Mondoweiss
- Ayub Asaliya was on his way to school last Sunday
- NYT buries the lead– Iranians halted weapons program in ’03 and have not restarted it
- The Norwegians, the settlers, the zealot, the olive seedlings– and the Palestinian’s suit against ‘Nobody’
- Israeli settlers attack a shepherd and a child in separate attacks in the West Bank
- Israel to Europe: Palestinians can’t have a state because they can’t support themselves
- Another establishment figure, Will Marshall, calls for containing a nuclear Iran
Ayub Asaliya was on his way to school last Sunday
Mar 18, 2012
Annie Robbins
Ayub Asaliya
My heart keeps breaking over him, the loving hand touching his face, the loss felt by the person cupping his cheek for the last time. Is that his father? Ever since I first saw his photo, I cannot recall where but there was no name for him, he symbolized all the martyred children of Palestine for me. I didn’t know who he was but I kept his photo on my desktop and have been looking at it for days.
Today, for no particular reason I came upon Shayna’s blog, and a post she had written titledAyub Asaliya:
Ayub was a little twelve-year-old boy on his way to school who was killed by the IDF “shelling”. Hearing about little Ayub really hit me hard. I think it is because he was on his way to school. The little boy was doing the “right thing” headed to school, and his life here was taken from him by dudes conducting war in a civilian population.
I don’t like when people use emotionally charged words to convey their message. But I think about it, it really is like little Ayub was murdered on the way to school. I don’t think a child deserves that.
I don’t know when I will stop crying over Ayub. I think what happened to him, speaks to the wrong of conducting war on a civilian population.
I wish I could find a picture of Ayub from when he was alive, because I would like to post it here.
I knew this was the boy in my photo. After googling his name I came upon another photo of him. Yes, it was the same boy. AFP says he was killed last Sunday.
Shayna’s blog is covered with pink roses, belly dancing and surfing. And Ayub too. If anyone finds a photo of Ayub when he was alive, could you please send it to @shaynaamour.
Shayna, thank you for expressing such beauty and purity of heart.
(Reports on Ayub’s death found here, here, and @mshafiquk )
NYT buries the lead– Iranians halted weapons program in ’03 and have not restarted it
Mar 18, 2012
Annie Robbins
New York Times News
Lest we forget Iran, page A1 of the New York Times today graces us with apprehension: U.S. Faces a Tricky Task in Assessment of Data on Iran. But it’s a whole whole lot of nothing for two pages till it ends on this:
The draft version [of the U.S. government’s National Intelligence Estimate of 2010] had concluded that the Iranians were still trying to build a bomb, the same finding of a 2005 assessment. But as they scrutinized the new intelligence from several sources, including intercepted communications in which Iranian officials were heard complaining to one another about stopping the program, the American intelligence officials decided they had to change course, officials said. While enrichment activities continued, the evidence that Iran had halted its weapons program in 2003 at the direction of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was too strong to ignore, they said.
One former senior official characterized the information as very persuasive. “I had high confidence in it,” he said. “There was tremendous evidence that the program had been halted.”
And today, despite criticism of that assessment from some outside observers and hawkish politicians, American intelligence analysts still believe that the Iranians have not gotten the go-ahead from Ayatollah Khamenei to revive the program.
“That assessment,” said one American official, “holds up really well.”
What a waste of a front page, when important stories often land on A18.
The Norwegians, the settlers, the zealot, the olive seedlings– and the Palestinian’s suit against ‘Nobody’
Mar 18, 2012
Philip Weiss
We’ve been chronicling the rising fury inside Europe toward the Israeli occupation; and one story I’ve put aside that relates to this trend involves a visit by Norwegian volunteers to help Palestinian farmers plant olive trees.
Settlers destroyed their efforts. The farmers have vowed to press their rights. (And Kate covered the attacks in her daily digest here.)
I focus on this incident because of the extremism. The Norwegian volunteers are doing loving work; and they were met by a zealot who call them Nazis. And one of the Norwegians’ ancestors saved Jews during the Holocaust.
A Palestinian farmer seeks redress for his losses. He is forced into a hateful bureaucracy of occupation that is reminiscent of the airless desperation of a Kafka story. Will J Street describe these conditions at its conference, titled “Making History,” next week?
At the end of the accounts below, you will find excerpts of a piece by that zealot, Nadia Matar of Women in Green, explaining why Palestinians have no place in the West Bank.
First, here is the International Middle East Media Center’s report on the Norwegians’ work at the village of Beit Iskaria, near the Israeli settlement Eleazar, on March 7:
On Wednesday morning a group of 11 Norwegian students and their teacher joined Yassin Da’doua on his land to plant 200 olive trees as part of the olive tree planting campaign organized by Joint Advocacy Initiative of East Jerusalem YMCA and YWCA of Palestine.
The group along with the Palestinian farmer and his family managed to plant half of the trees on Wednesday before the leader of the radical settler organization ‘Women in Green’, Nadia Matar, arrived along with two other Israeli settlers who started taking photos of the young Norwegians.
“Your grandparents have killed my grandparents in the holocaust and now you are helping the Arabs to steal our land. This is the land for the people of Israel. You are helping the wrong people. You are like the Nazis.” Matar shouted at the Norwegian students.
After some time Israeli soldiers, military police, and uniform police arrived at the scene and demanded the Palestinians and their friends stop planting the trees and leave the area. The military commander said that the land is owned by the state of Israel…
“How can they call me a Nazi? My grandparents fought the Nazis during the second world war,” said one of the Norwegian students responding to Matar comments.
Video is here, I can’t get it to load.
Below is an interesting account of the encounter from Sensingtherabbithole, who I believe to be a European employee of the Joint Advocacy Initiative in East Jerusalem, which arranged the plantings. In the picture at left, you can see Nadia Matar pointing a finger.
The group had just started the planting of 200 olive trees when the leader of the radical settler organization ‘Women in Green’, Nadia Matar, arrived with two other Israeli settlers. Matar had an aggressive approach towards the international group and said loudly “your grandparents have killed my grandparents in the holocaust and now you are helping the Arabs to steal our land. This is the land for the people of Israel. You are helping the wrong people. You are like the Nazis.” At the same time, Israeli soldiers appeared, who counted a higher number of armed military compared with olive planting Norwegians. The military canceled the olive planting and ordered the group to stop their work and return to the bus which was escorted back to Bethlehem….
The group was invited to an Israeli settlement for a talk and a discussion with an Israeli settler. A Palestinian man, employed in our NGO joined the meeting in the Synagogue, but instead of screaming, he left the room due to the lack of common ground. …
The next morning, 100 planted olive trees were uprooted and the land was prohibited from the Palestinian farmer. The nephew of the land owner was arrested due to his act of planting olive trees despite the order from the soldiers to stop working. In the case of this spesific farmer, this could be the first step towards a long lasting process in court. While facing the judge, the legal question is not “who is the right based owner of this land?”. The land is presumed to be Israeli state land, and the mission of the Palestinian farmer is to once again prove that it belongs to him.
In the case of the Palestinian people – this is no more radical than a continuous process of transmitting land from Palestine to Israel, which has been going on since 1948. The difference between now and than is that today the land grab violates international law, and the Palestinian people has no means to fight back. At the same time, the world community has an opportunity to influence the govern of Israel. But the problem seems to be that the world, through UN, gave Israel the power to form a state, but without enough restrictions. Criticizing Israel later is too sensitive because of the horrible history of the Jewish people.
Now here is a detailed report from the Joint Advocacy Initiative on the second incident of olive tree destruction. It emphasizes the Kafakesque system faced by a Palestinian farmer whose lands have been invaded. He must go to a settlement to file his complaint. And the complaint is filed against Nobody. (Kafka was inspired in his tales, some have asserted, by the treatment of Jews in central Europe.)
The same group of Norwegian students also planted trees on private Palestinian land east of Bethlehem [on March 4].
The land is near two settlements one of which is Nokedim, home to Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman.
A group of Israeli settlers came into the land of Aziz Tinih’s family at 1:00 am on Sunday, 11th of March 2012. The settlers took their time destroying the land and uprooting nearly 190 newly planted olive trees. All the trees except of one were found cut and/or pulled out of the soil.
…In order to file a complaint about the destruction of his land, the Israeli Authorities sent Aziz to Etzion settlement then to Kriat Arba settlement then to the Nokdim settlement security. The Israelis told Aziz that the people who destroyed his land were not settlers but Palestinians, a claim was proved a lie because no Palestinians live in any of the settlements around the field and no Palestinian would find it safe to be there at the time of the attack (around 1 am).
Eventually the case was filed against nobody even though the Israeli authorities could easily find who attacked the land giving the fact that the area has camera surveillance covering all the settlements.
The land of Tinih family has been subject to various settler attacks, Settlers come out from the nearby El David and Nokdim Settlement and vandalize the property of the Palestinians land around the settlements, many land owners avoid going to their land fearing for their lives as several Palestinians were attacked by settlers from there including Aziz’ brother as well as many Palestinian shepherds who used to herd their flocks there.
The uprooting of the trees has made Aziz and his family more keen on returning to their land regardless of the existing threats. Through the Olive Tree Campaign Aziz and his family will continue to receive olive trees from the campaign until the settlers attacks stop.
“Some of Israeli settlers in this area think they are shepherds. They try to follow the life of prophet Amos, somebody needs to remind them that; as a shepherd, prophet Amos had a stick rather than a machine gun and he was a person who respected his neighbors rather than using every opportunity to destroy their property, terrorize them and drive them off their land…” [There is no attribution for this quote, apart from JAI itself]
Now here is part of the response to the Norwegians by Nadia Matar of Women in Green. Wow, this is intense, but they believe this stuff. These are the messianic mad people controlling the West Bank. Notice the talk about “the Arab”:
And now for the facts:
We, the Jewish People, are embroiled in an ongoing battle for reclamation of our land, our historic birthright, the Land of Israel.
The Jewish People are, and have been, the indigenous inhabitants of the Land of Israel for over 4000 years. We have been continuously present here, in greater or lesser numbers, despite enforced exile and dispossession by a series of foreign invaders and conquerors – with the Arabs and Moslems only the latest in a long line.
With the advent of the national liberation movement of Zionism, and with the help of G-d, the Jewish People have returned to our G-d given biblical Homeland, especially to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria,where the very first Jewish “settlers” lived thousands of years ago- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and later the Judges, Kings, Priests and Sages of our people. At a time when Europe was still a forested haven for primitive tribes, and Islam did not yet exist, Jews flourished in their homeland and developed the spiritual and ethical heritage that has transformed human civilization.
Today’s 750,000 Jewish residents living in Judea and Samaria should not be labeled “settlers”, which is a mistranslation of the Hebrew “mitnachalim”, but rather “heirs” or “inheritors” of the land. We have been here for over 4000 years and we are here to stay. In contrast, as Joan Peters points out throughout her lengthy and well-documented book “From Time Immemorial”, almost all the Arabs living in Israel or in Judea and Samaria, are not “native” to the land, but rather immigrants from Syria and Saudi Arabia attracted by the Zionist return and economic development of the Land of Israel….
The Arab claiming ownership of that piece of land is simply lying – his so-called documents are either non-existent or fabricated and forged. He is a dangerous and violent man, who was arrested a few months ago after he attacked a Jewish farmer with a hoe, and almost killed him.
The Arabs, and Moslems, of course, are fighting for far more than the possession of this or that piece of land – they aim for nothing less than the destruction of the State of Israel.
Great thanks to Ron Taylor.
Israeli settlers attack a shepherd and a child in separate attacks in the West Bank
Mar 18, 2012
Today in Palestine
Ethnic Cleansing / Land Theft & Destruction / Occupation & Apartheid
IN-PHOTOS: New Home Demolitions in Jordan Valley
In the afternoon of 14 March, 12 military jeeps and one army bulldozer entered the Jordan Valley village of al-Jiftlik and demolished three homes, displacing 22 people.
link to www.alternativenews.org
220 trees damaged in Nablus village
NABLUS (Ma’an) — Settlers entered village land in Nablus late Friday and damaged 220 olive trees, a Palestinian official said in remarks denied by Israeli military officials. Settlers from the illegal outpost of Yesh Kodish entered land belonging to the village of Duma and destroyed 220 olive trees, Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settler activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma’an. An Israeli military spokeswoman said, however, that Palestinians damaged the trees. The land belongs to Ali Abdul-Hamid, Hasan Salawdah, Zakariyya Salawdah, Hosni Salawdah and Avdul-Raziq Dawabshah.
link to www.maannews.net
Israel allocates millions of dollars for building synagogues in O. Jerusalem
The Israeli municipality of occupied Jerusalem has earmarked millions of dollars to build more synagogues and other Jewish institutions in a bid to Judaize the occupied holy city.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
IOF soldiers storm Jenin, Al-Khalil villages
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed villages to the south of Jenin and north of Al-Khalil on Friday afternoon and evening, local sources said.
On Saturday, March 17 2012, illegal settlers in Al-Khalil (Hebron), guarded by Israeli Occupation Forces soldiers, trespassed onto the private property of the Abu Ayesha family and proceeded to attack fifteen year old Said, striking him on his arms. The settlers refused to begin leaving until police arrived.
For more than a month now, Gaza has been dealing with a crippling energy crisis. The single power plant, which supplies nearly a third of Gaza’s power has been shut down three times.
UFree: MP Haj Ali may not survive his hunger strike and should be let go
The European network-Ufree said Palestinian lawmaker Ahmed Al-Haj Ali has entered a life-threatening stage and may not survive if his hunger strike continues for more days.
Captives announce the start of a revolt in all occupation prisons
Palestinian captives in occupation jails announced the start of a revolt in all occupation prisons which they will gradually escalate until all their just demands of the captives are met.
Soldiers Broke Into Detention Camps 6 Times Last Week
Palestinian Researcher specialized in detainees’ affair, Riyadh Al-Ashqar, stated that Israeli soldiers broke into prisons and detention centers six times last week, attacked and violated the rights of the Palestinian detainees, and wounded eleven.
Thousands join global hunger strike for Palestinian detainee
Thousands of people across the world are on a one-day hunger strike in solidarity with a female Palestinian prisoner refusing food in an Israeli jail. Hana Shalabi has been on an open-ended hunger strike since she was detained by Israeli forces 27 days ago. Shalabi is suffering spells of dizziness, muscular wasting and loss of consciousness, her lawyers and medical observers say. The 30-year-old is held under administrative detention laws, which allow the Israeli military to hold Palestinians on secret evidence without charge or trial for renewable six-month sentences.
Dozens of US Campaign Member Groups Participate in 2012 Israeli Apartheid Week!
Two weeks ago, activists from US Campaign member groups and other organizations joined organizers in 115 cities worldwide for the 8th AnnualIsraeli Apartheid Week (IAW)! From Olympia, WA to New Brunswick, NJ; from Burlington to Boston; US Campaign member groups in more than a dozen U.S. cities held IAW actions and events during the global week of action to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid state and to build campaigns for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.
Islamic Jihad seeks ‘balance of terror’ with Israel
Gaza militant group Islamic Jihad seeks to create a “balance of terror” with Israel, a senior member of its military wing has told AFP in an exclusive interview.
Bill set to allow Israel Police immunity when quizzing suspects
The practice of not recording interrogations has been in place since 2002 but is not permanently anchored in law.
Palestinians are up to ears in debt
The Palestinian middle class has seized on mortgages and consumer loans as a route to upward mobility. But with the credit increase comes soaring personal debt.
Why is human rights group B’Tselem “proud” to sponsor J Street gala keynoted by war criminal?, Ali Abunimah
B’Tselem USA, the American arm of renowned Israeli human rights group B’Tselem is “proud” to sponsor the 26 March gala of pro-Israel lobby group J Street despite the fact that the keynote speaker is former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who is responsible for extensive war crimes in Lebanon and Gaza.
Daily Show blasts U.S. decision to cut UNESCO funding
In a special two-part segment on Thursday night’s The Daily Show, correspondent John Oliver took an in-depth look at the U.S. government’s decision to block funding to the relief group UNESCO. First, Oliver meets with former Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL), who informs him that under 1990′s Public Law 103-236, the United States is forbidden to provide funding to any agencies who deal with Palestine directly. As a result, a UNESCO spokesperson says, programs like fresh water for 950,000 people, literacy programs for the Afghan police force, and programs to strengthen the Iraqi judiciary are all going to have to be scrapped.
link to www.rawstory.com
Israel’s Willing Executioners: AIPAC Invades Washington
From March 4th to March 9th, 2012, 13,000 militant Israel Firsters, took over “political Washington”1 and imposed a foreign regime’s (Israel) political agenda to the rousing applause and appreciation of their captive vassal US legislators and executives who crowded the halls and platforms groveling for the imperious nods of their visiting Israeli overlords.2 The annual meeting of the American (sic) Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is the most outrageous public display of Zionist-Jewish power as it shapes US foreign policy. The sole purpose of AIPAC is to ensure Israel’s unchallenged military and political power over a huge region from North Africa to the Persian Gulf. Over three-quarters of the US Congress members paraded themselves before the AIPAC, as well as President Obama and Vice President Biden, and any high ranking Cabinet members in any way related to US foreign policy (Secretary of State Clinton, Secretary of Defense Panetta included). They all loudly parroted the political agenda and military priorities that the AIPAC has imposed on the United States.
Activists to track Bahraini rights abuses
Leading human rights activists have established a new website to highlight abuses of power by the Bahraini state. The website, bahrainwatch.org, tracks and records the government’s promises of reform and highlights when they fail to fulfill them. Last year the government established the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) to look into allegations of abuse during the crackdown on peaceful protesters in March 2011.
Bahrain opposition marks raid anniversary
Thousands of opposition supporters rallied in Bahrain on Friday to mark the one-year anniversary of the military raid on the capital’s Pearl Square, the epicenter of last year’s Shiite uprising in the Gulf kingdom.
Bahrain forces fire tear gas to disperse anti-regime demonstrators protesting in several Bahraini villages.
‘Saudi forces aggravate Bahrain crisis’
The Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says Saudi Arabia’s military presence in Bahrain is “utterly wrong” and will only aggravate the crisis in this country.
Twin suicide car bombs struck intelligence and security buildings in the Syrian capital Saturday, killing at least 27 people and wounding 140, according to state media.
Push for political solution to Syria crisis
Some Syrians are pushing for political solution to year-long crisis.
Elias Hanna speaks to Al Jazeera about attacks in Damascus
Syrian state TV reported that two car bombings killed dozens of people in Damascus. Elias Hanna, a former Lebanese military general, says both the government and the opposition in Syria benefit from these kinds of attacks. He spoke to Al Jazeera.
Halt ships of shame from the USA carrying weapons to Egypt
A ship carrying a cargo of weapons with explosives en route from the USA to Egypt must not be allowed to offload because of a substantial risk the weapons will be used by Egyptian security forces to commit human rights violations, Amnesty International said on Thursday. The organization has tracked the Dutch-flagged ship, MV Schippersgracht, for the past two months. It is currently in the Mediterranean Sea and due to arrive in Egypt early next week. The U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command contacted Amnesty International to say the cargo is not intended for Egypt but refused to give further information as to its final destination, citing security reasons.
Iraq’s autistic children find a refuge
Nibras Sadoun literally adopted the issue of autism in Iraq. While conducting field research in special education, she took in an autistic child who had been abandoned by his mother. Now Sadoun oversees six countrywide offices of Al Rahman Institute, which is named after her son. The institute helps educate and socialise autistic children, who are often overlooked by Iraq’s educational system. The government does not provide Al Rahman with any funding, but parents say the institute is a lifeline for their children. Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf reports from Baghdad.
Jordan demonstrators want jailed activists freed
Jordanians demonstrated on Friday against a “tight security grip,” demanding the release of activists arrested this week after pro-reform protests in the southern city of Tafileh.
Former Gaddafi intelligence chief ‘held’
Abdullah al-Senussi, who is reported to have been detained in Mauritania, was the right-hand-man and brother-in-law of deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Afghan Massacre Sheds Light on Culture of Mania and Aggression in U.S. Troops in Afghanistan
We speak with journalist Neil Shea, who has reported on Afghanistan and Iraq since 2006 for Stars and Stripes and other publications. Shea discusses his experiences witnessing disturbing behavior during his travels with U.S. troops in Afghanistan and offers insight into understanding the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians. “When we cycle our soldiers and marines through these wars that don’t really have a clear purpose over years and years…we expect light-switch control over their aggression,” Shea says. “We expect to be able to turn them into killers and then turn them back into winners of hearts and minds. And when you do that to a man or a woman over many years, that light-switch control begins to fray.”
Directly after the incident, Reuters reported multiple witnesses claimed multiple soldiers were present at the scenes and carried out the crime. The acclaimedPajhwok Afghan News (initially funded by USAID, its co-founder Farida Nekzad, won the 2008 International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award) is reporting, Up to 20 US troops executed Panjwai massacre: probe…
Israel to Europe: Palestinians can’t have a state because they can’t support themselves
Mar 18, 2012
Philip Weiss
Shocking report at Haaretz, on Israel’s defiance of the idea of Palestinian statehood. The country has prepared a 44 page report saying that Palestine can’t stand on its own two feet economically, so Europe must prop up the bantustans.
“Another talking point to justify continuing Israel’s apartheid one-state solution,” says Ilene Cohen, who passed this along, and who long supported the two state solution because it was international consensus. Haaretz:
Israel is expected to present a report Wednesday at a donor meeting on Palestinian aid in Brussels claiming that the Palestinian Authority is not sufficiently stable to meet the standards of a well-functioning state..
Israel is expected to emphasize before the donor countries that despite the growth of recent years, the Palestinian Authority still needs foreign aid to survive.
“The fiscal crisis is especially acute because much of the West Bank economy still depends on the public sector and on construction projects, both still heavily financed by foreign aid. It also serves as an alarming warning sign for the stability of the Palestinian economy,” the report said.
This shows what occupation has done to the Palestinian economy, this shows how essential international donor aid is to the Israeli occupation. And this shows why Europeans are becoming increasingly angry about what their aid is supporting.