Older readers will remember the security companies, Securicor and Group 4. They use to deliver money to banks, supply security guards or nightwatchmen.
That was what they use to do.
However, thanks to privatisation under Margaret Thatcher and aided by John Major Group 4 got a contract to transport prisoners around Britain. This was, of course, done on the cheap and led to many escapes and errors by Group 4, but the public money kept pouring into their coffers.
Later on it merged with Securicorto form G4S. By doing the grunt work, on the cheap, G4S has made a fortune and has its claws into much of the public sector.
“Kevin Wallis, a passenger on the aircraft, said he had been sitting across the aisle from Mubenga and watched as three security guards restrained him with what he believed to be excessive force.
Wallis said he heard Mubenga complain: “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe” for at least 10 minutes before he lost consciousness, and later observed that handcuffs had been used in the restraint.
Last night, police confirmed that they were investigating the death of Mubenga, who they said was “deported from the UK under escort by three civilian security guards”.
“Inquiries continue to establish the full circumstances of the incident,” a Scotland Yard spokesman said. “There have been no arrests.”
The guards worked for G4S, a private security firm contracted to oversee . In a statement, G4S said a man “became unwell” on a flight while being deported.
The wording was echoed by the Home Office, which said Mubenga had “taken ill” – but Wallis, who described having the clearest view of any passenger on the aircraft, said that account was “absolute rubbish”.
The 58-year-old, an oil engineer from Redcar, said he became aware a man was in distress as soon as he boarded BA flight 77, bound for Luanda, at around 8pm.
Speaking on the phone from Soyo, in the northern province of Angola, he described how he heard Mubenga “moaning and groaning” as though in pain.
His leather jacket had been taken off, and some passengers had been moved away.
He said two security guards were sitting either side of Mubenga and “holding him down”.”
Students for Justice in Palestine responds to the ADL
Oct 18, 2010
Adam Horowitz
Students for Justice in Palestine responds to its inclusion on the ADL’s “top ten anti-Israel groups” in the U.S. This statement represents over 60 student groups promoting Palestinian freedom across the US:
On October 14th, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) named Students for Justice in Palestine on its list of the “Top 10 Anti-Israel Groups in America,” claiming that “SJP chapters regularly organize activities presenting a biased view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including mock ‘apartheid walls’ and ‘checkpoint’ displays.” As members of several student groups working for justice in Palestine, we affirmatively state that the ADL’s characterization of our campus educational efforts and activism about Israeli injustices against Palestinians as “biased” is a disingenuous and misguided attempt to vilify students that criticize Israel’s occupation, which denies Palestinian human rights and self-determination. In this statement, we clarify our principles and invite the ADL to reconsider its categorical silence on egregious Israeli human rights violations by joining the movement for freedom, equality, and justice in Palestine.
Students for Justice in Palestine groups have developed independently as students across the country seek to raise awareness about the Israeli government’s violations of human rights. Our groups represent constituencies of students, faculty, staff and community members from diverse ethnic, religious, national, and political backgrounds including many Jewish and Israeli members who have been continually ostracized by organizations like the ADL. Our organizations work independently of one another, but collectively, we are united in our belief in justice, freedom and human rights for the Palestinian people. We are unified by our purpose of confronting these wrongs that cause so much death and suffering.
The ADL shields Israeli policy by invoking the “complexity of the conflict” without ever illuminating it. As students we have a definite responsibility to use the tools of knowledge at our disposal to penetrate that complexity; “to speak truth and to expose lies” and “to analyze actions according to their causes and motives and often hidden intentions,” to quote social critic Noam Chomsky. Complexity can never be an excuse for complacency. In that vein, groups like the United Nations Human Rights Council, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International have affirmed in painstaking detail Israel’s deplorable human rights record and systematic intransigency.
By educating ourselves, our campuses and our communities about what the Israeli government inflicts upon the Palestinian people within the occupied territories, inside Israel, and beyond, we can begin to identify the problems that cause this injustice. United States foreign aid to Israel – which numbers in the billions every year – is chief amongst the issues enabling Israel’s continued occupation and racism. As students in America, therefore, our duty is three-fold: to apply our academic rigor to learn the truth, to educate and hold our communities accountable for support given in our name, and to lobby our government to end its diplomatic cover for Israeli injustice.
Palestinians have the right to fight for their freedom and to resist the occupation and colonization of their indigenous lands. Therefore, we are committed to non-violent activism that promotes education, civic and political organization to promote the Palestinian struggle for freedom. Many of our organizations have responded favorably to a 2005 call from over 170 civil society organizations within Palestine for activists to stand in solidarity by promoting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. We see this method as an important and practical tool that students can use to express solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom. We also believe it illuminates the behind-the-scenes relationships, economic and otherwise, that enable Israel’s behavior and that can be used to urge our communities to be accountable to the ways in which they may unwittingly support the occupation.
We are inspired by the international movement against South African apartheid—which successfully ended only 16 years ago—and we aim similarly to bring an end to the system imposed by Israel on the Palestinians. As in the South African movement, the BDS call has been endorsed by many conscientious citizens of Israel, including Arabs and Jews, as well as numerous social justice and peace activists around the world. Among the luminaries supporting the call for solidarity are Nobel Peace laureates like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, co-drafter of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights Stephane Hessel, distinguished professors, jurists, authors, intellectuals, and artists.
Ultimately, we locate ourselves in a legacy of social justice movements working at the grassroots for a free and just world. The ADL itself started this way a century ago. We suspect that the ADL, high on its perch among the political elite, has lost sight of its founding values. It opposed the South African anti-apartheid movement and engaged in massive spying on private American citizens. It recently abandoned its belief in religious freedom by condemning Muslim Americans hoping to build an Islamic community center in lower Manhattan. The same day it attacked SJP, the ADL honored Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul who owns Fox News Network, one of the most despicable purveyors of hatred against Muslim, Arab, Latino, Black, and queer communities in our time. These are not the actions of an organization with a moral compass that points in the direction of justice.
We will continue to work for a just peace where Palestinians are free in their homeland and equals to Jewish Israelis. We invite the ADL to reflect and to choose to build this world, rather than to stop it.
Students For Justice in Palestine Group Signatories
Arizona State University, Students for Justice in Palestine
Bard College, International Solidarity Movement
Bates College, Students for Justice in Palestine
Benedictine University, Students for Justice in Palestine
Boston University, Students for Justice in Palestine
Brandeis University, Students for Justice in Palestine
Brown University, Students for Justice in Palestine
Clark University, Students for Palestinian Rights
Columbia University, Students for Justice in Palestine
Cornell University, United for Peace and Justice in Palestine
DePaul University, Students for Justice in Palestine
Florida International University, Miami, Students for Justice in Palestine
George Washington University, Students for Justice in Palestine
Hampshire College- Students for Justice in Palestine
Harvard College- Palestine Solidarity Committee
Harvard University- Alliance for Justice in the Middle East
Illinois Institute of Technology- Students for Justice in Palestine
Loyola University Chicago- Middle East Student Association (MESA)
Macalester College- Macalester Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights
Massachusetts Institute of Technology- Palestine@MIT
New York University- Students for Justice in Palestine
Northeastern Illinois University- Students for Justice in Palestine
Northeastern University- Students for Justice in Palestine
Northwestern University- Students for Justice in Palestine
Ohio State University- Committee for Justice in Palestine
Purdue University- Students for Justice in Palestine
Rutgers University- BAKA: Students United for Middle Eastern Justice
School of the Art Institute of Chicago- Students for Justice in Palestine
St. Xavier University- Students for Justice in Palestine
Suffolk University- Students for Justice in Palestine
Temple University- Students for Justice in Palestine
Texas Christian University- Students for Justice in Palestine
The Pennsylvania State University- University Park, Students for Justice in Palestine
Tufts University- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of Arizona- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of California, Berkeley- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of California, Davis- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of California, Hastings College of the Law- La Raza Law Students Association
University of California, Hastings College of the Law- Middle Eastern Law Students Association
University of California, Los Angeles School of Law- Law Students for Justice in Palestine
University of California, Los Angeles- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of California, Riverside- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of California, San Diego- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of California, Santa Barbara- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of California, Santa Cruz- Committee for Justice in Palestine
University of Chicago- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of Connecticut- International Relations Association
University of Florida, Gainesville- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of Florida- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of Illinois at Chicago- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of Maryland, Baltimore- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of Massachusetts, Boston- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of Michigan- Students Allied for Freedom and Equality
University of Pittsburgh- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of South Florida- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of Southern California- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of Southern California- Students for Justice in Palestine
University of Texas, Austin- Palestine Solidarity Committee
University of Washington, Seattle- Students for Justice in Palestine
Wellesley College- Justice for Palestine
Yale University- Students for Justice in Palestine
‘60 Minutes’ marks the end of the two-state solution
Oct 18, 2010
Adam Horowitz
Last night’s 60 Minutes story on Silwan and the “City of David,” marks the dawning recognition that the two-state solution is no longer possible. Lesley Stahl’s opening was a subtle introduction to the idea that the supposed solutions of the past, no longer fit today’s reality:
The challenge is how to divide [Jerusalem] between the two sides. Back in 2000, then-President Clinton came up with some parameters for how to do it: areas populated mostly by Jews would remain Israeli; those populated mostly by Arabs would become the new Palestinian capital. That meant that for the most part East Jerusalem would go to the Arabs.
Well, it’s not so simple anymore. In the decade that has elapsed, more and more Israeli settlers have moved east into the Arab-populated areas. One place where it has gotten especially complicated – and volatile – is the Arab neighborhood of Silwan.
There will be a lot more to say about the story (both positive and negative), but it’s clear the overall message of the story was that Israel is “digging in” to prevent a Palestinian state. Even if you believe that it’s possible to move the settlers out of the occupied territory, the piece made it abundantly clear that there is absolutely no political will in Israel to do so.
It’s eye-opening to watch Jerusalem mayor Nir Barakat lose his cool over the most gentle questioning from Stahl. His political power, combined with the messianic vision of El’Ad (conveniently funded from the US), is reshaping the map of Israel/Palestine and no one with the power to do so is standing in the way. Stahl’s piece doesn’t look to hold those in power accountable, but rather lay bare the absurdity of what’s happening on the ground while the “peace process” continues its journey into irrelevance.
If anything the story doesn’t really convey the daily life in Silwan, under constant Israeli encroachment and control. Luckily there are still activists on the ground to get that story out. This video was just posted yesterday, maybe around the same time the 60 Minutes piece aired, and it shows Israeli police seizing a rooftop in Silwan from which to control the area, a daily occurrence in the village.
Accommodating Israeli abuse: the Palestinian Authority’s perspective
Oct 18, 2010
Alaa Milbes
Maen Rashid Areikat, the PLO’s Ambassador to the United States will be at Columbia to speak about the most recent phase of peace negotiations from the “Palestinian Perspective.” However, many Palestinians challenge and criticize Mr. Areikat and the Palestinian Authority (PA) for their participation in “peace talks”. Furthermore, the world has proved time and time again that the opinion of Palestinians is of no significance. Each time Palestinians have participated in these “peace talks” they have lost more control of their land, homes, and everyday life.
Israel’s 10-month “settlement freeze” expired a few weeks ago and, despite pressure from the Palestinian Authority and the Obama administration, it appears that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not extend it. Of the occupation, the settlements are the largest obstacle to the two state solution, since they illegally confiscate forty percent of the West Bank while their inhabitants have reigned terror on Palestinians since the beginning of the occupation.
It is simple: If Israel wants a two state solution, then it must put the settlement enterprise in reverse and return the West Bank to the Palestinians. But, as this episode verifies, the Israeli government has no interest in compromising their expansion into what would be the Palestinian state. Yet, they are insistent that Palestinians continue peace talks, Israeli President Netanyahu said, “I call on president Abbas to continue with the good and honest talks we have just embarked upon, in an attempt to reach a historic peace agreement between our two peoples.”
While there are some Palestinians who benefit from the negotiation process and are willing to continue the farcical negotiations in face of continued colonization of Palestinian land, most Palestinians view the end of the settlement moratorium as proof that a two state solution is impossible. Since the start of the peace process in the 1990s, Palestinian participation in negotiations has only produced increased land confiscation, a worsening occupation, and the persistent denial of Palestinian rights (PDF). If Palestinians continue negotiating while their land is being stolen by the acre, what prospects should they have for an outcome that achieves any of their fundamental needs?
Just last week, the Jerusalem Post reported that Obama sent a letter to Netenyahu asking for a 60 day freeze. In exchange for this, the U.S will not ask for another extension, the U.S would commit to veto any UN Security Council proposals related to Israel, and not request that Israeli military forces leave the Jordan Valley. These are only a few of the several offerings Obama threw at Israel. Nonetheless, Netenyahu declined the White House offer. The opinion of Palestinians was not asked, nor mentioned in his letter.
With this in mind, it will be interesting to note what the Palestinian Ambassador has to say regarding this issue. Due to the lack of a true partner in peace, Palestinian civil society has adopted the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign (BDS). Rather than attempting to justify the negotiation process, the PA should join mainstream Palestinian society in this new form of resistance which has already shown numerous signs of success.8
Alaa Milbes is a graduate student at Columbia University in the department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies, and she is a member of Students for Justice in Palestine. A version of this article originally appeared in the Columbia Spectator.
Congressional chairman to Palestinians who live in the capital of the Jewish people: Drop dead
Oct 18, 2010
Anonymous
U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, issued the following statement today concerning the Israeli construction in Jerusalem. AIPAC is tweeting happily about it.
“Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. It is not a settlement.
“As such, the resumption of construction in Jerusalem is not a justification for a crisis, a showdown, a meltdown or even a hissy fit. Ramot and Pisgat Zeev are going to be part of Israel in any conceivable final status deal and to pretend otherwise is pointless.
“As I have said, those who earlier complained about the inadequacy of Israel’s unilateral and uncompensated settlement freeze, who chose to waste those ten months instead of diving aggressively into direct talks on peace, cannot reasonably now turn around and complain that the end of the freeze and the resumption of Israeli construction in Jerusalem—Israel’s capital, and the singular geographic center of the hopes and aspirations of the Jewish people for three millennia—is either a shock or an insurmountable obstacle to peace.
“Israeli construction in Jerusalem, in two already well-established neighborhoods is neither a show of bad faith, nor a justification for avoiding negotiations aimed at achieving a final status agreement. The legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians are not going to be achieved by violence and they’re not going to be achieved by the equivalent of holding their breath until their lips turn blue. Direct negotiations are sole pathway to their goal and the sooner they recognize this fact, the better.”
Leave no stone unclaimed
Oct 18, 2010
Adam Horowitz
Lynn Pollack submitted the above photo to the Israel Project’s “Best Shots of Israel” contest along with the note: “I shot this in Nov. 2008, right after the truce broke. Somewhere near Tel Aviv, if I recall correctly. I guess Israel didn’t want to take any chances that a Palestinian might decide to claim this rock. Leave no stone unturned, I guess.”
Morocco gives Israel the cold shoulder and so does food co-op in Rachel Corrie’s home town
Oct 18, 2010
Seham
and other news from Today in Palestine:
Settlers/Land, property & resource theft and destruction/Ethnic cleansing
Harvest of excrement: colonists in Occupied Territories pump sewage on to Palestinian farm land, Philip Weiss
This is important. On Saturday night, the illegal Jewish colony of Gush Etzion in the occupied territories turned on pumps that sent thousands of liters of the colony’s raw sewage on to the farmland of the Palestinian village of Beit Ommar. It is documented above. I would urge all readers to check out the Palestinian farmers who speak to the camera from 2:10 on or so. Look into their eyes and tell me that they are terrorists or fundamentalists or any of the other racist characterizations we are fed about Palestinians who wish to have political freedom. (No, they are being uprooted from their land. What would that do to you?)
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/10/harvest-of-excrement-colonists-in-occupied-territories-pump-sewage-on-to-palestinian-farm-land.html
Soldiers Attack Protestors in East Jerusalem
On Sunday, Israeli soldiers attacked Palestinian protestors in the El Ein and Wadi Hilwa neighborhoods of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59656
#BDS; AUSTRALIAN unions are signing up to an international campaign to boycott Israeli goods
But a fight is brewing over a proposal for the Australian Council of Trade Unions to endorse the movement. The broad-based divestment and boycott campaign is targeting companies that profit from the Israeli settlements. The Electrical Trades Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, the Queensland branch of the Rail Tram and Bus Union and the Finance Sector Union have all passed a resolution supporting the international campaign of “boycott, divestment and sanctions” (BDS) against Israel. Communications Electrical Plumbing Union national secretary Peter Tighe told The Australian the electrical branch of his union had adopted the resolution and he would now take it to the broader CEPU, then the ACTU. http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/10/bds-french-consulate-protested-over.html
#BDS: Boycotting apartheid
In July, in Rachel Corrie’s hometown of Olympia, Washington state, the popular Food Co-op announced that no Israeli products would be sold at its two grocery stores. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a principal endorser of this new Israel Divestment Campaign, issued a statement endorsing the boycott. “The Olympia Food Co-op has joined a growing worldwide movement on the part of citizens and the private sector to support by non-violent tangible acts the Palestinian struggle for justice and self-determination.” http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/10/bds-boycotting-apartheid.html
This time Ezra Nawi needs our help!
A few weeks ago, human rights activist, Ezra Nawi, was released from jail after serving a month`s sentence following his attempt to prevent a bulldozer from destroying Palestinian homes in the South Hebron Hills. His imprisonment constitutes a relatively small milestone in his dedicated activism, which has continued non-stop for the past decade. For the past ten years, Ezra has traveled to the South Hebron Hills a few times each week and has worked tirelessly against settler violence and the oppression of the Civil Administration in an attempt to preserve the basic rights of the local Palestinian residents. People who have had the chance to met Ezra know that he is a righteous man.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=42869
Siege (Gaza & West Bank)/Rights Violations/Restriction of Movement Industrial Fuel – Needs Vs. Supply – Sep 19 – Oct 16
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/10/industrial-fuel-%e2%80%93-needs-vs-supply-%e2%80%93-sep-19-%e2%80%93-oct-16/
The ban on student travel between Gaza and the West Bank: Fatma Sharif’s story
Since 2000, Israel has imposed a sweeping ban on the exit of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to study at Palestinian universities in the West Bank. Fatma Sharif, a lawyer from the Gaza Strip who wanted to reach her studies in democracy and human rights in the West Bank, is one of those affected by this policy.
Israel to close Bethlehem checkpoint for Jewish holiday
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israel’s Civil Administration said the 300 checkpoint in Bethlehem would be closed to those entering the West Bank on Monday due to a Jewish holiday. The administration said the closure was scheduled because celebrations would be held at Rachel’s Tomb, adjacent to the checkpoint. The terminal would be open for entry into Israel, however. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=325104
Israeli siege affecting Gaza wheelchair maintenance
The Gaza Strip has around 16,000 registered wheelchair users or one per cent of its population. An aid delivery is the only way for electric wheelchairs to come in. But it’s not enough, and the Israeli embargo also makes it hard to repair them.
Gaza tunnellers turn former lifeline into export channel (AFP)
AFP – The workers herd cows through the dusty tunnels beneath the Gaza border, but this time they are leading them out of the isolated Palestinian enclave and into Egypt.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101018/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestiniansconflictgazaeconomytunnels
In the Name of the Children, Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
Reader comments may often be the best litmus test for public opinion. They are sometimes even more interesting than the article itself because they provoke varying points of view from a wide spectrum of people, many of whom violently clash. This was certainly true of a recent story and video showing a settler leader in Silwan running down two Palestinian boys with his car. The video, understandably, generated a barrage of comments, some of them shockingly callous. “Those aren’t mere kids, they had murder in their little hearts,” read one comment about the children captured on film who were later arrested by Israeli authorities. “Lock ’em up”, read another. One of these children was Omran Mansour, who was released on October 17 after spending nine days in an Israeli detention center. While some reports put the boy as young as eight others have reported him to be 12. In either way, he is a child. After his release, the boy was ordered under house arrest – allowed only to go to school and back with a parent. He was also made to pay a fine of NIS2,000.
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=22712&CategoryId=3
Palestinian child abuse
For me, the most spectacular thing about Zionist hasbara has been how they’ve managed to convince most Americans that Palestinian parents “don’t care about their children,” “send them out to blow themselves up,” and “celebrate the martyrdom of their children.” They’ve even created a word for any expression of emotion that Palestinians express: “Pallywood Production.” This hatred that Palestinian parents supposedly have for their children is quite effective propaganda actually. It plays a large role in most Americans justifying or ignoring the slaughter of Palestinians with their tax dollars. You see, if Palestinian parents hate their children, then they aren’t really human and if they aren’t really human, then it’s OK to kill them. http://mondoweiss.net/2010/10/palestinian-child-abuse.html
20 Palestinians Injured In Jerusalem Clashes
Palestinian medical sources report that at least 20 Palestinians were injured, on Sunday night, during clashes that took place with Israeli soldiers and policemen in the town of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59659
Clashes erupt in Silwan
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians erupted in the flashpoint East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan on Sunday. Ma’an’s correspondent said large numbers of Israeli forces were deployed in the area, and were firing live ammunition, tear gas canisters, sound grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets at Palestinian youth. No injuries were reported. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=325103
Grenade found in Rafah school playground
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — A janitor found a grenade in the playground of a boys’ high school in Rafah, close to Gaza’s southern border, police said. A police statement said officers were called to the scene and evacuated the boys’ school before removing the grenade, suspected to be leftover from a previous Israeli invasion. The General Attorney opened an investigation into the incident, the report added. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=325064
Israel arrests Hamas MP in West Bank (AFP)
AFP – Israeli security forces arrested a Hamas MP at his home in the occupied West Bank town of Hebron early on Monday, Hamas and the Israeli military said.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101018/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestiniansconflictarresthamas
B’Tselem testifies before commission on Gaza flotilla
In her testimony before the Turkel Commission, B’Tselem’s director surveyed the serious harm that Israel’s punitive measures cause civilians in Gaza, Israel’s obligations under international law, and Hamas’ breaches of human rights and humanitarian law.
http://www.btselem.org/english/Gaza_Strip/20101013_Presentation_to_Turkel_Commission.asp
Bulldozer driver and ground commander to testify in Corrie trial
The driver of the bulldozer that crushed to death Rachel Corrie in Rafah, Gaza, in March 2003, and the military commander in charge of the unit on the ground that day, are scheduled to testify on Thursday, October 21 in the civil lawsuit filed by Rachel’s family against the state of Israel for her unlawful killing. Earlier this month, the court granted the State of Israel’s request that soldiers involved in the incident be permitted to testify behind a screen to protect their identity. Lawyers for the Corrie family appealed the decision to the Israeli Supreme Court, requesting that at a minimum the family be allowed to view the soldiers, but the court refused to hear the challenge. http://palsolidarity.org/2010/10/15052/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+palsolidarity+%28International+Solidarity+Movement%29
Political Developments
Palestinians unified in shunning Israel
Ramallah: The Palestinian leadership agreed on Saturday that there will be no recognition of Israel beyond the purview of the 1993 Oslo accords. The unanimous agreement is in response to frequent Israeli demands on Palestinians to recognise it as a Jewish state and aims to leave little room for confusion on the issue. Bassam Al Salihi, Secretary-General of the Palestinian People’s Party, told Gulf News that Palestinian concurrence on not recognising Israel as a Jewish state under any circumstances was unshakeable. The Palestinian leadership is in an extended meeting to review prevailing political conditions and available alternatives amid the impasse in direct talks because of Israel’s stand, he said. http://gulfnews.com/news/region/palestinian-territories/palestinians-unified-in-shunning-israel-1.697893
A cycle of retribution / Nancy Kanwisher & Anat Biletzki
For both Israelis and Palestinians, the violence is not arbitrary — Most Israelis see Palestinians as inherently, fundamentally, uncontingently hostile, wishing only to “throw us into the sea.’’ Similarly, Palestinians see Israel as unshakably determined to expel them from their land. Although anecdote and speculation are popular in discussions of the Middle East conflict, we used data and quantitative analysis to determine whether these perceptions are true. One data set was the timeline of Qassam rocket firings, compiled by the Israeli Defense Forces. Another was the day-by-day timeline of killings of Israelis by Palestinians and of killings of Palestinians by Israelis, compiled by the Israeli Human Rights organization B’Tselem. We tested whether the violent behavior of each side occurs in response to violence committed by the other side — or whether it is simply arbitrary. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/10/14/a_cycle_of_retribution/
Lies of Bronner: for you, o Israel, As`ad Abukhalil
“I checked with the Japanese Embassy, which proceeded to check with the Japanese government. It got back to me a few minutes later [on Friday afternoon]: Of course it’s a lie: the Japanese government considers the settlements illegal. Poor Bronner, sitting in his Jerusalem office, calling up every consulate in the phone book starting with the A’s trying to find just one other country that considers the settlements as legal. He gets to the J’s, calls Japan, and you know how polite the Japanese are. So, Bronner probably pleads, “Don’t you agree with the United States that the settlements are legal, although OF COURSE they are an obstacle to peace?” And the Japanese are just too considerate to hurt Bronner’s feelings, so they say, “Well, yes, they are an obstacle to peace.” Bronner, thrilled that he’s finally found ONE other country that agrees (sort of) with the U.S. (even if the U.S. judge on the ICJ [International Court of Justice], Thomas Buergenthal, agreed with the other 14 judges on the court that the settlements are illegal) rushes into print that the U.S. AND JAPAN say the settlements are legal. But it ain’t so Ethan. You’ll just have to go back to the phone book and start ringing up more embassies. Here’s a hint: you might have better luck with the N’s, as in…Nauru.” http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/10/lies-of-bronner-for-you-o-israel.html
MJ Rosenberg: The Bogus Demand To Recognize Israel “As A Jewish State”
Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, is an old-fashioned right-wing Zionist, which is why he is leading the chorus demanding that Palestinians recognize Israel “as a Jewish state” as a precondition for a settlement freeze and negotiations. Historically, right-wing Zionism — in contrast to the socialist Zionism of David Ben Gurion, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin and their allies — preferred rhetoric to action. While the old socialists were building the physical infrastructure of the future state and then the state itself, the right-wing Zionists stuck to rhetoric. The left built the army, the roads, the farms (kibbutzim), the air force, the factories, even the nuclear deterrent, while the right issued fiery statements about the need for Israel to expand, rid itself of Arabs, and become purely Jewish. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mj-rosenberg/the-bogus-demand-to-recog_b_765218.html
AIPAC, a voice for the Israeli Right (updated)
New York, NY – Recently, I met a friend who works with the US office of an Israeli NGO. He told me of a conversation he once had with a top AIPAC official (since it was a private conversation, I won’t disclose the name of the official here). “We appreciate the work that you are doing in Israel,” the AIPAC guy told my friend. “We often give it as an example to the fact that Israel is indeed a thriving democracy. But you shouldn’t have opened a US office, and you shouldn’t be lobbying on the Hill.” http://www.promisedlandblog.com/?p=3523
doctors in solidarity, doctors helping hasbara, Max Ajl
On October 16, a 4-member team of doctors and nurses from Australia and Italy completed a 10-day orthopedic mission to the European Hospital in Khan Younis. Led by surgeon Dr. Tim Keenan, who has led several past PCRF missions to Nablus, the team included Italian anesthesiologist Dr. Stefano Donao from Rome, OR nurse Kassy Keenan and PT Jaquie Hocking from Perth. Dozens of poor and needy Palestinians from the besieged Gaza Strip were provided expert care by the team, as well as training and experience for the local doctors. The mission was co-sponsored by Australian NGO Toward’s Hope. This is the 2nd orthopedic surgery mission to Gaza in October by the PCRF. http://www.maxajl.com/?p=4296&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+http%2Fwwwmaxajlcom%2Ffeedrss2+%28Jewbonics%29
The Elephant in the Room
Excluding Hamas from current and future Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations is an exercise in futility. Sidelining Hamas in any process to craft genuine peace between Israelis and Palestinians is a glaring omission tantamount to ignoring an elephant in the room. Whether it is Obama’s or the UN’s negotiating room, pretending something of that size absent is an exercise in futility. Hamas is definitely an elephant with many tales. Telling some of these tales recounts the Islamist movement’s rise to power against all odds.
http://pulsemedia.org/2010/10/18/the-elephant-in-the-room/
Lebanese civil rights activist speaks of detention
BEIRUT (Ma’an) — A prominent civil rights activist who was detained by Lebanese army investigators for 14 hours has spoken about her experience, accusing authorities of disproportionate action against perceived pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Farah Kobaissy, 23, was accused of seeking to ferment civil unrest after her one-woman protest outside the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared was forcibly stopped by soldiers.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=325229
’12 Angry Lebanese’ Touch So Many More
IPS Straddling the hills overlooking the Mediterranean Sea is Roumieh, Lebanon’s largest and most notorious high-security men’s prison. Crowded into its dank and depressing concrete cells are those convicted as religious extremists, murderers, mobsters and spies. http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53189
Iraq
Sunday: 17 Iraqis Killed, 16 Wounded
Another dramatic gold store robbery occurred in Baghdad today. Authorities believe that insurgents are attacking gold and jewelry stores in order to support their activities. At least 17 Iraqis were killed and 16 more were wounded there and across northern Iraq. Also, Awakening Council leaders are denying reports that hundreds of their fighters have defected to al-Qaeda. http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/10/17/sunday-17-iraqis-killed-16-wounded/
Iraqi prime minister visits Iran
Politically controversial trip comes amid reports in media of direct Iranian help to keep al-Maliki in power.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/10/2010101854658131883.html
Iraqi women have the right to own and drive cabs, government says
The government has rebuffed provincial officials refusing to give women the right to purchase cabs at subsidized prices. Under a new government program, jobless Iraqis are entitled to purchase cars at lower prices if they used them as taxis. They can pay the government back with almost no interest and at affordable installments. So far the privilege was confined to male Iraqis without permanent employment. But a new directive issued by Baghdad Governor Salah Abdulrazzaq, makes it incumbent on the officials to register jobless women, too. “The project to distribute taxis … must include jobless women. It is not restricted to male Iraqis,” the directive says. http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2010-10-16\kurd.htm
Fox host who said ‘all terrorists are Muslims’ will likely keep job
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade will soon “clarify” his repeated assertion Friday that “all terrorists are Muslim,” but that’s not enough for many critics who argue there’s a media double-standard in the treatment of reporters who make anti-Semitic comments and those who are perceived to slur Muslims. “Not every Muslim is an extremist, a terrorist, but every terrorist is a Muslim,” Kilmeade said on his radio show. “You can’t avoid that fact. And that is ridiculous that we got to keep defining this — the people that equate Timothy McVeigh with the Al Qaeda terrorist organization, which is growing and a threat that exists.” http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/10/fox-host-muslims-terrorists-keep-job/
Turkey may remove Iran from list of ‘threatening nations’
While Iran may be helping Erdogan’s aspirations within his country, it is placing Turkey on a dangerous track toward confrontation with the U.S.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/turkey-may-remove-iran-from-list-of-threatening-nations-1.319746?localLinksEnabled=false
Servant did not resist fatal assault by Saudi prince, court told
Bandar Abdulaziz was so worn down by abuse that he let prince kill him, prosecutor alleges in closing speech. A servant allegedly beaten and strangled by a Saudi prince died without putting up a fight, the Old Bailey in London heard today. Bandar Abdulaziz was so worn down by the sadistic abuse he had suffered that he let the defendant kill him, jurors were told. Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud, 34, denies murdering the 32-year-old in February at the central London hotel room they shared. Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said they had a master-servant relationship in which the prince abused his aide for his own personal gratification. Laidlaw said the victim’s injuries showed the assault leading to his murder “was a really terrible, a really brutal attack”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/oct/18/saudi-prince-servant-murder-trial
After an excellent string of blog posts and articles from Israel and Palestine, Matthew Yglesias has “come a long way,” Weiss writes. Despite the patronizing language about his younger, blogging colleague, Weiss is right. But, with due respect to an excellent journalist whom I admire, I’d say he hasn’t come all the way just yet.
That last leg, though, is a tough one, raising questions about liberal support for a state that requires one to constantly signal his or her ethnicity and religion in order to be comfortable and have a sense of belonging.
As a point of departure for Yglesias’s journey, Weiss cited an old blogpost from years ago and a recent light-hearted tweet about how Yglesias wants an “I’m Jewish too!” sticker to wear around in Israel.
You see, Yglesias’s last name is, well, Yglesias. It’s not so obviously Jewish. I wonder what incident of perhaps mild discrimination caused him to pine for an outward expression of his belonging in Israel?
Yglesias, despite his public criticisms of Israel and U.S policy toward it, is a member of the club. Not only is he Jewish, but he is a Zionist. Despite his Hispanic last name, Yglesias knows he belongs.
My question is this: What about the rest of us? You see, I am not an avowed Zionist and, far from sounding Jewish, my last name, Gharib, is distinctly Middle Eastern (Iranian, if you must know). I’ve often wondered how I would fare getting into and moving around Israel. What would be the reaction of passport control at Ben Gurion Airport when they see my full name, Ali Gharib?
That’s where I have a real problem with Yglesias’s tweet. While I respect his work tremendously — especially his recent posts from Israel/Palestine — I do think it’s emblematic of a sort of blind spot for many young Jewish Zionists looking at the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Wouldn’t it be nice if Israel was a place where people didn’t need Jewish last names — or “stickers” identifying them — to be able to get around perfectly well? This is not even to say that Israel shouldn’t be a Jewish State, just so long as it can treat the Jewish Zionist Matt Yglesias and the Catholic visitor Carlos Yglesias the same way, not to even mention the Iranian Ali Gharib.
I know it’s just a tweet, and a joke, at that. But imagine a journalist covering the Jim Crow South who, though he was white, had African-American hair. Imagine him quipping that he wishes he had an “I’m white too!” sticker.
Yglesias can afford to joke about these matters — he’s in the Club. But what about those who don’t have the last names and haven’t been born into the “sticker”?
Harvest of excrement: colonists in Occupied Territories pump sewage on to Palestinian farm land
Oct 18, 2010
Philip Weiss
This is important. On Saturday night, the illegal Jewish colony of Gush Etzion in the occupied territories turned on pumps that sent thousands of liters of the colony’s raw sewage on to the farmland of the Palestinian village of Beit Ommar. It is documented above.
I would urge all readers to check out the Palestinian farmers who speak to the camera from 2:10 on or so. Look into their eyes and tell me that they are terrorists or fundamentalists or any of the other racist characterizations we are fed about Palestinians who wish to have political freedom. (No, they are being uprooted from their land. What would that do to you?)
Thousands of liters of raw sewage from the illegal Gush Etzion settlement flooded over 50 dunams [12 acres] of Palestinian farmland in the village of Beit Ommar last night. The sewage was pumped from a storage unit inside the settlement onto the land of the Sabarna family, flooding trees and submerging a bulldozer.
As of 10 AM [Sunday the 17th] the water is still flooding. Today marks the fourth time this year that the settlement has dumped waste water onto the Sabarna’s land. The settlement emptied sewage onto their land in March, April and June, destroying the crops and costing the farmers thousands of shekels in lost income.
The flooding poses a major health hazard to the village residents. Members of the Awwad family, whose bulldozer was submerged, waded knee deep in the sewage to pull out the bulldozer, and ground soil contamination creates major health risks for local residents.
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