Analysis / A long-delayed response to Yassin and Rantisi
By Danny Rubinstein, Ha''aretz 9/1/2004
Hamas spokesmen yesterday acknowledged in a fairly obvious fashion the military weakness of their movement. They explained that the bombings in Be''er Sheva came to avenge the murder of their leaders Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi, thereby disclosing the fact that during the months that elapsed since their liquidation, Hamas'' military wing, Iz Al-Din al-Qassam, failed to respond. Why did you wait so long?, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu-Zuhry, was asked by a Al-Jazeera television network correspondent. His reply: We had to prepare for this operation meticulously, so we waited. All Hamas activists who gave interviews yesterday to Arab media outlets declared that this attack was vengeance for the assassination of their leaders, but their words betrayed signs of defensiveness over criticism directed at them for hurting civilians. Critics included Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, who said the attacks provide ammunition to enemies of the Palestinian people. "The attack does not do service to the Palestinian problem," said Qureia, who was in Cairo to prepare for today''s meeting in Ramallah between Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and General Omar Suleiman with PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. Meanwhile, Arafat''s security adviser, Jibril Rajoub, announced last night that the visit by the two senior Egyptian officials has been postponed, which means yet another delay in Palestinian-Egyptian preparations for returning law and order to Gaza in anticipation of Israeli withdrawal.
Who Needs Food When Yearning for Freedom!
Editorial, Miftah 8/31/2004
Palestinian prisoners held captive in Israeli Jails, have been on hunger strike as of August 15th, 2004. An estimated 7500 Palestinians are said to be held illegally by Israeli Prison Authorities. These prisoners have been, cumulatively captured since the beginning of the Palestinian civil uprising which began on September 28th, 2000. The hunger strike is entering its 18th day, with no predicted end in site. The Palestinian hunger strikers are following this form of non-violent protest, which was set as a precedent by Kurdish inmates in Turkish prisons as well as, Irish prisoners in British Jails. Israeli prisons are notoriously known for their savage treatment of Palestinian prisoners; (much like the scandals that broke out concerning Abu Ghraib in Iraq) being the only country in the world which legally permits the use of torture as a form of interrogation. That is just to mention one of the downsides of being held in an Israeli prison.
Towards A Middle East Union
By Jeff Halper, Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions 4/29/2004
Since the 1980s the Palestinian leadership, most Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, the Israeli peace movement and a growing majority of Israelis have advocated a two-state solution to their interminable conflict. That solution envisioned a Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel. While it was not a wholly just solution – Israel retains 78% of the country, the Palestinians only 22%, even though, with the return of only some of the refugees, they would constitute a clear majority of the population – it gave the Palestinians meaningful territory, a political identity and a viable state. As Israel continues to strengthen its grip over the Occupied Territories (the “Separation Barrier” being only the latest development), the two-state solution appears to be slipping away before our eyes. Hesitancy to declare it dead, shared by the Palestinians, the Israeli peace camp and the international community, may be finally resolved in the coming months when the US and, by acquiescence, Europe, approve Sharon’s unilateral “disengagement plan.” This version of the two-state solution imposes on the Palestinians a non-viable state comprised of a series of truncated cantons (Sharon’s term), all surrounded and separated by Israeli settlement blocs, infrastructure and border controls – a “solution” as untenable as it is unjust. When that happens, the Palestinians may opt for what appears to be the only other alternative: a single democratic state encompassing all of Palestine/Israel. In many ways this is an attractive solution. Acknowledging that Israel itself has created a single state through its “facts on the ground,” it merely goes the next step in claim equal rights, including the vote. Such a shift would put Israel and the entire “democratic” world in a bind: How could they refuse both a viable and truly sovereign Palestinian state and a democratic state incorporating both peoples? Since it opens the entire country for residency to all Israelis and Palestinians (including the refugees), the single state solution neutralizes the Occupation, making it unnecessary to actually dismantle any settlements or infrastructure....
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Building peace: Demolished home rebuilt in Anata village
By Am Johal, Daily Star 9/1/2004
"Here in the open fields the caterpillars don''t become butterflies yet another family''s dream, dies bulldozing hillsides, one house at a time singing all the while, this land is mine Palestinian Bedouin wander to be free this, Israel doesn’t want to see -so we girdle an entire nation inside a cement wall" -Devorah Brous - from a poem read at the Home Rebuilding in Anata, Saturday, August 22, 2004 Near the Anata checkpoint in the northeast edges of Jerusalem not far from the Shu''fat refugee camp, girls from the Bedouin village are debka dancing on the makeshift wooden platform an hour or so before sundown. The admiring crowd, exhausted from two weeks of home building is enjoying the ceremony. Somebody''s found a proper stereo to replace the one from the white hatchback that''s being used for music. In the backdrop, just above the valley below are the fresh tracks laid down where the Separation Wall will run through the village. On the hillside above where the Jewish settlement of Ma''ale Adumin runs is a new prison currently serving as an interrogation center. In the distance, you can see the Mount of Olives and Hebrew University on top of Mt. Scopus. Jeff Halper, Coordinator of the Israeli Committee against Home Demolitions (ICAHD) addressing a crowd at the grand opening of the rebuilt home says, "This is an example of Israeli, Palestinian and international civil society coming together. It''s moving to be here. This is how you make peace...by telling our governments we refuse to be enemies." ICAHD in partnership with Anata village has organized dozens of Palestinians, Israelis and internationals together to rebuild a home that was demolished by Israeli forces in June of 2004. A front end loader with a backhoe is sitting above the rubble strewn with building materials. You can still smell the fresh paint on the walls. It has taken two weeks for the villagers to build the house with volunteer labor from Israel, Canada, the US, Spain, England, Italy, France and Japan. Devorah Brous, Manager of the ICAHD work camp and the Director of Bustan, says, "Our resistance work is not just about the ends, it''s about the means. Through our rebuilding we were able to study the apparatus of the Occupation from a range of perspectives while actively creating facts on the ground....
Time to Reassess the Media Coverage of Israel
By Baruch Kimmerling, Dissident Voice 8/29/2004
Jerusalem, Recently, the two leading American newspapers, the Washington Post and the New York Times, made serious and sincere efforts to review their editorial and coverage policies regarding the Iraqi war and their uncritical approach to the Bush administration''s justification for that war. This trend of self-criticism is very good and encouraging news for American democracy. These two publications, while being directed at and read by a relatively narrow ''intellectual'' readership, also serve to ''pull'' with them the widely circulated local media, TV reporters, and popular press. As a responsibility of my profession I have been reading a wide spectrum of the American press for many years. Much of the time, I find myself puzzled by the uncritical and biased coverage of the Israeli political scene. American media is uncritical even in comparison to Israel''s quality media. All too often, the American media sounds just like a mouthpiece of the Israeli government''s propaganda, such as the flattering and ill researched profile of Ariel Sharon in the New York Times Magazine (August 15). Presently Israel is a highly divided society in which most of the intellectual community is extremely critical of the government''s policies. The criticisms are predominantly focused on two main areas. The first is the serious deterioration of the Israeli welfare state; not since the 50s have so many Israelis found themselves below the official poverty line. The second concerns the ways in which Israel chooses to manage its relations with its Arab citizens and with the Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. Many Israeli intellectuals, experts and professionals, including former high-ranking generals and intelligence officers perceive not only the failures of these policies but also address the inter-linkage between them that could lead Israel towards a suicidal position despite its military strength. The enlightened and informed American public, for its part, is not granted the opportunity to hear any of these non-peripheral voices.
Advocacy and Realism: A reply to Noah Cohen
By Noam Chomsky, ZNet 8/26/2004
[This is a reply to an article by Noah Cohen, which in turn is a response to an interview Chomsky gave with Shalom and Podur several months ago.] Noah Cohen’s charges raise some interesting questions about advocacy, principle, and realism, which have much broader applications. Let’s focus on his particular case – defense of Palestinian rights -- bringing up the broader issues in this context. The core question, then, has to do with the stands that can be taken by people with serious concerns for the fate of the Palestinians, who have suffered severely and face an even more miserable future unless we find ways to reverse the processes now underway, for which we bear considerable responsibility and accordingly, can influence if we choose. Among the options under discussion are one-state and binational approaches. These are crucially different. There are many forms of multinationalism in the world: Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, etc. The concept is a cover term for arrangements that allow forms of autonomy for groups within complex societies, not necessarily only those that choose to regard themselves as “nations.” Quite different are one-state systems, with no form of autonomy for various communities. In the US, for example, Latinos do not have autonomy or control over language or education in the areas stolen by violence from Mexico (or elsewhere); nothing approaching, say, the partial autonomy in Catalonia, to mention one of many cases of some form of multinationalism.
Israeli Spying on the US: a Long History
By Sam Husseini, CounterPunch 8/30/2004
[This survey of Israeli spying on the US was compiled in 1997.] The Washington Post reported in a front-page story on May 7th, 1997 that US intelligence had intercepted a conversation in which two Israeli officials had discussed the possibility of getting a confidential letter that then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher had written to Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat. One of the Israelis had commented that they may get the letter from "Mega"-- apparently a codename for an Israeli agent within the US government. This revelation has been treated by much of the press as something of an aberration, as Israeli officials have claimed that they do not spy on the US. Israel Foreign Minister David Levy told the Washington Post (5/8/97) that "Our diplomats all over the world, and of course specifically in the US, don''t deal with such a thing." Prime Minister Netanyahu''s office declared: "Israel does not use intelligence agents in the United States. Period." Here is a sampling of the public record of Israeli espionage and covert actions against the US...
Israeli Moles in the Pentagon
By Brian Whitney, CounterPunch 8/30/2004
The FBI''s investigation into Pentagon official, Larry Franklin, on charges of spying for Israel, has left many of us scratching our heads and wondering, "Why?" The relationship between the Bush Administration and the Sharon government is so incestuous that is difficult to imagine that there are secrets of any consequence that haven''t already been fully shared. Both the Pentagon and the Vice President''s office feature a number of high profile advisors whose connections to Israel have raised questions about their loyalty. Alleged spy, Franklin, was working directly under Douglas Feith who headed the now infamous OSP (Office of Special Plans); the Pentagon''s "sausage making" unit, where intelligence was "cherry-picked" to make it look as though Saddam was a greater threat than he was, and to create imaginary links between Saddam and Al Qaida. Feith led the way in making intelligence conform to policy.
British journalist banned from speaking with the media
By Ewa Jasiewicz, Electronic Intifada 8/29/2004
The Israeli Ministry of the Interior has decided that I may not speak to the media. This attempt to silence me is not new; deportation and imprisonment for political reasons are the highest form of censorship. In this particular case the attempt to cut off my voice is part of a long term Israeli state attack on three vital narratives. The first narrative is composed of the international activists -- the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and others who act against the Occupation. We come to use non-violent action and to increase the possibility for peace, justice and participatory democracy. The International activists have risked, suffered and sometimes died while taking this action for peace (the most famous being American Rachael Corrie and British Tom Hurndall who died in Gaza). When the Israeli government finds it hard to show such unarmed international activists as terrorists, it tries to show us as pawns in someone else''s game of terror. This line does not stand up to scrutiny, and hence the story of the direct international solidarity is suppressed -- but we refuse to be silenced.
Pentagon/Israel Spying Case Expands: Fomenting a War on Iran
By Juan Cole, Electronic Intifada 8/29/2004
Here is my take on the Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal in the Pentagon. It is an echo of the one-two punch secretly planned by the pro-Likud faction in the Department of Defense. First, Iraq would be taken out by the United States, and then Iran. David Wurmser, a key member of the group, also wanted Syria included. These pro-Likud intellectuals concluded that 9/11 would give them carte blanche to use the Pentagon as Israel''s Gurkha regiment, fighting elective wars on behalf of Tel Aviv (not wars that really needed to be fought, but wars that the Likud coalition thought it would be nice to see fought so as to increase Israel''s ability to annex land and act aggressively, especially if someone else''s boys did the dying). Franklin is a reserve Air Force colonel and former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst. He was an attache at the US embassy in Tel Aviv at one point, which some might now see as suspicious. After the Cold War ended, Franklin became concerned with Iran as a threat to Israel and the US, and learned a little Persian (not very much--I met him once at a conference and he could only manage a few halting phrases of Persian). Franklin has a strong Brooklyn accent and says he is "from the projects." I was told by someone at the Pentagon that he is not Jewish, despite his strong association with the predominantly Jewish neoconservatives. I know that he is very close to Paul Wolfowitz. He seems a canny man and a political operator, and if he gave documents to AIPAC it was not an act of simple stupidity, as some observers have suggested. It was part of some clever scheme that became too clever by half.
An Unwavering Commitment To Reforming the Middle East
By John Kerry, Forward 8/27/2004
Across the Middle East, the United States and Israel are facing a range of crucial security challenges. We are not secure while Saudi donors fund terror, while Iran pursues a nuclear weapons programs and while Syria sponsors terrorist operations. We are not secure while Iraq is at risk of becoming a haven for terrorists. And we are not secure while Israel, the one true democracy in the region, remains the victim of an unrelenting campaign of terror. If we continue without a more effective strategy, we are not supporting our ally as best we can. For too long, America has not led, and Iran''s program has advanced. Let me say it plainly: a nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable. I believe we must work with our allies to end Iran''s nuclear weapons program and be ready to work with them to implement a range of tougher measures, if needed. Developing an international coalition enhances our influence by ensuring that all nations are united in the effort, leaving no room for Iran to play allies against one another. The Syria Accountability Act, which I co-sponsored in the Senate, gave the president authority to sanction Syria, a concrete step against Syria''s support for terror and its occupation of Lebanon. As president, I will never delay implementing sanctions as the Bush administration did for many months.
A Very One-Sided War
By Uri Avnery, International Middle East Media Center 8/22/2004
"For all I care, they can starve to death!" announced Tzahi Hanegbi, after Palestinian prisoners declared an open-ended hunger strike against prison conditions. Thus the Minister for Internal Security added another memorable phrase to the lexicon of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hanegbi became famous (or infamous) for the first time when, as a student activist, he was caught on camera with his friends hunting Arab students with bicycle chains. At the time I published a photo of him that would not have shamed German or Polish students in the 1930s. With a small difference: in the 30s the Jews were the pursued, now they were the pursuers. In the meantime, Hanegbi has changed like many young radicals - he has turned into an unrestrained careerist. He has become a minister, wearing elegant suits even on hot summer days and walking with the typical, self-important gait of a cabinet minister. Now he even supports Ariel Sharon''s disengagement plan, much to the distress of his mother, Geula Cohen, an extreme-right militant who has not changed her spots.
An antithesis is not an alternative
By Azmi Bishara, Al-Ahram Weekly on-line 8/26/2004
Is Moqtada Al-Sadr the alternative to the American occupation of Iraq personified? No more than Kerry is to Bush -- Nine hundred and forty nine US soldiers have died since the US launched its war against Iraq in March 2003. Of these, 811 died since Bush officially declared the end of the campaign on 1 May 2003. Of these, 94 died since the so-called transfer of sovereignty on 28 June. Although the majority of US public opinion is now inclined to regard the war as a mistake perpetrated on the basis of false evidence regarding Iraq''s possession of weapons of mass destruction and although opinion polls suggest that the war will be a greater determinant of the outcome of the presidential elections than the state of the economy and domestic policies combined, the elite that dominates political life in the US in the form of two electoral leagues that call themselves parties has yet to address the question of a systematic withdrawal of US forces from Iraq. Instead of highlighting the differences between the candidates, the "debate" has cast its spotlight on Kerry''s war record in Vietnam, his one-upmanship with Bush over the Palestinian question and the fact that if he had all the information currently available to him he would still have voted in favor of the war against Iraq. Kerry needs to prove that he is consistent, and in so doing he reminds us that all the major imperialist wars America fought in the 20th century were waged under Democratic presidents: the Korean War under Truman, Vietnam under Kennedy and Johnson, and Afghanistan under Carter. The rhetoric in US electoral campaigns is propelling strongly towards imperialist hegemony, which we can take as an indicator that the dynamics of American democracy will not lead to "global democracy". Americans cherish their democratic system -- or at least regard it as obviously better than a dictatorship -- but global democracy, if we can use this term, is another matter; indeed, there is no connection at all between the two.
Staging resistance
By Nehad Selaiha, Al-Ahram Weekly on-line 8/26/2004
Politics taking centre- stage in two independent theatre festivals -- Running almost simultaneously, the Third Independent Theatre Festival for Light Comedy (15- 22 August at Al-Hanager, a hall in Mahmoud Mukhtar Museum and the Jesuit Centre in Minya) and the Second Al-Saqia Theatre Festival for independent groups (18-22 August at El-Sawy Cultural Centre) provided critics, sociologists and students of culture with a valuable opportunity to find out first hand how a large, widely diversified and therefore representative segment of young Egyptian artists see the world and think and feel about reality. In both festivals -- whatever the socio-economic provenance of the troupe, its ideological orientation, level of intellectual maturity, subject matter or artistic mode -- politics cut a high profile and anger, in a variety of moods, was the dominant note. It ranged from sombre irony and cynical resignation to obstreperous vituperation and cheeky defiance. The choice of Salwomir Mrozek''s 1961 Striptease (in an adapted stage version by Hamada Shousha''s troupe) for the opening of the Light Comedy Festival was significant and acted as a keynote; a kind of telling epigraph to the whole event. In this tragi- grotesque, ironical, two-character piece, one of the earliest examples of the theatre of the absurd in Polish drama, freedom is the central issue and is examined in relation to power and rebellion. The two nameless characters (simply called 1 and 2) who find themselves suddenly thrust into a room with two doors by a mysterious, invisible force are forced for the first time to meet the challenge of freedom. But, having lived as the slaves of authority all their lives, they fail to take it....
Making the land without a people
By Jonathan Cook, Al-Ahram Weekly on-line 8/26/2004
To "free up" the Negev for Jewish settlement, 140,000 Negev Bedouin face ethnic cleansing -- Four years ago Raed Abu Elkian, 27, finished serving in the Israeli army as a Bedouin tracker. Today the entrance to his village in Israel''s southern semi-desert region, the Negev, is marked by a giant concrete block stamped in black ink with the words "Danger. Entry Forbidden: Firing Range". The army laid a trail of these blocks along the road to the village in March to alert anyone venturing into this part of the north- eastern Negev to keep away. For the 1,000 residents of Atir, who have farmed this corner of the Negev for generations, the creation of a military firing range right by their homes was only an advance warning of the Israeli authorities'' intentions. In April the water supply from a single standpipe, the only source of running water in the village, was cut off. A private contractor now has to be paid to bring a tanker of water every few days so that they can fill their jerry cans. And last month the state authorities left the residents in no doubt that it wanted them out of their homes: everyone over the age of 16 received an evacuation notice telling him or her to leave the village "vacant, without person, object or animal in the area".
Back to the streets
By Lamis Andoni, Al-Ahram Weekly on-line 8/26/2004
The Palestinian leadership is being forced to come to grips with political reform and corruption -- A continued drama of internal bickering, power struggles -- both real and staged reconciliation -- and grassroots resistance, the most recent example being the prisoner hunger strike, is steadily setting the agenda of Palestinian confrontation with Israel. The drama is overshadowing and more accurately compensating for the Palestinian leadership role. This phenomenon is itself an indication of a weak Palestinian leadership. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat''s public admission of "mistakes" and promises for political reform only reinforces his willful impotence. His act is reduced to sideshow in the bigger picture of an emerging, systemic Palestinian disobedience. The disconnect between the leadership''s meetings and moves on the street is also a sign of a Palestinian leadership failure to recognise the threat of the Palestinian people recapturing the initiative and taking the struggle into their hands.
Reality Check for "Palestinian Idol"
By Charmaine Seitz, Electronic Intifada 8/26/2004
Who will be crowned, Ammar or Ayman? This week, the Arab world is in a voting frenzy as the millions of viewers of Future satellite channel''s Superstar II register their preference for the Arab singer of the year, online or by phone. But the contest, intended to mimic the reality television shows that dominate American airwaves today, holds a twisted mirror to the conflicts that both strain and unite this region. Even though the emphasis on a well-tuned voice makes Superstar II true to the Arabic musical tradition, its political undertones provide grist and tension, feeding the voyeurism on which "reality" programming thrives. On August 15, when thousands of hopefuls had been whittled down to Syrian Hadi Aswad, Palestinian Ammar Hassan, and Libyan Ayman Alaatar, hostess Rania asked Hassan in front of a live audience what had piqued him about a judge''s comment. Apparently Lebanese judge Fadia al-Haj had complained that Hassan''s dramatic rendition of Fayrouz''s "Jerusalem" and other Arab anthems played too much on audience heartstrings. "First, I am so grateful for all the help that they have given us," Hassan had replied calmly. "Because in the end, this is improving our skill. "And," he added, "we all love to laugh, but in the end, she has to understand that [Palestinians] are my people, and this is what I feel."
Twilight Zone / Prisoners of Zion
By Gideon Levy, Ha''aretz 8/26/2004
The letters are kept in a pillow on the living room sofa. With trembling hands, as if it were a religious rite, Najiba Jelamne opens the zipper of the pillow and pulls out the envelope with the handful of letters and photos. Two folded letters, as brief as memos, written by hand on an official Red Cross form - the only sign of life that has arrived from their prisoner son, who is said to be very ill, but whose parents have been unable to find out what happened to him. One letter was sent in February and arrived in June, four months en route from the prison to the Jenin refugee camp, and the second was sent in June and arrived about two weeks ago; that''s how long it takes to get from the sender to the addressees. June 24, 2004: "Dear parents, I''m sending you this letter with the smell of flowers from my homesick heart. I pray to God that we will all reach Paradise. How are things with you? How is your health? I hope that you are well. Don''t worry about me, I''m in good condition. My health is good. Don''t listen to the rumors. People talk a lot. I''m in good condition, nothing that God doesn''t want will happen to us. Thank God, I''m fine and I pray to God that you will be fine. That you will be the way I know you, believing in God and in patience. God loves those who are patient. Yours, Waal." Approved by the censor. Ahmed, the father, bursts into tears. The city is buzzing with rumors that their 22-year-old son is ill. For two-and-a-half years, since her son was imprisoned, Najiba has been unable to get an entry permit to Israel to visit him, and Ahmed says that he won''t be able to bear a visit to his son in prison. Ahmed, 70, is a bereaved father: His son Rabia was killed during the Israel Defense Forces incursion in Operation Defensive Shield (in April 2002), four days before Waal was arrested. Waal was sentenced to 12 years'' imprisonment after he was photographed wearing an explosives belt, and his photo was seized. Maybe he was on his way to a suicide attack, maybe not; his parents say that collaborators betrayed him.
The fence, the ugly darling
By Gideon Samet, Ha''aretz 8/27/2004
In the spirit of the Olympics, the wall that slices through Abu Dis in the Jerusalem area looked to one observer like a challenge for Alex Averbukh. If it has to be there, why so high? It is impossible to leap the brutal eight meters even with a gold medal pole vault. The separation fence suddenly blocks the main artery, the king''s road to Jericho, the heart of the commercial district of the eastern part of the city, as though Allenby Street in Tel Aviv had been truncated violently at the Carmel Market. All the businesses along the once busy street are closed. At the foot of the wall, on the Israeli side, a small kiosk sells ice cream and sweets that melt in the heat. The Israeli visitor bought an ice cream cone and purposely left the change, a few shekels. The proprietor, alarmed, ran after him to give it back. "In your safari park, for the lion," he said after calming down, "you made it two meters and for us, eight." He is an Israeli resident, of course, caged inside a classical Israeli solution: one that exacerbates the problem with an improvisation. There are hundreds of thousands like him, in the area of the capital alone, who will pay the price of this darling of the national consensus. North of the city, at A-Ram, the school year will begin in a few days for about 20,000 students. The vast majority of them will attend schools in Jerusalem. At about Hanukkah, when the fence will become operational, every morning about 17,000 students will crowd together near the "crossing point," waiting along with a similar number of Palestinians going into Jerusalem. Some of them will be sick, because A-Ram, a large town, has no clinic. The crossing will be nearly impossible - at the least, a nightmare. In a few more months (with a delay that was caused by the High Court of Justice ruling), this huge crowd of upset people will make their way along the wall to the terrible melee at the gate, perhaps in the rain, to the traumatic encounter with dozens of nerve-racked soldiers.
Engage American Jews, all else has failed the Arab world
By Youssef M. Ibrahim, Daily Star 8/27/2004
Has the time not come for Arabs and Muslims to recognize the need for a dialogue with the American Jewish community in its capacity as an important policy-making force in the United States, and one that influences all things Middle Eastern? Instead of insulting American Jews - as Arab editorialists, writers, professional syndicates and a variety of militant intellectuals have been doing for some 50 years - why not show respect for their evident weight and engage them in a constructive dialogue? Among other things, such a stance would terminate old methods that have ceased to work. Begging the American political establishment is a waste. For decades Arab leaders have been making their pilgrimage to White Houses populated by Democrats or Republicans, including Bill Clinton and the Bush family, where they have ritually humiliated themselves with secret promises of oil and support in return for protection and acceptance. They rarely received anything in return, except when they simultaneously engaged leaders of the American Jewish community, as did the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and King Hussein of Jordan. Most current Arab leaders refuse to do this, ignoring the fact that any White House is very reluctant to alienate American Jews.
A personal bias
By Ewa Jasciewicz, The Guardian 8/26/2004
I''m happy to declare the loaded agenda for which I was imprisoned - human rights and social justice -- Life for journalists wanting to report from Israel has just become harder. I was detained two weeks ago by the Israeli authorities while trying to enter the country in order to complete a number of commissions for the British magazine Red Pepper. I have been held in custody at Ben Gurion airport ever since, while appealing against deportation. Yesterday, an Israeli judge ruled that the evidence against me, which has not been seen by my lawyer, is admissible, and so my appeal will be heard by the supreme court in the near future. During my initial interrogation at the airport in Tel Aviv I was asked if I knew any violent Palestinians. Responding in the negative, I was told: "We think you do, but we can accept that you don''t know that you do." It shouldn''t have come as a surprise to me that the Israeli state sees all Palestinians as potential terrorists. Thus anyone who associates with them is, at best, an unwitting associate. This view now seems to be extended to include politically engaged journalists such as myself.
Coronado Crosses the Jordan
By James Brooks, Palestine Chronicle 8/26/2004
The occupier: ‘We will keep your land indefinitely under our control. Until you stop fighting us, we will take more and more of your land and resources. We will dig ourselves in deeper and deeper, until you stop fighting us. We will direct your government, rape your economy and attack your resistance with overwhelming force. We will teach you to stop fighting us. When you stop fighting us, then we’ll talk.’ The resister: ‘You may take some of our land but you cannot take us. We were here before you came and we will be here long after we have driven you out. Brutal foreigners have no place in our affairs. We will not rest until we have the power to determine our own national destiny.’ The twin polarities of Israel and Palestine, the US and Iraq. The first is the acknowledged master of modern occupation theory and practice, a slow grind to the death. The second is a clumsy and deadly attempt to emulate the teacher on a much larger human and geographic scale. Both proceed from a blatantly illegal claim of international eminent domain; we know better than you and we deserve to seize control of your land, for your own good.
Zionism Is The Root Problem
By Rabbi Yisroel P. Feldman, Neturei Karta 6/15/2003
Presented by Rabbi Yisroel P. Feldman of Neturei Karta Int.at the rally hosted by the New England Committee to Defend Palestine, to protest the "Boston Celebrates Israel Festival" in Boston, Mass. on Sunday, June 15, 2003 -- With God’s help may the words that we speak here today sanctify God’s name and may it bring peace and brotherhood amongst His creations. A – salaam aleikum We have come to Boston today to protest the celebration of the founding of the blasphemous and heretical Zionist state taking place here. We represent Torah true Jews who remain loyal to authentic Judaism, who know that the root cause of the conflict and instability plaguing the Middle East, and hence the entire world, is the heresy against G d called Zionism, and the heinous crimes committed in the name of its illegitimate “State of Israel”. Zionism! An ideology that is antithetical to Judaism, one fomented by unabashed atheists, heretics and even some ostensibly “religious” collaborators who have sold their souls to the irreligious Zionists for money and power. The founding of the Zionist state is in direct contradiction to the teachings of the Torah, which forbids the establishment of a Jewish state and commands Jews to remain in exile until they are released therefrom by G-d himself, without any human intervention, at which time all nations of the world will live together in peace, and serve their Creator in unity.
The battle of the narrative
By Aluf Benn, Ha''aretz 8/25/2004
At the end of the fourth year of the intifada, Israel appears to be losing the "battle of the narrative" that has been the backdrop to the conflict since its beginning. Israel''s claim that this is a just war of defense against ruthless terror from peace rejectionists is being worn down by the decline in attacks. The relative quiet on the Israeli side against the daily casualties on the Palestinian side strengthens their claim that they are fighting for their freedom from an occupation... ....It''s obvious to all that Israel will not be successful at persuading the world of the justice of its claim, and that the debate is only about the extent of the anticipated damage and the steps that must be taken: should Israel hurry to adopt the Fourth Geneva Convention, or is a quiet understanding with friendly governments sufficient? Oded Eran, the Israeli ambassador to the EU, reckons that sanctions won''t be applied, because there is a solid bloc of European countries that would foil such an attempt. The question is whether that support will hold. A senior European ambassador in Israel says his government is against sanctions in principle. "But in the 1980s, I served on our South African desk," he recalled this week, "and I noticed that the sanctions against apartheid began from below in the volunteer organizations, and slowly rose to the top and brought about changes in the government''s position."
Between violence and non-violence
By Amira Hass, Ha''aretz 8/25/2004
The Mahatma Gandhi''s grandson is visiting the country this week at the invitation of Palestinians who want to advance the idea of a popular struggle against the Israeli occupation. Gandhi is slated to speak to Palestinians about non-violent struggle, but it is a discussion that we Israelis should also conduct. As occupiers. The original violence, the primordial, ongoing violence, is the violence of the side that imposed through its military superiority a reign over another nation. Can Israeli society be attentive to the popular Palestinian struggle, and conduct the necessary internal revolution to truly disengage from the colonialist characteristics of the state of Israel? Even without tanks and helicopter fire, the Israeli presence in the West Bank and Gaza is violent and has been since 1967, including the years 1994-2000, when most Israelis liked to believe that we had left the territories. Violent are the orders expropriating Palestinian land for "public purposes" that is only for Jews; violent is the way Israel distributes water - as much water as they want for the settlements near villages that aren''t even connected to water lines; violent are the occupation lawyers who defined "state land" as land Palestinians are not allowed to develop, and Civil Administration inspectors who take note of every new vine and olive planted in that land; violent is the Shin Bet officer who pleasantly tells someone who needs a travel permit "to help us and we''ll help you," and those who send that person on his mission....
Interrogated at the Israel-Egypt border
By Anjali Kamat, Electronic Intifada 8/24/2004
8 August 2004 — Life is moving at a strange pace these past few days. I came back to Cairo from an absolutely beautiful vacation in Istanbul a week ago and about 8 hours after relaxing back into the relative familiarity of Arabic and Cairo cooler than its been all summer, I left again, by bus across the Sinai to Taba, a beach town on Egypt''s border with Israel, the desert site of gleaming luxury hotels and unfinished peace agreements. I tried crossing the border with my dear friends Amanda and Tony. We were hoping to spend a couple weeks at an international work camp at the Lajee center (www.lajeecenter.org) in Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem, in the West Bank. We were nervous about crossing, but we had our stories straight — we were going as tourists to visit Jewish Israeli friends we know from New York. As you can tell by the incomplete tense of these past few sentences, our efforts were frustrated — by the Israeli border police. We were held for over 11 hours at the border and interrogated about every single item in our possession and repeatedly asked if we belonged to any "peace or leftist or even UN organization." It was an incredibly harrowing experience — long periods of mind numbing boredom, staring out into the beautiful red sea, watching hordes of Israelis return from a roasting vacation in the Sinai and endless British Bible tour groups and American backpackers pass through security unharassed. An unpleasant boredom punctuated by short bursts of nerve-racking questioning about the most personal details of our lives (as culled from "offensive" sources in our bags like journals, letters, photographs, stationery, and even slogans on T-shirts), our plans for tourism in Israel, how we know each other, why we study Arabic, and do we know any Arabs....
Remembering Nick Pretzlik
By Annie C Higgins, Electronic Intifada 8/24/2004
March 2003 There was a face I knew! It was the coffee seller that my friend ordered from, and introduced with respect: "This gentleman is an accountant, but when times got bad and he couldn''t find appropriate work, he began to sell coffee." The man was humble and welcoming, smiling inside an enormous purple parka, and adding, out of excess generosity, enough cardamom pods to make the little glass of coffee nearly atomic. Here in one of Jenin''s several internet cafes, the coffee man was smiling from the screen of a website, alongside a brief but potent article by one Nick Pretzlik. Nick Pretzlik. I did not recognize the name. I assumed he was one of the roughly university-aged volunteers who come to Palestine to give of their energies and ears and hearts. Excitedly, I printed the photo and sloshed through the puddles to find the coffee seller with his purple parka protecting him from the dismal rain. His face lit up as he took the photo, offering no explanation as to the photographer.
Noam Chomsky and ‘Left’ Apologetics for Injustice in Palestine
By Noah Cohen, Axis of Logic 8/23/2004
It’s particularly interesting in the case of Palestine to see where US intellectuals and progressives decide that it’s necessary to be "realistic" and where "principled;" where they choose to accept more or less the general media consensus about "the boundaries of acceptable discourse" and where they reject it. In the case of Palestine, people who are generally on record as calling for forthrightness and honesty in the demand for justice in political discourse, who criticize a false "pragmatism" oriented toward the corporate media and academic political consultants and who question generalizing statements about popular consensus, suddenly become believers in pragmatism and the limits of what the discourse will allow. An interview with Noam Chomsky published on Znet under the title "Justice for Palestine?" (Znet, March 30, 2004) is an exemplary contribution to this genre of left apologetics. Since it contains so many of the arguments generally advanced to legitimize some form of continued existence for an Israeli system of colonialism and Apartheid—and to shore up rear-guard support for it among US progressives—it is worth examining in full. In general, the argument rests on two pillars: (1) Israel’s history of colonial occupation and expansion must be separated from all other colonial histories as a special case and special consideration must be given to Zionist colonial settlers as a historically vulnerable group; 2) Since this "historically vulnerable group" also has massive military power, nuclear weapons, and U.S. military and economic support, calling for an end to the colonial regime is unrealistic; it only hurts the colonized, and should be redirected to more useful activities. The first is a tortured attempt to meet arguments about justice; the second is an attempt to make them moot by arguments about realism.
A nation of prisoners
By Gideon Levy, Ha''aretz 8/22/2004
If for Israelis "the whole nation is an army," for the Palestinians the whole nation is a prisoner: Like the experience of military service for us - the experience of prison in the Palestinian ethos is the formative and unifying experience. Both serving in the military and spending time in prison are perceived as a model of values, a sacrifice for the sake of the homeland. The two experiences are connected to the sanctified violent struggle in the two societies. It is also possible to discern a similarity with respect to the proportion of the population: According to the Addamir Prisoner Support Center, a Palestinian organization, since 1967 approximately 650,000 Palestinians have spent time in Israeli prisons, which amounts to about 40 percent of all Palestinian males (including children and the elderly). Above a certain age it is difficult to meet Palestinian males who have not done time in an Israeli prison. There are not many households in the territories in which handicrafts by prisoners are not displayed, as a souvenir of the days in prison, like photos from the days of military service for us.
Drought in Texas
By Uri Avnery, Palestine Chronicle 8/17/2004
Once upon a time, an assistant to Levy Eshkol, our late Prime Minister, rushed up to him and cried: “Levy, a disaster! A drought has set in!” “Where?” the Prime Minister asked anxiously, “in Texas?” “No, here in Israel!” the man replied. “Then there’s nothing to worry about,” Eshkol said dismissively. Right from the beginning, the State of Israel has been critically affected by events in the United States. “If America sneezes, Israel catches cold,” is the local version of the universal saying. This is particularly true in the run-up to American elections. They can be as important for Israel as our own, since the occupant of the White House can influence the fate of Israel in many significant ways. But they have an additional significance: the months before the American elections are a kind of open season for Israel. The basic assumption is that no candidate for the White House would dare to provoke the American Jewish voters at election times. They are an extremely well organized and highly motivated political bloc, ready to donate heaps of money, which gives them political clout well beyond their numbers.
The deprived and the more deprived
Editorial, Ha''aretz 8/23/2004
The report issued by the Prime Minister''s Office''s coordination department, showing that Ariel Sharon''s government is depriving the Galilee, is worrying but also raises questions, especially regarding its conclusions and recommendations. The gaps between the center of the country and the north are widening, states the report. "The Galilee has lost its place on the national agenda and among the senior policy makers." These two statements in the report are juxtaposed with the Sharon government''s festive declaration on February 26, 2003 in its basic guidelines, that it will place the Galilee at the top of the national order of priorities. This is not the first time that a new government has made false promises to a sector whose support it desires. Sharon sees the Galilee as a region that must be "Judaized," that is, its Jewish population must be strengthened. Sharon, who initiated, pushed and inflated the "Seven Stars" plan, is still convinced that huge sums must be poured into the Galilee to increase its Jewish population.... ....Nor are these problems similar to the critical problem of 47 percent of the Galilee''s population, who are Arab citizens of Israel. Their ongoing deprivation in budgets and their economic and social discrimination screams to high heaven. The new report, like the State Comptroller''s Report on the Negev, confirms what is already known: The government''s order of priorities deprives the Negev and the Galilee and pushes the Arab residents to the margins.
The hunger strike''s resonance
By Danny Rubinstein, Ha''aretz 8/23/2004
The hunger strike by thousands of security prisoners (called "prisoners of war" by the Palestinians) could become a difficult, complex affair. There have been many hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners in local jails over the years, and only one ended in the death of striking inmates: Two Ramle prison inmates died in a 1980 hunger strike when attempts to force-feed them had fatal results. Despite differing reports by the Palestinians and the Israeli Prisons Service, it is clear the current strike includes almost all the security prisoners in Israel''s jails. They number almost 4,000, making this the largest prison strike in local history. Another 4,000 Palestinians are being held under arrest in cellblocks and "investigation" facilities. While they are not active participants in the strike, they have expressed symbolic identification with the strikers. The strike is resonating loudly throughout the West Bank and Gaza. Demonstrations and marches are being held in all Palestinian cities. Local committees organize daily events to showcase their identification with the strikers. Members of striking prisoners'' families, activists in various political factions, and the public at large all participate in these events. For example, today there will be a march by prisoners'' children. Tomorrow, Palestinian legal authorities will hold a conference. Assemblies will take place in schools during the coming week, and marches are planned to coincide with Friday prayers in the mosques.
Divestment From Israel Does Not Equal Racism
By Sherri Muzher, Palestine Chronicle 8/21/2004
In the face of the Presbyterian Church of the USA (PCUSA) General Assembly''s recent vote to begin selective divestment from companies profiting from the sales of products and services resulting in harm to Palestinians, an organized campaign is taking place across the country to accuse the Church of ''anti-Semitism.'' An example of the sort of hate messages that Bill Somplatsky-Jaman, staff person of the PCUSA''s Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee, is receiving includes: ''Why are you trying to hurt the state of Israel, Bill? Why are you trying to hurt Jews? I''m outraged. I know exactly what''s in your heart, you son of a *censored*. You want ''em all to die in ovens, Bill?'' And many others directly come right out and ask why the Church is ''anti-Semitic.'' That people so easily wield the ''anti-Semitism'' accusation -- a label designed to conjure up images of the World War II period when Jews were persecuted and systematically killed because of who they were -- is remarkable. That was then, and this is now.
Ringworm and Radiation
By Barry Chamish, IsraelInsider 8/19/2004
On August 14, at 9 PM, Israel''s Channel Ten television screened a documentary film which exposes the ugliest secret of Israel''s Labor party founders: the deliberate mass radiation poisoning of nearly all Sephardi youths of a generation. "The Ringworm Children" (translated in Hebrew as "100,000 Rays"), directed by David Belhassen and Asher Hemias, recently won the prize for "best documentary" at the Haifa International film festival, and in the past year has made the rounds of Jewish and Israeli film festivals around the world. But it had yet to come to Israeli television screens. The subject is the mass irradiation of hundreds of thousands of young Israeli immigrants from Middle Eastern countries -- Sephardim, as they are called today. The story goes like this: In 1951, the director general of the Israeli Health Ministry, Dr. Chaim Sheba, flew to America and returned with seven x-ray machines, supplied to him by the American army. They were to be used in a mass atomic experiment with an entire generation of Sephardi youths to be used as guinea pigs. Every Sephardi child was to be given 35,000 times the maximum dose of x-rays through his head. For doing so, the American government paid the Israeli government 300 million Israeli liras a year. The entire Health budget was 60 million liras. The money paid by the Americans is equivalent to billions of dollars today.
Thank You ISM
Editorial, Miftah 8/18/2004
The International Solidarity Movement’s theme for this summer is “Freedom Summer Palestine 2004” lasting for 56 days; it symbolically marks the 56 years that have passed since the tragic fall of Palestine in 1948 (one day, for every year of displacement, dispossession, occupation, killing, torture and above all racism.) August 19th will mark the grand finale of the freedom march, organized by the International Solidarity Movement and its associates along the so-called West Bank barrier (the Annexation Wall in the West Bank). The freedom march which began on the 30th of July in the city of Jenin, will come to a final showdown with Israeli troops at Al-Ram checkpoint en route to Jerusalem. The 18 day march has passed threw 60 Palestinian cities, towns and villages. Currently the freedom march is at the neighborhood of Beitunia close to Ramallah heading towards Qalandia checkpoint, where a sit in will be staged in support of some 7200 Palestinian prisoners held illegally in Israeli jails. The prisoners have been on hunger strike as of the August 15th in protest of their inhumane treatment by Israeli authorities. However, prior to the sit in, the freedom march will visit President Arafat at his Ramallah compound in order to share the stories they have heard from the communities about the hardships resulting from the Wall and the impact it has on the lives of Palestinians throughout the West Bank.
Same old same
By Azmi Bishara, Al-Ahram Weekly on-line 8/19/2004
The head of the Israeli Army revealed nothing but cant in recent interviews: Israel''s malign intentions towards its neighbours are unaltered, but not unassailable -- The kibbutz-born Israeli chief-of-staff is reputed in Israel for his diligence, his aversion to ostentation and his reluctance to mix with politicians. That a journalist such as Yaron London of Yediot Aharanot should testify to this is indicative of an Israeli nostalgia for the Igal Alon and Rabin generation of graduates of the elitist Palmach units produced by the organised agricultural communities in Palestine before 1948. In his political upbringing, Moshe Ya''alon belonged to the right wing camp of the Labour movement, receiving his schooling in the erstwhile Ahdut Ha''avoda youth movement. Founded by Alon, this movement produced the founders of the secularist All of Greater Israel Movement that preceded Gush Emunim. This generation of the military succeeded in making a smooth transition into politics, turning their early agrarian settler life, military service and political activities into the major sections of their CVs. It was Ya''alon''s brainstorm to inflict collective punitive measures on Palestinian civilians as a ploy for recruiting them against Hamas operations in Gaza. In an interview with Yediot Aharanot on 13 August, the IDF chief offers a completely candid assessment of the success of this policy, pointing to the protests appearing here and there around Gaza cautioning against firing missiles and to several incidents -- according to the information he had received -- in which the inhabitants of Beit Hanun, where the policy of collective punishment has been sustained with particular intensity, have actively prevented Hamas activists from firing Qassam missiles. Selective quoting from this interview has stirred a groundless jubilation, which, in turn, drowned out a number of frank and crucial statements, such as his admission to the Israeli assassination of Ghaleb Awali on 21 July in southern Beirut.
An Interview with Mordechai Vanunu
By Amy Goodman, CounterPunch 8/18/2004
Israeli Nuclear Whistleblower Risks Arrest, Again -- Mordechai Vanunu worked as a nuclear technician at Dimona, Israel''s secret nuclear installation from 1976 to 1985. He worked there at a time when Israel was insisting it would not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East. What Vanunu discovered is that Israel had secretly developed an extensive nuclear program, hiding its existence from the Israeli people and parliament, and the world. Vanunu leaked information and photos of Israel''s nuclear weapons program to the Sunday Times in London. He was subsequently kidnapped by Israeli spy agency Mossad in Italy and then jailed. He would go on to spend 18 years behind bars including 11 in solitary confinement. He was released on April 21 under strict government restrictions. Democracy Now!''s Amy Goodman reached Vanunu on his cell phone in East Jerusalem where he has been staying since his release in April. He defied the Israeli government''s restriction on speaking with foreigners to talk with us.
Questions of legitimacy
By Lamis Andoni, Al-Ahram Weekly on-line 8/19/2004
After weeks of internal political turmoil, Palestinians have been struggling to arrive at a consensus regarding a plan of action based on conducting municipal, presidential and parliamentary elections -- Elections, many Palestinians now argue, are the only way to prevent Israel from using an erosion of the Palestinian Authority (PA) as an excuse to implement its own plan for the de facto creation of scattered Palestinian "cantons" -- created by the apartheid wall, the annexation of lands and the permanent cutting off and isolation of the Gaza Strip. "We cannot afford to give Israel the pretext of a Palestinian power vacuum," said a Palestinian leader. But if declaring dates for elections is viewed as a necessary step to prevent Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from implementing his own plan for a final solution -- under the title of unilateral "troop evacuation from Gaza" -- the Palestinian leadership is still far from adopting a clear political strategy. In retrospect, Sharon, by launching his proposal for unilateral troop withdrawal from Gaza, has successfully deepened Palestinian divisions and increased confusion over national strategy. The seemingly waning rebellion, backed by former Security Chief Mohamed Dahlan under the banner of "reforms", underscored how some leaders -- driven by a combination of naked political ambition and despair brought on by Israeli strangulation of the Strip -- have sought to pressure Palestinian acceptance of the Sharon plan.
Torture of Palestinians in the Heart of Romantic Landscape
By Sami Abu Salem, Electronic Intifada 8/19/2004
Just after leaving the city of Deir al-Balah, south of Gaza City, our eyes were caught by the beautiful neighbourhood of Abu Holi. Palm trees, olive and citrus orchards and green houses flank the road. A shepherd stands with some sheep between the trees, where a low, rusty metal fence surrounds a calf and a cow chewing leaves. In the heart of such a romantic view, thousands of Palestinian civilians face daily torture at the two sides of Abu Holi checkpoint, which divides the Gaza Strip into two parts. Hundreds of Palestinian taxis, trucks and civilian vehicles snake along the dug-up sandy road of the ill-fated Abu Holi. Huge concrete slabs lie along the two sides of the long checkpoint. Cylindrical concrete watchtowers covered with military-green nets border the checkpoint, where the crying of children is escalating along with the endless queue of cars.
A moderate legal euphemism
By Yuval Yoaz, Ha''aretz 8/19/2004
On September 6, 1999, the High Court of Justice ruled on one of the most sensitive issues it has considered - the legality of the Shin Bet security service''s violent interrogation methods, euphemistically called "moderate physical pressure." The case was heard by nine justices, headed by Supreme Court President Aharon Barak. The phrase "moderate physical pressure" came from a 1987 report by a committee investigating the practice. The committee, headed by Supreme Court president emeritus Moshe Landau, found the Shin Bet had lied to courts for years in denying it used torture, but accepted the Shin Bet''s argument that physical pressure was necessary for efficient interrogation. The Landau Report recommended psychological pressure and "a moderate amount of physical pressure" against Palestinian detainees.
Book Review: Bethlehem Besieged
By Arjan El Fassed, Electronic Intifada 8/19/2004
Palestinians should have the permission to narrate their own lives, their own hopes, their own history. Putting tragedies, events and experiences into words help ease turmoil and defuse the terror. Writing provides a sense of control and a sense of understanding. For some, writing is a struggle, a matter of survival. As eyewitnesses of tomorrow''s news, we cannot hope to understand what is going on without access to alternative information resources. The compelling stories of Mitri Raheb, a Palestinian Christian pastor of the Evangelical Christmas Church where he ministers to his people in Bethlehem, gives us a window not only into what it is like to have grown up under occupation but also into his soul. He demonstrates religious promises in the face of regularly hopeless days. Even when tanks are rolling on Nativity square and when he sees the lives of his friends, his family disrupted and destroyed, Mitri Raheb looks for seeds of hope. He brings the conflict up close and personal. His commitment to his people has kept him in Bethlehem, even as it has become the scene of occupation and oppression.
Israel''s race to end Palestinian resistance before the US election
By Hasan Abu Nimah, Electronic Intifada 8/19/2004
While the world''s attention is almost completely absorbed by events in Iraq, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon''s onslaught on the Palestinians continues with extreme brutality. He hopes to put an end to the Intifada before a new American administration is in place. Of course the current administration of President George W. Bush could be reelected. And even if Bush is the strongest supporter of the current Israeli right-wing government, Sharon still fears a fresh American attempt, during a Bush second term, to "revive" the so-called peace process. A new administration altogether may try to do the same as well, and either way it will be easier for Sharon to handle such attempts once he has accomplished his goal of destroying any potential Palestinian opposition to Israel''s expansionist designs in the West Bank and beyond. Sharon must be encouraged by the fact that the daily routine of killing helpless Palestinians, demolishing their houses and destroying their lives is met by a universal conspiracy of silence, especially from those who otherwise crow loudly in defence of human rights and dignity when lesser crimes occur elsewhere. Sharon must be even more encouraged by the decrease of Palestinian attacks on Israelis, which he may present as proof of his ruthless tactics'' success.
Diplomacy must engage
Editorial, The Guardian 8/19/2004
The Israeli Likud party has once again performed what might seem the impossible task of making Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appear moderate in comparison. The vote against his efforts to form a coalition with the Labour party follows Likud''s rejection in May of Mr Sharon''s plan to withdraw unilaterally from Gaza. Indeed, during the debate on Wednesday, Mr Sharon insisted he was acting for the good of Israel and that his opponents were "extremists". His aides say he plans to press ahead without the support of Likud, possibly by wooing the religious Shas party and with the implicit support of Labour. But critics of Mr Sharon''s own aggressive brand of politics, which has done so much to ratchet up the Palestinian crisis, may well ask what sort of moral ground he occupies. In the shambles of what remains of the peace process, Mr Sharon''s Gaza proposal has been reluctantly accepted by the UN secretary general and other international players as better than nothing, though it is a unilateral step which - if carried through - would risk leaving the larger problem of the West Bank permanently unresolved. This week the other side of Mr Sharon''s implied bargain was spelled out, when plans were announced to accelerate the expansion of settlements in the West Bank by building an extra 1,000 houses for settlers. This follows the announcement earlier this month of 600 additional units in Ma''ale Adumim. In spite of Israeli quibbles over the wording of the UN security council''s 1967 resolution 242, the settlements already breach international law, and any planned expansion breaches the road map for peace. Washington''s initial low-key response to the latest announcement (the State Department said it wanted to "speak privately" to Israel) bears out claims by sources close to Mr Sharon of a secret understanding with the Bush administration that its protests will only be muted and pro forma.
This could end in sanctions
By Akiva Eldar, Ha''aretz 8/16/2004
Why is it that there isn''t a single juicy story, from New Zealand to New Jersey, in which Israel - a country that is about the size of the Kakadu National Park in Northern Australia - isn''t mixed up? Don''t be surprised if some guy turns up soon with the "scoop" that the young fellow from Rishon Letzion is a secret agent of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon''s who was planted in the entourage of the Democratic governor of New Jersey, James McGreevey, in order to improve the mood at United States President George W. Bush''s reelection headquarters. Truth to tell, there is something admirable about the extent of the restraint of the prime minister, who cannot be faulted (unlike some of his predecessors) and takes care only to whisper his prayers for the success of the incumbent president. However, there are situations in which even Sharon''s good angel in the White House can''t - and perhaps does not want to - rescue him from the stew he has cooked for himself.... Israel cannot fool all of the world all of the time, including itself. Even the forgiving Americans are insulted when they find out that their friends from Israel think they are idiots. What is Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz thinking when he says that he is only waiting for the latest aerial photographs of the territories in order to show the outposters who''s in charge? Every child knows that for a few shekels one can download from the Internet satellite photos with such high resolution that it is possible to locate a flowerpot in the yard of a mobile home. And Sharon himself? Does he really believe the world will stand still until he finds a job for Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom? The prime minister really should ask the folks at Shalom''s ministry about what already awaits Israel at the approaching United Nations General Assembly....
Hezbollah plays by the rules
By Reuven Pedatzur, Ha''aretz 8/16/2004
On April 27, 2000, about a month before the Israel Defense Forces withdrew from Lebanon, the heads of Military Intelligence told the cabinet that it was highly probable that terror would continue even after the withdrawal. This was because Syria and Iran had an interest in continuing the fighting and preventing peace along the northern border. Ten days before the withdrawal, Amos Gilad, then head of the IDF research branch, warned against the possibility that Hezbollah activity would lead in the end to a war with Syria. The MI position was that "Syria would do everything to heat up Lebanon and ignite the entire sector." Senior IDF officers who opposed then-prime minister Ehud Barak''s intention to get out of Lebanon warned that life in the north would become hell. More than four years have passed since then. Hezbollah has not fired Katushya rockets at the north, life in Kiryat Shmona has gone on, the lives of dozens of IDF soldiers have been saved, and war with Syria is further away than ever. Of course, none of the senior IDF officers, the most senior of whom has meanwhile become the minister of defense, admitted his mistake. Instead, they continued to inflate the Hezbollah threat and describe its leadership as unbridled and irrational. As proof of this, they pointed to the firing of antiaircraft missiles at Israel Air Force planes. This action was perceived as so serious that more than a few politicians called for "darkening Beirut" and attacking Syria in response....
He''s no De Gaulle
By Gideon Samet, Ha''aretz 8/13/2004
There''s a limit to everything: If, after these lines were written, the Shinui Council decided last night not to go with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, it did the right thing. The Labor Party should follow suit, and get away from the embarrassing spectacle of unity government negotiations. Not only is it true that only an ox - in the erroneous citation by Justice Minister Yosef ("Tommy") Lapid from Victor Hugo - doesn''t change its mind; sometimes one has to change one''s mind twice. After Lapid caused the first about-face, the time has now come - very soon - for another one. Not because Sharon is playing him off against United Torah Judaism. Even virgins on the way to the marriage canopy have to expect that, not to mention the cynical politicians from UTJ and Shinui. The really serious issue is that Sharon''s maneuvers are gradually exposing what looks like an intention not to carry out the disengagement....
Divisions emerge over Qassams
By Ghazi Hamad, Electronic Intifada/Palestine Report 8/12/2004
Israeli Defense minister Shaul Mofaz dubbed them a "serious threat to the security of Israel," while the western press has called them variously the "wild card of the Middle East" (CNN) or the "homemade rockets that may change the Middle East" (Time). For a weapon that didn''t claim a fatality until June 28 of this year, the Qassam rockets have gained widespread notoriety. Qassam rockets are primitive homemade rockets developed by Hamas'' military wing, the Izzedin Al Qassam brigades, during the Aqsa Intifada. In this period, according to Israeli army estimates, the rockets have gone from the early model, the Qassam I, with a range of about three km, to the newest, the Qassam III, that has a range of around 10 km. None of the models have guidance systems, and the explosives are made, according to Hamas'' website and someone calling himself Abu Islam, using a combination of common chemicals, fertilizers and widely available cleaning agents. The use of these rockets has nevertheless ignited a debate among Palestinians, mainly because of the harsh Israeli reprisals. The day after two Israelis were killed on June 28, the Israeli army invaded Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip from where many rockets have been launched, and didn''t leave until August 5. In that time, more than 20 houses were demolished, according to a statement from the Ministry of Housing and Public Works issued a week before the siege ended, another 200 were damaged, and the town lost some $43 million in lost revenue from damage to the town''s infrastructure and agricultural production. At least 17 people were killed during the siege and more than 160 were wounded....
Good Cop Bad Cop
Editorial, Miftah 8/13/2004
Ariel Sharon was supposedly angered by the comments - which was nothing more than lip service - made by his deputy Ehud Olmert regarding settlement evacuation in the West Bank for the sake of Israel and the demographic “time bomb,” as he described it. "In the future there will be a need to evacuate more settlements in Judea and Samaria (the occupied West Bank) -- not because it''s just, but because there is no choice if we want to remain a Jewish and democratic state," Olmert said. Not because settlements are the epitome of occupation and a tool of structural violence and terror that they are being planted and continue to spread like cancer on stolen Palestinian property. Not because settlements are built on occupied land and are considered as illegal even by Israel’s ‘strategic’ ally the USA. Not because settlements have become extremist havens, home to terrorists and murderers such as Baroukh Goldstien (of the Hebron massacre) and Yigal Ameer (who murdered the only true Israeli peace partner, the late PM Rabin). When Olmert said “not because it is just, but because there is no choice”, he actually meant, as he explained to the New York Times in July, that he would prefer to live in a geographically limited purely Jewish state over a democracy that would include large numbers of people (i.e. Palestinians) who would have no voting rights. And therefore, he sees the need for Israel to give up more land. When he said, therefore, that “we want to remain a Jewish democratic state,” what he actually means is a state with democracy exclusively for its Jewish residents and citizens.
Israeli Soldier on Rampage; Children and Unborn Die
By ISM Media Office, Miftah 8/13/2004
We just shot an Arab boy-now you will hear his screams," Israeli soldier told family. -- Israeli soldiers drove into Balata camp this morning and proceeded to shoot a 15 year old boy, Nasser, in his stomach. Two hours later they blew the arm off another boy, Abdul Salem. International volunteers are trying to prevent the soldiers from shooting more children but the soldiers are continuing to rampage and shoot live rounds. Almost every day for the last three weeks soldiers have come into the camp, parked their jeeps to provoke the children, and then used excessive force against them. Two days ago in Nablus, a soldier leaned out of an occupied house and shot Salim Alkusa (16) in the stomach, he died two hours later. The soldiers first pointed his gun at a medical crew. Internationals yelled out,"don''t shoot," he changed direction aimed his M16 at a group of teenagers on the other side of the road and shot Salim. Later in Balata, whilst internationals were standing with a group of children, a soldier opened the side door of his jeep and shot Sami Abu Mustafa in the back of his head. Internationals and medical volunteers ran to pick him up- there was a hole in his skull, he was bleeding profusely and his eyes were rolling back.
De-development Israeli Style
By Sam Bahour, Palestine Chronicle 8/10/2004
Faced with the lopsided Oslo Peace Accords, Palestinians attempted to overcome tremendous odds over the last ten years to sow the seeds of a modern Palestinian economy. However, Israel had different plans, namely to manipulate the uneven balance of power to eliminate any possibility for Palestinian self-sufficiency and the emergence of a Palestinian state. Mixing the greed of the corporate world with the might of the Israeli military, Israel is well on track to undermine Palestinian achievements, and by doing so, Israel has wrecked the Palestinian society with severe consequences that will last for many years. There are winners and losers in today''s cutthroat business world. Corporate America reigns supreme with its breadth and depth into world markets increasing daily. One huge market which is growing at an overwhelming pace is telecommunications, especially the cellular business. Around the world and in the Middle East specifically, the telecommunications sector is proving to be the vehicle that is prodding governments to modernize and become more transparent, accountable and market-driven. Countries, particularly smaller and least developed ones, have benefited from this telecommunications boom by liberalizing their markets in order to attract foreign direct investment and gain firsthand experience in one of today''s most dynamic industries. In conflict-stricken Israel and yet-to-be Palestine , this globalized model of development is not working and the Palestinians are losing while those tasked with maintaining the rules and laws of today''s global village turn a blind eye....
It’s Still the US Mideast Policy, Stupid
By James Zogby, Palestine Chronicle 8/12/2004
Two years ago, I wrote an article entitled, "It''s the Policy, Stupid." Zogby International had just completed two major polls in several Arab countries. We found that Arabs had very positive attitudes toward American science and technology, freedom and democracy, products, people, education, movies and television. What drove down the overall attitudes towards America, however, was US policy "toward the Arabs" and Palestinians. The article and the poll found a receptive audience. My brother, John Zogby, and I addressed the Department of State, testified before Congress, and lectured on the results before distinguished audiences across the US. What we provided was an antidote to the factious claim made by some who had argued that Arab displeasure with the US was based on "cultural differences," or "hatred of American values." What our polling data showed, quite simply, was that Arabs judged America by how they saw America treating them. It was clear that Arabs, in fact, respected American values-but they did not see American policy reflecting those values. This became even clearer when our poll asked our Arab respondents to name the first thought that came to mind when they heard "America." They told us "its unfair policies." And when we asked, "what the should the US do to improve its relationship with the Arab World," responses focused on the need for the US to change its policies to be "more just" and "less biased."
Ode to Cynthia
By Israel Shamir, Palestine Chronicle 8/12/2004
Things must be bad indeed if a woman steps forward to the line of fire. Nature arranged that a woman does not court danger unless her land and her folks are in real trouble. But when she does, she teaches men a lesson of manly behavior. When France was fading away, a shepherd girl Jeanne d’Arc took a heavy sword and led the flower of French nobles to assault the walls of Orleans. When cities of Republican Spain was strafed by the Nazi Luftwaffe, it was a woman, Dolores Ibarruri, La Pasionaria, who said to her people: It is better to die tall, than to live on your knees. In 1990, when Mikhail Gorbachev led his country to disaster and disintegration, a year before the wealth of Russia was embezzled in privatization spree, only one person has dared to raise her voice against the dictator in the Parliament. She was the indomitable Sashie Umalatov, an MP from the Chechen Mountains. Now it is the turn of the US to feel the chilly wind of eternity on its face. It came from unexpected direction. People of America became hostage in the hands of a few men with too many dollars in their pockets and endless greed in their hearts. For millennia, the difference of income, education, and standard of living was not so vast in one land. The wealth of the nation could provide every American with a superb education, perfect medical care, happy childhood, secure old age, guaranteed home, and free time to open one’s mind to new thoughts and old friends. America could be on its way to the Golden Age of universal happiness and wisdom.
America’s Exceptional Treatment of the Palestinians
By Ahmed Amr, Palestine Chronicle 8/12/2004
A quick and incomplete survey of United States adventures and interventions since World War II is not something most Americans should be proud of. The War in Vietnam – The slaughter in Indonesia – Engineering the coup in Chile – The invasion of Cambodia – Arming the Contras – Training the brutes of the Savak secret police in Iran – Allowing the Serbs to wage genocidal wars against Croats and Bosnians – Turning a blind eye to death squads in El Salvador and Guatemala – Collaborating with the military dictatorships in Argentina, Brazil and Greece – Conspiring with the Gulf kleptocrats who rape the oil wealth of their people – supporting Arab dictatorships and absolute monarchies – Encouraging Saddam to invade Iran – The genocidal sanctions against Iraq – Indifference to the killing fields in Rwanda and Cambodia – Constructive engagement with the Apartheid regime in South Africa. The casualties from these American policies run into the millions. In virtually every case mentioned above, the technocrats who engineered these policies in the State Department, the Pentagon and the CIA rationalized the policies as being either vital – or in the case of the Balkans and Rwanda - irrelevant to America’s economic health and national security. In their estimate, they were either fighting the commies and their Soviet sponsors or guaranteeing American access to strategic resources like oil. At the end of the day, foreign and national security policies were designed to promote American national or corporate interests. In the case of oil, the policies were marketed as being beneficial to the consumer’s standard of living and employment prospects. As James Baker famously said, the first Gulf War was about ‘jobs’....
What lies at the bottom of the barrel?
By Meron Benvenisti, Ha''aretz 8/12/2004
The famous argument between the head of Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet chief on whether the terror "barrel" has a bottom would do well to sink into bottomless oblivion, because even as a metaphor its value is limited. What are professionals, whose job it is to formulate dry evaluations, doing with vague, Oracle of Delphi-style statements? However, the argument about the barrel and its bottom is important not because of what is said, but because of what is missing. The debaters did not bother to deal with the barrel''s contents at all - in other words, they did not define what is meant by the term "terror." They apparently assumed that nobody needs a definition, and relied on 47 months of intifada to fixate in Israelis'' minds the concept that terror is any Palestinian activity aimed against the Israeli rule in the occupied territories. This general definition, which no doubt entrenched itself in the wake of acts of murder and terror against innocent people, is accepted by the overwhelming majority. A small minority, which distinguishes between terror and legitimate resistance to the occupation, does not dare open its mouth lest it immediately be accused of justifying the Palestinian murders and be crucified in the city square....
‘Jewish’ Foundation Through Palestinian Obliteration
Miftah 8/11/2004
Three historic buildings in the Old City of Hebron had to make way for a walkway on Monday. The demolition of the three buildings, which date back to the Mamluk period and comprise eleven housing units, was ordered by the Israeli military, which also confiscated a 700-meter plot belonging to the Islamic Awkaf (trust) just east of the Ibrahimi Mosque. The planned walkway will be exclusively for settler use, and is meant to provide the settlers with a more direct and convenient connection from the settlement of Kiryat Arba’ (located on the outskirts of Hebron’s Old City) to the Ibrahimi Mosque. Large parts of the Old City have also been seized by the Israeli military over the years and turned into ''colonies'' accessible exclusively to settlers. Entire market areas in the commercial district have been sealed off by the military as well, all under the usual security pretext, thus effectively destroying the livelihoods of most of the shop-owners in the area.
Labor''s acquiescence
By Amira Hass, Ha''aretz 8/11/2004
The Labor Party is negotiating with the Likud on joining the coalition, backed by the support of many Israelis for the disengagement plan. Supporters explain their backing for Labor''s joining the coalition by saying it is an "important precedent" to evacuate settlements, and it means the "creation of a dynamic" for the evacuation of other settlements in the West Bank, especially in light of the widely publicized fact that for Sharon, it''s "Gaza and Jenin first, Gaza and Jenin last." The question of Labor''s joining the coalition is a matter between its voters and its elected representatives. Let Labor''s voters test the extent of the commitment to peace behind the desire to join the government. On the other hand, the promise of a positive dynamic are of interest to all Israelis who still hope for a peaceful solution to the Palestinian conflict, based on the establishment of a real Palestinian state, not a "state" in name only, which is no more than a cluster of disjointed enclaves. While the media waves are foaming around the coalition talks, on the ground the dynamic of proud Zionist construction goes on, as Israeli bulldozers work tirelessly throughout the West Bank: opposite the village of Hizmeh, south of Pisgat Ze''ev, in the settlement of Betar, at the Za''atra (Tapuah) junction south of Nablus, on the hills west of the settlement of Givat Ze''ev, on the Uzon road and in the northern Jordan Valley near the village of Bardala.
Writing on the wall
By Shlomo Gazit, Maariv 8/11/2004
Threats from Iran and Jewish extremists require dialogue to resolve the conflict. -- "And this is the writing that was inscribed: mene mene, tekel upharsin”. This verse from the Book of Daniel (5:25) is the source of the expression “the writing on the wall”. It is a metaphorical expression that refers to facts that are visible for all to see but nevertheless ignored together with the necessary conclusions drawn from them. In recent days, three inscriptions have been “written on the wall”. Each of them alone should worry us. The combination of the three, at the same time, should sound a powerful alarm. The first inscription is the intelligence estimate that Iran has vigorously restarted its program to develop atomic weapons and that it might produce its first bomb within two or three years. The message that this inscription mandates should be clear: neither Israel nor anyone else has the ability or willingness to prevent a balance of nuclear threats in the region.
No way to leave the territories
By Sefi Rachlevsky, Ha''aretz 8/9/2004
The religious-right world in Israel is having no trouble dedicating itself to the delegitimization of a government that is attempting to leave parts of Eretz Israel. They live according to the teachings of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook (the son of Israel''s first chief rabbi, Avraham Kook), who ruled that no government, whether Jewish or foreign, has the authority to evacuate parts of the country. However, we can make the process of delegitimization easier or more difficult. It is not for nothing that after the clear victory of Labor Prime Minister Ehud Barak in the 1999 elections, the religious right did not dare to use the word "traitor" (which they had used in connection with the assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin). The widespread feeling was that the public had chosen. It is no coincidence that even the intentions at the time of dividing Jerusalem did not arouse a storm of opposition. The government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, on the other hand, is doing everything possible in order to make the process of delegitimization easier.
A People Behind Walls
By Christine Lane, Dissident Voice 8/9/2004
“The Wall imposes immense and unnecessary suffering on the Palestinian people.” -- World Court (ICJ), The Hague. The road carves out its path like a long silver snake, slithering through virgin mountainsides, turning olive groves into concrete slabs It’s guarded by armed border police squatting on rocky outposts, positioned every 25 meters along the route. Bulldozers roar, churning up savage clouds of red dust, while earthmovers delve into volcanic like ditches that herald the beginning of a 25ft high razor fence. A young donkey with a foal in tow hesitates before the ditch unable to proceed further and obviously confused its familiar journey no longer possible. There is no path for man or beast. Large tracts of fertile land stand marooned, and forcibly abandoned, their owners denied access. Patches of old tattered green canvas once a carpet for the olives lie scattered here and there, together with remnants of perhaps what was once the scene of a picnic celebration. Olives trees harvested for centuries, their upturned roots now bared to the sky, plants and herbs long used in traditional Palestinian cuisine wither in the dry grass. Aside from the presence of Israeli police and Palestinian labourers there is not a villager in sight This is the scene of the early construction of a small section of Israel’s “Separation Wall” encircling the beautiful old northern Palestinian village of Qafin, near Tulkarem. Like hundreds of other villagers, the residents of Qafin are devastated as they helplessly witness the confiscation of their lands and destruction of the olive groves. But it is a scene now repeated in one form or another throughout Palestinian towns and villages. No area is unaffected and some are more greatly affected than others.
The Forbidden Road Regime in the West Bank - An Apartheid Practice
B''tselem 8/9/2004
The Forbidden Roads: The Discriminatory West Bank Road Regime. In its new report, B''Tselem finds that: Israel restricts Palestinian travel on forty-one roads and sections of roads throughout the West Bank, totaling more than 700 kilometers of roadway (the report includes a detailed map of the Forbidden Roads Regime). B''Tselem has divided the Forbidden Roads Regime into three categories of roads: "sterile roads" where Palestinian traffic is completely prohibited, roads where Palestinians require special permits, and roads with restricted access. The regime applies only to Palestinians. Israeli vehicles are allowed to travel freely along these roadways. Permits for Palestinians to travel on restricted roads are issued at the sole discretion of the Israeli security establishment. Rejections are given verbally and without explanation. According to the head of the Civil Administration, Brig. Gen. Ilan Paz, "There are no definitive clear criteria for examining requests for a permit."....
Dangerous Illusion: Why Israel''s Barrier Will Fail to Provide Security
By Steve Niva, Electronic Intifada 8/6/2004
The case for Israel''s wall and fence barrier rests an endlessly repeated and passionately defended premise: only such a barrier can provide Israel security from the waves of Palestinian suicide bombers who have brutally maimed and killed hundreds of Israeli civilians in buses and café''s over the past four years. Given the devastating impact of Palestinian suicide attacks on Israeli society, it''s not hard to see why many have embraced the barrier as a remedy to stop the carnage. Unfortunately, in this case the proposed cure may actually be worse than the malady itself. The security benefits touted by defenders of Israel''s barrier are illusory at best. Those who profess concern for Israeli security are dangerously mistaken if they believe that building a combination of concrete walls and electrified fences around Palestinians in the West Bank will end suicide bombings and enhance Israel''s overall security. Not only will it fail in the short term, as history has shown it will likely lead to even more daring and devastating forms of violence, not less.
Past Zionist-Jewish Terrorism - Some Historical Facts...
By A Concerned American, Rense.com 3/23/2002
Following are just a few of the many massacres committed by Jewish-Zionist terrorists, notably by the Zionist Hagana, Irgun and Stern Gang groups. Don''t expect any Hollywood films highlighting any of these massacres: 1. King David Hotel, July 22, 1946. 2. Sharafat, Feb. 7, 1951. 3. Deir Yassin, April 10, 1948. 4. Falameh, April 2, 1951. 5. Naseruddine, April 14, 1948. 6. Quibya, Oct. 14, 1953. 7. Carmel, April 20, 1948. 8. Nahalin, March, 28, 1954. 9. Al-Qabu, May 1, 1948. 10. Gaza, Feb. 28, 1955. 11. Beit Kiras, May 3, 1948. 12. Khan Yunis, May 31, 1955. 13. Beitkhoury, May 5, 1948. 14. Khan Yunis Again, Aug. 31, 1955 15. Az-Zaytoun, May 6, 1948. 16. Tiberia, Dec. 11, 1955. 17. Wadi Araba, May 13, 1950. 18. As-Sabha, Nov. 2, 1955. 19. Gaza Again, April 5, 1956. 20. Houssan, Sept. 25, 1956. 21. Rafa, Aug. 16, 1956. 22. Qalqilyah, Oct. 10, 1956. 23. Ar-Rahwa, Sept. 12, 1956. 24. Kahr Kassem, Oct. 29, 1956. 25. Gharandal, Sept. 13, 1956. 26. Gaza Strip, Nov. 1956. 26. Gaza Strip, Nov. 1956.
A catalogue of violations
By Aziz Jabr Shayal, Al-Ahram Weekly on-line 8/5/2004
Systematic humiliation of Iraqis under occupation: If Abu Ghraib has had its share of media attention, the same cannot be said of other prisons in which conditions, if anything, are worse. In the prison at Baghdad airport interns are routinely deprived of the right to bathe for more than two weeks running. In Qasr Al-Sajud I was suspended from the bars of my cell for having prayed out loud. --- Human rights violations in Iraq are a prime example of the magnitude of the injustice dual standards have inflicted on the Iraqi people. The history of modern Iraq, from its establishment following World War II to the present day, is the story of a human catastrophe in which structural and functional imbalances have invariably bred deviant human rights behaviour among the rulers, and not infrequently among the ruled. This article will attempt to shed some light on the forms of human rights abuses unde |
