By Lawrence Davidson* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

Illustration by Carlos Latuff

Though this affair was domestic, it provided a jumping off point for Ha'aretz to go on and examine the larger international boycott of Israel which is indeed "gaining speed". It noted that Chile had recently pledged to boycott products from the Israeli settlements and Norway's state pension plan had divested itself of companies involved in construction in the occupied territories. The Ha'aretz article pointed out that these incidents (and there are others that can be named in such countries as Ireland and Venezuela) are signs that the boycott movement - so long the province civil society - is now finding resonance at the level of national governments. The Israeli paper declared that "the world is changing before our eyes. Five years ago the anti-Israel movement may have been marginal. Now it is growing into an economic problem."

The article puts forth two explanations for this turn of events one of which is problematic, and the other incomplete. Let's take a look at them.

1. "Until now boycott organizers had been on the far left. [Now] they have a new ally: Islamic organizations... The red side has a name for championing human rights, while the green side [the Islamic side] has money." I have some personal knowledge of the boycott movement and I find some of these particulars to be, at best, exaggerations. The term "far left" must be based on some arbitrary Zionist definition of the political spectrum. Worldwide community support for the growing boycott movement has gone beyond political alignments. Today, it is a reflection of real united front seeking the promotion of Palestinian human rights (in this Haaretz is on the mark). As for the "green side", there is certainly an understandable affinity here. Muslims too are concerned about the human rights of Palestinians (including the Christians ones). However, the claim of any significant flow of cash is, as far as I know, another exaggeration. The Ha'aretz piece cites the example of the aid flotilla to Gaza, with its link to Turkey. But this is just one case in a worldwide movement. And, there was nothing illegitimate (despite Israeli propaganda) about the involvement of Turkish charities. It might come as a surprise to the Israelis, but you can run a boycott movement without heavy outside funding - as was the case of the boycott against South Africa.

2. Ha'aretz continues: "but then came the occupation, which turned us into the evil Goliath, the cruel oppressor, a darkness on the nations". The article suggests that this is such a contrast with the righteous stand that helped convince the West to support the original formation of Israel that many have turned away from Israel in disappointment. "And now we are paying the price of presenting ourselves as righteous and causing disappointment: boycott." No doubt there is much disappointment. The horrors of Israeli expansionism and occupation are such that they draw worldwide attention. And rightly so. But, they are symptoms of some deeper cause. What might it be? The state of Israel was founded on an ideological programme called Zionism. That programme called for the establishment of a state designed to serve the exclusive interests of one religiously identified group. While the Zionists felt this aim was justified by the centuries of persecution suffered by European Jews, it actually carried within it the seeds of its own corruption. The simple truth is that you cannot successfully design a state for one group only unless you found it on some desert island. If you put it down in a place that is occupied by others who are not of your group, what is the most likely next step? You turn into racists, ethnic cleansers or worse. The Zionist adherence to their ideology and its programme is the cause of their turning into "cruel oppressors". The means dictated by their end made it so.

The Ha'aretz article does not go beyond these points, but there is plenty more to say. Those who wonder whether they should support the boycott should certainly consider the horrors of the Israeli occupation and its ghettoizing of the people of Gaza. They might also consider the following:

1. The non-Jewish population of Israel proper, that is Israel within the 1967 borders (the "Green Line") are subject to segregation and economic and social discrimination that is both de jure and de facto. Their overall standards of living are lower than the Israeli Jews, their educational facilities inferior and their economic prospects poorer. This is to be expected. If you are running your state based on a racist principle, by definition discrimination must infuse the home front. This fact does not appear to fit with the often heard claim that the Israelis are "just like us" Americans. However, in a rather anachronistic way they are "like us" - that is like the United States prior to our civil rights legislation. In other words, Israel is like, say, Georgia or Alabama circa the 1920s.

2. The second factor worthy of consideration is the negative international impact of Zionist ideology, for the harm of Zionism is not confined to either Israel or its occupied territories. The fact is that Zionist influence spreads far beyond Israel's area of dominion and now influences many of the policy-making institutions of Western governments, and particularly those of the United States. This influence is corruptive if only because it distorts both official and popular notions of national interests in the Middle East. When you have a powerful and single-minded lobby that is able to manipulate your government in such a fashion that it pours its national treasure into a racist state, arms it and protects it to the point of becoming an accomplice to its crimes, and by doing so wilfully alienates 22 per cent of the world's population, you know that your notion of national interest has been seriously mangled. This harmful influence makes it imperative that Israel's oppressive behaviour be singled out as a high priority case from among the many other oppressive regimes that may be candidates for boycott.

So no one in Israel, the US or anywhere else should be surprised that the boycott against Israel, in its many manifestations, is "gaining speed." If you are not yet a supporter you should become one. To join the boycott is good for the world's future in general. It is certainly good for the Palestinians, and yes, it is good for the Jews too.

For more information on how to join the boycott Israel campaign, visit the websites of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement website and the Boycott Israeli Goods campaign.

* Lawrence Davidson is professor of history at West Chester University. He is the author of numerous books, including Islamic Fundamentalism and America's Palestine: Popular and Official Perceptions from Balfour to Israeli Statehood.

By Dr David Morrison* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

19/01/10 - OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría and Israeli President, Shimon Peres.

The Roadmap for the Accession of Israel to the OECD Convention, adopted by the OECD Council in November 2007, states:

"The Council reaffirms that OECD Membership is committed to fundamental values, which candidate countries are expected to share. These fundamental values serve as the foundation of the likemindedness of OECD Members and have been expressed in various OECD Ministerial Communiqués.

"Accepting these values, along with the established body of OECD instruments, standards and benchmarks, is a requirement for membership.

"These fundamental values include a commitment to pluralist democracy based on the rule of law and the respect of human rights, adherence to open and transparent market economy principles and a shared goal of sustainable development." ^[2]

Since the Government intends to support Israel's accession, we assume that the Government is of the opinion that Israel accepts the fundamental values that are a requirement for OECD membership, in particular, that it has "a commitment to pluralist democracy based on the rule of law and the respect of human rights".

Does Israel respect human rights?

In the light of Government statements over recent years, we find it difficult to understand how this could be. For example, following Minister Martin's recent visit to Gaza, he wrote in the New York Times on 5 March 2010:

"I view the current conditions prevailing for the ordinary population as inhumane and utterly unacceptable, in terms of accepted international standards of human rights. ... I genuinely believe that the medieval siege conditions being imposed on the people of Gaza are unacceptable." ^[3]

In December last year, Minister Martin described Gaza as "an open prison" ^[4]. A year earlier, on 5 November 2008, he told the Dáil:

"The Government agrees with those who state that the effective isolation of Gaza constitutes collective punishment and is illegal under international humanitarian law." ^[5]

In stating that view, he was reiterating the view expressed by his predecessor, Dermot Ahern, earlier in the year on 11 March 2008 ^[6]. Presumably, they had in mind Article 33 of the 4th Geneva Convention that forbids an Occupying Power from applying "collective penalties" to people under occupation ^[7].

Given that Israel has tightened its blockade of Gaza in the interim, the Government can hardly have modified its view that Israel is guilty of collective punishment in breach of international humanitarian law.

In the light of this, we are at a loss to understand how the Government can be of the opinion that Israel is committed to "the respect of human rights", which is a requirement for membership of the OECD.

Other human rights violations

It is not as if this is the only Israeli action that casts doubt on Israel's commitment to "the respect of human rights".

Its plantation of nearly half a million Jewish settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is in breach of international humanitarian law, in this case, Article 49(6) of the 4th Geneva Convention – and there is no sign whatsoever that Israel intends to desist, despite continual demands from the international community, including Ireland, that it do so.

Its destruction of Arab property to make way for these settlements and the roads that service them (and the Wall) is in breach of Article 53 of the 4th Geneva Convention.

And on top of all this, which has been going on for more than 40 years, there is the myriad of human rights violations that took place in Gaza from 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009, as attested to by the UN Fact Finding Mission headed by Justice Goldstone ^[8].

Discrimination against Israeli Arabs

In addition, Arab citizens of Israel are systematically discriminated against in a variety of ways. A European Commission report on Israel dated May 2004 says so:

"The Arab minority, Muslim, Christian and Druze, makes up almost 20% of the Israeli population. Although the Declaration of Independence proclaims equality for citizens, Israeli legislation contains laws and regulations that favour the Jewish majority. ... As highlighted by an Israeli Commission report presented in 2003 ("Or Commission"), the Arab minority also suffers from discrimination in many areas including budget allocations, official planning, employment, education and health." ^[9]

Four years later, in April 2008, a Commission report on Israel's implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy noted little progress in this area, saying that "the promotion and protection of the Israeli Arab minority did not advance significantly during the reporting period" ^[10].

In education, for example, a recent OECD report Israeli Child Policy and Outcomes states:

"... government spending per child is much lower in the Arab sector than in the Jewish sector. This financial gap is reflected in different ways: First and most directly, average spending per child in the Arab localities is estimated to be 36.8% lower than in Jewish localities." ^[11]

In employment, former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert told a parliamentary commission of inquiry on 11 November 2008:

"We have not yet overcome the barrier of discrimination, which is a deliberate discrimination and the gap is insufferable". ^[12]

He continued:

"... there are government agencies who employ a miniscule number of Israeli Arabs, among them the Bank of Israel and Israel Electric Company. There is no argument that there were ministries and offices that did not accept Arabs. It's terrible that there is not even one Arab employee at the Bank of Israel and at the Electric Company Arab workers represent less than one percent of all employees."

The overwhelming evidence is that Israel has little respect for the human rights of Palestinians either in the Occupied Territories or in Israel itself, yet the Government is apparently satisfied that Israel has fulfilled the requirement for OECD membership that it is committed to respect human rights.

Israel a pluralist democracy?

The other requirement for OECD membership is that Israel be committed to a pluralist democracy. While it is often said that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, we do not believe that this proposition is sustainable. How can a state that has ruled over millions of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories since 1967, without according them any say in the institutions that govern them, be described as a democracy? Only Jewish settlers in the Occupied Territories can vote in Knesset elections. Surely, that demonstrates a 40-year record of contempt for democracy rather than a commitment to it and is akin to the voting system that operated in apartheid South Africa.

No other OECD state rules over millions of people who are excluded from the franchise. Israel should not be admitted under these circumstances.

Israel's accounts cover more than Israel

Another point: Israel's accession is set to go ahead even though Israel is in breach of the rules that the OECD applies for the presentation of national statistics – since its statistics cover, not just the territory west of the Green Line that is internationally recognised as belonging to Israel, but also the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and the Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The OECD Committee on Statistics has acknowledged the breach, but is nevertheless recommending that Israel be admitted to membership.

This is revealed in a leaked OECD report, titled Accession of Israel to the Organisation: Draft formal opinion of the Committee on Statistics ^[13]. The OECD normally insists that members adhere to the UN-approved standard for the presentation of national accounts, 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA), but the leaked report states plainly that "to the extent that economic activity is measured according to a criterion of nationality, Israel's data is at variance with one of the basic concepts of the SNA" (paragraph 19).

Israel should not be admitted while it is unwilling to present statistics in respect of economic activity within the territory that is internationally recognised as belonging to Israel. To admit Israel while its national statistics include the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and the Jewish settlements in the West Bank would give an international seal of approval to Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem and its colonisation of the West Bank. That should not be done.

(*)

For all of these reasons, and others, we believe the Government should reconsider its decision to support Israel's admission to the OECD.

References:
[1] http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=DAL20100421.XML&Page=1&Ex=2099#N2099
[2] http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2007doc.nsf/LinkTo/NT00004872/$FILE/JT03237381.PDF
[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/opinion/05iht-edmartin.html
[4] http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1221/mideast.html
[5] http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=DAL20081105.xml&Page=1&Ex=738#N738
[6] http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=DAL20080311.xml&Page=1&Ex=147#N147
[7] http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/7c4d08d9b287a42141256739003e636b/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5
[8] http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/A-HRC-12-48.pdf
[9] http://ec.europa.eu/world/enp/pdf/country/israel_enp_country_report_2004_en.pdf
[10] http://ec.europa.eu/world/enp/pdf/progress2008/sec08_394_en.pdf
[11] http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2010doc.nsf/LinkTo/NT00000EBE/$FILE/JT03280340.PDF
[12] http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1036798.html
[13] http://cryptome.org/israel-oecd.zip

* Dr David Morrison is is a writer on international affairs, specialising in Middle Eastern affairs. David is currently (2010) involved with Sadaka - Ireland Palestine Alliance (www.sadaka.ie). David is the former political officer of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

It seems that football fans might be able to do what Arab governments have miserably failed to achieve or even address: lifting the illegal inhuman Israeli siege off Gaza!

Players line up before a football match on the first day of Gaza's version of the World Cup, in Gaza City, on May 2, 2010. Photo Xinhua/Wissam Nassar

Get involved!

Efforts like the Gaza World Cup, as cliché as it sounds, are only as strong as those who choose to seize the opportunity and get involved. Some have joined because they live in Gaza and know what the siege is doing to the long-term hope for peace. Yet so have many foreigners, as, whether they live in Gaza or have never been here, they can identify with what it feels like to suffer. Many others of varying religions are getting involved because they believe that faith should steer us towards respecting each other's humanity, not discourage it. And finally, a lot of newcomers to the Middle East are taking an interest simply because they're dumbfounded that none of the traditional powers have made any progress in the region over the last 60 years - and they want to help try something new - anything new - in the hopes that we can finally start to change direction in the Middle East. So for whatever reasons you're interested in supporting the Gaza World Cup, your involvement is warmly welcomed.

BRIDGING THE GLOBAL GAPS

Forming the core of the Gaza World Cup will be a partnership between 16 professional football clubs in Gaza and an equal number of foreigner amateurs residing in Gaza for various humanitarian purposes. The 16 Gazan clubs include each of the 14 first-level teams, and, if needed, the two highest ranking second-level teams. The availability of these 352 players will provide the backbone to ensure that the tournament is successful in both the caliber of play, as well as ensuring the event retains a strong local character.

Balancing out the teams begins with 250 international humanitarian workers and journalists from primarily Western countries currently residing in Gaza. Non-regional internationals currently based in Gaza and participating in the tournament include citizens of Britain, France, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. Including these 125 potential players, along with encouraging outside journalists and other professionals with travel coordination residing abroad to journey to Gaza specifically to participate, the non-Arab participation goal is 100 players.

Regional participation will add a further layer of international solidarity to the tournament. With considerable numbers of Algerians, Egyptians, Jordanians, and Turks living in Gaza, a further six teams will play alongside the Palestinian team. The goal for regional participation, beyond Gazans, is 100 players.

In total, 400 players comprising 16 teams are planned, with 200 holding Palestinian nationality and 200 from other countries. And while a non-political event, it should be noted that a wide variety of Palestinian political factions are expected to join together and contribute players within the Palestinian half, promoting national unity over their own political agendas.

The teams involved are Algeria, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Palestine, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, and the USA.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Beyond direct player participation, the tournament will also extensively involve and unite many unique communities within the larger Gazan society. First off, each of the 15 matches will be free and open to the public, welcoming both men and women. And while all events will be confined to Gaza City for logistical reasons, it is widely believed that each of the 16 club teams from throughout Gaza will attract their own local fan base to the events.

A second goal of the tournament is to highlight the resilient strength and culture of Gaza, with a special focus on partnering art and technology with sport. Each aspect of the project, from designing logos, to billboards, to each of the 16 "national" jerseys, will be supported by local artists and graphic designers. And the winning team members will find themselves honored by a trophy hand-crafted from the reclaimed iron of Gazan wreckage, as well as intentionally celebrated by the skilled local tradition of urban graffiti. Each step will then subsequently be featured technologically, with a considerable effort to promote all aspects of the tournament online and in the media, supported extensively behind the scenes by local university students and recent technological graduates.

http://gazaworldcup.org/

Players of Palestine and a foreign team compete during the opening football match on the first day of Gazas version of the World Cup, in Gaza City, on May 2, 2010. The Gaza Strip kicked off its own version of the World Cup with teams of Palestinian footballers and foreigners representing foreign countries on Sunday. The trophy is made out of twisted metal and rubble from last year war with Israel. Photo Xinhua/Wissam Nassar

Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign appeal: Invitation to sign 'Irish Call for Justice for Palestine'

To: European Union

End EU Support for Israeli Attacks

Israel is inflicting further misery on Palestinians. The situation in Gaza has reached emergency levels – there is not enough food, electricity, medicine, or even water due to Israel’s siege. In the West bank, Israel is expanding its illegal settlements, imprisoning Palestinians behind a 400 mile long Wall, and killing peaceful protesters.

The EU response has been shameful. The EU tacitly supports Israel’s brutal siege of Gaza and has granted important trading privileges to Israel under the Euro-Med Agreement. This is despite Israel’s violation of the human rights clause of this agreement. Recently the EU has rewarded Israeli aggression by upgrading EU-Israel relations, a huge step towards integrating Israeli into EU agencies and markets.

To the EU Commission, Molesworth Street:

We call upon the EU to:
* Demand Israel abides by International Law, including a complete withdrawal from Gaza and the West Bank.

* Suspend the Euro-Med Agreement until Israel abides by its human rights clauses.

* Reverse the recent upgrade of relations with Israel

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

To those of you who have already signed up; a warm word of thanks.

To those of you who haven't; we are again asking you to sign up to this statement.

IPSC: http://www.ipsc.ie/