Mondoweiss Online Newsletter

NOVANEWS

• ‘DailyKos’ bans Simone Daud, who sought to inject Palestinian view into US political discourse

• Why it is important for Jews to discuss the cultural boycott of Israel

• Bernard-Henri Levy, philosopher for hire

• Tom Friedman suggests Arabs are 60 years behind the rest of us, or maybe 100

• Tens of thousands of Egyptians protest Israeli embassy; destroy flag and protective barrier

• Boycott showdown at Sacramento Co-op draws bigtime lobbyists

• In occupied Nablus, people live inside a 6-kilometer radius and dream of a normal life

• Settlers announce plan to shoot Palestinian protesters (and they demand legal protection for it)

• British colonial strategy and the 9/11 blowback

• Off the rails: Israel wants to aid Kurdish terrorist group so as to hurt Turks

‘DailyKos’ bans Simone Daud, who sought to inject Palestinian view into US political discourse

Sep 10, 2011

annie

DailyKos, the popular political site whose goal is to elect “more and better Democrats”, has silenced yet another wonderful strong Palestinian voice, Palestinian Israeli bloggerSimone Daud (formerly known as palestinian professor).

The move comes on the same day that the Palestinian Authority officially applied to the UN for the recognition of Palestinian statehood and seems to possibly reflect pressure on DailyKos’s moderators to tamp down divisive argument over the US alliance with Israel.

Simone is not just any blogger. His strong voice for Palestinian rights coupled with the sheer breadth of his knowledge of Palestinian, Arab and Israeli culture, history and current events including keen analyses makes him unique. On DailyKos, he ran a blog called Arab Sources which focused on translating the Arab press making available Palestinian and Arab viewpoints, something that became essential to the community during the Arab Spring this year. As a Palestinian Israeli fluent in Arabic, Hebrew, and English, he is able to provide broad, vital insight and analyses of issues encompassing the whole region and as an academic he has written numerous articles for the Arab press.

Recently he has been involved in initiating and organizing advocacy for the Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN. He was on the verge of publishing several original analyses of the Syrian and Libyan revolutions with translations from the Arab press through Arab Sources at DailyKos.

No reason has been given for Daud’s banning, but he was banned from the site right after Markos Moulitsas announced a new policy of stomping down divisive argument that hurt the Democratic Party:

“If you accuse someone of being racist just because they criticize Obama? Zap! If you actually say something that is even borderline racist? Zap! If you advocate for third party? Zap! This is a Democratic site. Advocating primaries is okay. Advocating third party is not. If I see ratings pack behavior or messed up uprates or hides, I won’t zap, but I’ll pull ratings abilities. Hell, depending on my mood at that moment, I may zap anyway. My dev team is putting together cool reports that identify patterns, so my job will get easier, and I won’t be shy in exercising them.I can’t begin to care who started what.”

Daud had little patience with the Democratic Party’s love affair with Israel. This is how Daud described his mission on DailyKos.

The Palestinians and Israelis are yet to engage in peace discussions.

On the Israeli side all negotiations have effectively been about finding a compromise between the Israeli right and the Israeli left over the extent of the sovereignty to be conceded to the various Palestinian refugee camps, villages, and cities controlled by the Israeli Army.

The US has traditionally accepted that the peace process is exclusively an Israeli issue, something to be negotiated between the right and left of Israel. In this view, Palestinians are peripheral in these negotiations and should at the very least accept in advance the Israeli left’s proposals uncompromised by the views of the Israeli right.

Daud is a Palestinian who strives to bring the Palestinian cause into American political discourse. He isn’t satisfied or ‘happy’ to be represented by the Zionist left. And they in turn sought to smear him as an anti-Semite. For Daud, the Palestinian cause is owned by the Palestinian People. Apparently that was too much for many self defined ‘liberal’ Zionists who see no place for Palestinians in any advocacy having to do with Israel.

This banning is another example of the sustained campaign against the Palestinian and Arab posters at DailyKos, by self defined ‘liberal Zionists’  whose primary interest is promoting Zionism and supporting the U.S. alliance with Israel. DailyKos has shown once again it is averse to Palestinian and Arab posters giving voice to their own aspirations or representing themselves, another example of Palestinians once again on the peripheral.

Why it is important for Jews to discuss the cultural boycott of Israel

Sep 10, 2011

Donna Nevel

A Jewish journalist recently asked me whether having a panel of Jews about the cultural boycott of Israel (see flyer below) privileges Jewish voices over those of Palestinians. This is a serious question deserving of serious consideration.

Of course we always have to be thinking about issues of power and privilege–whose voices are heard, how and where and when they are heard, and who hears them. Context is also important. To have a discussion beginning with a panel of Jews that is directed to the Jewish community is, in my view, one essential piece of the overall organizing that must take place. This internal work within the Jewish community requires holding each other—and those who claim to speak in our name—accountable. This means asking tough questions and challenging ourselves, like questioning our own complicity and silence, opening up a conversation that has been censored (and more), and understanding why it has been censored as well as the consequences of that censorship.

Further, this discussion is also about not allowing Jewish voices of peace to be illegitimized or silenced and refuting the false claim of the Israeli government and American Jewish establishment that all Jews support their policies and that they speak in the name of the Jewish people.

The conversation we will be having does not take the place of ones that center the voices and leadership of those most impacted by the grave injustice of the occupation–the Palestinian people. Rather, it is part of an overall, long-term campaign for building a movement. But we need to be mindful and intentional in our framing and how we act at all times—asking questions such as: Who is on the panel and why? How is the panel introduced and contextualized? Is this part of a larger strategy, or does it begin and end here?

Jews Say No!, a group I work with, is involved with a wide range of organizing. We support the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) struggle and stand with our allies in this work. We organize together with groups supporting justice in Palestine. For example, one of our large actions was a protest, together with a coalition of more than 20 organizations, that circled with our signs the Waldorf Astoria hotel, where the Friends of the Israel Defense Force was holding its annual fund-raising dinner. Several of our members were organizers of the U.S. Boat to Gaza.

We are also committed to engaging with the Jewish community. We present an alternative to the positions that the Israeli government and American Jewish establishment promote as the “only” valid Jewish perspective. We join thousands of Jews who say: “Not in our name.” For example, we published a Jewish statement, with signatories from across the globe, in support of the Goldstone Report, which was viciously attacked by the Israeli government and its supporters in the American Jewish community. We hold monthly street events in a heavily Jewish neighborhood where we talk to passersby and hold signs like “Am I a self-hating Jew if I oppose illegal and unethical policies of the Israeli government?”

We also hold conversations within the Jewish community to try to create more interaction with issues that we believe are critical to examine. For example, discussion about BDS has been censored by Jewish establishment spokespeople and organizations, where those who support BDS are most often viewed as “traitors” or “self-hating Jews.” The context in which this charge against BDS is taking place within the Jewish community is part of a broader effort to deny any acknowledgment of the destructive role of Israel and the U.S. in maintaining and supporting an illegal and unethical occupation and in denying the Palestinian people their fundamental rights. The Jewish establishment knows full well that silencing critics of Israel within its own community—and fostering the propaganda that all Jews support its policies–has consequences far beyond the Jewish community. These are some of the reasons why we organized two panels on Jewish perspectives on Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. The September 15th panel on cultural boycott of Israel is part of these conversations.

Those of us co-sponsoring the upcoming panel and discussion come from Jews Say No!, a synagogue, and a Brooklyn peace group. We have come together because we all believe a respectful and open conversation within the Jewish community about BDS is very much needed—and that it is our obligation to make this happen. While everyone is welcome and all are invited to participate in the discussion after the panel, the focus for this particular evening is on opening this discussion up within the Jewish community. That is why we are pleased it is being hosted by a Jewish institution, one in which the rabbi values a candid expression of different perspectives and the importance of listening and learning together.

The evening will be one of many different kinds of events that reflect multiple voices about, and experiences with BDS. I hope it will inspire us to think critically and challenge ourselves about the issues we are addressing and how we can most effectively take meaningful action and participate–within and outside our communities—in the larger Palestinian-led movement and ongoing struggle for justice.

Donna Nevel, a community psychologist and educator, is a long-time organizer for peace and justice in Palestine-Israel. This piece reflects her own perspective about why this panel is important.

_________________________________________________

An Open Conversation on Cultural Boycott of Israel

All are welcome!

Thursday, September 15, 2011; starting promptly at 7:30 p.m.

Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives: Building a Progressive Jewish Community in Brooklyn, 1012 Eighth Avenue @ 10th Street in Park Slope

You are invited to a respectful and open discussion that begins with a panel of Jews who have many different perspectives about cultural boycott of Israel. During this time when the UN is scheduled to vote on Palestinian statehood, we hope to encourage discussion and thought within the Jewish community about how to best support movements for peace and justice in Palestine/Israel. This evening will provide an opportunity to hear from people with different points of view about whether cultural boycott is an appropriate and effective strategy for doing just that.

Background: Many artists and musicians and others oppose the Israeli occupation and support the cultural boycott of Israel–which is part of the international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign—as a non-violent way to press Israel to abide by international law and recognize Palestinians’ human rights and right to self-determination. This boycott includes the decision not to perform or exhibit in Israel or in settlements in the Occupied Territories. This also includes a call to boycott Israeli institutions that are complicit with the occupation. Supporters of BDS and of cultural boycott have joined an appeal called for by Palestinian civil society asking the international community to use this nonviolent tool at a time when the Israeli government, as well as the U.S. and European governments, have failed to act to stop the abuses that are intensifying and when other forms of pressure have not been successful.

Other artists, actors, and musicians and others, also committed to peace and justice, feel differently. They believe that a cultural boycott of Israel does more harm than good and is not an appropriate tool in the Israeli-Palestinian context. They accept—or support accepting—invitations to perform or exhibit in Israel and prefer to keep channels of communication open. When Israeli cultural institutions or artists perform in the US, some of these people prefer to focus on their art, and not to engage in political action such as protests or calls for boycott. Some who share this view about cultural boycott also feel this way about the Palestinian call regarding BDS in general or other specific expressions of it.

The event: On September 15, we are fortunate to hear speakers who have thought deeply about—and been involved in—issues of peace and justice, who have spent time in Israel/Palestine, and who disagree with each other about BDS and cultural boycott. Some of our speakers are active in the arts, and some are members of Jewish groups that focus on peace in the Middle East. Some are members of our host congregation. Our moderator will encourage the speakers and audience to probe deeply into these issues and the many questions that arise as we think and talk together and learn from and listen to each other. There will be time for audience members to ask questions and engage in discussion as well.

Speakers (organizational affiliation for identification purposes only): Udi Aloni*, Filmmaker; Dalit Baum*, Who Profits?; Jethro Eisenstein, Board of Directors, Jewish Voice for Peace; Roy Nathanson, Musician, member of Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives; Lynne Sachs, Filmmaker, member of Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives; Ron Skolnik, Executive Director, Partners for Progressive Israel (Meretz USA)

Moderator: Esther Kaplan, radio and print journalist; editor of The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute; co-host of Beyond the Pale, which covers Jewish culture and politics on WBAI/New York

*The two Israeli speakers confirmed their participation prior to the July 11 passage in the Israeli Knesset of the “Bill for Prevention of Damage to the State of Israel Through Boycott.” This law, which has drawn widespread international criticism, limits freedom of expression and association and exposes Israeli citizens and organizations to litigation and penalties if they publicly call for all kinds of boycotts of Israel, settlements, or the occupation. Both speakers have once again confirmed they will join us.

——————————————————————-

Hosted by: Kolot Chayeinu/ Voices of Our Lives: Building a Progressive Jewish Community in Brooklyn

Organizing Committee: Naomi Allen (Brooklyn For Peace), Ricky Blum (Brooklyn For Peace), Mary Buchwald (Brooklyn For Peace), Elly Bulkin (Jews Say No!), Cindy Greenberg (Kolot Chayeinu / Voices of Our Lives), Carol Horwitz (Jews Say No!), Rabbi Ellen Lippmann (Kolot Chayeinu / Voices of Our Lives), Donna Nevel (Jews Say No!)

 

Bernard-Henri Levy, philosopher for hire

Sep 10, 2011

Udi Aloni

There is a popular belief that a philosopher’s aim is to seek universal truth in a world of competing narratives. As early as the time of Socrates, Western culture viewed the figure of the Sophist, a “philosopher for hire,” as contrary to that of the genuine philosopher: While the latter searches for the truth, the former uses his talents to promote interest groups. When Nietzsche taught us that behind every philosophy is a philosopher with his own particularity, he undermined the concept of universal truth and assigned a different purpose to philosophy. After that, many philosophers could only try to reconstruct and deconstruct the shards of truth that remained.

A number of genuine philosophers tried to rehabilitate the term “universal truth” from the debris, but at the same time, mass culture invented the philosopher of mass communications. This new model cynically exploits the public’s trust in the “philosopher” – and its belief that that figure seeks truth – in order to serve the centers of power.

In the same way that the Israel Defense Forces conducted itself when it had the philosopher Asa Kasher create his immoral “ethical code,” thus Nicolas Sarkozy and the Ehud Olmert government allowed Bernard-Henri Levy to stamp as “kosher” some of the most unethical codes in Western liberalism.

Last May, Levy published an article in defense of Dominique Strauss-Kahn in Haaretz Hebrew Edition (it appeared in English in The Huffington Post ). The article contained a repetition of the words “I am angry,” along the lines of “J’accuse.” Here is my own “I am angry”:

I accept the Bernard-Henri Levy who figuratively marched in solidarity with the armed rebels in order to free the Libyan people from the tyrannical rule of Muammar Gadhafi. But I am angry that he chose to march with the Israeli army of occupation when it invaded Gaza during Operation Cast Lead. I’m angry that, instead of joining the flotilla to Gaza, he accosted the unarmed activists who sailed as a solidarity coalition to free the Palestinians from the rule of the violent and prolonged occupation.

I applaud the Bernard-Henri Levy who, in his writings, condemned the dictatorship in Tehran, but I’m angry that he denies the fact that Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman who was shot to death there by the dictatorship in 2009, and Bassem Abu Rahmeh, who was shot to death by Israeli soldiers in Bil’in that same year, are both victims of a similar oppression.

I applaud the Bernard-Henri Levy who eloquently described the face of Gilad Shalit – his glance, his fragility and humanity – as it appears in the heartbreaking video from captivity, but I’m angry that, at the same time, he erased the faces of thousands of Palestinian prisoners who have been humiliated for decades in the prisons of the occupation.

I agree with the way in which Bernard-Henri Levy, in an attempt to help his friend Strauss-Kahn, attacked the legal system and media in the United States, claiming that they embody a kind of cannibalism that sacrifices the individual on behalf of slogans and stereotypes of justice. But I’m angry about his thunderous silence when, in an odd, rapid judicial procedure, his friend – a man whose trustworthiness is no less in doubt than that of the woman who accused him – was released without restrictions.

Furthermore, I’m angry that he invented a false theory about the priority given to the victim (the migrant, the black, the woman ) in the American system – merely to defend his aggressive compatriot. In that way, he collaborated in wiping out the daily injustices done by the American capitalist judicial system to millions of poor, blacks and migrants who are jailed or deported from the country.

I’m angry that, on behalf of a friend, Levy took it upon himself to undermine the credibility of another woman, Tristane Banon, who filed a criminal complaint against Strauss-Kahn for alleged attempted rape and who courageously dared to go to the media. In this way, he set the struggle for rape victims’ rights back a full generation.

These are the reasons why, in the eyes of many people, Bernard-Henri Levy is perceived not as a philosopher who fights for universal truth, nor as a journalist who seeks justice, but rather as a Jewish soldier in the European foreign legion. He is the servant of two masters who are actually one and the same: the colonial liberal ideology and the Zionist ideology.

Therefore, I call on Bernard-Henri Levy: Kindly be a human being always and everywhere. March with us in September to free Palestine from the occupation and Israel from Zionism. I am not, heaven forbid, asking Sarkozy to send his forces to Israel as he did to fight Gadhafi in Libya; I’m merely proposing that the West stop selling arms to the Israeli army, and that Israel’s soldiers refrain from using their weapons when we march to bring down the walls of apartheid.

The Middle East is looking for a new space where there is freedom for all. Bernard-Henri Levy, you said that dictatorships do not remain forever. Therefore, we too shall not stop until, between the Jordan River and the sea, there is justice and equality for every human being.

This article originally appeared in Haaretz. Udi Aloni is a filmmaker and writer and his bookWhat Does a Jew Want? will be published later this month by Columbia University Press.

Tom Friedman suggests Arabs are 60 years behind the rest of us, or maybe 100

Sep 10, 2011

Philip Weiss

A few months ago, Tom Friedman was on Charlie Rose talking about the Egyptian revolution and said he had been in Cairo and the buildings looked “60 years” behind modern buildings. The Egyptian economy, he was saying, was frozen by dictatorship.

I grabbed an envelope to scribble the comment down, then did nothing with it. But the other day Friedman was on All Things Considered, talking about his latest book, when he said that the Arab revolutions would be sorting themselves out for the next “100 years.”

This is all just neoliberal code for Arab backwardness. Yes, Egyptian society has been stymied by a dictator. Yes, it is a traditional society that is undergoing huge changes. Yes, the revolution will be sorting itself out for a long time — 25 years, I believe Issandr El-Amrani suggested, at the 92d Street Y a few months back. Our revolution took a long time to sort out. But some of the good changes are going to happen right now…

The idea that it will take 100 years is just Friedman’s way of putting the Arab world on ice as backward and no-account and bedeviled by Islamism.

And yes I wonder how much of this attitude is driven by love of Israel– so evolved it doesn’t need to revolve.

 

Tens of thousands of Egyptians protest Israeli embassy; destroy flag and protective barrier

Sep 10, 2011

Seham

Yesterday Egyptian protesters in the tens of thousands broke down the concrete barrier protecting the Israeli embassy in Cairo with hammers and their bare hands.  Egyptian activists were repulsed by the wall which reminded them of the apartheid wall in Palestine and felt doubly insulted that a wall was erected to protect Israelis inside of Egypt after Egyptians had just been killed in the weeks prior by the Israeli military.  Though embassy officials said no one made it into the actual embassy, Egyptian activist Gigi Ibrahim was interviewing people outside of the building that had indeed made it into the embassy.

Many documents were taken and are being posted on the internet now, some can be seen here as well as other pictures from the events as they unfolded yesterday.  The Israeli ambassador, his family and staff fled back to Tel Aviv in a private jet and Obama and Netanyahu spoke immediately to voice mutual concern to each other.  The U.S. which closed it eyes to Operation Cast Lead and the flotilla massacre which resulted in the death of an American citizen had the audacity to remind Egypt of its responsibility under international law to protect the concrete building from activists.  When the missive came from Washington that Israeli property in Egypt is more important than Egyptian lives, the Supreme Council of Armed Forces responded by injuring close to a thousand activists and arresting a few hundred and promising to immediately try them in their draconian court military courts.

Pictures via occupied Palestine

Egypt’s protesters break into Israeli embassy in Cairo and toss confidential documents
Dozens of protesters broke into the Israeli Embassy in Cairo on Friday and dumped hundreds of documents out of the windows, Egyptian and Israeli officials said. Hundreds of protesters had been converging on the embassy throughout the afternoon and into the night, tearing down large sections of a security wall outside the 21-story building housing the embassy, according to The Associated Press. Protestors tossed thousands of pages of documents into the jubilant crowd, an AFP journalist saw.

Israel pulls envoy after embassy attack
Israeli diplomats evacuated from Cairo after Egyptian commandos reportedly rescued them as protesters stormed embassy.

Egypt cabinet calls emergency meeting after attack on Israeli embassy
Cairo raises national alertness level in wake of a mass protest outside Israel’s Cairo embassy, which resulted in protesters breaking into the building as well as the evacuation of dozens of Israelis.

Embassy attack a wake-up call for Israel, Marwan Bishara
Israel has clearly not grasped that Turkey and Egypt in 2011 are nothing like they were a decade or even a year ago.

Saudi (and Qatari) media and the storming of the Israeli occupation embassy, As’ad Abukhalil
Saudi and Qatari media were clearly taken aback with what happened in Cairo yesterday.  It was as if the Counter-Revolution was hit in the face.  The unexpected–for them and their fellow Zionist sponsors–happened.  It was supposed to be about Syria on Friday, and only about Syria.  AlJazeera ignored the story for hours, while Al-Arabiyya (the news station of King Fahd’s brother-in-law) was reporting on its website that only “tens” of protesters were outside the embassy, and they showed a picture of an empty place with dispersed protesters.  I told an Egyptian protesters of the estimate of “tens” that was promoted in Saudi media, and she was indignant and she told me (after consulting with fellow protesters) that the number was close to 10,000.  Aljazeera and Al-Arabiyya later had to provide extensive live coverage, but Aljazeera’s chief correspondent in Cairo (who I never liked) was so blatantly hostile to the protesters and was clearly doing the propaganda work for the Military Council.  Lebanon’s MTV’s incompetent correspondent in Cairo wondered on the air what the protesters wanted when the “goals of the revolution have been achieved”–kid you not.  Egyptian regime TV was more amusing: it invited a few figures who have a long role of opposition to Israel in order to denounce the storming of the embassy.  And Egyptian liberals (how marginal liberals are in a time of revolution) were quick to reassure the White Man that they “too” are civilized.  As for the Arab cyber-street? It was on fire, almost literally.

Boycott showdown at Sacramento Co-op draws bigtime lobbyists

Sep 10, 2011

annie

The issue is heating up in my state capital. The Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op is only a few miles away from the state house and so a referendum on boycott-of-Israeli-products on the food co-op ballot has gotten the attention of some of the local political hacks– a year and a half into the boycott campaign. This is how the LATimes frames it:

A small band of members pushed the co-op board to strip store shelves of Israeli-made items, arguing that Israel represses its Palestinian population and the co-op should take a stand. They collected signatures and demanded a referendum on the issue, but the board said no. So the activists launched a campaign to take over some board seats. Votes will be tallied Saturday.

This co-op is in its 4th decade with annual sales 0f $26 million and 12,000 members. But membership has been swelling of late because of the battle:

[Barry Broad] was new to foodie activism after a career spent advising Gov. Gray Davis, two past Assembly speakers and presidential campaigns. He also served six years in the New Hampshire state Legislature. He assumed the co-op presidency earlier this year when his predecessor moved out of town.

Trying to quash the protest, he activated a network of political insiders. He crossed party lines to recruit Julie Soderlund, who helped manage Republican Carly Fiorina’s run for U.S. Senate last year and had worked for former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Broad has scooped up supporters, too, recruiting 250 new members by canvassing from synagogue to synagogue. He has spent evenings phoning them with reminders to vote. And he orchestrated a “buycott” that emptied co-op shelves of Israeli goods. (The store, seizing on the rush of sales, quickly restocked, and Broad is stuck with a surplus of bath salts.)

The lobbyist has locked horns with big business, Republicans and even fellow Democrats. But they don’t compete with the co-op’s outliers, he says: “These people are more tenacious.”

Capitol Weekly: Fierce political fight breaks out at Food Co-op and Indybay give a glimpse of the behind the scenes shenanigans scuffling over this election and memberships.

In occupied Nablus, people live inside a 6-kilometer radius and dream of a normal life

Sep 10, 2011

Lynn Gottlieb

George Rishmawi is a dedicated activist from Beit Sahour who I’ve known since 1999 when we stood in front of Deiheshe Refugee Camp as he told the story of Palestinian nonviolent resistance against the background of the ordeals of occupation.

Over the years we have visited each other’s homes and met at conferences. I have had the opportunity to travel with George through the varied landscapes of Palestine which he knows so well and meet his network of friends and associates from Hebron in the south to Jenin in the north. Today Dara, Jared and I joined George as he translated speeches from elected officials in Jenin to a special program out of the University of California schools called the Olive Tree Initiative. About 33 Jewish, Israeli, Palestinian, Muslim and Christian students travel together to learn each other’s narratives and develop a sensitivity to ‘the situation’ by being on the ground.

As we stood before a sculpture of a larger than life size horse constructed with ambulance parts collected after the Jenin battle of 2002, students expressed their deep appreciation for each other’s presence and courage. The Olive Tree Initiative tries to hold a neutral position in relation to the conflict in order to create bridges of understanding among both Jewish and Palestinian communities. Students on the trip struggle to make sense of the dozens of stories they hear throughout Israel and Palestine. Many people conclude, “It’s complicated.”

The upcoming UN vote is on the minds of many people. Many express their hope that official recognition by the General Assembly will give Palestine the right to take Israelis to the World Court in order to sue them for damages caused by Occupation.

People on the ground also hope Palestine remains quiet and secure during this period, but they are expecting trouble from settlers. People are tired of occupation, tired of armed struggle, tired of restrictions and harassment. They just want to live a normal life. The Olive Tree Initiative students missed a wonderful meal with a Woman’s Association in Jenin because they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to leave due to a checkpoint closure, and Jewish students didn’t want to miss Shabbat.

The four of us however, enjoyed an unbelievably delicious traditional meal prepared by the women along with their warm company. Rice cooked with almonds, Arab salad (finely cut tomatoes and cucumbers bathed in lemon and olive oil), home made soup, yogurt, bean salad, chicken, cookies with fennel and chocolate, tea and coffee.

Almost every family in Palestine carries loss. Um Emad, the founder of the center, still mourns the death of her eldest son a photographer. He was shot during the second intifada while filming events. Like many injured people, Israeli soldiers on the scene did not permit the family or medical personnel to attend to his wounds and he bled to death in the street. Emad was a proponent of women’s rights and this particular center was initiated by his mother due to the desire to honor his memory. The women at the center recognized me from my last visit…as did the representatives of the village of Ramona which we visited after lunch. It’s a wonderful feeling to return and return again and feel people’s appreciation for the ongoing work of solidarity. One of the representatives, Husam, speaks Hebrew fluently so we moved into a deeper conversation. He shared his experience of taking his son to the sea for the first and only time in his life. A Jewish Israeli friend drove them to Acco. His son flew like a bird across the sand and didn’t want to leave. He asked his father, “Why don’t Palestinians have a sea?” Husam is a member of ‘The Golden Walk’, a peacewalk organization of Palestinians and Jews who believe in nonviolence. Every month he enters Israel to be part of the circle.

For many people in Palestine life is confined to home and village or town. Majdi Shella, our host organizer in Nablus, lives his life within a 6 kilometer radius. Two years ago, one of the students Majdi took to Spain asked him, “Is Spain before or after the check point in Hawarah (the entrance of Nablus)? Majdi is an energetic and passionate advocate for women and labor in Palestine. Tonight he accompanied us to his favorite spot in Nablus, a beautiful outdoor garden filled with families sitting at tables around a beautiful fountain. We drank lemon freeze mixed with pistachio ice cream that tasted like heaven called Barad, a hand made specialty of the house. Children with long curly balloons chased each other around the fountain, couples enjoyed apple flavored hukkahs and we talked about the politics of place. Majdi approved of our efforts to come and offer concrete skills and then return home to spread the world of Palestinian life.

We are staying at an International Friends Guest House (I don’t think they are related to Quakers). We have a terrace, large rooms and a view of the desert sky that sings with the pink and blue colors of dusk and dawn that begin and end each day.

 

Settlers announce plan to shoot Palestinian protesters (and they demand legal protection for it)

Sep 10, 2011

Kate

Settler security chief: September infiltrators will be shot
JPost 9 Sept — IDF urged to clarify “open-fire” regulations during expected protests ahead of PA UN state bid — Palestinians who try to force their way into West Bank settlements during the mass protests in favor of statehood anticipated for September 20 “will be shot,” chief settler security officer Shlomo Vaknin told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. The protests are expected to accompany the Palestinian unilateral bid for recognition of statehood at the United Nations …The IDF and settlement leaders are preparing for the possibility that in key hotspots, Palestinians overwhelmed by the emotions of the moment might try to march en masse against settlements with hopes of forcing their way inside.

Jewish settlers demand legal cover for killing Palestinian demonstrators
MEMO 9 Sept — A member of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council Fatah has revealed that settlers in occupied East Jerusalem are demanding the right to shoot and kill Palestinian protesters in front of the properties that have been occupied illegally as part of Israel’s Judaisation programme in the holy city. According to Dmitry Dliani, settlers will use the so-called “Dromi law” to justify such murderous acts of violence. Shai Dromi was an Israeli who shot and killed a trespasser in 2007 and the eponymous law was enacted thereafter. In a press statement Dliani said that this demand came from settlers’ spokesman Yoni Yosef at a meeting attended by the leaders of settlement groups and members of the Israeli Knesset.

settler self-defence / Max Ajl
9 Sept — This is belated, but the IDF has announced plans to allow settlers to shoot tear gas, and then live ammunition, at Palestinian demonstrators if they cross a “red line” near settlements during protests timed to coincide with the UN consideration of Palestinian statehood. As Haaretz politely puts it, “the soldiers will be allowed to open fire at the legs of the demonstrators, as is also standard practice if the northern border is crossed.” Is centrist-liberal Haaretz blithely equating the northern “border” with the barriers around the illegal settlements? The northern “border” — or whatever it is, Israel doesn’t really have borders, it has places where it cannot put its troops for various military or geopolitical reasons and places where it can put its troops — is only located where it is because Hezbollah pushed Israeli troops back. And this is the message the thoughtful liberals of Israel are implicitly passing on without comment.

And more news from Today in Palestine:

Activist: Settlers vandalize family tent
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 9 Sept — Settlers vandalized a family tent in a village south of Hebron at dawn on Friday, a human rights worker said. No one was seriously injured. Naser Nawaja, a field researcher at B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group, said the settlers burned the tent while a man was inside. He was taken to a hospital in Yatta to be treated for shock.
link to www.maannews.net

Suspicion: ‘Price tag’ graffiti in Birzeit University
Ynet 9 Sept —  Palestinian sources reported that Hebrew slogans against the profit Muhammad and graffiti calling for the death of Arabs have been sprayed on one of the exterior walls in Birzeit University, near Ramallah, as well as on a mosque in a nearby town.
link to www.ynetnews.com

Settlers write racist graffiti on BZU walls / Linah Alsaafin
[photos] 9 Sept — On Friday morning around 2am, settlers made their way to up to Birzeit University and spray-painted racist slogans on the walls just outside the West Gate. Below are the translated phrases under each picture, taken from the university’s own Facebook page.
link to lifeonbirzeitcampus.blogspot.com

Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid

Mayor Barakat opens Palestinian school year in cynical media move
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 8 Sept — In a change of tactics, Jerusalem mayor Nir Barakat and a member of Knesset attending the opening event for the new education year at Al-Amal School for special needs children in Assawiyeh. Residents of East Jerusalem have expressed surprise at the move, considering Barakat’s track record: “the Jerusalem Municipality shuts down the Ahmad Sameh Khaldi School in Abu Tur neighborhood and engages in torture of prisoners in Silwan. Meanwhile, Barakat heads to Abu Tur — much of which has been annexed by the Municipality to build settlements and roads connecting Hadasa Hospital and the Hebrew University — to open a school!” commented one resident.
link to silwanic.net

Silwan youth sentenced to 5 months, after years of Israeli witchhunt
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 9 Sept — Two young residents of Silwan have been sentenced to 5 months in prison, after a two year long legal battle against Israeli authorities. Omar Ameen Siyam and Mahmoud al-Bana, both 23, weathered two years of prison, house arrest, interrogation and torture. The economic impact of their ongoing cases has been extreme: legal fees and rental costs (to serve their house arrests outside their home neighborhoods, as ordered by the court) amounts to 140,000 NIS (US$37,800) Siyam and al-Bana’s lawyers have also come under attack, with authorities lodging accusations of conspiracy to kill settlers at the City of David archaeological settlement in Silwan.
link to silwanic.net

Tareq Oudeh is returned
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 8 Sept — After spending  six months in the Israeli prisons the youth Tareq Oudeh from the town of Silwan  was released, but is still under house arrest. On the night of his return, he was received enthusiastically by his family, relatives and friends in his town in Silwan.
link to silwanic.net

Activist: Farmers kept off land near settlement
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 8 Sept — Israeli forces banned a number of villagers from approaching their lands in the Wadi Qashash area north Beit Ummar on Thursday, landowners said.  Farmer Ghazi Abu Ayyash and his brothers were not allowed to enter about eight dunoms of land, said Muhammad Awad of Beit Ummar’s popular committee. He said the lands [are] near the illegal Gush Etzion settlement close to a Rami Levi store. Troops pointed guns at the farmers and told them to never return to the area, he said.
link to www.maannews.net

South Hebron Hils: Israeli army threatens village of Umm al Kheer with demolitions
CPT 9 Sept — During the night of 4 September, the Israeli army delivered a demolition order for a small taboun oven to the inhabitants of the Bedouin village of Umm Al Kheer. A lawyer representing the village obtained a two-day stop-demolition order from the Israeli High Court, temporarily delaying the demolition. In addition to the taboun oven, where the villagers bake their bread, the Israeli military has slated eleven other structures in the village, and residents of the village fear that the military may destroy those structures, and possibly others during the demolition of the oven.  “The army has come to our village twice before to demolish houses,” said a resident of Umm al Kheer who wished to be identified only as Suleiman.  “Whenever they come, they destroy five or six buildings.  They won’t come and destroy just an oven, and then leave.”
link to cpt.org

Another round of Israeli military vandalism at Umm Al Kheir
[photos] TOD 9 Sept — Yesterday morning, Thursday September 8 2011, around 7 AM, the IDF military regime’s “Civil Administration” officials arrived at Umm-Al-Kheir, accompanied by a bulldozer and military forces, to destroy homes. The residents of Umm-Al-Kheir – situated in the West Bank, roughly 8km north of its southernmost border – are Bedouins, originally living on land that became part of Israel. They were driven out following the 1948 war (see more details here), and in the 1950s purchased the land on which they live, which was then under Jordanian rule. the 1980s the nearby Karmel settlement was established and subsidized by the Israeli government. Like all settlements, Karmel continues to expand and encroach on more and more Umm-Al-Kheir lands. The “Civil Administration” – which, on land matters, is little more than the executive arm of the settler movement despite being formally part of the IDF – always does the settlers’ bidding
http://theonlydemocracy.org/2011/09/another-round-of-israeli-military-vandalism-at-umm-al-kheir/

Israeli soldiers demolish homes near Hebron
HEBRON (WAFA) 8 Sept — …Security sources told WAFA that Israeli soldiers arrested a Palestinian man, raided another’s home and ransacked its contents in Samu‘ town, south of Hebron. They said a large number of soldiers raided Palestinians’ homes in the locale of Khirbet Umm al-Khair, east of Yatta town south of Hebron, and declared it a closed military zone before demolishing homes and tents that belong to Palestinians.
A local official said that Israeli soldiers raided al-Gowin [Ghuwein?] and Wad al-Amair locales south of Samu‘ town, where they removed and seized about 30 electricity poles.
link to english.wafa.ps

Israeli army threatens journalists covering EU visit to al-Walajeh
PNN 9 Sept — Israeli soldiers threatened to assault an al-Arabiya cameraman in the southern West Bank village of al-Walajeh on Friday as he covered a visit by 11 EU dignitaries. The Israeli army did not act on the threats, however, and allowed journalists into a dredging site near the Cremisan Monastery in al-Walajeh, where Israel plans to erect the wall. The EU delegation, invited by Oxfam International, was accompanied by PA spokesman Ghassan al-Khatib, al-Walajeh mayor Saleh Khalifeh, and Shireen Araj and Mahmoud Zawahiri, members of the local popular committees. Araj said in a preliminary speech to the dignitaries that if the wall were to be built at all, it would have to be along the 1967 boundaries and that the actions of the Israeli army in al-Walajeh, which falls on the Palestinian side of those lines, constitutes a land grab.
link to english.pnn.ps

Israeli forces

PCHR Weekly Report: 3 civilians, 6 fighters killed by Israeli forces this week 25 Aug-7 Sept
IMEMC 8 Sept — …the Palestinian Center for Human Rights found that 5 Palestinians, 2 of whom were civilians, were killed by Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip. In addition, the bodies of 3 workers who were missing in a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip that had been bombarded by Israeli warplanes were found. Also, a Palestinian child died of a previous wound in the Gaza Strip. 28 Palestinians, including 13 children, 7 women and an old man, were wounded by Israeli forces the Gaza Strip, and one civilian was wounded in the West Bank …
Israeli attacks in the West Bank: Over the last week, Israeli forces conducted 68 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they abducted 28 Palestinians, including two children and two members of the Palestinian Legislative Council… [IMEMC has most details and the original PCHR report is here.]
link to www.imemc.org

2 arrested in raid on village near Qalqiliya
QALQILIA (Ma‘an) – Israeli forces detained three men from Qalqiliya late Thursday, local witnesses and the Israeli military said, in the third such raid in 48 hours. Seventeen jeeps were counted in Jayous village as forces fired stun grenades, locals said. They broke into houses and detained Murad Qadumi, Muhamad Abu Sada and Rasem Ash-Sheikh. An Israeli military spokeswoman said police forces had arrested three Palestinians.
Six Palestinians were also arrested by the army in the Ramallah area, she said.
On Thursday, five Palestinians were taken from the Kufr Qadum village in Qalqiliya, Palestinian police said. Three others from the same village were arrested on Wednesday.
link to www.maannews.net

Israel police question six children for hours without parents present
Haaretz 8 Sept — The boys, aged 11 to 13 were all suspected of vandalism in Jaffa’s Old City during the recent Muslim holiday of Id al-Fitr, were taken from school straight to the interrogation room.
link to www.haaretz.com

Israel prevents clown show in East Jerusalem school
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 8 Sept — The Israeli police Thursday prevent the joint Spanish-Brazilian Festiclown group from performing at a  school in Sheikh Said village, South of Jerusalem, according to witness. Festiclown director, Ivan Prado, said … the ban will only increase their determination to continue the show in the Palestinian Territory … The show, titled “red nose soldiers,” came to Palestine to face the Israeli occupation with laughter by carrying out street performances as well as acts in schools, theaters and hospitals throughout the West Bank.
link to english.wafa.ps

Mer-Khemis investigation staging the shutdown of Freedom Theatre / Taghrid Atallah
Al Akhbar 8 Sept — Israel is apparently using the investigation into the assassination of Palestinian artist Julian Mer-Khemis, which has dragged on for months, as a pretext to hamper the operation of the Freedom Theater where he taught and performed … Repeated Israeli raids on the theatre have kept students away. For many it was like a second home. In time, they found an alternative space, al-Qasbah theater, where they could resume their rehearsals for the play Waiting for Godot.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Gaza

New Israeli raids – east Jabaliya
Jabaliya (PNN) 8 Sept 14:07 — Hazar Khalilieh (Trans.) — Israel continues its attacks on Gaza strip. Israeli bombardment attacks were regenerated on Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza on Thursday morning. The attacks targeted a group of civilians, causing several deaths and injuries. Locals said Israeli attacks are leaving no chance for a ceasefire.
The air raids happened less than an hour after the assassination of Al-Quds Brigades military wing of Islamic Jihad movement member, Rumah Al-Hassani, in an air raid that targeted central Gaza strip.
link to english.pnn.ps

Israeli army razes land in Gaza Strip
RAFAH (WAFA) 8 Sept 14:09 – An Israeli army unit of four Israeli bulldozers and five tanks Thursday entered the Gaza Strip and raided Palestinian land to the east of Rafah, razing the area under heavy military air cover and sporadic shooting, according to local sources. Israel has escalated its attacks on the Gaza Strip in the past few days, killing two Palestinians and injuring several others in Israeli airstrikes that targeted civilian areas.
link to english.wafa.ps

Gunshots fired at western Negev homes; no injuries
Ynet 9 Sept — Palestinian snipers from the northern Gaza Strip fired at least 10 shots at houses in Netiv Haasara on Friday. No injuries were reported, however damage was caused to several houses. The residents were ordered to stay indoors as the IDFcanvassed the area and were allowed to leave an hour later.
link to www.ynetnews.com

Qassam operative dies in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 7 Sept — A member of Hamas’ armed wing died Wednesday during a ‘Jihad’ mission near Ash-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City, the Al-Qassam Brigades announced. Muhammad Rushdi Aqbalan, 52, died after suffering an electric shock, the group said.
link to www.maannews.net

Blockades – Gaza and West Bank

Hummus starts trickling past Israel’s blockade on Gaza / Amira Hass
Haaretz 9 Sept — Documents released show Israel lifted restrictions on the importation of legumes into Gaza — Maj. Gen. Amos Gilad, formerly acting Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT ), permitted bringing processed hummus into the Gaza Strip in July 2009, for the first time in two years. However, Gilad did not permit bringing hummus with extras, such as pine nuts or mushrooms, into the strip … These details appear in documents COGAT released following a petition filed by human rights groups to the Tel Aviv District Court in February this year.
link to www.haaretz.com

PA: Israel to allow cars into Gaza
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 8 Sept — Minister of transportation in Ramallah Saadi al-Krunz said Tuesday that cars would resume entering Gaza from the West Bank starting next Monday. Al-Kurnoz said the ministry of transportation has made increased efforts to reverse an Israeli decision which stopped the transfer of vehicles from the West Bank into the Gaza Strip. Krunz said 60 new cars will enter Gaza weekly.
link to www.maannews.net

Gaza car traders protest customs increase
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) updated 7 Sept — Traders in the Gaza Strip on Monday protested a 25 percent increase in import taxes on cars entering the coastal enclave. President of Gaza’s Automobile Association Ismail Al-Nakhaleh said the Hamas Ministry of Transport would raise import taxes on cars from 50% to 75%, increasing custom duties by up to $15,000 … Gaza transport mini