Mondoweiss Online Newsletter

NOVANEWS

• The soldier is a human being, isn’t he?

• What I’ve witnessed on the West Bank

• The 30-day epic of Ramadan

• The Refugees of Zone A

• Aipac uses fear of Palestinian statehood initiative to raise money

• Gaza strikes kill two youths, and cut off hands of 13-year-old boy playing football

• Israel severs ties with Qatar over… Palestinian statehood

• No way to honor Dr. King

• Even Sternhell, leftwing Zionist, concedes that ‘radical, ruthless, racist nationalism’ requires a… revolution

• Zuckerman paper says boycott gathers ‘the old anti-Semite and his quivering yes-man, the self hating Jew’

The soldier is a human being, isn’t he?

Aug 27, 2011

Aya Kaniuk and Tamar Goldschmidt

Ali Khalifa Mu’tasem Udwan

On Monday, August 1st, 2011, at dawn, the Occupation soldiers murdered Mu’tasem Udwan and Ali Khalifa and seriously wounded Ma’amun Awad.

It was the first morning of Ramadan.

Murder is always shocking. And because afterwards there is nothing. But what shocked me in particular was how Mu’tasem’s mother saw him very soon after he was murdered, lying on the ground by his house door, his brain splashed on the asphalt. This is how she saw him, her son, and somehow this is what shocks me most of all. Because as soon as he is dead, he is already gone and my thoughts go to the holes that he has left behind. But this particular hole, of Mu’tasem’s mother, is what turns off all the lights for me.

On the one hand, what happened that dawn in Qalandiya refugee camp is not extraordinary. Such things happen all the time. The Occupation soldiers invade one Palestinian locality or another, especially at night, under this or that pretext, and then they break doors, and after breaking in they smash things inside the house, closets and plate glass and television sets, and usually pick up one or another youth, about whom this or that has been said, some truth or some falsehood, usually taken as testimony from another boy under some pressure or other, whereby it is reasonable to assume that he would say anything he was told to say and confess anything he was ordered to confess, and usually there are also stones hurled at the Occupation soldiers and mostly the Occupation soldiers shoot at the stone throwers who are usually mere children, and they also fire rubber or teargas ammunition and even live bullets into homes and on the streets just like that, and here and there at the end of all of this people are wounded or killed, and all this is not that extraordinary. Not in the Qalandiya refugee camp, not throughout the Occupied West Bank.

Still, the murders of Ali Khalifa and Mu’tasem Udwan were cast in the camp as a unique event and different from all the other events that have become routine with the dripping of the years.

Again and again people have been saying, “how could they possibly do this”, and “why of all days on the first day of Ramadan”, the religious and the secular ask alike.

And not because the blood of a person murdered during Ramadan is more precious than that of a victim on any other day. But perhaps it is only that people cannot complain to the same extent at any given moment and shout ‘No!’ and that it is unbearable, unacceptable. For if they did that, no joy would be left, no endurance and the ability to exert oneself and bring up one’s children properly in spite of it all, and live in spite of everything, and also it is normally too dangerous to revolt, and involves tremendous effort.

But there are such moments when the truth, always present, emerges and is heard, and time stops.

Ramadan is such a symbolic moment. Perhaps because in Ramadan the shops remain open at night, too, and one has the duty of doing good deeds, and because people need such moments of shift away from the everyday, and this is provided by religion and tradition, and not only for Palestinians under Occupation.

“This is what happened that night”, says Haitham Hamed, our friend. A gentle, special man from Qalandiya refugee camp. “This is what I heard happened”.

“They came for Wajih. Wajih Haitham Khatib. He is a 15-year old boy. More than 200 soldiers came. 200 soldiers to catch a 15-year old boy. 200 soldiers came for one kid and killed two adults. That’s what happened. They always come, all the Israeli soldiers, to the camp. They bring with them all those forces just to pick up a kid or two… And the Border Patrol and… They keep coming from a thousand ways. From down here, from outside, from the settlement above. They come down, or up, and around the camp where the airplanes were (what used to be the Atarot airfield) and from the main road, from lots of roads. This time, too. They came from near the settlement.

And he’s accused – this I heard in the camp – do you know of what? Are you familiar with the settlement next to the camp? Not Psagot, what’s it called? Kochav Hashachar. He’s accused of having burnt the mountain. Burnt the mountain? With all those soldiers and Border Patrol and the guys with the guns and jeeps and fence and guards and cameras all around. He came to them and burnt a mountain there?

What a story. Just doesn’t enter one’s head. But that’s what his parents told me. That this is what he is accused of. That this 15-year old kid went near the settlement and burnt the mountain. The soldiers didn’t know his real address. So they entered more than one house. And in every house they broke stuff. That’s what I heard. And it’s normal for them to break stuff. They don’t know any other way. First they break the doors with their special machines that they bring. They don’t knock. Only this way, without saying a word, they place the device on the door and press a button and – pow – it opens the door. Always. Not once or twice. Like they did at our home, remember? People replace doors a lot in our camp (chuckling).

In short, they came to the camp, and didn’t find the boy. They didn’t find the boy. So if you don’t find the boy, you raise such hell? Right, Tammi? You don’t find the boy so you go ahead and kill two people? And then what did they do? What they did was to pick up his cousin. 22-years old. They didn’t find Wajih so they took his cousin, and said that they were taking him until the kid’s father would turn him in.”

And Tamar said: “It’s shocking, Haitham. Shocking. Not only do they kill them, they take in his nephew… kidnap…”

“Yes,” said Haitham. “And his dad brought him to Ofer prison the next day, I think. So his nephew would be released… Under what kind of law do they do this? Taking his cousin, telling his dad if you bring your own son, you can take back your nephew… What law has such words… For the father to hand in his own child. In his own hands he takes his child to prison. And the child knows he’s going…I can’t lie to you, stones have been thrown at them. They left Wajih’s house on the way to the another one, and stones were thrown at them. But often they entered the camp and picked the people up, and every time stones were thrown at them. But they didn’t always do this. So why did you come this time, in Ramadan? For a boy no older than 15 or 16? And you knew there were people in the street because of Ramadan. And you knew stones would be thrown at you. And I want to say something about the stone-throwing thing. Throwing stones, that’s the maximum. For who in the camp would have the heart to pick up a gun and shoot at soldiers? So maximum they throw stones. Say a Molotov cocktail, right, Tammi? At most, a Molotov cocktail or stones. So a stone was thrown, so what. They don’t kill you with a stone, right? A stone doesn’t kill, only wounds you. So for this you came and killed two?”

“Mu’tasem, Mu’tasem Udwan, the first fellow they killed. He is my neighbor,” says Majdi from the camp, whom we have just recently met. “He lives just 10 meters away. We were all woken up by the shooting… it was war… I went up to the roof. And there was this soldier down in the street. His rifle placed on a tripod… And Mu’tasem opened his door to take a look outside because of the shooting and the noise. Terrible noise… and teargas and lots of shooting. Mu’tasem who looked down didn’t notice the soldier. The soldier shot him in the head, and he fell to the floor. He opened the door of his home and the soldier shot him with a live bullet to the head… and his brain spilt on the ground. And he didn’t have a head anymore. He didn’t have a head…I saw all that from my roof. I’ll never forget this as long as I live. He had no more head… and his brain spilt on the floor. Abu Ali, Ali Khalifa the second one, he lives down hill. But that night he was at the camp. With his friends. That’s how it is during Ramadan. A bit like your Thursday and Friday nights. People hanging out together. All night. And guys beating traditional drums to wake people up before dawn so they might still get bread or other things for the house before the fast…….And then it all began….When the shooting got really heavy he wanted to go back home. To get away. His car was parked near my house. He may have come there because he wasn’t as familiar with the camp as we are, so he came back for his car. And he saw Mu’tasem lying on the ground. All alone. It was just 6 minutes after he was shot. And he went over, to Mu’tasem, he may have thought he was wounded, and wanted to help him. He didn’t notice the soldier…and the soldier shot him too. Two bullets. One came out the other side. And a hole opened up in his abdomen. And then he fell, right by Mu’tasem.”

“That’s how he went… How Abu Ali went…”

“Haitham, did you call him Abu Ali?”

“His name was Ali Khalifa. But he was called this way. Abu Ali, because his name is Ali. So you add the Abu. Like that.”

“Everyone knows these guys”, says Haitham. “The camp is small, but everyone knows Abu Ali most. I knew him well, the day before I saw him at the gas station, washing his car. But earlier too. He was with me in prison. As a boy. At the Russian Compound. He was a good person… He used to help people, the elderly, all of us cannot believe he’s dead, I swear to you. That he’s gone. Unbelievable. And he is a Jerusalemite. A Jerusalemite. He lives down the hill. Not in the camp… His parents pay municipal taxes. I knew Mu’tasem, too, but not well. He’s a nice guy. Really nice. Studied at the university. He was about to graduate in a year’s time. And he didn’t do anything. Doesn’t throw stones. He was at home. Looking out through his own door and was shot in the head.”

“And the one who was wounded, Ma’amun Awad, he was shot inside his car”, says Majdi. “He was trying to get away, and the soldiers wouldn’t let him pass, and he pleaded, and finally they threw a gas canister into his car, and smoke broke out, and he opened the car door to escape the smoke, and they shot him, they had an M-16, and he is wounded now. Badly wounded.”

“Maybe you know him”, says Haitham, “this is Ma’amun Awad, whose father owns a gas station at Semiramis, where the army camp used to be and the soldiers would throw stones at the taxis, remember? Poor guy. Got two bullet. Two bullets sitting in his backbone, and the doctors fear that if they’re removed, he will become paralyzed. They say if the bullets are taken out, he’ll end up paralyzed.”

And we fell silent again. Time passed. Then I asked: “Haitham, after that happened to Mu’tasem, did his family see?” Because I kept thinking of it the whole time.

“Sure they saw. He was shot at the entrance to his house. In the beginning his mother was upstairs, watching everything. She saw someone on the ground, his brain spilt… she didn’t realize at first that it was her own son she was seeing. Poor guy, she said, poor wounded child, crying for him not knowing it was her son. But shortly afterwards she knew. And rushed out. She couldn’t recognize him. his head was blasted, the brain was spilt on the ground. That’s what they say. And from the eyes up there’s nothing… And his mother went mad, poor woman. We all cried for her. Pulling at her hair. She’s ill. She’s ill now…”

“The thing that hurts you about Mu’tasem is that the fellow was inside his own home. Standing inside his home. You know what that means, at home? Where the heart is. That’s the worst. The most painful. Right?”

“I couldn’t eat for 4, 5 days after all of this”, says Majdi, “nor sleep properly… not after seeing his brain splashed on the ground.. his flesh hot. His and Abu Ali’s, hot… Abu Ali’s abdomen on the floor… all the flesh, the meat… After the soldiers left I went down where they lay, Mu’tasem and Abu Ali. I thought I’d pick all that up from the ground and put it away, on the side. But I was told not to. That they will take it too, to later sew it back into their bodies… So we collected all of this and put it in plastic bags, and it was hot, hot, their flesh was hot.”

“I think they do it on purpose”, Haitham added. “It’s on purpose. Tammi…. People are sitting like this anyway, and have nothing, and their life is hard. Such a hard life… So why pack in Ramadan like this? Why do this and leave people with no illusions? That’s the reason, I say. To take away their illusions. Their… How do you say this in Hebrew, I’ve forgotten. To take away their hope, Aya. That’s the word. That’s the point and I’m not racist. I look at things from many angles. This will happen and that will happen and I’ll think again and again. And I don’t see everyone the same way. But they did this out of racism. That’s what I think. Not because of the stones, and not because of Wajih. Because of racism. Otherwise they wouldn’t kill two people. It’s their racism that got Mu’tasem. And Abu Ali. Their racism…”

“The camp is very heavy now. Our heart is heavy” says Haitham, after we sat quietly for some more moments. “And fear. People are walking around afraid of soldiers, that if they go out at night, they’d be killed. From far away. And it’s quiet at night. People don’t open their windows out of fear. This is the story of what happened that night of Ramadan in our camp… This is what happened.”

And this is what our friend A., another friend from Qalandiya, told us (A. is a very close friend of ours, and he is always asking us to keep him anonymous because he is afraid that if the soldiers find out that he is talking about what happens at the camp, they would hurt his family). He is the one who first told us about this all, right after it happened. He called us twenty minutes after the murder in the camp, to tell, while the calls for the first prayer of Ramadan were still heard in the background, and Mu’tasem was already dead, and Ali not yet, and Ma’amun unconscious, and it all sounded unreal, like a film or a book or a nightmare:

“Mu’tasem, you know, is such a cute guy. He heard a noise… We say “this guy’s clock is through”. Now he stepped out of the door, the soldiers standing outside, saw a guy look out, so they shot him. I don’t know, I say this, you know, he’s dead, but someone shot him. The guy who shot, I mean what is he saying in his own home now? He’s sitting alone, I think he has kids, he too has a family, or a mother, brothers, his father… And he’s sitting at home, and saying I killed a child today. Why? He can’t say why. Because, why? What did the kid do? What did he do to me? Was he armed? No, he carried no weapon. Was he, how do you say this, was he one of the Arab fighters? No, he was not one of those. And I know he had nothing on him. He didn’t throw stones. He just stepped out of his home, and suddenly I killed him – the soldier would say and I say, this soldier, what can he say? If he has a heart, what does he end up saying? He’d say, wow, why did I kill him? That’s what I think. Just like that. Because, why? What did he do?”

And Tamar said, “I think he’s sitting at home and making this… screen… making up some story for himself.”

“No, no, listen”,  A. interrupts her. “He did this and he knows. He could have aimed at the leg, no? He could shoot at the leg and wound him. If he’d want to. But he aimed at the head. And Tammi, on their rifle they have this… he sees through his sights… he looks, he knows. You understand… So I don’t know, I don’t know what he… how he sits at home, knowing, knowing he killed. Say, the soldier is a human being, right? He has a heart, doesn’t he? So what does he tell himself. That I killed a boy today. What does he tell himself…”

(Crossposted @ mahsanmilim. Translated from Hebrew by Tal Haran)

What I’ve witnessed on the West Bank

Aug 27, 2011

Jdledell

Earlier tonight, Jdledell offered the following comment on a post about Palestinian children’s arrests. We asked if we could post it, and he agreed. He was responding to another Israeli commenter.

I am also a Jewish Israeli citizen but currently living in the US (dual citizenship has its advantages). My grandfather was Irgun. He readily admitted he was a Jewish terrorist fighting for Independence. In his journals and photographs you can find many dozens of episodes where not only British soldiers were killed but also innocent Arabs. He personally shot Arabs as well as prepared fertilizer bombs that were set off in Arab marketplaces to intimidate the local population. Frankly, he felt his and his fellow Irgun terrorism was justified no matter what it took to achieve a Jewish state. This rationalization ended when he participated in the Deir Yassin massacre and he promptly left Israel. Terrorism in pursuit of Independence is okay for Jews but not for others.

When I lived in Israel as well as now when I return twice a year for extended Holiday visits with my relatives, I have witnessed enough unnecessary violence and degradation by Jews in the West Bank to fill a very large book. I have seen IDF soldiers at a check point pissing on Palestinian shoes. In this instance, the Palestinian man tried to take a swing at the soldier who merely stepped back and shot the man in the chest. I watched two young teenagers near Kiryat Arba force a Palestinian family at gunpoint to get on their hands and knees and bark like a dog while a jeep full of IDF soldiers 20 feet away laughed. I have watched settlers at Bat Ayin use Palestinian sheep and goats for target practice and then have the nerve to retrieve the animals for their own feasts. I have watched settlers from Itamar cutting down Palestinian Olive trees in broad daylight with the IDF sitting in their vehicles 50 meters away watching the destruction. I have watched wholesale fondling of Palestinian women’s breasts by the IDF and armed settlers usually when the husband was present to degrade the man in front of others.

I could go on and on from my 50+ years in Israel. My entire side of the family, all 35 of them, reside in the settlements. I know settlers intimately because that is where I spend my Israeli time. To get a true flavor of the occupation I suggest you meander around the West Bank for a while and keep your eyes open. If you are a true Jew to your faith, you will be disgusted. If that doesn’t do it, go to shul in Kiryat Arba, Bat Ayin and Itamar. You will hear words of hatred that will make your hair stand straight up. Go on, and then report back to us.

 

The 30-day epic of Ramadan

Aug 27, 2011

Fidaa Abuassi

24th August, 2011

Episode I: Winter time in Summer

Move the clocks back one hour and Gaza will get an extra hour of sleep –of darkness, but, I thought to myself, haven’t we already got enough darkness?! The epic of having to switch back to winter time is almost repeated every Ramadan. Since Ramadan is based on the lunar cycle, it varies yearly. This year Ramadan is in August. It’s summer time. It’s scorching. It’s boiling hot. No matter what, winter time starts the moment Ramadan starts. Then, no wonder DST (daylight saving time) ends in August though it was supposed to end in October. Winter time in summer! Summer time in winter! Don’t bother thinking and go enjoy that extra hour of sleep because nothing makes sense in Gaza, why would time? It’s normal to be abnormal in Gaza. Don’t ask why or how. This is the way it is. It’s all settled. Period.

Episode II: After Ramadan

It’s also worth mentioning that, in Ramadan, work hours, office hours and study hours are reduced by two, which means that the official 8-3 would become 8-1, for example. Everything is delayed until Ramadan is over, and some people even take the whole month off. I hear them say “we will do it after Ramadan”, “we will agree after Ramadan”, “we will talk after Ramadan”, “we will call you after Ramadan”, “the exam is after Ramadan.” I still wonder why Ramadan, the month of change and good deeds, seems to many as though it was a month of inactivity and sleep, of inertia and fatigue, of stagnancy and retreat. This is not the true spirit of Ramadan, indeed.

Episode III: Dark Ramadan

Roughly speaking, the dawn-to-dusk fast means to abstain from food and drink. Gazans should decide to abstain from electricity as well, and no wonder we are uniquely different. Having regular power outages is a real epic; especially, when it’s hard to predict when it’s going to go off and come back. Had we known about its exact time beforehand, we’d have had our day scheduled accordingly. It’s advisable not to waste time awaiting the unknown, for power outages are never exact. To survive in Gaza, especially during Ramadan, we have to live as though it’s not a universally acknowledged right to have light all the time yet as a great privilege, and we have to celebrate each time the power returns. One has to visit a Gazan family to witness how everyone, especially children, rejoices when its Majesty, the power, is back and you’d hear them joyfully scream at the top of their voice “whoopee! ejat el kahrabaaaaa/the power is back”. Paradoxically, simple things make us happy in our far-from-being-simple life.

Episode IV: The two calls at dawn

As Muslims have to wake up for Suhoor –the pre-dawn meal, there are two Adhans/calls-to-prayer at dawn, the second of which is when Muslims begin their fasting. The epic of having two calls at dawn confuses most of us, let alone when you live in a neighborhood crammed with mosques so you’d hear the two calls a zillion times because of the irregular timing of calls recited by each. “sho? Addan? (did it call?)” “Is this the first or the second call?” “Do we still have time?” “Can I still take another gulp of water for one last time?”
Well, Ramadan is not about racing against the Adhan or eating and drinking till the last moment. One shouldn’t spoil the serenity of these peaceful pre-dawn moments when dua’as (supplications) are answered and should start making use of the last third portion of the night by praying to Allah, reading Quran and asking Him for whatever one wishes.

Episode V: The Rush Hour

As the countdown to the evening call-to-prayer rolls on, Gaza would become an absolutely frantic town, with everyone rushing home hysterically, with taxi-drivers honking their horns irritably, and with people at food stores running distractedly, pushing and hurrying one another impatiently. One needs to roam the street half an hour before the iftar to see how crazy people go. However, the instant the countdown stops, no one is there in sight, absolutely no one. People vanish from streets, and silence is all that one could hear.
Episode VI: The Luxurious Iftar

The epic of the iftar (the celebratory evening meal) is certainly worth a say. As the table is stuffed full of all kinds of food, of Ramadan special drinks and sweets, I wonder whether this is the essence of Ramadan! With all these luxuries, do we really empathize and sympathize with the poor and those in need? I don’t think that such extravagance after the 14-hour fast is what Ramadan stands for. Ramadan is not about starving ourselves then eating as much as we can. We don’t really feel for the poor and needy this way. And, why does it seem to me that people fear hunger more than anything else? One needs to go down the streets a week before the commencement of Ramadan and see how people crowd every bakery, clear out every supermarket and stack up every grocery as though there would be no food on this earth again, as though they had been starving the whole year and waiting for Ramadan to eat.

Episode VII: Ramadan Kareem

People need to understand the true essence of Ramadan. Ramadan is the month of working not of sleeping, a month of self-restraint not of mere hunger strike then having lavish iftar, a month of spiritual reflection not of watching TV, a month of worship not of banquets, a month of tolerance and patience, not of tensions and conflicts, and a month of night prayers not of night shopping. Ramadan Kareem to all of you!

(Crossposted @ Fidaa Abuassi’s blog Gaza in words)

 

The Refugees of Zone A

Aug 27, 2011

Philip Weiss

From Wikipedia, 2022:

“The Refugees of Zone A” refers to a group of about 500,000 refugees who left their homes in New York City during the legendary hurricane of 2011. Their homes were occupied by people fleeing Virginia and North Carolina, generally referred to as “Virginians,” who claimed the refugees’ homes as their own, and who renamed lower Manhattan “Manassas” to reflect their own historical connection to it.

The dispute has resulted in several armed conflicts that have undermined the political stability of the eastern United States.

History:

In August 2011, Hurricane Irene bore down on the Atlantic coast and then-mayor Mike Bloomberg ordered the evacuation of several hundred thousand New Yorkers living in low-lying areas, which he designated Zone A. It is believed that 500,000 left their homes, though the number is disputed, with some estimates approaching 750,000. The refugees generally went to other parts of the city or New York state or to neighboring states, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The refugees’ Central Committee insists that the refugees were ordered by law to leave– a claim disputed by the Virginians. The refugees concede that many carried their most precious possessions with them when they left but argue that they intended to return to their homes.

Many carry the keys to their homes to this day, or wear them around their necks as a symbol of their dispossession.

While the hurricane caused massive flooding and property damage in New York, it did its greatest damage in the Carolinas and Virginia, killing scores and leaving millions without homes. During the civil unrest that followed, about 100,000 of these southerners moved north to New York and occupied the homes left by the refugees.

The takeover was easily-effected (See War of 2012). The Virginians had superior firepower owing to a culture that prized the Second Amendment, and they gained widespread political support from the burgeoning Tea Party movement and President-elect Eric Cantor of Virginia. And in many cases, they were able to convince New York judges that they had ancestors who had lived in New York.

The Refugees of Zone A have won numerous court decisions acknowledging their right to return to their homes, but none of these rulings has been enforced, given the refugees’ lack of political strength. They are often scorned in the east coast media for refusing to get over their grievances and instead allowing them to fester, and for resorting to violence to try and regain their homes.

For their part, the Virginians have been able to point to numerous improvements they have made to Manassas/Lower Manhattan. Their advocates from Congress to Harvard Law School have argued that the refugees of Zone A ought to be absorbed by the communities that they fled to…

Etc.

Aipac uses fear of Palestinian statehood initiative to raise money

Aug 27, 2011

annie

From an AIPAC fundraising letter, full text below, from Lee Rosenberg, who first brought Barack Obama to Israel in 2006 and whom the president calls Rosey:

“Israelis could be dragged into foreign courts and charged with human rights violations…nations could implement sweeping economic sanctions…the Jewish presence in east Jerusalem could come under severe international challenge.”

Who’da thunk? The letter:

Your urgent action is needed
Please reply immediately

Dear Xxxxx:

Next month, the Palestinian Authority plans to ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital.

The United States has strongly objected to this approach, with Congress overwhelmingly passing resolutions threatening cuts in aid if the Palestinians continue to shun peace talks and go forward in their harmful efforts at the United Nations.

However, the Palestinians have not yet abandoned this path and more action is now needed to persuade them to change course and return to the negotiating table.

If America fails in this effort, the consequences could be immense: Israelis could be dragged into foreign courts and charged with human rights violations…nations could implement sweeping economic sanctions…the Jewish presence in east Jerusalem could come under severe international challenge.

That is why I am writing to ask for your help by joining the work of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee today.
In the coming weeks AIPAC and its members will be working with our leader in Washington to:
Ensure the United States makes clear to the Palestinians that it will veto any such resolution at the U.N. Security Council.
Urge our government to press the PA to return to the negotiating table with Israel.
Urge the United States to press foreign leaders to oppose Palestinian intransigence and support direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
By joining AIPAC today with a gift of $50, $75, $100 or more you will help AIPAC work with Congress and the administration to address these vital issues in the weeks leading up to the September meeting of the U.N. General Assembly.

For nearly 60 years, AIPAC has worked to make Israel more secure by ensuring American support remains strong.

As an AIPAC member, you help us work year-round with both Democratic and Republican political leaders to enact public policy that strengthens the vital U.S.-Israel relationship.

Thank you for your support. Please watch for additional updates on the Palestinian U.N. bid in the coming weeks.

Onward Together,

Lee Rosenberg
AIPAC President

Gaza strikes kill two youths, and cut off hands of 13-year-old boy playing football

Aug 27, 2011

Kate

This photograph of the unnamed boy who lost his hands and was badly burned in an Israeli airstrike while playing football about a week ago is via Julie Webb-Pullman at Scoop…Her videos are also at the link.

And here is the rest of the digest:

Settlers
Israel OK’s expansion of building in Hebron
JERUSALEM (AP) 26 Aug — Israel is allowing Jewish settlers to expand a building in Hebron, one of the West Bank’s most volatile cities. Palestinians object to Jewish construction in areas they envision for their future state. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s office said Friday he gave the building permit to house a kindergarten in Beit Romano, a structure built in the late 1800s by a Jewish merchant. Today it houses a religious seminary. Hagit Ofran of settlement watchdog Peace Now says Barak has become a “tool of the most radical settlers.” Hebron is holy to Muslims and Jews. Today, more than 600 Jews live there in fortified enclaves amid 170,000 Palestinians.
link to old.news.yahoo.com
Official: Palestinian hurt in clash with settlers
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 26 Aug — A Palestinian man from Nablus was injured in clashes with Israeli settlers and soldiers on Friday, an official said. Jamal Jerawy, 22, from Qasra village, was hospitalized for injuries sustained in the incident, according to Ghassan Doughlas, a Fatah official monitoring settlement activity in the northern West Bank. Doughlas said clashes erupted as settlers uprooted olive trees near the Majdolin settlement. [End]
link to www.maannews.net
Israeli forces
PCHR Weekly Report 18-24 August: 17 killed, including 2 children; 14 injured by Israeli forces
IMEMC 26 Aug — In its Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for the week of 18– 24 Aug. 2011, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights found that Israeli forces killed 17 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. 5 of the victims are civilians, including two children and a physician. In addition, 3 workers went missing when Israeli warplanes bombarded a tunnel in Rafah. A Palestinian resistance fighter died of a previous wound in Gaza City. 14 Palestinians, including 5 children and two women, were wounded by Israeli forces the Gaza Strip [details follow] … Israeli attacks in the West Bank: Israeli forces conducted 27 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. Two Palestinian civilians were wounded by Israeli forces in Hebron and Bethlehem. Israeli forces abducted 77 Palestinians, including a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, two journalists, academics and social figures. Full text of the report
link to www.imemc.org
How Israel takes its revenge on boys who throw stones / Catrina Stewart
[3 photos] The Independent 16 Aug — Video seen by Catrina Stewart reveals the brutal interrogation of young Palestinians — The boy, small and frail, is struggling to stay awake. His head lolls to the side, at one point slumping on to his chest. “Lift up your head! Lift it up!” shouts one of his interrogators, slapping him. But the boy by now is past caring, for he has been awake for at least 12 hours since he was separated at gunpoint from his parents at two that morning. “I wish you’d let me go,” the boy whimpers, “just so I can get some sleep.” During the nearly six-hour video, 14-year-old Palestinian Islam Tamimi, exhausted and scared, is steadily broken to the point where he starts to incriminate men from his village and weave fantastic tales that he believes his tormentors want to hear. This rarely seen footage seen by The Independent offers a glimpse into an Israeli interrogation, almost a rite of passage that hundreds of Palestinian children accused of throwing stones undergo every year.
Child detention figures
7,000 [Figure corrected, with apologies for earlier production error.] The estimated number of Palestinian children detained and prosecuted in Israeli military courts since 2000, shows a report by Defence for Children International Palestine (DCIP).
87% The percentage of children subjected to some form of physical violence while in custody. About 91 per cent are also believed to be blindfolded at some point during their detention.
12 The minimum age of criminal responsibility, as stipulated in the Military Order 1651.
62% The percentage of children arrested between 12am and 5am.
link to www.independent.co.uk
Israeli forces surround Jenin Freedom Theatre for second time in a month; abduct 3
IMEMC 25 Aug — A squadron of Israeli armored vehicles and soldiers entered Jenin refugee camp at around 2 am on Tuesday morning, surrounded the Jenin Freedom Theatre, beat the security guard before abducting him and two others. This is the second time this month that Israeli troops have surrounded the theatre and abducted staff members. The first time, three staff were abducted and investigated as part of the murder of theatre co-director Juliano Mer-Khamis. On Monday, an Israeli military court outside Jenin ruled that the three had nothing to do with the attack, and should be released by the end of this week. But after the ruling, Israeli forces again invaded the camp and surrounded the theatre … In Tuesday’s attack, Israeli soldiers forced the Theatre’s Acting General Manager, Jacob Gough, to strip at gunpoint on the street in front of the theatre. When he tried to explain who he was, one of the soldiers told him to “shut up or you will get a proper beating”. They then abducted Gough and took him to an unknown location.
link to www.imemc.org
Police deploy in force in Jerusalem’s Old City
JERUSALEM (AFP) 26 Aug — Israeli police deployed in large numbers in Jerusalem’s Old City Friday in a bid to head off incidents on the last weekly day of prayer before the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. “Policemen and border guards have been deployed in Jerusalem, and a state of alert has been maintained throughout the country,” following recent rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, a police spokeswoman said. She did not mention any specific state of alert over possible disorder, though police have stepped up security checks for fear of attacks in the holy city.
link to www.maannews.net
Gaza
Islamic Jihad: Ceasefire with Israel agreed at dawn
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 26 Aug — Senior Islamic Jihad officials said the faction had agreed a ceasefire with Israel at dawn Friday, after mediation by Egypt. Two members of Islamic Jihad’s military wing were killed in an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip around 9 p.m. Thursday, prompting outraged calls to reject a truce from the Islamic faction and another group, the Popular Resistance Committees. 
link to www.maannews.net
PFLP Brigades claim rocket fired into Ashkelon
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma‘an) 26 Aug 21:12 — A leftist armed group said its forces fired a rocket from Gaza into southern Israel on Friday, hours after a dawn ceasefire deal was announced by Gaza factions. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s armed wing said it fired a Grad rocket at Ashkelon. The attack caused no damage or injuries, the Israeli news site Ynet reported. The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades said it fired the rocket in response to “Israeli crimes.”
The group was the only armed faction in the Gaza Strip to reject a short-lived ceasefire deal agreed Sunday by Hamas and others.
link to www.maannews.net
Second rocket hits Israel after renewal of Gaza cease-fire
Haaretz 26 Aug 19:23 — A Qassam rocket fell in Sdot Negev Regional Council hours after a Grad rocket landed near Ashkelon in an open field Friday afternoon, despite an Egypt mediated cease-fire between Gaza militants and Israel. No damage or injuries were reported in either hit.
link to www.haaretz.com
Elderly farmer murdered in Israeli airstrike in Bureij
ISM Gaza 26 Aug — Ismail Nimr Ammoum worked his whole life as a farm laborer. He did not have land of his own, he worked for others, planting, watering, weeding, whatever needed done. He was a strong man, and he loved to work, work did not bother him. He kept working because he loved to work, what else would he do? He lived with his sister in Bureij, but often spent the nights sleeping wherever he was working. On Wednesday, August 24, 2011 Ismail was working for the Al-Khaldi family. He had spent the previous several days living in a small wood hut on the land. At five A.M. neighbors heard the explosion of an Israeli missile strike, but they thought that the land there was empty, they did not realize that Ismail had stayed the night in the hut. That afternoon, the owner of the land came to check up on things. When he arrived he noticed that everything things weren’t right, he opened the gate and then he saw the hut. He saw Ismail’s shattered body lying in the rubble. He had been killed in the missile strike. Ismail’s father was from Lod. He was a refugee; his family was expelled from his home by Israeli soldiers in 1948.
link to palsolidarity.org
Two killed in bombing of al-Salama sport club in Beit Lahiya
ISM Gaza 25 Aug — At about 1:30 A.M. on August 25, 2011 Israeli warplanes bombed the Salama Sports Club in Beit Lahia. The building was empty at the time. The sports club, however, is in the middle of a residential area. Two people from a neighboring house were killed in the bombing, Salama Abdul Rahman al-Masri, 18, the son of the house’s owner, who died immediately; and Alaa ‘Adnan Mohammed al-Jakhbeer, 22, from Jabalya. Twenty-five other people were injured in the bombing, including eleven children and seven women. The bombing also caused heavy damage to the Dar Al Huda School and several surrounding buildings. Salama was sitting with seven friends of his in the back yard of his family’s house. After evening prayers they often sat there.
link to palsolidarity.org
VIDEOS: Gaza: Why? is the question my son asks me –  Dr Ayman Al-Sahbani / Julie Web-Pullman
Dr Ayman Al-Sahbani describes how medical supplies are running out at his critical care unit in Gaza. Dr Ayman came close to tears several times as he showed me around the emergency department and the critical care unit. “We want the world to know what is happening here in Gaza,” he said. “We need to know what these weapons are. We have twenty children in here, with injuries we have never encountered before, even in Operation Cast Lead when we first saw phosphorous burns. These weapons are even worse, they cause terrible burns, they sever feet and legs, and hands, they fill the bodies with hundreds of small pieces of metal.” Dr Ayman pulled back a curtain, “Here is a 13-year-old boy who was playing football with his friends when they were struck by an Israeli rocket, both his hands were blown off and his legs badly injured as well, and he has terrible burns, and shrapnel all over his body.”
link to www.scoop.co.nz
Global actions target Egyptian embassies to break Israel’s closure of Gaza
ICORB 26 Aug — Fed up with the closure of Gaza that has kept more than a million and a half Palestinians locked in to the strip’s tight borders, a beacon call is coming from Gaza and resonating across to Egypt, to break Israel’s siege and re-open the border with Egypt immediately. Activists from South Africa, to youth leaders of the Egyptian revolution, to European, North and South American, and Asian supporters will present signatures to their respective Egyptian Consulates starting Friday August 26th to demand the permanent re-opening of the Rafah Crossing with Egypt without conditions. Despite promises by the Egyptian government to open it, approximately 35,000 people wait daily to cross the border.
link to palsolidarity.org
Palestinians rally in Gaza City for al-Quds day
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 Aug — Palestinians rallied in Gaza City on Friday to mark Al-Quds Day, marching from the As-Saraya mosque to Ash-Shawwa tower after Friday prayers. PFLP-General Command politburo member Adel Al-Hakim addressed the protesters lauding Muslim unity in the cause of freedom. Jerusalem will remain the legacy of the Muslim and Arab people, Al-Hakim said, despite Israeli efforts to Judaize the city.
link to www.maannews.net
Gaza militant group pledges resistance to Jewish Jerusalem
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 Aug — A little-known militant group in Gaza said Friday it would continue “resistance to liberate Palestine and its capital Jerusalem.” The Al-Aqsa Brigades — Imad Mughniyeh Martyrs said in a statement marking Al-Quds Day that all factions and Jerusalem organizations should work to oppose Israel’s attempt to impose a Jewish identity on Jerusalem. Al-Quds Day is marked across the world by Palestine solidarity activists on the last Friday of Ramadan. State-sponsored rallies are also held in Iran. The Imad Mughniyeh Martyrs, named after a Hizbullah leader killed in 2008, have been variously tied to the Lebanon-based group, Islamic Jihad in Gaza, and militants who left Fatah-affiliated Al-Alqsa Brigades. [End]
link to www.maannews.net
South Africa activists visit Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) — A solidarity group from South Africa arrived in Gaza Thursday evening, for a four-day visit they have called “Freedom for detainees.” The 36 activists will meet with figures who work on the issue of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jail, a Ma‘an correspondent said. The group brought 10 trucks of medical and humanitarian supplies, entering through the southern Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. [End]
link to www.maannews.net
Barak: We’ll allow helicopters, more troops into Sinai
Ynet 26 Aug — Defense Minister Ehud Barak told The Economist on Thursday that Israel will allow Egypt to deploy thousands of troops in the Sinai Peninsula, even though the 1979 Peace Treaty forbids it. Barak said that the forces will have helicopters and armored vehicles, but no tanks beyond the one battalion stationed there.
link to www.ynetnews.com
Golani soldier killed by friendly fire
Deadly Mistake – Staff Sergeant Moshe Naftali, a Golani Reconnaissance unit combatant who died during Thursday’sterror attack in southern Israel, was killed by friendly fire, an initial military investigation into the incident revealed.
link to www.ynetnews.com
WikiLeaks: Lieberman wanted Egypt to give land to Gaza
Ynet 26 Aug — A new document posted on the WikiLeaks website reveals that prior to becoming the foreign minister,Avigdor Lieberman suggested that Egypt should give Gaza Strip some of its territory.  According to protocols from a 2006 meeting between Lieberman and then-United States Ambassador Richard Jones, the foreign minister-to be suggested to demarcate the border with the Palestinians in a way that would include Egypt.
link to www.ynetnews.com
Activism
West Bank: Olive Revolution seeks free access to East Jerusalem
[photos] LA Times blog 26 Aug by Maher Abukhater in Ramallah, West Bank — When Israeli police and soldiers manning Qalandia checkpoint prevented West Bank Muslims under the age of 50 from crossing into Jerusalem to reach Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform the last Friday of Ramadan prayer, the dozens left behind decided to pray at the checkpoint. When they finished, they, along with Israeli and international supporters from a movement called Olive Revolution, gathered facing Israeli police and soldiers separated only by cement blocks. They chanted anti-occupation slogans and demanded access to East Jerusalem, which Israel has occupied since June 1967.
link to latimesblogs.latimes.com
Olive Revolution in pictures: Palestinians march on Jerusalem
Pal.Tel. 26 Aug – 25 photos
link to www.paltelegraph.com
Detention
Israeli occupation detains lawmaker Anwar Zaboun
BETHLEHEM (PIC) 26 Aug — IOF troops detained,  Friday at dawn,  Anwar Zaboun (45 years), member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, after raiding his home in the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem. Local sources in the Bethlehem district said that a number of IOF troops aboard a number of military vehicles entered Bethlehem, they encircled the home of Anwar Zaboun, raided it and took the lawmaker away.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Occupation renews administrative detention of Palestinian lawmaker
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 26 Aug — The Israeli occupation authority on Thursday extended the administrative detention (without charge or trial) of Jamal al-Natshe, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, representing al-Khalil district … He was kept in prison after end of his detention term and his family was expecting his release especially that his health has deteriorated, but the occupation authority decided to keep him in jail and renewed his administrative detention at a military court on Thursday. Natshe is jailed in the Askalan prison and has been denied visits since his arrest in January. The Change and Reform Party, to which Natshe is affiliated, said that his detention is illegal and goes against international laws and conventions.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
PA intelligence summons journalist Ali Qaraqe‘
BETHLEHEM (PIC) 26 Aug — The PA General Intelligence (the Mukhabarat) has summoned  Palestinian journalist and political activist Ali Qaraqe‘ for questioning. GI officers handed Qaraqe‘ a summons for questioning without explaining the reason for the summons … This the second time in less than a month that the PA security in the West Bank summons young  journalists; the preventive security summoned Majdoleen Hassouna early Aughust and arrested two of her brothers to pressure her to attend at their headquarters.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
PA arrests professor who criticized Nablus University
JPost 26 Aug — Abdel Sattar Qassem is a well-known critic of the PA leadership: in the past he declared his intention to run in the presidential election. A prominent Palestinian professor who wrote an article criticizing the university administration where he works was arrested on Thursday by Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank. Palestinian sources said that Abdel Sattar Qassem, who works at An-Najah University in Nablus, was ordered to be held in custody for 48 hours following a complaint from the university president, Rami Hamdallah.
link to www.jpost.com
Refugees
Prisoners offer assistance to Lebanese students
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 26 Aug — Fatah prisoners at the Ramon prison in Israel said Thursday they were donating their salaries to help benefit Palestinian students in Lebanon, after a suggestion from the president. Mahmoud Abbas’ call for support to Palestinian in Lebanese refugee camps netted about 100,000 shekels, according to a letter from the prisoners circulated by the detainees ministry on Thursday.  Representative of prisoners in the Ramon jail Jamal Al-Rajoub said the program was a successful so far, while detainees minister Issa Qaraqe applauded the prisoners for their “generous spirit.” [End]
link to www.maannews.net
Statehood bid
US envoy: We will stop aid to Palestinians if UN bid proceeds
dpa 26 Aug — The United States will stop all financial aid to the Palestinian Authority if they proceed with plans to ask the United Nations for recognition of an independent state in September, a U.S. official warned Friday … “If the Palestinian Authority insists on going to the Security Council, the U.S. will use the veto,” he told Erekat during a meeting in the West Bank city of Jericho, according to a statement issued by Erekat’s office. “And in case the Palestinian Authority seeks to upgrade its position at the UN through the General Assembly, the U.S. Congress will take punitive measures against it, including a cut in U.S. aid,” he said.
link to www.haaretz.com
PA: Honduras recognizes Palestinian state
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 26 Aug — Honduras has recognized the State of Palestine, the official Palestinian Authority news agency reported Friday. The announcement came in a letter to President Mahmoud Abbas that Honduras recognized the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders and would back efforts to seek membership in the UN, WAFA reported.
link to www.maannews.net
El Salvador recognizes Palestine as independent state
SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) 25 Aug — El Salvador on Thursday recognized Palestine as an independent state in the midst of a drive by the Arab League to upgrade it to full membership status in the United Nations … About 120 countries have recognized the state of Palestine to date.
link to www.maannews.net
Ashrawi: UN statehood bid no threat to PLO
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 25 Aug — Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi said Thursday that the plan to join the United Nations as a state would not threaten the PLO’s rights in the world body.  Ashrawi, a senior PLO member, disputed arguments by international law expert Guy Goodwin-Gill, who has informed the Palestinian team that the initiative could terminate the legal status held by the PLO in the UN.
link to www.maannews.net
Other political / international news
Arab League chief: Egypt-Israel peace treaty not as sacred as the Koran
Haaretz 26 Aug — Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby, says the 1979 peace treaty is ‘not sacred,’ and is subject to annulment or amendment if breached by either side.
link to www.haaretz.com
Other news
PA cabinet: Eid begins Tuesday
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 26 Aug — The Palestinian Authority cabinet on Tuesday announced the West Bank and Gaza will revert to summer time at the start of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday on August 30. At the weekly Ramallah-based government meeting, ministers also assured civil servants that their salaries would be paid on Thursday despite the ongoing financial crisis, a statement released Friday said. The holy month of Ramadan concludes with three days of festivities, the date set by the lunar schedule. Eid Al-Fitr holidays will begin Tuesday, the ministers said, and time would revert to +3 hours GMT, after clocks were were pushed back an hour in the West Bank and Gaza during Ramadan.
link to www.maannews.net
Palestinian, Jew give both sides on joint Jerusalem tours
CNN 26 Aug — As a soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces, Kobi Skolnick once fired shots at Aziz Abu Sarah’s aunt’s house in the West Bank town of Hebron. Ten years later, Skolnick, a former Israeli settler, who grew up in an ultra-orthodox household, and Abu Sarah, once a Palestinian militant, work together explaining both sides of the Middle East conflict to tourists. They discovered the uncomfortable coincidence during a tour in Hebron for Mejdi, a “dual-narrative” tour company co-owned by Abu Sarah, where every tour is jointly led by Jewish and Palestinian guides … Mejdi guides explain landmarks and historic sites from their personal experiences and those of their communities. One of the tour groups from an American synagogue even spent several days on home-stays in a Palestinian refugee camp.
link to www.cnn.com
The fastest women in the West Bank
Glober&Mail 26 Aug — Marah Zahalka was 11 years old when she first got behind the wheel of her family’s Volkswagen Golf in the small, conservative city of Jenin, in the West Bank. Her mother, a driving instructor, had gotten sick of listening to her daughter begging to drive and so, carefully, she helped Zahalka adjust the front seat, start the engine and slowly lower her foot onto the gas. As it turned out, the kid was a natural, and shortly after getting her licence at age 17, she began competing regularly in racing events held throughout the Palestinian territory. “I want to go to Formula One,” she says.
link to www.theglobeandmail.com
In Pictures: The West Bank’s girl racers
Globe&Mail 26 Aug — Young Palestinian women are tearing up stereotypes as they compete with men on the race track.
link to www.theglobeandmail.com
Teaching the piano to sing in Nablus / Noam Ben Zeev
NABLUS (Haaretz) 22 Aug – An improvised road block. An armored jeep to the right. An armed soldier making circles in the air with his finger. These were the first sights that greeted the conductor, pianist and world-renowned musicologist Joshua Rifkin on his sortie to the West Bank last Shabbat … Nablus is more besieged than any other city in the West Bank and suffers terribly. “Before the Israeli occupation, we were the cultural and commercial capital of the West Bank. Now we are nothing,” says Hammad, “so a few friends and I decided to do something. This is part of our opposition: Israel’s goal is to destroy traditions and culture – essentially our identity. You can put a man in jail, but you cannot imprison his spirit, so we will nourish this spirit.” International support has also passed over Nablus, which is an overwhelmingly Muslim city. “I call them the holy trinity – Ramallah-Jerusalem-Bethlehem,” jokes Hammad. “The guests who come to this region visit those [cities], and Nablus is left out in the cold. But how much history does Ramallah have? 100 years. We have 9,000!”
link to www.haaretz.com
WikiLeaks cables: US embassy believed Netanyahu would advance peace in 2009
Among the thousands of U.S. embassy cables published by Wikileaks on Thursday, those from the Tel Aviv embassy shed light on the administration’s views on senior Israeli politicians.
link to www.haaretz.com
Israel’s education minister wants social protests taught in schools
Haaretz 27 Aug — Gideon Sa’ar asks his staff to develop lessons on public protests to be incorporated in the curriculum, leading The Association for Civil Rights to propose the ministry adopt lesson plans already developed by the organization …The Association for Civil Rights in Israel developed a four-part curriculum on the right to housing, medical care, freedom of expression through protest, and issues involving public activism. The housing unit features a trivia game on the subject of housing discrimination, posing questions such as: How much has the Arab population grown since 1948? How much has the land held by the Arab population grown during that period? (The answer provided is that the population has grown by a factor of eight but the amount of land held by Israeli Arabs has been cut in half. ) The answer to another question states that more than 600 new Jewish locales have been established since the founding of the state, but no Arab locales have been established during that period.
link to www.haaretz.com
Analysis / Opinion
Egypt-Israel-Palestine: an awkward three-way dance / Khaled Diab
Guardian 26 Aug — Relations between Israel and post-revolution Egypt are proving tetchy – but ordinary people hold the keys to peace — … Though military tensions seem to have subsided, an escalating war of words is brewing between Egypt and Israel. In Israel, in addition to anger, grief and a desire for vengeance, allegations are flying that Egypt has “lost control” of Sinai. For its part, Egypt counters that the Israeli security apparatus was pretty much caught with its pants down in its failure to protect its borders. There is also a widespread foreboding that this is just a taste of things to come in post-revolution Egypt. Egypt has also been gripped by anger, grief and calls for vengeance.
link to www.guardian.co.uk
Israeli game over / Emad Gad
al-Ahram 25 Aug — Tel Aviv can no longer demand that Egypt’s hands be tied in controlling its border, while then complaining that Egypt is failing to provide security
link to weekly.ahram.org.eg
Lebensraum as a justification for Israeli settlements / Yossi Sarid
Haaretz 26 Aug — Until now Israel had supported the occupation of the territories with two pillars: history and security – its right to inherit the land and its obligation to defend it. In recent weeks a third pillar was added, which all these years was hidden under straw and stubble. And maybe it’s not a pillar but a snake, whose head must be crushed while it’s still small … And now, in the middle of the summer, when the social protest is putting the housing shortage at the top of the agenda for a moment, the third school of thought is developing and taking hold … Suddenly we are short of space here in Israel, which has become full to capacity and needs lebensraum. Every cultured person knows that this is a despicable German concept, banned from use because of the associations it brings up. Still, people are starting to use it, if not outright then with a clear implication: We are short of land, we are short of air, let us breathe in this country.
link to www.haaretz.com
Social justice also means ending the occupation / Zeev Sternhell
Haaretz 26 Aug — Justice is not merely the right to decent housing for Jews, it is also the right to freedom of a nation under occupation — Be the internal ills of Israeli society as they may, and they are too numerous to count, most of them can be treated and even cured; but the occupation and colonialism are terminal illnesses. Therefore anyone who refuses to understand – as did Shelly Yachimovich in her interview with Haaretz’s weekend magazine – that the socialism of masters, and on behalf of masters, is no less ruthless and despicable than the neoliberalism of the rich on behalf of the rich, is not worthy of seeking the leadership of a party that has pretensions of charting the future.
link to www.haaretz.com
Haaretz editorial: The extreme Israeli right’s alliance with lunatics
25 Aug — In recent years, the extreme Israeli right has developed an alliance with heads of the evangelical movement, who define themselves as Christian Zionists, some of whom believe that another Holocaust of the Jews will ensure the resurrection of Jesus.
link to www.haaretz.com
groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi (listserv)
www.theheadlines.org (archive)

Israel severs ties with Qatar over… Palestinian statehood

Aug 27, 2011

annie

Jordan Times, Lebanon’s The Daily Star and AlJazeera’s Qatar live blog are all reporting on an article from Maariv announcing:

Israel is angry with Qatar….The decision to end ties was taken by the highest echelons of the ministry, with the involvement of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Maariv said.

Nothing in the western press thus far. (update: Elliot Abrams breaks it here)

All of the stories open by repeating Israel’s claim the decision reflects Qatar’s close relationship with Hamas. And then there’s this:

Israel is also angry at Doha on account of the legal and political aid it is providing to the Palestinians ahead of their bid to seek UN membership in September – help provided by Qatar in its role as chair of the Arab League’s monitoring committee, Maariv said.

The ministry’s report claims that Qatar has been “significantly involved” in pushing the Palestinians to seek statehood in September and the legal preparations towards that.

…..

“We have decided to take off the gloves in light of Qatar’s widespread and ongoing anti-Israeli activity,” a senior official told the paper.

“Qatar is currently leading the activity against Israel on the international front, and we cannot continue to behave towards it as if normal relations still existed.”

Middle East Monitor on the “punitive measure” Israel plans to take:

The Israeli Foreign Ministry, claimed Maariv, has outlined the steps it has taken against the tiny state. Over the past few months, for example, the government in Tel Aviv has sought to suppress every regional initiative promoted by Qatar and stopped several Qatar-funded projects in Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories. More seriously, perhaps, Israel has also decided to close its diplomatic mission in Doha and ban Qatari officials from entering Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories.

No way to honor Dr. King

Aug 27, 2011

Medea Benjamin

The ceremonies for the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington DC were kicked off on August 24 at an event billed as Honoring Global Leaders for Peace. But some of those honored are a far cry from King’s beloved community of the poor and oppressed. The tribute to peacemakers, organized by the MLK National Memorial Foundation, was mostly a night applauding warmakers, corporate profiteers and co-opted musicians.

The night started out with great promise when MC Andrea Mitchell mentioned Dr. King’s brilliant anti-war speech Beyond Vietnam as a key to understanding the real Dr. King. And sure, there were a few wonderful moments—a song by Stevie Wonder, a speech about nonviolence by the South African Ambassador and a quick appearance by Jesse Jackson Sr. in which he managed to spit out a call to “study war no more.”

But most of the evening’s speakers and guests of honor had little to do with peacemaking. One of the dignitaries thanked at the start of the program was Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, representing a country that uses $3 billion a year in precious U.S. tax dollars to commit war crimes against Palestinians.

Then came a parade of representatives of corporations that want to cleanse their image by being associated with Dr. King. The first was General Motors VP Eric Peterson. His company took billions from government coffers to keep it afloat, then showed its “generosity” by donating $10 million of our tax dollars to the memorial. Mr. Peterson gave a speech paying tribute to the company’s first black board member, Rev. Leon Sullivan. Peterson claimed that the Sullivan Principles, principles that established a social responsibility code for companies working in South Africa, helped abolish apartheid. The truth is that the Sullivan Principles ended up being a cover for U.S. corporations—like General Motors–to continue doing business in racist South Africa instead of respecting the international divestment campaign.

Up next was Guy Vikers, president of the Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation. Although the group Sweatshop Watch fingered Hilfiger for mistreating workers and inducted the company into its Hall of Shame, Hilfiger’s $6 million gift to the memorial bought it a piece of the King legacy.

Next on the corporate sponsor list was Myrtle Potter of Medco Health Solutions. Medco is a $60 billion “pharmaceutical management” company that fought against healthcare reform and was recently forced to pay the U.S. government $155 million to settle fraud charges. Other corporate benefactors to the memorial include union-busting Verizon, war profiteering General Electric and sweatshop king Wal-Mart.

After the line-up of corporate shills came U.S. trade rep Ron Kirk. One wonders how on earth a man who pushes free trade policies that destroy workers’ right and promote a race to the bottom was deemed a peacemaker. King’s commitment to workers—remember his support of the sanitation workers?—was in total opposition to Ron Kirk’s pro-corporate stance.

But the queen bee of the evening was former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. She dismissed King’s call that morality to be the guiding light of our international relations as nice, but far from the complex real world where we have enemies we have to confront. This is the same “practical” diplomat whose claim to shame in the eyes of true peacemakers was her support of such stringent sanctions against Iraq that over 500,000 children under 5 were killed. When asked about the morality of this policy on national TV, Albright calmly asserted that “the price was worth it” in the fight against Saddam Hussein.

Ms. Albright was awarded a model-size version of the King Memorial, presented by the controversial Chinese artist himself, Lei Yixin. Uninvited was the group that had spearheaded a campaign pressing the Foundation to choose an African-American artist, and use American granite and American workers. Instead the Foundation tried to save some money with a Chinese artist who used Chinese materials and Chinese workers. The human rights abusing Chinese government, delighted by the association with Dr. King, sweetened the deal with a $25 million donation. And despite written promises that the Foundation would use local stonemasons to assemble the memorial, Chinese laborers were used. The Washington area local of the Bricklayers and Allied Craftsworkers union claims the workers were not paid fairly, and their pay was withheld until they returned to China.

After the speeches and Stevie Wonder’s song, the mic was turned over to an Israeli musician Idan Raichel, an avid supporter of the Israeli Army and someone who has publicly expressed approval of Israel’s 2009 invasion of Gaza. One wonders how much the Israel government gave to the Foundation to get a plum spot in the tribute to peace.

But don’t ask the King family how they feel about their fathers’ opening tribute being sold off to the highest bidder. The family demands royalties for use of the King name—even from the Memorial—and so far have received about a million dollars. Cambridge University historian David Garrow, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography of King, said that King would have been “absolutely scandalizedby the profiteering behavior of his children.”

Today’s great global peacemakers, the true followers of Dr. King, were neither seen nor evoked. No mention of Burma’s struggling opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi or the nonviolent protagonists of the Arab Spring or the environmentalists opposing a proposed tar sands pipeline from Canada to Texaswho were arrested at the White House on the very day of the tribute. No mention of the U.S. peace groups trying—for 10 years now—to stop the horrifying Bush/Obama wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the drone attacks in Pakistan that have killed so many civilians.

Dr. King, whose life was spent preaching unconditional love and nonviolent redemptive good, continues to inspire people the world over who are helping to shape his vision of an “arc of the moral universe” that is long but bends toward justice. Gandhi, King, Mandela—there are precious few whose legacies resonate with those who are risking their lives today, in a nonviolent fashion, to eliminate the evils of racism, poverty, militarism and environmental destruction. King’s tribute to global peacemakers should have reached out to them as the legitimate heirs of the King legacy, not the monied interests who helped pay for the piece of carved granite that bears his image.

This piece was first posted at the PinkTank, at the Code Pink site.

Even Sternhell, leftwing Zionist, concedes that ‘radical, ruthless, racist nationalism’ requires a… revolution

Aug 27, 2011

Philip Weiss

Again I ask, Why is the ideological and emotional ferment in the Israeli press not reflected in American media? (I’m not even talking about the Palestinian and anti-Zionist press). But Haaretz understands the existential struggle of all Israelis and Palestinians and is trying to do something. Here, Ze’ev Sternhell in Haaretz opposes “the neoliberalism of the rich on behalf of the rich” (wonderful phrase) and though he tries to redeem Zionism and with it the idea of a Jewish nation and a Palestinian nation, you can see that he cares more about justice. And justice, human rights, these principles will eclipse the old nationalist ideas, are doing so now. Sternhell:

Already today, Zionism, in the simple and initial significance of the term, has vacated its place to radical and ruthless nationalism that is partially racist and seeped in professed antidemocratic tendencies of the kind that already led to huge disasters in Europe in the previous century.

Traditional Zionism was based on two mainstays. It was a movement to save an entire nation from destruction and expressed the natural right of that nation to self-rule. Both of these goals were achieved with the establishment of the state – that was a special hour of benevolence and it was supposed to put an end to the period of conquering the land. That was also the hour in which Zionism was supposed to absorb the liberal principles of human rights and civic equality. The terrible disaster of the Six-Day War destroyed this possibility when it turned Israelis into lords over another nation whose rights were denied. …

Social and political life is not one dimensional; there is no society without politics, there is no economy without political decisions, and there is no worthy life without morals. The correct demand for a revolution, in the way of thinking that will lead to a different social policy, is not cut off from the larger question of freedom and democracy, human rights and the future of the territories; freedom, justice and equality cannot be divided….

Justice is not merely the right to decent housing for Jews, it is also the right to freedom of a nation under occupation. An enormous opportunity for changing the face of Israel’s political culture and charting the face of the future will be lost if the flag-bearers of the protest decide to ignore this truth.

Zuckerman paper says boycott gathers ‘the old anti-Semite and his quivering yes-man, the self hating Jew’

Aug 27, 2011

Philip Weiss

Morton Zuckerman’s newspaper, the Daily News, has an alarmist argument against the Park Slope coop boycott proposal that likens boycotting Israel to Nazi actions in Germany. It is titled “Kauft Nicht Bei Juden. Don’t Buy From Jews!” and has a big photograph of Nazis at the top. Rabbi Yaakov Spivak says that the boycott is anti-Semitic and writes angrily about pogroms. Wow, this is nuts:

In this day and age, anti-Semitism has had to reinvent itself in order to mask its malicious intentions. The anti-Semite is quite resourceful, and in the past few decades he has come up with a politically correct sham: “You see,” he tells a gullible media, “it is not the Jew that I despise, it is that evil robber state Israel.” Indeed, Israel is the new excuse for the old anti-Semite and his trembling, quivering yes-man, the self hating Jew….

I have a proposal for these Israel haters in Park slope:

If you don’t want to use Israeli products, then be consistent. Stop using your cell phone. Stop using your computer. Stop using the medical advances from Israel that daily save countless lives. Be consistent. If you or your loved ones need a life-saving Israeli medicine or medical device, in the name of consistency turn it down. After all, that product is from Israel, a robber state surrounded by loving countries such as Syria and Saudi Arabia, whose products I am sure you would never boycott.

Who you kiddin’, man?

Let me say this to those anti-Israel members of the Park Slope Co-op: I and my friends will not take this sitting down. Plans are in the works to find a legal, peaceful way to stand in front of your misguided co-op and offer – for free – Israeli products to those who pass by your establishment.