Mondoweiss Online Newsletter

NOVANEWS

• All non-violent protest in Palestinian territories is suppressed; where is the media attention/international outrage?

• ‘What was that?’ my sister cried. ‘Thunder,’ I lied. That night they killed 3

• Serious questions on Palestine UN bid raised in legal opinion

• Ahmad Tibi rips AIPAC junket in Salon

• Bad interventions, and a few good ones– which was Libya?

• Israel will hear your confession now

• Carmageddon, Irene– what will Americans dream up next to make ourselves feel important?

• Egyptian revolution gives Israel pause when it contemplates violence against Gaza

All non-violent protest in Palestinian territories is suppressed; where is the media attention/international outrage?
Aug 28, 2011 09:23 pm | Seham

Friday Protests
Soldiers Attack Nonviolent Weekly Protest In Nil’in
Several injuries were reported in Nil’in village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, as Israeli soldiers fired a barrage of gas bombs at the weekly nonviolent protest against the Wall and Settlements.
link to www.imemc.org
Six Protesters Wounded in Kafr Qaddoum
Israeli troops attacked the weekly nonviolent protest in Kafr Qaddoum village, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, leading to six injuries.
link to www.imemc.org
Nine-year-old Wounded in al-Ma’asara Village Weekly Protest
Aug 27, 2011– On Friday, a young man and a child were injured during the weekly protest against the Apartheid Wall in al-Ma’asara village in Bethlehem after the occupation forces attacked the participants.
link to stopthewall.org
Clashes Reported At The Qalandia Terminal
Israeli troops fired dozens of gas bombs and rubber-coated metal bullets as hundreds of residents who gathered at the Qalandia terminal, north of Jerusalem, demanding their legitimate right to enter occupied Jerusalem in order to conduct Friday prayers at the Al Aqsa Mosque.
link to www.imemc.org

and other news from Today in Palestine:

Land Theft
Car Park for Jewish Worshippers Planned on Palestinian Land in East Jerusalem
The Jerusalem Municipality has confiscated 4 dunams of privately owned Palestinian land in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, near the tomb of Shimon Hatsadik (Simeon the Righteous).
link to www.alternativenews.org
Al Quds Day Protests
Thousands Protest In Front Of Israeli Embassy In Cairo
UPDATE: More protesters continue to gather in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo. Power blackout was also reported in the area, while ambulances arrived at the scene as a precaution due to fears of possible clashes between the protesters and the Egyptian Military Police.
link to www.imemc.org
Norwegians hold Quds day rally
A group of Norwegian Muslims have rallied in Norway’s capital of Oslo on the occasion of Quds Day, calling for an end to Israel’s state terrorism.
link to www.presstv.ir
Anti-Israeli protests held in Kashmir
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, thousands of people took to streets in support of Palestinian cause. People from all walks of life expressed solidarity with the oppressed nation tor remind the world community of the occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israel.
link to www.presstv.ir
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashes out at Israel in Quds Day speech
Iran’s president says creation of a Palestinian state would not satisfy those intent on ‘annihilating’ Israel and again characterizes the Holocaust as a ‘lie.’ Establishment of an independent Palestinian state would not stop efforts to wipe out Israel, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday.
link to feeds.latimes.com
Al Quds Day in Palestine
Around 300 thousand worshipers attend Friday prayers at the Aqsa Mosque
About 300 thousand Palestinian worshipers attended the last Friday of Ramadan at the Aqsa Mosque, which also coincides with the night of 27th Ramadan, which is a special night in the holy month.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=
The Last Friday of Ramadan ~ Laylat Al Qadr in Palestine – in pictures
link to occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com
Other Israeli Regime Violence
Gaza children injured by Israeli airstrike
Two Palestinian children were wounded when their house, in the Ameer project of Gaza City’s Soudania neighborhood, was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike early in the morning of Friday, August 19. Marihan Atif abu Samarah, age ten Moustafa Atif abu Samarah, age five…  After the building lost power around midnight, ten-year-old Marihan Atif abu Samarah and her five-year-old brother, Moustafa, joined their family around light from a generator to wait for Suhoor, the early morning meal eaten before the daily Ramadan fast. Shortly afterward, an Israeli missile exploded outside, demolishing an empty guard tower for a former government building nearby, as well as the family’s home, leaving only the bathroom standing.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/08/19998/
Witnesses: Settlers attack olive trees in Salfit
SALFIT (Ma’an) — Settlers on Saturday cut down Palestinian-owned olive trees in Salfit in the northern West Bank, witnesses said. A group of settlers destroyed eight olive trees and damaged two lemon trees belonging to farmer Abdel Razzaq Khaled Mansour in the Wadi Qana area of Deir Istaya, locals told Ma’an. Local mayor Nathmi Salman said settlers constantly attacked farmers’ land and damaged their property.
link to www.maannews.net
Detentions & Political Arrests
Israeli court places mother, her three sons under house arrest
An Israeli court in occupied Jerusalem arbitrarily issued a verdict of house arrest against Palestinian activist Abeer Abu Khadir, three of her sons and one of her relatives.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?x
Security sources: Hamas members arrested in Jenin
JENIN (Ma’an) – Israeli forces arrested two Hamas members in Jenin late Friday, local residents and security sources said. Muhammad Ahmad Sokiyeh, 38, and Mahdi Hasan Hifawiyah, 34, were driving with their wives when “undercover” forces stopped their cars and took them to an undisclosed location, Palestinian security sources said.
link to www.maannews.net
PA security storm home of senior Islamic Jihad member
The Palestinian Authority security services Saturday afternoon stormed the home of senior member of the Islamic Jihad Palestinian resistance group Bassam al-Saadi, 50, in Jenin.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz
Wife banned from visiting Gilbo’a prisoner for six months
A Palestinian woman has been banned from visiting her husband in the Israeli Gilbo’a prison for six months after she refused to visit him by herself two months ago.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U
Other News
Report: Israel had planned to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister in Gaza
An Egyptian newspaper reported Saturday that Israeli forces had planned to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza after last week’s shooting attack that killed five Israeli civilians and three soldiers, but Israeli officials managed to convince the Israeli leadership not to carry out the assassination.
link to www.imemc.org
Abbas: I am ready to resume peace talks with Israelis
Mahmoud Abbas declared his willingness to listen to any international proposal that can convince him to resume peace talks with Israelis and refrain from resorting to the UN.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6
Netanyahu: Israel shouldn’t hurry to alter peace treaty with Egypt
PM says such a move would require approval by cabinet after examination of security situation; recent reports indicate Israel may be interested in allowing Egypt to station more troops in Sinai, which violates the 1978 peace treaty.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense
Israeli Regime Racism
Lieberman: Palestinians want to take over Israel from within 
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Saturday that a statement made by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas earlier in the day that the Palestinians would not agree to recognize a Jewish state revealed the true nature of the Palestinian move for recognition of statehood in September.
link to www.haaretz.com
BDS
BDS: Anti-Israeli campaigners protest in Sydney, Australia
“A protest took place for activists arrested for their involvement in boycott Israel activities. A number of groups have been formed in Australia dedicated the call for boycott, divestment and sanctions, or BDS, from a broad cross-section of Palestinian organisations in 2005. On July 1st the Victorian police launched what protesters described as an unprovoked attack on a peaceful demonstration outside the Max Brenner cafe in Melbourne. 19 people were arrested in what protesters believe is an attempt to intimidate the BDS, which has been growing in Australia. Two Sydney activists were arrested on July 9 at a similar protest. The activists face up to $32,000 in fines. On Tuesday 9th August, 4 of the arrested activists in Melbourne were re-arrested in dawn raids for allegedly breaching their bail conditions by attending another BDS protest. $18,000 in surety had to be paid before the police would release them. ”
link to youthanormalization.blogspot.com
Boycott Israel protest in Brisbane Tomorrow at Max Brenner Store
“A protest in support of Palestinian rights will be held in Brisbane on Saturday August 27 as part of the international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against apartheid Israel. The protest will gather in South Brisbane with a march to the Israeli owned Max Brenner chocolate store. The global chain of stores is owned by Israel’s second largest food company, the Strauss Group, which boasts of its support for the Israeli military occupation forces.
link to youthanormalization.blogspot.com
BDS: Tell Interpol Not to Entertain Israeli Apartheid!
American post-punk band Interpol plans to perform in Israel later this month. Join the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) — a US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation member group — in calling on Interpol to not entertain Israeli Apartheid! Here is a sample email appeal, followed by sample tweets.
link to youthanormalization.blogspot.com
Anti-BDS
US raised academic boycott vote with Norwegian government, Wikileaks shows
Cables released this week by Wikileaks show that theUS government raised with the Government of Norway concern over a motion to boycott Israeli academic institutions at University of Science and Technology in Trondheim (NTNU) in Norway. A 10 November 2009 cable with the subject “NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY TO VOTE ONBOYCOTT OF ISRAELI ACADEMICS” designated “unclassified/for official use only” explains that a USdiplomat called a Norwegian counterpart to seek the Norwegian government’s views on the upcoming boycott vote. The Norwegian diplomat confirmed that the boycott measure is contrary to Norwegian state policy.
link to electronicintifada.net
Statehood Stuff
UN rep. Prosor: Israel has no chance of stopping recognition of Palestinian state
Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office say Netanyahu is considering sitting out this year’s General Assembly, sending Peres to face likely diplomatic barrage in his stead.
link to www.haaretz.com
124 Out Of 193 Countries Recognize Palestinian Independence
A total of 124 countries, out of 193 UN member countries, have officially declared recognition of Palestine, and the Palestinian UN move this September, to seek recognition of statehood and a full UN membership.
link to www.imemc.org
Abbas: UN bid not meant to isolate US, Israel
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — President Mahmoud Abbas says the Palestinian bid to seek recognition of statehood from the UN Security Council is not aimed to isolate Israel or confront the US, but rather to “realize our dream” of statehood.
link to www.maannews.net
Abbas: “We Are Willing To Listen to Suggestions, Alternatives To UN Move”
Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, stated Saturday that the Palestinian leadership is willing to listen to proposals and suggestions from the International Community to return to the negotiations table with Israel, instead of heading to the UN in September.
link to www.imemc.org
Palestinian state could leave millions of refugees with no voice at UN
Millions of Palestinian refugees outside the West Bank and Gaza could lose their representation at the UN if the Palestinian Authority succeeds in winning recognition of its state at the world body, according to a British expert in international law.
link to www.guardian.co.uk
USPCN response to PA Statehood bid
Any diplomatic initiatives, including the initiative at the United Nations this September, must preserve the status of the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian people at the United Nations and protect and advance our inalienable rights. The current Statehood initiative does neither, and is therefore an unacceptable threat to the Palestinian national movement.
link to www.kabobfest.com
The Future State of Palestine, Francis Boyle
In the 15 November 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence that was approved by the PNC representing all Palestinians all over the world,  the Executive Committee of the PLO was set up as the Provisional Government for the State of Palestine—pursuant to my advice. In addition, the Declaration of Independence also provides that all Palestinians living around the world automatically become citizens of the State of Palestine—pursuant to my advice. So the Executive Committee of the PLO in its capacity as the Provisional Government for the State of Palestine will continue to represent the interests of all Palestinians around the world when Palestine becomes a UN Member State.
link to www.counterpunch.org
Analysis/Op-ed
Lousy Hamas and Lousy Human Rights Watch, As’ad AbuKhalil
Hamas has established a lousy police (non)state in Gaza. It has managed the place horribly and made it clear that it is as bad as Fath–and that is really bad in Palestinian politics. But in a week when children and other Palestinians were murdered by Israeli jet fighters, Human Rights Watch found time to talk about harassment of activists in Gaza–as important as the topic is. But having been privy to internal documents leaked to me from Human Rights Watch’s staff over the years, I know how much the director worry about “our pro-Israel donors“. So I know the game. Human Rights my…potato. Maybe this press released would be sent to your pro-Israel donors and maybe you will get a few thousand dollars for it. Good luck. I know how hard you are trying to be…bad.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Nakba Day during the Arab Spring, Matthew Cassel
Some Palestinian refugees worry that Syria’s regime is using their struggle to gain legitimacy during its crackdown.
link to english.aljazeera.net
J14: The Exclusive Revolution, Joseph Dana and Max Blumenthal
The men and women who set out to build a Jewish state in historic Palestine made little secret of their settler-colonial designs. Zionism’s intellectual author, Theodor Herzl, described the country he envisioned as “part of a wall of defense for Europe in Asia, an outpost of civilization against barbarism.” “All the means we need, we ourselves must create them, like Robinson Crusoe on his island,” Herzl told an interviewer in 1898. The Labor Zionist movement’s chief ideologue, Berl Katznelson, was more blunt than Herzl, declaring in 1928, “The Zionist enterprise is an enterprise of conquest.” More recently, and perhaps most crudely, former Prime Minister and current Defense Minister Ehud Barak described the goal of Zionism as maintaining “a villa in the jungle.
link to www.jadaliyya.com
Did Wikileaks just reveal the US blueprint for Libya?, Ali Abunimeh
The US administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama were set on developing deep “military to military” ties with the Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi, classified US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks on 24 August reveal. The United States was keen to integrate Libya as much as possible into “AFRICOM,” the American military command for Africa which seeks to establish bases and station military forces permanently on the continent. “We never would have guessed ten years ago that we would be sitting in Tripoli, being welcomed by a son of Muammar al-Qadhafi,” Senator Joseph Lieberman (Ind.-CT) said during an August 2009 meeting, which also included Senators John McCain and Susan Collins.
link to electronicintifada.net
Fishy Wikileaks?
Journalist Abbas Al-Lawati sent me this (I cite with his permission):  “Not sure if anyone has noticed this yet but of the hundreds of new wikileaks cables released yesterday from Manama, Muscat, Dubai, Kuwait, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Doha, every single one is labelled as unclassified.  To be fair, 40% of the 250,000 cables are reported to not be secret, but keep in mind that more than half of the cables have already been released, and that the Gulf release from yesterday covers a period if 1989-2010 in one case (Riyadh) and 2003-2010 in the rest.  It’s hard to believe that there were no classified cables in that period, and I don’t know if wikileaks has ever done a single classification release in the past.”
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
The Politics of Royal Pluralism in Jordan, Alex Schank
While the people have demanded the fall of their regimes in streets and squares across the Arab world this year, those regimes have offered a persistent, if predictable, reply: “the people just aren’t ready for us to go yet.” This accusation of unpreparedness has taken a few different forms in different contexts: “The people are too sectarian” (Bahrain and Syria); “too tribal” (Libya and Yemen); “too Islamist” (Egypt, Libya, Syria); “too underdeveloped,” “too radical” “too violent,” “too weak and defenseless,” et cetera. In every case, the people are portrayed as inept and a threat to themselves. Meanwhile, regimes clinging to power in the face of mass protests portend that the only solution to this unpreparedness is their steady hand ferrying their societies into the harbor of democratic governance (eventually).
link to www.jadaliyya.com
Bahrain update
Angry Arab chief correspondent in Bahrain sent me this (her identity can’t be revealed for the obvious GCC reasons):  “The February 14 Youth Movement have declared today as Youm Haq taqrir alma9eer (I guess the translation would be, the  day of the right to self determination).  There are protests everywhere, much bigger than usual. So far, I have heard of the following villages being attacked:  AlDaih, AlDair, AlBurhama, Bani Jamra, AlNuaam, and Salmabad.  AlDair, next to the airport and on the island of Muharraq was aggressively attacked. I am unclear as to whether they were attacked by the royal guard, the army the riot police or a combination of all three.  The slogans were directed at the King himself instead of the Prime Minister (as the slogans of the legal opposition are).  The rest of the villages went out in larger numbers to distract the regime and to remove their focus from AlDair. They are resisting bravely though they are not armed. They did manage to cause some disruption.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Ali Ferzat: Disciplining a Cartoonist
Damascus — Prominent Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat is recovering in hospital after masked men kidnapped and tortured him last Thursday. Ferzat, born in 1946 in Hama, was heading home when he was attacked while driving through the Umayyad Square in the center of Damascus. After assaulting him, the men threw him out in a distant area on the Airport Road. His head was bleeding, his face was bruised, and his body covered in cigarette burns. Shortly after, he was brought to al-Razi Hospital where he received treatment.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
The Syrian Social Nationalists: In the Hurricane of Revolt
According to their oath as guardians of the ‘Syrian nation, ’Syrian Social Nationalists are born hailing “long live Syria” and strive to stand vigilant over its unity. The Syrian Social Nationalists believe in establishing a unified polity spanning the historic Fertile Crescent, including modern day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Cyprus, Kuwait, Sinai, and parts of southern Turkey and Iran. In the wake of the current uprisings, these guardians find themselves at an impasse.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

 

‘What was that?’ my sister cried. ‘Thunder,’ I lied. That night they killed 3

Aug 28, 2011

Rana Baker

Far away from my noisy sisters fighting over a broken remote control, a desperate attempt to escape my death-entrenched life seeped through a rusty window as I gazed at a glittering sea. Somewhere on the other end, live another people with no “collateral damage” or “Rafah Crossing” or, indeed, on goes the list.

I have always thought of the insignificance of my life hanging at the mercy of uniformed Egyptian officers, M-16 steel rifles, closed zones, or swift but long-lasting power cuts. Always ready to be doomed to the worst of fates and looming uncertainty. Never in my life have I basked in the independence enjoyed by “outside girls” of my age. “Outside girls”– a term we use to refer to those who get their hair dried without fearing power will be cut off before the hurricane swirling their heads is smoothed.

Still leaving my eyes unleashed at the human velvet covering the sea sand, I thought how fast sand can become sand again with one deafening airstrike from Israel.

Sometime this past week, I was weaving through the events of Mornings in Jenin, taking a handful of new vocabulary to my steadfast black electronic dictionary with every page I turn. It was a starry mild-weathered night where people ditched whatever lodge they carried and flocked to inferior sea-overlooking cafes.

“Absurd is the life that made heaven out of a sewage-flooded sea” I mumbled wishing my words could reach the idling throngs on seashore.

Back into the novel, deeply taken by its characters, I was reading: “Our terror in the kitchen hole had only strengthened the bond between me and Huda. She possessed a…” when a massive explosion shook the walls of my worn-out room. My heart sank and in no time I found myself bent over my baby sister as if offering protection from an F-16 missile. My sister screamed beneath, asking me frantically in an extremely babyish tone what the sound was.

“That was thunder habibti it’s going to rain” I lied.

That night Israel killed three. One child was among the dead and the idling throngs flowed to the streets in aimless directions. Everyone was desperately trying to find a safe place, a place Israel does not suspect of holding terrorists. In a moment, seashore cleared. I turned off the lights, consigned to my thoughts. That day I realized how short life can be and how easily blood can be spilled, yet unnoticed. I brushed my forehead against the pillow trying to push away death pictures invading my head. It killed me my how innocently my sister believed the “thunder and rain”.

My life had taught me to hate anything red. I can hardly remember the last time I purchased a red dress, t-shirt, purse or even a pen. Sometimes, colors bear bitter meanings. This particular color makes me automatically think of martyrs and forget all about Valentine’s Day. Not that I do not feel grateful for Israel allowing my sight to remain intact, but I feel shallow when colors tend to be something vicious and bloody.

A few days ago, I received an invitation for an iftar along with child victims of the 08/09 war on Gaza. I fidgeted and decided not to go. Selfishly, I thought I’m already drooped with much pain and unfulfilled dreams to put on more weight. One hour before the adan, I prodded my conscience and rushed to the sleazy restaurant where the iftar was to be held. On my way, I was thinking how much I deserved the shower of badala, reprimand, my mother had guaranteed for me when she knew I had told them “I can’t make it today, really sorry”.

Dressed in my Tahrir-Square t-shirt, I dragged my feet to a hall where tables stood in rows and children fussed around wildly. Dozens of arms were recklessly thrown to the air, and noise swarmed into my ears like irritating jazz. My eyes blurred at the little excited bodies surging through the hall. I felt relieved that not only child victims attended the event. Relieved. Not for a long time.

Among the fuss, one brown-haired child was leaning on another boy’s shoulders as they ran across with other boys. Both faces bore gloomy expressions. The brown-haired is blind. The other was his chauffeur. Something painful pulled me back to my seat. Later on, I learned the child’s name is Luai.

Half way into the event, following the iftar, it was time for competitions. A young lady announced everyone should pick a number from one to thirty once they were selected to participate. Sympathetic to his condition, Luai was the first to be selected. “What is your favorite number, habibi Luai? came the lady’s empathetic tone. Luai wordless. “Allah is one, Luai, pick number one” a girl’s voice rose up from a plastic chair and successfully made its way through the silence. Convinced by the brief suggestion, Luai consigned to one.

Colors again. Luai was now obliged to utter colors he doesn’t know, or, he once new before Israel had decided to take away his sight forever. Back in 2008, Luai was playing soccer along with cousins and friends when mercilessly Israel raided a bunch of playful terrorists –kids-.

Twisting with embarrassment, Luai haltingly listed the colors of the flag because of which he lost his sight. Black, White, Green and red. All black in Luai’s blank eyes. Colors.

During the remnant hours of the event, I had peeked at Luai’s scribbled forehead thinking how he might have looked like when Israel believed he posed danger to its existence. Nothing could make sense to me and I found myself holding back a tear struggling at the edges of my eyes.

Life here has taken me aback and turned me into a vigorous reader thriving to find place within numerous books. Within the black-streaked pages of Mornings in Jenin, I swung between Gaza, where bombings are relentless, and Jenin’s refugee camp where lifeless bodies persistently clung to the “dream of return”.

Every night, as Israel’s bombs rock Gaza, I hold to my book, Mornings in Jenin, and tray away from everything including myself. I wear Amal, the orphan whose fear, uncertainty and complicated life turned into courage, success and love. Things we long, and yet long for here in this little unrecognized spot. I tread along with Amal’s absurdity and stoicism until sun perks up and I wake up the other day finding Jenin still nestled in my neck.

(Crossposted @ Rana Baker’s Blog Palestine, Memory Drafts and Future Alleys)

 

Serious questions on Palestine UN bid raised in legal opinion

Aug 28, 2011

Alex Kane

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has called the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) bid for United Nations recognition of a state of Palestine next month adiplomatic “tsunami.”  The United States has threatened to cut off aid to the PA if they proceed with the UN gambit.  But more importantly, a legal opinion submittedto the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from the other side of the debate over the UN bid has raised serious and alarming questions about the PA’s plans.

The opinion, written by a law professor who was on the team that successfully challenged Israel’s separation barrier at the International Court of Justice, tackles the issues of Palestinian self-determination and the right of return.  Guy Goodwin Gill, the author of the opinion,recently told Al Jazeera English that he doubts that Palestinian refugees would “be enfranchised through the creation of a state.”  Senior PLO member Hanan Ashrawi has dismissed the concerns raised by Gill.

Excerpts from Goodwin Gill’s legal opinion read:

I am advised that one possibility being debated involves the replacement of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and its ‘substitution’, within the United Nations, by the State of Palestine as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. In my view, this raises, first, what I will call ‘constitutional’ problems (in that they engage the Palestinian National Charter and the organization and entities which make up the PLO); secondly, the question of the ‘capacity’ of the State of Palestine effectively to take on the role and responsibilities of the PLO in the UN; and thirdly, the question of popular representation…

Until such a time as a final settlement is agreed, the putative State of Palestine will have no territory over which it exercises effective sovereignty, its borders will be indeterminate or disputed, its population, actual and potential, undetermined and many of them continuing to live under occupation or in States of refuge. While it may be an observer State in the United Nations, it will fall short of meeting the internationally agreed criteria of statehood, with serious implications for Palestinians at large, particularly as concerns the popular representation of those not currently present in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  The significant link between the Palestinian National Council and the diaspora has been noted above in paragraph 4. They constitute more than half of the people of Palestine, and if they are ‘disenfranchised’ and lose their representation in the UN, it will not only prejudice their entitlement to equal representation, contrary to the will of the General Assembly, but also their ability to vocalise their views, to participate in matters of national governance, including the formation and political identity of the State, and to exercise the right of return.

In my opinion, current moves to secure recognition of statehood do not appear to reflect fully the role of the Palestinian people as a principal party in the resolution of the situation in the Middle East.

The interests of the Palestinian people are at risk of prejudice and fragmentation, unless steps are taken to ensure and maintain their representation through the Palestinian Liberation Organization, until such time as there is in place a State competent and fully able to assume these responsibilities towards the people at large.

The legal concerns raised in the opinion further reflect the skepticism of many Palestinians about the UN bid, as a piece by Mohammed Rabah Suliman in the Electronic Intifada recently pointed out.

Ali Abunimah also recently enunciated these concerns:

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority’s (PA) effort to seek UN recognition of “statehood” unilaterally, without consulting the Palestinian people from which the PA has absolutely no mandate, has raised fears among Palestinians that the move could actually harm Palestinian rights.

If the UN votes to admit the “State of Palestine,” it is likely that the unelected representatives of the Palestinian Authority would be seated in the General Assembly instead of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which currently holds the Palestine observer seat at the UN..

This would be a severe blow to the potential for realizing Palestinian rights in the long run through international bodies: whereas the PLO ostensibly represents all Palestinians, the PA “state” would only represent its “citizens” – residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Of course in reality this “state” would not represent anyone since it would have absolutely no control of the territory on which it purports to exist and its “government” – what is now the Palestinian Authority – would remain subject to the blackmail and pressure of its financiers and external political sponsors.

As September approaches, these concerns become ever more pressing.

Alex Kane, a freelance journalist currently based in Amman, Jordan, blogs on Israel/Palestine atalexbkane.wordpress.com.  Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane.

 

Ahmad Tibi rips AIPAC junket in Salon

Aug 28, 2011

annie

Palestinian Knesset member Ahmad Tibi took special aim at Jesse Jackson Jr. of the Congressional Black Caucus partaking in AIPAC’s Israel junket after qualifying that he never expects anything else from “shillings” Cantor or Hoyer. And at Salon, no less:

The real story, tweeted by one wit, is whether any member of Congress would have accepted a trip paid for 20 years ago by an Anglo-Boer lobby-affiliated organization seeking to put a positive shine on apartheid South Africa. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a leader in the anti-apartheid movement, certainly would not have taken a propaganda junket to legitimize whites-only neighborhoods. Yet his son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., has visited here, where ethnic-religious discrimination is written into law.

……

But I do expect Jackson and the other members of the caucus (other than Rep. Allen West, advocate of torturing Arabs) to reject colonization and racial discrimination. Their complacency in the face of modern-day colonization and their adoption of hard-line AIPAC positions stand in stark contrast to the beliefs of many Americans I have met who believe wholeheartedly that it is wrong for Israel to discriminate against Palestinians.

The visitors will be meeting with opposition parties in the Jewish state, but none of them — not a single one — is scheduled to meet with Palestinian members of the Knesset even though our existence is often highlighted when Israel’s defenders seek to refute charges that Israel is an apartheid state. Israel does allow its Palestinian citizens to vote — bully for them (this is the 21st century) — but its commitment to discriminate against Palestinians is explicit and growing.

I urge everyone to read the entire article. After giving the reps a little lesson on apartheid, Tibi lectures them about what they need to do, specifically “public statements from our American visitors expressing grave reservations about Israel’s oppressive treatment of Palestinians in the territories and Israel. 
”

And he doesn’t stop there

I’ve been advised such words would be political suicide. If true, if speaking for equality and non-discrimination is now political suicide, then America’s problems are even bigger than the recent debt debacle fomented by many of the Republican representatives now visiting Israel.

(Hat tip to Richard Silverstein and what’s up with Ben Ami, he should learn to choose his battles wisely)

 

Bad interventions, and a few good ones– which was Libya?

Aug 28, 2011

James North

The Qaddafi family is apparently about to fall in Libya, and I am still not sure exactly what I think about the Western military intervention to support the rebels.

What does it matter what I, an American citizen with no special knowledge of Libya, think? Libyan citizens are not being asked whether Americans should continue to support Barack Obama in the 2012 elections, turn to the Republicans, or back a third party.
It is a sign of the unjust, unequal world that we live in that my opinion about Libya does matter, and theirs (about the U.S. elections) doesn’t. My government, along with European powers, intervened in the Libyan conflict, using my tax money to support one side. I should have an informed view by now, shouldn’t I?

A huge part of the problem, which is never mentioned on the 24-hour cable channels, is sheer ignorance. Professor Mark Mazower, in a thoughtful article in the Guardian, points out: “It would be reassuring if one thought that policy-makers in Washington and London knew anything about places like Libya; the fact is that there are probably fewer than a dozen people across the university system of both countries who do.” (And Bernard-Henri Levy, the fraudulent French philosopher who claims credit for inspiring the Western military action, is certainly not among the knowledgeable.)

One position is simple: the West should never be allowed to intervene anywhere. This is an honorable and coherent policy, until you come up with even a handful of exceptions. A Western strike force in Rwanda in 1994 could not have prevented but would probably have reduced the genocide. Other successful military interventions, not necessarily by the West, include the Indian invasion of East Pakistan/Bangladesh in 1971, which ended West Pakistan’s slaughter, and the UN-led military force that stopped Indonesia’s mass killing in East Timor in 1999.
But the skeptics rightly point out that interventions can lead to awful tragedy.

One terrible recent example is the 1996-97 Rwandan invasion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was endorsed, and probably militarily backed, by the United States. The Rwandan invaders carried out mass killings and helped trigger a wider regional war in which millions of innocent Africans have already died.

Back to Libya. I may not be an expert, but I know enough to regard the Qaddafi regime as a loathsome criminal enterprise, which I’m not surprised has finally prompted an armed uprising. I am not a pacifist. But why not stand back and let the Libyan armed rebels make their own history, without intervening and raising legitimate fears over Western imperialism and Libyan oil?
Not so fast. Again, I’m no expert, but I do think that some of Qaddafi’s more recent weaponry comes from the West (after his diplomatic and military relationship with the old Soviet Bloc ended). Qaddafi kept his people unarmed, and a even a small army can maintain control over demonstrators who can fight with only their bare hands. What’s more, the vital campaigning organization Global Witness has exposed the Qaddafi family’s ties to big Western banks and financial institutions.

Can’t we regard the Western air strikes against the family, and the weapons supplies to the rebels, as partial compensation for the West’s recent pro-Qaddafi history?
For myself, I’m still uneasy. But my position as a U.S. citizen obliges me to make up my mind.
One final point. The Western mainstream press has spent plenty of time and energy following the uprising in Libya first hand. But most of the coverage has been what journalists themselves describe as “bang-bang” – the sound of bullets and images of destruction with little genuine explanation. As a minimal first step, couldn’t we at least hear more from those “dozen experts” that Professor Mazower mentioned?

Israel will hear your confession now

Aug 28, 2011

Eleanor Kilroy

‘From stabbing IDF soldiers to having them as teammates, Palestinian uses football for peace‘ has to be the most disingenuous headline for an article on the colonizer-colonized relationship, even by the standards of JTA, The Global News Service of the Jewish People. It refers to the ‘Peace Team’, which has taken part in the Australian Football League (AFL) Cup this August. The team is co-sponsored by The Peres Center for Peace and Al Quds Association for Democracy and Dialogue. The aforementioned Palestinian is Sulaiman Khatib, co-founder and director of the Al-Quds Association, and this is a transcript of his ‘confession’ to JTA:

[I]n 1986, when he was just 14, he and a friend stabbed some Israeli soldiers. Khatib was arrested and sent to prison for 10 years. He spent most of his time behind bars learning Hebrew and English, reading about Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi and studying the histories of other conflicts — all of which, he said, led him to a startling conclusion. “I believe there is no military solution to the conflict,” Khatib, 39, said of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict … “I believe nonviolence is the best way for our struggle, for our freedom and for peace on both sides.

Amen to nonviolence and freedom – nice if you can get it. That Israel crushes nonviolence more brutally than violent resistance, and the distressing fact that Khatib is more sinned against than sinning, is not at issue here for the interviewer. A juvenile, inflicting a non-fatal knife wound on a combatant of an occupying army, is sentenced in a military court (no doubt) to ten years in an Israeli jail and emerges committed to a non-military solution to occupation and apartheid. Admirable and understandable, but where is the commitment on the other side? In this fantastical peaceful co-existencescenario, the Israeli soldier is at worst inconveniencing his peace partner in the name of Jewish security:

One of the players, Kamal Abu Althom, told JTA that sometimes it took him three hours to get from Hebron to the training sessions. The soldiers “take a long time at the checkpoints, checking our ID, checking our bags,” he said. This, said Hay, emphasizes one of the points of the program. “The Palestinians realize this is the only chance to meet Israelis who are not soldiers, and for the Israelis, they’re not meeting Palestinians only at checkpoints,” Hay said. “We created a safe place where they are able to meet without stereotypes.”

No such confessions are forthcoming from Israeli participants, the younger of whom have just left the army – and, the article implies, were itching to take revenge for the Eilat attack before a group hug put them back on the peace track.

We learn that Tanya Oziel, executive director of the Australian branch of the Peres Center for Peace, is a Sephardic Jew with Iraqi origins. It’s not clear why that is relevant; perhaps she understands better the ‘Arab mentality’. ‘The media coverage here of the team’s visit – amid a campaign to boycott Israel by targeting Max Brenner chocolate shops, which are Israeli-owned, across Australia – has been “unprecedented,” said Oziel.’ Last year, Mr Dawood Hammoudeh, a researcher at Stop the Wall NGO, told the Palestine Monitor about the use of sports for pro-Israel propaganda. The Peres Centre organised a mixed Israeli/Palestinian football team to play Barcelona FC in Spain in 2005: “‘It was a response to the Spanish boycott movement of Israeli football, an attempt to improve Israel’s image’”.

Oziel does not mention Marrickville, but the timing is favorable for counter-BDS initiatives in Australia. The Peace Team arranged to participate in a welcome function at Marrickville Town Hall on 18 August. Marrickville Council, Sydney, has voted to ‘in principle’ support a Green Party-led boycott of cultural and sporting exchanges with Israeli institutions, provoking condemnation from federal and state politicians, Jewish groups and media commentators. The motion was overturned in April, when all the Labor and two Green councillors withdrew their support. Ziyaad Lunat, a member of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee (BNC), told me for an article on normalization and sport that “Al-Quds Association are part of a program that includes a stop-over at Marrickville, Australia, participating in anti-BDS propaganda set up by pro-occupation groups.” As Australians for Palestine’s Public Advocate, Samah Sabawi, wrote here earlier this month, “what can be more appealing for those of us who are passionate about peace in Israel/Palestine than to welcome this team of Palestinian Israeli youth who have learned to play and interact together not as enemies but as teammates? The answer: the idea that when members of this team return to their homes, the Palestinian players would not have to go through dehumanising checkpoints, around high barbed wire walls and into Bantustans surrounded and suffocated by a matrix of Jewish-only roads, settlements and security zones.”

Oziel is concerned about the Palestinian participants: ‘“I’m more worried about the backlash when the boys get back home,” she said. “There’s still resentment. Some of our boys are under threat for being involved in normalization projects with Israel. It’s very sad.”’

It’s very sad that this is her greatest concern.

‘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…‘ ends the mahsanmilim report of Aya Kaniuk and Tamar Goldschmidt, translated from the Hebrew by Tal Haran, and posted here below.

‘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.”’

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:

“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.

 The Palestinians will hear your confession now, Israel. In a court of law.

Carmageddon, Irene– what will Americans dream up next to make ourselves feel important?

Aug 28, 2011

Philip Weiss

This is one of those days I’m embarrassed to be an American. We had a storm last night. It went on all night, it’s dropping a lot of rain. It has to do with the hurricane that hit North Carolina. In the past, that’s all the information we would have had, and it would have been sufficient. No one would have freaked out. The Foodtown wouldn’t have been crowded and nervous, as it was yesterday.

Of course Irene is all that our politicians and the cable news networks have been able to talk about for days. My community in upstate New York was panicked. And it’s turned out to be a giant fizzle. The news people are embarrassed. They’re blaming North Carolina for blunting the storm. On CNN this morning, they talked to five elderly women who refused to leave their old-age home in New Jersey. One of them said that her son was in a state but she wasn’t. Another said pithily, Why leave? We would have been exchanging a certain nightmare — going to who knows what shelter, for how many days, etc– for a chance of one.

And as it turns out, that chance was pretty ho-hum. And these women look far wiser than our jittery man-boy politicians.

I have to think this is a sign of spiritual sickness. We have too much information, but it’s stupid information. There are hundreds of thousands of refugees pouring out of Somalia, but we can’t be bothered to learn anything about that, Brian Williams isn’t breaking off his vacation to go there.

The Arab world is throwing out its dictators, and I guess we’re jealous. They’re taking an active role in history. We’re spoiled and obsessed with the stock market and Rick Perry.

This happened earlier this summer with Carmageddon. A routine highway shutdown that would be big local news in any city in the U.S. but of no interest to anyone else was on the front page of the Times and on the nightly news every night. I chalked that up to Los Angeles being the City of Drama Queens.

But now it’s all of us. Irene. What a joke. Is it too late for us to get a life?

Egyptian revolution gives Israel pause when it contemplates violence against Gaza

Aug 28, 2011

Philip Weiss

Gershom Gorenberg at the American Prospect has a good realist take on how the Arab Spring has already disciplined Israel, following the Eilat killings.

Then there was an unexpected paroxysm of restraint. Netanyahu told his cabinet he would not rush into a new military campaign. Fragile ceasefires were declared and fell apart. Nonetheless, the effort to stop the escalation requires explanation.

Decision-makers in both Israel and Gaza, it appears, are caught between the desire to have the last word, to fire the last shot, and knowing that they have nothing to gain by returning to battle. Besides that, the year of Arab uprisings may have put more missiles on the black market, but it has also made Egypt a less reliable—and therefore more influential—partner for both Israel and Hamas. The transitional rulers of Egypt are demanding quiet. There’s half a chance they will get it…

Good sense, though, would stand even less a chance were it not for Egyptian pressure. The 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty has had immense benefits for both countries, freeing them of military burdens and allowing their economies to develop. The Supreme Council of Armed Forces that has ruled Egypt since Mubarak’s fall wants to preserve the peace agreement. Unlike Mubarak, it has to pay attention to public opinion—and the Egyptian public is strongly pro-Palestinian. An Israeli government that began a military campaign in Gaza, says Meital, “endangers the peace treaty.” According to the usual semi-reliable leaks General Hussein Tantawi, head of Egyptian military council, has conveyed that message directly to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Egypt is also leaning on Hamas to crack down and stop the rocket fire. Egypt is Gaza’s tie to the outside world, and in a year of drastic changes, Hamas is estranged from its former patrons in Syria and Iran. This gives Egypt more leverage.

In the best case, if a ceasefire finally holds, it will be a short-term fix. Hamas still needs to disarm its pyromaniac rivals in Gaza. It could escape its isolation if it wiggled free of outdated ideology and recognized Israel. Israel, for its part, could put much more diplomatic pressure on Hamas—and improve its ties with Egypt – if Netanyahu was willing to negotiate realistically for a two-state settlement.

Since none of these things is about to happen, Egypt is left to try to impose calm. Strangely enough, its current rulers are making that effort because they are not absolutely in control, because the public now matters, because the old Middle Eastern game is over and the new one hasn’t yet been designed.