Israeli military cloaks abuses
Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler, Electronic Intifada 4/2/2009
JERUSALEM (IPS) - The Israeli army’s Advocate General has summarily closed an internal investigation into allegations stemming from accounts by soldiers of abuses against Palestinian civilians committed during Israel’s recent war on Hamas in Gaza.
It took the military investigators just half the duration of the 22-day war in Gaza to bulldoze the accounts and to dismiss completely the serious allegations made by soldiers who had themselves taken part in the fighting.
In a public statement Monday, Brigadier-General Avihai Mendelblit said the military police investigation revealed the testimonies "were based on hearsay and not on first-hand experience." The accusations were made last month by soldiers at a military cadet academy which they had attended before being drafted, and were leaked to the press some two weeks ago.
The army probe concludes that the soldiers’ accounts were "purposely exaggerated." It was "unfortunate," the statement said, that the soldiers had been careless about accuracy: "It is difficult to evaluate the damage done to the image and morals of the armed forces, both within Israel and the world." more..e-mail
Israeli military cloaks abuses
Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler, Electronic Intifada 4/2/2009
JERUSALEM (IPS) - The Israeli army’s Advocate General has summarily closed an internal investigation into allegations stemming from accounts by soldiers of abuses against Palestinian civilians committed during Israel’s recent war on Hamas in Gaza.
It took the military investigators just half the duration of the 22-day war in Gaza to bulldoze the accounts and to dismiss completely the serious allegations made by soldiers who had themselves taken part in the fighting.
In a public statement Monday, Brigadier-General Avihai Mendelblit said the military police investigation revealed the testimonies "were based on hearsay and not on first-hand experience." The accusations were made last month by soldiers at a military cadet academy which they had attended before being drafted, and were leaked to the press some two weeks ago.
The army probe concludes that the soldiers’ accounts were "purposely exaggerated." It was "unfortunate," the statement said, that the soldiers had been careless about accuracy: "It is difficult to evaluate the damage done to the image and morals of the armed forces, both within Israel and the world." more..e-mail
Israeli military cloaks abuses
Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler, Electronic Intifada 4/2/2009
JERUSALEM (IPS) - The Israeli army’s Advocate General has summarily closed an internal investigation into allegations stemming from accounts by soldiers of abuses against Palestinian civilians committed during Israel’s recent war on Hamas in Gaza.
It took the military investigators just half the duration of the 22-day war in Gaza to bulldoze the accounts and to dismiss completely the serious allegations made by soldiers who had themselves taken part in the fighting.
In a public statement Monday, Brigadier-General Avihai Mendelblit said the military police investigation revealed the testimonies "were based on hearsay and not on first-hand experience." The accusations were made last month by soldiers at a military cadet academy which they had attended before being drafted, and were leaked to the press some two weeks ago.
The army probe concludes that the soldiers’ accounts were "purposely exaggerated." It was "unfortunate," the statement said, that the soldiers had been careless about accuracy: "It is difficult to evaluate the damage done to the image and morals of the armed forces, both within Israel and the world." more..e-mail
Changing the rules of war
George Bisharat, Electronic Intifada 4/2/2009
The extent of Israel’s brutality against Palestinian civilians in its 22-day pounding of the Gaza Strip is gradually surfacing. Israeli soldiers are testifying to lax rules of engagement tantamount to a license to kill. One soldier commented: "That’s what is so nice, supposedly, about Gaza: You see a person on a road, walking along a path. He doesn’t have to be with a weapon, you don’t have to identify him with anything and you can just shoot him."
What is less appreciated is how Israel is also brutalizing international law, in ways that may long outlast the demolition of Gaza.
Since 2001, Israeli military lawyers have pushed to reclassify military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from the law enforcement model mandated by the law of occupation to one of armed conflict. Under the former, soldiers of an occupying army must arrest, rather than kill, opponents, and generally must use the minimum force necessary to quell disturbances.
While in armed conflict, a military is still constrained by the laws of war -- including the duty to distinguish between combatants and civilians, and the duty to avoid attacks causing disproportionate harm to civilian persons or objects -- the standard permits far greater uses of force. more..e-mail
Changing the rules of war
George Bisharat, Electronic Intifada 4/2/2009
The extent of Israel’s brutality against Palestinian civilians in its 22-day pounding of the Gaza Strip is gradually surfacing. Israeli soldiers are testifying to lax rules of engagement tantamount to a license to kill. One soldier commented: "That’s what is so nice, supposedly, about Gaza: You see a person on a road, walking along a path. He doesn’t have to be with a weapon, you don’t have to identify him with anything and you can just shoot him."
What is less appreciated is how Israel is also brutalizing international law, in ways that may long outlast the demolition of Gaza.
Since 2001, Israeli military lawyers have pushed to reclassify military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from the law enforcement model mandated by the law of occupation to one of armed conflict. Under the former, soldiers of an occupying army must arrest, rather than kill, opponents, and generally must use the minimum force necessary to quell disturbances.
While in armed conflict, a military is still constrained by the laws of war -- including the duty to distinguish between combatants and civilians, and the duty to avoid attacks causing disproportionate harm to civilian persons or objects -- the standard permits far greater uses of force. more..e-mail
Changing the rules of war
George Bisharat, Electronic Intifada 4/2/2009
The extent of Israel’s brutality against Palestinian civilians in its 22-day pounding of the Gaza Strip is gradually surfacing. Israeli soldiers are testifying to lax rules of engagement tantamount to a license to kill. One soldier commented: "That’s what is so nice, supposedly, about Gaza: You see a person on a road, walking along a path. He doesn’t have to be with a weapon, you don’t have to identify him with anything and you can just shoot him."
What is less appreciated is how Israel is also brutalizing international law, in ways that may long outlast the demolition of Gaza.
Since 2001, Israeli military lawyers have pushed to reclassify military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from the law enforcement model mandated by the law of occupation to one of armed conflict. Under the former, soldiers of an occupying army must arrest, rather than kill, opponents, and generally must use the minimum force necessary to quell disturbances.
While in armed conflict, a military is still constrained by the laws of war -- including the duty to distinguish between combatants and civilians, and the duty to avoid attacks causing disproportionate harm to civilian persons or objects -- the standard permits far greater uses of force. more..e-mail
Belgian campaign targets bank financing Israeli settlements
Adri Nieuwhof, Electronic Intifada 4/1/2009
In a remarkably short period of time, activists in Belgium have built a strong basis for the campaign "Israel colonizes -- Dexia funds," asking the bank to divest from its subsidiary Dexia Israel because of its financing of the expansion of illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Israeli settlements violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibiting the Occupying Power to deport or transfer parts of its civilian population into the territory it occupies, as well as Article 53 prohibiting the destruction of property on occupied territory. The Dexia campaign is flourishing in Belgium and may potentially spread to other countries where Dexia subsidiaries are based.
The French-Belgian bank Dexia bought the Israeli Municipality Treasure Bank in 2001 and established Dexia Israel. Centrum voor Ontwikkeling, Documentatie en Informatie Palestijnen (CODIP), an organization focusing on Palestine, raised its concern about the transfer in a letter to Dexia’s board of directors in April 2001. The organization argues that Dexia’s investment in an Israeli bank involved in public loans might give the impression that the bank "supports Israel’s policy of occupation, colonization and discrimination." more..e-mail
Belgian campaign targets bank financing Israeli settlements
Adri Nieuwhof, Electronic Intifada 4/1/2009
In a remarkably short period of time, activists in Belgium have built a strong basis for the campaign "Israel colonizes -- Dexia funds," asking the bank to divest from its subsidiary Dexia Israel because of its financing of the expansion of illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Israeli settlements violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibiting the Occupying Power to deport or transfer parts of its civilian population into the territory it occupies, as well as Article 53 prohibiting the destruction of property on occupied territory. The Dexia campaign is flourishing in Belgium and may potentially spread to other countries where Dexia subsidiaries are based.
The French-Belgian bank Dexia bought the Israeli Municipality Treasure Bank in 2001 and established Dexia Israel. Centrum voor Ontwikkeling, Documentatie en Informatie Palestijnen (CODIP), an organization focusing on Palestine, raised its concern about the transfer in a letter to Dexia’s board of directors in April 2001. The organization argues that Dexia’s investment in an Israeli bank involved in public loans might give the impression that the bank "supports Israel’s policy of occupation, colonization and discrimination." more..e-mail
Belgian campaign targets bank financing Israeli settlements
Adri Nieuwhof, Electronic Intifada 4/1/2009
In a remarkably short period of time, activists in Belgium have built a strong basis for the campaign "Israel colonizes -- Dexia funds," asking the bank to divest from its subsidiary Dexia Israel because of its financing of the expansion of illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Israeli settlements violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibiting the Occupying Power to deport or transfer parts of its civilian population into the territory it occupies, as well as Article 53 prohibiting the destruction of property on occupied territory. The Dexia campaign is flourishing in Belgium and may potentially spread to other countries where Dexia subsidiaries are based.
The French-Belgian bank Dexia bought the Israeli Municipality Treasure Bank in 2001 and established Dexia Israel. Centrum voor Ontwikkeling, Documentatie en Informatie Palestijnen (CODIP), an organization focusing on Palestine, raised its concern about the transfer in a letter to Dexia’s board of directors in April 2001. The organization argues that Dexia’s investment in an Israeli bank involved in public loans might give the impression that the bank "supports Israel’s policy of occupation, colonization and discrimination." more..e-mail
Avigdor and Netanyahu: an Evil Marriage
Mohamed El Mokhtar Sidi Haiba, Palestine Chronicle 4/2/2009
’The ascension of Lieberman is an expression of the suicidal irrationalism infecting Israel.’ Taking office as Israel’s new leader Tuesday, Benjamin Netanyahu promised to supposedly seek ’full peace’ with the Arab and Muslim world while deliberately avoiding to even mention the only word that really matters here. The word that matters the most to the Arab and Muslim world .The wordwithout which Israel will never, ever, live in peace. The word whose continuous negations will ultimately be dearly costly to Israel’s very existence: "Palestinian state." "Under the permanent status agreement, the Palestinians will have all the authority to rule themselves, "Netanyahu said in comments echoing an old mantra of negationism and deep-seated racism at the core of the Likud political philosophy: There is no such thing as Palestine or Palestinian people. Netanyahu’s hysterical obsession to carry on his father’s racist fascisto-zionist phantasms could put him at odds with his indispensable benefactor and much of the rest of the world. His refusal to embrace the idea of Palestinian statehood and decision to appoint ultranationalist politician Avigdor Lieberman as foreign minister don’t bode well for a hopeful time for peace in the Middle-East or the world for that matter. more..e-mail
Avigdor and Netanyahu: an Evil Marriage
Mohamed El Mokhtar Sidi Haiba, Palestine Chronicle 4/2/2009
’The ascension of Lieberman is an expression of the suicidal irrationalism infecting Israel.’ Taking office as Israel’s new leader Tuesday, Benjamin Netanyahu promised to supposedly seek ’full peace’ with the Arab and Muslim world while deliberately avoiding to even mention the only word that really matters here. The word that matters the most to the Arab and Muslim world .The wordwithout which Israel will never, ever, live in peace. The word whose continuous negations will ultimately be dearly costly to Israel’s very existence: "Palestinian state." "Under the permanent status agreement, the Palestinians will have all the authority to rule themselves, "Netanyahu said in comments echoing an old mantra of negationism and deep-seated racism at the core of the Likud political philosophy: There is no such thing as Palestine or Palestinian people. Netanyahu’s hysterical obsession to carry on his father’s racist fascisto-zionist phantasms could put him at odds with his indispensable benefactor and much of the rest of the world. His refusal to embrace the idea of Palestinian statehood and decision to appoint ultranationalist politician Avigdor Lieberman as foreign minister don’t bode well for a hopeful time for peace in the Middle-East or the world for that matter. more..e-mail
Avigdor and Netanyahu: an Evil Marriage
Mohamed El Mokhtar Sidi Haiba, Palestine Chronicle 4/2/2009
’The ascension of Lieberman is an expression of the suicidal irrationalism infecting Israel.’ Taking office as Israel’s new leader Tuesday, Benjamin Netanyahu promised to supposedly seek ’full peace’ with the Arab and Muslim world while deliberately avoiding to even mention the only word that really matters here. The word that matters the most to the Arab and Muslim world .The wordwithout which Israel will never, ever, live in peace. The word whose continuous negations will ultimately be dearly costly to Israel’s very existence: "Palestinian state." "Under the permanent status agreement, the Palestinians will have all the authority to rule themselves, "Netanyahu said in comments echoing an old mantra of negationism and deep-seated racism at the core of the Likud political philosophy: There is no such thing as Palestine or Palestinian people. Netanyahu’s hysterical obsession to carry on his father’s racist fascisto-zionist phantasms could put him at odds with his indispensable benefactor and much of the rest of the world. His refusal to embrace the idea of Palestinian statehood and decision to appoint ultranationalist politician Avigdor Lieberman as foreign minister don’t bode well for a hopeful time for peace in the Middle-East or the world for that matter. more..e-mail
Iraqi Shoes Revisited: A Pair of Narratives
Ramzy Baroud, Palestine Chronicle 4/2/2009
’The true story was not about a pair of shoes, but a pair of narratives.’ It’s remarkable how some in the media can cleverly manipulate a story by avoiding its essence and focusing on marginal details. The chucking of a pair of shoes at former President George W. Bush by an Iraqi journalist, Muntazer al-Zaidi during a Baghdad press conference, on December 14, 2008 is a case in point. Most Arab and Muslim media -- and other media around the world, save mainstream western media -- framed al-Zaidi’s deed within its proper context, that of a horrific, genocidal war, bloody and humiliating occupation and the colonial hubris of a superpower that gave itself the right and ’moral’ justification to devastate a sovereign nation for the sake of oil, Israel and the desire for sheer hegemony. Nonetheless, in most -- although, not all -- mainstream Western media outlets, al-Zaidi’s story somehow became the focus of attention for it was, to a certain degree, amusing, and also allowed for the further dissection of Arab culture -- throwing shoes, supposedly being the ’ultimate’ Arab insult. For some, the dramatic act of a journalist’s shoes lobbed at a ’liberating’ president in a farewell visit to a ’liberated’ country was an indication of Arab ingratitude. Others sought less controversial topics, using the do’s and don’ts in journalism as a unit of analysis, as if shoes thrown at smirking presidents are a recurring topic in the field of journalism. more..e-mail
Iraqi Shoes Revisited: A Pair of Narratives
Ramzy Baroud, Palestine Chronicle 4/2/2009
’The true story was not about a pair of shoes, but a pair of narratives.’ It’s remarkable how some in the media can cleverly manipulate a story by avoiding its essence and focusing on marginal details. The chucking of a pair of shoes at former President George W. Bush by an Iraqi journalist, Muntazer al-Zaidi during a Baghdad press conference, on December 14, 2008 is a case in point. Most Arab and Muslim media -- and other media around the world, save mainstream western media -- framed al-Zaidi’s deed within its proper context, that of a horrific, genocidal war, bloody and humiliating occupation and the colonial hubris of a superpower that gave itself the right and ’moral’ justification to devastate a sovereign nation for the sake of oil, Israel and the desire for sheer hegemony. Nonetheless, in most -- although, not all -- mainstream Western media outlets, al-Zaidi’s story somehow became the focus of attention for it was, to a certain degree, amusing, and also allowed for the further dissection of Arab culture -- throwing shoes, supposedly being the ’ultimate’ Arab insult. For some, the dramatic act of a journalist’s shoes lobbed at a ’liberating’ president in a farewell visit to a ’liberated’ country was an indication of Arab ingratitude. Others sought less controversial topics, using the do’s and don’ts in journalism as a unit of analysis, as if shoes thrown at smirking presidents are a recurring topic in the field of journalism. more..e-mail
Iraqi Shoes Revisited: A Pair of Narratives
Ramzy Baroud, Palestine Chronicle 4/2/2009
’The true story was not about a pair of shoes, but a pair of narratives.’ It’s remarkable how some in the media can cleverly manipulate a story by avoiding its essence and focusing on marginal details. The chucking of a pair of shoes at former President George W. Bush by an Iraqi journalist, Muntazer al-Zaidi during a Baghdad press conference, on December 14, 2008 is a case in point. Most Arab and Muslim media -- and other media around the world, save mainstream western media -- framed al-Zaidi’s deed within its proper context, that of a horrific, genocidal war, bloody and humiliating occupation and the colonial hubris of a superpower that gave itself the right and ’moral’ justification to devastate a sovereign nation for the sake of oil, Israel and the desire for sheer hegemony. Nonetheless, in most -- although, not all -- mainstream Western media outlets, al-Zaidi’s story somehow became the focus of attention for it was, to a certain degree, amusing, and also allowed for the further dissection of Arab culture -- throwing shoes, supposedly being the ’ultimate’ Arab insult. For some, the dramatic act of a journalist’s shoes lobbed at a ’liberating’ president in a farewell visit to a ’liberated’ country was an indication of Arab ingratitude. Others sought less controversial topics, using the do’s and don’ts in journalism as a unit of analysis, as if shoes thrown at smirking presidents are a recurring topic in the field of journalism. more..e-mail
Israel’s other Arabs
Khaled Diab, The Guardian 4/2/2009
To the outside world, Israel is either (depending on your political perspective) a proud outpost of the west or a humiliating western implant in the Middle East. Although Zionism was born and developed in Europe, up to 3.5 million Israelis trace their roots back to Arab lands – in fact, until the early 1990s, these Mizrahim and Sephardim, as they are known, made up the majority of Israel’s population. Not the Enemy by Rachel Shabi, herself an Israeli of Iraqi Jewish ancestry, provides a fascinating account of the personal stories and history of Mizrahi Jews, whose world fell into the abyss of the Arab-Israeli conflict, while their dual identities as Arabs and Jews proved unable to bridge the ever-widening chasm. "The absence of the Mizrahi face from the global snapshot of Israel feeds back into a polarised position, serving those on both sides who favour the dichotomous formula of Arab versus Jew," writes Shabi, who is also a regular contributor to the Guardian. Even though I knew about Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews beforehand, I was, nevertheless, rather surprised by how Middle Eastern Israel seemed when I was there a couple of years ago. In fact, my first encounter was with a Moroccan Jewish taxi driver who could shame any Cairo cabbie with his use of curses and expletives and his love of Umm Kalthoum, the Arab world’s legendary singing diva. more..e-mail
Israel’s other Arabs
Khaled Diab, The Guardian 4/2/2009
To the outside world, Israel is either (depending on your political perspective) a proud outpost of the west or a humiliating western implant in the Middle East. Although Zionism was born and developed in Europe, up to 3.5 million Israelis trace their roots back to Arab lands – in fact, until the early 1990s, these Mizrahim and Sephardim, as they are known, made up the majority of Israel’s population. Not the Enemy by Rachel Shabi, herself an Israeli of Iraqi Jewish ancestry, provides a fascinating account of the personal stories and history of Mizrahi Jews, whose world fell into the abyss of the Arab-Israeli conflict, while their dual identities as Arabs and Jews proved unable to bridge the ever-widening chasm. "The absence of the Mizrahi face from the global snapshot of Israel feeds back into a polarised position, serving those on both sides who favour the dichotomous formula of Arab versus Jew," writes Shabi, who is also a regular contributor to the Guardian. Even though I knew about Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews beforehand, I was, nevertheless, rather surprised by how Middle Eastern Israel seemed when I was there a couple of years ago. In fact, my first encounter was with a Moroccan Jewish taxi driver who could shame any Cairo cabbie with his use of curses and expletives and his love of Umm Kalthoum, the Arab world’s legendary singing diva. more..e-mail
Israel’s other Arabs
Khaled Diab, The Guardian 4/2/2009
To the outside world, Israel is either (depending on your political perspective) a proud outpost of the west or a humiliating western implant in the Middle East. Although Zionism was born and developed in Europe, up to 3.5 million Israelis trace their roots back to Arab lands – in fact, until the early 1990s, these Mizrahim and Sephardim, as they are known, made up the majority of Israel’s population. Not the Enemy by Rachel Shabi, herself an Israeli of Iraqi Jewish ancestry, provides a fascinating account of the personal stories and history of Mizrahi Jews, whose world fell into the abyss of the Arab-Israeli conflict, while their dual identities as Arabs and Jews proved unable to bridge the ever-widening chasm. "The absence of the Mizrahi face from the global snapshot of Israel feeds back into a polarised position, serving those on both sides who favour the dichotomous formula of Arab versus Jew," writes Shabi, who is also a regular contributor to the Guardian. Even though I knew about Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews beforehand, I was, nevertheless, rather surprised by how Middle Eastern Israel seemed when I was there a couple of years ago. In fact, my first encounter was with a Moroccan Jewish taxi driver who could shame any Cairo cabbie with his use of curses and expletives and his love of Umm Kalthoum, the Arab world’s legendary singing diva. more..e-mail
The Lieberman leaning
Seth Freedman, The Guardian 4/2/2009
Yesterday’s tub-thumping tirade by Israel’s new foreign minister and deputy prime minister sent tremors through political circles, both internally and internationally. Politicians and pundits alike scrambled to distance themselves from Avigdor Lieberman’s vitriol, implying that his views are utterly at odds with mainstream Israeli thinking, as though he and his ideology simply sprang out of a vacuum. If they are to be believed, Lieberman represents no one but those on the outermost fringes of Israeli society, in the mould of racist demagogues such as Kahane and Marzel, and is therefore no more potent a threat to Israel’s future than the rest of the extremist outcasts. They claim that only a small minority of voters backed him in the booth, that he has registered stunningly low approval ratings on his appointment, and that he is simply benefiting from a fortuitous set of circumstances that eased his passage into power. But so what? The fact is, regardless of the way in which he ascended the political ladder, he is still Israel’s foreign minister – responsible for presenting Israel’s diplomatic face to the rest of the world and imbued with an extraordinary amount of responsibility on behalf of the seven million citizens of his country. more..e-mail
The Lieberman leaning
Seth Freedman, The Guardian 4/2/2009
Yesterday’s tub-thumping tirade by Israel’s new foreign minister and deputy prime minister sent tremors through political circles, both internally and internationally. Politicians and pundits alike scrambled to distance themselves from Avigdor Lieberman’s vitriol, implying that his views are utterly at odds with mainstream Israeli thinking, as though he and his ideology simply sprang out of a vacuum. If they are to be believed, Lieberman represents no one but those on the outermost fringes of Israeli society, in the mould of racist demagogues such as Kahane and Marzel, and is therefore no more potent a threat to Israel’s future than the rest of the extremist outcasts. They claim that only a small minority of voters backed him in the booth, that he has registered stunningly low approval ratings on his appointment, and that he is simply benefiting from a fortuitous set of circumstances that eased his passage into power. But so what? The fact is, regardless of the way in which he ascended the political ladder, he is still Israel’s foreign minister – responsible for presenting Israel’s diplomatic face to the rest of the world and imbued with an extraordinary amount of responsibility on behalf of the seven million citizens of his country. more..e-mail
The Lieberman leaning
Seth Freedman, The Guardian 4/2/2009
Yesterday’s tub-thumping tirade by Israel’s new foreign minister and deputy prime minister sent tremors through political circles, both internally and internationally. Politicians and pundits alike scrambled to distance themselves from Avigdor Lieberman’s vitriol, implying that his views are utterly at odds with mainstream Israeli thinking, as though he and his ideology simply sprang out of a vacuum. If they are to be believed, Lieberman represents no one but those on the outermost fringes of Israeli society, in the mould of racist demagogues such as Kahane and Marzel, and is therefore no more potent a threat to Israel’s future than the rest of the extremist outcasts. They claim that only a small minority of voters backed him in the booth, that he has registered stunningly low approval ratings on his appointment, and that he is simply benefiting from a fortuitous set of circumstances that eased his passage into power. But so what? The fact is, regardless of the way in which he ascended the political ladder, he is still Israel’s foreign minister – responsible for presenting Israel’s diplomatic face to the rest of the world and imbued with an extraordinary amount of responsibility on behalf of the seven million citizens of his country. more..e-mail
Not getting to Gaza
David Goldberg, The Guardian 4/2/2009
It all began promisingly. A former congregant of mine works for an international crisis agency in Jerusalem, regularly commuting between Israel and Gaza. When I told him that I was coming to Jerusalem for a conference, he offered to liaise with UNRWA to organise a Gaza visit. I jumped at the offer. Hardly any Jews apart from Israeli military have been in Gaza since Operation Cast Lead. Along with the serious objective of seeing for myself the consequences of the invasion, there was the less worthy motive of one-upping colleagues and acquaintances. I decided to let another rabbi, Danny Rich, the executive director of Liberal Judaism in the UK, share my potential coup. From London we filled in the necessary application forms. UNRWA warned that the standard waiting time for permission to enter Gaza is currently 8-10 days, and rarely for the day specified, but they were cautiously optimistic. Once in Jerusalem, our chosen day came and went, with no word. Deflated, we made our way to the second half of the conference in Tel Aviv. The following day was the Sabbath, when everything official is closed down in Israel. I had resigned myself to spending Sunday at the conference, but early in the morning my congregant rang to say that permission had come through, our visit was on. more..e-mail
Not getting to Gaza
David Goldberg, The Guardian 4/2/2009
It all began promisingly. A former congregant of mine works for an international crisis agency in Jerusalem, regularly commuting between Israel and Gaza. When I told him that I was coming to Jerusalem for a conference, he offered to liaise with UNRWA to organise a Gaza visit. I jumped at the offer. Hardly any Jews apart from Israeli military have been in Gaza since Operation Cast Lead. Along with the serious objective of seeing for myself the consequences of the invasion, there was the less worthy motive of one-upping colleagues and acquaintances. I decided to let another rabbi, Danny Rich, the executive director of Liberal Judaism in the UK, share my potential coup. From London we filled in the necessary application forms. UNRWA warned that the standard waiting time for permission to enter Gaza is currently 8-10 days, and rarely for the day specified, but they were cautiously optimistic. Once in Jerusalem, our chosen day came and went, with no word. Deflated, we made our way to the second half of the conference in Tel Aviv. The following day was the Sabbath, when everything official is closed down in Israel. I had resigned myself to spending Sunday at the conference, but early in the morning my congregant rang to say that permission had come through, our visit was on. more..e-mail
Not getting to Gaza
David Goldberg, The Guardian 4/2/2009
It all began promisingly. A former congregant of mine works for an international crisis agency in Jerusalem, regularly commuting between Israel and Gaza. When I told him that I was coming to Jerusalem for a conference, he offered to liaise with UNRWA to organise a Gaza visit. I jumped at the offer. Hardly any Jews apart from Israeli military have been in Gaza since Operation Cast Lead. Along with the serious objective of seeing for myself the consequences of the invasion, there was the less worthy motive of one-upping colleagues and acquaintances. I decided to let another rabbi, Danny Rich, the executive director of Liberal Judaism in the UK, share my potential coup. From London we filled in the necessary application forms. UNRWA warned that the standard waiting time for permission to enter Gaza is currently 8-10 days, and rarely for the day specified, but they were cautiously optimistic. Once in Jerusalem, our chosen day came and went, with no word. Deflated, we made our way to the second half of the conference in Tel Aviv. The following day was the Sabbath, when everything official is closed down in Israel. I had resigned myself to spending Sunday at the conference, but early in the morning my congregant rang to say that permission had come through, our visit was on. more..e-mail
Belgian campaign targets bank financing Israeli settlements
Adri Nieuwhof, Electronic Intifada 4/1/2009
In a remarkably short period of time, activists in Belgium have built a strong basis for the campaign "Israel colonizes -- Dexia funds," asking the bank to divest from its subsidiary Dexia Israel because of its financing of the expansion of illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Israeli settlements violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibiting the Occupying Power to deport or transfer parts of its civilian population into the territory it occupies, as well as Article 53 prohibiting the destruction of property on occupied territory. The Dexia campaign is flourishing in Belgium and may potentially spread to other countries where Dexia subsidiaries are based.
The French-Belgian bank Dexia bought the Israeli Municipality Treasure Bank in 2001 and established Dexia Israel. Centrum voor Ontwikkeling, Documentatie en Informatie Palestijnen (CODIP), an organization focusing on Palestine, raised its concern about the transfer in a letter to Dexia’s board of directors in April 2001. The organization argues that Dexia’s investment in an Israeli bank involved in public loans might give the impression that the bank "supports Israel’s policy of occupation, colonization and discrimination." more..e-mail
Month in pictures: March 2009
Photostory, Electronic Intifada 4/1/2009
Palestinian Bedouin children stand near their camels at sunset on the desert hills outside the West Bank city of Hebron, 10 March. (Haytham Othman/MaanImages) A Palestinian man collects flowers at a field in the West Bank village of Idna, north of Hebron, 30 March. (Mamoun Wazwaz/MaanImages) A Palestinian student looks out the window of her newly built classroom in the Gaza Strip, 15 March. (Hatem Omar/MaanImages) Relatives of Ali Abu Foul, a Palestinian resistance fighter killed in an Israeli attack along with one other on 31 March. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages) Palestinian fishermen collect fish from their nets on a beach in Gaza City. The Israeli navy prevents Palestinians from fishing in deeper waters off the coast of Gaza, 26 March. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages) Palestinians take part in a protest in Gaza City calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, 16 March. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages) Chickens sold at a market in Gaza Strip. The Israeli siege and attacks on Gaza have forced the cost of chickens to skyrocket in the Gaza Strip, 24 March. more..e-mail
Olmert will be remembered for little but scandal
Jonathan Cook, Electronic Intifada 4/1/2009
Ehud Olmert, who has handed over the Israeli premiership to Benjamin Netanyahu after three years heading the government, suffered a slow and public political demise.
The eight lame-duck months since his resignation have been spent energetically refashioning his image as a successful leader -- the "Olmert myth," as one commentator recently called it.
Humiliated in a war in Lebanon and buffeted by corruption scandals at home, Olmert is reported to believe he will one day make a political comeback like Netanyahu, who led the government in the late 1990s.
Certainly, Olmert was once known as the great survivor. Of the three figures who pushed the country into the disastrous Lebanon war in the summer of 2006, only he walked out of the wreckage still standing. But this time even his talents may be overwhelmed by the task of salvaging his reputation.
Olmert’s rapid rise in Israeli national politics -- after a decade spent making his name as the hardline mayor of Jerusalem -- took rivals in the Likud Party by surprise. Joining the Knesset or parliament in 2003, he quickly gained the ear of Ariel Sharon, who was then prime minister. more..e-mail
UNESCO should join cultural boycott
Rahela Mizrahi, Electronic Intifada 4/1/2009
When schools under the United Nations flag are targeted, when children are targeted, when a whole population is systematically deprived of food and water, sanitation and electricity, the various UN agencies affected should not be content with protest alone -- they should live up to their responsibility by taking action.
Israel is turning the Gaza Strip into the largest concentration camp in the world. Conditions grow steadily more insufferable for the 1.5 million Palestinians who live there; half of them are refugees of one of the biggest crimes of the 20th century.
In 1947-48, the Zionist paramilitary terror organizations that would later become the Israeli army carried out a premeditated ethnic cleansing of Palestine during and after the British Mandate, they ethnically cleansed more than 400 villages and 13 cities, forcing out almost 800,000 indigenous Palestinians, systematically committing tens of massacres. That ethnic cleansing, referred to by Palestinians as the Nakba, is the reason Gaza is one of the most populated areas in the world, as it is populated by many of those refugees and their descendants. Israel, the US and most of the Western world would like to expunge that 1948 crime from the record. The resistance today in Gaza is the revolt of a people that refuses to be erased. more..e-mail
Israel and the US - Does the Tail Wag the Dog?
Adrienne Weller, Palestine Chronicle 4/1/2009
’History has proved that Zionist Israel as an exclusive land for Jews is inherently racist.’ Israel’s winter blitzkrieg into Gaza, like all its other forays against Palestinians, was made in the U.S.A. This is thanks to enormous U.S. financial support for Israel - roughly $3 billion a year - combined with unwavering political backing, even in the face of genocidal policies. A stream of books and articles in recent years attributes this deadly relationship to the influence of the well-financed, highly organized Israel lobby in the U.S. "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy", by professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, represents a pro-U.S. government perspective. Other writings take an anti-imperialist point of view, like those of retired sociology professor James Petras (The Power of Israel in the United States) and leftist author Alexander Cockburn (in The Nation and CounterPunch). These writers claim that when Israel says "Jump," the United States answers "How high?" This is a dangerous error. Small, isolated, dependent Israel no more dictates to the imperialist U.S. giant than a tail wags a dog. To assert otherwise covers up U.S. culpability for the crimes against Palestine and impedes the fight for justice in the Middle East. more..e-mail
Procuring Academics for Empire
James Petras, Palestine Chronicle 4/1/2009
’Pentagon is engaged in military-academic empire building strategy.’ The Pentagon’s military strategists have recognized that they have suffered political losses, with strategic consequences in their recent military invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. US military support for the Israeli invasions of Lebanon and Gaza, the US-sponsored Ethiopian occupation of Somali, the coup attempts in Venezuela (2002) and Bolivia (2008), have also failed to defeat popular incumbent regimes. Worse still, civilian, family, community and national networks have reinforced the anti-colonial movements providing essential logistical support, intelligence, recruits and legitimacy. Pentagon strategists, recognizing the socio-political bases of their failures, have turned to willing accomplices in the academic world to provide intelligence, in the form of ethnographic accounts of targeted peoples, tactics and strategies in order to divide and destroy local and national loyalties. The Pentagon is contracting social scientists to develop ’social maps’ to identify leaders and groups, susceptible to recruitment in the service of the empire. For example, Pentagon-contracted academic ’field research’ is designed to demonstrate ways in which traditional religious practices and rituals can be harnessed to facilitate imperial conquest through cultural warfare discouraging subjugated peoples from giving their support to national liberation movements. Rather than confront the imperial occupier with a goal of re-establishing national sovereignty, ’cultural warfare’ strategies direct people to focus on ’local concerns’. These are a few of the Pentagon funded "research projects" taken up by the ’academics in uniform.’ more..e-mail
Israel’s Illegal Annexation of East Jerusalem
Stephen Lendman – Chicago, Palestine Chronicle 4/1/2009
’The idea is to toughen policies against East Jerusalem Palestinians.’ So says a confidential EU report revealed on March 7 by The London Guardian’s Rory McCarthy. It accuses Israel "of using settlement expansion, house demolitions, discriminatory housing policies and the West Bank (Separation) barrier as a way of ’actively pursuing the illegal annexation’ of East Jerusalem." More still, including restrictive permits, "closure of Palestinian institutions," and various other ways to "increase Jewish presence in" the city, "impede Palestinian urban development, and separate East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank" incrementally to annex it. It says plans are now accelerated and have undermined the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) credibility as well as weakened support for peace. It calls "Israel’s actions in and around Jerusalem....one of the most acute challenges to Israeli-Palestinian peace-making (yet) have limited security justifications." In addition, they’re illegal. more..e-mail
Poverty in the Shadows
Eva Bartlett, In Gaza 4/1/2009
I met Amar Battran (39) selling green, plastic I.D. card covers, the kind every Palestinian outside of occupied Jerusalem and Israel carries (where they carry blue I.D. covers). I had no need of one but listened as Amar spoke of his poverty. I’d been at the bank, withdrawing donation money, and at the Western Union collecting other donated funds, all for cases I’d written about. Amar waited outside as I went between bank, w. union and the money changers (no shekels in the bank ATM). A woman, Alia, also loitered, hoping for some help. I asked the teller in the western union office if he’d seen the man and women begging outside before. He told me ‘every day’. I asked if they were truly poor. He said ‘desperately’. This level of grinding poverty is still relatively new enough in Gaza that Palestinians aren’t accustomed to begging. There was less need when families had work, when buildings weren’t so thoroughly-bombed and destroyed, when borders were open, when life was possible. I avoid just throwing what money I have around, both to not give the idea that all visitors to Gaza can do this but moreso to preserve the dignity of those begging. So I asked the western union man if the two could come inside for a few minutes, to speak with them. more..e-mail
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Israeli military cloaks abuses 
