Sabbah Report » Edward Said

Netanyahu Rejects Peace After Hamas and Fatah Reconciliation

Stephen Lendman — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:09:41 +0000

Sham Israeli peace negotiations were stillborn from inception. Writer Henry Siegman once called them "the most spectacular deception in modern diplomatic history."

Netanyahu once said they're "a waste of time." Previous Israeli officials called occupation and status quo conditions "permanent."

Republican presidential aspirant Newt Gingrich calls Palestinians an "invented" people. Decades ago, former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (a transplanted Ukrainian American) said:

"There is no such thing as a Palestinian people. It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn't exist....How can we return the occupied territories? There is nobody to return them to."

No wonder Edward Said once called the occupation an "atrocity" and the peace process "a disheartening bloody impasse.....to reduce the Palestinian actuality to nil, to efface Palestinians as a people with legitimate rights, to render them alien in their own land."

Israeli repression reached new extremes under Netanyahu. His government is Israel's worst ever. He exceeds the worst of Ariel Sharon and previous hard-line leaders.

On December 25, Haaretz writer Barak Ravid headlined, "Netanyahu: Israel will not negotiate with Palestinians should Hamas join government," saying:

Netanyahu vowed no talks if Fatah and Hamas unite for all Palestinians. In a speech at a conference for Israeli ambassadors, he said:

"If Hamas joins the Palestinian government, we will not hold negotiations with the Palestinian Authority....The peace process can only advance while maintaining security arrangements, which is becoming more difficult in light of the current situation in the region."

In April, Hamas and Fatah announced reconciliation and plans for transitional government ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections within a year to produce unity. Currently, they're set for May 2012.

Netanyahu reacted angrily saying, "choose between peace with Israel or peace with Hamas." Reconciliation shows "weakness," he added. "There cannot be peace" if both sides unite. "What happened....in Cairo is a tremendous blow to peace and a great victory for terrorism."

Despite reservations on both sides, signing ceremony comments signaled hope. Abbas suggested turning a page, saying:

"Four black years have affected the interests of Palestinians. Now we meet to assert a unified will. Israel is using the Palestinian reconciliation as an excuse to evade (peace. It) must choose between peace and settlement."

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said:

"Hamas was ready to pay any price for internal Palestinian reconciliation. The only battle of the Palestinians is against Israel. Our aim is to establish a free and completely sovereign Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza strip, whose capital is Jerusalem, without any settlers and without giving up a single inch of land and without giving up on the right of return."

In mid-December, Abbas and Mashaal met again in Cairo after Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) membership plans.

They'll form a committee ahead of next May's presidential, parliamentary and Palestinian National Council (PLC) elections. Once held, they'll join the PLO as sole legitimate Palestinian representative.

Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded supportively, saying "Moscow welcomes the serious talks between the Palestinian factions that aim to end Palestinian division."

According to the Turkish Anatolian news agency, so did Ankara. It also praised Egypt's sponsoring role.

On December 24, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero announced full support, saying:

"This is an important element for the unity of the future State of Palestine, and in that sense, this reconciliation is in Israel's future interests."

He added that reconciliation depends on Israel ending Gaza's siege, as well as both sides denouncing violence and respecting past agreements.

During Bethlehem's Christmas midnight mass, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal called Palestinian self-determination the main thrust for achieving peace, adding:

"We ask for peace for the Palestinian people and for the Israeli people. We ask for peace, stability and security for the entire Middle East so that our children and their children may live their childhood in innocence, in a healthy environment where they may play together without fear or complex."

Israel and Washington, of course, remain significant obstacles very much unresolved.

Unity Discussions Scheduled to Continue

In late January, unity discussions will continue to select transitional government members until elections. In February, Palestine's parliament will resume operations.

At issue is Israel's response. Elections in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem depend on cooperation. In 2005, Israel manipulated the process for Abbas.

Leading opposition figure Marwan Barghouti was imprisoned on bogus murder charges. In addition, Mustafa Barghouti's candidacy was sabotaged for "demand(ing) total and complete reform, (ending all) form(s) of corruption, (and) mismanagement, and (working to) consolidate the rule of law."

As a result, Israel arrested him while campaigning, expelled him from East Jerusalem, excluded him from Nablus and Gaza, harassed and intimidated him repeatedly, and effectively rigged the process for Abbas.

In 2012, Israel may either prevent Palestinian elections with Hamas candidates or sabotage them to assure Israeli-friendly officials only gain power.

Another obstacle involves registering Palestinians worldwide to participate and letting them vote in PLO mission offices. Doing so depends on cooperation from countries where they live.

The PNC will have 350 delegates, 150 from the Territories and 200 diaspora ones. PNC Chairman Salim Zanoun has his hands full. He heads a committee charged with making this possible. Doing so's not easy. Nor is it for millions of occupied Palestinians or diaspora ones prevented from returning home.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Palestinians worldwide number 11.22 million as of year end 2011. About 4.23 million live in Palestine (including 1.6 million in Gaza), another 1.37 million in Israel, 4.99 million in Arab countries, and around 636,000 in other countries.

PCBS also said 44% of those in Palestine are refugees - 42% in the West Bank and 58% in Gaza. Numerous others live in Arab countries, notably Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

Ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's extremism is also troubling. Repeatedly he said Israel won't return to 1967 borders. Settlement expansions will continue, and doing so's no obstacle to peace. In fact, they violate international law and obstruct any possibility of resolution.

Targeting Hamas at Israel's Behest

Baseless accusations are Israel's stock in trade. In January 1995, at its behest, the State Department duplicitously declared Hamas a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Its emergence began after 1967. In the late 1970s, Israel offered financial aid to counterbalance PLO influence. During the first Intifada (1987 - 1993), it gained prominence. Israel remained supportive.

At issue was manipulating both sides to prevent peace. Like America, Israel needs enemies to justify conflict and violence. Hamas was chosen strategically to advance Palestinian divisions.

In Arabic, Hamas means courage and bravery. Since established, it's resisted oppression and occupation. It prefers negotiation and international consensus, not violence.

However, its charter says it'll fight for its rights if Israel prevents peaceful reconciliation. It rejects Zionist intentions to destroy Palestinian society, its values and "wipe out Islam."

It calls itself "a humane movement, which cares for human rights and is committed to the tolerance inherent in Islam as regards attitudes towards other religions. It is only hostile to those who are hostile towards it....(Under Islam) it is possible for the members of the three religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism to coexist in safety and security" as long as other religions "desist from struggling against Islam over sovereignty in this region."

It wants peace, equity and justice for all Palestinians. It prefers negotiating on the basis of "hudnah" or temporary truce. It's founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, said Hamas would end its liberating struggle "if the Zionists ended their occupation of Palestinian territories and stopped killing Palestinian women, children and innocent civilians."

It current leaders are willing to recognize Israel in return for self-determination in peace inside pre-1967 borders - 22% of historic Palestine. Moreover, numerous times it agreed to unilateral ceasefires in spite of repeated Israeli violations.

Nonetheless, it responses defensively after continued provocations. Washington and Israel call it "terrorism." Under international law, it's legitimate self-defense.

Besides being Palestine's legitimate government, Hamas provides vital social services, including medical clinics, education, free meals for children, help for orphans, financial and technical assistance for homeless families, aid to refugees, special youth and sports clubs, and more as their resources allow.

It also maintains an elite military wing for self-defense, policing and security, the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades.

It wants equitable peace and reconciliation. So do Arabs and Jews. Israel and its Washington paymaster/partner choose violence. That Gordian Knot remains to be cut.

* Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon.

Egypt’s Focus Largely Ignores Palestine

Stephen Lendman — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 15:42:20 +0000

Illustration by Carlos Latuff

By Stephen Lendman * | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

In fact, repression throughout the Middle East is largely ignored except some reporting on protests in Tunisia, Yemen, Jordan, and Algeria, but they've faded with focus mainly on Egypt.

Though important, most Arabs live in 21 other countries and territories from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Horn of Africa and Indian Ocean on two continents. Their combined populations approach 340 million people, most of them denied freedom and dignity for centuries.

Their plight stretched from Ottoman 16th century rule through WW I, then British and French control, and now America and Israel. They're ruling hegemon partners, mainly Washington, of course, allied with its key regional partner. Together, they virulently oppose Arab nationalism and democratic freedoms. Edward Said once explained that:

"The basic premise of Arab nationalism in the broad sense is that, with all their diversity and pluralism of substance and style, the people whose language and culture are Arab and Muslim (the Arabic-speaking peoples) constitute a nation and not just a collection of states scattered between North Africa and the western boundaries of Iran."

However, any "independent articulation of that premise was openly attacked," by the French, British, Americans, and Israelis through wars and repressive occupation and dispossession of indigenous Palestinian people.

Washington and Israel especially remain deeply hostile to Arab nationalism and attempts to unify Arabs politically. Their goal, in fact, is divide, conquer and control, redrawing the Middle East to suit imperial, not Arab interests. They thrive on "Arab fragmentation, collective inaction, and military and economic weakness," Said explained.

He also said Arabs largely never achieved collective independence in "whole or in part" because outside powers coveted their lands and resources. For over half a century, in fact, Washington based its Middle East agenda on three policies:

supporting Israel;
controlling regional oil supplies; and
assuring Arab states remain reliable vassals, Egypt especially as the region's lynchpin but also Palestine under leaders it controls along with Israel.

Said called it "an unprecedented crisis. Unprecedented means are therefore required to confront" what he said was "a wholesale attack....by an imperial power, America, that acts in concert with Israel, to pacify, subdue, and finally reduce (Arab peoples) to a bunch of warring fiefdoms whose first loyalty is not to their people but to the great superpower" under puppet rulers enriching themselves at their expense.

Kings do it. Shekh leaders do it. Mubarak did it, and so don't Mahmoud Abbas, Salam Fayyad and other key Palestinian Authority (PA) fellow travelers, profiting at their own people's expense as reliable Israeli enforcers.

In fact, they cooperate actively in pursuing, facilitating, or ignoring systematic attacks against civilians and property in Occupied Palestinian communities. As a result, a typical week resembles late January through early February, including:

PA security forces arresting targeted figures, including Hamas members;
Israeli settlers, with impunity, killing two Palestinian civilians, wounding a third in Nablus and Hebron;
an IDF explosive killing a Gaza child;
its forces targeting Palestinian workers, farmers, children and fishermen in Gazan waters;
using brute force against peaceful protesters, causing injuries and at times deaths;
bombing tunnels south of Rafah numerous times, causing more of them;
other bombings of a Gaza medicine factory, setting it ablaze, and attacking a metal workshop in northern Gaza; at least 10 injuries overall were reported;
announced plans for an electric security barrier to wall off Egypt; and
Israel forces making 31 lawless incursions into Palestinian West Bank communities, arresting 23 civilians, including seven children and a PA representative.

Moreover, Gaza remains besieged over seven months after Israel's Security Cabinet's decision to ease closure. As a result, reconstruction is severely impeded, including the rebuilding of schools, hospitals, residential neighborhoods, and vital civilian infrastructure.

In addition, food insecurity as well as high unemployment and poverty rates remain major concerns. Also, virtually all exports are banned, exacerbating dire economic conditions, worsened because Israel severely restricts entry of humanitarian organizations, international diplomats, journalists, and others wanting to assess conditions or help.

In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, daily life involves severe movement and speech restrictions, including 585 permanent roadblocks, manned and unmanned checkpoints, and closure or militarized control of around two-thirds of all main roads between 18 Palestinian communities. Overall, about 500 km of West Bank roads are restricted, and about one-third of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is inaccessible to Palestinians without IDF-issued (very hard to get) permits.

This is how police states work, daily responsible for crimes against humanity, especially against those who dare resist. As a result, Palestinians suffer grievously, largely out of sight and mind, more than ever perhaps with world attention on Egypt.

For them, daily life involves militarized repression, police state harshness even more brutal than Mubarak's because the entire population suffers, especially besieged Gazans, suffocating under near total closure for over three and a half years, except for restricted exceptions.

On February 7, IRIN, OCHA's humanitarian news and analysis service said Egypt's uprising exacerbated Gaza's humanitarian crisis because Rafah crossing and tunnels have been closed. It explained that:

"The problem is getting fuel to the border inside Egypt. There are no military forces on the Egyptian side....so smugglers are getting hijacked on the road from Cairo and all their stuff (is) stolen. It's very dangerous for them...."

"There is nothing coming through the tunnels now." Only limited fuel amounts are available at triple the recent price. Without relief, it means "no cars, but also no electricity," that's already in short supply, forcing widespread use of fuel-powered generators.

Hospitals are also affected. Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest, has less than a week's supply of fuel, creating a potentially critical situation. A senior intensive care unit nurse expressed great concern, saying:

"This unit, especially, is entirely dependent on electricity. If there's a power cut we have to operate the ventilators manually before the generator kicks in. There are power cuts here for four hours every day. It will be impossible to keep people alive without our generators - the monitors, the ventilators, everything - will be gone."

Bassam Abu Hamad, a senior Gaza health consultant, also said greater closure puts lives at risk, adding:

"People in need of radiotherapy, and advanced surgery in particular, are simply unable to get treatment. While Rafah is closed, we will see increased loss of life here in Gaza."

Already prices have skyrocketed, affecting fuel, food, other consumer goods, and the limited amounts of available building materials.

On February 9, IRIN said tunnels resumed supplying petrol, a week after it was cut off. However, Egypt's crisis means everything is uncertain, including high prices making vital supplies unaffordable for many. In addition, Rafah remains closed, affecting patients unable to reach Egypt for treatment. WHO's Gaza officer in charge, Mahmoud Daher said:

"In cases of closure, like we're seeing now," patients without Israeli permits to leave "struggle to get adequate health care in Gaza. The longer Rafah remains closed, the higher the possibility that these patients' prognosis will be affected. This is a very worrying situation." It promises to stay that way as Egypt's uprising shows no signs of ebbing.

On February 9, Al Jazeera said Egyptian labor unions went on nationwide strike, supporting street protesters. Around 20,000 factory workers were involved. Demonstrators held signs saying "Closed until the fall of the regime."

Correspondent Stefanie Dekker said there's "even an Internet campaign aimed at mobilizing thousands of expatriates to return and support the uprising." Activist Ahmad Salah told Al Jazeera that protesters are "more emboldened by the day....This is a growing movement, it's not shrinking."

Whether or not Egyptians prevail, besieged Gazans face increasing hardships heading toward crisis conditions if essential supplies and services remain spotty or unaffordable. Yet media reports largely ignore them. Even Al Jazeera offers only occasional accounts.

A brief February 9 one headlined, "Egypt events spark Gaza fuel panic," saying Gazans scrambled to make due best they can in coverage running barely over two minutes compared to hours devoted to Egypt.

It's nothing new for Palestinians. They've suffered mostly in silence. Major media coverage largely ignored them for decades, except during two Intifadas and Israeli wars when unjustly they were called terrorists, not heroic freedom fighters, struggling for rights long denied them.

They still do out of sight and mind in most Western societies, especially Americans given carefully filtered managed news, infotainment and junk food news. It leaves large majorities out of touch and uninformed, believing fantasies opposite of realities, including aggressive wars called liberating ones against people only yearning to be free.

A Final Comment

It's no exaggeration saying millions across North African and Middle East countries harbor decades of pent up anger, expressed powerfully by courageous Egyptians after 16 days of protest showing no signs of ebbing. It's also true that Washington maneuvers plan new faces under old policies, creating the impression of change, a longstanding scheme initiated numerous previous times, usually successfully, and odds favor it this time.

As a result, it's hard distinguishing between pro and anti-reformists pretending to want change, perhaps including made for television heros. The latest one comes to mind without knowing whether or not he's credible. At least, be wary. Accept nothing at face value. What's portrayed publicly may be more fiction than fact, so viewers should demand proof. Without it, remember numerous past times manufactured heros were fakes, but don't conclude it arbitrarily.

The latest one comes to mind - Wael Ghonim, Google's regional head of marketing the New York Times called "emotive and handsome....the movement's icon," quoting Professor Ibrahim el-Bahrawy (a former ruling party member) saying, "His emotions exploded. I was very, very moved."

Who, in fact, is Ghonim, a fair question since he practically emerged out of thin air, and overnight become a prime catalyst of revolt? He's Google's Middle East/North Africa head of marketing, who in January, created the Facebook "We Are All Khaled Said" page, honoring the young Egyptian blogger beaten to death by police last June.

Operated anonymously as "El Shaheed" (the martyr), the page helped rally anti-government protests beginning on January 25. On January 27, Ghonim went missing, his same day Twitter feed saying:

"Pray for #Egypt. Very worried as it seems that government is planning a war crime tomorrow against people. We are all ready to die #Jan.25."

For days, no one knew his whereabouts until learned authorities held him. On February 7, 12 days later, he emerged unharmed, and on Dream 2, a private Egyptian channel, gave a highly emotional interview, admitting he administered the Facebook page.

He also created Mohammed ElBaradei's official web site, the former IAEA head who suddenly parachuted into Egypt after living outside his native country for 30 years. Did he come voluntarily, or was he brought, perhaps serving America's imperial agena, another unanswered question.

For many in them, Egypt's jails operate like roach motels, those entering disappear after lengthy torture/ interrogations. Ghonim, however, said he wasn't harmed, just kept blindfolded incommunicado, his family unaware what happened.

After release, he said many others contributed to the Facebook page, adding, "This was a revolution of the youth of all of Egypt. I'm not a hero," endearing him to protesters.

Though so far no evidence suggests it, at issue is whether a Google executive "Internet activist," in fact, was enlisted for his role. If so, it wouldn't be the first time made-for-television heros were, in fact, villains. Hopefully, he's not the latest, but be wary until known for sure.

* Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon.

Interview with Mustafa Barghouti

SR Editor — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 20:56:56 +0000

Interview by Schmok

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti

On Thursday 27 January 2011, Schmok held an interview with civil rights activist and President of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS), Dr. Mustafa Barghouti at his office in Ramallah. Limited capacity and a few mishaps prevented us from publishing the material any earlier.

Barghouti, together with the late Edward Said and others, is a co-founder of Palestinian National Initiative (Al-Mubadara) – a social democratic and reformist organization founded in 2002 which was incorporated into the Socialist International (SI) in 2008. The Al-Mubadara sees itself as a movement of the so-called Third Way, i.e. as an alternative to the PLO and Hamas. Dr. Mustafa Barghouti is a critic of the PLO and is committed to a peaceful resistance against the Israeli occupation and the continuing settlement construction.

In 2005 Barghouti ran for the presidential elections and with almost 20 per cent of the votes came out second behind PLO chairman Mahmud Abbas. He received support from the PFLP for the election which decided against sending one of their own contestants into the race.

In contrast, the Independent list, comprised of Al-Mubadara and some independent candidates, was much less successful in the elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006: only Barghouti and one other representative won a seat while Hamas emerged victorious.

Whether the Al-Mubadara will be able to benefit from the current weakness and failure of the PLO will become apparent in the next election.

In this interview Dr. Barghouti addresses the current economic situation in the West Bank, the failed peace process, the Palestine Papers and the responsibility of the international community for the continued occupation and situation of the Palestinians.

Part 1:

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zjtS0rnYCw

Part 2:

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Z0Ww7_KBE

Source: Schmok

New History or a New Mirage

Antoine Raffoul — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 13:29:10 +0000

By Antoine Raffoul * | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

Edward Said

A recent reading of an old article written by the late Edward Said, the well-known Palestinian author, writer and cultural critic, revealed a rare meeting in Paris to discuss the core issues of the Palestine/Israel conflict. The participants were Israel's rising 'new' historians at the time (professor Ilan Pappe, Benny Morris, Itamar Rabinowitch and Zeev Sternhell) and their Palestinian counterparts (Elie Sanbar, Nur Masalha and Said himself).

In the article, Edward Said noted that during the informal discussions which took place, the Israeli side (with the rare exception of professor Pappe) spoke of 'the need for detachment, critical distance and reflective calm', while the Palestinian was 'much more urgent, more severe and even emotional in its insistence on the need for a new history'.

Said's article touched on the core subject of the meeting: the need to look at the history of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict from the Palestinian point of view and to bring to the fore the events that lead to the 1948 Palestinian Nakba. Despite the attempt by some of the Israeli historians to admit that 'an injustice' may have been committed by the Israelis in 1948, the belief amongst most of them was that it was 'a necessary conquest'. Only professor Pappe spoke with powerful eloquence delivering, in Said's words, 'an espousal of the Palestinian point of view and...[providing] the most iconoclastic and brilliant of the Israeli interventions'.

Yes, the Israelis in Paris said, they wanted peace, but, no, they did not inflict the Nakba of 1948 on the Palestinians.

Again, Edward Said wrote, with the exception of professor Pappe, the rest of the Israeli team members, showed a 'profound contradiction, bordering on schizophrenia that informs their work'. They seemed to hesitate 'when pushed hard by either Pappe or by the Palestinians'.

The Paris meeting took place in early May 1998. The Oslo euphoria was still in the air and (hold your breath) Benyamin Netanyahu was enjoying his first term as Israel's Prime Minister (1996-1999). Under him, Israel held all the Palestinian territories occupied by force in 1948, 1949 and 1967 (and for those who need a reminder, that's ALL of historic Palestine); it had the most formidable military power in the region; it dictated all the rules of occupation on an occupied civilian population in the OPT and it had the luxury of time and space at its disposal.

Slow forward seven years to May 2005, when George W. Bush was claiming the mantle of yet another failed peace process (on the back of his criminal invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan) and Sharon was bulldozing his way through the Palestinian Territories with his Apartheid Wall. Professor Pappe wrote a devastatingly insightful article entitled: "The Palestine Peace Process: Unlearned Lessons of History". This article echoed the failures of all the previous peace processes since Oslo, but, predictably, all later peace processes launched since his article was written. A lot of processes, it seems, and no peace.

In his article, professor Pappe, with the vision of a sharp historian, warned that 'unless the US can now begin to pay attention to the lessons of history [read 1948], this new round of peace talks will not only end in failure, but the hopes currently aroused will turn once again into despair, fury and a renewed wave of violence and devastation'. We now know what happened to Bush and to his peace process.

Palestinian holds key and certirficate of registration from his original home during a Nakba rally in the West Bank city of Nablus; May 14, 2009.

Fast forward to the present day, November 2010, (twelve and a half years after the Paris meeting), and we have Benjamin Netanyahu again as Prime Minister, the illegal occupation of the OPT still continues with even more devastation across the whole landscape of Palestine, the Israeli military machine is pumped up by more nuclear arsenals and (hold your breath again) a new peace process launched by Barak Obama, the U.S President riding high (at the time of his election) on the biggest public support of any previous American president. Yet, no sooner had Obama's peace process been launched than the quick sands of the Middle East began to swallow it without mercy. Across the Palestinian landscape, and especially in occupied East Jerusalem, more demolition of Palestinian homes, more confiscation of farms, olive groves and more outright property theft of private houses by right-wing Zionist settlers under the protection of Israeli law and its military machine take place as the international community watches helplessly.

What does this all show?

It confirms what we have always believed: that the Zionist project of occupying and holding on to all of historic Palestine was, is and continues to be the prime and sole objective of the Zionist leadership in Israel. For this to happen and in an effort to smooth the path infront of such a colonial juggernaut, Israeli media has been put to sleep and the Israeli military leadership was made the only news outlet spurting out the sanitized version of the news to an indifferent Israeli public.

Since the Paris meeting and since professor Pappe's prophetic article, the only bright light shining out of Israel (and now out of the UK) remains professor Pappe's consistent and brave call for a debate on the 1948 Nakba. The other 'new historians' who met in Paris, remain mysteriously silent and surprisingly elusive about this issue.

It is clear to the informed reader and observer of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that nothing will move on any future process to achieve a just and lasting peace in historic Palestine unless the 1948 Nakba, the Return of the Palestinian Refugees and rule of International Law have been embraced and made the basis for the next peace process.

Finally, it is also clear that the Zionist leaders occupying the Israeli Knesset have now become aware that their colonial juggernaut is running out of fuel. So, in order to pump more colonial life into it, they have come up with the racist "Oath to the Jewish Nation". Its twin tank has been filled with the illegal call to punish all those who commemorate the 1948 Nakba.

A new mirage or a new reality?

* Antoine Raffoul is a Palestinian architect living and practising in London. He was born in Nazareth and was expelled with his family from Haifa in April 1948. He is the Founder and Co-ordinator of 1948: Lest.We.Forget. a campaign group for truth about Palestine. He can be reached at info@1948.org.uk.

Palestinian Authority Traitors Serving Israel

Stephen Lendman — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 08:27:00 +0000

By Stephen Lendman * | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' duplicitous treachery exposes him as an enemy, not ally, of his people. An earlier article on him quoted Jeffrey Blankfort calling him a "double agent (serving) his Israeli and US masters in plain sight." In June 2003, Edward Said called him "Israel's sheriff," saying he's "colorless, moderately corrupt, and without any clear ideas of his own, except that he wants to please the white man," his Washington and bosses.

Israeli Terror Throughout the Territories

Daily throughout Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, Palestinians face Israeli (and complicit PA) terror, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) documenting it, clear crimes against humanity ongoing for decades.

In its October 7 - 13 report, it headlined "Israel Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)," saying:

two West Bank Palestinian resistance activists killed, nine others wounded;
two Palestinian activists murdered "in a wide-scale military operation" against a Hebron neighborhood, including shelling residential homes lawlessly; in addition, dozens of Palestinians harassed, three apartments destroyed, four homes damaged, a store demolished, two others damaged, a car destroyed, and 12 Palestinians arrested;
a Silwan village Palestinian child wounded "when IOF fired at children" demonstrating peacefully against the detention of four others;
several nonviolent West Bank demonstrations against settlement and Separation Wall construction targeted, wounding one child and affecting dozens of civilians and human rights activists from tear gas inhalation or "sustained bruises;" in addition, three Palestinians and four human rights workers arrested;
four Gazans, including two children, wounded in a failed assassination attempt;
Israeli gunboats fired on Palestinian fisherman in two separate incidents;
27 West Bank incursions (lawless by any standard) resulted in 33 Palestinian civilian arrests, including nine children and an old man - guilty only of being Palestinians on land Israel wants to steal; and
Gaza remains lawlessly besieged and isolated, causing a calamitous humanitarian crisis little helped by recent modest easing.

In addition, for over 40 months, Israel has denied visitation rights to families of over 700 Gazan detainees, hardening their incarceration for them and their loved ones.

In the West Bank, complicit PA forces aid Israeli lawlessness, serving as an occupation enforcer. For weeks, its security forces have suppressed public dissent, dispersed peaceful protests, and arrested hundreds of West Bank Hamas and Islamic Jihad supporters, including public figures, subjecting them to torture and other abuse, ill treatment, and humiliation. Others were publicly beaten, including civil leaders, academics, doctors, other professionals, and ordinary people struggling for their rights.

PCHR condemned what it calls PA "campaigns of arbitrary arrests," in violation of international and Palestinian law. Besides hundreds made earlier, dozens more were carried out and many others have been summoned. For many, it means arrest on sight.

Information gotten from Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Hamas-affiliated members shows at least 230 Hebron residents detained, 130 by the Preventive Security Service (PSS), the others by the General Intelligence Service (GIS).

In Bethlehem, PSS detained 25 Palestinians, GIS 15 others. In Nablus, 77 more in Jnaid Prison. In Ramallah and al-Bireh, 45. Detainees include "released prisoners from Israeli jails and relatives of PLC members." In addition, dozens of Palestinians were arrested just days after being released. In detention, most were denied family visits and access to legal counsel.

Worse still are reports of torture and abusive treatment, released detainees saying they were "held under inappropriate, and even severe and inhuman, detention conditions," those with chronic illnesses or injuries most affected. In addition, many were tortured and subjected to other forms of abuse, at least several requiring hospitalization.

One released detainee said he "hear(d) voices of detainees crying in pain as a result of being beaten and tortured." During interrogation, he was forced to listen to get him to cooperate. He also saw prisoners beaten and subjected to prolonged 'shabeh,' the painful position abuse with hands and legs bound tightly to a small chair, compounded by sleep deprivation.

Detainee families said arrests and homes searched were carried out provocatively, in at least one case with no one there, but on return, a father and four sons were arrested. Others in their family are also being held.

A released detainee said he and many others were taken to a Taffouh village police station and held under inhuman conditions. In addition, dozens of Islamic Jihad members and supporters were summoned, forced to supply detailed information, then sign an oath "not to violate the Palestinian law, not to oppose the PNA's public policy, and not to engage in any activity of Islamic Jihad." Others were summarily arrested, detained and tortured.

Outraged, on October 6, Hamas responded, saying it will retaliate if arrests and abuse continue. At a Gaza news conference, spokesman Abu Ubaida said:

"We say today that our silence will not last long. If (PA security forces) pursue their aggression, we will end the silence" and respond.

Hamas was angered that one of its members, Alaa Abu Dhiyab, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and that PA forces arrested hundreds of its supporters, and keep seizing more. Its leaders also oppose direct peace talks, saying holding them abandons "the national rights of the Palestinian people" because Israel demands unconditional capitulation, not justice, equity, real peace, and a viable Palestinian state. In addition, they accuse Abbas of selling out, serving Israel, not his own people.

Earlier on September 29, Islamic Jihad leader Khader Adnan Mousa was detained, his wife, Randa, saying a GIS force raided his workplace in Qabatya village near Jenin and arrested him. On October 2, she learned that he was accused of joining illegal militias, and he went on hunger strike after arrest. He was also subjected to shabeh, other abuse, and had his eyeglasses taken.

On October 3, the Al Dameer Association for Human Rights called for his immediate release, saying his arrest and others were arbitrary and political. It asked the PA to "take real and effective measures in order to stop such illegal acts and completely end political arrests" and persecution.

"Al Dameer stresses that arrests are regulated by the Palestinian law and fall under the jurisdiction of the law enforcement officers, including the civil police, who are directly supervised by the Attorney General."

By law, arrests of Hamas and Islamic Jihad members and supporters, including Mousa, are illegal acts, constituting political persecution. On October 5, PCHR joined in, calling for "the immediate release of all (PA) political detainees, including Mousa, expressing "condemnation" for them all.

According to Hamas, 1,008 party members were arrested in September alone. On October 14, a party spokesman said:

"It's clear that the arrest campaign being waged by the Palestinian Authority did not exclude anyone and did take into consideration the circumstances and titles of the people being arrested, whether they were former detainees from Israeli jails, university professors, teachers, or members of city councils and other categories."

Arab League Summit Smoke without Fire

At the October Arab League summit in Sirte, Libya, Hamas and other Palestinian factions urged further supportive action, including opposition to direct peace talks with Israel, knowing their futility. However, according to Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, not enough was done "to support the Palestinian position in confronting the occupation. The Arabs must adopt a unified strategy that backs the armed Palestinian resistance and backs the Palestinians' steadfastness of their land."

Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haneya, added more, saying, "Israeli aggressions, blockade, and the Judaization of Jerusalem require clear and crucial decisions." PFLP representatives said decisions so far taken are "not enough and (go) on in a vicious circle. The Arabs' weak position would encourage Israel to keep carrying out practices against our people and lands." Islamic Jihad leader, Khaled al-Batch, made similar comments, saying Arab states abandoned the Palestinian cause.

Concluding their meeting on October 12, the Extraordinary Arab Summit made four policy decisions for joint Arab actions, none focusing on Palestine, showing the above comments are accurate.

Vilifying Arabs for Their Faith and Ethnicity

Haaretz writer Gideon Levy's October 15 article reflects a larger issue. Titled "Time to stick it again to the Arabs," he said:

"Underneath everything is hatred - hatred and contempt for Arabs....This is what is behind the right wing's nationalist laws and its so-called (no-peace) 'peace.' " It reflects "dark and dangerous instincts," throughout Israel's leadership and Knesset members. "(A)ll of them are Arab haters, whether openly or not." Most never "met an Arab, but they know everything about them. Not one of them has even begun to think of Arabs as being equal to Jews," let alone as human beings deserving basic rights and freedoms.

Repressive force only is their language - no agenda, no vision, only "pathological....amoral" violence begetting more, reflecting hard line revisionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky's belief that peaceful coexistence was unattainable, so Jews had to build "an iron wall of (superior) Jewish military force."

Since Ben-Gurion, Israeli leaders espoused it, choosing violence over conciliation; confrontation, not diplomacy; collective punishment, not coexistence; and racial hatred over core Judaic dogma - Talmudic/Torah teachings much different from radical Zionism, what many Jews call heresy for being racist and advocating separation, military power, and brute force. Also for claiming Jewish supremacy, specialness, and uniqueness, while being extremist, undemocratic, and hateful, ideas harmful to Jews and non-Jews alike.

Levy understands, concluding his article saying "The damage the right wing is inflicting upon us will linger for many years after it leaves office." Overall, longstanding hatred is too deeply rooted. What passes for Israeli leadership leads nowhere, and "the garbage it is spreading in the meantime is piling up higher and higher." Sooner or later it'll topple, perhaps taking Israel and its PA allies with it.

An Open Letter to Margaret Atwood from Gaza: Don’t Stand on the Wrong Side of History

Haitham Sabbah — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:37:57 +0000

Besieged Gaza,
Palestine
April.4.2010

Dear Ms. Atwood,

We are students from Gaza representing more than 10 academic institutions therein. Our grandparents are refugees who were expelled from their homes in the 1948 Nakba. They still have their keys locked up in their closets and will pass them on to their children, our parents. Many of us have lost our fathers, some of us have lost our mothers, and some of us lost both in the last Israeli aggression against civilians in Gaza. Others still lost a body part from the flesh-burning white phosphorous that Israel used, and are now permanently physically challenged. Most of us lost our homes, and are now living in tents, as Israel refuses to allow basic construction materials into Gaza. And most of all, we are all still living in what has come to be a festering sore on humanity's conscience-the brutal, hermetic, medieval siege that Israel is perpetrating against us, the 1.5 million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip.

Many of us have encountered your writing during our university studies. Although your books are not available in Gaza-because Israel does not allow books, paper, and other stationary in-we are familiar with your leftist, feminist, overtly political writing. And most of all, we are aware of your strong stance against apartheid. You admirably supported sanctions against apartheid South Africa and called for resistance against all forms of oppression.

Now, we have heard that you are to receive a prize this spring at Tel Aviv University. We, the students of besieged Gaza, urge you not to go. As our professors, teachers and anti-apartheid comrades used to tell us, there was no negotiation with the brutal racist regime of South Africa. Nor was there much communication. Just one word: BOYCOTT. You must be aware that Israel was a sister state to the apartheid regime before 1994. Many South African anti-apartheid heroes, including Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have described Israel's oppression as apartheid. Some describe Israeli settler-colonialism and occupation as surpassing apartheid's evil. F-16s, F-15s, F-35s, Apache helicopters, Merkava tanks, and white phosphorous were not used against black townships.

Ms. Atwood, in the Gaza concentration camp, students who have been awarded scholarships to universities abroad are prevented, every year, from pursuing their hard-earned opportunity for academic achievement. Within the Gaza Strip, those seeking an education are limited by increasing poverty rates and a scarcity of fuel for transportation, both of which are direct results of Israel's medieval siege. What is TAU's position vis-à-vis this form of illegal collective punishment, described by Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, as a "prelude to genocide?" Not a single word of condemnation has been heard from any Israeli academic institution!

Participating in normal relations with Tel Aviv University is giving tacit approval to its racially exclusive policy towards Palestinian citizens of Israel. We are certain you would hate to support an institution that upholds so faithfully the apartheid system of its state.

Tel Aviv University has a long and well-documented history of collaboration with the Israeli military and intelligence services. This is particularly shameful after Israel's bloody military assault against the occupied Gaza Strip, which, according to leading international and local human rights organizations, left over 1,440 Palestinians dead and 5380 injured. We are certain you would hate to support an institution that supports a military apparatus that murdered over 430 children.

By accepting the prize at Tel Aviv University, you will be indirectly giving a slight and inadvertent nod to Israel's policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide. This university has refused to commemorate the destroyed Palestinian village on which it was built. That village is called Sheikh Muwanis, and it no longer exists as a result of Israel's confiscation. Its people have been expelled.

Let us remember the words of Archbishop Desmund Tutu: "if you choose to be neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." As such, we call upon you to say no to neutrality, no to being on the fence, no to normalization with apartheid Israel, not after the blood of more than 400 children has been spilt! No to occupation, repression, settler colonialism, settlement expansion, home demolition, land expropriation and the system of discrimination against the indigenous population of Palestine, and no to the formation of Bantustans in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip!

Just as every citizen knew that s/he had a moral responsibility to boycott apartheid in South Africa after the Sharpeville massacre, Gaza 2009 was the world's wake-up call. All of Israel's academic institutions are state-run and state-funded. To partake of any of their prizes or to accept any of their blandishments is to uphold their heinous political actions. Israel has continually violated international law in defiance of the world. It is illegally occupying Palestinian land. It continues its aggression against the Palestinian people. Israel denies Palestinians all of the democratic liberties it so proudly, fictitiously flaunts. Israel is an apartheid regime that denies Palestinian refugees their right of return as sanctioned by UN resolution 194.

Attending the symposium would violate the unanimously endorsed Palestinian civil society call for Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. This call is also directed towards international activists, artists, and academics of conscience, such as you. We are certain that you would love to be a part of the noble struggle against the apartheid, colonization and occupation that the Palestinian people have been subjected to for the past 61 years, a struggle that is ongoing.

Ms. Atwood, we consider you to be what the late Edward Said called an "oppositional intellectual." As such, and given our veneration of your work, we would be both emotionally and psychologically wounded to see you attend the symposium. You are a great woman of words, of that we have no doubt. But we think you would agree, too, that actions speak louder than words. We all await your decision.

Besieged Gaza
The Palestinian Students' Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI)

Endorsed by The University Teachers' Association in Palestine

Najla Said reads of her teenage visit to Gaza [Video]

Haitham Sabbah — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:41:35 +0000

Najla Said, playwrite, reads from her play, of her life changing visit to Gaza as a teenager, with her Palestinian activist writer father, the late Edward Said, after he learned he had leukemia. (New York City Ethical Culture

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEMrmRCbvA0

Hat tip: Ram

Tragedy in the Holy Land

Haitham Sabbah — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 15:31:06 +0000

To elaborate on 'one palestine's' comment, here is a documentary (Hat tip: Robin) that views history through the lens of the Palestinians, even though they are the people whose history and daily reality lie at the heart of events in the region. TRAGEDY IN THE HOLY LAND is an old documentary, but still valid today (since nothing changed since the occupation begin early last centaury) and fills a void in conventional accounts of the Israeli/Palestinian struggle. It gives the viewer access to the voices and background of one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted conflicts of the history.

This documentary addresses the core issues of land and identity. It probes the evolution of the seemingly incurable conflict in Palestine from a historical perspective that is typically unknown to Western audiences.

Using rarely seen archival footage and interviews with various experts and scholars (Edward W. Said, Noam Chomsky and others), TRAGEDY IN THE HOLY LAND offers vital information about the roots of the current conflict and the ongoing struggle for survival and dignity.

Click on picture to buy the DVD!