Palestinians, Muslims and Christians, will pray together at the Qalandiya checkpoint before heading toward Jerusalem. Since the first demonstration for Palestinian unity on 15 March, thePalestinian youth movement has grown and become increasingly organized on a grassroots level.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/3632-palestinian-youth-movement-plans-5-june-march-on-jerusalem
Refugees to march from Lebanon on June 5
LEBANON (Ma‘an) — Palestinian refugees in Lebanon will march toward borders between Lebanon and the occupied territories on Sunday commemorating the mass dispossession of Palestinians in 1967. In Lebanon, two rallies will be held in Maron Ar-Ras and Naqoura near the country’s borders with Israel, a top Fatah official said. Muneer Maqdah, a Fatah leader in Ein El-Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon, said over 50,000 people would join the “return” rally. Refugees will try to erect tents along the borders and barricade themselves there until they can return to Palestine, Maqdah said. The march is being described as a follow-up to the May 15 protest, Maqdah added. He said “the flame which was created will get brighter and brighter until return is achieved.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392565
Detention
Israeli army targets Islamic Jihad in Jenin raids
JENIN (Ma‘an) 31 May — Israeli forces detained 12 Islamic Jihad supporters overnight Sunday during raids on six villages around Jenin in the northern West Bank, Palestinian security sources said. The Israeli military said 12 “senior activists” in the movement were detained … Palestinian security officials said ‘Arraba, Kafr Ra‘i, Jaba‘, Az-Zababida, ‘Anin and Silat Al-Harithiya villages were raided between 3 a.m. and 4.30 a.m. The officials said Israeli forces also stormed Kufeirit, west of Jenin, and erected a checkpoint in the center of the village ransacking several homes. No detentions were reported.
Palestinian security officials said Israeli forces sealed off a charitable society known as “The Muslim girl,” run by Muna Qi‘dan who was detained in Arraba. They said soldiers broke the main gate and confiscated the society’s documents and computers. Qi‘dan is a lecturer at Al-Quds University in Jenin and has been detained several times by Israeli forces. The Israeli military said Qi‘dan’s association, also known as El Bara’a, or Honesty, was closed and its property was taken because of “its associations with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Gaza-based organization ‘The Soul of Jerusalem.'”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392472
Lawmakers held at West Bank checkpoint
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 31 May — Israeli forces stopped a car carrying four Palestinian lawmakers Tuesday in the occupied West Bank. Aziz Dweik, Nizar Ramadan, Bassem Zaareer, and Anwar Zboun were held at a checkpoint near Bethlehem, Hamas officials said. Nizar Ramadan was taken to an undisclosed location and Dweik was freed, Hamas officials and the Israeli military said. All four lawmakers represent Hamas in the Palestinian parliament.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392728
Qalqiliya man released after 7-year detention
QALQILIYA (Ma‘an) 31 May — Israel on Monday released Shadi Abu Shareb after detaining him for seven years. Abu Shareb, from Qaliqilya, was held at the Negev desert prison in southern Israel. He was accused of affiliation to Fatah’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades.
Crowds of Palestinians and Fatah representatives waited at the entrance to Qalqiliya to congratulate Abu Shareb on his release.
Meanwhile, 22-year-old Abdullah Ameer was released from Israel’s Ramon prison. Ameer, from from Bal‘a village in Tulkarem, completed a five-year sentence two weeks ago, but Israel’s prison administration kept postponing his release.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392443
Detainee marks 21 years in prison
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 30 May — The Detainees Center in Gaza City marked the 21st year in prison for a local man accused of stabbing an Israeli man in East Jerusalem. According to the center, 41-year-old Yasser Daoud 41 from Jerusalem, serving a 60-year sentence, has been held in isolation for the past eight months, and has repeatedly reported being questioned and tortured.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392404
Racism / Discrimination
Israeli Arab town claims discrimination behind severed phone access
Haaretz 31 May — Hundreds of homes in Tira have not had landline telephone and Internet service since early April, when Bezeq trunk lines were damaged in a traffic accident. Residents of the Arab city in the center of the country accuse the telecommunications company of discrimination, and some say they are considering legal action. Bezeq has said that city authorities were hindering its repair of the problem. “If this was [the nearby Jewish communities of] Kfar Sava or Kochav Yair, they would have fixed the lines immediately. They wouldn’t have fobbed off the residents with evasive and wrong answers, either,” Mayor Mamon Abd al-Hay said yesterday.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-arab-town-claims-discrimination-behind-severed-phone-access-1.365050
A female general without female soldiers
Haaretz 31 May — The exclusion of women from field units serves the interests of conservative forces within the army who see the integration of women as a threat to the army’s capabilities … It should be stated clearly that the status of women in the IDF has been in retreat in recent years.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/a-female-general-without-female-soldiers-1.365072
Court orders Filipina mom and baby out of airport jail
Haaretz 31 May — The Central District Court last week ordered a Filipino woman and her 7-month-old son released from the lock-up at Ben-Gurion International Airport, on grounds she was being deported under a policy that was declared illegal last month by the High Court of Justice. Flordeliza Barganta, a nursing care worker, had been arrested by the Interior Ministry’s Oz unit workers last week and told she was being deported. Barganta had lost her work visa upon giving birth, in accordance with a previous Interior Ministry policy under which a foreign worker who gave birth lost her visa for 90 days, during which she was meant to leave the country and could only return without her child.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/court-orders-filipina-mom-and-baby-out-of-airport-jail-1.365047
Politics / Diplomacy / International
Fayyad: State will be on 1967 borders
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 31 May — Ramallah Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Monday that the Palestinian state would be established on all territories occupied in 1967. “On 1967 territories, there are no disputed areas. There is no A, B, or C area, nor are there H1 or H2 zones. It is all Palestinian territory that has been occupied since 1967,” Fayyad said. “The independent Palestinian state will be on all these territories including the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Palestine.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392456
Palestinians plan to approach UN Security Council about statehood in July
Haaretz 31 May — The Palestinian Authority plans to approach the United Nations Security Council in July to begin the process of getting Palestine recognized as a full member of the United Nations and to assure a vote on the matter by the General Assembly in September, Haaretz has learned. The UN General Assembly is authorized to accept Palestine as a member state, but can do so only after it receives a recommendation to this effect from the Security Council.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/palestinians-plan-to-approach-un-security-council-about-statehood-in-july-1.365035
Abbas in Egypt for talks with military leader
CAIRO (AFP) 30 May — Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was in Egypt on Monday for talks with the country’s de facto head of state on efforts to seek UN recognition for a Palestinian state, a military source said. Abbas briefed Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi — who heads the military council in power since president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February — on his recent trip to Doha.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110530/wl_mideast_afp/egyptpalestinianspolitics
Promised donor aid not arriving: Palestinian PM
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) 31 May — The Palestinian Authority is facing a financial crisis because funds pledged by donor nations are not arriving on time, Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad said Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110531/wl_mideast_afp/palestiniansaidfinancegovernmentfayyad
Other news
Majority of both Israelis and Palestinians expect new intifada / Harriet Sherwood
Guardian 31 May — Polls show around 70% foresee uprising among Palestinians if no progress in peace talks and following declaration of state
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/view-from-jerusalem-with-harriet-sherwood/2011/may/31/israel-palestinian-territories
Knesset speaker working to boost recognition of Armenian genocide
Haaretz 31 May — Reuven Rivlin says it is his duty as a Jew and Israeli to recognize the ‘tragedies of other peoples.” [no comment]
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/knesset-speaker-working-to-boost-recognition-of-armenian-genocide-1.365034
Analysis / Opinion
Israel’s PR victory shames news broadcasters
Guardian 31 May — Our latest analysis of news bulletins reveals how Israel continues to spin images of war — The propaganda battle over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has reached a new level of intensity. In 2004 the Glasgow University Media Group published a major study on TV coverage of the Second Intifada and its impact on public understanding. We analysed about 200 programmes and questioned more than 800 people. Our conclusion: reporting was dominated by Israeli accounts. Since then we have been contacted by many journalists, especially from the BBC, and told of the intense pressures they are under that limit criticism of Israel. They asked us to raise the issue in public because they can’t. They speak of “waiting in fear for the phone call from the Israelis” (meaning the embassy or higher), of the BBC’s Jerusalem bureau having been “leant on by the Americans”, of being “guilty of self-censorship” and of “urgently needing an external arbiter”. Yet the public response of the BBC is to avoid reporting our latest findings. Those in control have the power to say what is not going to be the news.For their part, the Israelis have increased their PR effort … In 2010, when Israel attacked the Gaza aid flotilla, it issued edited footage with its own captions about what was supposed to have happened. This highly contested account was nonetheless largely swallowed by TV news programmes. A UN-sponsored report, which later refuted the account, was barely covered.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/31/israel-pr-victory-images-war
Poll: US Social media users favor Israel
Washington (Ynet) 31 May – A recent survey of numerous blogs, Facebook posts and Twitter tweets, conducted in the week following US President Barack Obama’s Mideast policy speech, revealed overwhelming support for Israel. The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that every anti-Israel post in the social media world in the US was trumped by an average of three pro-Israel posts. [hasbara posts? or the result of hasbara?]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4076648,00.html
Cultural dimensions of the Palestinian right of return / Marta Fortunato
AIC 31 May — On 15 May, thousands of Palestinian refugees attempted to return to Palestine. What pushed thousands of young Palestinians, born and raised as refugees outside of Palestine, to such actions? What does being a Palestinian refugee mean? What does the right of return mean for refugees both inside and outside of Palestine? … The Palestinian right of return is not simply a problem of Palestinian refugees but is a wider political, human and global issue. Every day in Palestine there are new refugees, Palestinians expelled from their homes, their villages, due to construction of the Separation Wall and expansion of the settlements. The right of return is also a human and international issue because Palestinians are the population with the largest number of refugees, some 7.5 million scattered throughout the world.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/3634-cultural-dimensions-of-the-palestinian-right-of-return
Obama is letting Netanyahu off the hook / Akiva Eldar
Haaretz 30 May — …The prime minister is no longer the man Ehud Barak designated “Mr. No.” We are now dealing with a new leader, a much more sophisticated and dangerous one. Meet “Bibi I’ll Have It Both Ways.” … When there is a leader in the White House who is willing to take political risks and makes it clear that there is a cost to trying to have it both ways, Israelis know to distinguish between the good and the bad. But Obama enabled Netanyahu to return home from Washington without paying any political price for trying to have it both ways. Moreover, he allowed the prime minister to laugh all the way to Jerusalem over the statement that the 1967 borders, with agreed territorial exchange, should serve as the basis for negotiations.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/obama-is-letting-netanyahu-off-the-hook-1.364880
Video: Song – Freedom for Palestine / OneWorld
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V28HnPTYz-I&feature=share
groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi (listserv)
www.theheadlines.org (archive)
A (half-hearted) defense of the Congressional Democrats
May 31, 2011
Jerome Slater
Like almost all serious critics of Israel and of U.S. policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, my initial reaction to the Congressional fawning over Netanyahu and the apparently unanimous standing ovations awarded to Netanyahu’s latest demagogic lies was one of outrage. It’s one thing for the Republicans to participate in this charade—nothing good on almost any issue can be expected from the current Republican party—but from the Democrats, the only rational political party in America, as well?
Yet, on further cold reflection, if I had been in Congress, I might have done the same thing, on the basis of the following premises:
1. Israel today is hopeless, beyond rational or elementary moral calculation. In the current circumstances, there is no chance that it will agree to a fair two-state settlement of the conflict and a less-than-zero chance it will agree—ever–to a one-state “solution,” a binational democratic Israeli-Palestinian state.
2. The only possible change in U.S. policies that would force Israel to negotiate a settlement with the Palestinians would be for the U.S. to end all of its military, economic, and diplomatic support of Israel until it agreed to such a settlement.
3. However, even if Obama would like to adopt such a policy—itself hard to imagine—there is not the slightest possibility that Congress would go along.
4. Moreover, it is by no means obvious that serious U.S. pressures on Israel would result in serious changes in Israeli policies. Given the state of mind in Israel today, it might be equally possible that Israel would spurn even the United States, retreat even further into defiant isolationism and belligerency, and tell “the goyim”—that is, the US and the rest of the world–to go to hell.
5. Indeed, strong US pressures could even prove to be dangerous. An Israel armed with hundreds of nuclear weapons cannot be trusted not to resort to the Samson option if it felt itself alone, abandoned, and increasingly militarily vulnerable. In such a state of mind, it cannot be ruled out that Israel might quickly resort to nuclear weapons in any war with its Arab neighbors—or maybe even “preemptively,” especially if Iran should develop nuclear weapons and Israel decides that it can’t destroy hardened nuclear sites without using tactical nuclear weapons.
Given these premises, I am driven to the reluctant conclusion that the Democratic party stands to gain nothing but to lose a great deal if it even hints at pressuring Israel. It would lose a considerable amount of Jewish financial support and possibly enough Jewish votes to lose close elections—and not only in Congress but even in the 2012 presidential election, where Jewish defections could tip some states into the Republican column.
It is likely that Obama has reached this same conclusion, for much the same reasons. Even if his recent mild criticism of Israeli policies suggested that meaningful—or even meaningless—changes in U.S. policy might be in the offing, one of the safest bets you can make is that as the election approaches Obama and the Democratic party as a whole will flee from the suggestion—perish the thought—that it might apply even the mildest pressure on Israeli. In Obama’s shoes, I’d probably be driven–however reluctantly and with gritted teeth–to the same behavior.
This argument will not impress those who think that I am referring to mere “partisan politics.” In my view, however, what is at stake in America are liberal values and even rationality: I would go very far to avoid the risk that the next congress or president could be Republican.
In short, given the unlikelihood that any U.S. action could save Israel from itself, I would give priority to saving America from itself–which, the facts of life being what they are, means that the Obama and the Democratic party can’t abandon its near-unconditional support of Israel. At least, not until after the 2012 elections.
This is a crosspost from Jerome Slater’s blog.
George Mitchell says, Well, 10 presidents and 19 secretaries of state also failed
May 31, 2011
Philip Weiss
Charlie Rose [at 21:00]: When this president came to office, one of his earliest appointments was you… a serious person who helped bring peace to Northern Ireland… We’re involved. And off you went to the Middle East. It’s now two years later. Did you fail?
George Mitchell: Well I failed to get a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians. But so has everyone else who has ever tried. Since Israel was created, we’ve had ten presidents and 19 secretaries of state. There have been many Israeli prime ministers, and everyone has tried to do it, and no one’s succeeded. So in that sense you can say, yes, we failed to get a peace agreement, and the consequence is a serious one…
Shame: 9 of 15 signers of intolerant Congressional letter on Goldstone are Jewish
May 31, 2011
Philip Weiss
A challenge to Hendrik Hertzberg. This morning in the New Yorker he writes that Obama has been held hostage by “the political salience, actual and perceived, of certain Jewish and evangelical constituencies.” Well, here is a congressional letter of a month back to UN Ambassador Susan Rice, calling on the United States to “introduce a resolution expunging the Goldstone Report from the official record of the United Nations.” And who is signing this defamation of human rights and international law? 9 of the 15 signers are Jewish– Weiner, Berman, Israel, Engel, Berkley, Schakowsky, Schiff, Nadler, Deutch. Several are very “progressive” ones at that. Yes there are conservative Republicans like Dan Burton, but if there is a problem, and we all know there is, shouldn’t the New Yorker be taking on the intolerance in its own community? Don’t east coast liberals have more influence over their own community than over that perennial bugaboo– the community of evangelicals?
(Note that in the accompanying letter, liberal Weiner brags on debating Brian Baird at the New School– a debate we set up, in which Weiner said there’s no such thing as the occupied territories.)
Obama can’t stop talking about love (and that’s bad news for the Israel lobby)
May 31, 2011
Philip Weiss
Obama’s got the love drug. He used the word six times yesterday in his Memorial Day speech. At times it came out of the blue:
I love my daughters more than anything in the world…
He used the word love 14 times in Joplin, Missouri the day before.
the actions of these individuals were driven by love — love for a family member, love for a friend, or just love for a fellow human being.
Love isn’t just love between two people, it has a political social dimension. Obama talked about that love in Ireland last week:
as President McAleese has written, “For all the apparent intractability of our problems, the irrepressible human impulse to love kept nagging and nudging us towards reconciliation.”
Obama is a deep, thoughtful man, and he carried that idea of love that can heal a formerly intractable conflict– the words we all use about Israel and Palestine– to England a day or two later. He spoke about the Arab spring in hopeful terms, and about Ireland too. And lest there was any doubt about the lesson to Israelis, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron said at his joint press conference with Obama that intractable Ireland is an example for the Middle East, and Obama picked up the analogy and ran with it, expressing impatience:
Let me just pick up on what David said about Ireland. It was inspiring to see, after hundreds of years of conflict, people so rapidly reorienting how they thought about themselves, how they thought about those who they thought once were enemies. Her Majesty’s visit had a profound effect on the entire country. And so it was an enormous source of hope. And I think it’s a reminder that as tough as these things are, if you stick to it, if people of goodwill remain engaged, that ultimately even the worst of conflicts can be resolved.
But it [now referring to Israel/Palestine– the original question] is going to take time. And I remain optimistic, but not naively so, that this is going to be hard work and each side is going to have to look inward to determine what is in their long-term interests, and not just what are in their short-term tactical interests, which tends to perpetuate a conflict as opposed to solving it.
All this love talk is bad news for the Israel lobby, which loves itself. Obama’s speech toAIPAC last Sunday was filled with obeisance, yes, but sand and scorn: “The world is moving too fast. The world is moving too fast. The extraordinary challenges facing Israel will only grow.”
And when he went before the British Parliament last week, Obama mentioned Israel only once. And he did not include it in his list of American interests in the region. No, that list included energy, and implicitly support for “minority rights” in a democracy.
The United States and United Kingdom stand squarely on the side of those who long to be free. And now, we must show that we will back up those words with deeds. That means investing in the future of those nations that transition to democracy, starting with Tunisia and Egypt -– by deepening ties of trade and commerce; by helping them demonstrate that freedom brings prosperity. And that means standing up for universal rights -– by sanctioning those who pursue repression, strengthening civil society, supporting the rights of minorities.
We do this knowing that the West must overcome suspicion and mistrust among many in the Middle East and North Africa -– a mistrust that is rooted in a difficult past. For years, we’ve faced charges of hypocrisy from those who do not enjoy the freedoms that they hear us espouse. And so to them, we must squarely acknowledge that, yes, we have enduring interests in the region -– to fight terror, sometimes with partners who may not be perfect; to protect against disruptions of the world’s energy supply. But we must also insist that we reject as false the choice between our interests and our ideals; between stability and democracy.
I say that these last two weeks have angered Obama. He is reserved and protean, he sees a mainstream American discourse, urged on by the Arab spring, opening about Israel, and he wants to lead it, and secretly he hates the selfishness of the Israel lobby.
Because love isn’t just social, it’s personal. And Barack Obama is the son of a freethinking midwestern woman who overcame differences to love a Kenyan man. The values he celebrated in Joplin:
As the governor said, you have shown the world what it means to love thy neighbor….And in the face of winds that showed no mercy, no regard for human life, that did not discriminate by race or faith or background, it was ordinary people, swiftly tested, who said, “I’m willing to die right now so that someone else might live.”
