NOVANEWS
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My account of July 22nd and its aftermath in Norway
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‘JPost’ does ‘on the one hand/on the other hand’ with Norway massacre!
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Boycotters ramp it up: “put an end to Agrexco’s presence in Europe”
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The struggle against the boycott law is fundamental: Should Israel be a Jewish or democratic state?
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Regarding the Islamophobic tragedy we are now living through
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Palestinian strategy focused on UN General Assembly and international courts to avoid US veto
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Pamela Geller says she didn’t influence killer, ‘Islamic supremacists’ did
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‘Scourge of the West’ –Murdoch sheet shifts its bogeyman
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‘J Street’ official takes care not to mention ‘occupation’ till after the speech
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Small tribute to Amy Amy Amy
My account of July 22nd and its aftermath in Norway
Jul 25, 2011
Tord Steiro
I had been in Oslo for a couple of days, visiting one of my best friends. He works for the UN in Damascus, and was back in Norway for a short vacation. Wednesday and Thursday were beautiful days, the sun was shining, and the people were happy. The atmosphere were most peaceful – as peaceful as a summerday can be. However, that friday I was disturbed. As a programme coordinator with responsibility for our Malawi operation, I had received shocking news of riots and violence after the demonstration there on July 20th. I considered returning to work, to get an overview of the situation, but, after calling most of our people there, I decided not to do so. They were safe, and our operation were not in danger.
Instead, my parents decided to come to Oslo and join us. Originally we planned to meet in the centre, perhaps in Youngs Square, but they were delayed, as usual, and came directly to Grunerløkka were I stayed. They arrived around three o’clock. We sat down for a late lunch. We did not really notice the blast – it was a busy street outside, construction work going on around, and a busy place. Suddenly, the waitress turns pale behind the counter, and she starts to inform us that a bomb has gone off in Oslo. a lady next to us rushes out as her phone rings, and then bursts into tears. Her sister was on a bus – and is now on her way to hospital. My friend turns pale as well. Another good friend works in the government offices. He rushes out with the phone in his hands. I follow him, I, too, have friends to call. Check if they are OK. Most are, and we return to his apartment to check the news. I check facebook.
Firstly, I see a friend – a young member of parliament, and a true friend of Palestine – having posted the night before that she enjoyed wonderful moments at Utøya. No further updates. I believe she is safe, and not in the area around the blast. Many other friends are also there. In safety, I think. At the offices of my party, Venstre, which is three blocks away from the blast, two persons reports light injuries from the bomb. My thoughts go to Libya and Ghaddafi. He would have access to the necessary resources for such a bomb, and bombing our government would be a logic response to our bombing of his government. It had to be Ghaddafi. We discuss the matter.
It is obvious that Al-Qaida would never manage such a blast. The few attempts they have had in Scandinavia have been feeble and incompetent. Directly pathetic. Cells are arrested before doing anything wrong. Are there really a threat here at all from Al-Qaida? Nobody believes so. It got to be Ghaddafi.
The short discussion ends. The doorbell rings, it is the boyfriend of one of the girls in the apartment. He is in shock, sweat is pouring from him. He has run from the centre, were he was meters from the blast. He is physically unhurt, but obviously disturbed. The blast came just a few inches closer. We all sink deeper into shock and disbelief.
At this point, I would like to clearify a few things. Firstly, I have been active in politics for the better half of my life, hence, I know many people both in the labour party, and in their youth organization. I know many people who works for the government as well. My friend is a member of the labour party. He knows a lot more people than me. His sisters, whose apartment we are sitting in, are both members of AUF – the labour party’s youth organisation. They have friends on Utøya. So far, most of the people we know are safe, or only lightly injured.
Then we get the first report of shooting at Utøya. Disbelief. Soon after, we get the first witness statement: A white Norwegian male. It dawns on us; this is not Ghaddafi, this is right-wing extremism. Nothing new, they have always been there, but not like this! Unlike the usual suspects of violent extremists, the right wingers have more or less followed democratic rules. Spewing their hatred in internet chat forums, and little else. No more, it seems. The main threat to our democracy isn’t Islamism, it is, in fact, christian cultural conservatism – In Norwegian, the three ‘K’s of Kristen Kultur-Konservatisme makes sense in their own, violent, way.
The Prime Minister speaks. Good speech. ‘We will retaliate with more democacy!’ I am proud to be Norwegian. So much better than GWB’s ‘We will hunt them down!’ from 9/11.
A new wave of shock. The friends we thought were safe, are now in an inferno. We keep on getting information from unofficial sources, friends, witnesses, facebook, twitter, and so on. Some say 30-50 dead. All point to a Norwegian male. By 19.00 the police have denied all claims toward Islamic terror. The police stresses that there is a link between the two attacks – probably the same perpetrator. By 21.00 friday evening the Norwegian press has mainly discarded the now obviously wrong Islamic track. My parents cancel their hotel room for the night, and we decide to drive back to my parents place in Hamar.
Driving through Oslo on friday evening, we spot no living soul. The bars and night clubs are closed. People are home, watching the news. The city is deserted – it’s an eerie feeling.
At my parents place, I scan through the channels. We are the main headline in all international media. CNN still reporting on the Islamic terror plot. I am appalled. More than appalled. At this time, we have known for hours that this is a right-wing hate crime, with no Islamic link whatsoever. I am not sure if it is incompetence or islamophobia that misleads CNN, but I am appalled – hurt – by the fact that they reduce themselves to send out the same message as the gunman: Muslims are terrorists, and should be watched closely. They are posing as an accomplice in his horrible deeds. They openly support his views, and that in this situation! I swear to never speak a positive word of CNN again, and turns to Norweigan media.
Finally, at about midnight, I think all my friends are safe. The last one, the MP, states that she has been sleeping all day, and have now awakened to hell. I am still in shock, I can’t sleep. I stay up on facebook, apparently, I have more friends on Utøya than I realized. A 32 year old from Hamar among those. He is there to volunteer, while looking after his younger brothers. At a quarter to three I check on his profile again. It is full of condolences. Shock! I feel sick. Scan through the latest news. FOX is still playing the Islamist card, spewing out the exact same ideas and viewpoints as the man who conducted the massacre, as the man who bombed my government. I feel even sicker. In an instant, Murdoch gets 5 million passionate enemies in Norway, I wonder when he will apologize to us.
Back to my friend. I wonder what is going on. He is injured in the leg, not serious. Good. His younger brother is shot dead. Bad. I am exhausted, going to bed. Sleeping a little, crying a little. While reflecting on the events, I wonder why I have such a strong reaction, when almost all I know are safe and well. I should be used to this, after all. Occasionally, I work in dangerous places. I see mayhem quite often. The same with my friend who lives in Damascus. He lives in Mayhem. Nevertheless, he reacts even stronger than me. I conclude it has to be because of our work. We go to dangerous places, risky situations, and we are alert. Then, exhausted, we return home to absolute safety. Little, peaceful, Norway. This peace has now been broken, and we do not relax even a little bit.
Saturday is unreal. My wife arrives, and we return home. I am in shock, my wife is annoyed. Why am I so upset? These kind of things happens! Relax! She grew up in Yugoslavia, she should know. But it’s different. If a bomb went of next to me in Belgrade, or Split, or Sarajevo, I would probably not be so shaken. It would perhaps not be expected, but such things could happen there. But not here. Another friend calls me. He has a friend in the hospital after the blast. Situation is critical, but stable. The question now is how bad his head injuries are. They don’t know. How bad? Head injuries! Sounds awful…
I give up on the international news. They make me sick – adding insult to injury with their still appalling reporting. They are spreading lies and cheap ideological propaganda on our catastrophe. Abusing our national trauma in the worst possible way. Particularly FOX – I feel they are a category worse than the gunman. A lower form of life. I wonder when they will apologize. When they will admit that the major threat to our democracy and our way of life is people echoing their opinions and their ideology of hate. At least, that is how I feel. And I am apparently not alone. Norwegian news reports the same observation.
Sunday goes fast. I get up late. In shock. Make a very nice barbeque with my wife. Cooking usually makes me relax, makes me think of other things. Clears my mind. But not this time. The day is like a black hole. I hope monday will be better.
Monday, still no names released. FOX stop reporting the matter. I realize that both SKY and BBC have actually been decent. It’s mostly the US media that has disgraced themselves. But it has occupied my mind. Added insult and pain. Christian Whiton in particular. A lower form of life.
Some names are out. Missing, dead. Official body count is reduced. I feel better. There is a commemorative observation at 18.00. I go with my wife. Impossible to find parking. The whole town is out, to go to the observation. Carrying roses, people walk through the centre, and stop in front of the town hall. I did not get hold of any roses, I feel bad. The mayor speaks – not very good, then the bishop follow – excellent speech. I feel better. Meet friends. We are a lot of people. Police say around 10.000 – which is a lot considering the fact that my town has less than 20.000 inhabitants in total. We sing ‘Til Ungdommen’. It is a beautiful poem, and a beautiful song. Reminds me of my youth. I feel better, my spirits are up. It is time to fight for our beliefs, to make sure that the dead did not die in vain. It is spoken of tolerance, it is spoken of democracy. Of non-violence. My thoughts go to my Israeli and Palestinian friends who struggle with such harsh conditions for the non-violent struggle. Such harsh conditions for the basic ingredients of democracy: The right to assembly, the right to speech, the right to information. The right to a fair trial. Basic human rights. We will not be mislead by hate. We will not hate. Even Mr. Behring Breivik deserves a fair trial. 4 in 5 Norwegians have stated that they do not support the death penalty for him. A 30 year prison sentence – the longest permitted by Norwegian law – will do. Mr. B.B. has himself said that he expects to be tortured in jail. We will prove him wrong.
Back at a friends place – still no news on the head injuries – we turn on the news. 120,000 out in Oslo. Some say 100,000-150,000 in Stavanger. Millions all over Norway – it seems like half the country is out walking, commemorating. We stand united for democracy. We stand united for openness. United for a society were top politicians can move freely around without armed guards, and united for a society in which politically committed youth can gather safely, without armed guards around. We stand united, as a nation, for what we are.
Perhaps some are not embracing the ideals of multi-culturalism. Perhaps most are not embracing them. I don’t know. But I am embracing them, especially now. It is not multi-culturalism that is threatening our society, as the gunman believed. It is intolerance. Ignorance and narrow-mindedness. It is the willingness to use violence to attain political goals. Certainly, the political left have done this in the past. Conservative Islamists too. And now, conservative ‘Christianists’ – if you can call them that. Multi-culturalism is not the problem, extremism is, in all its forms. People who advocate violence as the main mean to solve problems, they are themselves the real problem, regardless of religion, ethnicity, or shoe size, for that matter.
I believe Norway, as a nation, will stay stronger after this. When we talk about democracy and tolerance, we are not joking (we always think the americans are), we actually mean it. It is good to see that my entire country is solidly behind the ideals of democracy and human rights. Democracy and human rights in the Nowegian way. Tonight, I will sleep well. It will be the first night in a while. With ‘Mitt Lille Land’ in my ears I say goodnight.
Tord Steiro works as a programme coordinator for the NGO FORUT, coordinating projects in Malawi, and is currently active in the centrist liberal party (Venstre). He has been interested in issues regarding Israel/Palestine for the past 5-6 years, although the Middle East has been high on his family’s agenda since the 1930’s, when his grandfather grew up in the Zionist ‘Israel Mission Church’ (the family turned away from that worldview during his service as a UN officer in the Golan during the early 1970s). Steiro grew up in Hamar, Norway where his parents still live and are active in friendship projects between Hamar and Khan Younis.
‘JPost’ does ‘on the one hand/on the other hand’ with Norway massacre!
Jul 25, 2011
Philip Weiss
Frightening editorial in the Jerusalem Post, which wants to remind us that you can’t live with Muslims. And what’s the Muslim percentage in Israel proper? Gosh. Does JPost feel any need to represent them?
Perhaps Brievik’s inexcusable act of vicious terror should serve not only as a warning that there may be more elements on the extreme Right willing to use violence to further their goals, but also as an opportunity to seriously reevaluate policies for immigrant integration in Norway and elsewhere. While there is absolutely no justification for the sort of heinous act perpetrated this weekend in Norway, discontent with multiculturalism’s failure must not be delegitimatized or mistakenly portrayed as an opinion held by only the most extremist elements of the Right.
…Amartya Sen, the 1998 Nobel Prize laureate for welfare economics from India, has noted how terribly impractical it is to believe that the coexistence of an array of cultures in close proximity will lead to peace. Without a shared cultural foundation, no meaningful communication among diverse groups is possible, Sen has argued.
Norway, a country so oriented toward promoting peace, where the Muslim population is forecast to increase from 3 percent to 6.5% of the population by 2030, should heed Sen’s incisive analysis.
The challenge for Norway in particular and for Europe as a whole, where the Muslim population is expected to account for 8% of the population by 2030 according to a Pew Research Center, is to strike the right balance. …
Europe’s fringe right-wing extremists present a real danger to society. But Oslo’s devastating tragedy should not be allowed to be manipulated by those who would cover up the abject failure of multiculturalism.
Boycotters ramp it up: “put an end to Agrexco’s presence in Europe”
Jul 25, 2011
annie
The BDS movement in Europe appears to be going for a knockout. A coalition of 23 organizations from across Europe issued a “Political declaration after the Forum against Agrexco” outlining their campaign against the Israeli agricultural giant which is half owned by the Israeli Government and responsible for 60-70% of the agricultural produce grown in Israel’s illegal settlements. Here is a press release:
Facing a bankruptcy hearing in a Tel Aviv court Tuesday, Israeli export company Agrexco has been beset by bad headlines in recent months. Now its problems look set to worsen, after Palestinian solidarity groups from across Europe joined forces to escalate a boycott campaign.
A new coalition on Thursday promised to “put an end to Agrexco’s presence in Europe”. Twenty-three groups signed a declaration saying they had established a mechanism to coordinate boycott campaigns and court actions against the exporter.
“We are putting potential buyers on notice: any company investing in Agrexco will be targeted by boycotts all over Europe,” said Saqer Nazzal who represents the Palestinian Union of Professional Associations on the secretariat of the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC).
The alliance of European groups such as the French Coalition contre Agrexco have set Saturday 26 November as a pan-European day of action against the company.
Campaigners have drawn attention to the exporter’s involvement with illegal Israeli settlements with stunts, pickets and direct action. Last month in Milan, activists delivered gift baskets of rotten fruit and vegetables to the company’s HQ, symbolizing Palestinian agricultural products rotting at Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank, while Agrexco freely exports to Europe.
In June, Israeli financial publication Globes reported “heavy losses” for the fresh produce company, as Agrexco struggled to manage its debt. Fruitnet.com recently reported the company owed creditors €106 million.
Shir Hever, an Israeli economist with the AIC in Jerusalem said: “many Israeli farmers are abandoning Agrexco, possibly because of the campaigns against Agrexco in France, Italy, Spain, the UK and elsewhere. Maybe the Agrexco brand is no longer as appealing to farmers as it was before. It’s no coincidence in my opinion that Agrexco shows the first signs of strain.”
Agrexco has been a prime target of pro-Palestine activists calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.
Half-owned by the Israeli government, Agrexco is responsible for 60-70% of the agricultural produce grown in Israel’s illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territories (OPT).
* Sold under brand names such as Carmel, Coral, Biotop and Eco-Fresh, Agrexco products from settlements have routinely been mislabelled and submitted with papers claiming they originate inside the Green Line. Such attempts to fraudulently qualify them for preferential customs treatment under the EU-Israel Association Agreement have led to censure in the British Parliament.
* The EU Court of Justice has ruled that settlement produce should not qualify for such preferential treatment. In February 2011, a report of the commercial court in Montpellier, France, found that Carmel Agrexco deliberately misled customs officials about the origin of their produce.
* The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) is a coalition of Palestinian civil society groups. It was formed as the Palestinian reference point in the broad campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), which resulted in the July 2005 Palestinian Call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, with the initial
endorsement of over 170 Palestinian organizations.
The struggle against the boycott law is fundamental: Should Israel be a Jewish or democratic state?
Jul 25, 2011
Eitan Bronstein
This text being posted on the door to Avigdor Lieberman’s Office.
What’s the “Boycott Law” about? If you ask Israelis that question, particularly those opposed to the law, they’ll probably say that it prohibits calling for boycotts of products produced by Israeli settlements located in territories captured in 1967. But that’s the wrong answer, which is surprising given how recently the law was passed by the Knesset. More and more Facebook pages display photographs of Israeli leftists wearing buttons declaring they’re boycotting products from the settlements.
Well, that law prohibits citizens of the state from engaging in any activity that encourages avoiding “economic, cultural or academic connections with a person or other entity solely because of their connection with the state of Israel, one of its institutions or an area under its control, the effect of which is to cause economic, cultural or academic damage.” No mention of “territories,” of “settlements” – no nothing. The law actually deals with boycotting Israel as a whole.
The opponents of the law have successfully spun it as a boycott of the settlements because that’s the only boycott they support. Some are even working on its behalf, such as the performers boycotting the Ariel cultural center.
Israel’s right-wing government, on the other hand, has for some time been showing signs that it understands all too well what the Israel-Palestine conflict is about: the conquests of 1948 and the Palestinians being prevented from returning after the violent Judaizing of the country. So, although the left has been telling us for years that the issue is the “destructive” occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, and although it’s succeeding in portraying the colonial localities established there as “settlements” (“political,” Rabin added), it’s actually the Israeli right that reminds us, in its contorted manner, of course, that the source of the conflict is the Nakba and the establishment of the Jewish state.
Our Prime Minister’s apologetics were simply embarrassing when he responded to Abu Mazan that the Palestinians are responsible for the Nakba because “their leaders told them to flee and urged people to leave so that the military forces could advance more freely in their war to destroy Israel.” Oh, yes – they also rejected the Partition Plan, which couldn’t have been fairer, so they got what they deserved.
The Minister of Education keeps trying to use the educational system to strengthen the Jewish character of the state, as if the schools’ current nationalistic atmosphere wasn’t enough. He also reminds us that schools are prohibited from using the term “Nakba” so as not to upset the pupils’ delicate souls.
The Boycott Law accords very well with this logic. It requires punishing anyone daring to propose opposing the apartheid that’s spreading here. Soon we won’t be able to see the differences between South Africa’s apartheid regime and ours, even if we use a magnifying glass.
This is an appropriate comparison, because the boycott of Israel that is developing is the result of calls by hundreds of Palestinian civil society organizations, and is beginning to resemble the boycott that successfully overcame the South African racist regime. Israel was the only state not to boycott the South African apartheid regime, which may be the reason our government is now rushing to pass an essentially anti-democratic law that threatens everyone opposing the apartheid being established here.
The organizations on the left that petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the law, based on liberal conceptions of free speech, did the right thing, and every democrat must hope that the justices will rescue us from the terrible law cooked up by a racist government. But we must not allow the important struggle for free speech to blind us to the fact that the struggle is actually a more fundamental one: between Jewish and democratic – the Jewish option, in its racist, colonial Zionist version, versus democracy and equality for all the country’s residents and refugees who choose to live here.
This post originally appeared on the Zochrot website.
Well, that law prohibits citizens of the state from engaging in any activity that encourages avoiding “economic, cultural or academic connections with a person or other entity solely because of their connection with the state of Israel, one of its institutions or an area under its control, the effect of which is to cause economic, cultural or academic damage.” No mention of “territories,” of “settlements” – no nothing. The law actually deals with boycotting Israel as a whole.
The opponents of the law have successfully spun it as a boycott of the settlements because that’s the only boycott they support. Some are even working on its behalf, such as the performers boycotting the Ariel cultural center.
Israel’s right-wing government, on the other hand, has for some time been showing signs that it understands all too well what the Israel-Palestine conflict is about: the conquests of 1948 and the Palestinians being prevented from returning after the violent Judaizing of the country. So, although the left has been telling us for years that the issue is the “destructive” occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, and although it’s succeeding in portraying the colonial localities established there as “settlements” (“political,” Rabin added), it’s actually the Israeli right that reminds us, in its contorted manner, of course, that the source of the conflict is the Nakba and the establishment of the Jewish state.
Our Prime Minister’s apologetics were simply embarrassing when he responded to Abu Mazan that the Palestinians are responsible for the Nakba because “their leaders told them to flee and urged people to leave so that the military forces could advance more freely in their war to destroy Israel.” Oh, yes – they also rejected the Partition Plan, which couldn’t have been fairer, so they got what they deserved.
The Minister of Education keeps trying to use the educational system to strengthen the Jewish character of the state, as if the schools’ current nationalistic atmosphere wasn’t enough. He also reminds us that schools are prohibited from using the term “Nakba” so as not to upset the pupils’ delicate souls.
The Boycott Law accords very well with this logic. It requires punishing anyone daring to propose opposing the apartheid that’s spreading here. Soon we won’t be able to see the differences between South Africa’s apartheid regime and ours, even if we use a magnifying glass.
This is an appropriate comparison, because the boycott of Israel that is developing is the result of calls by hundreds of Palestinian civil society organizations, and is beginning to resemble the boycott that successfully overcame the South African racist regime. Israel was the only state not to boycott the South African apartheid regime, which may be the reason our government is now rushing to pass an essentially anti-democratic law that threatens everyone opposing the apartheid being established here.
The organizations on the left that petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the law, based on liberal conceptions of free speech, did the right thing, and every democrat must hope that the justices will rescue us from the terrible law cooked up by a racist government. But we must not allow the important struggle for free speech to blind us to the fact that the struggle is actually a more fundamental one: between Jewish and democratic – the Jewish option, in its racist, colonial Zionist version, versus democracy and equality for all the country’s residents and refugees who choose to live here.
This post originally appeared on the Zochrot website.
Regarding the Islamophobic tragedy we are now living through
Jul 25, 2011
Tord Steiro
Tord Steiro is a Mondo reader in Norway, and writes:
Regarding the tragedy we are now living through. Let me clarify a few facts:
1. The organization targeted in Utøya is AUF – the Labour Party’s youth organization. In recent years, this organization has been increasingly critical of the Labour Party’s alleged ‘pro-Israel’ line. Hence, a stand in solidarity with Palestine is present. However, there are many such stands on the island, during the camp. West-Sahara is usually present, and so is anti-war activists. NPA – Norwegian Peoples Aid, is usually there too, together with the usual bunch of domestic political causes. Perhaps especially the central labour union, LO. This was a political gathering for youth members in the Labour Party, and not in any way a gathering focusing on I/P issues. Except that they would be on the agenda together with any other interesting political issue.
2. The pictures on Spengler are wrong. [http://spengler.atimes.net/viewtopic.php?t=17351&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight&sid=5dc81da376cc189913bee85754fbe7bc] Fair enough, the picture featuring the stand and the minister of foreign affairs Mr. Støre are real enough, while the picture of the [Gaza] boat is misplaced. It was taken last year, at the youth camp of the socialist youth. A youth organization to left of AUF. Hence, the following passage:
The main activity at the Utoya Island Meeting were mock “Break the Israel blockade” games. One event was Palestinian aide boats would try to break the Israel blockage. Whoever gets through first wins. The sign says “defeat the blockade” (opphev blokkaden – Gaza)
Is obviously wrong.
3. The gunman is a strong advocate for Israel, and stands behind much of the same rhetoric as we hear from the other usual suspects in the Zionist camp. The gunman looks at multi-culturalism as the greatest threat to Europe, and advocates in favour of segregated nation states.
And, for the record, it is appalling to see how the international media spun the Islamic terror card. The police kept denying Islamic terrorism from the very beginning, and we had very clear witness description of the gunman early Friday evening. The police stressed that they had solid evidence to connect the two incidents from early Friday morning. Yet, still, the international media played the ‘blame-the-Muslims’ circus for hours – even days. De facto supporting the gunman’s point of view.
Nevertheless, these incidents are sending shock waves through Norway and Scandinavia, and people are rallying behind the ideals of multi-culturalism. Islamophobes are finding themselves in a dark place, and there are no obvious ways for them to get out of it. People connect them to the killings, and the attack on democracy. Islamophobes, not Islam, is the major threat to our way of life.
Steiro serves as a programme coordinator for the NGO FORUT, coordinating its projects in Malawi. He is active in the centrist liberal party (Venstre) and has visited the West Bank twice.
Palestinian strategy focused on UN General Assembly and international courts to avoid US veto
Jul 25, 2011
annie
Barak Ravid writes today in Haaretz about Israeli fears over the Palestinian UN bid.
Israeli officials believe the Palestinians will skirt the Security Council and will appeal directly to the General Assembly, in order to avoid a potential American veto…….Israel is concerned that the Palestinians may use the General Assembly resolution in order to launch a legal fight in the International Court at the Hague
Israel officials are correct. In a PNN exclusive on May 24th of this year Nimir Hammad, political advisor for the Palestinian president, affirmed that the Palestinian authority had no intention to go to the United Nations Security Council for recognition of a Palestinian state.
Hammad explained that the Palestinian Authority will seek recognition in the General Assembly of the UN because of the nature of the current Israeli position towards the peace process and its refusal to achieve what has been agreed on in the past years.
“Because Israel refused to freeze settlement construction and the Judaization of Jerusalem we decided to take the whole problem in front of the UN General Assembly. If we succeed in achieving a recognition of the Palestinian state there then we will go to the UN at later stages backed by the majority votes in the General Assembly to recognize a Palestine state,” said Hammad.
UN recognition of statehood would provide Palestine access to pursue claims thru both the International Court of Justice and also the International Criminal Court. The ICJ is a civil tribunal that deals primarily with disputes between states. (update: In a recent NYT editorial Abbas wrote “Palestine’s admission to the United Nations would pave the way for the internationalization of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political one. It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice.” ) The US has no veto in either of the courts.
As Hostage explains:
I think that Palestine will go ahead and apply for full membership in the UN and that the 10th Emergency Special Session will be reconvened if the US interferes in the vote in the Security Council. If Palestine is admitted, it can pursue its own claims in the ICJ and ICC.
If not, the General Assembly can always adopt a resolution(s) (a) designating Palestine as a Permanent Observer State; (b) inviting Palestine to become a party to the ICJ Statute; (c) requesting that the ICC prosecutor act on the Article 12(3) Declaration of the State of Palestine; (d) requesting a follow-up advisory opinion on the legal consequences for states arising from Israel’s continued violation of the erga omnes obligation to remove impediments to the exercise of the right of self-determination by the Palestinian people in the occupied territories – including continued Israeli occupation, colonialism, and allegations of apartheid reported by UN fact finding missions; (e) calling on member states to impose sanctions including boycotts and divestments; and (f) calling on the member states of the ICC to refer the situation in Palestine to the Prosecutor in accordance with article 14 of the Rome Statute, while providing the Court with every assistance necessary for the exercise of its functions and the fulfilment of its purposes.
One or two of those eventualities would be more than adequate to alter Israel’s behavior.
I recommend additional comments from Hostage in this thread.
Pamela Geller says she didn’t influence killer, ‘Islamic supremacists’ did
Jul 25, 2011
Philip Weiss
Scott Shane in the New York Times, “Killings in Norway Spotlight Anti-Muslim Thought in the U.S.”:
Mr. Breivik frequently cited another blog, Atlas Shrugs, and recommended the Gates of Vienna among Web sites. Pamela Geller, an outspoken critic of Islam who runs Atlas Shrugs, wrote on her blog Sunday that any assertion that she or other antijihad writers bore any responsibility for Mr. Breivik’s actions was “ridiculous.”
“If anyone incited him to violence, it was Islamic supremacists,” she wrote.
‘Scourge of the West’ –Murdoch sheet shifts its bogeyman
Jul 25, 2011
Eleanor Kilroy
Tabloid Watch has a post on the British newspaper The Sun‘s initial response to the right-wing terror attack in Norway that left about 90 people dead. Tabloid Watch shows that the initial version of an editorial was deleted from the website of the Murdoch paper, and the ‘new’ version contains no mention of the fact it has been amended.
Today the paper’s line is that ‘madman’ Anders Breivik was a Nazi. With no discernible tone of irony, a paper that is proudly right-wing and Islamophobic, alludes to the alleged Norwegian terrorist’s ‘war’ on The Sun‘s very own targets, before quickly moving on to a fascist ideology that supposedly all of ‘Western civilisation’ can – belatedly – agree on hating. Why not just call him Hitler and be done with it:
“In 1,500 hate-filled pages, the warped Norwegian declared war on Muslims and left-wingers – and threatened to help bring down Western civilisation by the year 2083. Breivik – who honed his terror skills at camps run by neo-Nazis called The Vikings – told how he built an arsenal of guns and kept a huge explosives cache at an isolated farm.”
The sections in bold are the words removed from the current online version of Saturday’s article:
Stand strong with Norway
Carnage in a city centre. A massacre at an island youth rally.
Terrorism, the scourge of the West, brought slaughter yesterday to the friendly and civilised streets of one of Europe’s most peaceful nations.
The Sun and its readers grieve today with the people of Norway, stunned by the assault on their capital Oslo and the island of Utoya.
How well we remember, from London’s 7/7, the shock and misery when an ordinary summer’s day turns into a nightmare of smoke, flames and bodies in the street.
Just as on 9/11 in New York and in Madrid in 2004, horror came when everyone least expected it.
Why Norway? The answer is simple.
Because it is brave. It is a loyal member of NATO and plays its part in Afghanistan and Libya.
It has courageously stood up to Muslim fanatics trying to stir up hatred in Norway, where Islam is the second largest religion.
Recently it refused a grant to an Islamic leader demanding that those who did not observe Ramadan should be decapitated.
By daring to oppose terrorism, Norway has become a victim of it.
Attack
The gentle nation best known for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize suffered its most violent attack since World War Two.
We do not know if yesterday was the work of al-Qaeda, which has threatened Norway before, or Libyan madman Gaddafi, who has vowed revenge on NATO. Last night one extremist Islamic group had already claimed responsibility.
The lesson for us are clear.
Osama Bin Laden may be dead. But the tentacles of al-Qaeda, and groups linked to it, spread deep into the heart of Western nations.
That is why our security cannot be relaxed, especially with the London Olympics only a year away.
The Government must keep its promise to change the law so our judges can no longer free terror suspects on human rights grounds.
Muslim hate preachers must be arrested, as the law allows. We need the decent Muslim majority to help stop their impressionable young men being recruited as bombers.
We must find every penny our security services need.
We must ask ourselves whether – like Norway – we offer too cushy a life to bogus asylum seekers.
And we must recognise that quitting Afghanistan with the job only half-finished will put Britain in peril…