Behind The Iron Wall

'The plan that never changed'

The UN Cultural organisation (UNESCO) voted strongly in favour of membership for the Palestinians. A vote opposed by Israel. There were 173 countries that voted, 107 in favour, 14 opposing and 52 abstaining. Great Britain was one of those in the latter category, thus bringing further disrepute to the word 'Great'. Well done the 107! Shame on the 66. The fact is, the truth is, UNESCO's vote in favour of Palestinian membership is, as the Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad said, "a historic moment that gives Palestine back some of its rights."

The Israeli Ambassador to UNESCO called the vote a "tragedy" and "a political subject that was out of its Competence." The Palestinian admission to UNESCO is no "tragedy". The citizens of the world, 'We The People' are 'satisfied,' legally and morally, as is the Russell Tribunal, that Israel practices Colonialism and Apartheid in the illegally Occupied Palestinian Territories, so the real tragedy Ambassador is that our so-called leaders do nothing to address the situation even though the law is clear. As William Blake put it, "When I tell the truth it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those that do."

Occupation, Apartheid, and Colonialism

In its 2009 Democracy and Governance Programme, Middle East Project, Executive Summary, Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid? the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) of South Africa found "International law prohibits the unilateral annexation or permanent acquisition of territory as a result of the threat or use of force: should this occur, no State may recognise or support the resulting unlawful situation." If we further recognise Israel's actions in the OPT as illegal, then it is paramount that we focus on "the question of the responsibility of States [and their lack of response] as a result of internationally wrongful acts" in this case Israel and its continued violence in pursuit of its, and America's, strategic aims. Apartheid and Colonialism are two such acts.

Apartheid: Apartheid and colonialism are particularly egregious crimes. An examination by the HSRC of South Africa of Article 2(a) of the Apartheid Convention found "the denial of the right to life and liberty of person is satisfied by Israeli measures to repress Palestinian dissent against the occupation and its system of domination. Israel's policies and practices include murder, in the form of extrajudicial killings; torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of punishment of detainees; a military court system that falls far short of international standards for fair trial: and arbitrary arrest and detention of Palestinians, [to include children], including administrative detention imposed without charge or trial and lacking adequate judicial review. All of these practises are discriminatory in that the Palestinians are subject to legal systems and courts which apply standards of evidence and procedure that are different from those applied to Jewish settlers living in the OPT and that result in harsher penalties for Palestinians."

An occupying power, in this case the State of Israel, must recognise in the harsh but penetrating light of universal condemnation that to engage in 'unlawful' Apartheid, is to engage in, according to, The Apartheid Convention, "an aggravated form of racial discrimination because it is a state-sanctioned regime of law and institutions that have 'the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them.' " (HSRC, 2009). This is a grave crime.

Colonialism: According to the Executive Summary of the HSRC, "The prohibitions on colonialism and apartheid are rooted principally in the field of international human rights law" and in regard to Palestine and Colonialism, "Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem is manifestly an act based on colonial intent. It is unlawful in itself, as annexation breaches the principle underpinning the law of occupation: that occupation is only a temporary situation that does not vest sovereignty in the Occupying Power." Furthermore, "By thus portioning contiguous blocs of Palestinian areas into cantons, Israel has violated the territorial integrity of the OPT in violation of the Declaration on Colonialism."

Moreover, "The Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (1960, hereafter 'the Declaration on Colonialism'), condemns 'colonialism in all its forms and manifestations' which includes 'settler colonialism' " (HSRC). All this takes place behind a "Wall that separates Jewish and Palestinian populations, as well as dividing Palestinian communities from each other, with passage between Palestinian areas controlled by Israel" (HSRC), a clear violation of the Declaration on Colonialism.

Kathleen and Bill Christison write in Palestine In Pieces, "Settlements are a clear attempt to assert dominion over Palestine." They quote Henry Siegman, former director of the American Jewish Congress who found, "every part of Israeli society advancing the settler enterprise is in clear and deliberate violation not only of international law but of Israel's own laws." In a clear "theft of Palestinian lands" Israel has since 1948 actively "ethnically cleansed" and stolen from the people of Palestine. Stealing land, stealing property, stealing water, stealing lives, and stealing time by creating the illusion that it, Israel, works for peace behind the smoke and mirrors of its propaganda whilst perpetuating the 'grand hoax' that it negotiates for peace, that it dreams and longs for peace as it relentlessly and systematically tightens a noose around lawfull Palestinian aspirations.

Through its actions and policies of Apartheid and Colonialism, Israel constantly and wilfully breaches international law. It is permitted unchecked to brutalise the men, women and most damningly the children of Palestine under the 'plan that never changed', in an occupied territory that does not belong to it, behind an Iron Wall built by Zionism maintained by naked aggression and symbolising Israel's Occupation, Colonialism and Apartheid. "Every State owes a legal duty to the international community as a whole not to engage in practices of colonialism or apartheid. Conversely, all States have an interest in ensuring that these rules are respected because they enshrine fundamental values of international public order. Faced with a violation of the prohibitions of colonialism and apartheid, all states have three duties: to cooperate to end the violence; not to recognise the illegal situation arising from it; and not to render aid or assistance to the state committing It." (HSRC). The international community has failed, is failing and continues to fail Palestinians on all three counts.

Righting the Failure of the International Community

One critical way for the international community to right "wrongful acts", as asserted by the UNHRC, Twelfth session Agenda item 7 of 2009, 3, on Universal Jurisdiction, is "In the context of increasing unwillingness on the part of Israel to open criminal investigations that comply with international standards, the mission support the reliance on Universal Jurisdiction as an avenue for states to investigate violations of the grave breach provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, prevent impunity and promote international accountability (Chap XXVIII)."

Noam Chomsky in his book Pirates and Emperors describes the magnitude of the problem, "There is no doubt about the seriousness of the issues arising in the Middle East, particularly the Arab-Israeli conflict, which is commonly- and plausibly- judged the most likely "tinderbox" that might set off a terminal nuclear war as regional conflict engages the superpowers, as has come too close for comfort in the past." It is clear then, is it not, how dangerous Israel's Occupation, Colonialism, and Apartheid are? It is worth repeating, "Every state owes a legal duty to the international community as a whole not to engage in practices of colonialism or apartheid. Conversely, all States have an interest in ensuring that theses rules are respected because they enshrine fundamental values of international public order."

However, Chomsky recognises a change or an international shift, "The problem is that Israel's plans, which never changed, to take over and integrate the occupied territories, are running into some objective problems. They always hoped that in the long run they would be able to reduce the Palestinian population." Their plans, 'which never changed,' have run into the brick wall of international activism, and the lines of Palestinians standing shoulder to shoulder as history's tide turns in their favour and whose brilliant light is undimmed by the obtuse planning of Israel.

Israel breaches international law on a daily basis and violates Palestinian rights hourly. Israel's violations to include, "Depriving the population of occupied territory of the capacity for self-governance; integrating the economy of the occupied into that of the occupant; breaching the principle of permanent sovereignty over natural resources in relation to the occupied territory; and denying the population of occupied territory the right freely to express, develop and practice its culture." (HSRC). Those who suffer the most from Israel's policies and the international community's continued failures are the children.

The Fight for Palestinian Children

The "Protected Citizens" of the Occupied Palestinian Territories are in a fight not only for their legitimate rights but also for their children's lives. In an address to the General Assembly, Professor Richard Falk, Special Rapporteur to the Palestinian Territories, said, "Prolonged occupation deforms the development of children through pervasive deprivations affecting health, education and overall security."

The Children of Palestine are 'protected persons.' Under the terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention, "they are persons who find themselves, in the case of a conflict or occupation, in the hands of a party [Israel] to the conflict or Occupying Power of which they are not nationals." What protection are the precious children of Palestine afforded? For some it is too late, far too late. According to Al-Jazeera, in an article published 15^th January 2009 titled 'Child Victims of Gaza', after Israel began to bomb the Gaza Strip on December 27^th 2008, of the 210 children, who lost their lives 44, were under the age of 5.

Some of their names are here lovingly recorded: Ahmed Riad Mohammed Al-Sinwar Boy 3. Tamer Hassan Al-Akhrass Boy 5. Hassan Ali Al-Akhrass Boy 3. Odai Hakeem Al-Mansi Boy 4. Camelia Al-Bardini Girl 10. Lama Talal Hamdan Girl 10. Jawaher Anwar Baaloosha Girl 8. Samar Anwar Baaloosha Girl 6. Halima Nizar Rayyan Girl 5. Aicha Nizar Rayyan Girl 3. And, Al-Adham Boy 1, who died needlessly and in innocence for lack of protection and breach of his human rights, and, damningly because of the lack of coordinated resolve by the international community to uphold in a consistent manner the very laws that they have enshrined. These children, as well as all others, have lost their lives in complete innocence by the bloodied hands of an unbridled Israel. Take these children into your hearts and minds, repeat their names, remember their names and carry them tenderly into your activism. Reflect on the mothers and fathers who mourn their loss and on the laws that should have protected their precious little ones.

Our leaders continue to fail the children of Palestine, and deny the ramifications of Article 21(3) of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights by blatantly ignoring Palestinian human rights. The Human Rights Council's Twelfth Session Agenda Item 7 in 2009 stated, "The Mission recommends that States involved in peace negotiations between Israel and representatives of the Palestinian people, especially the Quartet, should ensure that respect for the rule of law, international law and human rights assumes a central role in international sponsored initiatives." In spite of this, British and other western leaders continue to ignore and thwart these recommendations and international law. Because of this the children of Palestine are dying.

Conclusion

In the words of Malcolm X, "if you're not careful, the news papers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." Palestinians are not 'yelling rabble dressed up in gaudy savage rags' as described by Ze'ev Jabotinsky. And because now international public opinion is with them and not against them, that solidified international opinion pushes hard, weighing in full measure against the illegal policies of Occupation, Colonialism and Apartheid.

In solidarity, Palestinians, international activists, and world leaders of conscience that dare to defend humanity must put a stop to Israel's intentions, 'which never changed,' to bring the Palestinians to their knees. Let us then stand and be glad, as Palestine takes another sure step toward Statehood and freedom from tyranny, as the world votes in common sense and common purpose. In the words of Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erakat, "This is a victory for peace and a victory for the human race". God speed Palestine.

* Clive Hambidge is Human Development Director at Facilitate Global. He can be contacted at: clive.hambidge@facilitateglobal.org

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By Mohamed Khodr* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

Ghaddafi Will Go: 3 Down-19 to Go

In a few days, or less, Libya will be free from the 42 year rule of the mentally unstable, psychotic, arrogant, divisive, condescending, megalomaniacal leader and self proclaimed "King of Africa." –Muammar Al-Ghaddafi.

Unlike the deposed Tunisian and Egyptian leaders, Al Ghaddafi is despised by all other Arab tyrants. thus he'll have no home outside of Libya unless some African nation has pity on this butcher of his people. In just 5 days he's killed more than 300 civilians using snipers, secret police, Arab and African mercenaries, even his air force to bomb unarmed peaceful protesters

His son, Saif Al Islam, took to the airwaves on Sunday to give the most arrogant, incoherent, rambling and condescending speech---like father, like son.

In it he blamed outside agitators, Islamists, drugged men and children, drunkards, those taking hallucinogens. the Arab media, Facebook, emails, thugs hired by millionaire businessmen, and anything else he could think of on the spur of the moment. All Arab tyrants when faced with opposition use these lies to explain the protests and justify their murderous crackdown.

He said the army had to defend itself against these mobs and thus killed a few Libyans, much less than was reported.

He warned of a civil war and a division of Libya. Incredibly he gave credit to American oil companies for the unity of Libya. "American Oil Companies played a big part in unifying Libya. Who will manage this oil?"

He warned of Neo-Colonialism in Libya if an Islamic Government takes over (the bogeyman that frightens the West):

"The British FM called me. Be ready for a new colonial period from America and Britain. You think they will accept an Islamic Emirate here"

The West will come and occupy you. Europe & the West will not agree to chaos in Libya, to export chaos and drugs so they will occupy us."

But true to the family's tradition of eliminating and killing any opposition he threatened the Libyan people with this dire warning.

"Now comes the role of the National Guard and the Army...We will flight to the last man and woman and bullet. We will not lose Libya. We will not let Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and BBC trick us."

This is a desperation speech. Al Gaddafi has lost Eastern Libya (Benghazi) with some military units joining the protesters. The largest tribe in Libya has supported his downfall and other tribes have cut off oil pipelines. Libyans by the tens of thousands are protesting in the capitol, Tripoli braving the bullets.

Shockingly but not unexpectedly, the U.S. and Europe took a few days to utter the mildest of comments against the slaughter of hundreds of Libyans and the injured thousands. They simply asked for "restraint" to avoid more deaths.

If one Israeli soldier was hit by a stone in his America paid boot thrown by an elderly women who just lost her seven children to an Israeli missile you can depend on Obama at 3 a.m. to come out to the Rose Garden and issue this statement:

"Let me be clear. Palestinian terrorism against innocent Israeli soldiers who are simply defending themselves and their lives against horrendous attacks must be condemned yesterday, today, and tomorrow. There is no room for such violence and terrorism at a time when Prime Minister Netanyahu and I are working hard to restart the Peace Process which unfortunately the Palestinians are refusing using the excuse that I vetoed a simple U.N. Security Council Resolution against "illegal" settlements, when in fact they are not "illegal", but as I've said all along, are "illegitimate". As our Ambassador to the U.N. Dr. Susan Rice so eloquently stated, passing such a Resolution would have led to more "illegitimate" settlements being built. Thank You."

Of Blood and Oil

With so many European and American oil companies doing business in Libya; Al Gadaffi can kill with impunity.

Ever since Oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Persian Gulf the region has endured European colonialism, Cold War competition, and finally total American hegemony of the region since 1956.

Oil is the life blood of the entire world but none more so historically than in Europe and the U.S. .Both are willing to launch wars and massacre millions if necessary to obtain cheap oil for their factories, transportation system, and personal vehicles. Without oil America's economy will die adding more fuel to the already bankrupt nation.

America has and will spill precious Arab blood to extract the oil from under their feet and sand dunes. That's what American Presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt established as America's premiere "national interest" in the region.

President Roosevelt met with King Abdul Aziz bin Saud of Saudi Arabia in February 14, 1945 aboard the USS Quncy in the Red Sea to come to a simple agreement: You give us cheap oil, we'll protect your monarchy and we won't interfere in the Palestinian issue.

Later, President Jimmy Carter established The Carter Doctrine which declared the Persian Gulf and its oil fields of vital interest to the United States, and that any outside attempt to gain control in the area would be "repelled by use of any means necessary, including military force."

President Reagan established regional CENTCOM's (Central Commands around the world, renaming Carter's initial "Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force: RDJTF).

Today CENTCOM is based in Qatar while the Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain with military bases in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, among other nations.

The main purpose of CENTCOM, other than prosecuting the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, is to protect the oil flow out of the Persian Gulf, 30% of the world's oil, and to contain any Iranian threat, even if it means the launching of an Israeli driven third American war.

Bottom Line:

America will protect its Oil Dictatorships even if it means the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Arabs. As former Secretary Madeleine Albright said in an interview with Leslie Stahl on the American TV Program "60 minutes" when asked about the death toll of Iraqi sanctions.

Lesley Stahl: "We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?"

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it." (60 Minutes (5/12/96)

To America the premiere policy in the MidEast is not establishing democracy but supporting and stabilizing the Status Quo.

American policy has always been short sighted, counter-productive, and frankly stupid in the Arab world.

Its umbilical cord ties to Israel where money and weapons flow from the American mother to the Israeli child has cost it dearly for 62 years.

Israel can do no wrong and American politicians are the most cowardly men and women in world politics, unable to even utter the word "no" to Israel as it unleashes American weapons into the hearts and brains of Palestinian children.

America's long term support of Arab dictators resides on the simpleton principle: As long as you give us cheap oil, allow our military bases in your lands, and fight "Islamic Fundamentalism", you may annihilate the entire population for all we care.

The revolutions sweeping the Arab world, and shortly the Muslim world, starting with Pakistan, are a direct result of such American political stupidity and imperialism in the region.

Submitting to Israel and its genocidal policies and providing protection to murderous Arab tyrants if not changed will be the undoing of American interests in the region.

Given America's political history it's not hopeful that America will change its policy in the near future, but once the Arab monarchies in the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia fall, America will be the biggest loser of these revolutions and it will pay the heaviest price for its blind subservience to Israel.

America, make room for China, India, Russia, Brazil, and Japan, which will rapidly dump you as fast as you dump your dictators once they're usefulness ends, in exchange for Arab oil and its economic survival.

Future beleaguered America generations will look upon this history and damn the day Israel occupied America and its lobby and Neocons ran its foreign policy.

"And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;"
--Star Spangled Banner, America's National Anthem

The Rockets and Bombs must end, our relation with Israel and dictators must end, and we must start a respectful mutually beneficial relationship with 1.6 billion Muslims yearning for freedom and peace, and who in unity will end all Muslim terroristic groups.

You're choice. Change now or forever hold your tongue and bombs. Time is running out.

* Mohamed Khodr is a political activist who frequently writes on the plight of Palestinians living under the brutal occupation of Israel, U.S. Foreign Policy, Islam, and Arab politics.

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By Yousef Munayyer* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

This brief appeared today in the Los Angeles Times and is a response to a column written by Benny Morris that was published in the Los Angeles Times on 16 April 2010.

Palestinians are in Israel today because they managed to survive the depopulation of 1948, the year the Jewish state was founded (Arabs constitute about 20% of Israel's population). Ironically, while Benny Morris' scholarship suggests that the mere existence of these Palestinians in Israel -- and millions more in the occupied territories -- irks him, Israel's substantial Arab population also blows a hole in his argument about the need to deal with the supposed Iranian nuclear threat.

Morris is part of an increasingly vociferous chorus warning of an impending apocalypse for Israel at the hands of a nuclear Iran eager to rid the Middle East of its Jews. Yet Iran's religious leaders have repeatedly stated that such weapons are "un-Islamic" or "forbidden under Islam."

Morris' role in our understanding of the region's history is confounding. Arguably, no one played a more central role in exposing Israel's role in the depopulation of Palestinians from their homeland than Morris. In his seminal work, "The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem," Morris, using declassified military documents, exposes the calculated effort by early Israeli leaders to impose a Jewish majority through ethnic cleansing.

Long considered a champion of modern Israeli historians who sought to shed light on the ugly side of Israel's birth, Morris shocked many Israelis and Palestinians alike when he later changed course. To Morris, the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians was no longer the problem at the heart of the conflict; in fact, he suggested that the problem was that Israel didn't finish the job in 1948.

Morris said in a 2004 interview "Under some circumstances expulsion is not a war crime. I don't think that the expulsions of 1948 were war crimes. You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs. You have to dirty your hands."

Morris added later in the interview that if Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, "was already engaged in expulsion, maybe he should have done a complete job. ... If he had carried out a full expulsion - rather than a partial one - he would have stabilized the state of Israel for generations."

Yet the pesky Palestinian minority Morris wishes had been expelled decades ago serves as a deterrent from a nuclear-armed Iran, should the Islamic Republic ever build nuclear weapons and consider using them on Israel. The fact that Arab Israelis were among the casualties of the 2006 war with Hezbollah speaks to the reality that no nuclear attack on Israel could happen without the deaths of countless Palestinians and Israelis, not to mention the likely destruction of Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam.

The reality of Palestinian casualties, the destruction of Jerusalem, the onset of regional war and the immediate destruction of Iran's regime as a result of a multilateral conventional or even nuclear counterattack all serve as a credible deterrent to a nuclear Iran. The Iranian leadership has shown a demonstrable interest in self-preservation

The alarmism espoused Morris and company isn't grounded in reality. Rather - just as with Iraq, Syria and now Iran - Israel constantly needs an enemy that it says threatens its existence. Otherwise the Jewish state would have a harder time maintaining its overwhelming military supremacy in the region and continuously changing the subject from resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to practically anything else.

The ideology at the foundation of the state of Israel and the very justification for its existence requires the existence of apocalyptic anti-Semitic forces with the intent and capability to annihilate. Without these boogeymen, whether it is Saddam Hussein, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Arabs who "want to push Israel into the sea," the state of Israel ceases to have any justification for the maintenance of a Jewish majority by force or for its ongoing occupation of Palestinian lands.

The fact that Benjamin Netanyahu, the pro-colonization Israeli prime minister, has made every effort to connect the idea of a nuclear Iran to the Holocaust is evidence of this scare-mongering. Iran, like Iraq in 2003, is an inflated but necessary fear for Israel. No credible analysis of the situation envisions a scenario in which Iran would use nuclear weapons against the Jewish state. But proponents of Israel's colonial enterprise, who support maintaining a Jewish majority by the force of walls and soldiers in occupied territory, want everyone to believe that the focus should be on Iran, not on the occupation, and that Israel's security policies are justifiable against "existential threats."

The need for these inflated threats has increased in the years since Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. Despite these agreements, Israel still maintains and furthers its occupation of Palestinian lands through blockade and settlement expansion.

The emperor may be naked in Tel Aviv, but he can continue avoiding attention and shame if he persuades the world to look in Tehran's direction instead.

* Yousef Munayyer is Executive Director of the Palestine Center.

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By Richard Falk* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

Ever since the Balfour Declaration in 1917 gave the formal approval of the British government to the establishment of 'a Jewish homeland' profound issues of legitimacy were present in the conflict recently known as the Israel/Palestine Conflict. This original colonialist endorsement of the Zionist project has produced a steady erosion of the position of the Palestinian people on historic Palestine, which dramatically worsened over the course of the past 43 years of occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. It has worsened due to an oppressive military occupation by Israel that involves fundamental denials of rights and pervasive violations of international humanitarian law, and because Israel has been allowed to establish 'facts on the ground,' which are more properly viewed as violations of Palestinian rights, especially the establishment of extensive settlements and a separation wall constructed on occupied Palestinian territories in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These developments have been flagrantly unlawful, and made the whole treatment of the Palestinian people illegitimate, as well as the occasion of continuous intense and pervasive suffering. For decades, the Palestinian political forces have exercised their right of resistance in various ways, including the extraordinary nonviolent Intifada of 1987, but also engaging in armed resistance in defense of their territory. The Palestinians definitely enjoy a right of resistance, although subject to the limits of international humanitarian law, which rules out deliberate targeting of civilians and non-military targets. Such tactics of resistance challenge Israel at its point of maximum comparative advantage due both to its total military dominance, achieved in part by large subsidies from the United States, and to its ruthless disregard for civilian innocence.

In recent years, especially beginning with the brutal experience of the Lebanon War of 2006 and even more dramatically in the aftermath of the Israeli Invasion of Gaza in 2008-09 (Dec. 27, 2008-Jan. 18, 2009), there has been a notable change of emphasis in Palestinian strategy. The new strategy has been to initiate what might be described as a second war, 'a legitimacy war,' that is essentially based on the reliance on a variety of nonviolent tactics of resistance. Armed resistance has not been renounced by the Palestinians, but it has been displaced by this emphasis on nonviolent tactics. The essence of this legitimacy war is to cast doubt on several dimensions of Israeli legitimacy: its status as a moral and law abiding actor, as an occupying power in relation to the Palestinian people, and with respect to its willingness to respect the United Nations and abide by international law. Those that wage such a legitimacy war seek to seize the high moral ground in relation to the underlying conflict, and on this basis, gain support for a variety of coercive, but nonviolent, initiatives designed to put pressure on Israel, on governments throughout the world, and on the United Nations, to deny normal participatory rights to Israel as a member of international society. These tactics also aim to mobilize global civil society to exhibit solidarity with the Palestinian struggle to achieve legitimate rights, taking the principal form of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign (BDS) that operates throughout the entire world, which serves as a symbolic battlefield. But there are other forms of action, as well, including the Free Gaza Movement and Viva Palestina that aim specifically at symbolically breaking the blockade of food, medecine, and fuel imposed in mid-2007, a form of collective punishment that has caused great suffering for the entire 1.5 million population of the Gaza Strip, damaging the physical and mental health of all those living under occupation.

Although the UN has been a failure so far as offering protection (beyond its essential role in providing humanitarian relief in Gaza) to the Palestinians under occupations or even in relation to the implementation of Palestinian rights under international law, it is a vital site of struggle in the legitimacy war. The whole storm unleashed by the Goldstone Report involves challenging the UN to impose accountability on the Israeli political and military leadership for their alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity associated with the Gaza attacks at the end of 2008. Even if the United States shields Israelis from accountability pursuant to the procedures of the UN, including the International Criminal Court, the confirmation of allegations of criminality by the Goldstone Report is a major victory for the Palestinians in the legitimacy war, and lends credibility to calls for nonviolent initiatives throughout the world. The Goldstone Report also endorses 'Universal Jurisdiction' as a means to gain accountability, encouraging national criminal courts of any country to make use of their legal authority to hold Israeli political and military leaders criminally responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Tzipi Livni, the current Kadima opposition leader in Israel, who had been Foreign Minister during the Gaza attacks, canceled a visit to Britain after she received word that a warrant for her arrest upon arrival had been issued. Even if Israeli impunity is not overcome, the authoritativeness of the Goldstone Report lends weight to calls around the world to disrupt normal relations with Israel by boycotting cultural and academic activities, by disrupting trade relations through divestment moves or through refusals to load and unload ships and planes carrying cargo to or from Israel, and by pressuring governments to impose economic sanctions.

The historic inspiration for this legitimacy war is the anti-apartheid campaign waged with such success against the racist regime that ruled South Africa during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Undoubtedly the Palestinian political motivation to focus their energies on waging a legitimacy war came from a variety of sources: disillusionment with efforts by the UN and the United States to find a just solution for the conflict; realization that armed resistance could not produce a Palestinian victory and played into the hands of Israeli diversionary tactics by making 'terrorism' the issue; recognizing that the events in Lebanon and Gaza generated throughout the world widespread anger against Israel and sympathy for the Palestinians, which is gradually weakening earlier European and North American deference to Israel due to Jewish victimization in the Holocaust; and a growing sense that the worldwide Palestinian diaspora communities and their allies could be enlisted to join in the struggle if its essential nature was that of a legitimacy war.

Israeli official and unofficial support groups have recently recognized the threat posed to their expansionist settler colonial grand strategy by this recourse by Palestinians to a legitimacy war. Israeli think tanks have described 'the global justice movement' associated with these tactics as a greater threat to Israel than Palestinian violence, and have even castigated reliance on international law as a dangerous form of 'lawfare.' The Israeli Government and Zionist organizations around the world have joined in the battle through a massive investment in public relations activities that include propaganda efforts to discredit what is sometimes called 'the Durban approach.' As with other Israeli tactics, in their defensive approach to the legitimacy war, there is an absence of self-criticism involving an assessment of Palestinian substantive claims under international law. For Israel a legitimacy war is a public relations issue pure and simple, a matter of discrediting the adversary and proclaiming national innocence and virtue. Despite its huge advantage in resources devoted to this campaign, Israel is definitely losing the legitimacy war.

Even if the Palestinians win the legitimacy war there is no guaranty that this victory will produce the desired political results. It requires Palestinian patience, resolve, leadership, and vision, as well as sufficient pressure to force a change of heart in Israel, and probably in Washington as well. In this instance, it would seem to require an Israeli willingness to abandon the core Zionist project to establish a Jewish state, and that does not appear likely from the vantage point of the present. But always the goals of a legitimacy war appear to be beyond reach until mysteriously attained by the abrupt and totally unexpected surrender by the losing side. Until it collapses the losing side pretends to be unmovable and invincible, a claim that is usually reinforced by police and military dominance. This is what happened in the Soviet Union and South Africa, earlier to French colonial rule in Indochina and Algeria, and to the United States in Vietnam. It is up to all of us dedicated to peace and justice to do all we can to help the Palestinians prevail in the legitimacy war and bring their long ordeal to an end.

*Prof. Richard Falk - is an American professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, writer (the author or co-author of 20 books),[1] speaker, activist on world affairs, and an appointee to two United Nations positions on the Palestinian territories.

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The following short video is a geographic presentation of Israel's increased grip on Jerusalem since the occupation began in 1967. As the discussion of settlements and a 'settlement freeze' continues, it is clear than many people are unaware of the complex reality that Israel has imposed over time. In this video produced by the Palestine Center, we hope to provide a quick but detailed tool for understanding the extent of Israeli control on Occupied Jerusalem for journalists, educators and all others who seek to understand this critical issue.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v-Tpg9xN5k

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By Alan Hart* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

That U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had the courage to tell AIPAC's conference that Israel's continued construction of Jewish housing on occupied territory is undermining both the prospect for peace and America's credibility and own best interests was good news. The bad news is that this and other Obama administration expressions of concern are 42 years too late.

There's no mystery about when the U.S. should have taken the lead through the UN Security Council in putting Israel on notice that it would not be permitted to settle any of the Arab land it grabbed in the 1967 war. Security Council Resolution 242 of 22 November 1967 ought to have contained a diplomatic reading of the riot act to the Zionist state on the matter of settlements.

As I have noted in a number of previous articles and my book ZIONISM: THE REAL ENEMY OF THE JEWS, Resolution 242 was, actually, a disaster for all who were seriously interested in working for a just and lasting peace. By stating that Israeli armed forces were required to withdraw "from territories" occupied in the conflict – i.e. not the territories or better still all territories – Resolution 242 put the Israelis in the diplomatic driving seat, leaving them free to be the ones, and the only ones, who would determine (on a take it leave it basis backed by brute force) the extent of any Israeli withdrawals. This fatal flaw in 242 effectively gave Israel's leaders a veto over any peace process.

Despite that, Resolution 242 need not have been a complete disaster for peacemakers if a statement had been inserted into its text to this effect... That Israel should not seek to settle or colonise the occupied territories, and that if it did the Security Council would enforce international law and take whatever action was necessary to stop the illegal developments.

Question: Why did the text of Resolution 242 not contain such a statement of Security Council intent? The answer I give in the forthcoming Volume 3 of the American edition of my book (www.claritypress.com), is this.

Those responsible for framing Resolution 242 were very much aware that Israel's hawks were going to proceed with their colonial venture come what may – in determined defiance of international law and no matter what the organised international community said or wanted. And some if not all of those responsible for framing 242 were resigned to the fact that, because of the history of the Jews and the Nazi holocaust, Israel was not and never would or could be a normal state. As a consequence, there was no point in seeking to oblige it to behave like a normal state – i.e. in accordance with international law and its obligations as a member of the UN. Like it or not, and whatever it might mean for the fate of humankind, the world was going to have to live with the fact that there were two sets of rules – one for Israel and one for all other nations. Because of the way Israel was created – without legitimacy in international law – The System now had a double standard built into it, and because the political will to confront Zionism did not exist, there was nothing anybody could do to change that reality.

In my view a conclusion invited is that Zionism's in-Israel leaders are not the main villains in the story. They, the main villains, are successive American and other Western leaders who lacked the will and the courage not only to call and hold Zionism's monster child to account, but to do what was in the best longer term interests of their own countries.

I have the impression (of course I could be wrong!) that President Obama would like to break this mould. I even think there's a possibility that, in the privacy of his own mind, he might already have told himself that he will do so in a second term, if he has one. (Though Obama signalled his displeasure at having to meet with Netanyahu by insisting on no photographs, I thought it was a mistake for the President to meet with him. As with Biden's arrival in Israel, Netanyahu's arrival at the White House was preceded by the announcement of the go-ahead for more illegal Jewish construction in occupied Arab East Jerusalem. There could not have been a more pointed "Up Yours, Mr. President!" Israeli gesture). But what if President Obama tried and was not allowed by the Zionist lobby and its stooges in Congress to succeed? Would that necessarily mean that the Zionist state was and would remain a monster beyond control, with catastrophic consequences for the region and the whole world, including the Jews of the world?

Perhaps not.

There is today a new factor in the equation. It is the concern being raised in public by some of America's top military men.

The United States Central Command, Centcom, is the military headquarters responsible for US security interests in 20 countries across the greater Middle East.

On 16 March, Centcom's head, General David H. Petraeus, appeared before the Senate Armed-Services with a prepared testimony. It included this: "The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbours present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of US partnerships with governments and peoples in the Middle East and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world."

Petraeus also briefed Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and apparently told him, among other things, that Washington's "impotence" in the face of Israel's ongoing colonisation of the occupied West Bank was the greatest cause of Arab anger.

As noted by Paul Rogers in an article for OpenDemocracy published on 18 March, America and Israel: a historic choice, "the very arm of the United States federal government which has the closest links with Israel – namely, the military – is now suggesting that Israel is the source of some of its own key problems in the middle east."

The significance of what Petraeus said was, as Rogers also noted, heightened by the fact that the criticism came not from retired generals, not remote from the strategic frontline; "but from the very US military command that has been fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for most of the decade... This elite forms a core element of the US military-industrial complex which in five decades of close cooperation with Israel has furnished its ally with sophisticated weapons-systems, undertaken many joint exercises, provided huge amounts of aid; and in turn depended on Israel for crucial assistance in its war in Iraq."

This military intervention in the "What to do about Israel?" debate now gathering momentum in America, made me wonder if the stage is being set for a showdown, at some point, between the Zionist lobby in its many manifestations and the occupant of the White House, whoever he is, with the military on his side.

So perhaps, even after 42 years, coming up for 43, it's not too late.

* Alan Hart is a former ITN and BBC Panorama foreign correspondent who covered wars and conflicts wherever they were taking place in the world and specialized in the Middle East. Author of Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews. He blogs on www.alanhart.net and tweets on www.twitter.com/alanauthor

Related posts:

• Grant Smith – Israel’s Illegal Settlements in America
• Its Either Me or the Settlements: A Marriage on the Rocks?
• Against ‘Pro-Israel’

By Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh *

We see and meet the nicest people but we also see and meet the meanest people in Palestine. Every day here is an experience in extremes. We contrast an activist for peace in her 20s who speaks many languages with a settler who (joined by other settlers) attacks people picking their own olive trees (because he is brainwashed to believe Palestinians are not a "chosen people"). We contrast a young man getting up at 3AM to try and cross the countless hurdles to make a trek to make a living for his family with elites like Netanyahu who told members of his cabinet that “our challenge is to delegitimize the continuous attempt to delegitimize the State of Israel. The most important arena where we need to act in this context is in the arena of public opinion, which is crucial in the democratic world." We contrast the niece of Tony Blair who sacrificed so much to join and understand and sympathize with Palestinian suffering with her uncle who cares little about people and prefers to keep his VIP photo-ops tightly controlled [1].

We see a woman trying to sell a few olives which she gathered with much hard labor from a few trees after their owners had finished harvesting them (a process we call Tsayyef). We contrast that with billionaire Zionist (Russian-Israeli) tycoon sentenced in France for arms dealings worth hundreds of millions of dollars (but of course he will for now escape justice just like Sharon, Olmert, Netanyahu and Barak). Israelis who are getting rich of selling weapons and training others to kill contrast with impoverished masses of gathered Jews from around the world tricked into coming to a land that belongs to others under myths of Jewish nationhood [2]. Israel now having destroyed Palestine is merely a vehicle for elites to make billions exporting death and destruction in the Middle East and beyond while the gathered masses of Jews suffer from "what next" syndrome. What next to distract the masses with (another war, another terror incident, another attack on Al-Aqsa mosque..). Colonial settlers squat in Palestinian homes in Jerusalem while owner families are made homeless as part of the ethnic cleansing that is Israeli policy since its inception. We see Israeli soldiers and officers in smug uniforms and smiles demolishing Palestinian homes [3]. We see Israeli officers starve 1.5 million Palestinians in the largest concentration camp in history called Gaza [4]. But we also see Israeli citizens like Ezra Nawi sentenced to prison for supporting Palestinians being ethnically cleansed [5] or Shir Hever writing and speaking out about the colonial oppression that is being done in their name [6]. We see Matzpen, Zochrot, and brave Israelis like Neve Gordon and Ilan Pappe expose ethnic cleansing and racism and support the Palestinian call for boycotts, divestment and sanctions. We see internationals in Palestine like Kristel who helped spawn a movement. We see Majd who helped mobilize Palestinian youth around the world. Jamal Juma'a, Eyad Burnat, Mohammed Othman (now languishing in an Israeli jail) and hundreds more who mobilized against the apartheid wall [7].

In one day in Palestine (in 24 hours to 8 AM Oct 26): Medics obstructed and injured as Israeli troops wound and beat people defending the Al Aqsa Mosque; Israeli soldiers abduct two 15-year-olds; Zionist fanatics attack olive harvesters and set fire to olive trees; Israeli F-16s terrorize Rafah; Night peace disruption and/or home invasions in refugee camp and 5 towns and villages; 3 attacks – 19 raids – 11 beaten – 16 injured-21 taken prisoner – 17 detained – 80 restrictions of movement... [8].

Outside of Palestine, we see decent principled politicians like Turkish leaders call a spade a spade (saying that Israel must be held accountable for war crimes). But we also see leaders like Husni Mubarak in Egypt collude with the occupiers in starving 1.5 million people and we see political leaders in Jordan, Egypt, and even some Gulf States hob-knob and schmooze with Israeli war criminals in elite conferences like the world economic forum. We see a large conference was held in Madrid to support Palestine. San Francisco refused to be overshadowed by Chicago in their reception of the war criminal Ehud Olmert. Indeed they tried to arrest him! [9]. The 2009 National Campus Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Conference, taking place Nov20th - Nov 22nd at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts [10]. Anna Balzer (Jewish American) and Mustafa Barghouthi (Palestinian) will be on the daily show with Jon Stewart Wednesday 10/28 at 11 PM EST on Time Warner Cable repeats at 1:30 am EST and a few times during the day on Thursday(check local listings). [11]

We could list tens of thousands of idiotic fools going with the systems of oppression of many backgrounds (yes including some Arabs and some Palestinians). We could list tens of thousands of brilliant activists everywhere who (had we lived in a fair world) should be political leaders. We indeed have had a less violent and more just society precisely because the former idiotic group is challenged at every turn. It has always been like this (think struggle to end apartheid in South Africa, think civil rights, think labor struggles etc). The real struggle we have and we have always had is clear to anyone with eyes to see. It was said that only dead fish go with the flow. So this is not a tribal conflict but a conflict between dead fish (or living dead as it were) that go with the flow and the living diverse population who swim against the current. What always gives us hope and energy is the beauty and diversity of the activist community seeking peace. They are non-conformist, diverse, and do not march to anyone's orders (except their conscience to do what is right). Actions and the company of nice people give us hope and energy to work for a just world. Come visit us in Palestine!

1. see Quartet envoy's eight-year-old niece sees the real Palestine http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=234091

2. Inventing Israel: Historian Shlomo Sand argues that ‘Jewish peoplehood’ is a myth “The key assumptions about Israel and the Jews are indelible. Forced from Jerusalem into exile, the Jews dispersed throughout the world, always remaining attached to their ancient homeland. Psalmists wept when they remembered Zion. A people were sustained by an unflagging determination to return to their native soil. “Next year in Jerusalem!” The triumph of Zionism—the founding of Israel—is the fulfillment of that ancient vow. The Israeli Declaration of Independence states it plainly: “Eretz Yisrael was the birthplace of the Jewish people... After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people remained faithful to it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom..Now suppose that none of it is true...” http://www.tabletmag.com/news-and-politics/18203/inventing-israel/ At NYU, Shlomo Sand predicts the Jewish past and pastes the Zionists by Philip Weiss on October 17, 2009 http://mondoweiss.net/2009/10/at-nyu-devilish-shlomo-sand-predicts-the-jewish-past-and-pastes-the-zionists.html

3. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE9g9THMGTk

4. See http://www.youtube.com/gazafriends#p/a

5. See http://acrosstheborderline.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/ezra-nawi-the-face-of-israeli-human-rights-activism/

6. http://www.vimeo.com/6789827

7. http://freemohammadothman.wordpress.com/

8. Details sent in a report from a monitoring group in New Zwealand. To get on the list to receive the regular reports, write to leslie@palestine.org.nz

9. Here is the amazing video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=491GOKwrN1s 22 activists, including several CODEPINKers, were arrested (http://bit.ly/OlmertWarCriminal )

10. Find out more and register at: http://www.hsjp.org/2009/09/21/CampusBDS/

11. The video is also posted the next day at http://www.thedailyshow.com/

* Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD, A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home. Author of Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle. http://qumsiyeh.org

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• Letter to the UN on behalf of our people
• People and the Land: The Documentary Israel Tried to Block
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By Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh *

Mahfoutha Shtaya - and Olive Tree

1) The olive (Zeitoon) was pickled (rsees) and eaten and perhaps it is the only food that is found in all three meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Its nutritional value is credited with significant health benefits.

2) The olive oil (Zeit) is THE oil in Palestine. It is highly nutritious and used in dozens of recipes. The main and most common folkloric recipe going back over 3000 years is Zeit u Zaatar (also sometimes called Zeit u Dukka); the bread is dipped in olive oil then in a thyme based powder (that includes sesame seeds and spices). Thyme and Sesame and many other plans were ofcourse first domesticated and used right here in Palestine (the left wing of the fertile crescent). Olive oil was used in Palestine more extensively in the past in oil lamps, in protection of hair and skin, as a lubricant, as an insecticide, and much more.

3) The olive pits (and less so olive wood pieces) are used to make "prayer beads" that were used by both Palestinian Christians and Muslims for hundreds of years. The simple act of running fingers through these beads sometimes meditating in the process while concentrating on that feeling gives us a sense of tranquility and peace (much needed considering the circumstances of Palestine over the ages).

4) The olive wood is used to make artifacts that locals sell to pilgrims as souvenirs from the Holy Land or keep at their homes. This is true for all monotheistic traditions. Here in Bethlehem, our ancestors made a living of this as artisans for generations (my own family relied on this and agriculture as far back as we can trace to the 16th century).

5) The herds of sheep and goats rely on olive leaves and branches trimmed during this season for a significant part of their annual diet.

6) The wood was used (less so recently) as firewood. It is a hardy wood that generates much heat per unit kilogram than any other wood I know. The glass smelters in Hebreon (famous for ist stained glass artistry) used olive wood derived coals as a main energy source.

7) The olive trees gave our people shelter from the strong sun and inspired poets, lovers, painters, and prophets across the ages.

8) Even the left over material after the production of oil is recycled for energy source.

Here are a few pictures taken by my wife of our harvest, pickling and squeezing of olives to get our yearly supply of these trees: http://bit.ly/45cFYD

Olive production is always high in one year low in the next**. Last year was high, this year was low and next year (Inshallah) it will be higher barring further destruction by Israel as happened in Gaza recently. In the meantime, we still enjoy our olives and hope that you will come visit us in Palestine so that we can serve you some of the fantastic dishes that include olives or their products and we can do it under the olive trees. I also noted this interesting story of a Palestinian in China proving again that you can take Palestinians outside of Palestine but you cannot take Palestine outside of Palestinians:

China’s first olive harvest strikes oil
http://www.olives101.com/2006/05/24/chinas-first-olive-harvest-strikes-oil/

The Olive tree: a folkloric briefing from Bethlehem University
http://library.bethlehem.edu/e-turathuna/OliveTree/

Attached photo is of Mahfoutha Shtaya, 65 year old who "inspired us when she stood up to Israeli soldiers and settlers in 2004 when they were uprooting hundreds of olive trees in her village-the source of her community's livelihood. Alone and defenseless, she clung to one of the few trees left standing. Her action spoke out powerfully against the wanton destruction and its disastrous effects for an already suffering people" http://www.opendemocracy.net/blog/5050?page=7

** Olive Oil production in West Bank and Gaza in tons showing yearly cyclical change with higher production in even years:

Year -- Tons
1988 -- 31100
1989 -- 1690
1990 -- 27500
1991 -- 570
1992 -- 33700
1993 -- 525
1994 -- 18000
1995 -- 8628
1996 -- 24953
1997 -- 5500
1998 -- 22000
1999 -- 3800
2000 -- 30000
2001 -- 6686
2002 -- 31784
2003 -- 11300
2004 -- 30232

* Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD, A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home. Author of Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle.
http://qumsiyeh.org

Related posts:

• Jewish colonizers uproot Palestinian trees, replant them in illegal Israeli colony
• Video: The Color of Olives
• My Dear Olive Tree

The following international report concluding that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories "has become a colonial enterprise which implements a system of apartheid" was sent out by journalist Ben White. Another stinging statement from the report: "The Wall and its infrastructure of gates and permanent checkpoints suggest a policy permanently to divide the West Bank into racial cantons." (White's book 'Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide', will be published this summer. He can be contacted at ben@benwhite.org.uk)

Image by: Carlos Latuff

What follows are some of the highlights of the Executive Summary, but first a few observations. Describing Israel or Israeli policies in terms of apartheid has become more common in recent times, but has also provoked a strong backlash. It is interesting to note, therefore, that this study is a measured assessment written by legal experts on the specific ways in which Israel's policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) can be considered to be 'colonialism' and/or 'apartheid', as defined by international law. It is not, quite clearly and openly, saying Israel=South Africa.

The new report was carried out by the Middle East Project of the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa. The Middle East Project is:

an independent two year project of the HSRC to conduct analysis of Middle East politics relevant to South African foreign policy. Its funding was provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Government of South Africa. The analysis in this report is entirely independent of the views or foreign policy of the Government of South Africa and does not represent an official position of the HSRC. It is intended purely as a scholarly resource for the Department of Foreign Affairs and the concerned international community.

Background

In January 2007, while addressing the UN Human Rights Council in his capacity as UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, South African law Professor John Dugard asked the following question:

Israel is clearly in military occupation of the OPT. At the same time, elements of the occupation constitute forms of colonialism and of apartheid, which are contrary to international law. What are the legal consequences of a regime of prolonged occupation with features of colonialism and apartheid for the occupied people, the Occupying Power and third States?

The Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa (and specifically, their Middle East Project) "commissioned this study to test the hypothesis" put forward by Dugard. Beginning in February 2008, fifteen months of workshops, drafting, re-drafting and revision finally produced this report for publication.

Aim and focus

The aim of the project "was to scrutinise the situation from the nonpartisan perspective of international law, rather than engage in political discourse and rhetoric". The conclusion is that "Israel, since 1967, has been the belligerent Occupying Power in the OPT, and that its occupation of these territories has become a colonial enterprise which implements a system of apartheid".

The study also focuses on "the responsibility of States as a result of internationally wrongful acts", concluding:

Faced with a violation of the prohibitions of colonialism and apartheid, all States have three duties: to cooperate to end the violation; not to recognise the illegal situation arising from it; and not to render aid or assistance to the State committing it.

On the legal framework in the OPT:

"The occupied status of the West Bank was confirmed by the ICJ in the Wall advisory opinion. Israel's 'disengagement' from the Gaza Strip did not constitute the end of occupation because, despite the redeployment of its military ground forces from Gaza, it retains and exercises effective control over the territory."

"...Israel's administration of the OPT systematically breaches the law of armed conflict, both by disregarding the prohibition imposed on an Occupying Power not to alter the laws in force in occupied territory and by enforcing a dual and discriminatory legal regime on Jewish and Palestinian residents of the OPT. Israel grants to Jewish residents of the settlements in the OPT the protections of Israeli domestic law and subjects them to the jurisdiction of Israeli civil courts, while Palestinians living in the same territory are ruled under military law and subjected to the jurisdiction of military courts whose procedures violate international standards for the prosecution of justice. As a consequence of this bifurcated system, Jewish residents of the OPT enjoy freedom of movement, civil protections, and services denied to Palestinians. Palestinians are simultaneously denied the protections accorded to protected persons by international humanitarian law. This dual system has gained the imprimatur of Israel's High Court and constitutes a policy by the State of Israel to sustain two parallel societies in the OPT, one Jewish and the other Palestinian, and discriminate between these two groups by according very different rights, protections, and life chances in the same territory."

Findings on Colonialism:

"Although international law provides no single decisive definition of colonialism, the terms of the Declaration on Colonialism indicate that a situation may be classified as colonial when the acts of a State have the cumulative outcome that it annexes or otherwise unlawfully retains control over territory and thus aims permanently to deny its indigenous population the exercise of its right to self-determination. Five issues, which are unlawful in themselves, taken together make it evident that Israel's rule in the OPT has assumed such a colonial character: namely, violations of the territorial integrity of occupied territory; depriving the population of occupied territory of the capacity for self-governance; integrating the economy of occupied territory into that of the occupant; breaching the principle of permanent sovereignty over natural resources in relation to the occupied territory; and denying the population of occupied territory the right freely to express, develop and practice its culture."

"Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem is manifestly an act based on colonial intent. It is unlawful in itself..."

"By thus partitioning contiguous blocs of Palestinian areas into cantons, Israel has violated the territorial integrity of the OPT in violation of the Declaration on Colonialism."

"The economic dimension of self-determination is also expressed in the right of permanent sovereignty over natural resources, which entitles a people to dispose freely of the natural wealth and resources found within the limits of its national jurisdiction. Israel's settlement policy and the construction of the bypass road network and the Wall have deprived the Palestinian population of the control and development of an estimated 38 percent of West Bank land. It has also implemented a water management and allocation system that favours Israel and Jewish settlers in the OPT to the detriment of the Palestinian population...Moreover, it is significant that the route of the Wall is similar to the 'red line' that delineates those areas of the West Bank from which Israel can withdraw without relinquishing its control over key water resources that are used to supply Israel and the settlements."

"This study demonstrates that the implementation of a colonial policy by Israel has not been piecemeal but is systematic and comprehensive, as the exercise of the Palestinian population's right to self-determination has been frustrated in all of its principal modes of expression."

Findings on Apartheid:

"The Apartheid Convention criminalises 'inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them'. The Rome Statute criminalises inhumane acts committed in the context of, and to maintain, 'an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group.' Both focus on the systematic, institutionalised, and oppressive character of the discrimination involved and the purpose of domination that is entailed. This distinguishes the practice of apartheid from other forms of prohibited discrimination and from other contexts in which the listed crimes arise."

"It must be clear, however, that practices in South Africa are not the test or benchmark for a finding of apartheid elsewhere, as the principal instrument which provides this test lies in the terms of the Apartheid Convention itself."

"...Palestinians are subject to legal systems and courts which apply standards of evidence and procedure that are different from those applied to Jewish settlers living the OPT and that result in harsher penalties for Palestinians."

"Restrictions on the Palestinian right to freedom of movement are endemic in the West Bank, stemming from Israel's control of the OPT's checkpoints and crossings, impediments created by the Wall and its crossing points, a matrix of separate roads, and obstructive and all encompassing permit and ID systems that apply solely to Palestinians."

"The right of Palestinians to choose their own place of residence within their territory is severely curtailed by systematic administrative restrictions on Palestinian residency and building in East Jerusalem, by discriminatory legislation that operates to prevent Palestinian spouses from living together on the basis of which part of the OPT they originate from, and by the strictures of the permit and ID systems."

"Palestinians are denied their right to leave and return to their country... hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced to surrounding states from the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967 have been prevented from returning to the OPT...Palestinian residents of the OPT must obtain Israeli permission to leave the territory...Political activists and human rights defenders are often subject to arbitrary and undefined 'travel bans', while many Palestinians who travelled and lived abroad for business or personal reasons have had their residence Ids revoked and been prohibited from returning."

"Israel denies Palestinians in the OPT their right to a nationality by denying Palestinian refugees from inside the Green Line their right of return, residence, and citizenship in the State (Israel) governing the land of their birth. Israel's policies in the OPT also effectively deny Palestinians their right to a nationality by obstructing the exercise of the Palestinian right to self determination through the formation of a Palestinian State in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza Strip."

"Israeli military actions have included extensive school closures, direct attacks on schools, severe restrictions on movement, and arrests and detention of teachers and students...A segregated school system operates in the West Bank as Palestinians are not allowed to attend government funded schools in Jewish settlements."

"Israel has divided the West Bank into reserves or cantons in which residence and entry is determined by each individual's group identity. Entry by one group into the zone of the other group is prohibited without a permit. The Wall and its infrastructure of gates and permanent checkpoints suggest a policy permanently to divide the West Bank into racial cantons. Israeli government ministries, the World Zionist Organisation and other Jewish-national institutions operating as authorised agencies of the State plan, fund and implement construction of the West Bank settlements and their infrastructure for exclusively Jewish use."

"Israel has extensively appropriated Palestinian land in the OPT for exclusively Jewish use. Private Palestinian land comprises about 30 percent of the land unlawfully appropriated for Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Presently, 38 percent of the West Bank is completely closed to Palestinian use, with significant restrictions on access to much of the rest of it."

"In sum, Israel appears clearly to be implementing and sustaining policies intended to maintain its domination over Palestinians in the OPT and to suppress opposition of any form to those policies."

"The comparative analyses of South African apartheid practices...is there to illuminate, rather than define, the meaning of apartheid, and there are certainly differences between apartheid as it was applied in South Africa and Israel's policies and practices in the OPT. Nonetheless, it is significant that the two systems can be defined by similar dominant features."

"A troika of key laws underpinned the South African apartheid regime—the Population Registration Act 1950, the Group Areas Act 1950, and the Pass Laws—and established its three principal features or pillars...Israel's practices in the OPT can be defined by the same three 'pillars' of apartheid."

"The first pillar derives from Israeli laws and policies that establish Jewish identity for purposes of law and afford a preferential legal status and material benefits to Jews over non-Jews... At the root of this system are Israel's citizenship laws, whereby group identity is the primary factor in determining questions involving the acquisition of Israeli citizenship...Israeli law conveying special standing to Jewish identity is then applied extra-territorially to extend preferential legal status and material privileges to Jewish settlers in the OPT and thus discriminate against Palestinians.

"The second pillar is reflected in Israel's grand policy to fragment the OPT for the purposes of segregation and domination....That these measures are intended to segregate the population along racial lines in violation of Article 2(d) of the Apartheid Convention is clear from the visible web of walls, separate roads, and checkpoints, and the invisible web of permit and ID systems, that combine to ensure that Palestinians remain confined to the reserves designated for them while Israeli Jews are prohibited from entering those reserves but enjoy freedom of movement throughout the rest of the Palestinian territory."

"...the policy of geographic fragmentation has the effect of crushing Palestinian socio-economic life, securing Palestinian vulnerability to Israeli economic dominance, and of enforcing a rigid segregation of Palestinian and Jewish populations."

"The third pillar upon which Israel's system of apartheid in the OPT rests is its 'security' laws and policies. The extrajudicial killing, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of Palestinians, as described under the rubric of Article 2(a) of the Apartheid Convention, are all justified by Israel on the pretext of security.

"This study does not contend that Israel's claims about security are by definition lacking in merit; however, Israel's invocation of 'security' to validate severe policies and disproportionate practices toward the Palestinians often masks the intent to suppress Palestinian opposition to a system of domination by one racial group over another. Thus, while the individual practices listed in the Apartheid Convention do not in themselves define apartheid, these practices do not occur in the OPT in a vacuum, but are integrated and complementary elements of an institutionalised and oppressive system of Israeli domination and oppression over Palestinians as a group; that is, a system of apartheid."

"This discriminatory treatment cannot be explained or excused on grounds of citizenship, both because it goes beyond what is permitted by ICERD and because certain provisions in Israeli civil and military law provide that Jews present in the OPT who are not citizens of Israel also enjoy privileges conferred on Jewish-Israeli citizens in the OPT by virtue of being Jews. Consequently, this study finds that the State of Israel exercises control in the OPT with the purpose of maintaining a system of domination by Jews over Palestinians and that this system constitutes a breach of the prohibition of apartheid."

Implications and Recommendations:

"The legal consequences of these findings are grave and entail obligations not merely for Israel but also for the international community as a whole."

"Israel bears the primary responsibility for remedying the illegal situation it has created. In the first place, it has the duty to cease its unlawful activity and dismantle the structures and institutions of colonialism and apartheid that it has created. Israel is additionally required by international law to implement duties of reparation, compensation and satisfaction in order to wipe out the consequences of its unlawful acts."

"Breaches of peremptory norms, which involve a gross or systematic failure by the responsible State to fulfil the obligations they impose, generate derivative obligations for States and intergovernmental organisations of cooperation and abstention. States, and intergovernmental organisations, must cooperate to bring to an end any and all serious breaches of peremptory norms."

"States must not recognise as lawful situations created by serious breaches of peremptory norms nor render aid or assistance in maintaining that situation. In particular, States must not recognise Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem or its attempt to acquire territory in the West Bank through the consolidation of settlements, nor may they bolster the latter's economic viability. Should any State fail to fulfil its duty of abstention then it risks becoming complicit in Israel's internationally wrongful acts, and thus independently engaging its own responsibility, with all the legal consequences of reparation that this entails...If a State aids or assists another State in maintaining that unlawful situation, knowing it to be unlawful, then it becomes complicit in its commission and itself commits an internationally wrongful act.

"States cannot evade their international obligations by hiding behind the independent personality of an international organisation of which they are members."

"Accordingly we respectfully suggest that, in accordance with Article 96 of the Charter of the United Nations and pursuant to Article 65 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, an advisory opinion be urgently requested on the following question:

Do the policies and practices of Israel within the Occupied Palestinian Territories violate the norms prohibiting apartheid and colonialism; and, if so, what are the legal consequences arising from Israel's policies and practices, considering the rules and principles of international law, including the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 (1960), the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, and other relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions?

Source: Mondoweiss

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Well, talk is one thing, action another. 92 of 164 settlements expanded or redrawn...

"A short drive along West Bank roads demonstrates that talk is one thing, action another; while the government talks about "a political horizon," in the form of two states, Israel's actions on the ground and its scandalous failings are pushing this solution off toward the horizon.

A new report from Peace Now, details of which appeared this past Friday in Haaretz, reveals the jurisdictions of 92 out of 164 settlements, outposts and industrial zones in the West Bank were expanded or redrawn after the Oslo Accords.

The report, which relies on Civil Administration data, further discloses that merely 9 percent of all areas under the settlements' jurisdiction have been built on, and just another 12 percent has been put to some use. Furthermore, despite the broad areas under their jurisdiction, 90 percent of the settlements exceed their jurisdictions, and about a third of the areas that settlements effectively control are outside their jurisdictions - for the most part on Palestinian land. ..."

Via: Haaretz (Hat tip: David Cohen)

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In a raid on the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, police found equipment used to manufacture bullet casings, as well as reference books on how to manufacture weapons and explosives. Police also found 15 Uzi semiautomatic rifles, three of which had been restored to function properly. Police have yet to determine what the weapons were intended for, and if they were to be used in a terrorist or criminal plot. The prime suspect, a secular Jew of Russian origin, apparently was not acting out of ideological motives.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/873744.html

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Destroying and stealing Palestinians lands, crops and trees is nothing new to Israel occupation and the Jewish colonizers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
When I read today that settlers uprooted 300 Palestinian olive trees and replanted them in their outpost (Palestinian stolen land) I was not surprised (story below), but reminded me of the following video clip, which is AGAIN, not of the type that you might ever see on your 'late news show'.

Israel destroys trees in Ertas village:
by yoyacov@gmail.com (Via: PalCast Video)

Israeli soldiers destroy Palestinian fruit trees in Ertas village near Bethlehem to make way for the sewage facilities of a nearby illegal Israeli settlement. Despite the Palestinians inviting the soldiers for tea, their trees, from which they earn their living, are uprooted the next morning.

Click To Play

And from today's Haaretz news:

A Civil Administration inquiry has found that residents of the West Bank settlement outpost of Adei Ad uprooted 300 olive trees belonging to Palestinian farmers about a week ago and replanted about half of them in the outpost, according to a source in the Civil Administration.

The source said the settlers planted some of the uprooted trees along the outpost's access road and some inside the community, although the regional council says the orchard had been worked by Jews for years.

"An investigation was carried out, and the Adei Ad residents' claim that the trees belong to them was refuted," the source said. "What they did was illegal."

Haaretz has learned that the Civil Administration asked Adei Ad residents to replant the trees in their original locations. The Civil Administration source said Thursday that if this instruction is not carried out by next week, "the Civil Administration will do this itself."
Dozens of mature olive trees bearing signs of having been uprooted were planted in Adei Ad, located near the settlement of Shvut Rachel.

Pinchas Wallerstein, chair of the Benjamin Regional Council, said the trees are from an olive orchard that "has been worked for years by employees and relatives of the recently deceased Yossi Schoker." Since the orchard did not bear fruit this year, he said, it was decided to uproot and replant it.

"Residents of Adei Ad asked for and received permission to use the uprooted tree to landscape their community. Any other version is utter nonsense," said Wallerstein. "That orchard was worked by Jews for years. Olives from that orchard were in last year's Olive Festival with Civil Administration permission, and the military prohibited Palestinians from coming close to that land, because they knew that Jews worked it."

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The silent ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Hebron never stopped since the Israeli occupation landed. Following are few examples of the endless crimes conducted by Hebron colonizers (a.k.a. settlers) and their terrorist army (IOF), against land and Palestinian families, documented and published by B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.

Introduction: The "quiet transfer" in Hebron:

Hebron is the only Palestinian city with a Jewish settlement at its heart. To enable a few hundred settlers to move about freely, Israel chose to enforce a formal policy of discrimination against more than 120,000 Palestinian residents of the city. Throughout the years Hebron city center became a ghost town.

The Rooftops of Hebron:

In 2000, the army closed Shohada Street , in Hebron , to Palestinians and sealed the entrances to the houses on the street. To leave her home, Malka Kafisha had to climb up through the roofs of neighboring houses.

Imagine if this family has some emergency and they want to take someone to doctor, say. The door is "welded". They are prisoners inside their house while the Jewish colonizers are freely walking in the street.

Harvesting olives, Harvesting a Storm:

On 26 Oct. 06, Hashem al-'Aza, one of the last remaining Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeida, set off to harvest his olive trees. The settlers, who view his property as their own, came to stop him.

Error: A main street in Hebron "closed by mistake"

The main street in Hebron's commercial area has been closed to Palestinians since 2000. The army closed all the shops and sealed the doors at the entrances to the houses. Six years later, three Palestinians "TRY" to cross the street.

What is this called? RACISM? I don't think there is enough words in the dictionary to describe what the Zionists are doing in Palestine.

Tel Rumeida, Hebron:

In the center of the city of Hebron lies the "Tel Rumeida" neighborhood. In 1986, a new settlement was established at the heart of the neighborhood. The settlers of Tel Rumieda, who known as particularly extreme, live on one side of a dead-end street... The Abu Eisha family lives on the other side.

That was a small sample of Palestinian's lives in Hebron under the force of the apartheid occupation state called "Israel".

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By now, most of you have heard of Azmi Bishara. If not, Dr. Bishara is the Head of the National Democratic Assembly political party in Israel, a Christian Palestinian and a citizen of Israel who USED to represents Israel's Palestinian minority in the Knesset until few days ago.

In this remarkable 30 minutes speech presented at the City Club couple of years ago, Bishara discusses the last question of colonialism and its distinctive features that make it unique.

The talk is followed by another 20 minutes of heated question and answer exchange with the audience, however, the most important part of the whole thing from my point of view are the definitions, which he represented from a Palestinian point of view for terms like Conflict, Terrorism, Colonialism, Occupation, Liberation, Revolution, History, Violence, Targeting Civilians, Bad Guys, Liberal Occupation, Superiority, Demographic bomb, Racism, Right to Exist, Fundamentalism etc...

Don't miss it:

Few days ago, Danny Rubinstein wrote at Haaretz saying:

Is Bishara the 'Palestinian Herzl'?

The recent affair concerning the criminal investigation of MK Azmi Bishara, the Israeli Arab Balad party chairman who has left the country, has spawned a multitude of journalistic reports and commentaries. Palestinian political commentator Hassan al-Batal went as far as to write that the lawmaker "could have become the Palestinian Herzl," referring to the founder of Zionism.

The Arab media as a whole have applauded him. A journalist from the Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat interviewed a young woman from southern Lebanon, who predicted that Bishara would one day become president of the Palestinian state. He reminded her that Bishara was a member of the Israeli Knesset, and that he belonged to the Palestinian Christian minority. She was unfazed, insisting that he was the best choice precisely because of his intimate knowledge of "Zionist fascism."

And he concluded by saying:

In this case, the struggle in store for the Arabs of the occupied territories would be directed to achieving equal rights and equality within the State of Israel. This would include establishing full unity between them and the Arab Israeli minority - a unity that does not exist today. If that happens, then who knows what will occur: Azmi Bishara could very well go down in history as the "Palestinian Herzl."

Bishara studies at Humboldt University in Germany, is head of the philosophy department at Bir Zeit University, and is senior researcher at the Van-Leer Institute in Jerusalem.

Israelis as well Palestinians need a leader like this man. A humanist, a democrat and a liberal man who can lead both people to peace. He has all the ingredients . He is not Jew, he is not Muslim, he is Israeli by nationality, Palestinian by origin, and he knows what it takes to make peace in the Holy Land.

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Let’s take some actions tonight:

1. Write to them:

The upcoming attack on Iran is (mis)calculated by the same war mongers (perhaps we should start calling it Zionist/military/industrial complex who hijacked the US government and both major parties in the US). They do not know what they will be unleashing but think foolishly that it would save Israeli colonial ventures and their ventures to pillage the natural resources of other countries. For this to succeed, they think military might and the collusion of the mainstream media are sufficient. For example, while most media outlets vilified the Holy Land Foundation, there has been almost no coverage of the trial and the fabricated evidence presented (rare story in LA Times: Evidence against Muslim charity appears fabricated). They again underestimate people (although obviously far more people need to wake up and realize what is going on; silence is complicity). Thus they created and perpetuated the myth of Muslim support for terror and in so doing began to awaken the Muslim masses.

It is not a coincidence then that Arab are cracking down on democratic opposition. It is also not a coincidence that Israel is putting the largest remaining Palestinian city (Nablus) under curfew and engaging in pogroms outside of any media scrutiny. But we also see Russia saying it is time to lift the siege on the Palestinian people and support the Palestinian Unity Government. But the European Union which has traditionally succumbed to US policy is equivocating (but France urges world to back Palestinian accord).

ACTION: If you live in the EU, then write to them - http://www.writetothem.com/ [Hat tip: Mazin Qumsiyeh] and tell them that Palestinian Unity Government is a democratic elected one and that Palestinians deserve to live in peace (as well as Jews in Palestine). Urge them to left the embargo on Palestinian Authority and support peace.

2. Join “One Million Blogs for Peace”:

The Concept

Between 20 March 2007 and 20 March 2008 (the fifth year of the war), there is an attempt to sign up One Million Blogs for Peace.

Bloggers may take The Pledge and sign up before the launch date of 30 March 2007 and will be declared an “Inblogural” (Inaugural Blog) of the movement.

The Pledge

I believe in the immediate withdrawal of all foreign combat troops from the nation of Iraq. I believe in using my blog, in whole or in part, as a tool toward this end.

Who’s Eligible

For the official count (toward 1,000,000), a blog must be based in the home country of a nation currently engaged in the Iraq War. As of now, those nations are: Albania, Australia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

Additional blogs from other nations may list themselves as “Support Blogs”. While not counting toward the 1,000,000 count, these blogs will be eligible to participate in some of the challenges and will be listed in their own section.

One Million Blogs for Peace
Tuesday, March 20th 2007
Everywhere (Online), USA

One Million Blogs for Peace is an attempt to sign up 1,000,000 blogs in opposition to the Iraq War during the war’s fifth year. During the next 30 days, you have the opportunity to sign up your blog as an “Inblogural” (inaugural blog) as part of this movement.

One Million Blogs for Peace is located at:
http://bluepyramid.org/peace
and
http://blogsforpeace.org

Location:
Online Everywhere (Online)

Contact:
Storey Clayton
storey@bluepyramid.org

ACTION: Support Peace! Go here for registration. [Hat tip: Robin]

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