Dear friends,
Israel has begun to step up its hasbara (propaganda) campaign in order to try and discredit the upcoming Gaza flotillas. Their latest attempt comes in the form of a youtube video accusing the London Flotilla organisers of homophobia. The video, however, has been exposed by American Jewish writer and activist, Max Blumenthal, along with Ali Abunimah and Benjamin Doherty from Electronic Intifada as not only being a fraud but being closely linked to the Israeli government and no doubt a piece of Israeli government propaganda. The video is clearly part of the ongoing Israeli government attempt to "pinkwash" its apartheid and occupation practices.
I have included links here to Ben Doherty's article (here), as well as links to the articles by Max Blumenthal (here) and Ali Abunimah (here).
In solidarity, Kim
Showing posts with label break the siege of Gaza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label break the siege of Gaza. Show all posts
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Stars make history with Palestine song
31 May 2011
Oneworld
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Stars make history with Palestine song
First popular single to support Palestinian freedom struggle
Leading international musicians today announced plans to make history with the first popular song to support Palestinians’ struggle for justice.
The song, ‘Freedom for Palestine’, is performed by musicians calling themselves OneWorld. Faithless/Slovo star Dave Randall was inspired to write and produce the single after a trip to the West Bank.
OneWorld includes Randall, Jamie Catto (1 Giant Leap), Maxi Jazz (Faithless), LSK, Harry Collier (Kubb), Andrea Britton, Sudha (Faithless), Andy Treacy (Faithless/Moby/Groove Armada), Attab Haddad and Joelle Barker.
The track brings together leading members of seminal dance act Faithless for the first time since the band officially split up in April.
Dave Randall said,
“As a child growing up in Britain, the struggle against apartheid in South Africa seemed a long way away until I heard the song 'Free Nelson Mandela' by The Special AKA. Now, apartheid in South Africa has fallen, but something very similar remains in Palestine - as I discovered when I visited Gaza and the West Bank recently. What I saw convinced me that it is time for a new generation of musicians from around the world to stand up for Freedom for Palestine.”
Many commentators – including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former US President Jimmy Carter – have drawn a parallel between Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land with South African apartheid.
The song also features the Durban Gospel Choir and members of the London Community Gospel Choir.
During the last year Faithless, Massive Attack, Elvis Costello, Gil Scott-Heron, the Tindersticks, the Klaxons and the Gorillaz Sound System have all cancelled gigs in Israel over increased repression of Palestinians.
The news comes as British foreign secretary William Hague today backed US president Barack Obama’s call for an independent Palestinian state.
It also emerges only days after Israeli troops shot dead at least 13 Palestinians in protests over the occupation.
The single will be available for pre-order from 31 May, one year on since Israeli commandos killed and injured many activists in a raid on a flotilla of ships delivering aid to besieged Gaza.
The music video – which features the artists recording the single, as well as comedian Mark Thomas, rapper Lowkey and poet Michael Rosen, the former children’s laureate – will be made publicly available on YouTube on the same day.
Chart release will be on 3 July.
The track is being remixed by notable dance producers including Phil Jones from Specimen A.
It is backed by the anti-poverty charity War on Want and proceeds from sales of the song will go to support its projects in Palestine.
See also www.freedomoneworld.com
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Vale Vittorio Arrigoni - a Palestinian freedom fighter 1975 - 2011
Brazilian cartoonist, Carlos Latuff's tribute to Vittorio
Dear friends,
so soon after losing Juliano Mer Khamis, Palestinians and Palestine solidarity activists around the world have been shock to hear about the brutal kidnapping and killing of Palestine solidarity activist, Vittorio Arrogoni.
Vik, who was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), had been active in the Palestine cause for almost 10 years. He was one of the siege breakers on the first Free Gaza boats and for the last two and half years had been working in Gaza with the ISM.
I first heard the news of Vik's kidnap when one of my IWPS team mates, who had worked on the ground in Gaza for many months and who was friends with Vik, notified the IWPS team about it. She told us she could not get the video of Vik made by his kidnappers (which I have not include) out of her mind. Before we heard the news of Vik's death, our team mate told us that she had been in contact with other friends and activists in Gaza and that protests events were being organised to demand his release and that the Palestinians were shocked and appalled at Vik's kidnapping.
Part of me doesn't really know what to say or do hearing this news. All I can think of is to tell people about this remarkable human being who gave himself so selflessly to the struggle of an oppressed people.
Vale Vittario, you will be missed by those who knew and loved you and all of us struggling for a better world.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Palestinians rally for unity
Direct Action - Issue 31: April 2011
http://directaction.org.au/issue31/palestinians_rally_for_unity
By Kim Bullimore
Tens of thousands of Palestinians rallied for national unity across the occupied West Bank and Gaza on March 15. The rallies, led by Palestinian youth and inspired by the recent uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, sought to bring to an end three and a half years of bitter division and rivalry between Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas.
In Gaza, at least 3000 Palestinians began gathering in the Square of the Unknown Solider on March 14, the evening before the scheduled unity rally. By the morning of March 15, tens of thousands had joined the demonstration, with estimates of the size of the rally ranging as high as 100,000.
More than 10,000 Palestinians rallied throughout the West Bank, including 4000 in Ramallah and 2000 each in Nablus and Hebron. Smaller rallies took place in other Palestinian cities, including a rally of approximately 1500 in Bethlehem.
While protesters in both the West Bank and Gaza carried a range of placards and banners, the most common slogan read simply: “The people want to end the division”.
Years of division
In January 2006, Hamas candidates won a majority of seats in elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), ending Fatah’s political control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) since its inception in 1996. In response, Israel, the US and the European Union imposed an economic and financial embargo on the PA in an attempt to undermine the democratic choice of the Palestinian people. The blockade pushed more than 85% of Palestinian households below the poverty line.
As the blockade devastated the Palestinian economy, the US channelled millions of dollars to Fatah leader and PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Most of the funds were earmarked to bolster Abbas politically, but some were for the training of hundreds of presidential guards to ensure that Fatah remained in control of the PA security forces. In the months after the PLC elections, Israel arrested at least 33 members of the PLC, the majority of whom were elected on Hamas’ Change and Reform ticket.
In October 2006, fighting erupted between armed Hamas and Fatah militants. Under pressure from the Palestinian street and jailed Palestinian resistance leaders to end these armed clashes, the two groups agreed in February 2007 to form a “national unity” government. This government, however, was short lived, as the US and Israeli rulers continued to push Fatah to carry out a “hard coup” against Hamas. Over a period of one year, fighting between Hamas and Fatah killed more than 450 Palestinians and wounded 1800.
Throughout May 2007, a Gaza-based Fatah warlord, Mohammed Dahlan, used the PA Preventive Security Service to provoke clashes with Hamas. In June 2007, Hamas-led forces in Gaza quickly overran Dahlan’s CIA-trained thugs, seizing control of the coastal strip. In retaliation, Abbas declared a state of emergency, dismissed the Hamas-led national unity government and installed a PA cabinet headed by Salaam Fayaad, whose Third Way party held only two seats in the 132-seat PLC.
Inspired by Tunisia, Egypt
The youth-led unity movement began in February, when Palestinian youth in Ramallah and Gaza organised demonstrations calling for unity between Fatah and Hamas. Inspired by the mass uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, the Palestinian youth organised a Facebook campaign to demand the establishment of a national unity government, calling for demonstrations to be held on March 15.
The demands of the March 15 demonstrations included the holding of democratic elections for the Palestinian National Council, in which all Palestinians could participate, including Palestinians living inside Israel and those living in other countries around the world. The youth also demand the release of all political prisoners held by Hamas in Gaza and by the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. In relation to the demonstrations themselves, the March 15 Coalition demanded a ban on all factional or party flags and called for the Palestinian flag to be the only one flown.
While the Palestinian Authority and a range of Palestinian political parties — including Fatah, Hamas, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Palestinian People’s Party and the Palestinian National Initiative — all issued statements praising and supporting the youth initiative, the leaders of the youth coalition organising the rallies have fought to ensure their movement was not coopted by any political party or group. In a statement issued by rally organisers a week prior to March 15, they noted that the various groups had been “attempting to legitimise themselves by falsely stating that they are the main organizers behind this event”. The statement rejected those attempts, saying “[we] do not welcome attempts by leaders to redirect efforts”.
In Gaza, Samah al-Rawah from the March 15 Coalition told the French news service Agence France-Presse that the Hamas Interior Ministry in Gaza had refused to give them a permit for the march, instead awarding it to a Hamas-dominated group called “National Campaign for an End to the Division”. According to al-Rawah, the reason many protesters gathered in the Square of the Unknown Soldier the previous evening was to avoid the cooption of the rally by any political faction. Similarly, in Ramallah, protest organisers refused attempts by Fatah to coopt the unity movement.
Attacks
Despite assurances by both the Palestinian Authority security forces and the Hamas security forces in Gaza that the rallies would be allowed to proceed unhindered, the two largest rallies, in Gaza City and Ramallah, were attacked.
In Gaza, despite a ban on factional flags, more than 500 members of Hamas attempted to march into the rally carrying Hamas flags. According to eyewitnesses, when protesters attempted to stop them, the Hamas members began attacking protesters. Hamas security forces, rather than protecting the rally began to disperse it violently. March 15 Coalition members told Maan News that hundreds of Hamas security forces stormed the protest and tried to end it by force.
Maan also reported in its March 15 updated article that protesters and PA security forces clashed in Ramallah, when the PA attempted to gain control of the demonstration: “At least 20 people have been injured by security forces in the main square, and six were taken away in ambulances, our correspondent reported from the scene”. Ramallah protest organisers later issued a statement saying that four protesters had been arrested. Israeli journalist Amira Hass in her March 20 article in the Hebrew edition of Haaretz noted that while there had been widespread coverage of the Hamas attack on the Gaza Unity rally, very little had been written about attacks on the Ramallah rally.
Despite the attacks on the rallies, Palestinian youth have continued to protest and demand national unity. In Gaza, Ramallah, Nablus and Bethlehem, dozens of Palestinian youth in each city have continued to stage “sit-ins” in public squares, with many embarking on a hunger strike saying they will not go home until the division ends and national unity is achieved.
http://directaction.org.au/issue31/palestinians_rally_for_unity
By Kim Bullimore
Tens of thousands of Palestinians rallied for national unity across the occupied West Bank and Gaza on March 15. The rallies, led by Palestinian youth and inspired by the recent uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, sought to bring to an end three and a half years of bitter division and rivalry between Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas.
In Gaza, at least 3000 Palestinians began gathering in the Square of the Unknown Solider on March 14, the evening before the scheduled unity rally. By the morning of March 15, tens of thousands had joined the demonstration, with estimates of the size of the rally ranging as high as 100,000.
More than 10,000 Palestinians rallied throughout the West Bank, including 4000 in Ramallah and 2000 each in Nablus and Hebron. Smaller rallies took place in other Palestinian cities, including a rally of approximately 1500 in Bethlehem.
While protesters in both the West Bank and Gaza carried a range of placards and banners, the most common slogan read simply: “The people want to end the division”.
Years of division
In January 2006, Hamas candidates won a majority of seats in elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), ending Fatah’s political control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) since its inception in 1996. In response, Israel, the US and the European Union imposed an economic and financial embargo on the PA in an attempt to undermine the democratic choice of the Palestinian people. The blockade pushed more than 85% of Palestinian households below the poverty line.
As the blockade devastated the Palestinian economy, the US channelled millions of dollars to Fatah leader and PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Most of the funds were earmarked to bolster Abbas politically, but some were for the training of hundreds of presidential guards to ensure that Fatah remained in control of the PA security forces. In the months after the PLC elections, Israel arrested at least 33 members of the PLC, the majority of whom were elected on Hamas’ Change and Reform ticket.
In October 2006, fighting erupted between armed Hamas and Fatah militants. Under pressure from the Palestinian street and jailed Palestinian resistance leaders to end these armed clashes, the two groups agreed in February 2007 to form a “national unity” government. This government, however, was short lived, as the US and Israeli rulers continued to push Fatah to carry out a “hard coup” against Hamas. Over a period of one year, fighting between Hamas and Fatah killed more than 450 Palestinians and wounded 1800.
Throughout May 2007, a Gaza-based Fatah warlord, Mohammed Dahlan, used the PA Preventive Security Service to provoke clashes with Hamas. In June 2007, Hamas-led forces in Gaza quickly overran Dahlan’s CIA-trained thugs, seizing control of the coastal strip. In retaliation, Abbas declared a state of emergency, dismissed the Hamas-led national unity government and installed a PA cabinet headed by Salaam Fayaad, whose Third Way party held only two seats in the 132-seat PLC.
Inspired by Tunisia, Egypt
The youth-led unity movement began in February, when Palestinian youth in Ramallah and Gaza organised demonstrations calling for unity between Fatah and Hamas. Inspired by the mass uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, the Palestinian youth organised a Facebook campaign to demand the establishment of a national unity government, calling for demonstrations to be held on March 15.
The demands of the March 15 demonstrations included the holding of democratic elections for the Palestinian National Council, in which all Palestinians could participate, including Palestinians living inside Israel and those living in other countries around the world. The youth also demand the release of all political prisoners held by Hamas in Gaza and by the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. In relation to the demonstrations themselves, the March 15 Coalition demanded a ban on all factional or party flags and called for the Palestinian flag to be the only one flown.
While the Palestinian Authority and a range of Palestinian political parties — including Fatah, Hamas, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Palestinian People’s Party and the Palestinian National Initiative — all issued statements praising and supporting the youth initiative, the leaders of the youth coalition organising the rallies have fought to ensure their movement was not coopted by any political party or group. In a statement issued by rally organisers a week prior to March 15, they noted that the various groups had been “attempting to legitimise themselves by falsely stating that they are the main organizers behind this event”. The statement rejected those attempts, saying “[we] do not welcome attempts by leaders to redirect efforts”.
In Gaza, Samah al-Rawah from the March 15 Coalition told the French news service Agence France-Presse that the Hamas Interior Ministry in Gaza had refused to give them a permit for the march, instead awarding it to a Hamas-dominated group called “National Campaign for an End to the Division”. According to al-Rawah, the reason many protesters gathered in the Square of the Unknown Soldier the previous evening was to avoid the cooption of the rally by any political faction. Similarly, in Ramallah, protest organisers refused attempts by Fatah to coopt the unity movement.
Attacks
Despite assurances by both the Palestinian Authority security forces and the Hamas security forces in Gaza that the rallies would be allowed to proceed unhindered, the two largest rallies, in Gaza City and Ramallah, were attacked.
In Gaza, despite a ban on factional flags, more than 500 members of Hamas attempted to march into the rally carrying Hamas flags. According to eyewitnesses, when protesters attempted to stop them, the Hamas members began attacking protesters. Hamas security forces, rather than protecting the rally began to disperse it violently. March 15 Coalition members told Maan News that hundreds of Hamas security forces stormed the protest and tried to end it by force.
Maan also reported in its March 15 updated article that protesters and PA security forces clashed in Ramallah, when the PA attempted to gain control of the demonstration: “At least 20 people have been injured by security forces in the main square, and six were taken away in ambulances, our correspondent reported from the scene”. Ramallah protest organisers later issued a statement saying that four protesters had been arrested. Israeli journalist Amira Hass in her March 20 article in the Hebrew edition of Haaretz noted that while there had been widespread coverage of the Hamas attack on the Gaza Unity rally, very little had been written about attacks on the Ramallah rally.
Despite the attacks on the rallies, Palestinian youth have continued to protest and demand national unity. In Gaza, Ramallah, Nablus and Bethlehem, dozens of Palestinian youth in each city have continued to stage “sit-ins” in public squares, with many embarking on a hunger strike saying they will not go home until the division ends and national unity is achieved.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
What Israel wants from the Palestinians, it takes
Dear friends,
a very good article by Palestinian-American journalist Ahmed Moor in the LA Times.
in solidarity, Kim
**
What Israel wants from the Palestinians, it takes
By colonizing the West Bank and depriving Palestinians of basic rights, Israel has made a two-state solution impossible.
By Ahmed Moor
September 17, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-oew-moor-israel-palestine-20100917,0,4480633.story
Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Michael B. Oren, argues in his Sept. 15 Times Op-Ed article that Israelis want peace, and I believe him. They've said so often enough. But the Israelis want lots of other things too.
For instance, they want the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In addition, they want the Palestinian aquifers situated beneath the West Bank, and they want to preserve their racial privilege in the Jewish state. They also want to shear the Gaza Strip from Palestine.
Most of all, the Israelis want Palestinian quiescence in the face of Israeli wants. Those wants have made the two-state solution impossible to implement.
For decades, the Israelis have taken what they want from the Palestinians. Consequently, there are about 500,000 settlers in Jewish-only colonies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Today, the Israelis are discovering that what one wants and what one can afford sometimes diverge.
Some Israelis — but apparently not Oren — are beginning to realize that the deep, irreversible colonization of territory comes with a price: the end of the Jewish state as it is. It's a painful lesson to learn, especially after decades of superpower indulgence. America's obsequious coddling turns out to have been a curse for the Jewish state. Serious cost-benefit analyses around occupation policies — collectively, apartheid — were evidently never conducted.
When Israel killed 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza — proportionally equivalent to 300,000 Americans — in Operation Cast Lead, incoming President Obama stayed mum. The Israelis counted on and got American cover. But they didn't anticipate the impact of Richard Goldstone's damning report on world opinion and the American layperson's views. No one seems to have ever asked, "Wait, what will killing more than 300 children do to our image abroad? Can we afford to launch an assault against a defenseless and captive population just because President Bush says we can while Obama remains silent?"
Oren's words fail to obscure the "facts on the ground" Israel has established in recent decades. These facts were engineered to entrench Israel's permanent presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The conversation the ambassador is engaging in would have been timelier 42 years ago before Israel's colonies killed the two-state solution, which was never an equitable solution anyway.
Today, the ambassador's words are not just empty platitudes to peace but also effectively irrelevant. That's because honest and well-informed observers understand that there will never be a viable Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza.
Obama's circus — the so-called peace process — is designed only to pacify the perennial bugaboo of U.S. politics. The Israel lobby wants to promote the illusion that Israelis want a Palestinian state to enable the continued colonization of occupied land. It's unclear why anyone seems to think that the theatrics are an effective smokescreen at this late stage.
Yet the reality is that Palestine/Israel is already one country. Five hundred thousand settler-colonists in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have congealed in place; small numbers may be evacuated, but the vast majority are not going anywhere.
Furthermore, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad stand for no one and nothing. The two men have no democratic mandate. Their terms in office having long expired, they are propped up by American and Israeli leaders who seek weak leaders as more apt to concede fundamental Palestinian rights. Of course, these are concessions they are incapable of making legitimately.
Abbas' presidential term ended in January 2009, and Fayyad was illegally reappointed after the Fatah coup attempt against Hamas in June 2007. They cooperate so extensively with Israeli forces that the Palestinian Authority is more like a subcontracted colonial government than an adversarial negotiating party.
Obama recently asserted that Abbas knows "the window for creating a Palestinian state is closing." But Abbas, Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are already too late. Unless Abbas accepts noncontiguous "Bantustans" and uses U.S.-trained forces to enforce the abandonment of Palestinian rights, one state will become increasingly clear to all involved as the only alternative to apartheid. In effect, Israel will have colonized itself out of existence.
As in South Africa, it is time for Israeli leaders to embrace a pluralistic and humanistic vision for the state. Rather than lecture on Israel's desire for a lopsided "peace," Oren should begin to imagine a state in which each person — Jewish or non-Jewish — is equal under the law irrespective of religion or race. He can begin to imagine an apartheid-free society.
To see it in practice, he could travel through the American South. Yes, the American South and post-apartheid South Africa are not perfect, but they are dramatically improved over the reality of 50 years ago — a discriminatory and racist reality still endured today by Palestinians.
To be fair, we Palestinians also want a lot. We want what people everywhere else do: to live as free human beings in our country, in the absence of a foreign military occupation. We want to return to our towns and cities that were ethnically cleansed of us in 1948. We want to vote for our government, the one that controls every aspect of our lives. We want a united Jerusalem. And, when the state is united, we want an ambassador who speaks for all of us, not just the Jewish half of the country.
Put differently, we want equality and justice.
Ahmed Moor is a Palestinian American journalist living in Beirut.
a very good article by Palestinian-American journalist Ahmed Moor in the LA Times.
in solidarity, Kim
**
What Israel wants from the Palestinians, it takes
By colonizing the West Bank and depriving Palestinians of basic rights, Israel has made a two-state solution impossible.
By Ahmed Moor
September 17, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-oew-moor-israel-palestine-20100917,0,4480633.story
Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Michael B. Oren, argues in his Sept. 15 Times Op-Ed article that Israelis want peace, and I believe him. They've said so often enough. But the Israelis want lots of other things too.
For instance, they want the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In addition, they want the Palestinian aquifers situated beneath the West Bank, and they want to preserve their racial privilege in the Jewish state. They also want to shear the Gaza Strip from Palestine.
Most of all, the Israelis want Palestinian quiescence in the face of Israeli wants. Those wants have made the two-state solution impossible to implement.
For decades, the Israelis have taken what they want from the Palestinians. Consequently, there are about 500,000 settlers in Jewish-only colonies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Today, the Israelis are discovering that what one wants and what one can afford sometimes diverge.
Some Israelis — but apparently not Oren — are beginning to realize that the deep, irreversible colonization of territory comes with a price: the end of the Jewish state as it is. It's a painful lesson to learn, especially after decades of superpower indulgence. America's obsequious coddling turns out to have been a curse for the Jewish state. Serious cost-benefit analyses around occupation policies — collectively, apartheid — were evidently never conducted.
When Israel killed 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza — proportionally equivalent to 300,000 Americans — in Operation Cast Lead, incoming President Obama stayed mum. The Israelis counted on and got American cover. But they didn't anticipate the impact of Richard Goldstone's damning report on world opinion and the American layperson's views. No one seems to have ever asked, "Wait, what will killing more than 300 children do to our image abroad? Can we afford to launch an assault against a defenseless and captive population just because President Bush says we can while Obama remains silent?"
Oren's words fail to obscure the "facts on the ground" Israel has established in recent decades. These facts were engineered to entrench Israel's permanent presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The conversation the ambassador is engaging in would have been timelier 42 years ago before Israel's colonies killed the two-state solution, which was never an equitable solution anyway.
Today, the ambassador's words are not just empty platitudes to peace but also effectively irrelevant. That's because honest and well-informed observers understand that there will never be a viable Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza.
Obama's circus — the so-called peace process — is designed only to pacify the perennial bugaboo of U.S. politics. The Israel lobby wants to promote the illusion that Israelis want a Palestinian state to enable the continued colonization of occupied land. It's unclear why anyone seems to think that the theatrics are an effective smokescreen at this late stage.
Yet the reality is that Palestine/Israel is already one country. Five hundred thousand settler-colonists in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have congealed in place; small numbers may be evacuated, but the vast majority are not going anywhere.
Furthermore, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad stand for no one and nothing. The two men have no democratic mandate. Their terms in office having long expired, they are propped up by American and Israeli leaders who seek weak leaders as more apt to concede fundamental Palestinian rights. Of course, these are concessions they are incapable of making legitimately.
Abbas' presidential term ended in January 2009, and Fayyad was illegally reappointed after the Fatah coup attempt against Hamas in June 2007. They cooperate so extensively with Israeli forces that the Palestinian Authority is more like a subcontracted colonial government than an adversarial negotiating party.
Obama recently asserted that Abbas knows "the window for creating a Palestinian state is closing." But Abbas, Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are already too late. Unless Abbas accepts noncontiguous "Bantustans" and uses U.S.-trained forces to enforce the abandonment of Palestinian rights, one state will become increasingly clear to all involved as the only alternative to apartheid. In effect, Israel will have colonized itself out of existence.
As in South Africa, it is time for Israeli leaders to embrace a pluralistic and humanistic vision for the state. Rather than lecture on Israel's desire for a lopsided "peace," Oren should begin to imagine a state in which each person — Jewish or non-Jewish — is equal under the law irrespective of religion or race. He can begin to imagine an apartheid-free society.
To see it in practice, he could travel through the American South. Yes, the American South and post-apartheid South Africa are not perfect, but they are dramatically improved over the reality of 50 years ago — a discriminatory and racist reality still endured today by Palestinians.
To be fair, we Palestinians also want a lot. We want what people everywhere else do: to live as free human beings in our country, in the absence of a foreign military occupation. We want to return to our towns and cities that were ethnically cleansed of us in 1948. We want to vote for our government, the one that controls every aspect of our lives. We want a united Jerusalem. And, when the state is united, we want an ambassador who speaks for all of us, not just the Jewish half of the country.
Put differently, we want equality and justice.
Ahmed Moor is a Palestinian American journalist living in Beirut.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Israel's Gaza siege: a crime against humanity
Dear friends,
Here are some of the recent articles I have written, which appeared in Direct Action.
in solidarity, Kim Home » Issue 24: July 2010
***
Israel's Gaza siege: a crime against humanity
By Kim Bullimore
Israel announced on June 17 that it would “liberalise” its three-year siege of Gaza, allowing more categories of goods to enter the blockaded territory. Non-essential items such as tomato sauce, snacks, mayonnaise and cosmetics will now be allowed in. However, building materials such as cement, pipes and iron — essential for the reconstruction of housing, much of which was destroyed by Israel’s 22-day bombing campaign in 2008-09 — will remain prohibited.
According to the June 21 Tel Aviv Haaretz newspaper, Israel will retain the “right” to ban “dual-use” construction materials that it claims could be used by the Palestinian resistance to rebuild military facilities and manufacture weapons. Gisha, an Israeli human rights organisation that deals specifically with legal issues related to freedom of movement within the Occupied Palestinian Territories, noted in a statement on June 17 that the “liberalisation” advocated by the Israeli Security Cabinet enacted little more than “cosmetic changes” and did little to change the situation for the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.
Gisha said that Israel’s siege of Gaza has little to do with security and instead is part of a policy of “economic warfare” designed supposedly to weaken support for Hamas. Gisha went on to state: “In the context of that policy, Israel deliberately prevents Gaza residents from receiving raw materials, exporting finished products and travelling into and out of Gaza”. Rather than introducing cosmetic changes to the blockade, Gisha called on Israel to adopt “a policy that recognises the rights of Palestinian residents of Gaza not just to consume but also to produce [goods] and to travel”.
Planned murder
The announcement of the “liberalisation” of the siege came in the wake of international outrage at Israel’s murder of nine human rights activists and wounding of up to 30 others, aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters on May 31. The nine-boat flotilla, carrying more than 650 human rights activists, doctors, parliamentarians and journalists, was organised jointly by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish human rights organisation Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH). The flotilla sought to break Israel’s illegal three-year siege of the Gaza Strip and deliver more than 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid. The nine were killed when Israeli commandos boarded and attacked with live ammunition the largest of the boats, the Turkish passenger ship Mavi Marmara.
The Israeli government, along with the Israeli and international media, has attempted to portray the deadly commando attack as a “bungled raid”. However, before the attack, Israeli media carried a number of stories in both English and Hebrew outlining the Israeli government’s intention to use violence against the flotilla and its unarmed passengers. Awarding-winning US Jewish freelance journalist Max Blumenthal wrote in a June 6 article on his blog that statements by senior Israeli military commanders prior to the departure of the flotilla towards Gaza revealed that “the raid was planned over a week in advance by the Israeli military and was personally approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak”. On May 28, three days before the attack on the boats, Israel’s Maariv newspaper carried an article in Hebrew entitled, “Head to Head in the Heart of the Sea”, which outlined the intention of the Israeli military to use brutal force.
Footage shoot by Iara Lee on the Mavi Marmara. Lee was able to retain the footage despite the IOF trying to confiscate all footage shot by activists.
According to Blumenthal’s English translation of the Maariv article, the Israeli operation against the boats would be led by Lieutenant Colonel Eliezer Maron, who told Maariv, “If the people aboard the boats will not agree to turn around, the operation will transfer to the stage of force”. According to Maron, the operational plan included approval for using “live fire” if the commandos deemed it necessary. The article also outlined that, once the commandos boarded the boats, they would “inspect them looking for sabotage materials and fighting tools”. As Blumenthal notes, “The plan to search for ‘sabotage materials’ also foreshadowed the [Israeli military’s] post-raid propaganda campaign”.
Despite Israeli military illegally attempting to confiscate all photographic and film footage from the activists in an attempt ensure that Israel’s version of events dominated media coverage of the attack, the Israeli government’s torrent of justification was repeatedly challenged by a range of independent journalists, both inside Israel and internationally. As a result, the Israeli government and military were forced to retreat from a number of claims they had made, including that 40 flotilla participants were “al Qaeda mercenaries”. The Israeli military was also forced to admit that it had doctored the audio on footage it released of the assault on the Mavi Marmara.
With the release of the hundreds of human rights activists from Israeli detention, photographs and video footage that activists were able to retain were released. They revealed that far from attempting to “lynch” the attacking commandos, as Israel claimed, the activists were attacked and attempted to defend themselves. The footage also revealed that activists had sought to give medical aid to injured soldiers.
BDS campaign strengthened
The outrage at the murder of the nine activists has put Israel under increased international pressure to end its illegal siege and has increased support for the Palestinian-initiated boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign. On June 2, the UN Human Rights Council voted overwhelmingly (32 to 2) to strongly condemn Israel’s actions against the humanitarian flotilla and call for an end to the siege of Gaza. On May 31, the day of the massacre, Professor Richard Falk, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, told Dubai’s Gulf News: “It is essential that those Israelis responsible for this lawless and murderous behaviour, including political leaders who issued the orders, be held criminally accountable for their wrongful acts … The worldwide campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel is now a moral and political imperative, and needs to be supported and strengthened everywhere”.
Turkey, South Africa and Nicaragua recalled their ambassadors from Israel and/or suspended diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv. The Turkish parliament, in reaction to nine of its nationals being murdered, voted unanimously to “revise the political, military and economic relations with Israel” and to “seek justice against Israel through national and international legal authorities”. On June 14, the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) demanded Israel immediately lift its Gaza blockade. “The whole of Gaza’s civilian population is being punished for acts for which they bear no responsibility. The closure therefore constitutes a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law”, the ICRC stated. Under such law, collective punishment of a whole population is a crime against humanity.
On June 1, the Palestinian BDS National Committee issued a statement condemning the murders and calling on the international community to intensify its support for BDS. In reaction to its call for transport and dock workers and unions around the world to refuse to load or offload Israeli ships and airplanes, the Swedish Port Workers Union voted to implement a blockade of Israeli ships and cargo to and from Israel from June 15 to 29. The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union, which pioneered the boycott against Israeli maritime trade in February 2009 by refusing to offload a ship in Durban, also heeded the Palestinian appeal, advocating “an escalation of the boycott of Israeli goods”, calling upon its members “not to allow any Israeli ship to dock or unload” and calling upon fellow trade unionists not to handle them. On June 20, more than 700 protesters were able to stop the unloading of an Israeli cargo ship at the port of Oakland in San Francisco Bay.
In Australia, 11 unions and state labour councils have now publicly announced support for the BDS campaign. The Western Australia branch of the Maritime Union of Australia was the first to support the campaign, joining in January 2009. It was joined just prior to the attack on the flotilla by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and the Queensland branch of the Electrical Trades Union.
In the wake of the attack, the Australian Services Union NSW and ACT branches, the Health and Community Services Union Victoria, Australian Education Union, Geelong Trades Hall Council, South Coast Labour Council (NSW) and Newcastle Trades Hall Council all announced support for BDS and called for the lifting of the siege of Gaza. The national secretary of the MUA, along with the Australian Nurses Federation, NSW Teachers Federation and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), while not announcing support for the BDS campaign, issued statements condemning Israel’s attack on the flotilla and calling for the end of the siege.
Here are some of the recent articles I have written, which appeared in Direct Action.
in solidarity, Kim Home » Issue 24: July 2010
***
Israel's Gaza siege: a crime against humanity
By Kim Bullimore
Israel announced on June 17 that it would “liberalise” its three-year siege of Gaza, allowing more categories of goods to enter the blockaded territory. Non-essential items such as tomato sauce, snacks, mayonnaise and cosmetics will now be allowed in. However, building materials such as cement, pipes and iron — essential for the reconstruction of housing, much of which was destroyed by Israel’s 22-day bombing campaign in 2008-09 — will remain prohibited.
According to the June 21 Tel Aviv Haaretz newspaper, Israel will retain the “right” to ban “dual-use” construction materials that it claims could be used by the Palestinian resistance to rebuild military facilities and manufacture weapons. Gisha, an Israeli human rights organisation that deals specifically with legal issues related to freedom of movement within the Occupied Palestinian Territories, noted in a statement on June 17 that the “liberalisation” advocated by the Israeli Security Cabinet enacted little more than “cosmetic changes” and did little to change the situation for the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.
Gisha said that Israel’s siege of Gaza has little to do with security and instead is part of a policy of “economic warfare” designed supposedly to weaken support for Hamas. Gisha went on to state: “In the context of that policy, Israel deliberately prevents Gaza residents from receiving raw materials, exporting finished products and travelling into and out of Gaza”. Rather than introducing cosmetic changes to the blockade, Gisha called on Israel to adopt “a policy that recognises the rights of Palestinian residents of Gaza not just to consume but also to produce [goods] and to travel”.
Planned murder
The announcement of the “liberalisation” of the siege came in the wake of international outrage at Israel’s murder of nine human rights activists and wounding of up to 30 others, aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters on May 31. The nine-boat flotilla, carrying more than 650 human rights activists, doctors, parliamentarians and journalists, was organised jointly by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish human rights organisation Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH). The flotilla sought to break Israel’s illegal three-year siege of the Gaza Strip and deliver more than 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid. The nine were killed when Israeli commandos boarded and attacked with live ammunition the largest of the boats, the Turkish passenger ship Mavi Marmara.
The Israeli government, along with the Israeli and international media, has attempted to portray the deadly commando attack as a “bungled raid”. However, before the attack, Israeli media carried a number of stories in both English and Hebrew outlining the Israeli government’s intention to use violence against the flotilla and its unarmed passengers. Awarding-winning US Jewish freelance journalist Max Blumenthal wrote in a June 6 article on his blog that statements by senior Israeli military commanders prior to the departure of the flotilla towards Gaza revealed that “the raid was planned over a week in advance by the Israeli military and was personally approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak”. On May 28, three days before the attack on the boats, Israel’s Maariv newspaper carried an article in Hebrew entitled, “Head to Head in the Heart of the Sea”, which outlined the intention of the Israeli military to use brutal force.
Footage shoot by Iara Lee on the Mavi Marmara. Lee was able to retain the footage despite the IOF trying to confiscate all footage shot by activists.
According to Blumenthal’s English translation of the Maariv article, the Israeli operation against the boats would be led by Lieutenant Colonel Eliezer Maron, who told Maariv, “If the people aboard the boats will not agree to turn around, the operation will transfer to the stage of force”. According to Maron, the operational plan included approval for using “live fire” if the commandos deemed it necessary. The article also outlined that, once the commandos boarded the boats, they would “inspect them looking for sabotage materials and fighting tools”. As Blumenthal notes, “The plan to search for ‘sabotage materials’ also foreshadowed the [Israeli military’s] post-raid propaganda campaign”.
Despite Israeli military illegally attempting to confiscate all photographic and film footage from the activists in an attempt ensure that Israel’s version of events dominated media coverage of the attack, the Israeli government’s torrent of justification was repeatedly challenged by a range of independent journalists, both inside Israel and internationally. As a result, the Israeli government and military were forced to retreat from a number of claims they had made, including that 40 flotilla participants were “al Qaeda mercenaries”. The Israeli military was also forced to admit that it had doctored the audio on footage it released of the assault on the Mavi Marmara.
With the release of the hundreds of human rights activists from Israeli detention, photographs and video footage that activists were able to retain were released. They revealed that far from attempting to “lynch” the attacking commandos, as Israel claimed, the activists were attacked and attempted to defend themselves. The footage also revealed that activists had sought to give medical aid to injured soldiers.
BDS campaign strengthened
The outrage at the murder of the nine activists has put Israel under increased international pressure to end its illegal siege and has increased support for the Palestinian-initiated boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign. On June 2, the UN Human Rights Council voted overwhelmingly (32 to 2) to strongly condemn Israel’s actions against the humanitarian flotilla and call for an end to the siege of Gaza. On May 31, the day of the massacre, Professor Richard Falk, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, told Dubai’s Gulf News: “It is essential that those Israelis responsible for this lawless and murderous behaviour, including political leaders who issued the orders, be held criminally accountable for their wrongful acts … The worldwide campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel is now a moral and political imperative, and needs to be supported and strengthened everywhere”.
Turkey, South Africa and Nicaragua recalled their ambassadors from Israel and/or suspended diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv. The Turkish parliament, in reaction to nine of its nationals being murdered, voted unanimously to “revise the political, military and economic relations with Israel” and to “seek justice against Israel through national and international legal authorities”. On June 14, the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) demanded Israel immediately lift its Gaza blockade. “The whole of Gaza’s civilian population is being punished for acts for which they bear no responsibility. The closure therefore constitutes a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law”, the ICRC stated. Under such law, collective punishment of a whole population is a crime against humanity.
On June 1, the Palestinian BDS National Committee issued a statement condemning the murders and calling on the international community to intensify its support for BDS. In reaction to its call for transport and dock workers and unions around the world to refuse to load or offload Israeli ships and airplanes, the Swedish Port Workers Union voted to implement a blockade of Israeli ships and cargo to and from Israel from June 15 to 29. The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union, which pioneered the boycott against Israeli maritime trade in February 2009 by refusing to offload a ship in Durban, also heeded the Palestinian appeal, advocating “an escalation of the boycott of Israeli goods”, calling upon its members “not to allow any Israeli ship to dock or unload” and calling upon fellow trade unionists not to handle them. On June 20, more than 700 protesters were able to stop the unloading of an Israeli cargo ship at the port of Oakland in San Francisco Bay.
In Australia, 11 unions and state labour councils have now publicly announced support for the BDS campaign. The Western Australia branch of the Maritime Union of Australia was the first to support the campaign, joining in January 2009. It was joined just prior to the attack on the flotilla by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and the Queensland branch of the Electrical Trades Union.
In the wake of the attack, the Australian Services Union NSW and ACT branches, the Health and Community Services Union Victoria, Australian Education Union, Geelong Trades Hall Council, South Coast Labour Council (NSW) and Newcastle Trades Hall Council all announced support for BDS and called for the lifting of the siege of Gaza. The national secretary of the MUA, along with the Australian Nurses Federation, NSW Teachers Federation and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), while not announcing support for the BDS campaign, issued statements condemning Israel’s attack on the flotilla and calling for the end of the siege.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Israel's out of control hasbara and replusive youtube "spoof" of Gaza Flotilla
Dear friends,
if you have been following the Israeli government and Israeli Occupation Force's hasbara (propaganda) since the attack on the Gaza flotilla, you will have noticed each day an even more hystical and ridiculous claim has been made in order to try and justify the attack on the flotilla and the murder of the 9 activists.
The Guardian article below higlights not only Israel's forced retreat from a replusive youtube video making fun of the Gaza flotilla and the murder of the 9 activists, but also a number of other forced retreats by the Israel state and Israeli Occupation Forces from some of their more hysterical and absurd claims, including retreats on the accusations of activists supposedly linked to al Qaida and retreat around doctored footage, which supposedly showed an activist telling a soldier to "go back to Auschwitz"
in solidarity,
Kim
***
Israel forced to apologise for YouTube spoof of Gaza flotilla
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/06/israel-youtube-gaza-flotilla
Israeli government press office distributed video link featuring Arabs and activists singing
* Rachel Shabi in Jerusalem
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 6 June 2010 22.44 BST
The Israeli government has been forced to apologise for circulating a spoof video mocking activists aboard the Gaza flotilla, nine of who were shot dead by Israeli forces last week.
The YouTube clip, set to the tune of the 1985 charity single We Are the World, features Israelis dressed as Arabs and activists, waving weapons while singing: "We con the world, we con the people. We'll make them all believe the IDF (Israel Defence Force) is Jack the Ripper."
It continues: "There's no people dying, so the best that we can do is create the biggest bluff of all."
The Israeli government press office distributed the video link to foreign journalists at the weekend, but within hours emailed them an apology, saying it had been an error. Press office director Danny Seaman said the video did not reflect official state opinion, but in his personal capacity he thought it was "fantastic".
Government spokesman Mark Regev said the video reflected how Israelis felt about the incident. "I called my kids in to watch it because I thought it was funny," he said. "It is what Israelis feel. But the government has nothing to do with it."
The clip features a group led by the Jerusalem Post's deputy managing editor Caroline Glick, wearing keffiyehs and calling themselves the Flotilla Choir. The footage is interspersed with clips from the recent Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound aid ship, the Mavi Marmara.
The clip has been praised in Israel, where the mass-circulation daily Yediot Aharonot said the singers "defended Israel better than any of the experts".
But Didi Remez, an Israeli who runs the liberal-left news analysis blog Coteret, said the clip was "repulsive" and reflected how out of touch Israeli opinion was with the rest of the world. "It shows a complete lack of understanding of how the incident is being perceived abroad," he said. Award-winning Israeli journalist Meron Rapoport said the clip demonstrated prejudice against Muslims. "It's roughly done, not very sophisticated, anti-Muslim – and childish for the government to be behind such a clip," he said.
A similar press office email was sent to foreign journalists two weeks ago, recommending a gourmet restaurant and Olympic-sized swimming pool in Gaza to highlight Israel's claim there is no humanitarian crisis there. Journalists who complained the email was in poor taste were told they had "no sense of humour".
Last week, the Israel Defence Force had to issue a retraction over an audio clip it had claimed was a conversation between Israeli naval officials and people on the Mavi Marmara, in which an activist told soldiers to "go back to Auschwitz". The clip was carried by Israeli and international press, but today the army released a "clarification/correction", explaining that it had edited the footage and that it was not clear who had made the comment.
The Israeli army also backed down last week from an earlier claim that soldiers were attacked by al-Qaida "mercenaries" aboard the Gaza flotilla. An article appearing on the IDF spokesperson's website with the headline: "Attackers of the IDF soldiers found to be al-Qaida mercenaries", was later changed to "Attackers of the IDF Soldiers found without identification papers," with the information about al-Qaida removed from the main article. An army spokesperson told the Guardian there was no evidence proving such a link to the terror organisation.
While the debate over accounts of the flotilla raid continues, Israel is facing more boycotting. In the past week, three international acts, including the US rock band the Pixies, have cancelled concerts in Tel Aviv.
Best-settling authors Alice Walker and Iain Banks have backed the boycott campaign, with Banks announcing his books won't be translated into Hebrew. Dockworker unions in Sweden and South Africa have refused to handle Israeli ships, while the UK's Unite union just passed a motion to boycott Israeli companies.
• This article was amended on 7 June 2010. The original referred to Didi Remez as a female. This has been corrected.
if you have been following the Israeli government and Israeli Occupation Force's hasbara (propaganda) since the attack on the Gaza flotilla, you will have noticed each day an even more hystical and ridiculous claim has been made in order to try and justify the attack on the flotilla and the murder of the 9 activists.
The Guardian article below higlights not only Israel's forced retreat from a replusive youtube video making fun of the Gaza flotilla and the murder of the 9 activists, but also a number of other forced retreats by the Israel state and Israeli Occupation Forces from some of their more hysterical and absurd claims, including retreats on the accusations of activists supposedly linked to al Qaida and retreat around doctored footage, which supposedly showed an activist telling a soldier to "go back to Auschwitz"
in solidarity,
Kim
***
Israel forced to apologise for YouTube spoof of Gaza flotilla
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/06/israel-youtube-gaza-flotilla
Israeli government press office distributed video link featuring Arabs and activists singing
* Rachel Shabi in Jerusalem
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 6 June 2010 22.44 BST
The Israeli government has been forced to apologise for circulating a spoof video mocking activists aboard the Gaza flotilla, nine of who were shot dead by Israeli forces last week.
The YouTube clip, set to the tune of the 1985 charity single We Are the World, features Israelis dressed as Arabs and activists, waving weapons while singing: "We con the world, we con the people. We'll make them all believe the IDF (Israel Defence Force) is Jack the Ripper."
It continues: "There's no people dying, so the best that we can do is create the biggest bluff of all."
The Israeli government press office distributed the video link to foreign journalists at the weekend, but within hours emailed them an apology, saying it had been an error. Press office director Danny Seaman said the video did not reflect official state opinion, but in his personal capacity he thought it was "fantastic".
Government spokesman Mark Regev said the video reflected how Israelis felt about the incident. "I called my kids in to watch it because I thought it was funny," he said. "It is what Israelis feel. But the government has nothing to do with it."
The clip features a group led by the Jerusalem Post's deputy managing editor Caroline Glick, wearing keffiyehs and calling themselves the Flotilla Choir. The footage is interspersed with clips from the recent Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound aid ship, the Mavi Marmara.
The clip has been praised in Israel, where the mass-circulation daily Yediot Aharonot said the singers "defended Israel better than any of the experts".
But Didi Remez, an Israeli who runs the liberal-left news analysis blog Coteret, said the clip was "repulsive" and reflected how out of touch Israeli opinion was with the rest of the world. "It shows a complete lack of understanding of how the incident is being perceived abroad," he said. Award-winning Israeli journalist Meron Rapoport said the clip demonstrated prejudice against Muslims. "It's roughly done, not very sophisticated, anti-Muslim – and childish for the government to be behind such a clip," he said.
A similar press office email was sent to foreign journalists two weeks ago, recommending a gourmet restaurant and Olympic-sized swimming pool in Gaza to highlight Israel's claim there is no humanitarian crisis there. Journalists who complained the email was in poor taste were told they had "no sense of humour".
Last week, the Israel Defence Force had to issue a retraction over an audio clip it had claimed was a conversation between Israeli naval officials and people on the Mavi Marmara, in which an activist told soldiers to "go back to Auschwitz". The clip was carried by Israeli and international press, but today the army released a "clarification/correction", explaining that it had edited the footage and that it was not clear who had made the comment.
The Israeli army also backed down last week from an earlier claim that soldiers were attacked by al-Qaida "mercenaries" aboard the Gaza flotilla. An article appearing on the IDF spokesperson's website with the headline: "Attackers of the IDF soldiers found to be al-Qaida mercenaries", was later changed to "Attackers of the IDF Soldiers found without identification papers," with the information about al-Qaida removed from the main article. An army spokesperson told the Guardian there was no evidence proving such a link to the terror organisation.
While the debate over accounts of the flotilla raid continues, Israel is facing more boycotting. In the past week, three international acts, including the US rock band the Pixies, have cancelled concerts in Tel Aviv.
Best-settling authors Alice Walker and Iain Banks have backed the boycott campaign, with Banks announcing his books won't be translated into Hebrew. Dockworker unions in Sweden and South Africa have refused to handle Israeli ships, while the UK's Unite union just passed a motion to boycott Israeli companies.
• This article was amended on 7 June 2010. The original referred to Didi Remez as a female. This has been corrected.
Friday, June 4, 2010
The Flotilla Raid Was Not “Bungled.” The IDF Detailed Its Violent Strategy In Advance.
Dear friends,
American Jewish activist and independent film maker and journalist, Max Blumenthal debunks the claims in the mainstream media that Israel's murderous attack on the Gaza Flotilla, which resulted in 9 dead and many more injured, was a result of a "bungled raid". Blumenthal outlines in detail, the Israeli Occupation Forces intent to use violence against the Flotilla of unarmed humanitarian activists attempting to break Israel's illegal blockade and deliver 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
In solidarity, Kim
***
The Flotilla Raid Was Not “Bungled.” The IDF Detailed Its Violent Strategy In Advance.
by Max Bluementhal
On 06.03.10
http://maxblumenthal.com/2010/06/the-flotilla-raid-was-not-bungled-the-idf-detailed-its-violent-strategy-in-advance/
Tel Aviv-Israel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his senior ministers have attempted to blame army commanders for “the bungled raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla,” according to the UK’s Daily Telegraph. The AP reported that “Israel’s bloody, bungled takeover of a Gaza-bound Turkish aid vessel is complicating US-led Mideast peace efforts.” And according to Reuters, “Israeli military admits errors in bungled boarding.”
But was the raid really bungled? Did the Israeli military command and Netanyahu government have no clear strategy going in? Or was the violence they meted out against the flotilla activists deliberate and methodically planned?
Statements by senior Israeli military commanders made in the Hebrew media days before the massacre revealed that the raid was planned over a week in advance by the Israeli military and was personally approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak. The elite Israeli commando unit known as Unit 13 was tasked with carrying out the mission and its role was known by the Israeli public well before the raid took place. Details of the plan show that the use of deadly force was authorized and calculated. The massacre of activists should not have been unexpected.
On May 28, three days before the raid, top Israeli military officials revealed details of their strategy to Maariv, Israel’s most widely circulated paper. The caption of the Maariv article reflected the military command’s plan to use force: “On the way to violence; one of the boats is on its way.”
Here is a translation of relevant portions of the article:
Maariv, 5/28/10 P. 4
Title: Head to Head in the Heart of the Sea
Caption: On the way to violence; one of the boats is on its way.”
Subhead: The sea encounter that will occur at the end of the weekend is already planned detail by detail. From the moment that the ships will pass the “red line” on their way to Gaza, the fighters of Unit 13 will take control and transfer 800 passengers from their boats back to where they came from. And special arrest units were set up.
From the body of article: This operation was approved by Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak and will be led by the commander of the Navy, Lieutenant Colonel Eliezer Maron, who is nicknamed “Cheney.” If the people aboard the boats will not agree to turn around, the operation will transfer to the stage of force. “We are afraid that there will be a terror attack by the boats,” said a high ranking officer. “If terrorists have gotten on the boats or if there is an intention to use hot weapons against our forces, we will use full seriousness and caution. We want to avoid using force but as soon as there will be danger to the life of our forces we will be forced to use live fire as a last resort.
[...]
After our fighters take over the boats, OKETZ unit dogs and forces of the IHLM unit corps of engineers will inspect them looking for sabotage materials and fighting tools.
So the Israeli military broadcast its plan for violence, inciting the Israeli public and the soldiers of Unit 13 with fevered visions of a kill-or-be-killed encounter with a group of Arab “terrorists.” The stated conditions for using live fire were arbitrary and poorly defined, giving the commandos little direction and lots of leeway to kill — at the very least the plan demanded force in some form.
After the initial violent stages, the plan called for the gathering of the activists’ “fighting tools,” an acknowledgment by the Israeli military that the activists might try to repel its commandos once they forced their way on the ships. The plan to search for “sabotage materials” also foreshadowed the IDF’s post-raid propaganda campaign.
An alternative plan that would have been likely to avert violence could have been set into motion. The Israeli Navy could have done what it had in the past and hijacked the aid ships without boarding them, then towed them to shore. However, the Rambo-style plan concocted by Netanyahu, his top aides and the Naval commander with the unfortunate nickname of “Cheney” made the killing of activists likely, if not inevitable.
Why didn’t Israel’s leaders choose to deal with the flotilla in a more judicious fashion? Were they that stupid, or just crazy? From the details of the plan it appears that Netanyahu and his cohorts had envisioned Entebbe Part Deux, a daring anti-terror raid that would lift the sinking morale of the Israeli public while intimidating Iran and the Arab world. Though Israel may be more isolated than ever as a result of the massacre, the Netanyahu administration is reaping considerable political benefits at home.
The day after the massacre, spontaneous celebrations broke out in Ashdod, Tel Aviv, and throughout the country, bringing together right-wing elements with everyday Israelis. Over a thousand Israelis gathered tonight outside the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv to rally against the Turkish government and express their support for the raid. Multiple demonstrators including one man who has lived in Israel for 60 years told me, “What Turkey [the sponsor of the Mavi Marmara boat] has done is great. I have never seen this country more united in my entire life. We are all standing together now.” (Video coming soon).
Israeli newscasters are routinely using the term “mechabel,” or terrorist, to refer to the flotilla activists, while the violence that broke out on the deck of the Mavi Marmara is called “the lynch.” (Nevermind that zero commandos were hung and nine activists were killed, including an American citizen who was shot in the head four times.) No evidence is required to support claims in the Israeli media. The public desperately wants to believe that its government is right, so much so that Israel’s media is not even making a token effort to challenge the increasingly hysterical press releases disseminated by the IDF press office every few hours.
Hanin Zoabi, a Palestinian-Israeli member of the Knesset who was on the Mavi Marmara, was physically accosted in the Knesset by fellow legislators for attempting to relate her experience aboard the flotilla. MK Miri Regev of Likud called her a “traitor,” while Yoel Hasson of Kadima, a supposedly centrist party, denounced Zoabi as a “terrorist.” An Israeli Facebook group devoted to inciting Zoabi’s assassination has gathered 600 members in just a day and a half. In the meantime, Israel’s Interior Minster Eli Yishai is “looking into” means of stripping Zoabi of her citizenship.
This Friday, anti-occupation activists expect to encounter intense violence from the Israeli Army and Border Police at the weekly demonstrations in Sheikh Jarrah and Nebi Salah. “In this atmosphere, you can expect with pretty reasonable certainty that the soldiers will go crazy,” a veteran of the Sheikh Jarrah protest movement told me.
With two more ships on their way towards Gaza with aid for the besieged civilian population, the Israeli military and Netanyahu administration are not wasting time in hatching a new strategy to stop them. Once again, the plan calls for violence and possibly more death. “Next time we’ll use more force,” a top Naval commander told the Jerusalem Post. “We will have to come prepared in the future as if it was a war.”
American Jewish activist and independent film maker and journalist, Max Blumenthal debunks the claims in the mainstream media that Israel's murderous attack on the Gaza Flotilla, which resulted in 9 dead and many more injured, was a result of a "bungled raid". Blumenthal outlines in detail, the Israeli Occupation Forces intent to use violence against the Flotilla of unarmed humanitarian activists attempting to break Israel's illegal blockade and deliver 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
In solidarity, Kim
***
The Flotilla Raid Was Not “Bungled.” The IDF Detailed Its Violent Strategy In Advance.
by Max Bluementhal
On 06.03.10
http://maxblumenthal.com/2010/06/the-flotilla-raid-was-not-bungled-the-idf-detailed-its-violent-strategy-in-advance/
Tel Aviv-Israel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his senior ministers have attempted to blame army commanders for “the bungled raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla,” according to the UK’s Daily Telegraph. The AP reported that “Israel’s bloody, bungled takeover of a Gaza-bound Turkish aid vessel is complicating US-led Mideast peace efforts.” And according to Reuters, “Israeli military admits errors in bungled boarding.”
But was the raid really bungled? Did the Israeli military command and Netanyahu government have no clear strategy going in? Or was the violence they meted out against the flotilla activists deliberate and methodically planned?
Statements by senior Israeli military commanders made in the Hebrew media days before the massacre revealed that the raid was planned over a week in advance by the Israeli military and was personally approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak. The elite Israeli commando unit known as Unit 13 was tasked with carrying out the mission and its role was known by the Israeli public well before the raid took place. Details of the plan show that the use of deadly force was authorized and calculated. The massacre of activists should not have been unexpected.
On May 28, three days before the raid, top Israeli military officials revealed details of their strategy to Maariv, Israel’s most widely circulated paper. The caption of the Maariv article reflected the military command’s plan to use force: “On the way to violence; one of the boats is on its way.”
Here is a translation of relevant portions of the article:
Maariv, 5/28/10 P. 4
Title: Head to Head in the Heart of the Sea
Caption: On the way to violence; one of the boats is on its way.”
Subhead: The sea encounter that will occur at the end of the weekend is already planned detail by detail. From the moment that the ships will pass the “red line” on their way to Gaza, the fighters of Unit 13 will take control and transfer 800 passengers from their boats back to where they came from. And special arrest units were set up.
From the body of article: This operation was approved by Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak and will be led by the commander of the Navy, Lieutenant Colonel Eliezer Maron, who is nicknamed “Cheney.” If the people aboard the boats will not agree to turn around, the operation will transfer to the stage of force. “We are afraid that there will be a terror attack by the boats,” said a high ranking officer. “If terrorists have gotten on the boats or if there is an intention to use hot weapons against our forces, we will use full seriousness and caution. We want to avoid using force but as soon as there will be danger to the life of our forces we will be forced to use live fire as a last resort.
[...]
After our fighters take over the boats, OKETZ unit dogs and forces of the IHLM unit corps of engineers will inspect them looking for sabotage materials and fighting tools.
So the Israeli military broadcast its plan for violence, inciting the Israeli public and the soldiers of Unit 13 with fevered visions of a kill-or-be-killed encounter with a group of Arab “terrorists.” The stated conditions for using live fire were arbitrary and poorly defined, giving the commandos little direction and lots of leeway to kill — at the very least the plan demanded force in some form.
After the initial violent stages, the plan called for the gathering of the activists’ “fighting tools,” an acknowledgment by the Israeli military that the activists might try to repel its commandos once they forced their way on the ships. The plan to search for “sabotage materials” also foreshadowed the IDF’s post-raid propaganda campaign.
An alternative plan that would have been likely to avert violence could have been set into motion. The Israeli Navy could have done what it had in the past and hijacked the aid ships without boarding them, then towed them to shore. However, the Rambo-style plan concocted by Netanyahu, his top aides and the Naval commander with the unfortunate nickname of “Cheney” made the killing of activists likely, if not inevitable.
Why didn’t Israel’s leaders choose to deal with the flotilla in a more judicious fashion? Were they that stupid, or just crazy? From the details of the plan it appears that Netanyahu and his cohorts had envisioned Entebbe Part Deux, a daring anti-terror raid that would lift the sinking morale of the Israeli public while intimidating Iran and the Arab world. Though Israel may be more isolated than ever as a result of the massacre, the Netanyahu administration is reaping considerable political benefits at home.
The day after the massacre, spontaneous celebrations broke out in Ashdod, Tel Aviv, and throughout the country, bringing together right-wing elements with everyday Israelis. Over a thousand Israelis gathered tonight outside the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv to rally against the Turkish government and express their support for the raid. Multiple demonstrators including one man who has lived in Israel for 60 years told me, “What Turkey [the sponsor of the Mavi Marmara boat] has done is great. I have never seen this country more united in my entire life. We are all standing together now.” (Video coming soon).
Israeli newscasters are routinely using the term “mechabel,” or terrorist, to refer to the flotilla activists, while the violence that broke out on the deck of the Mavi Marmara is called “the lynch.” (Nevermind that zero commandos were hung and nine activists were killed, including an American citizen who was shot in the head four times.) No evidence is required to support claims in the Israeli media. The public desperately wants to believe that its government is right, so much so that Israel’s media is not even making a token effort to challenge the increasingly hysterical press releases disseminated by the IDF press office every few hours.
Hanin Zoabi, a Palestinian-Israeli member of the Knesset who was on the Mavi Marmara, was physically accosted in the Knesset by fellow legislators for attempting to relate her experience aboard the flotilla. MK Miri Regev of Likud called her a “traitor,” while Yoel Hasson of Kadima, a supposedly centrist party, denounced Zoabi as a “terrorist.” An Israeli Facebook group devoted to inciting Zoabi’s assassination has gathered 600 members in just a day and a half. In the meantime, Israel’s Interior Minster Eli Yishai is “looking into” means of stripping Zoabi of her citizenship.
This Friday, anti-occupation activists expect to encounter intense violence from the Israeli Army and Border Police at the weekly demonstrations in Sheikh Jarrah and Nebi Salah. “In this atmosphere, you can expect with pretty reasonable certainty that the soldiers will go crazy,” a veteran of the Sheikh Jarrah protest movement told me.
With two more ships on their way towards Gaza with aid for the besieged civilian population, the Israeli military and Netanyahu administration are not wasting time in hatching a new strategy to stop them. Once again, the plan calls for violence and possibly more death. “Next time we’ll use more force,” a top Naval commander told the Jerusalem Post. “We will have to come prepared in the future as if it was a war.”
Monday, May 31, 2010
Emergency Protests: Israel attacks Free Gaza boats - at least 10 activists killed, dozens injured
Wounded activist being evacuated
Dear friends,
as many you have no doubt heard the horrendous news that Israel has attacked the Free Gaza Movement flotilla which was carrying 700 human rights activists, doctors, parliamentarians, journalists and 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Emergency protests are taking place or being organised all over the world to protest Israel's barbaric murder of human rights activists.
The details for the Australian protests so far are listed below, as is the Media Release issued by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in Melbourne.
In solidarity, Kim
***
Melbourne:
Tuesday June 1, 4.30pm, Cnr of Burke Street Mall and Swanston St, Melbourne City.
Organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (Melbourne)
Sydney:
Tuesday June 1, 5.30pm at the Town Hall
organised by Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine.
Perth
Tuesday June 1, 5pm, Wesley Church, cnr William & Hay Sts, Perth.
Organised by Friends of Palestine, Western Australia
Brisbane
Tuesday, June 1, 5pm, Brisbane Square
Organised by Justice for Palestine (Qld)
***
The following media release has been issued by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in Melbourne:
**
Gaza Freedom Flotilla attacked by Israeli commandos in international waters; 16 reported killed
Palestine solidarity groups calls for emergency action:
MELBOURNE ACTION - Tuesday, 1 June at 4.30pm
Cnr of Bourke St Mall and Swanston St,
Melbourne City.
A few hours ago hundreds of Israeli commandos illegally stormed the six vessels of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla that were endeavouring to deliver 10 000 tons of humanitarian aid to the besieged people of Gaza. The Israeli media is reporting that up to 16 people have been killed and up to 30 wounded after the commandos opened fire on unarmed civilians in international waters.
Not since the French Secret Service blew up the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour in 1985 has there been such a brazen act of international piracy by a sovereign state. Governments all around the world have condemned the criminal actions of Somali pirates in international waters off the horn of Africa, and have even sent naval armadas to confront those pirates. The international community must now unreservedly condemn this criminal act of piracy on the high seas, and immediately sent an international naval armada to restrain the barbaric actions of the Israeli Navy.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign (Melbourne) has called an emergency protest for (Tuesday) 1st June at 4.30pm, corner of Bourke St Mall and Swanston St, Melbourne City.
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