NOVANEWS
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Courageous Alice Walker to take part in flotilla in face of thuggish State Department warning
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Israel proves that Flotillas work
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Miko Peled, the General’s son
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Arab LGBT Movement: “We are not victims in need of a white male savior working in London…”
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J.J. Goldberg uses Bob Dylan to make a perfect argument for the cultural boycott of Israel
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‘We recognize neither the legality, nor the morality, nor the wisdom of the walls between us’: Israeli academics endorse civil disobedience campaign against Israeli entry laws
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Seeing Fateh’s flag, and the Palestinian flag, in the Gaza Strip
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Amb. Michael Oren dishes out anti-flotilla ‘marching orders’ in private Jewish Federation call
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Israel’s future weapons unveiled in Paris
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Site news: Introducing Mondoweiss’s new home
Courageous Alice Walker to take part in flotilla in face of thuggish State Department warning
Jun 23, 2011
Kate
and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid / Settlers
Israel calls demolition report ‘incorrect’
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 23 June — Israel’s Civil Administration lashed out Wednesday night, calling a rights group report “incorrect and misleading,” in its claim that home demolitions had spiked alarmingly in 2011. Israeli rights group B’Tselem had published a document saying more homes had been demolished in the first six months of 2011 than in the 12 months of the year before.
link to www.maannews.net
IOA orders destruction of Jerusalem home
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 23 June — An Israeli court issued a ruling Wednesday in favor of destroying the home of Wael al-Razem in the Wadi Yasul neighborhood of Jerusalem’s Silwan district, claiming the home was built without license. The family of eight, most of whom are children, was given until the middle of July to evacuate.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Israeli soldiers shoot, severely beat Palestinian
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 23 June — Israeli police are detaining Palestinian man Ahmed Ali Mahmoud, 36, in Shaare Zedek hospital west of Jerusalem, despite his injury with live bullets and bruises to his head after an assault by Israeli soldiers yesterday in Al-Issawiya town in Jerusalem. Mahmoud’s family said his condition is stable after he was shot with a live bullet in his leg, and that he is suffering from wounds and bruises to his face, yet Israeli police continue to bind his hands and feet.
link to english.wafa.ps
Jerusalem Arab housing plan blocked by political right
IMEMC 23 June — A plan to build 2,500 Arab housing units in East Jerusalem was stopped by right-wing pressure groups and Haredi city council members on the grounds that it was “politically dangerous” and “poorly conceived.” Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat had proposed a construction plan for 2,500 houses on private land in southern East Jerusalem. The vote was canceled on Monday because it was clear that it had no chance of passing.
link to www.imemc.org
High Court rules Be’er Sheva mosque to be used as Islamic museum
Haaretz 23 June — Court rules that the mosque won’t be able to be used for prayer, but rejects Be’er Sheva municipality request to turn it into a [general] museum. A petition on the issue was submitted to the court by the Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel in 2002. The petition requests that the mosque be once again used as a house of worship, which it was until the War of Independence in 1948 … The struggle to have the mosque used for prayer has been going on since the ’70s, but the municipality has continuously refused the request — announcing instead their intention to turn it into a museum. Muslim residents of Be’er Sheva as well as Bedouin living nearby have been prevented from praying in the mosque, despite repeated requests to do so.
link to www.haaretz.com
Jordan Valley families left homeless
JERICHO (Ma‘an) 23 June — “The big soldier wouldn’t speak to me. He just said ‘This is my job, sit down and shut up’,” the newly homeless Ralia Darraghmeh, a diabetes sufferer in her sixties, said of the one of the crew who had come to demolish her home Tuesday morning. She was sitting alone, crying, in Khirbet Yarza, a tiny Bedouin hamlet, as her tin home was taken down by order of Israel’s Civil Administration, which governs planning and permit issuing in the 60 percent of the West Bank categorized as Area C under the 1993 Oslo Accords.
link to www.maannews.net
Activism / Solidarity
IDF takes down Bil‘in fence
Ynet 22 June — Three and a half years after Supreme Court ruled fence was illegal, IDF begins to take down controversial barrier … The length of fence set to be removed from Bil‘in is 2.7 kilometers long. The new route which is set to replace the existing fence is 3.2 kilometers long, mostly a cement wall, due to the proximity to Modiin Elite and fears of gunfire from the Palestinian side at Israel. The new route will mean that 700 dunums of land will be given back to the Palestinians, but the fact that 60% of the lands were expropriated to begin with means that the conflict still stands.
link to www.ynetnews.com
Video: Israeli army begins dismantling the Wall in Bil‘in
link to www.bilin-village.org
Israeli court sentences Palestinian teen to 6 months
WAFA 23 June — An Israeli court in Ofer military camp near Ramallah Monday sentenced Amjad Abu Rahmeh, 15, from the village of Bil‘in to six months in prison after it found him guilty of participation in the weekly village demonstration. Abu Rahmeh had been in detention for four months before the court had passed its sentence.
link to www.bilin-village.org
Soldiers attack nonviolent protest near Ramallah
Ramallah – Ghassan Bannoura – PNN Exclusive 22 June — Israeli soldiers attacked on Wednesday a non-violent protest organized by the villagers of Deir Qadis, west of the central West Bank city of Ramallah … Nilli settlement was constructed in 1984 by the State of Israel, on land that belongs to local farmers from Deir Qadis. Recently, the Israeli state decided to confiscate 125 acres of land from local farmers to expand Nilli. Today, protesters managed to stop bulldozers from working, at which point a private security guard fired live rounds at them while Israeli soldiers fired tear gas. Many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation, while tear gas bombs caused a fire that damaged nearby olive crops and farmlands … Yesterday, villagers of Deir Qadis held a similar protest at the same location which the Israeli troops attacked with tear gas, causing fires that almost reached people’s homes.
link to english.pnn.ps
Detention
Netanyahu: Israel to toughen conditions of Palestinian prisoners
Haaretz 23 June — Prime minister announces that Israel will stop giving benefits to terrorists such as enrollment in academic studies, says ‘the celebration is over.’
link to www.haaretz.com
Rights group: Israel’s minor prisoners must be given broader attention
RAMALLAH, (PIC) 23 June — The inhumane conditions of Palestinian minors held in Israeli prisons must be given broader attention, said the Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights. This came in a report the rights center issued on Wednesday after it dispatched its legal expert for a visit to Israel’s Rimonim prison where she met with several minors. During the interview, the minors expressed strong discontent of the length of delays in court hearings, particularly those who expected to receive light sentences.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
8 detained by Israeli in overnight raids
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 23 June — A young Palestinian from Madama village south of Nablus was one of eight detained during overnight raids Thursday morning, the Israeli military said. Head of the Madama village council Ihab Al-Qit said soldiers detained Asadallah Wajih Al-Qit, 21, after raiding his house in the village. The other seven have not yet been identified.
link to www.maannews.net
Red lights across district in memory of prisoners
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 June — Traffic will grind to a halt as traffic lights switch to red for five minutes at noon on Thursday across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to a call by the Prisoners Center for Studies. The action is in support of all ill and aging Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, and is part of an effort to promote the issue among leaders from a popular level. Center director Ra‘fat Hamdoona said more creativity must be channeled to raising awareness of the situation of prisoners, as weekly protests in front of the Red Cross headquarters have become a “routine that needs to be changed.”
link to www.maannews.net
Hamas rejects Red Cross demand to prove Shalit is alive
Reuters 23 June — Hamas spokesman says the aid group should focus on ending the suffering of Palestinian prisoners instead of getting ‘involved in Israeli security games’ to reach the captured IDF soldier.
link to www.haaretz.com
Gaza
Gaza’s children march against child labour
[photos] MEMO 23 June — On Wednesday, children marched in the streets of Gaza to draw attention to their internationally recognised rights which are being violated with the on-going siege. They demanded recognition of their right to education, to live without fear for their lives and to have a decent standard of living enjoyed by children elsewhere. A large number of Palestinian children in Gaza drop out of school due to hardships brought on by the five-year blockade of the territory. Many have been forced to enter the job market in factories because of the high cost of living and loss of family members who had been the main breadwinners.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk
Israeli navy targets Gazan fishing boats
Gaza Strip, (Pal Telegraph) 23 June -Israeli occupation navy opened massive fire yesterday at Palestinian fishing boats off the shore of Rafah city in the south of Gaza Strip. No casualties were reported. Local sources said that Israeli navy opened fire at Palestinian boats near Rafah shore forcing many fishermen to leave the sea. There are nearly 3500 Palestinian fishermen who are exposed to daily attacks and harassments from Israeli gunboats
link to www.paltelegraph.com
The first government school for the deaf opens in Palestine
Gaza – Osama Awad – PNN Exclusive 22 June — The first government school for deaf people was opened in Gaza today … In a phone call with PNN Abu Shaqer said that the ministry has been looking for years to build this school, adding that this is the first high school that will enable deaf people to finish their basic education rather than leaving school after the 9th grade, as conditions were previously.
link to english.pnn.ps
300 loads of goods set to enter Gaza via Israel
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 June — Israeli crossings officials said they would permit 300 truckloads of commercial goods, humanitarian aid and limited construction materials into the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
link to www.maannews.net
Flotilla
Hamas: Israel will not end siege; flotilla should sail
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 June — Hamas urged organizers of the Freedom Flotilla II to push ahead with plans to sail to Gaza and break Israel’s siege “despite threats,” a statement from the party’s spokesman said Thursday. The party gave its endorsement to the convoy of 10 international ships, saying it considered them as acting within the law in their attempt to break a siege that international rights groups and UN missions have called illegal. Speaking for the party, spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the flotilla – which plans to sail during the last week of June with a cargo of aid and activists – was essential, since Israel had demonstrated that “it never keeps its promises regarding the lifting or easing of the blockade” on Gaza.
link to www.maannews.net
US: Don’t go to Gaza by sea
Ynet 23 June — The United States updated a travel warning urging Americans to refrain from traveling to the Gaza Strip by sea and emphasizing risks, including a possible 10-year travel ban to Israel.
link to www.ynetnews.com
UN envoy says Israel ready to intercept Gaza-bound flotilla
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) 23 June — Israel is prepared to intercept a flotilla seeking to breach Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, the country’s UN ambassador warned Thursday. “Israel is determined to stop the flotilla,” UN envoy Ron Prosor said, as preparations were underway for about 10 ships to embark later this month to Gaza to protest the longstanding Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory.
link to www.maannews.net
Author Alice Walker to take part in Gaza flotilla despite US warning
Haaretz 23 June — The celebrated poet and novelist wrote a special piece for CNN, outlining her intention to bring letters to the people of Gaza ‘expressing solidarity and love.’ … Her letter goes on to talk about the brave “followers of Gandhi,” and the “Jewish civil rights activists” who stood side by side with blacks in America’s South and places her current “mission” within this context. .
link to www.haaretz.com
German Left Party bars MPs from joining Gaza flotilla
BERLIN (JPost) 23 June — The German Left Party earlier this month issued a resolution prohibiting its Bundestag deputies from participating in the Gaza Flotilla slated for late June and intended to break Israel’s blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Billed as a resolution that would end the criticism that the Left Party is fundamentally anti-Israel and anti-Semitic, the resolution failed to impress the head of Germany’s Jewish community
link to www.jpost.com
Knesset: Zoabi sanctions proportional
Ynet 22 June — Measures aim to stop Arab MK from participating in ‘illegitimate’ activities, Knesset legal advisor says … The Knesset decided in July to take away Zoabi’s diplomatic passport, restrict her travel abroad and stop covering her legal fees. The measures came in response to the Knesset member’s participation in the Gaza-bound flotilla in May of last year, and her trip to Libya.
link to www.ynetnews.com
Racism / Discrimination
TA kindergarten to reject migrant kids
Ynet 23 June — A new kindergarten in Hatikva neighborhood in Tel Aviv has declared that it will have at least one classroom that will not accept foreign workers’ children, municipality sources said. The move is unprecedented in Israel. Residents were pleased, as was Gal Sharabi, chairman of the neighborhood committee.
link to www.ynetnews.com
Israel policy myth #2: Separation between Arabs and Jews is not racist / Roi Maor
972mag 23 June — …Outright racism against Palestinians and Arabs is quite common and widespread in Israel, and it goes beyond animosity generated by the century-long conflict between the two groups. Three-quarters of Israeli Jewish high school students believe that Arabs are not cultured, uneducated, unclean and violent. 69 percent believe they are not smart. Sadly, these beliefs are at least tolerated by the Israeli Jewish establishment. Racist comments by public officials may be condemned by prominent figures, but the racists remain on the state payroll. These attitudes have not resulted in separate lunch counters or water fountains … Nonetheless, Palestinians and Jews in the territories under Israel’s control live largely separate lives, this separation is maintained through official polices, it is invariably discriminatory towards Palestinians (usually grossly so) and in many cases, feeble excuses notwithstanding, their motivation and intent is clearly racist.
link to 972mag.com
Jerusalem mayor’s choice of woman deputy could mean clash with Orthodox coalition
Haaretz 22 June — …Over the last few days, the threats and counter-threats being hurled by both sides have been escalating. According to city council members, Barkat said he would fire any existing deputy mayor who votes against the appointment. The Haredim, for their part, have threatened to dismantle the municipal coalition.
link to www.haaretz.com
International abduction
Wife of kidnapped Palestinian sues Ukrainian president
KIEV (MEO) 23 June — The wife of a Palestinian who mysteriously vanished from a Ukrainian night train and resurfaced in an Israeli jail has begun legal action against the Ukrainian president, her lawyer said Thursday. Veronika Abu Sisi filed a suit at a Kiev court on Wednesday accusing President Viktor Yanukovych of inaction in the case of her husband, Gazan engineer Dirar Abu Sisi, who is accused of terrorism in Israel, her lawyer said
link to www.middle-east-online.com
Political / Diplomatic / International news
Israel PM agrees to return to 1967 borders
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 23 June — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly agreed to peace talks based on 1967 borders on the condition that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state and solve the Palestinian refugee issue outside of Israel’s borders, Israeli daily Maariv reported today. Netanyahu announced the position to US presidential Middle East adviser Dennis Ross, and acting envoy for the Middle East David Hale, both of whom Netanyahu met with last week, the Israeli paper said.
link to www.maannews.net
Israel surveys support for Palestinian state
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 23 June — Israel’s foreign ministry estimates under two-thirds of UN member states will recognize a Palestinian state declared in September, and is launching a campaign to keep the number down, Israel Radio reported Thursday. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman instructed his department to survey the 192 countries in the United Nations, and send Israeli parliamentarians to nations who are yet undecided, the broadcast noted. The study said 118 nations would support the bid. On Wednesday, Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon denied that there was any Israeli move to undermine Palestinian diplomatic efforts to gain recognition, in an interview with Ma’an television. However, Ayalon told Israel Radio on Wednesday that trends of mass diplomatic recognition of a Palestinian state had been stemmed.
link to www.maannews.net
Ashton: Lieberman not able to undo Oslo Accords
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 23 June — EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said Israel’s foreign minister could not undo the Oslo Accords in response to a Palestinian statehood bid at the UN, in an interview with Israeli daily Haaretz published Thursday. “I’m not sure that it’s up to him to declare that Oslo is void really,” Ashton said, adding, “I don’t accept that Oslo is void, [if] so, it would be a different world.” … Referring to the Palestinian UN bid for statehood, she mentioned in [the interview] that “it will depend very much on what the resolution says as to how the international community in general, and the EU in particular, votes…”
link to www.maannews.net
Palestinians easing demands for settlement freeze
(AP) 23 June — A senior Palestinian official said the Palestinians [the PA?] are ready to drop their demand for a complete settlement freeze to get peace talks with Israel back on track … He spoke on condition of anonymity because no final decisions have been made.
link to www.ynetnews.com
Hamas candidate: Palestine more important than PM
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 June — Independent lawmaker in the Palestinian Legislative Council Jamal Khudari, told Ma‘an Thursday that he is not seeking a political post and will be the first one to congratulate any Palestinian prime minister chosen by consensus … “Personification of the Prime Minister issue is a dangerous matter and is rejected and harms the national conciliation” he told Ma‘an.
link to www.maannews.net
Fatah: Hamas violating unity deal
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 23 June — A Fatah spokesman accused Hamas Thursday of being responsible for the current stall in the unity agreement process, and said the Islamist party’s preferred candidate was chosen for “factional reasons.” Speaking for Fatah, Ahmad Assaf said the candidate Hamas was supporting for the role of prime minister in the new unity government was “away from the interests of the Palestinian people.” … “Jamal Al-Khudari is from Gaza and part of the Muslim Brotherhood which means he is with Hamas” and not an independent candidate as mandated under the Egyptian brokered deal.
link to www.maannews.net
Council of Europe Assembly head: Palestine may be partner
STRASBOURG, France (AFP) 22 June — The Palestinian National Council could this year gain “partner for democracy” status at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg-based body said Wednesday. The assembly’s Turkish head, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, speaking as Morocco gained the same status, said he hoped that “during our next session (in October) we shall also be able to grant the Partner for Democracy status to Palestine and that other countries will soon apply”. The Council introduced the new status last year to strengthen cooperation with parliaments of non-member states that wish to participate in debates that transcend European borders.
link to www.maannews.net
Sha‘ath: Armenia supports Palestinian state
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 22 June — Armenia will be supportive to the Palestinian people’s demands of freedom, independence and statehood, says Nabil Sha‘ath, member of Fatah’s central committee. In a statement following a three-day visit to Armenia where he met with the Caucasian country’s minister of defense Edward Nalbandian and other officials, Sha‘ath said he discussed the Palestinian plan to gain UN support for statehood.
link to www.maannews.net
Sources claim Hezbollah prepared to open front with Israel to relieve pressure on Syrian president
IMEMC 23 June — Israeli newspapers Haaretz and JPost are claiming that the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah are gearing up for possible action against Israel in the case that Syrian leader Bashar al Assad’s position comes under significant threat, according to sources close to the movement.
link to www.imemc.org
Other news
Apple pulls ‘3rd Intifada’ app
Ynet 23 June — Apple Inc announced that it has removed an application called the “The Third Intifada” from its iPads and iPhones App Store. “We removed this app from the App Store because it violates the developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people,” an Apple spokesman said in a statement.
link to www.ynetnews.com
Palestine one goal away from making history
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 23 June — The Palestinian Olympic Team hosts its Bahraini counterpart Thursday in a first ever World Cup qualifying match on Palestinian land, in Faisal al-Husseini stadium in Jerusalem. The game comes in the second leg qualifications for the 2012 London Olympic cup. The match is a historic one for Palestinians as it is the first to be held in Palestine after its recognition by FIFA as a home state. The Palestinian Olympic team has worked hard to secure a win which would enable it to qualify for the third leg of the Olympic cup.
link to english.wafa.ps
US Consulate General welcomes Al Kamandjati’s ‘Orchestra Ramallah’ for Jerusalem concert
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 23 June – Forty young musicians from refugee camps, villages, and cities throughout the West Bank traveled to Jerusalem on June 22, 2011, for a special concert performance sponsored by the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem. Al Kamandjati Association’s “Orchestra Ramallah” performed at Al Hakawati Theater in East Jerusalem as a part of its annual Music Days Festival. The youth orchestra consists of young Palestinians whose love of music inspires them to participate in Al Kamandjati’s rigorous after-school and intensive summer musical training program in Ramallah and throughout the West Bank.
link to english.wafa.ps
‘Traitor’ sprayed on left-wing activist’s car
Ynet 23 June — Unknown elements vandalized a car belonging to Hadar Alexander, 31, a left wing activist, in Jerusalem on Thursday. The car’s windows were smashed, its tires punctured and the word “traitor” was sprayed on the hood.
link to www.ynetnews.com
Minister Dan Meridor, why are you appealing a bill to include protest activity in the definition of terror?
Haaretz 23 June — ‘We in Israel have created many beautiful things, but one of the most successful systems, in the face of which most of the world stands dumbfounded, is the Israeli judicial system.’
link to www.haaretz.com
groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi (listserv)
www.theheadlines.org (archive)
Israel proves that Flotillas work
Jun 23, 2011
The Free Gaza Movement
Israel’s announcement of authorization for construction materials for 1,200 homes and 18 schools in Gaza is the latest achievement by the Freedom Flotilla, scheduled to sail next week.
In the weeks leading up to the flotilla, Israel has taken a number of steps to try to address the concerns raised in the public eye by the Freedom Flotilla 2 – Stay Human initiative. However organizers say that these steps are symbolic at best, fall far short of Israel’s obligations under international law, are insufficient to meet the needs of Palestinians in Gaza, and are fundamentally designed to maintain the occupation and system of control that Israel exerts over Palestinian lives. Ultimately, these measures fall short of the greatest test – that of freedom for Palestinians.
In addition to the authorization of a limited amount of construction materials, Israel has also recently permitted 19 trucks of medicine to be delivered by Palestinian sources from the West Bank to Gaza. This was in response to an emergency announcement from health authorities in Gaza that crucial medicines had run out due to Israel’s illegal blockade. Prior to that, Israel increased the number of aid trucks entering Gaza to between 210 and 220 per day. However, this still falls 35% short of what is required by Gaza Strip residents.
The pattern developing shows that as the sailing date of the Flotilla nears, Israel is increasing efforts to allow humanitarian goods into Gaza, including previously banned reconstruction materials. This proves three important things: (1) the Flotilla is effective in generating changes, even if they are insufficient, on the ground; (2) the ‘normal channels’ for delivering aid exist, but are useless without pressure on Israel to allow them to function; and (3) Israel’s standard excuse for preventing reconstruction material into Gaza is rendered baseless, given the approval to allow 1,200 homes and 18 schools to be constructed.
Even as the Freedom Flotilla welcomes this latest achievement and proof of the necessity and effectiveness of the Flotilla tactic, we also reiterate that our effort is not simply about delivering humanitarian aid. The goal of the Flotilla is not aid; it is freedom for Palestinians in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories. As such, there are no ‘established channels’ for freedom – there is only one – an end to the Israeli occupation.
Flotilla preparations continue apace, buoyed by the support of people around the world. Next week Freedom Flotilla 2: Stay Human sails for Gaza; our destination is freedom.
Learn more about The Free Gaza Movement here.
Miko Peled, the General’s son
Jun 23, 2011
annie
Miko Peled’s grandfather was a signer on Israel’s Declaration of Independence, and his father was General Matti Peled, one of the Zionists who planned and executed Israel’s most definitive military victories in 1948 and 1967. In the following interview with Alternate Focus Peled talks about his book The General’s Son, from his evolution as an Israeli that was raised on the Zionist ideal of a Jewish state to his reality today. Miko’s words speak truth to empower.
I know how hard it is for many Jews and Palestinians to let go of the dream of having a state that is exclusively “our own.” ..For the good of both nations, the Separation Wall must come down, the Israeli control over the lives of Palestinians must be defied so that a secular democracy where all Israelis and Palestinian live as equals be established in our shared homeland.
This is a powerful interview. View it, share it. And for those of you with hardcore Zionist relatives please pass it on.
(At a meeting of the General Staff after the Six Day War, Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin was beaming with the glory of victory. But when the meeting was nearing its end, my father raised his hand. He was called on, and he spoke of the unique chance the victory offered—to solve the Palestinian problem once and for all. For the first time in Israel’s history, we were face to face with the Palestinians, without other Arabs between us. Now we had a chance to offer them a state of their own in the West Bank and Gaza. He claimed with certainty that holding on to the West Bank and the people who lived in it was contrary to Israel’s long-term strategy. Popular resistance to the occupation was sure to arise, and Israel’s army would be used to quell that resistance, with disastrous and demoralizing results. It would turn the Jewish state into an increasingly brutal occupying power and eventually into a bi-national state. This was nothing short of prophetic as today we live this exact reality. As he was saying this, the future leaders of the Intifada (the Palestinian uprising) were still lying in their cradles.)
His words were ignored, his claims brushed aside and instead, blinded by their newly gained access to places with mythical/biblical names like Hebron and Bethlehem, Shilo and Shcem Israeli leaders began a massive settlement project to settle Jews in the newly conquered land. A few years later my father called on Israel to negotiate with the PLO: The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). He claimed that Israel needed to talk with whoever represented the Palestinian people, the people with whom we shared this land. He believed only peace with the Palestinians could ensure our continued existence as a state that was both Jewish and democratic.) Now, all these years later people talk of creating a Palestinian state in the WB but that option no longer exists.
THE GENERAL’S SON by Miko Peled
Arab LGBT Movement: “We are not victims in need of a white male savior working in London…”
Jun 23, 2011
Seham
Arab queer activists have a voice and they will not water down their political voice to appease Western LGBT movements. What I learned from the “Amina” hoax is that Western audiences will only embrace Arab gay movements if those movements attempt to mimic Western gay movements. “Amina” was popular because her writing appealed to white audiences, she dabbled in erotica, she wanted to bring the Castro to Damascus and she was at best lukewarm on Israeli apartheid. While that may be good for pieces of fiction, I prefer the real voices of real Arab queers–who are not on the radar of the mainstream media and who’s real issues will never focus prominently on NPR or anywhere else.
Thanks to Benjamin Doherty from Electronic Intifada for bringing to my attention a piece by Mideast Youth on GayMiddleEast.com (which Scott Long also critiqued in his recent piece in Mondoweiss). The statement below takes GayMiddleEast.com to task for their pinkwashing of Israeli apartheid, rejection of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and their refusal to take a stand on the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
Que(e)rying the Israel-linked GayMiddleEast.com: a statement by Arab queers
Part I – Delineating Differences
As queer Arab activists working on the ground in several countries in the Middle East, our initial disagreements with GayMiddleEast.com were political in nature. But rather than respond to them or engage in dialogue with us, GayMiddleEast.com resorted to playing the victim and shrugging off those concerns.
GayMiddleEast.com’s disingenuous response to what it sees as a “smear campaign” against it not only obfuscates the legitimate reasons many queer Arab activists take issue with its work, but also presents lies so blatant that a simple Google search is enough uncover the truth. It is duplicitous to claim that pointing out GayMiddleEast.com’s extensive ties to Israel is more dangerous than those ties themselves and its lack of transparency about them.
In its response, GayMiddleEast.com claims that the campaign against them began after they voiced skepticism over the disappearance of Amina Arraf, when in fact the tense history between GayMiddleEast.com and local activists existed long before that and centered around four issues:
Interventionism
LGBT organizations and activists in the Arab region have always approached requesting foreign intervention very carefully, and it has been the topic of much debate both within activist communities and between them and international organizations that have come to understand the complexities involved and possible backlash that such action would entail.
Meanwhile, GayMiddleEast.com seems to have an open door with the UK Foreign Office and do not think twice about asking them to intervene at any given opportunity. These issues were raised with GayMiddleEast.com by several people, but they refused to engage.
Co-option of queer Arab voices
While perhaps not as vile as Tom MacMaster, GayMiddleEast.com operates on the same principle: White men speaking on behalf of queer Arabs and white men as gatekeepers of queer Arab voices. We are not victims in need of a white male savior working in London, nor do we need a conduit for our poor brown oppressed voices to be heard in the West, which seems to be GayMiddleEast.com’s intended audience.
Over the past few years the region has seen an enormous upsurge of progressive queer activism, from North Africa to the Levant and the Arab Gulf. Much of this work is being done quietly on the ground, from lobbying parliamentarians to organizing support groups, establishing solidarity networks, working with local civil society organizations, and publishing in various forums both online and off.
MacMaster’s deception brought many issues to the fore, and the least interesting are the stories GayMiddleEast.com has been plugging about how, contrary to what MacMaster has portrayed, gays are actually really oppressed. Perhaps more relevant in this context is an honest discussion about how to do solidarity work in a way that is respectful of people’s lived realities. That includes knowing what the limits of solidarity are, especially when you are outside the community you claim to care about, and when you occupy a position of privilege.
Both MacMaster and Littauer have chosen the wrong path; they have both put themselves front and center, the former by actually deceptively adopting the persona of a queer Arab woman, and the latter by acting as a spokesperson and gatekeeper for queer Arab voices with a direct line to the Western media.
It is unnerving that GayMiddleEast.com has one white name, one white face, and a handful of nameless, faceless Arab queers behind it. One of the articles listed by GayMiddleEast.com as being part of a “smear campaign” is actually a discussion about the depoliticization and orientalist tropes evident in much western (and Israeli) gay activism, including GayMiddleEast.com’s. Disagreement and critique for GayMiddleEast.com are tantamount to smears, which in itself says a lot.
Pinkwashing
Pinkwashing aims to sell Israeli racism, colonialism and apartheid as democratic and gay-friendly. This happens through bifurcation: On one hand, Israel, and especially Tel Aviv, are represented as cosmopolitan and LGBT, queer and trans-friendly places. At the same time, war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories and racist discrimination against Palestinians living in Israel are being euphemized and “pinkwashed”.
The use of LGBT rights in particular is not a coincidence: separating “gayness” from other forms of oppression and hiding behind claims of being apolitical serves this function perfectly. Ideology almost always calls itself non-ideological. Issues of racism within LGBT organizing have long been a source of tension between activists in the Global North and South, particularly as activism becomes more and more transnational and networks of solidarity are built across borders.
The idea that LGBT rights take precedence over other rights need not be stated outright: by claiming that LGBT rights and activism are apolitical, and by refusing to address these issues head on and recognizing that they are interconnected, that principle is made apparent. GayMiddleEast.com’s particular pinkwashing was first addressed here. If GayMiddleEast.com is indeed against pinkwashing as they claim they are, then it would have paid attention when Arab and Palestinian queers took issue with their supposedly “neutral” manner of reporting. Instead, it chose to ignore the questions raised completely. And again, they were characterized as “smears”.
Violations of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Campaign against Israel
GayMiddleEast.com claims that it does not have a position on any particular solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Fair enough – no one has ever asked it to comment on the right of return, the settlements, Jerusalem, or two-states vs. one state, and no one has held it to task for that. What GayMiddleEast.com was criticized for was its rejection and violation of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign to end the Israeli occupation.
As a “fair”, “honest”, and “apolitical” reporter on news in the Middle East, why did GayMiddleEast.com not even report on the very loud global call to boycott Jerusalem World Pride in 2006? If they are simply an apolitical news site, this would at the very least qualify as news. GayMiddleEast.com have failed to report all subsequent queer call to boycott or news related to it such as the disinvitation of the official Israeli delegation to the Madrid pride parade – one of the largest in Europe – following Israel’s attack on the Gaza flotilla. They did however report on everything else surrounding Pride in Israel.
Far from being “neutral” and “apolitical”, GayMiddleEast.com have taken very clear political stands – ones that privilege gay rights over Palestinian rights. GayMiddleEast.com has also patted itself on the back forsponsoring “Arabs of neighboring countries to participate in the march” in Tel Aviv, a clear and blatant violation of BDS. What is even more upsetting about the political stands that GayMiddleEast.com has taken is its refusal to admit that it has taken them.
That is the background of the problematic relationship between GayMiddleEast.com and many queer Arab activists, which it is very aware of and chose to completely bypass in its response. Far from being “smears”, these are legitimate political issues taken up by many activists in the Global South.
However, ignoring these critiques is not even what is most disturbing about GayMiddleEast.com’s response: the very blatant and sloppy lies it has presented about its extensive ties to Israel is cause for much concern. Being Israeli itself is not a crime, yet GayMiddleEast.com have gone to great lengths to deny these ties precisely because it knows that what it is doing, and has been doing since its inception, is dangerous.
Continue reading here.
J.J. Goldberg uses Bob Dylan to make a perfect argument for the cultural boycott of Israel
Jun 23, 2011
Yaniv Reich
A series of recent discussions in my life (with very well intentioned people) have focused on whether cultural boycott of Israel is perhaps a bit too extreme of a position. Doesn’t it just run the risk of alienating Israelis and making them less likely to make sacrifices for peace and justice?
The problem with this question is its framing. In my reading, Israelis are far too comfortable with the status quo and will never make any sacrifice or question their tribalist and commonly racist ideology without increased incentives to do so. And one of the primary ways Israelis are made to feel comfortable is by their (largely erroneous) self-image as a modern “Western” democracy, which includes, among other things, gay pride parades and visits from prestigious internationals.
Today, JJ Goldberg captures this argument about normalization to an immaculate degree today in The Forward. It really is one of the finest arguments forcultural boycott I have ever heard:
If you’re one of those people who tries to follow the news out of Israel, late June probably found you feeling anxious about the impending launch of the next Gaza protest flotilla. You’re worried about a repeat of the May 2010 fiasco, when the Israeli navy boarded a Turkish protest ship to enforce Israel’s Gaza blockade and ended up killing nine Turkish citizens. You’re saddened and angry about Israel’s growing isolation, and hoping its navy gets it right this time.
If you actually live in Israel, on the other hand, there’s a pretty good chance your thoughts were focused on Bob Dylan. You might be one of the 25,000 people who paid to hear him June 20 at Ramat Gan stadium outside Tel Aviv and left feeling confused, annoyed, cheated and perhaps wondering why, after the fiasco of his last appearance in 1993, he couldn’t get it right this time. And, yes, saddened and angry about Israel’s isolation. Fans expected Dylan, the maverick moral voice, spiritual seeker and sometime Chabadnik, to show some sign of love. What he gave was a flat, mechanical performance, 15 songs and then back to the airport without so much as a hello or goodbye, leaving Israelis as alone as before.
Mind you, there’s a part of Israel that revels in isolation, believing it is meant to be, in the Torah’s words, “a nation that dwelleth apart.” For most Israelis, though, it’s a source of mounting dismay. Most Israelis believe their country is unfairly blamed for a conflict that isn’t their fault. They pack their sons off in uniform, worry about rockets and bus bombs and then read that their leaders have been indicted for war crimes and international rock stars are canceling local appearances in protest. Sometimes it feels as though the very walls are closing in.
When celebrities do show up to perform, therefore, it’s more than just a night out. It’s an affirmation that Israel is still part of the world.
Obviously, JJ Goldberg thinks this a fine thing. But for anyone concerned with Israel’s reckless, continuous program of ethnic cleansing and apartheid in service of 19th century ideals of ethnic purity, then this statement is one of the best arguments for cultural boycott you are likely to find.
This post originally appeared on Yaniv Reich’s blog Hybrid States.
‘We recognize neither the legality, nor the morality, nor the wisdom of the walls between us’: Israeli academics endorse civil disobedience campaign against Israeli entry laws
Jun 23, 2011
Adam Horowitz
The following press release offers an update on the Israeli civil disobedience campaign to illegally transport Palestinian women and children into Israel to enjoy the beach. Although many Palestinians living under occupation live just miles from the Mediterranean, Israeli law prevents them from traveling freely. These actions were inspired byreporter Ilana Hammerman who planned the first of such trips and wrote about it in Ha’aretz. The press release follows:
300 Academics Join 40 “Civil Disobedience” Women Willing to Break Israel’s Entry Laws
About 300 lecturers and teachers from institutes of higher education throughout Israel have signed a public advertisement in support of civil disobedience actions of a group of women who openly infringe the law of entry to Israel. The academics put their full names in an advertisement which was published in Ha’aretz newspaper last Friday, 17 June 2011, next to an advertisement – the third in recent months – published by the women’s group called “Civil Disobedience”. (For the advertisement itself, see attachment.) The women, who have all been investigated by Jerusalem police and who now have official criminal records, called for the Israeli public to join them in their protest activity which consists of driving Palestinian women and children for a day at Israeli recreational sites and the beach. These actions come in the wake of writer and translator Ilana Hammerman’s initiative, who started publicizing such activities last year.
“We recognize neither the legality, nor the morality, nor the wisdom of the walls between us and our neighbors which have been erected with brute force,” stated the group in its advertisement.
Alongside the women’s statement, a support letter from the academics appeared, including the following words:
We, the undersigned women and men, state that we are willing to collaborate with the actions of the “Civil Disobedience” women. In these dark hours, we are willing to drive their guests, Palestinian women and children, to hide them and to support their challenge in any other way, whether in deeds or in words. The action of these women shows the right way for any Israeli citizen who truly supports a democracy respectful of human rights. Should Israel’s legal system find it appropriate to prosecute and penalize these women we shall be willing to support them, to join them and to be tried alongside them.
Seeing Fateh’s flag, and the Palestinian flag, in the Gaza Strip
Jun 23, 2011
Philip Weiss
Helena Cobban has a long, moving account of her visit to Gaza at her site, Just World News. An excerpt:
One first fruit of the May 3 [unity] agreement: As you drive along the Strip, within or through the sprawling cities, towns, and heavily built-up refugee camps that cover most of its surface, you often see Fateh’s distinctive, bright yellow pennants raised high over residential blocks. Yes, Hamas’s green flags still strongly out-number them. But the green flags have been flying longer and many now have a slightly grungy look to them.
The choice of flags has been a key decision made within all the popular uprisings that have made up the Arab Spring. In both Tunisia and Egypt, participants in the mass demonstrations made a point of carrying only their respective national flags on the demonstrations, leaving their party affiliations at home. Back in late February, after Mubarak’s toppling, young social activists in Palestine decided that they wanted to organize a mass popular action. Their main slogan was “The people want an end to the division.” Not surprisingly, as they organized for what they designated their #mar15 action in both the West Bank and Gaza, they argued strongly that participants should carry only the Palestinian flag.
In both Gaza and the West Bank, the status quo powers viewed the young people’s activism as posing a worrying challenge to their own control, and the ruling powers in both territories moved swiftly to co-opt and dominate the movement.
Brilliant young Palestinian blogger Sameeha Elwan, a recent graduate of the Islamic University of Gaza’s English-language program, blogged movingly about the dismay she felt when she saw many participants in the Gaza City march carrying Hamas flags as well as Palestine’s four-color emblem.
She wrote,
- I could see nothing but the Palestinian flag, hear nothing but Palestine’s name, I could not but be totally involved as everyone else who like me were chanting, walking proud, holding up their Palestinian flag, their voice at its highest, their hearts hopeful for a unity that this demonstration proved every Palestinian, regardless of his favourite colour, is eager to have back…
