A short history of apartheid
By Azmi Beshara, Al-Ahram Weekly on-line 8 - 14 January 2004
Land is at the heart of the drama unfolding in Palestine. But it is not the only thing -- Rhetoric about demography so dominates Israel's political discourse that one might be tempted to assume that Israel has abandoned its preferred designation as the Jewish democratic state in favour of the Jewish demographic state. The condition has reached the stage where it might be diagnosed as an advanced case of demographomania. The mania, of course, is rooted in Zionist principles, in the need to maintain a Jewish majority capable of implementing a democracy that will absorb the Diaspora, accommodate pioneer settlement and the assumption of a common history, and that allows for the fetishisation of military service. For without any of the above Israel would have to practice government by the minority, which inevitably leads to apartheid or racial segregation, to government by a national minority that sees the state as the embodiment of its legitimacy. Such practices demand dual sets of legality.
Because a state with a Jewish minority in Palestine was never on the cards displacement always lay at the core of the Zionist project for a Jewish state located in a country with an Arab majority and in the midst of an Arab region. It is no coincidence that the portion of land that was initially supposed to host the Jewish state was "ethnically cleansed" early. Along the once flourishing Palestinian coast only two Arab villages remain today.
The first task, then, was to cleanse the areas of the Jewish state -- as defined in the partition resolution -- of Arab inhabitants. This was followed by the displacement of Arabs from the Galilee and other parts of the presumed Arab state. The result: a large Jewish majority made it possible to impose the democratic sovereignty of the Jews, albeit in a non-liberal manner and with military and settler values. Thus did Jewish democracy turn religious commitment into a tool of national formation while it pillaged the Arab Palestinian people. The uprooting of Palestinians in 1948 was an exercise in demographic separation through displacement.
Buying One’s Pride
Editorial, Miftah 1/10/2004
The United States of America is now threatening Palestinian health and relief organizations to cut their funding if they continue to refuse to sign what the US calls: ‘Certification Regarding Terrorist Financing.’
The certificate reads: “As a condition of entering into the referenced agreement, [name of organization] hereby certifies that it has not provided and will not provide material support or resources to any individual or entity that it knows, or has reason to know, is an individual or entity that advocates, plans, sponsors, engages in, or has engaged in terrorist activity, including but not limited to the individuals and entities listed in the Annex to Executive Order 13224 and other such individuals and entities that may be later designated by the United States under any of the following authorities: § 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended (8 U.S.C. § 1189), the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. § 1701 et seq.), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq.), or § 212(a)(3)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended by the USA Patriot Act of 2001, Pub. L. 107-56 (October 26, 2001)(8 U.S.C. §1182).”
The content of the text is harmless and in sync with Palestinian values and way of life, but as Palestinians investigated the acts and resolutions listed above it became obvious that the USA has placed Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), member organizations as part of this list. The United States and Israel have both recognized the PLO as the Sole Representative of the Palestinian People. This came as part of the DOP, Declaration of Principles, signed in Washington in which PLO recognized Israel’s right to live on land grabbed in 1948 originally belonging to Palestinian families, while the US and Israel agreed to remove PLO from any terrorist or such lists.
Things to come
By Graham Usher, Al-Ahram Weekly on-line 8 - 14 January 2004
Sharon's disengagement plan will dominate the new year and the Palestinian leadership is in no shape to meet the challenge -- "The Palestinian dream of achieving an independent state will happen no matter how long it takes," Yasser Arafat promised on 1 January, the 39th anniversary of his Fatah movement. Three days on -- and closer to earth -- the Palestinian leader admitted the dream is not imminent. 2004 "is going to be a difficult year" he told reporters outside his bullet-holed headquarters in Ramallah.
There are some in the leadership who fear it may prove terminal, if not for the dream then for the political "peace of the brave" they and Arafat have long argued is the only means to realise it. They have grounds for pessimism.
One is Israel's ongoing military actions in the occupied territories, which appear designed to scuttle any prospects of a Palestinian cease-fire, currently Arafat and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei's sole route back to the diplomatic plan known as the roadmap.
In an incursion that has lasted nearly two weeks the Israeli army re-occupied Nablus in the hunt for fugitives, arms and the routes that connect them. Seventeen Palestinians have been killed, over 200 wounded, 30,000 have been put under a more or less permanent curfew and ancient Palestinian properties ransacked. "Nablus is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster," said Yasser Alawneh, a monitor from the Palestinian Commission for Citizens Rights on 5 January.
Interview with Sari Nusseibeh
By Linda Benedikt, Media Monitors Network 1/9/2004
"Israelis do not believe in my rights as a Palestinian. That is not the reason why they signed any documents. They did it out of pure and cold bloodied calculation. They believe that by making peace they can preserve themselves. And if we, as a result, are getting a state or an empire, they could not care less." -- Professor Sari Nusseibeh (born 1949), is President of the Jerusalem Al-Quds University and the PLO representative in the city. Nusseibeh, who read philosophy at Christ Church College in Oxford and received his PhD in medieval Islamic philosophy from Harvard, does not only publicly disagree with Israeli politics but also with the Palestinian leadership particularly Yassir Arafat. Together with the Israeli Ami Ayalon, he founded the grass root movement “The People’s Voice” in order to make both people agree to what their leadership obviously cannot: Peace. Sari Nusseibeh is married to Lucy Austin, daughter of J.L. Austin, and lives in Jerusalem.
Q: You must be quite happy: After months of peaceful campaigning against Israel’s separation wall, Israel agreed to change the wall’s route, thus sparing the campus of the Al-Quds University to be cut into two.
A: As far as our campaign is concerned I have indeed a reason to be happy, or to be at least less unhappy. But once the city has decided where and when it will build its new ring road we will have to negotiate again.
Did Israeli General Moshe Dayan Order the Attack on the USS Liberty?
By William Hughes, Media Monitors Network 1/9/2004
Almost four decades after Israel’s premeditated attack on the USS Liberty, on June 8, 1967, an agency of the federal government is going to give the controversy some air time. The State Department is sponsoring a conference entitled, “ The United States, the Middle East, and the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.” It will be held on Jan. 12-13, 2004, in Washington, DC.
Incredibly, A. Jay Cristol, the leading protagonist for Zionist Israel’s version of what happened on that fateful day will be one of the affair’s prime presenters on the 12th. Because of the context of the “War, Intelligence & the USS Liberty” segment of the designed program, he will be permitted to put on the record, without the benefit of any cross examination, his prejudiced views. Fortunately, the distinguished author, and supporter of the Liberty cause, James Bamford, will also be on the two hour agenda to add some needed balance. It is wrong for Cristol to get equal billing with Bamford.
According to Cristol’s press release, he intends to hype the supposed relevance of the recorded conversation of “two helicopter pilots” of the Israelis, that has “been kept secret for 37 years.” He claims the “recordings proved that Israel had mistaken the USS Liberty for an Egyptian ship.” They will do nothing of the kind. The attack was deliberate and no after-the-fact dissembling by Cristol, the author of the hearsay-dominated book, “The Liberty Incident,” will alter that inescapable fact.
“Our Sacrifice…Our Struggle” – Interviews with Kata'ab al Qassam leader, Part 2
By Anne Gwynne, International Press Center 1/8/2004
This piece takes the form of an interview with B, the revered leader of the Kata’ab al Qassam military wing of Hamas of whom I’ve recently written. It is the second of four article-interviews concerning B, his family, and the Resistance. I would like all readers of these pieces to see my pictures of the family, but I feel afraid that the Israelis will make some new horror from innocent pictures. This is why I have removed all names and any other reference that could cause collective punishment to be inflicted upon them. It is one of the many family stories of Nablus that cries out to be told.
B’s father, 72 years old, is a learned Sheikh, a world renowned Islamic scholar who has addressed conferences in many countries, and a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood. Much of his life has been spent under arrest, under house arrest and in prison, including 96 days of torture last year. He has five sons: One has a 700 year sentence for military activities; the Second has only “one times life” – a phrase you hear all the time. The Third is blind and sentenced to ten and a half years; the Fourth is “number one wanted Mujahad”. The Fifth, O, is “for the family” - a common phrase amongst the great fighter families of Balaata and Nablus referring to the one child who will have nothing to do Resistance so that he may be spared imprisonment and torture. The “one for the family” is getting rarer every month as the Zionist terrorism escalates to an unprecedented level. O is a man of supreme courtesy and gentleness who never failed to ask me with sincerity to join him and B whenever they had a rare hour together. (I always declined, preferring to leave them with their precious time.)
Losing hope is easy
Editorial, Jerusalem Times 1/8/2004
In Nablus a war has been going on without too much attention from the world community. An Israeli military campaign has been taking place in the city for three weeks concentrated mainly in the historic old city. The destruction caused so far from the Israeli military onslaught to the archeological sites and historical buildings is irreparable. Yet, we have not heard a word, not even from UNESCO, regarding this barbaric and brutal destruction of history and culture. When the Taliban wanted to destroy a couple of historical stone structures in Afghanistan, the entire world intervened to prevent their destruction. But as Israel is destroying historical sites, some of them over 1000 years old, in Nablus, there is a frightening world silence.
Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei spoke against this world silence regarding Israel’s destruction of Palestinian life in Nablus and elsewhere in the Palestinian areas. He said that if a Palestinian has attacked an Israeli target, the entire world would have reacted angrily but when Israel systematically destroys Palestinian life, culture and history there is a world silence. The building of the separation wall is itself a crime against humanity because of the long term damage it is causing to more than 3 million Palestinians. Yet, while the world community has shyly protested the building of the wall, it has not done anything practical to stop Israel from continuing with this crime, which made Israel continue with the construction just as it is continuing with the destruction of property and homes and killing of Palestinian civilians without any remorse.
Sharon's deadly plan
By Khaled Amayreh, Al-Ahram Weekly on-line 8 - 14 January 2004
Israeli occupation forces continued their lethal operations throughout the West Bank and Gaza, leaving scores of Palestinians dead -- Most of the violence this week took place in the northern West Bank town of Nablus where Israeli troops, backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers, have been operating for 21 consecutive days.
On 1 January, Israeli troops shot and killed 16- year-old Mohamed Jaber Said at the El-Ein refugee camp outside Nablus. Another boy, aged 13, was also badly wounded in the incident. The Israeli army claimed the two boys were shot "in clashes". Eyewitnesses say the confrontation took place between heavily armed Israeli soldiers and a few stone-throwing Palestinian children.
The killing continued on 3 January when the IDF killed five Palestinians, including two children. Eyewitnesses said Israeli soldiers in armoured personnel carriers opened fire on school children, killing three. The victims included Amjad Bilal Al- Masri, 14, who was shot in the chest. Shortly afterwards, Israeli snipers situated on a nearby rooftop killed 17-year-old Amir Arafat and 25-year-old Rawhi Shuman.
A few hours later, during the funeral for the three victims, Israeli troops fired at mourners, killing Mohamed Al-Masri, a relative of one of the victims. Eyewitnesses said IDF troops opened fire without any provocation from a distance of 200 metres. "They were shooting randomly. Its seems they didn't care if people were killed or injured," said Raied Alul, a local citizen. "They are acting like thugs and common criminals."
The Truth is Out There, Somewhere
By Antonia Zerbisias, Palestine Monitor/Toronto Star 1/8/2004
It is disturbingly easy to lose track of those who have fallen over the past few weeks in Nablus, the largest city in the West Bank and, reportedly, the breeding ground for most of the suicide bombers who have terrorized Israelis.
A search of various databases turns up mind-boggling headlines that change every day, and sometimes every hour. "Three Palestinian militants killed by Israeli patrols during West Bank sweep'' read one yesterday, which followed another "Israeli troops kill Palestinian teenager in West Bank'' the day before and another "Five Palestinians killed in clashes" on Monday.
We're looking at perhaps two dozen Palestinians dead and maybe 250 more injured since mid-December when the town came under a virtually uninterrupted Israeli military blockade. A 5-year-old was gunned down just before Christmas. This week, a 15-year-old was shot dead because, as IDF troops said, he was hurling concrete blocks at them from a rooftop. His 17-year-old cousin was killed during the burial because, as the Jerusalem Post reported, "soldiers spotted an armed Palestinian participating in the funeral."
Don't be confused by the coverage cited here because chances are you have seen none of it, no matter how much of a media junkie you may be.
Edward Said puts the Palestinian narrative of struggle in a global context in “Culture and Resistance”
By Maureen Clare Murphy, Electronic Intifada 1/9/2004
What distinguishes the late Edward Said from the numerous other writers and commentators of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is his ability to place it within the global context of struggles towards social justice. Not a historian by profession, but rather Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, Said was acutely aware of how cultural exchange is necessary for understanding between two or more conflicting parties, and that understanding is necessary when trying to accomplish peace.
Nimbly shifting from topics such as the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem to music, Said demonstrates this rare quality of what can be called "global perspective" in his interviews with David Barsamian, compiled in the new Culture and Resistance: Conversations with Edward W. Said.
The interviews, which occurred from early 1999 to mid-2003, in the midst of Said's long struggle with leukemia, do not provide any in-depth analysis on a given topic. But they rather serve as meditations - if one can consider Osama bin Laden, malnutrition in Gaza, and misunderstandings between the U.S. and the Arab world topics for meditation. Not intended to provide precise, detailed historical analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the book rather functions to provide a unique perspective on some of the most important problems that plague the world by one of the world's preeminent thinkers.
On the Jarbawi Initiative
By Muhannad Abdul-Hamid, Jerusalem Times 1/8/2004
Dr. Ali Jarbawi has suggested issuing a Palestinian warning to counter the warning that Sharon launched during the Herlzlyia Conference. (TJT, January 2, 2004) Jarbawi's warning can be summarized in the following:
1- If the Israelis want the two-state solution, they should completely halt settlement and building of the apartheid wall in preparation to end the occupation and establish the sovereign independent state within the 1967 borders and find solution to the issue of refugees, basing on international legitimacy.
2- The Palestinian warning gives Israel six months period or a truce to enable the Israelis to study the warning.
3- If the Israelis reject the initiative and continue their unilateral measures, the Palestinian side dissolves the PNA and let Israel bear complete legal, moral and living responsibilities of the Palestinian people.
Jarbawi's initiative tries to make the occupation pay a high price by bearing responsibilities, basing mainly of demographic peace that Israel fears and it calls for co-existence in a one state for all its citizens. It seems that the one-state slogan wasn't proposed for implementation but because it is the only way to achieve the establishment of the sovereign independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. And so Jarbawi's initiative was employed to scare the Israelis and pressure them by putting them before two options, in which the option of the sovereign Palestinian state is the easiest and most acceptable.
What They Don't Want You to Know
By John Pilger, Antiwar.com 1/10/2004
The disaster in Iraq is rotting the Blairite establishment. Blair himself appears ever more removed from reality; his latest tomfoolery about the "discovery" of "a huge system of clandestine weapons laboratories," which even the American viceroy in Baghdad mocked, would be astonishing, were it not merely another of his vapid attempts to justify his crime against humanity. (His crime, and George Bush's, is clearly defined as "supreme" in the Nuremberg judgment.)
....Of the 10,000 Americans evacuated sick from Iraq, many have "mystery illnesses" not unlike those suffered by veterans of the first Gulf war. By mid-April last year, the US air force had deployed more than 19,000 guided weapons and 311,000 rounds of uranium A10 shells. According to a November 2003 study by the Uranium Medical Research Center, witnesses living next to Baghdad airport reported a huge death toll following one morning's attack from aerial bursts of thermobaric and fuel air bombs. Since then, a vast area has been "landscaped" by US earth movers, and fenced. Jo Wilding, a British human rights observer in Baghdad, has documented a catalogue of miscarriages, hair loss, and horrific eye, skin and respiratory problems among people living near the area. Yet the US and Britain steadfastly refuse to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to conduct systematic monitoring tests for uranium contamination in Iraq. The Ministry of Defense, which has admitted that British tanks fired depleted uranium in and around Basra, says that British troops "will have access to biological monitoring." Iraqis have no such access and receive no specialist medical help.
|
