In the wake of the Gaza disengagement, enforce a ban on settlements
Quote:
Palestinians observed Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip with a mix of contradictory emotions. Paramount, perhaps, was relief. Nearly 9,000 Israeli settlers, who had occupied a third of the land there while confining 1. 3 million Palestinians to the rest, were finally gone... Unlike Israeli settlers, Palestinians were evicted from their own homes and homeland, not from lands illegally seized and settled by their government. Nor are Palestinians treated with kid gloves by the Israeli military. Most receive but minutes notice before demolitions, any resistance is met with lethal force; a few have been buried in the rubble of their own homes. Palestinians have not received compensation for their losses, while Jewish settlers are receiving new homes and $200,000 to $500,000 per family. Palestinian suffering has not been as minutely chronicled by the world's media as has that of Jewish settlers. Most important, the long-term trend of Palestinian dispossession has not been reversed by Gaza disengagement. Earlier this year, Israel announced plans to destroy 88 Palestinian homes in Silwan, just outside the walls of Old Jerusalem, to make way for a Jewish archeological park. This week, Israel unveiled plans for a new Jewish residential development in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem, and confirmed that it had ordered new seizures of Palestinian private and public lands in the West Bank. The purpose of the land seizures is to extend Israel's separation barrier around a large Jewish settlement, Maaleh Adumim, and link it to Israel. Doing so would virtually bisect the West Bank, and make a viable Palestinian state there impossible. Haim Ramon, Israeli cabinet minister, has acknowledged that the route of the barrier is partially drawn to ensure the "Jewish character" of Jerusalem. Disengagement has been touted as a bold step for peace. Yet it is increasingly apparent that Gaza withdrawal is but one side of a two-faced strategy. The other side is increasing Jewish settlement of the West Bank, including Jerusalem. There, 430,000 Jewish settlers live in colonies built on land seized from Palestinians -- and they are expanding every day. In October 2004, Dov Weisglass, adviser and confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, admitted in an interview published in Ha'aretz that Gaza disengagement was a way to avoid peace negotiations with Palestinians, consolidate control over the West Bank and foil the creation of a Palestinian state.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Rushing after a mirage
Quote:
There are striking similarities between Israel's departure from southern Lebanon in May 2000 and the events in Gaza over the past two weeks. This is no surprise, as events in the Arab-Israeli conflict have been seemingly moving in circles for years. The peace process industry of EU, American and UN officials, donor agencies, government-funded think tanks and NGOs, supported by the media, have created euphoria and false optimism following the passing away of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat last November, which has done much to pollute the political climate. Arafat's death supposedly opened a "window of opportunity" because, as Israeli and American propaganda claimed, he was not a "partner" and, alone, constituted the main "obstacle to peace". Propaganda efforts have also built up the Gaza "disengagement", surrounding it with the same kind of euphoria, complete with the claims that there is new "momentum" for restarting the dead peace process. All this lofty talk is proceeding with few people looking back to see what actually happened the previous time we were told that peace was knocking at the door.
Quote:
There are striking similarities between Israel's departure from southern Lebanon in May 2000 and the events in Gaza over the past two weeks. This is no surprise, as events in the Arab-Israeli conflict have been seemingly moving in circles for years. The peace process industry of EU, American and UN officials, donor agencies, government-funded think tanks and NGOs, supported by the media, have created euphoria and false optimism following the passing away of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat last November, which has done much to pollute the political climate. Arafat's death supposedly opened a "window of opportunity" because, as Israeli and American propaganda claimed, he was not a "partner" and, alone, constituted the main "obstacle to peace". Propaganda efforts have also built up the Gaza "disengagement", surrounding it with the same kind of euphoria, complete with the claims that there is new "momentum" for restarting the dead peace process. All this lofty talk is proceeding with few people looking back to see what actually happened the previous time we were told that peace was knocking at the door.
Thousands may have died in New Orleans. I would be more sympathetic without the war in Iraq, the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people in there, and the continuing US support for the crimes committed by Israel. And of course, the US government´s efforts to derail all real global efforts to fight against the greenhouse effect and the global warming it causes don´t really help to create much sympathy either for the people of New Orleans. You may claim they are innocent, but US troops kill innocent people every day in Iraq and how many of those now in danger in New Orleans supported the war?
Rumour of a suicide bomber among Shia pilgrims causes a panic and a stampede on a bridge in Baghdad that kills 841 people according to some reports, at least 695 and possibly 1000 according to others. About as many people as the war has killed this month. And of course, the atmosphere of fear that the war and the suicide bombings have created, caused the death of these people, and they too are casualties of the war.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Trail of Death, Destruction Grips Iraq Town
Quote:
“Death squads” from both sects now operate. They drive around ridding neighborhoods of Sunnis or Shiites. In recent months, the litany has continued: the brother of the man who buys food for the office was killed by a roadside bomb; the cousin of our Arabic service correspondent was tortured and killed after being taken by the police; the father-in-law of one of our translators was shot by US troops and had to have his leg amputated; the brother of our reporter in Fallujah was killed by Iraqi troops... The vast majority of those who have died are Iraqis, and a huge number are also innocent victims. There is no definitive record but Iraq Body Count, a US-British nonprofit group, estimates 25,000 civilians were killed in just the first two years after the war began.
Quote:
“Death squads” from both sects now operate. They drive around ridding neighborhoods of Sunnis or Shiites. In recent months, the litany has continued: the brother of the man who buys food for the office was killed by a roadside bomb; the cousin of our Arabic service correspondent was tortured and killed after being taken by the police; the father-in-law of one of our translators was shot by US troops and had to have his leg amputated; the brother of our reporter in Fallujah was killed by Iraqi troops... The vast majority of those who have died are Iraqis, and a huge number are also innocent victims. There is no definitive record but Iraq Body Count, a US-British nonprofit group, estimates 25,000 civilians were killed in just the first two years after the war began.
Friday, August 26, 2005
A poorly timed provocation
Quote:
It is hard not to view the decisions about the fence and the new construction near Ma'aleh Adumim as a poorly timed provocation. They damage the efforts to rebuild trust with the Palestinian Authority and to strengthen its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, as a partner for future negotiations. They lend credence to the Palestinian claim that the withdrawal from Gaza was merely an Israeli trick designed to obtain international support and to divert attention from its tightening occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They erode the contribution that the successful disengagement made to reviving the diplomatic process and show that Sharon has returned to his evil ways in the settlements.
Quote:
It is hard not to view the decisions about the fence and the new construction near Ma'aleh Adumim as a poorly timed provocation. They damage the efforts to rebuild trust with the Palestinian Authority and to strengthen its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, as a partner for future negotiations. They lend credence to the Palestinian claim that the withdrawal from Gaza was merely an Israeli trick designed to obtain international support and to divert attention from its tightening occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They erode the contribution that the successful disengagement made to reviving the diplomatic process and show that Sharon has returned to his evil ways in the settlements.
More lies from the British police on the de Menezes murder
Quote:
More evidence has emerged relating to the July 22 police killing of the young Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes in London, providing further proof that the police systematically lied about the subway shooting and have been conducting a cover-up, with the aid of the Labour government of Prime Minister Tony Blair and a largely compliant media. Claims that there were no closed-circuit television tapes of the underground tube station where de Menezes was shot dead by eight bullets fired at close range have been refuted by the staff working at the station. According to Monday’s London Evening Standard, the staff were “amazed and furious” when told by police that tapes from the cameras were blank. An official with the rail workers’ union said that at least three of the four cameras were working. “It is most unusual to say the least,” he said of the police claims. Normal procedure is that tapes are replaced every 24 hours and kept for 28 days, and it is inconceivable that station staff would not keep to this procedure shortly after the July 7 bombings of the capital’s transport network that killed 56 people and a failed attempt to detonate devices on July 21.
Quote:
More evidence has emerged relating to the July 22 police killing of the young Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes in London, providing further proof that the police systematically lied about the subway shooting and have been conducting a cover-up, with the aid of the Labour government of Prime Minister Tony Blair and a largely compliant media. Claims that there were no closed-circuit television tapes of the underground tube station where de Menezes was shot dead by eight bullets fired at close range have been refuted by the staff working at the station. According to Monday’s London Evening Standard, the staff were “amazed and furious” when told by police that tapes from the cameras were blank. An official with the rail workers’ union said that at least three of the four cameras were working. “It is most unusual to say the least,” he said of the police claims. Normal procedure is that tapes are replaced every 24 hours and kept for 28 days, and it is inconceivable that station staff would not keep to this procedure shortly after the July 7 bombings of the capital’s transport network that killed 56 people and a failed attempt to detonate devices on July 21.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Zionist attack kills 5 Palestinians in the West Bank.
No condemnation from the West. Of course not. But when the Islamic Jihad makes it revenge attack - which is all Israel wants to achieve with this attack - then the Western leaders will be swift in their condemnation and threats aimed at Palestinians. And everybody suffers because of the cowardness of the Western political leaders.
But in the end, Israel will lose. No amount of US money and weaponry can change the geography of the Middle East. If Israel will not be ready for a just peace, then it will be destroyed. Not tomorrow, not next year, but in the coming decades. It still can avoid that fate, but most of it´s population doesn´t seem to be interested. They prefer to live by the sword and die by the sword. And if they really want that, then let it be their fate.
No condemnation from the West. Of course not. But when the Islamic Jihad makes it revenge attack - which is all Israel wants to achieve with this attack - then the Western leaders will be swift in their condemnation and threats aimed at Palestinians. And everybody suffers because of the cowardness of the Western political leaders.
But in the end, Israel will lose. No amount of US money and weaponry can change the geography of the Middle East. If Israel will not be ready for a just peace, then it will be destroyed. Not tomorrow, not next year, but in the coming decades. It still can avoid that fate, but most of it´s population doesn´t seem to be interested. They prefer to live by the sword and die by the sword. And if they really want that, then let it be their fate.
Two fingers to America
Quote:
The fingers of mad preachers are usually far from the button, but the untimely words of Pat Robertson, easily discounted in Washington and airily dismissed by the state department as "inappropriate", might yet wake an echo among zealots in Venezuela. A similar call was made last year by a former Venezuelan president. Assassinations may be easy to plan, and not difficult to accomplish. But their legacy is incalculable. The radical leader of neighbouring Colombia, Jorge Gaitán, was assassinated more than 50 years ago, in 1948. In terms of civil war and violence, the Colombians have been paying the price ever since. No one would wish that fate on Venezuela. More.
Quote:
The fingers of mad preachers are usually far from the button, but the untimely words of Pat Robertson, easily discounted in Washington and airily dismissed by the state department as "inappropriate", might yet wake an echo among zealots in Venezuela. A similar call was made last year by a former Venezuelan president. Assassinations may be easy to plan, and not difficult to accomplish. But their legacy is incalculable. The radical leader of neighbouring Colombia, Jorge Gaitán, was assassinated more than 50 years ago, in 1948. In terms of civil war and violence, the Colombians have been paying the price ever since. No one would wish that fate on Venezuela. More.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
37% of the marshlands in southern Iraq have been restored to their "original state". I doubt that they really are in their "original state", but that this is the extent of the area that is now recovering as dykes and dams in the area have been destroyed.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Monday, August 22, 2005
The US demands that the Palestinian authority disarms Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other resistance groups. At the same time, it itself can´t do the equivalent in Iraq. Instead, it does far, far worser job. Take Haditha. US troops have given whole town over to Musab al-Zarqawi. And the only way the bumbling Yankees are capable of relieving towns of insurgents is to partially destroy them, like they destroyed a third of Fallulah. Where the insurgents are now returning. But still, the fact that they themselves can´t do the job on far greater resources and not having an occupying power on their back doesn´t stop the Yankees of making demands to the Palestinians. Of course, after all, they are "Americans", the second chosen people of god! Or so they themselves believe - even if one would think based on their success in Iraq that that especially US loving god of theirs doesn´t seem as much in love with them as they are with him.
There hasn´t been many weeks since the last time the US troops "conquered" the town of Haditha in Iraq, but at least now it is once again in the hands of the Sunni insurgents, who do what they want in the town. And that seems to include killing fair numbers of most likely totally innocent people. I did wonder at the time why the US troops blew up a bridge in a town which had supposedly come under their control again.
For Sharon, Gaza was just the latest act of a long war
The US backing of the pullout has loaded the dice in Israel's favour
Quote:
..in accepting Israel's maximalist demands at the outset, President Bush has loaded the dice in Israel's favour and made the achievement of a just settlement a near impossibility. Faced with the combined pressure of the region's strongest power and the world's strongest power, the prospects for the Palestinians look hopeless. It must be understood that there can be no possibility of real peace without justice... The Palestinians will remain trapped in poverty and despair, and their plight will continue to foster anger and violence. Much of it will be directed against the west. If this is to be avoided, and if a just and workable settlement is to become possible, it will be necessary for others to combine and act self- consciously as a strategic counterbalance to American influence in the region. The most obvious vehicle for this would be the European Union's common foreign policy, but there are many other countries that could form part of a powerful international coalition. Just as the Americans, on behalf of Israel, have laid down certain parameters for a final settlement, it would be the objective of this coalition to set out the conditions that would meet the Palestinians' legitimate aspirations. A good working basis for such an approach would be the Geneva accords negotiated informally by a group of Israeli and Palestinian politicians two years ago. Limited Israeli gains in the West Bank (2% of its territory according to the accords) should be matched by equivalent land ceded to the Palestinians; there should be some refugee returns to Israel, consistent with the preservation of its Jewish character; and East Jerusalem should be the capital of the new Palestinian state. Pursuing such a course would elicit a furious response from Washington, and it must be doubted that this British government has the stomach to deal with it. But its strategy of proximity and persuasion has failed to move American policy in a constructive direction, and the settlement that is emerging is one that will bring lasting shame on everyone associated with it. If we allow our leaders to acquiesce in it, we will never again have to ask: why do they hate us?
The problem is that the Western leaders are so scared of 17 million Jews that they are quite willing to engage in a "clash of civilizations" with 1100 million Muslims to avoid angering Israel and the Jews worldwide. For example, the European Union leaders have stopped even their feeble criticism of Israel´s landgrabs in the West Bank and no longer oppose Israel´s annexation of East Jerusalem. They won´t talk about it with Palestinians, they won´t talk about it with leaders of Muslim countries and they won´t talk about it with reporters. All they do is make threats towards Palestinians. The hapless Jack Straw, Germany´s Green-turned-to-Likudnik foreign minister Joschka Fischer and the useless Spaniard Javier Saviola all have made the same kind of threats of Israeli attacks against Palestinians if Palestinians don´t do as the Israelis order them to do. Everything will be well if Israel is given a free hand, according to their unvoiced but plainly visible daydreaming. The Palestinian question will vanish.
So, the Western leaders believe that by giving Israel free hand to take what it wants, large chunks of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, they will have peace. At least peace from mad, racist Jews who claim that all who don´t do as they want them to do are antisemites. I think that some of the Western leaders may understand what kind of effect their support for the full annexation of the third holiest city in Islam by Israel will have, but they simply don´t care. They will gladly take hate, suicide bombers in their own cities and decades of warfare - just so that they wouldn´t anger Israel, which they have made unto something that the small state isnt:The world´s only real superpower.
Friday, August 19, 2005
The missing masterpieces
Kelly tells good stories, but many of them are just that: just stories. Confucius(traditionally 551-479 BCE) never wrote anything, as far as we know. All that is connected to his name either is written or collected by his followers, usually centuries after his death, or has no connection whatsoever with him. The works of Aeschylus(525-456 BCE) were hardly the sole property of the Ptolemaic dynasty, nor were they destroyed in 640. The whole thing about the burning of the library then is a fable. In reality, it´s existence after the middle part of the 1st century BCE is not certain. It could have been destroyed then, as Caesar(102/100-44 BCE) invaded Egypt, or it could have been destroyed in 272 CE as Romans fought the Palmyran troops in Alexandria, or in 391 CE in the hands of a Christian mob etc etc. And of course, the poet Homer didn´t exist.
Kelly tells good stories, but many of them are just that: just stories. Confucius(traditionally 551-479 BCE) never wrote anything, as far as we know. All that is connected to his name either is written or collected by his followers, usually centuries after his death, or has no connection whatsoever with him. The works of Aeschylus(525-456 BCE) were hardly the sole property of the Ptolemaic dynasty, nor were they destroyed in 640. The whole thing about the burning of the library then is a fable. In reality, it´s existence after the middle part of the 1st century BCE is not certain. It could have been destroyed then, as Caesar(102/100-44 BCE) invaded Egypt, or it could have been destroyed in 272 CE as Romans fought the Palmyran troops in Alexandria, or in 391 CE in the hands of a Christian mob etc etc. And of course, the poet Homer didn´t exist.
Stress, trauma strain Palestinians
Quote:
WHILE MANY eyes focus with a mix of cautious optimism and horror on Gaza, the turmoil in Israel and the rage and sorrow of Jewish settlers, the lack of attention to the lives of more than 1 million Palestinians who share the tiny stretch of coastline is striking. As Avraham Burg, former Knesset member, recently wrote: "Take all the settlers' screams about discrimination and laments about suppression, multiply them many-fold, and you will feel what the Palestinians have lived with for many years without our seeing or feeling." ...The international community can play a positive role politically and financially; building a foundation of trust, a mutual cessation of hostilities and future coexistence. It must also develop and fund social and economic infrastructures for this devastated community. The 8,000 Gaza settlers have a commitment. Why not 3.5 million Palestinians?
Quote:
WHILE MANY eyes focus with a mix of cautious optimism and horror on Gaza, the turmoil in Israel and the rage and sorrow of Jewish settlers, the lack of attention to the lives of more than 1 million Palestinians who share the tiny stretch of coastline is striking. As Avraham Burg, former Knesset member, recently wrote: "Take all the settlers' screams about discrimination and laments about suppression, multiply them many-fold, and you will feel what the Palestinians have lived with for many years without our seeing or feeling." ...The international community can play a positive role politically and financially; building a foundation of trust, a mutual cessation of hostilities and future coexistence. It must also develop and fund social and economic infrastructures for this devastated community. The 8,000 Gaza settlers have a commitment. Why not 3.5 million Palestinians?
Israel Clears Main Gaza Strongholds
I personally don´t know which I want more: that the evictions go well and Israeli leadership can´t claim that withdrawal from West Bank would be too "traumatic" and hard based on the Gaza evitions, or that the settlers - many of which have come from the colonialist settlements on the West Bank - would get more violent and kill Israeli soldiers and police, and thus making themselves and the whole settlement enterprise more disliked in Israel. I just don´t know.
I personally don´t know which I want more: that the evictions go well and Israeli leadership can´t claim that withdrawal from West Bank would be too "traumatic" and hard based on the Gaza evitions, or that the settlers - many of which have come from the colonialist settlements on the West Bank - would get more violent and kill Israeli soldiers and police, and thus making themselves and the whole settlement enterprise more disliked in Israel. I just don´t know.
What next after the Gaza withdrawal?
While the economic situation in Gaza is a critical issue, the future of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will be determined mainly by the next steps in the peace process. Permanent-status issues concerning borders, the West Bank, Jerusalem, and refugees must be dealt with bilaterally. Any serious observer of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will no doubt acknowledge that there can be no unilateral solution to these issues. As for the peace process's multilateral guarantors, the United States and its quartet partners - the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia - have failed to provide even the most basic facts regarding Israel's withdrawal or how it relates to the “roadmap” agreed in 2003. They cannot continue to sit on the sidelines. Washington's quixotic decision to call Israel's unilateral move part of the roadmap has failed to convince many Palestinians. The prevailing opinion among Palestinians is that the roadmap will be put into deep freeze once the Israelis complete their Gaza withdrawal. But the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, their leaders, and the international community must all respond to the challenges that will follow. Most importantly, the future of the conflict and the chances for genuine peace in the region will depend on understanding the limits of offensive military power, defensive resistance, and unilateralism. Serious face-to-face talks, in accordance to international law and with the help of the international community, are the only way forward.
Theatrics in Gaza:The Disengagement That Isn't
Quote:
When Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced his plans to 'disengage' from Gaza and a tiny West Bank enclave, he maintained that his unilateral move was principally compelled by the fact that Palestinians were no partners in peace. They never were, his right wing officials parroted, a reality, they contested, and that most likely will not change in the near future. Thus 'disengagement', for the sake of Israel's security, boils down to demographic supremacy, not Palestinian rights. The Israeli narrative was always clear, albeit iniquitous. "Israel was leaving Gaza in order to retain large chunks of the West Bank," the Jerusalem Post summarized the declared positions of Israel's top officials. This concept was originally initiated by the ever-blunt Chief of Staff Dov Weisglass last year, then Israel's top military strategist, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, and, according to the Post, Sharon himself.
Quote:
When Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced his plans to 'disengage' from Gaza and a tiny West Bank enclave, he maintained that his unilateral move was principally compelled by the fact that Palestinians were no partners in peace. They never were, his right wing officials parroted, a reality, they contested, and that most likely will not change in the near future. Thus 'disengagement', for the sake of Israel's security, boils down to demographic supremacy, not Palestinian rights. The Israeli narrative was always clear, albeit iniquitous. "Israel was leaving Gaza in order to retain large chunks of the West Bank," the Jerusalem Post summarized the declared positions of Israel's top officials. This concept was originally initiated by the ever-blunt Chief of Staff Dov Weisglass last year, then Israel's top military strategist, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, and, according to the Post, Sharon himself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)