NOVANEWS
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Ynet: Juliano leaves Greece to join French boat in flotilla to Gaza
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Israel used disproportionate force against Nakba Day protesters, UN says
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Gov’r Deval Patrick gives Tribe hummus a tax break. Oy
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US Boat to Gaza participants prepare to return home as Greece continues to prevent ships from joining Freedom Flotilla
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Rightwing militias steal land in occupied territories, with support of Israeli gov’t
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Why is Greece blockading Gaza?
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‘Washington Post’ reports on brutal house demolitions in West Bank
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What Vietnam tells us about the Middle East
Ynet: Juliano leaves Greece to join French boat in flotilla to Gaza
Jul 06, 2011
Ira Glunts
According to Ynet, a flotilla boat, the Juliano, has left Greek waters and is sailing to rendezvous with the French boat Dignite/Karama. The two boats are forming a “small but high quality flotilla” which will attempt to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.
Dror Feiler, an ex-Israeli and passenger, told Ynet that the only thing between them and Gaza is the IDF.
Israel used disproportionate force against Nakba Day protesters, UN says
Jul 06, 2011
Lizzy Ratner
A new United Nations report has come to the obvious yet important conclusion that Israel used disproportionate force when it opened fire on refugees who marched on the Lebanon-Israel border during this year’s Nakba day protests. Seven people were killed and 111 injured in these protests, while another four were killed at the Syrian border. Some 8-10,000 took part in the protests.
“Other than firing initial warning shots, the Israel Defence Forces did not use conventional crowd control methods or any other method than lethal weapons against the demonstrators,” the report says.
“The firing of live ammunition … against the demonstrators, which resulted in the loss of civilian life and a significant number of casualties, constituted a violation of resolution 1701 (2006) and was not commensurate to the threat to Israeli soldiers,” the report continues. Resolution 1701 ended Israel’s 2006 assault on Lebanon.
Israel is said to be hopping mad about the report. Indeed, it took the diplomatically immature step of cutting off ties with the report’s author, the UN’s Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Michael Williams. No word on whether anyone has called him a small man, an evil man, or anexistential threat.
Gov’r Deval Patrick gives Tribe hummus a tax break. Oy
Jul 06, 2011
Alice Rothchild
Lately Alice Rothchild appeared on Arabic Hour, Arab-American community television, to talk about boycott. We asked her for a summary of the show, which you can watch here.
I was asked to discuss local Boston area efforts in the realm of BDS so…
I outlined the general arguments for BDS work, how this does not “delegitimize Israel” etc etc and focused on how this is translated on the local grassroots level (a good general intro-from the point of view of a Jew worried about the direction of Israeli policy-to the topic): in particular
1. Boston Hummus campaign (this is a coalition of over 20 groups) re: Tribe (supports the JNF) and Sabra Dipping Hummus (supports the Golani Brigade), this was inspired by work done by American Jews for a Just Peace Philadelphia
2. Jewish Voice for Peace, We divest, TIAA CREF campaign, there are Boston area activists working on a Flash Mob, writing TIAA CREF as shareholders, etc, and I just finished an op ed that has been picked up by JVP and hopefully it will see the light of day
3. Grassroots International, based in Boston, joined the campaign focused on Elbit, their concern is land and water rights
4. Activists are focusing on the upcoming contract with Veolia which is responsible for 60% of greater Boston commuter rail service as well as a segregated bus service for Jewish settlers in the OPT and the Tovlan landfill in the Jordan Valley (dumping garbage from settlements and Israel into the OPT)
5. Several of us met with an aide to Governor Deval Patrick who gave Tribe (in Taunton) tax breaks and is working to strengthen business relationships with Massachusetts and Israel (oy)
So my statement basically is there are a lot of exciting opportunities to do BDS work in your own community and many good reasons to do it as well.
US Boat to Gaza participants prepare to return home as Greece continues to prevent ships from joining Freedom Flotilla
Jul 06, 2011
Adam Horowitz
US Boat to Gaza passengers participate in a rally in Athens.
The following update was sent out this morning by the US Boat to Gaza:
The presence of the U.S. Boat to Gaza in Athens is winding down. For more than 2 weeks the 37 passengers (someone was added at the last moment), 4 crew members and about 12 people in the support team there worked hard to make sure our boat – The Audacity of Hope – could sail as part of the international Freedom Flotilla 2 to Gaza. The Greek government’s willingness to serve as the enforcer of Israeli’s naval blockade of Gaza made it impossible for this journey to happen.
But the creative and determined spirit of this team of committed activists could not be stopped or silenced. They worked tirelessly to make the point in countless ways: they attempted to set sail knowing it might lead to a confrontation with the Greek authorities, they stood by the boat’s captain when he was arrested and jailed for several days, several people held a hunger strike for a few days, everyone marched and rallied with other flotilla activists and with the people of Athens in their own struggle for economic justice, and incredible energy went into getting the word out to people throughout this country and around the world as the work with the media continued through it all.
Last night our group’s activities in Athens ended and here’s a description from one of our people there: “We all went to Syntagma Square which looks much like Tahrir where there is an encampment and thousands of people gather each night. On Sundays there may be upwards of 50,000 and on big nights hundreds of thousands. We unfurled to drum beats 22 flags sewn together representing the countries participating in the Flotilla. Our black and white signs were in Greek, Arabic and English. It was a beautiful sight. Then we marched to the Spanish Embassy where our Spanish partners were occupying its embassy demanding the release of their boat. We arrived at about 9 pm with drummers leading the way. They came out on balconies and we sang to each other. It was quite the sight.”
Now our folks are beginning the journey home – some will arrive today, some tomorrow and others in the days ahead. Everyone is tired, but their energy is strong! They will share their stories and talk about their experiences in communities everywhere. And they will use this incredible time they shared in Athens as a spring board for further activism and organizing.
As soon as we can, we will send more information about the next steps and how you all can stay involved in the work to end the Israeli naval blockade and lift the siege of Gaza, as well as the efforts to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. That, after all is said and done, is what this effort has been about, and that is the work that must continue.
Below is a quick overview of several items related to our presence in Athens and our work with the flotilla. In the coming days we will be including further updates on our website so please check there. Also, remember, there are great photos and videos from these last two weeks on our site…check them out!
peace,
Leslie
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JULY 6, 2011 OVERVIEW
1) Captain Released
Our boat’s captain – John Klusmire – had a hearing on Tuesday in a Greek court. Her was released from jail, where he had been since Saturday morning, and was told he had no restrictions or limitations on his movements or activities. The charges against him were not dropped but we are hopeful that eventually they will be. Thanks everyone for all of the calls and email messages you sent to Greek and U.S. authorities in support of John!!
2) Hunger Strike Over
The 9 passengers who were on a hunger strike in support of our captain ended their fast. On Sunday they had been detained by the Athens police for several hours, and then on Monday 6 people (some others and some of the same folks) were again detained and then let go a few hours later. Everyone was fine and since then no one has been held by the police.
3) Our Boat
The Audacity of Hope remains in the hands of Greek authorities and we do not yet know when they will release it. Several of our people are staying in Athens for the foreseeable future to make sure the boat is safe. While we do not own the boat – we leased it from a Greek company – we feel a responsibility to make sure it is returned to its owner in good condition.
4) Information on Some of the Other Boats – Please note that the situation for each boat has been constantly changing so it’s possible that some of this information could already be put of date. We will try to get an update on the boats on our website as soon as possible.
a) On 7/5, the Greek Boat to Gaza group held a press conference at the Athens Press Club. Present were Dimitris Plionis, an organizer from the Greek group, Dr. Mattias Gardell of the partner group Swedish Boat to Gaza, Members of Parliament Tasos Kourakis and Theodoris Dritsas 2 MPs, and Green Party representative Iannis Tsironis. They denounced the government actions and policies forbidding ships of the Flotilla to leave Greek ports, effectively extending the Israeli siege of Gaza to Greek waters and outsourcing the siege of Gaza. Also attending in solidarity was MP Panagiotis Kouroublis, who had recently been expelled from the ruling PASOK Party for voting against the IMF austerity plan. He was given a standing ovation when he entered the hall.
b) The owners and crew of the Greek/Swedish/Norwegian passenger boat Juliano went on board in the port of Perama near Piraeus, and attempted to take the boat to the port town of Fokia, approximately 10 km. away, where they were due to attend a welcome ceremony at the invitation of the Fokia mayor, honoring the passengers and crew. However, the port authorities prevented the boat from leaving, without citing any justification. In the meantime, two rented boats filled with journalists and supporters gathered at the port to cover the action and to demand release of the boat, and have been confronted by port police. At latest report, the standoff continues, and a crowd of people is gathering at the Perama Port Authority to demand the release of the boat.
c) Passengers of the Spanish boat Guernica entered the Spanish embassy in Athens and staged a sit-in, demanding that the Spanish government intercede with Greece to release the boat. They hoisted the Palestinian flag and are refusing to leave until their boat is given permission to leave.
d) Canadian citizen Sandra Ruch remains in custody in the port city of Aghios Nikolaos. She and one other Suha Kneen, Michael Coleman, Australian Canadian were charged with impeding coast guard authorities by placing themselves in kayaks in front of police boats attempting to stop the Canadian boat, Tahrir from leaving Greek waters. They have been charged with interfering with law enforcement.
e) The other French passenger boat Karameh is again at sea in international waters, awaiting the other boats in the Flotilla. After leaving France, it proceeded to the eastern Mediterranean, where it sheltered in a safe port before returning to international waters.
Rightwing militias steal land in occupied territories, with support of Israeli gov’t
Jul 06, 2011
Eleanor Kilroy
This is the original Jewish paramilitary, Hashomer(“guard”/”guardian” in Hebrew), founded in Palestine at the beginning of the 20th century.
(Photo credit: Jewish Agency)
And these are the Israeli self-styled “New Guardians”, theHaShomer HaChadash, illegally entering land belonging to a Palestinian family in the South Hebron hills, in the West Bank, on 24 June, 2011:
You can see their logo clearly on this vehicle here, below:
According to the mission statement on their website, HaShomer HaChadash was founded to: “Help maintain Jewish land ownership in the open areas of the Galilee and the Negev.”
So what are these “guardians” doing in the South Hebron Hills in occupied Palestinian territory?
Writing in +972 Magazine in March, Yossi Gurvitz, revealed that HaShomer HaChadash (HH) “received a quiet nod from the IDF. The latter is so impressed with the goals of HH, it permits dozens of its volunteers to defer their military service for a year, so they can be indoctrinated by the organization. Such indoctrination includes ‘understanding the value of land,’ horse-riding lessons, theory lessons about ‘minorities in Israel, security and law enforcement,’ the herding of cattle and sheep, welding, carpentry, construction and mechanics.” Also in March, Daniel Argo wrote about The new trend – right-wing militias funded by the state, for the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity website.
He discovered that the Ministry for the Development of the Negev and Galilee had transferred 15 million NIS ($4.4 million) to these new ‘guardians’. You can watch a video clip in Hebrew herewhere the Channel Two military affairs reporter, Ronnie Daniel, extols their virtues and praises Minister Silvan Shalom from the Likud party for supporting them. While Palestinian refugees are denied their right of return, the Ministry is heavily investing in Judaizing the Negev and Galilee, and in 2010 launched an ‘Absorption programme’ for 1,000 Jews from the United States to settle in Galilee: “The plan includes providing incentives in housing, education, medical insurance, employment, etc.”
Guy, an activist with Ta’ayush, made the video above. He obtained this background information on the 24 June incident from the 2008 Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR) annual report: “The Hushiya family owns lands between the settlement of Susya and the Mitzpeh Yair outpost, in the South Hebron Hills. Starting in 2000, the family found that from time to time they were prevented from accessing their lands by army-backed violent attacks of settlers. As time went on, access became increasingly difficult. At one point, some of the family members were shot at and one person has never fully recovered. In 2007, a settler from Susya named Moshe Deutsch, who is known for his violent conduct (and also known for cursing RHR staff and volunteers as ‘Nazis,’ ‘Satan,’ etc.) began to plant hundreds of grape vines across the road from the Susya settlement on part of a 110-dunam plot belonging to the family. He began to plow and otherwise prepare additional lands for cultivation. The family turned to RHR.”
As Rabbi Arik Ascherman writes below a Facebook album of images,
Members of the Hushiya family began working lands today that they hadn’t been able to access since 2007, when the settler Moshe Deutsch of Susya took them over. However, the law was flouted by Israeli soldiers, and another bite was taken out of our landmark 2006 High Court victory… it was only in 2007 that the Legal Advisor for the Occupied Territories ruled that this was Palestinian land and that the Yehuda Brigade (Hebron area) commander had to close the area to Israelis and allow the family access to their lands. Even when he did so, he reserved judgment on a section of the land upon which Deutsch had already planted a vineyard. Finally, a ruling was issued that this was Palestinian land and Deutsch was given time to remove the fence and vines himself, allowing him to replant elsewhere. Rather than accept the decision and recognize that he was flouting the Torah’s prohibitions against trespassing and theft, he chose to counter sue. Finally, the army removed the fence and the vines in early April. However, the area was declared closed to everybody, including the owners… Jamil, one of the heads of the family, told the District Coordination Office (DCO) that they would enter today (Friday June 24th). The officer Nabil said that he preferred that they wait a week. However, according to the terms of Rabbis For Human Rights’ 2006 High Court Victory with ACRI and 5 local councils, the army can only regulate when Palestinians enter their land in very limited circumstances, when there is no other way to protect settlers… Suddenly, there were four or five settlers, including one of their “field commanders,” Avidan. Soon after there were tens. Even as we called the DCO, soldiers showed up. However, they stood by as the settlers violated the orders keeping them off the land and began to shout, harass and interfere with the work. I told the soldiers time after time. “There is an order keeping Israelis out – both them and us. Enforce it.” They didn’t, and finally we had to enter the closed area to protect the Palestinians. After a period of some 45 minutes, Avidan called his troops away. He apparently had gotten what he wanted. (Some of the settlers continued to harass and curse and shout filthy things at us.). At some point they punctured all four tires of our friend and B’Tselem field worker Nasser Nawajeh. Now, the perhaps most serious thing occurred. The army ordered the Palestinians off the land…
In Guy’s video, from 1:32, you can see Avidan, the ‘field commander’ of the HaShomerHaChadash. He is the one with the long hair, beard and a hat. Guy said “HaShomer HaChadashhad at least two vehicles in the area, with their stickers on them; I saw them a few times. On the 24th of June, Avidan Hanania came with two more men in one of the vehicles. One of them from Havat Ma’on, which is home to the most violent people even in this area, is the one that punctured and blew up the tires of Nasser Nawajeh.”. (You can watch the video of them puncturing the tires here).
In the first video, you can see Rabbi Arik Ascherman trying to explain that the Jewish religion is about justice, and not only for Jews. He even says that he is willing to teach them the Torah. Guy says they understood that the HaShomer men called more settlers to come, and adds that in response “each of us called the police several times, but it took them years to come. We told the soldiers several times that Israelis are forbidden to enter the land. But they wouldn’t listen. Arik told Avidan he is not allowed to be on that land. I called our lawyer to inform her of the situation – that settlers had entered the land and the army have not implemented the order. I also told her that the confrontation had started to get violent and it had become dangerous.”
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has an entry under the ‘Modern History/Zionism’ section of its website entitled, From Hashomer to the Israel Defense Forces: Armed Jewish Defense in Palestine. The Jewish paramilitary organization Hashomer in Palestine was the precursor to the Haganah, and thus the IDF. In a chapter on Palestinians peasant resistance to Zionism inBlaming the Victims, Rashid Khalidi explains that the formal establishment of the Hashomerorganization in 1909
was a culmination of a process which had been going on for several years, and which also fell under the rubric of ‘the conquest of labour’, whereby Jewish immigrants of the second ’aliya had gradually been taking over duties as armed watchmen at Jewish settlements, replacing the Arabs who had formerly performed these duties. In doing so, they were taking on the defense of newly acquired land from its dispossessed former cultivators, who firmly believed they still had rights to it: in microcosm, this was the essence of the conflict in Palestine.
The Israeli state will not guard these “guards” because it funds and promotes them based on an exclusionary-racist Zionist ideology, for which the “Green Line” is invisible: all land is Jewish land. Israeli citizens cannot continue to disavow this problem of ideological settlers when it is clear they are an arm of the state. In the meantime, it is left to peaceful Israeli and Palestinian civil society groups to stand with Palestinian popular and individual resistance against these dangerous thugs.
Thanks to Guy and Ofer
Why is Greece blockading Gaza?
Jul 06, 2011
Max Ajl
A lot of people have picked up on this Haaretz story about Bibi Netanyahu becoming “Greece’s lobbyist to the European Union,” in the words of an Israeli diplomat. What was he lobbying for? According to Haaretz, “Netanyahu recently decided to come to the aid of his newfound friend in a meeting of foreign ministers and European leaders, imploring them to provide Greece with financial aid.” The quid pro quo? Greece’s Prime Minister, George Papandreou, would effectively scuttle the Freedom Flotilla by preventing Gaza-bound ships from embarking from Greek ports.
A nice story, but, I suspect, it had little to do with the European decision. Netanyahu may have lobbied for the bailout, but the German and French banks that offered the “financial aid” did not do so because of Bibi’s supplications. They did so because it was in their interests.
As John Lanchester reports in the London Review, the plan is for the Greeks to get a 120 billion Euro loan, allowing those holding bonds – mostly German and French financial institutions – to roll them over. The Greek government would put in place austerity measures and privatize much of its economy, while rich Greeks would purportedly start paying taxes, letting the Greek economy recover enough to start paying back its lenders by 2012. Of course, it was never going to happen. The left hit the streets almost immediately, Athens is aflame, and even the middle-class is rejecting the bailout.
Or the “bailout.”
As Lanchester continues,
The ‘bailouts’, as they are always called, are no such thing. Taxpayer-funded capital injections into otherwise bankrupt banks were bailouts. The Greek ‘bailouts’ are loans, pure and simple. The money will have to be repaid, and repaid at ungenerous rates of interest: 5.2 per cent for Greece, 5.8 per cent for Ireland. These short-sighted and grasping interest rates…make an already critical problem significantly worse. The Greeks know they are being lent money just so they can work very hard for lower wages and higher taxes in order to pay it back at great cost. This arrangement is in place because of the second thing the Indignati know well, the fact that the outstanding Greek debt is mainly owned by French and German banks. This is why the Western European governments are especially keen on the ‘bailout’: it’s helping to keep their banks solvent. The Indignati do not find that a compelling reason to embrace a decade or so of abject misery. They want the Greek government to default, and the banks to accept losses for loans they shouldn’t have made in the first place.
Furthermore, Papandreou may now be talking tough about taxing the upper-class, but as Der Spiegel notes, “The last few decades have seen an elite, with the Papandreou, Karamanlis and Mitsotakis families at its core, establish a system of economic patronage. They threw around billions the government didn’t actually have and showered friends and relatives with prosperity that was all based on credit.” Economics professor Georgios Argitis from Athens University talks about the “ruling class of politics and capital that made the country its prey” and put Greece in this imbroglio.
This has nothing to do with the beneficence of the German and French bankers who run the European economy. Papandreou did not need Netanyahu’s arm-twisting to secure a loan that would postpone the default that bond-traders consider inevitable. We very easily forget that although some sectors of Western power are beginning to chafe at the flagrancy and obduracy of the Israeli occupation, the Western governments have little problem with Israel itself – with its relatively low wages and highly educated workforce, its high-quality crucible for start-ups, its constant destabilization of the Middle East, and its tens of billions of dollars of high-tech physical plant, they simply love the place.
Greece, although poor for a European country, is tied into those networks. It was not unreasonable to hope that Papandreou would let the Freedom Flotilla sail. But it should not be a surprise that he quashed the project, either, especially in the wake of the loosening of ties between Turkey and Israel in the aftermath of the massacre on the Mavi Marmara and the ongoing tightening of ties between Greece and Israel.
What we are witnessing is the solidarity of the powerful. They are very conscious of each others’ interests and convey them to one another across well-lubricated channels.
On the other hand, what we are also seeing is the solidarity of the powerless: the embryonic Egyptian campaign to allow the Freedom Flotilla to sail from an Egyptian port, the Greek left’s protests in support of the Flotilla, and the outpouring from global civil society in support of the Flotilla, even in places with restricted rights to freedom of expression, such as Jordan.
It is through that solidarity that the powerless become powerful.
So it is befuddling, not to say tactically suicidal, to see Ahmed Moor suggesting that “it’s probably best not to direct our anger at the Greek government.” The Greek people are overwhelmingly opposed to both the government’s plans for the loan package as well as any government support for Israel. The Greek people are major allies of the Palestinian people. The movement corollary should be that we not play nice with the Greek government. Along with the people of Greece raging in the Athenian streets, we should know who our enemy is: to get all Marxist, international capital and the bourgeois state.
Moor seems confused about the rights and responsibilities of governments. Their responsibility is to do what their citizens demand, not to demand quietude as they loot public wealth. When they don’t do what we want them to do, we don’t take it easy on them. We get rid of them, and get someone who will do what we wish. That’s how democracy works. As Mihail Kritsotakis, a Greek parliamentarian, put it, “The Greek government is obeying the orders of Israel and that is why the ship is anchored here. Were Greece a genuine democracy, the ship would have already set sail.”
This post is cross-posted from Max Ajl’s blog, Jewbonics.
‘Washington Post’ reports on brutal house demolitions in West Bank
Jul 06, 2011
Philip Weiss
Excellent reporting by Joel Greenberg from the occupied territories on people who have nowhere to go:
The Israeli troops and bulldozers arrived in the early morning and quickly got to work, tearing down shelters made of plastic netting and poles that had served as homes for about 100 people in this impoverished Bedouin community in the parched Jordan Valley…
The desolate scene reflected the state of the neglected Palestinian communities of the Jordan Valley, an area that amounts to more than a quarter of the West Bank but remains largely under Israeli control, with wide gaps between the resources allocated to Palestinians and Israeli settlers.
