Durban II: no-show is slap in face of victims of apartheid

Arjan El Fassed, The Electronic Intifada, 17 March 2009

Israel has been convincing its allies to boycott the upcoming anti-racism conference, which in the past has criticized Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages)

More and more Western countries are either announcing their boycott or are threatening to boycott Durban II, a United Nations conference scheduled for April to review progress made since the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) held in Durban, South Africa in 2001, nicknamed Durban I. Earlier this month, Italy became the first EU member to withdraw from the event, stating that it could not endorse a draft agenda that criticizes Israel. Italy followed in the footsteps of Israel, Canada and the United States. France and the Netherlands are threatening their own boycotts. Maxime Verhagen, the Dutch foreign minister, recently explained that "The Netherlands will not be party to a propaganda circus." In December 2008, Verhagen claimed that the 2001 summit was an "anti-Semitic witch-hunt."

Perhaps in September 2001, the world was not yet ready to accept the notion that Israel is in fact practicing apartheid. But ever more observers are coming to precisely that conclusion. The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman warned four years ago that "if Israel does not relinquish the West Bank and Gaza, the Palestinians will soon outnumber the Jews and Israel will become either an apartheid state or a non-Jewish state."

Four years later, Friedman wrote, "Well, having taken a little drive through part of the West Bank, as I always do when I visit, it strikes me more than ever that it's not only five after midnight, it's five after midnight and a whole week later."

The Israeli organization Peace Now stated early in March that Israel's housing ministry has plans that would nearly double the number of settlers in the West Bank, rendering a two-state solution impossible. Israel has planned 73,000 new housing units in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli group stated, of which 15,000 have already received approval. Moreover, Israel's prime minister designate Benjamin Netanyahu announced that a government he leads will expand settlements.

Israel worked hard to influence its allies to stay away from the forthcoming review conference. However, this is not the first time that it has done so. The first two conferences of 1978 and 1983 took strong positions against apartheid and are credited by observers as having contributed greatly to end apartheid in South Africa. In 1978 the US led a boycott of the WCAR and was followed by a number of European countries, because the document of that conference, which referred to apartheid-era South Africa, also included a condemnation of Israel's systematic violations of Palestinian rights. In 1983, the WCAR declared that "apartheid as an institutionalized form of racism is a deliberate and totally abhorrent affront to the conscience and dignity of mankind, a crime against humanity and a threat to international peace and security." In September 2001, the US and Israel walked out of Durban I. In that year, preceding the UN conference, the African National Congress (ANC) stated that having defeated apartheid, South Africans had a direct stake in the eradication of apartheid practices on a global scale and particularly in relation to the plight of the Palestinian people.

Since Durban I, an increasing number of respected observers have borne witness to the reality of Palestinian life under occupation. Most prominently this includes Nobel Peace laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former US President Jimmy Carter as well as veterans of the ANC anti-Apartheid struggle.

Even Israel's outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert admitted to the truth of the apartheid analogy, albeit without endorsing it, when he warned in November 2007 that Palestinians, already equal in number to Israeli Jews within the borders of historic Palestine, could soon demand political rights in a single state. Olmert warned that Israel would "face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights, and as soon as that happens, the state of Israel is finished." More recently, Avigdor Lieberman, leader of Yisrael Beitenu, proposed that hundreds of thousand Palestinians in towns in northern Israel be stripped of their Israeli citizenship and transferred to a future Palestinian entity.

Last year, UN General Assembly President, Ambassador Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua, stated that "although different, what is being done against the Palestinian people seems to me like a version of the hideous policy of apartheid. That cannot, should not, be allowed to continue."

It may take time for these hard truths to be fully absorbed but ever more individuals who make an effort to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and look for creative solutions are convinced that the occupation must end and that peoples need to live in freedom and be respected on the basis of full equality no matter where they live.

Arjan El Fassed is co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and the author of Niet iedereen kan stenen gooien (Uitgeverij Nieuwland, 2008). In 2001 he was part of the Palestinian non-governmental delegation to the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa.

Broad nonviolent resistance to Zionism

Ahmad Hijazi, The Electronic Intifada, 18 March 2009

An artist in Gaza paints a mural depicting the Nakba in 1948 and the ongoing war on Palestine. (Hatem Omar/MaanImages)

Amid the escalating violence, and the 60-year-long status quo, there are certain fundamental questions that need to be asked.

Are there certain values and absolute foundations that make resistance in general, and against Zionism specifically, a moral and humane necessity? What is the framework for nonviolent resistance, and how is it connected to these values? What is the ultimate end goal of the struggle? Is it returning the land and some rights to the indigenous Palestinian population, or can it lead to "solutions" that include acceptance of Zionism or even its right to exist?

Millions of persons hope for a chance to participate in this noble struggle, yet can't find the medium in which they can contribute. This is where there is an important role for a group of "movers" to create the vehicles for individual and collective contributions within the above framework and mobilizing the hitherto wasted support to achieve measurable results.

The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions defines Zionism as: "a global, political, ideological movement that aims to return the land of 'Israel' to the Jewish people," but this definition, besides its racist flavor (as it doesn't mention or consider an entire people who were inhabiting that land), doesn't tell the complete story. It might be important to mention that UN Resolution 3379 of 10 November 1975, after a prolonged discussion of the mechanisms of racist regimes, their alliances and human rights violations, decided that Zionism was equivalent to racism (the General Assembly revoked this decision by resolution 84/86 in 1991 after the advance of "peace negotiations").

To properly understand Zionism we cannot rely only on how it defines itself or how the dictionary defines it, as indicative as those might be. We must also look at the behaviors and practices that have characterized Zionism from the beginning of the movement and that were given intellectual and ideological rationales, fundamentally related to the materialization of Zionism through a state.

Zionism could not have effected its program without the ethnic cleansing of the people that inhabited what it called Greater Israel. Forced displacement, terrorism, murder and devaluation of the most basic human rights were justified because of the complete belief in the right of the Jewish "race" which consequently becomes racially "supreme" because Zionism claims that this "race" possesses an undeniable and superior "right" in this land.

The existence of Zionism, and its continuation as it is, constitutes a legitimization of all the previously mentioned crimes, co-existence with the logic of power, and the acceptance of the practical if not openly acknowledged racial inferiority of the Palestinian (read "Arab") people.

The right to resist derives from the values of justice, equality and freedom, but in the case of the Arab people it specifically gains the added value of being an existential struggle and a fight against the supremacist vision of the inferiority of the Arab people, and a refusal of the ideology of the oppressing power. Thus it is in no way merely a nationalistic, Arab or Islamic idea and its end goal can never be fighting the Jewish people or even uprooting Israel.

The clear goal of resistance should be defeating the Zionist ideology. This is an existential fight and one should never fear clearly stating a complete refusal of this ideology and its result (which in no way is an uncivil or a non-life-loving expression). Peace negotiations achieved nothing regarding this central dimension of the struggle, although removing Zionism as an ideology and practice is vital for peace in the Middle East.

The rocket and the gun -- as significant as their role may be -- cannot have the decisive word in the realm of the cultural, intellectual and humanistic battle. We need to understand the role of holistic resistance that the Arab people now more than ever have the ability and interest in deploying to place a siege around Zionism and racism. This resistance is very closely connected to values, culture and history.

In the age of globalization, the Internet and social media, the importance of centralized efforts is diminished as compared with decentralized, self-driven networks. More than ever, nonviolent resistance can harness the work of individuals contributing to a worldwide effort that has several aspects:

The knowledge dimension (cultural/educational/learning): This dimension is the most connected to the motives for resistance and is the logical input into the other dimensions. Understanding the motives and reasons behind the struggle and understanding the adversary and its methods, contributes to building the relationship between the values of justice and humanity on the one hand and the actions of resistance on the other. This dimension answers the "why" and increases the sense of moral and humane responsibility. Resistance must include learning curricula about the values being defended, and the educational and cultural work has to attack Zionism through arts and literature and the other cultural contributions. This is an important role of parents, researchers, writers and the elites in general.

Media and public relations: This dimension has internal and external aspects. The internal is directed to Arab audiences, educating them about the struggle, its goals, methods and cultural importance which it should be emphasized are humanistic and not nationalist or religious.

The external effort is directed to global public opinion which has a central role in the cultural struggle. Zionism realized this from the start and developed its strategy of hasbara (propaganda) and became a model to be studied in polishing the reputation of Israel and pressuring different groups and organizations. There are so many Israeli websites that aim to "educate" volunteers on how to refute accusations against Zionism, on creating pressure groups and organizing networks and public relations campaigns through tapping the huge potential of networks ready to provide support. We need to develop this dimension to empower the many people who believe in the cause but lack the means get the chance to express themselves.

The political-social dimensions: And here I don't mean politics in its direct relation with the military struggle, but rather as the translation of the wishes of the people. It should reflect the people's hopes of a dignified life and culture, and advancement towards good living that supports the belief in the values of justice. Civil society should, as a unit, communicate the values of resistance, justice and equality.

The economic and financial dimension: This is a very important weapon that we have until now failed to utilize. The least we can do is not buy the products of companies that are committed to the prosperity and development of the Israeli economy. I am not calling for a mass-scale boycott here, but rather surgical boycott of certain companies that really have a black history of unlimited and unjustified support to Israel, after communicating with them clearly about the reasons and the intent to boycott their products. There is already a global and growing boycott, divestment and sanctions movement that provides a framework to build on and support.

The judicial dimension: To try all Israeli and other individuals (and the state) for their responsibility for all the crimes (massacres, assassinations, displacement, theft, piracy, murders, rape, kidnapping and more) and flooding the international courts of law and civil rights groups with cases addressing Israeli crimes on all levels. There is a secondary role to this activity which is to direct the world's attention to the gravity of the various crimes. This should include all institutions that and individuals (even those deceased) who have actively contributed to supporting Zionism so they are recognized for what they are: criminals. There seems to be a need here for a central body that can coordinate the efforts of many research and legal groups.

All the above-mentioned aspects of nonviolent resistance are at the heart of a dignified, prosperous and humane life. The belief in and practice of these values can never be negative or destructive, but is a positive, value-affirming activity.

All efforts need to be directed to the origin of the problem in order to solve it, and the origin here is very clear: Zionism. As for occupation, that is just a symptom.

Ahmad Hijazi is Lebanese writer and researcher on the Arab-Israeli struggle and the effects of media and international opinion on shaping it. His blog is nth-word.blogspot.com.

Did Clinton sabotage a Palestinian reconciliation?

Hasan Abu Nimah and Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 4 March 2009

Hillary Clinton speaks at a press conference at the International Conference in support of the Palestinian Economy and Reconstruction of Gaza, 2 March 2009. (Victoria Hazou/Sipa Press)
Still reeling from the Israeli massacres in the occupied Gaza Strip, Palestinians have lately had little to celebrate. So the strong start to intra-Palestinian reconciliation talks in Cairo last week provided a glimmer of hope.

An end to the schism between the resistance and the elected but internationally-boycotted Hamas government on the one hand, and the Western-backed Fatah faction on the other, seemed within reach. But the good feeling came to a sudden end after what looked like a coordinated assault by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, European Union High Representative Javier Solana, and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas whose term as president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) expired on 9 January.

On Friday 27 February, the leaders of 13 Palestinian factions, principal among them Hamas and Fatah, announced they had set out a framework for reconciliation. In talks chaired by Egypt's powerful intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, the Palestinians established committees to discuss forming a "national unity government," reforming the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to include all factions, legislative and presidential elections, reorganizing security forces on a nonpolitical basis, and a steering group comprised of all faction leaders. Amid a jubilant mood, the talks were adjourned until 10 March.

Then the blows began to strike the fragile Palestinian body politic. The first came from Clinton just before she boarded her plane to attend a summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh ostensibly about pledging billions in aid to rebuild Gaza.

Clinton was asked by Voice of America (VOA) whether she was encouraged by the Cairo unity talks. She responded that in any reconciliation or "move toward a unified [Palestinian] Authority," Hamas must be bound by "the conditions that have been set forth by the Quartet," the self-appointed group comprising representatives of the US, EU, UN and Russia. These conditions, Clinton stated, require that Hamas "must renounce violence, recognize Israel, and abide by previous commitments." Otherwise, the secretary warned, "I don't think it will result in the kind of positive step forward either for the Palestinian people or as a vehicle for a reinvigorated effort to obtain peace that leads to a Palestinian state."

The next strikes came from Ramallah. With the EU's top diplomat Solana standing next to him, Abbas insisted that any national unity government would have to adhere to the "two-state vision" and abide by "international conditions and signed agreements." He then demanded that Gaza reconstruction aid be channeled exclusively through the Western-backed, but financially bankrupt and politically depleted PA. Solana affirmed, "I would like to insist in agreement with [Abbas] that the mechanism used to deploy the money is the one that represents the Palestinian Authority." Solana fully endorsed the campaign waged by Abbas ever since the destruction of Gaza that the PA, plagued by endemic corruption, and which only pays salaries of workers deemed politically loyal, be in sole charge of the funds, rather than neutral international organizations as Hamas and others have suggested.

Was the Sharm al-Sheikh summit then really about helping the people of Gaza or was it about exploiting their suffering to continue the long war against Hamas by other means? Indeed, Clinton had already confirmed the politicization of reconstruction aid when she told VOA, "We want to strengthen a Palestinian partner willing to accept the conditions outlined by the Quartet," and, "our aid dollars will flow based on these principles."

Hamas warned that Clinton's and Abbas's statements set Palestinian reconciliation efforts back to square one. "Hamas will not recognize Israel or the Quartet's conditions," said one spokesman Ismail Radwan, while another, Ayman Taha, said Hamas would "reject any preconditions in the formation of the unity government." Khaled Meshal, head of the movement's political bureau, insisted that the basis for national unity must remain "protecting the resistance and the rights of the Palestinian people."

Such statements will of course be used to paint Hamas as extremist, intransigent and anti-peace. After all, what could be more reasonable than demanding that any party involved in a peace process commit itself to renouncing violence, recognizing its enemy, and abiding by pre-existing agreements? The problem is that the Quartet conditions are designed to eliminate the Palestinians' few bargaining chips and render them defenseless before continuous Israeli occupation, colonization, blockade and armed attacks.

None of the Western diplomats imposing conditions on Hamas have demanded that Israel renounce its aggressive violence. Indeed, as Amnesty International reported on 20 February, the weapons Israel used to kill, wound and incinerate 7,000 persons in Gaza, half of them women and children, were largely supplied by Western countries, mainly the US. In a vivid illustration, Amnesty reported that its field researchers "found fragments and components from munitions used by the Israeli army -- including many that are US-made -- littering school playgrounds, in hospitals and in people's homes."

For Palestinians to "renounce violence" under these conditions is to renounce the right to self-defense, something no occupied people can do. Palestinians will certainly note that while Abbas stands impotently by, neither the US nor the EU have rushed to the defense of the peaceful, unarmed Palestinians shot at daily by Israeli occupation forces as they try to protect their land from seizure in the West Bank. Nor has Abbas' renunciation of resistance helped the 1,500 residents in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan whose homes Israeli occupation authorities recently confirmed their intention to demolish in order to make way for a Jewish-themed park. A cessation of violence must be mutual, total and reciprocal -- something Hamas has repeatedly offered and Israel has stubbornly rejected.

While Israeli violence is tolerated or applauded, Israel's leaders are not held to any political preconditions. Prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu emphatically rejects a sovereign Palestinian state and -- like his predecessors -- rejects all other Palestinian rights enshrined in international law and UN resolutions. When told to stop building illegal settlements on occupied land, Israel responds simply that this is a matter for negotiation and to prove the point it revealed plans in February to add thousands of Jewish-only homes to its West Bank colonies.

Yet Quartet envoy Tony Blair, asked by Al-Jazeera International on 1 March how his masters would deal with a rejectionist Israeli government, said, "We have to work with whoever the Israeli people elect, let's test it out not just assume it won't work." Unless Palestinians are considered an inferior race, the same logic ought to apply to their elected leaders, but they were never given a chance.

It is ludicrous to demand that the stateless Palestinian people unconditionally recognize the legitimacy of the entity that dispossessed them and occupies them, that itself has no declared borders and that continues to violently expand its territory at their expense. If Palestinians are ever to recognize Israel in any form, that can only be an outcome of negotiations in which Palestinian rights are fully recognized, not a precondition for them.

During last year's US election campaign, Clinton claimed she helped bring peace to Northern Ireland during her husband's administration. Yet the conditions she now imposes on Hamas are exactly like those that the British long imposed on the Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, thereby blocking peace negotiations. President Bill Clinton -- against strenuous British objections -- helped overturn these obstacles by among other things granting a US visa to Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, whose party the British once demonized as Israel now demonizes Hamas. Like Tony Blair, who as British prime minister first authorized public talks with Sinn Fein, Hillary Clinton knows that the negotiations in Ireland could not have succeeded if any party had been forced to submit to the political preconditions of its adversaries.

Former British and Irish peace negotiators including Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume, and former Israeli foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami made similar points in a 26 February letter they co-signed in The Times of London. "Whether we like it or not," the letter states, "Hamas will not go away. Since its victory in democratic elections in 2006, Hamas has sustained its support in Palestinian society despite attempts to destroy it through economic blockades, political boycotts and military incursions." The signatories called for engagement with the movement, affirming that "The Quartet conditions imposed on Hamas set an unworkable threshold from which to commence negotiations."

Those who claim to be peacemakers should heed this advice. They should allow Palestinians to form a national consensus without external interference and blackmail. They should respect democratic mandates. They should stop imposing grossly unfair conditions on the weaker side while cowering in fear of offending the strong, and they should stop the cynical exploitation of humanitarian aid for political manipulation and subversion.

There are many in the region who were encouraged by US President Barack Obama's appointment of former Northern Ireland mediator Senator George Mitchell as Middle East envoy. But in all other respects the new president has continued the Bush administration's disastrous policies. It is not too late to change course, for persisting in these errors will guarantee only more failure and bloodshed.

Hasan Abu Nimah is the former permanent representative of Jordan at the United Nations.

Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah is author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse (Metropolitan Books, 2006).

desmantelación de lo que se reconoce internacionalmente como “el estado de Israel”

A: Naciones Unidas, Unión Europea, Liga Árabe, Congreso de los Estados Unidos, Presidente de los Estados Unidos
En el nombre de DiosEl Soberano de todos los seres humanos Los autores de este documento son un grupo de jóvenes, que no pertenecen a ningún partido o afiliación política, ni tienen ningún perfil étnico, racista o religioso. Somos promotores de la humanidad y los derechos humanos para vivir con dignidad y paz independientemente de la religión, color, raza, creencia política, étnia y nacionalidad. Anunciamos nuestro completo respeto a todos los principios y doctrinas y nuestro apoyo a la rectitud y la justicia contra la opresión, represión, asesinato, usurpación de derechos y distorsión de los hechos. Como promotores de los derechos humanos y los valores, creemos en la desmantelación de lo que se reconoce internacionalmente como “el estado de Israel”. Este documento establece nuestra dialéctica legítima y humanitaria: Primero: Israel no es un estado de acuerdo a la definición internacional: Definición de estado: “Un estado es una asociación política con soberanía efectiva sobre un área geográfica y que representa a una población.” En referencia a la anterior definición, podemos afirmar que: - Israel no es una asociación política; se trata de una asociación étnico-religiosa y racista. - Israel no es un estado soberano, depende completamente de la política de los Estados Unidos, y su apoyo económico y militar lo convierten en una colonia americana, en lugar de un estado soberano.
Las consecutivas administraciones de Estados Unidos establecen incansablemente su compromiso con la seguridad de Israel. De acuerdo a las normas internacionales, cada estado se compromete, simplemente, a su propia seguridad y ningún estado de la tierra se compromete con la seguridad de otro estado, excepto los Estados Unidos de América, que se comprometen con la seguridad de Israel. Sería más exacto y formal que Israel se reconociese como una colonia americana. Segundo: Israel es una entidad internacional fuera de la ley y debe ser procesada: Aunque Israel es hijo de Naciones Unidas, su nacimiento sólo tuvo lugar tras el asesinato de Folke Bernadotte, conde de Weisberg, por parte de grupos terroristas sionistas, debido a que adquirió pruebas legales que impedían la fundación del estado de Israel, y desde su comienzo fue una entidad perversa que nunca se ajustó a las leyes internacionales o a las resoluciones del Consejo de Seguridad, contando siempre con el veto de Estados Unidos. 1- Israel se fundó sobre los hombros de grupos terroristas procesados por el bombardeo de civiles en hoteles, cines y mercados: Lehi, Stern, grupo Revisionist Zionist, Irgun y Haganah. 2- Israel violó 35 resoluciones del Consejo de Seguridad y no fue procesado debido al veto de los Estados Unidos. 3- Israel mantiene la ocupación, ataca deliberadamente a civiles, reporteros y médicos e impide la llegada de ayuda a los heridos. 4- Israel no firmó el Tratado de No-Proliferación Nuclear. Israel desarrolla armas de destrucción masiva, armas nucleares y ataca deliberadamente a la población civil con armas prohibidas. 5- Israel viola los derechos políticos y civiles de sus propios ciudadanos a pesar de que claman que son una democracia. Israel prohibió la creación de un número de partidos políticos israelíes en las últimas elecciones sólo porque los miembros de esos partidos eran arabe-israelíes. Este decreto se estableció para tomar medidas de discriminación y racismo, que están contra la ley internacional y nos recuerdan el antiguo estado racista de Sudáfrica. Los oficiales israelíes anuncian abiertamente que ellos creen en la “purga” del “Estado Judío” de los ciudadanos no judíos. Tzipi Livni dijo francamente que en caso de fundarse el estado Palestino, todos los israelíes de origen árabe tendrían que dejar Israel e instalarse en el estado Palestino para “purificar” Israel. Tercero: El sionismo contradice artículos de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos, la Convención Internacional sobre Derechos Civiles y Políticos y la Convención Internacional sobre Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales: 1- Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos: Artículos infringidos por Israel: Artículo 1. Todos los seres humanos nacen libres e iguales en dignidad y derechos. Están dotados de razón y conciencia y deberían actuar hacia los demás con espíritu de hermandad. Artículo 2. Todo el mundo tiene derecho a todos los derechos y libertades expuestos en esta Declaración, sin distinción de ninguna clase, como raza, color, sexo, lengua, religión, opinión política o de cualquier otro tipo, origen nacional o social, propiedad, nacimiento o cualquier otro estado. Además, no se realizará distinción alguna según la situación política, jurisdiccional o internacional del país o el territorio al que pertenezca, ya sea independiente, asociado, sin autogobierno o bajo cualquier otra limitación de soberanía. - El sionismo se basa principalmente en la discriminación; Su raiz es la idea del “pueblo elegido”. Mediante una mala interpretación de la Sagrada Torah, explica la discriminación que practica Israel contra los palestinos y los ciudadanos árabe-israelíes expresada mediante la ocupación, el bloqueo, los objetivos civiles, la confiscación de tierras, la construcción de muros de separación racial y la privación de derechos políticos, sociales y económicos. Todas estas atrocidades se dirigen a los árabes debido a su etnia y su religión. N.B.: Esas violaciones son totalmente condenadas por los judíos ortodoxos y como seres humanos creemos que el sionismo e Israel son los más anti-semitas del mundo porque difaman el Judaísmo, distorsionan la imagen de los judíos y monopolizan su pensamiento haciendo ver que lo que ellos piensan es la correcta interpretación del Judaísmo, lo cual está completamente rechazado por los judíos anti-sionistas. Artículo 3. Todo el mundo tiene derecho a la vida, a la libertad y la seguridad personal. - Desde el momento en que se fundó Israel, se basó principalmente en la privación a las personas de sus derechos a la vida, la libertad y la seguridad. Comenzó con la masacre de Deir Yassin, que fue ejecutada por grupos terroristas sionistas. Esta masacre fue la semilla del estado sionista. Justo tras la fundación de Israel, muchas masacres contra civiles tuvieron lugar y no hay espacio aquí para mencionarlos todos, por lo que se mencionaran sólo algunos de ellos: masacre de al-Dawayma (1948), masacre de Kafr Kassem (1965) y la última masacre que tuvo lugar en Gaza (2008/2009). Los oficiales de Israel expusieron con frecuencia que atacan deliberadamente objetivos civiles para presionar a los grupos que se les resisten. - Israel bombardeó a residentes de Naciones Unidas en multitud de ocasiones en Líbano y Palestina. - Israel ha atacado civiles y residentes de Naciones Unidas con armas prohibidas internacionalmente. - Israel rechazó recibir ayuda de Naciones Unidas tras la masacre de Jenin (2002). Artículo 5. Nadie estará sujeto a tortura o a tratamiento o castigo cruel, inhumano o degradante. - Israel practica insistentemente la tortura y el tratamiento degradante sobre prisioneros palestinos, civiles detenidos en controles, niños de camino a los colegios y civiles habitantes de los territorios ocupados. - Los soldados israelíes abofetean a civiles y niños detenidos en controles, les vendan los ojos y utilizan a los niños como escudos humanos para protegerse a sí mismos de las piedras lanzadas por otros niños. - No hace falta mencionar la incursión diaria de los soldados israelíes en las casas palestinas apuntando con sus rifles a mujeres y niños para aterrorizarles.
Artículo 9. Nadie estará sujeto a arresto, detención o exilio arbitrarios. - Israel desde su nacimiento expulsó palestinos de sus tierras, demolió sus casas y ahora están viviendo como refugiados en diferentes países. - Israel niega el derecho de los refugiados palestinos a volver a su tierra. - Israel está encarcelando miles de palestinos, muchos de los cuales son mujeres y niños. - Los periodistas han declarado que durante la última agresión sobre Gaza (2008/2009) Israel arrestó más de mil palestinos de más de 16 años y los colocó en lugares peligrosos para utilizarlos como escudos humanos. - Durante la guerra de Gaza (2008/2009) el ejército israelí arrestó civiles heridos y los dejó sangrando, deliberadamente, impidiendo que llegasen a ellos los equipos médicos. - Testigos afirmaron que durante la guerra referida, el ejército israelí utilizó civiles heridos como escudos humanos colocándolos en agujeros cavados justo fren a los tanques, poniendo en peligro sus vidas mediante su ubicación en la línea de fuego. - Testigos indicaron que los soldados israelíes utilizaron un gran número de familias como escudos humanos cuando forzaban la entrada de hogares en Gaza. - El ejército israelí utilizó casas de Gaza como puntos de observación militar y bases militares capturando a las familias de esas casas y utilizándolos como escudos humanos. - Hasta ahora, hay más de 200 ciudadanos bajo custodia del ejército israelí, algunos de los cuales han sido sometidos a investigación directa, tormento y extorsión. - El ejército israelí rechazó la cooperación con Cruz Roja, con las autoridades palestinas y con las organizaciones de derechos humanos que solicitaron a Israel que revelase el número y los nombres los arrestados. Tal rechazo de cooperación despierta una intensa aprensión en relación a la seguridad de los arrestados. Artículo 13. (1) Todo el mundo tiene derecho a la libertad de movimiento y residencia dentro de las fronteras de cada estado. (2) Todo el mundo tiene el derecho a abandonar cualquier país, incluyendo el suyo propio, y a volver a su país. - Israel priva a los palestinos de su derecho a la libertad de movimiento y residencia paralizándoles durante horas en los puntos de control, que pueden extenderse hasta veinte horas o más. - Israel impide a los refugiados el retorno a su tierra. - Israel restringe la residencia de un enorme número de palestinos y les impide dejar el país sin causa razonada. Artículo 14. (1) Todo el mundo tiene derecho a buscar y disfrutar asilo en otros países cuando son perseguidos. (2) Este derecho no debe ser invocado en casos de persecuciones derivadas de crímenes no políticos o de actos contrarios a los propósitos y principos de las Naciones Unidas. - Israel bombardea ciudades palestinas e impide a los civiles palestinos abandonar lugares peligrosos mediante el cierre de fronteras y el bloqueo. P.e.: Guerra de Gaza (2008/2009). Artículo 15. (1) Todo el mundo tiene derecho a una nacionalidad. (2) Nadie será privado arbitrariamente de su nacionalidad ni se le denegará el derecho a cambiar su nacionalidad. - Israel garantiza su nacionalidad a cualquier judío del mundo sobre una base racista, mientras que amenaza a algunos arabe-israelíes con una revocación de su nacionalidad, tan solo porque adoptan ciertos puntos de vista políticos con los que Israel no está de acuerdo. - Tras exiliar palestinos de su tierra, Israel rechaza garantizarles el derecho de retorno. - Israel impone la nacionalidad israelí a los habitantes del Golán y practica toda clase de intimidaciones sobre los que rechazan la nacionalidad israelí. Artículo 17. (1) Todo el mundo tiene derecho a la propiedad, sólo o en asociación con otros. (2) Nadie será privado arbitrariamente de su propiedad. - Israel confisca tierras palestinas, expulsa palestinos y les prohibe construir asentamientos sobre territorios ocupados. - Israel, durante décadas, ha arrancado y destruído decenas de miles de olivos, naranjos y viñas. Todos ellos han pertenecido a los palestinos desde hace siglos. - Israel construye un muro de separación sobre tierras palestinas confiscadas y divide los pueblos palestinos en barrios inviables. Artículo 21. X (1) Todo el mundo tiene derecho a formar parte del gobierno de su país, directamente o mediante la libre elección de representantes. X (2) Todo el mundo tiene derecho a acceder a los servicios públicos de su país. X (3) La voluntad de la gente será la base de la autoridad de gobierno; ésta voluntad será expresada mediante elecciones periódicas y legítimas que serán mediante sufragio universal e igualitario y se expresarán mediante voto secreto o mediante procedimiento de voto libre equivalente. Ya hemos señalado que Israel ha denegado a los partidos políticos arabe-israelíes la participación en las elecciones y el ejercicio de sus derechos democráticos debido a su raza. Israel ha rechazado, suprimido y menoscabado incluso la parcialidad de algunas de estas organizaciones contra las víctimas y a favor de los agresores. Nosotros colocamos esta responsabilidad ante todo el que crea en los derechos humanos, en su aumento y en su derecho a disfrutar de todos los estándares nobles de humanidad.
Sinceramente,
Sign The dismantling of Israel Document: Israel is an outlawed entity Petition

Nawara Negm
Joe Ghanem
Iman Badawi
Mohammad Shaltaf
Mohammad Qandiel


Translated by: Carlos Zaragoza

http://www.petitiononline.com/ttwpdisc/petition.html

Chris Hedges condemns Israeli Gaza Massacre

Chris Hedges, author, spoke at a Revolution Books Town Hall Meeting at Ethical Culture Society January 13, 2009 condemning Israel and US complicity in Israel's murderous destruction of Gaza

Thousands of Gazans remain homeless

Report, The Electronic Intifada, 18 February 2009

Azza Abed Rabu with her neice and four-year-old daughter, who sustained serious head wounds during the family's evacuation. She and her family are now living in a tent in the Abed Rabu area of Jabaliya. (Erica Silverman/IRIN)

GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) - Thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip remain homeless after their houses were badly damaged or destroyed during Israel's recent military offensive there.

The Israeli army began with aerial bombardments of the enclave on 27 December and added a ground assault from 3 January. Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire on 18 January while Hamas, the de facto ruling authority in the Strip, declared its own ceasefire later that day.

According to a 16 February report by Save the Children Alliance "at least 100,000 people, including 56,000 children, remain displaced with many continuing to take shelter in tents or crowding into remaining homes with other families, one month since the Gaza ceasefire was declared."

The non-governmental organization estimated that some 500,000 people, including 280,000 children, were forced from their homes at some point during the conflict and added that "tent cities" had sprung up where whole neighborhoods were destroyed. Many tent residents are without access to clean drinking water and toilets, it said.

The tents are small and offer no protection from the low temperatures at night, which can reach below 7-8 degrees Celsius, according to Save the Children UK's chief executive Jasmine Whitbread, speaking from Gaza on 16 February. She said that some camps of up to 40 families share one or two toilets between them, posing health risks.

Most of the tents have been provided by the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), UNICEF and other international and local aid organizations.

UNRWA said it had distributed emergency food parcels and non-food items, such as mattresses and blankets, to tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza who had been affected by the conflict. This was in addition to UNRWA's regular food distribution to 900,000 refugees in the Strip.

Tented communities

According to UNRWA, tented communities have been set up in densely populated areas that came under fire by Israeli tanks. These are the northern areas of Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya, the Zeitoun area in south Gaza City, Rafah on the southern border with Egypt and around Netzarim, a former Israeli settlement, where Israeli forces constructed a temporary military base during their operation.

Hundreds of tents stand in the Abed Rabu area of Jabaliya.

"Over the past two weeks we have distributed relief to 310 individuals who completely lost their homes and to 310 whose homes were damaged," said Fadi (he declined to give his family name), a volunteer with Islamic Foundation, a local NGO that supports Hamas, as he put emergency water and food supplies into packs in a tent.

The parcels contained soap, potatoes, flour, milk and a protein supplement provided by the Hamas government. The Red Crescent delivered the water supplies and UNRWA the blankets and mattresses, Fadi said.

"The Israeli troops bulldozed my home to enter the area with tanks," said Azza Abed Rabu, 27, while clutching her four-year-old daughter, who she said sustained serious head wounds during the family's evacuation. "We have narrow streets; they [Israeli forces] were searching for tunnels beneath the homes."

Thirty Abed Rabu family members are sheltering in two tents.

At least 4,000 homes were destroyed and about 17,000 badly damaged, according to a recent UN Gaza flash appeal, while 50,000 residents took shelter in UNRWA facilities during the height of the conflict and tens of thousands took refuge with family and friends.

A UNDP-led survey of damaged and destroyed housing throughout Gaza conducted immediately following the ceasefire found the greatest destruction in the two northern governorates of north Gaza, where 1,436 houses were completely destroyed, and Gaza governorate, where 752 houses were completely destroyed.

UNRWA estimates that an average of $4,000 will be needed to repair each housing unit.

As of 5 February, the Gaza health ministry said the Palestinian death toll from the three-week conflict had reached 1,440, including 431 children and 114 women. Some 5,380 were injured, including 1,872 children and 800 women, according to the ministry.

This item comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer to the copyright page for conditions of use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

ElBaradei: Ignoring Israel undermines NPT

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:11:59 GMT
The UN nuclear chief says a double-standard approach to Israel's nukes has undermined the non-proliferation regime.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Monday that Arab nations believe that Israel has undermined the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and this is a major obstacle to nuclear disarmament.

"What compounds the problem is that the nuclear non-proliferation regime has lost its legitimacy in the eyes of Arab public opinion because of the perceived double-standards concerning Israel, the only state in the region outside the NPT and known to possess nuclear weapons," he wrote in The Herald Tribune.

Israel is largely believed to posses the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East and has refused to sign the NPT or put its nuclear facilities under the UN supervision.

Former US president Jimmy Carter confirmed in May 2008 that Israel has 150 nuclear weapons in its arsenal.

ElBaradei's remarks come amid speculations that the new administration of Barack Obama intends to engage Iran in direct negotiations over the country's nuclear program.

The UN nuclear watchdog has been investigating the Iranian program but its findings are often ignored by the international community.

"The UN and related agencies must be given adequate authority and funding and put in the hands of leaders who have vision, courage and credibility," the UN official added.

ElBaradei also blamed the US and Israel's unilateral policies for encouraging other nations to develop nuclear arms.

"Above all, we need to halt the glaring breach of core principles of international law such as limitations on the unilateral use of force, proportionality in self-defense and the protection of civilians during hostilities in order to avoid a repeat of the civilian carnage in Iraq and, most recently, in Gaza."

Source

Baroness Tonge: "Israel stands accused of war crimes witnessed by the whole world"

Hamas maintained cease-fire June - November 2008

Former Israel foreign minister gets his facts wrong about Hamas rocket attacks and is stopped by the news presenter Emily Reuben with a "fact sheet" given by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and created by the Intelligence & Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center, (IICC), which is routinely cited on the Israeli government websites.

Philip Slater: A Message to Israel: Time to Stop Playing the Victim Role

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-slater/a-message-to-israel- time_b_155978.html

I can understand that after centuries of persecution it's satisfying for a Jewish state to be the aggressor for a change, but there's a codicil that goes with that role. You don't get to act like a victim any more. "Poor little Israel" just sounds silly when you're the dominant power in the Middle East. When you've invaded several of your neighbors, bombed and defeated them in combat, occupied their land, and taken their homes away from them, it's time to stop acting oppressed. Yes, Arab states deny your right to exist, threaten to drive you into the sea, and all the rest of their futile, helpless rhetoric. The fact is, you have the upper hand and they don't. You have sophisticated arms and they don't. You have nuclear weapons and they don't. So stop pretending to be pathetic. It doesn't play well in Peoria.

(Yes, I know, we Americans should talk--always trembling in our boots about terrorists and 'rogue states' and 'evil empires' when we have enough nukes to blow up entire continents, and spend more on arms in an hour than most of the world's nations spend in a year. But just because we're hypocrites and Nervous Nellies doesn't mean you have to be).

Calling Hamas the 'aggressor' is undignified. The Gaza strip is little more than a large Israeli concentration camp, in which Palestinians are attacked at will, starved of food, fuel, energy--even deprived of hospital supplies. They cannot come and go freely, and have to build tunnels to smuggle in the necessities of life. It would be difficult to have any respect for them if they didn't fire a few rockets back.

The Israel lobby has a hissy fit when anyone points out that Israel has been borrowing liberally from the Nazi playbook, but to punish a whole nation for the attacks of a few--which Israel has been doing consistently in Gaza--is a violation of international law--a law enacted in response to the Nazi practice. And please, spare us the hypocrisy--borrowed, I'm ashamed to admit, from my own government--of saying 'every effort is made to avoid civilian casualties'. When you drop bombs on a crowded city you're bombing civilians. Bombs don't ask for ID cards. Bombs are civilian killers. That's what they do. They're designed to break the spirit of a nation by slaughtering families. They were used all through World War II by all sides for that very purpose. And that's what they're intended for in Gaza.

And please, Israel, try to restrain yourself from using that ridiculous argument, borrowed again from Bush (how low can you get?), that Hamas leaders "hide among civilians", by living in their own homes. Apparently, in the thinking of Israelis, they should all run out into an uninhabited area somewhere (try to find one in Gaza), surround themselves with flares and write in the sand with a stick, "Here I am!"


Yesterday you shelled three UN-run schools, killing several dozen children and adults, despite the fact that the UN had given you the precise coordinates of all its schools in Gaza. So much for 'taking every care to avoid civilian casualties'. You seem to feel you can kill whomever you like, whenever you like, and wherever you like, just because you have a blank check from the United States. Every day this assault goes on you're demonstrating contempt for the UN, the international community, and human life. Talk about a rogue state.


You might also pay attention to the fact that your outdated policy of macho bullying--the policy you've been following for decades--isn't working! The Palestinians are human. They're not dogs you can beat into submission. The worse you treat them, the more they'll fight back. That's what it means to be human. The more you oppress people, the more people resist. We dropped more bombs on Viet Nam than all the bombs dropped by all nations in World War II. Not to mention napalm, herbicides and all kinds of sophisticated land mines. But did they bow down and kiss the feet of their conquerors? They did not.


You'll have to kill them all. And when you do, you may finally lose the support even of the United States.


Remember that American support is based entirely on the notion that no politician can win without the Jewish vote. But not all American Jews think Israel is on a divine mission from God. A great many American Jews believe in international law and justice.

I can understand how Israel could resent this lecture coming from an American. After all, isn't this what we Americans did? Came into someone else's country, slaughtered 95% of its inhabitants and took over? And didn't we go all Nervous Nellie whenever they fought back, accusing them of aggression to justify even more genocidal slaughter? And didn't we get away with it?

Yes, but I'm sorry to tell you, Israel, you came on the scene too late. Genocide just doesn't fly any more. I know it isn't fair, you have every right to feel aggrieved about this, but the world's smaller, cowboys are passé, and bullies aren't heroes any more.

Rebuilding the Islamic University of Gaza

Akram Habeeb and Marcy Newman, The Electronic Intifada, 16 February 2009
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10308.shtml

Since Israel's bombing of the buildings housing scientific laboratories at the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) on 28 December, the rubble that remains debunks Israeli claims that those labs were used to manufacture weapons. Of course such allegations are preposterous; indeed it would be quite foolish for IUG to even entertain the notion of producing weapons given the way in which Palestinian universities have been under constant Israeli attack since the founding of Birzeit University in the West Bank in 1975.

Rather, it is Israeli universities that contain the laboratories where the weaponry used to destroy Palestinian lives in Gaza and elsewhere is developed. In the 14 June 2007 issue of The Nation, US journalist Naomi Klein makes it clear that the relationship between the State of Israel, its academic institutions and its military are intertwined:

"Thirty homeland security companies were launched in Israel in the past six months alone, thanks in large part to lavish government subsidies that have transformed the Israeli army and the country's universities into incubators for security and weapons start-ups (something to keep in mind in the debates about the academic boycott)."

The way that Israel binds together its universities (all of which are state-run and funded) and its military can be gleaned from any number of Israeli universities and their laboratories, which serve as incubators of destruction while the Palestinian people inevitably become its guinea pigs. In a recent article in the Tel Aviv University Review (Winter 2008-2009) entitled "Lifting the Veil of Secrecy," Gil Zohar lays out the collaboration between Israeli universities and Israel's colonial military project quite clearly:

"... Tel Aviv University [TAU] is at the front line of the critical work to maintain Israel's military and technological edge. While much of that research remains classified, several facts illuminate the role of the university. MAFAT, a Hebrew acronym meaning the [Research and Development] Directorate of the Israel Ministry of Defense, is currently funding 55 projects at TAU. Nine projects are being funded by DARPA -- the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Department of Defense."

What is significant is that the US government and its military are complicit in the research leading to the destruction and devastation of Palestinian lives through their funding of these research projects, projects that inevitably lead to acts of aggression such as the bombing of IUG.

IUG is an institution of higher education open not only to its 20,000 students, but also to the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza who visit its libraries and attend its lectures. USAID, the US government's foreign aid agency, claims that it funded more than $900,000 of projects, which went into building IUG's campus (see "Audit finds US funded university linked to terrorism," The Chicago Tribune, 12 December 2007). In March 2007 The Washington Times published a propagandistic article, "School Linked to Hamas Gets US Cash," charging that USAID did not follow US federal laws when financially assisting IUG, as well as Al-Quds University (famous for its normalizing relations with Israeli academia, although it recently promised to cease such joint projects). USAID conducted an audit in response to The Washington Times article that questioned $140,000 of USAID money awarded to the university and to 49 students who received scholarships. The article and the audit argued that funding a so-called "Hamas-controlled" university violates US federal law. As a result of this audit faculty and students at IUG have been prohibited from receiving US State Department funds -- whether USAID-related funds for building, scholarships or the Palestinian Faculty Development Program. This is yet another method of destroying educational opportunities for Palestinians in Gaza over the course of the past few years.

It is difficult to assess at present how much of the damage sustained by IUG was built with USAID funds. Likewise, it is difficult to ascertain a direct link between military research projects at Tel Aviv University funded by Israel and the US and the destruction of IUG. But what is clear is that past educational opportunities, for individual faculty members and students as well as for expanding scientific studies in the form of building laboratories, coming from the US are no longer available to Palestinians affiliated with IUG. Moreover, the primary "living" testimony which verily refutes Israeli claims about IUG as a place for hiding or manufacturing weapons can be found in the rubble of its destroyed buildings, which were decimated with knowledge produced by American research projects at Israeli universities. The mountains of rubble call out to any investigation team to come, to dig, to excavate in order to prove that Israeli allegations are merely a pretext employed to destroy a prestigious academic institution in Palestine. The debris of the science lab buildings shows that beneath it were 74 laboratories serving the science and engineering students at IUG. These labs were places for diligent research and scientific experiments. They were a fountain of hope for impoverished students, many of whom were about to graduate.

The science and engineering lab buildings were not the only premises that were pounded by the Israelis with their American-made weapons. Many other university buildings housing sophisticated computer labs, classrooms, workshops and seminar rooms were also bombed. In spite of the tremendous damage inflicted on IUG, it will be rebuilt with the spirit of resiliency that we see in the young minds of our students. This role however cannot be sustained without the help of our colleagues from around the world. That academics have taken the decision to boycott Israel and support Palestinians given Israeli academia's role in its continuous military aggression, offers a glimmer of hope for IUG.

IUG needs financial support to help it rebuild and re-equip its labs. But it does not just need charity. IUG faculty and students also require solidarity from their academic colleagues at institutions around the world to start partnerships in order to rehabilitate the rest of its premises. Projects such as collaborative video-conference courses, faculty and student exchange programs and scholarships for faculty and students are all important ways of lending solidarity to IUG. Equally important for our American colleagues is to remove the false label that IUG is a "Hamas-controlled" institution. Just as Palestinians in Gaza belong to a variety of political parties, IUG's students, board, faculty and staff represent that reality. IUG is a university like any other in Palestine that reflects the diversity of its population. As with Israel's propagandistic claims that it engaged in a "war with Hamas," when they besiege all Palestinians living in Gaza, this classification of IUG hurts all Palestinians pursuing higher education. We call on our colleagues to work to rebuild IUG through their solidarity through which it can remain an edifice of light, love and learning.

Akram Habeeb, teaches literature at the Islamic University of Gaza and Marcy Newman teaches literature at An Najah National University. For more information about IUG reconstruction please visit http://www.iugaza.edu.ps/iugrec/en/. For more information about how you can help please email Marcy at marcynewman at riseup dot net or Akram at akramhabeeb at yahoo dot com.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10308.shtml

what the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors are doing to Palestinians.

This is what the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors are doing to Palestinians.

Gaza women struggle in aftermath of Israeli war

Following Israel's war on Gaza, many women are struggling to come to terms with the deaths of their husbands and children.

Al Jazeera's Mike Kirsch hears their stories of survival, and reports on the challenges they face as they try to rebuild their lives.

Chronic shortages in Gaza fuels black market

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While the gates remain closed, much needed aid is piling up on the Israeli side of the border. Inside the Strip, one million Gazans rely on food hand-outs to survive. But they're also desperate f...

While the gates remain closed, much needed aid is piling up on the Israeli side of the border.

Inside the Strip, one million Gazans rely on food hand-outs to survive.

But they're also desperate for other every day items - and it's leading to a thriving black market.

Al Jazeera's Mike Kirsch reports from Gaza city.

The untold story of the Anti-Semitism

How old is the state of Israel? How old is Zionism? How old is Judaism? How old are Semites? And who are Semites?

For thousands years there have been historical and scientific facts that were established and agreed upon by all human beings. These facts are now distorted and turned upside-down to serve a losing forged case called Zionism.

Since Zionism was founded it tries to cloud the obvious and forge facts:

1- Since when a religion is mixed with ethnicity along with nationality? Religion is connected to spirituality that has nothing to do with colour or race and it is as old as the human belief in God, ethnicity is connected to race and it is as old as Noah, nationality is related to the notion of state, this notion is a relatively modern, it has nothing to do either with religion or with ethnicity, it is a political entity. The Zionist state is the only state on earth that mixes the three of them in a really confusing mixture.
2- Semitic race is scientifically defined as the groups of people who dwelled the middle east for thousands years: Akkadian, Amharic, Arabic, Aramaic, Ge'ez, Hebrew, Maltese, Phoenician, Tigre and Tigrinya among others, these are called members of the Semitic family. Since when Semites were restricted in Hebrews only?
3- Since when Hebrews were restricted in Jews only? Even Jesus Christ and his disciples were Hebrews, many Hebrews embraced Christianity and Islam. It is an ethnicity not a religion.
4- Since when Jews were restricted in Zionism? Judaism is more than 25 centuries old and Zionism is only one century old. Judaism is a religion connected to spirituality and constant belief, Zionism is a political movement and politics are always disputable.
5- Since when there were clear cut lines separating Arabs from Aramaeans from Assyrians from Babylonians from Chaldeans from Sabaeans from Hebrews? If even Yitzhak’s and Jacob’s children and descendents got married to people from all these branches of the Semitic family? The process of mingling between the Semitic branches took place, constantly, for five thousands years.
6- Since when cousins became enemies? Name one battle between Arabs and Hebrews before the foundation of the state of Israel. They were in good terms, very close to each other even before Islam. After Islam, and because of the many resemblances between Judaism and Islam in theology, law, traditions and even food they became the two closest people (Muslims and Jews) and shared mutual friendly cooperative history for ten centuries to the extent that they both have been slaughtered and expelled together by the Catholic church in Spain, and when Muslims left Spain, Jews left with them, that is why a great population of Jews are located in Morocco.
7- Since when Jews became warriors? They are known throughout history of hating war, it is even mentioned in the bible that they have been ordered by God to wage a war and they refused because they hate war. Jews throughout history worked as merchants and scholars, and within scholarship they mainly worked in philosophy and as much as they led philosophical disputes as much as they avoided political and military conflicts, since when they turned from philosophers to warriors? Only when Zionism was founded and formed the Zionist terrorist groups which attacked hotels, cinemas and restaurants. (Mahachem Begin, Rabin, Peres, Shamir, Sharon and most of the Israeli leaders were wanted terrorists in Britain and several western states, they had their pictures hanged on walls with the label: wanted.)
Furthermore, who are those “blond” Jews? Yasser Arafat looks more Jewish than them! From where did they come? Are they Semites?
Semites are not blond :).
Are they non-Semite Jews? They have to enjoy citizenship in their own countries. Judaism is not a nationality. No religion on earth have been either a nationality nor an ethnicity.
I recommend a DNA test proceeded by a neutral, honest lab that does not accept bribes. Arabs had their DNA tests and it proved that it is the same DNA of their ancestors who existed in the region thousands years ago, and we are ready to be submitted to another test. What about the nice blond Tzipi Livni?
PS: Hitler is not hidden in the Middle East region, Arabs have nothing to do with Hitler, and if he hated Jews it is essential that he hated Arab Muslims and Arab Christians too, but his short life time did not give him the chance to express his feelings toward them, yet the Zionist entity is doing the job for him. There is no Hitlarization here, Arabs are not Hitlarized, scientists can develop a way to resurrect Hitler and give him to the European Jews to torture him as much as they can till he dies and resurrect him again and again a million times until their fiery desire of retaliation is fully satisfied instead of forcing innocents to pay bills for things they didn’t even buy.

Note:
My American friend told me that the word Zionism is resented by Americans. In the Arab world we don't use the word Israel for several reasons among them is that Israel is the name of a respectable prophet whome we believe in and we don't like to use his name in a negative context, we don't use the word Zionism in reference with the "Jewish conispiracy to rule the world" we use it to defrenciate between the political movement and the Jewish religion.

Report from Gaza by US National Lawyers Guild Delegation

Report from Gaza by US National Lawyers Guild Delegation

February 11, 2009 at 11:48 am · Filed under Uncategorized

February 9, 2009
http://www.counterpunch.org/nlg02092009.html
A Report from Gaza
Strong Indications of Israeli War Crimes By NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD
Gaza City.
We are a delegation of 8 American lawyers, members of the National Lawyers Guild in the United States, who have come here to the Gaza Strip to assess the effects of the recent attacks on the people, and to determine what, if any, violations of international law occurred and whether U.S. domestic law has been violated as a consequence. We have spent the last five days interviewing communities particularly impacted by the recent Israeli offensive, including medical personnel, humanitarian aid workers and United Nations representatives. In particular, the delegation examined three issues: 1) targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure; 2) illegal use of weapons and 3) blocking of medical and humanitarian assistance to civilians.
Targeting of Civilians and Civilian Infrastructure
Much of the debate surrounding Israel’s aerial and ground offensive against Gaza has centered on whether or not Israel observed principles of proportionality and distinction. The debate suggests that Israel targeted Hamas i.e., its military installations, its leaders, and its militants, and in the process of its discrete military exercise it inadvertently killed Palestinian civilians. While we have found evidence that Palestinian civilians were victims of excessive force and collateral damage, we have also found troubling instances of Palestinian civilians being targets themselves.
The delegation recorded numerous accounts of Israeli soldiers shooting civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, in the head, chest, and stomach. Another common narrative described Israeli forces rounding civilians into a single location i.e., homes, schools which Israeli tanks or warplanes then shelled. Israeli forces continued to shoot at civilians fleeing the targeted structures.
We spoke to Khaled Abed Rabbo, who witnessed an Israeli soldier execute his 2-year-old and 7-year-old daughters, and critically injure a third daughter, Samar, 4-years old, on a sunny afternoon outside his home. Two other Israeli soldiers were standing nearby eating chips and chocolates at the time on January 7, 2009. Abed Rabbo recounts standing in front of the Israeli soldiers with his mother, wife and daughters for 5 – 7 minutes before one of the soldiers opened fire on his family.
We spoke to Ibtisam al-Sammouni, 31, and a resident of Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City. On January 4th, the Israeli army forced approximately 110 of Zaytoun’s residents into Ibtisam’s home. At approximately 7 am on January 5th, the Israeli military launched two tank shells at the house without warning killing two of Ibtisam’s children: Rizka, 14 and Faris, 12. When the survivors attempted to flee Israeli forces shot at them. Her son Abdullah, 7, was injured in the shelling and remained in the home among his deceased siblings for four days before Israeli forces permitted medical personnel into Zaytoun to rescue them. After medical personnel removed the injured persons, an Israeli war plane destroyed the house and it crumbled over the lifeless bodies. The dead remained beneath the rubble for 17 days before the Israeli Army permitted medical personnel to remove their bodies for burial.
We spoke to the family of Rouhiya al-Najjar, 47, who lived in Khoza’a, Khan Younis. Israeli forces ordered her neighborhoods residents to march to the city center. Rouhiya led 20 women out of her home and into the alley. They all carried white scarves. Upon entering the alley, an Israeli sniper shot Rouhiya in her left temple killing her instantly. Israeli forces prevented medical personnel from reaching her body for twelve hours. These are only some of the accounts that we’ve collected.
Israeli forces also destroyed numerous buildings throughout the Gaza Strip during the recent incursion. Guild delegates viewed the remains of hundreds of demolished homes and businesses – in addition to the remains of the American School in Gaza, damaged medical centers, and the charred innards of UNRWA warehouses. While in situations of armed conflict, collateral damage and mistakes can occur, the circumstances surrounding the cases that the delegation investigated indicate deliberate targeting rather than collateral damage or mistake. Specifically:
The American School at Gaza, which was hit with two F-16 missiles on January 3, 2009, killing the watch guard on duty. According to Ribhi Salem, the school’s director, the Israelis gave no warnings. Mr. Salem stated that the school had come to an agreement with resistance groups not to use school grounds and there had never been resistance activity on the property.
United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)
John Ging, the Director of Gaza Operations for UNRWA reported that Israeli forces fired missiles at UNRWA schools in Gaza City, Jabalyia and Bet Lahiya. The United Nation compound in Gaza city was also hit with white phosphorous shells and missiles. Ging noted that al United Nations buildings and vehicles all fly UN flags, are marked in blue paint from the top, and that during hostilities the UN personnel remained in constant contact with Israeli authorities.
Misuse of Weapons
Our delegation has heard allegations of the use of DIME (Dense Inert Metal Explosive) weaponry, white phosphorus and other possible weapons whose use in civilian areas is prohibited. We have also heard of the use of prohibited weapons, such as fleshettes. We have found our own evidence of the use of fleschette shells, which we will combine with evidence collected by Amnesty International to push for further investigation. We have not found any conclusive evidence of the use of DIME, though we believe that this warrants further investigation and disclosure by the Israeli military.
Our findings overwhelmingly point to the use of conventional weapons in a prohibited manner, specifically, the use of battlefield weaponry in densely populated civilian areas. Customary international law forbids the use of weapons calculated to cause unnecessary suffering. We found evidence that Israel used white phosphorus in extensively throughout its three-week offensive in a manner that led to numerous deaths and injuries. For example, Sabah Abu Halima, 45, lived in Beit Lahiya with her husband, seven boys, and one girl. It was midday and she and her entire family was home. Within minutes she felt her home shaking and missiles fell through the rooftop. She fell to the ground upon impact. When she looked up she saw her children burning.
Preventing Access to Medical and Humanitarian Aid
Under customary international humanitarian law, the wounded are protected persons and must receive the medical care and attention required by their conditions, to the fullest extent practicable and with the least possible delay. Parties to a conflict are required to ensure the unhindered movement of medical personnel and ambulances to carry out their duties and of wounded persons to access medical care. Speaking to medical workers and the family of victims, NLG delegates documented serious violations of this provision. Among the stories documented include:
Zaytoun neighborhood, which came under attack and invasion by ground foces on January 3, 2009. The Palestinian Red Crescent received 145 calls from Zaytoun for help, but were denied entry by Israel. Bashar Ahmed Murad, Director of Emergency Medical Services for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society told us that “a lot of people could have been saved, but hey weren’t given medical care by the Israelis, nor did the Israeli army allow Palestinian medical services in.” When paramedics were finally allowed to enter on January 7, Israeli forces only gave them a 3-hour “lull” to work and prohibited ambulances into the area. Instead they forced paramedics park the ambulances 2 kilometers away and enter the area on foot. Murad told delegation members how they had to pile the wounded on donkey carts and have the medical workers pull the carts in order to help the most people possible in the short time they were given. After the 3 hours were over, the Israeli army started shooting toward the ambulances. The Red Crescent was not able to reach that area again to evacuate the dead until January 17, 2009 when the Israeli army pulled out.
Al-Shurrab Family
On January 16th, Israeli forces shot at the jeep of Mohammed Shurrab, 64 years of age, and two of his sons, Kassab and Ibrahim, aged 28 and 18 as they were returning from their fields. Mohammad was shot in the left arm and Ibrahim was shot in the leg. The elder son, Kassab, sustained a fatal bullet wound to the chest, being shot multiple times after being ordered out of the car. Mohammad, bleeding from his wound, contacted the media, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and a number of NGOs via mobile phone in order to acquire medical assistance. Israeli forces denied medical relief agencies clearance to reach them until almost 24 hours after Mohammad, Ibrahim and Kassab had been shot. Earlier that morning, Ibrahim had succumbed to his wound and died. Mohammad Shurrab and his sons were shot during a so-called “lull” in Israeli ground operations, which Israeli forces had agreed to in order to allow humanitarian relief to enter and be distributed in the Gaza Strip. As such NLG delegates fail to see how this denial of medical access to the wounded Shurrab family could have been absolutely necessary and not simply arbitrary.
International humanitarian law also prohibits attacks on medical personnel, medical units and medical transports exclusively assigned to carry out medical functions. Delegate members saw ambulances seriously damaged and destroyed, some apparently deliberately crushed by Israeli tanks. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society and the Palestinian Ministry of Health informed delegates that 15 Palestinian medics were killed and 21 injured in the course of Israel’s assault.
Conclusions
This delegation is seriously concerned by our initial findings. We have found strong indications of violations of the laws of war and possible war crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip. We are particularly concerned that most of the weapons that were found used in the December 27 assault on Gaza are US-made and supplied. We believe that Israel’s use of these weapons may constitute a violation of US law, and particularly the Foreign Assistance Act and the US Arms Export Control Act.
A report of our initial findings will be compiled and submitted to, among others, members of the United States Congress. We intend to push for an investigation by the United States government into possible violations by Israel of US law. We also hope to contribute our finding and efforts to other efforts by local and international lawyers to push for accountability against those found responsible for the egregious crimes that we have documented.
MEMBERS OF THE LEGAL DELEGATION
Huwaida Arraf (New York, Washington DC)
huwaida.arraf@gmail.com
Palestine: 0599-130-426
USA: 1-202-294-8813
Noura Erekat (Washington DC)
noo194@yahoo.com
Palestine:
USA: 1-510-847-4239
James Marc Leas (Vermont)
jolly39@gmail.com
Palestine:
USA: 1-802 864-1575 and 1-802 734-8811(cell)
Linda Mansour (Ohio)
Lindamansour@aol.com
Palestine:
USA: 1-419-535-7100 and 1-419-283-8281 (cell)
Rose Mishaan (California)
roseindigo7@gmail.com
Palestine:
USA: 1-917-803-2201
Thomas Nelson (Oregon)
nelson@thnelson.com
Palestine:
USA: 1-503-709-6397
Radhika Sainath (California)
radhika.sainath@gmail.com
Palestine:
USA: 1-917-669-6903
Reem Salahi (California)
reemos@gmail.com
Palestine:
USA: 1-510-225-8880

Slave Labor - Israel's Construction Industry

Israel is a Western-style democracy in which the rights of all individuals are protected by law. If you believe that, guess again! Like many other Western democracies, Israel has relied on a slave class to do the hard labor to create a society in which the "decent people" can enjoy a comfortable standard of living.

It wouldn't be fair to single Israel out for its shortcomings; even the United States turned a blind eye and allowed slavery from the time of its founding and denied a sizeable segment of the population rights under the Constitution that was designed to ensure those rights to all persons living within the borders of the country. However, it is also far from praiseworthy for a society to assume a facade of being a democracy when it continues to build its economy on the backs of men -- and only men -- who provide slave labor to build the country while the "good Israelis" regard the tasks that these men perform as beneath their dignity.

Nowhere is slave labor more obvious than in the construction industry. This problem was not born when the young state was created, as comedian Dudu Topaz pointed out in his Slip of the Tongue routine in the 1980's; one of his jokes included a man telling his grandson about how he helped build so many buildings in Tel-Aviv, which prompted his grandson's question: "Grandpa, were you an Arab?" In truth, one of the legacies of the 1967 Six Day War was a large Arab population living under Israeli military rule in the occupied territories; the male residents of these territories, anxious to profit from the new political realities, were only too willing to enter Israel to seek work, and Israeli employers, who knew that the spending power in the territories would enable Arab laborers to work for competitively low wages, were prepared to take the risk of hiring workers whose political sentiments might be hostile in order to build up their empires within Israel.

For close to two decades, this arrangement worked for the most part; all over the country, areas that became known as the "slave markets" sprang up, where Arabs from the territories stood and waited for Israeli entrepreneurs in need of laborers to come by to offer them work, whether on a daily or weekly basis. Technically, every Arab laborer was supposed to be registered with the Israeli government to be allowed to work within Israel; in practice, not always did the employers go through the trouble to register their fly-by-night hires. Because not all the Arab laborers regarded the Israeli-Arab dispute as something they wanted to forget, violent clashes often occurred; just as often, Israeli employers, fearful of such reprisals that could harm or incriminate them, saw fit to lock the Arab workers inside their temporary sleeping quarters. This latter practice could, and did, result in tragedy if a fire or other hazard broke out; the male slave laborers were helpless to flee the danger.

The intifada brought this arrangement to an end rapidly. Contractors, suddenly faced with a glaring lack of workers to complete their construction projects, made a desperate attempt to encourage young Israelis looking for career vocations to turn back to the construction industry in the hopes of solving both the problem of the labor shortage and the risk that employing residents of hostile areas had posed. This attempt, while well intended, did not gain sufficient popularity to return the construction industry to a "respectable" status in the eyes of Israelis; to them, construction was still too lowly for them to allow their children to do.

Faced with no alternatives locally, building contractors turned abroad to look for men desperate to feed their families to offer them contracts for work in Israel. In Romania, Israeli contractors found a sizeable audience of men who could not make a living in their own country. The contractors made arrangements to pay for their passage to Israel, to pay their wages, to provide them with living quarters, and to pay for their return passage at the completion of the work. All the laborers worked according to a contract properly drawn up, so the arrangements looked acceptable.

Unfortunately for the men who came to work in Israel, soon they were to learn the meaning of what Israelis call "Israbluff". Soon, they learned that the employers would confiscate their passports to prevent them from abandoning the project once they discovered that they would be living in conditions unfit for human habitation, that they would have meager quantities of food shoved into their quarters under doors or through bars, as if they were in a cage in a zoo, and that they would receive what was written in their contracts minus several onerous deductions about which the employers had not mentioned a word at the time the contracts were signed. Worse yet, they would soon learn that while the Israeli media would put them on display as subjects for stories, nobody would come to their assistance; either they were "those foreigners" or they were "stealing jobs from Israelis." Either way, nobody cared enough to fight for the rights of these men.

It must be noted that only men fall into this category; women are noticeably absent. Part of the reason for the indifference of the Israeli public towards the plight of these men is because they are men and not women; these men are expected to accept slave labor conditions graciously because otherwise they would not be able to support their families and, consequently, would fail as men. Of the few Israeli politicians who have shown empathy with the plight of these slave laborers, the absence of female politicians is even more conspicuously absent. The message is clear: men are beasts of burden to Israelis, creatures who are on the earth just to spawn children, work until exhausted to provide for others, be locked away like animals at any time someone sees fit to do so to them, and to jump on live grenades to prove that they are "heroes." Any man who deviates from this stereotype is not worthy of being called a man -- which may explain why women do not try to compete!

The slave labor trade in Israel will continue to exploit men unless men speak up to stop the slavery. Before they do that, they have to redefine manhood and to seek their own liberation from the slavery that every man faces in a world that seeks to "put men in their place." It is easy to say, "It's not my problem," just because a man isn't a Romanian locked in some hovel while he works to support a family in Timisoara; the truth is that it is every man's problem, because the original problem would never have occurred if men were freed of their role as slaves to their families who can desert them the moment that they are no longer able to produce any more.

All the ills that affect men living in Israel can be seen in the case of these foreign laborers: exploitation, denial of human rights and dignity, denial of the right to travel freely, and the worst nemesis of them all: public apathy towards the plight of men in general. How about it, men? Who'll pick up the glove?

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