Why pick on Syria? - Why not Israel?

I am somewhat amazed at the rather skewed media and political attention that is devoted to the situation in Syria.  The uprising and the bloody response of the government has caused great suffering among many Syrians.  Most of them civilians and some of them children.  However bad the situation is for some Syrians, I am not sure how western intervention will lessen the violence and the bloodshed.  Whether it is direct military intervention or supplying arms to the rebels, the result can only be even more deaths and serious injuries.  However my main concern here is the double standards that are once again on display, both by our media and our western governments.

However bad and appalling the violence is in Syria over the recent months it pales into insignificance compared with the violence inflicted on Palestinians by Israelis.  This week alone the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reported 3 killed, 23 wounded, including 8 children, by Israeli troops.  Their report can be found here.  Other reports highlighted that Jewish settlers were on the rampage throughout the West Bank.

These were not of course isolated incidents.  Israel has been killing Palestinians for over 60 years now.  It was only three years ago that Israel unleashed Cast Lead, their massive murderous onslaught against defenceless Palestinians in Gaza.  This resulted in the deaths of over 1,400 Palestinians, including more than 300 children.  Yet what was the thunderous response of the western governments to this slaughter of the innocents?  Understanding of Israel’s right to defend itself - against civilians?  Regret at the deaths and nothing more.  No condemnation and no referral to the UN.  And absolutely nothing about military intervention to protect the hundreds of dying children.  Nor any chance of arming the Palestinians so they could better resist Israeli attacks.  In this of course our wonderful investigative media was largely silent if not outright supportive of Israel.

The lessons of this seems to be crystal clear.  The outrage against the deaths and sufferings of the innocent Syrians is permitted because the western governments don’t like the Assad regime in Syria.  When the Kuwaiti government was killing its own citizens there was very little condemnation from the western governments.  No surprise to learn that Kuwait is one of the West’s best friends in the Middle East.  And of course Israel can kill as many Palestinians as it can manage with nary a word uttered against.  Just to give a fuller picture of the violence committed by Israelis against Palestinians, here are the figures for the number of children killed since September 29, 2000.  The figures come from If Americans Knew.

Israeli children killed - 124

Palestinian children killed - 1,452

If there was any sense of justice within our western world, then it would be Israel that was in the dock for crimes against humanity.  But which of our brave politicians in the west is going to challenge Israel?

Palestine - The Struggle for Justice Continues

15th May was Al Nakba Day, when Palestinians and their supporters throughout the world remember the”Catastrophe” that befell Palestinians in 1948.  For the founding of the State of Israel in that year came at the intentional expense of the forced expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes.  A tragedy that has remain unresolved to this day.   I have written about Al Nakba before and this post is mainly about links to relevant pieces elsewhere that help to explain both Al Nakba and the current state of Israeli - Palestinian relations.

Starting with Al Nakba,  Philip Weiss’ ever interesting site, Mondoweiss has this piece written by the Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organisations.  The title of the article explains the piece perfectly - For Palestinians, the Nakba has been perpetuated for decades.  The following quote succinctly illustrates this ongoing facet of the Nakba.

“While the term Nakba is seen as a reference to the murder, exile and devastation of the 1948 war, in reality, it could just as easily be used to describe the current belligerent occupation. It is an appropriate term for nearly six decades of demolitions, internment, the appropriation of land and the refusal by Israel to recognise and respect the basic human rights of the Palestinian people. It could very easily be used to describe the denial of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people. The Nakba did not end in 1948. The mass forcible transfer that occurred during and in the aftermath of the war was only the first stage in Isreal’s illegal policy of displacement that is being implemented with equal determination and precision to this day.”

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has another Palestinian perspective on the Nakba.  This one is written by Dr. Hanan Ashrawi who is a member of the PLO Executive Committee and head of the PLO’s Department of Culture and Information.  Her piece is particularly interesting as she uses this article to demonstrate conclusively that in 1948 Palestine was, “a land with a vibrant society and rich culture.  Palestine was one of the most developed Arab societies, boasting one of the healthiest economies under the British mandate and a high school enrolment rate second only to Lebanon”    Much of the work in rediscovering this history has been researched by Israeli historians as Dr Ashrawi acknowledges.

The third article on the Nakba is by Lisa Goldman, a Canadian journalist who for many years lived in Israel.  Her piece is entitled On the Nakba, Jewish identity and memory.   This is a very moving article in which she tries to confront the Nakba from a Jewish perspective and in particular the memory of the Holocaust.  Her key point is the different way in which the aggressors, the perpetrators of the injustice have reacted.  As she puts herself, “The people who instigated the genocide of the Jews have acknowledged their crimes, asked forgiveness, made restitution payments, outlawed Nazism and made Holocaust studies part of their school curriculum. One can never really apologize for committing genocide, but acknowledgment and accepting responsibility are essential. Otherwise it’s not possible to move on.

Very few Israelis and / or Jews are willing to accept and acknowledge the pain caused the Palestinian people by the Nakba. We deny, deflect, turn away, ignore. We get angry. We accuse those amongst us who wish to remember and record, like Zochrot, of undermining the state of Israel or denying Jews their right to self-determination. Or of being traitors. How can the act of remembering be a betrayal?”

Lisa Goldman’s article appeared in +972 a group blog about Israel and Palestine.  As did the following article by Noam Sheifaz, an Israeli journalist who looks at the difficulties facing those, Israelis and Palestinians who want to challenge the status quo.  He argues that for the vast majority of Israelis the status quo is preferable to all other options.  So talk and arguments about possible political solutions are a waste of time.  The need instead is to focus relentlessly on exposing the reality of the current situation as it affects Palestinians.  As he puts it, “Instead of debating far-away solutions, political energy should be devoted in constant opposition to the military occupation of the West Bank and the isolation of Gaza, and to all forms of segregation and oppression that come with them. In other words, it should be directly aimed at the status quo and all those benefiting from it.”

In this he is supported by another regular writer on Israel and Palestine, Jerry Haber, an orthodox Jewish studies and philosophy professor, who divides his time between Israel and the US.  He runs his own blog - The Magnes Zionist, where this article appeared.  Dismissing the two-state solution as something that was never alive, he comes to the same conclusion as Noam Sheifaz.  Namely that we all need to focus on the current injustices and use all non-violent tactics available to put pressure on Israel.  He puts it thus, “During the very long night ahead of us, the joint struggle of people from Israel/Palestine and from around the globe should continue to focus on civil and political equality, until more come to realize that the problems between the two sides are foundational. Non-violent tactics that exert pressure on both sides, including boycotts and sanctions,  should be considered and adopted if they will further the aforementioned goals.” 

 I end with another piece from +972 magazine.  This is a review by Yossi Gurvitz, a 40-year old Israeli journalist, blogger and photographer.  In it he reviews the latest book by Shlomo Sand, entitled The Invention of the Land of Israel.  It seems to be a very interesting book and I hope the English translation comes out soon.  According to Yossi Gurvitz, Sands sets out to expose the falsity at the heart of the Zionist project - the notion of the Land of Israel as a physical, geographic place.  A key quote from Gurvitz’s review, “The heart of Sand’s thesis is the intentional confusion in Zionism between the Halachic – Jewish law – concept of Eretz Israel (“The Land of Israel”, EI) and the concept of a place which is under Jewish sovereignty, and yearning for such a place. “Eretz Israel” is, originally, a Talmudic concept – not a biblical one – which delineates it as a territory that imposes extra religious obligations on Jews living in it, which Jews living outside of it are unburdened of. Talmudic legend grants EI various mystical qualities (wisdom, beauty and other nonsense which could only be written by people who haven’t lived here), but does not refer to EI as the “homeland ” of the Jews, and neither does it require them to live in it.

Judaism is of no homeland. It is a religious movement which can exist anywhere, whose last territorial anchors were cut down with the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 AD. Were contemporary Judaism what Zionism later made it out to be – a people living in their homeland – it would have suffered a terrible shock. And while many were horrified by the destruction, and while a few haunting mourning poems were written in Greek or Aramaic, Judaism survived the destruction of the Temple amazingly well.”   This is still the case today as Judaism continues to prosper throughout the world and most Jews do not live in Israel and have no intention of ever doing so.

Palestinian Prisoners' Day - 2012

Tomorrow, April 17th is Palestinian Prisoners' Day, a global day of action in support of Palestinian prisoners.  Since 1967 around 700,000 Palestinians have been detained by the occupying Israeli military. That means 2 out of every 5 males. There have been around 10,000 women arrested or detained, and each year there are around 700 prosecutions of people who are under 18.  Currently there are approximately 4,600 Palestinian political prisoners inside Israeli jails. Palestinians, living under occupation and oppression for nearly 64 years, have been targeted for mass imprisonment and detention by the Israeli occupation. Nearly every Palestinian family has been touched by political imprisonment – a father, mother, son, daughter, sister, brother, cousin, uncle, aunt – from the elderly to children.

Detention is used as a weapon of mass punishment by the Israeli military, who want to suppress every sign of resistance to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. But this cruel practice only strengthens Palestinian resolve - and brutalises those who perpetrate it.  That the Palestinian prisoners are political prisoners, detained solely for their opposition to Israel’s illegal occupation is evidenced by the range of people who are imprisoned.  They include 27 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.  Some of the prisoners are Israeli citizens, like Ameer Makhoul, who was general director of Ittijah – The Union of Arab Community-Based Associations and the Chairman of the Public Committee for the Defense of Political Freedom.

Writers, scholars, students and artists are also Palestinian political prisoners, including Palestinian scholar Dr. Ahmed Qatamesh, who has now been held without trial or charge for nearly a year, Dr. Yousef Abdul Haq, a professor at An-Najah University whose administrative detention was just extended for an additional six months, and Ola Haniyeh, a student leader at Bir Zeit University and a leading political prisoner solidarity activist abducted just before student elections and currently held under interrogation.

The whole process of detention and imprisonment is inherently brutal and contrary to international law.  After arrest, in which Israeli soldiers may deliberately destroy the family home, Palestinians are handcuffed and blindfolded. Humiliation and beatings are routine, and systematic abuse includes long periods of solitary confinement, and prisoners constrained in uncomfortable positions. In this way, many are coerced into signing ‘confessions’ - frequently written in Hebrew, which they can’t understand. Trials are in military courts, which ignore international law. Contrary to International law, these courts treat Palestinians as adults from the age of 16. Even those classified as children are not treated very differently and there are no provisions for them to have a lawyer or family member present when they make a ‘confession’. The majority of Palestinian detainees can be held for 6 months without charge, and once court proceedings start, these can be extended indefinitely. Hundreds more Palestinians are held under indefinite administrative detention for never-specified ‘security’ reasons.

This brutal and inhumane treatment continues once prisoners are put into captivity.  Prisons are overcrowded, airless and suffer extremes of temperature and humidity. Cells are Spartan, food is poor and there is a lack of basics like soap and toothpaste. Medical neglect is systemic, and former prisoners are often left with chronic health problems. Newspapers, learning materials and many TV channels are outlawed. Family visits are severely restricted and often impossible. Gazan prisoners have had no family visits at all since 2007.  Israel has frequently gone back on agreements to release prisoners, and last year’s much publicised release of prisoners in exchange for one captured Israeli soldier, was not all it seemed. Many released prisoners remained under severe constraints, and the prisons were soon refilled with new prisoners.

Opposition, both within Israel and Palestine, to this ongoing injustice is growing.  10 Palestinian prisoners are currently on hunger strike and thousands more prisoners plan to join in a massive hunger strike starting April 17th.  Palestinian Prisoners’ Day is an opportunity for us in the rest of the world to show our solidarity with Palestine.  In Dundee, Tayside for Justice in Palestine will be participating in this global day of action.  Join us at the City Square in demanding the immediate release of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. They have been targeted by an unfair and unequal legal system. Their imprisonment reflects Israel’s inherent system of injustice and racism.

For more information on Palestinian prisoners visit Addameer and Samidoun

Palestinian Prisoners

The recent news that agreement has been reached to secure the release of an Israeli soldier in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners is most welcome.  Especially for all those who will be released.  However it should not obscure the reality of Israel’s ongoing attack on Palestinians.

For example, since the military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, Israel has imprisoned more than 700,000 Palestinians.  This represents around 20% of the population.  Just take a moment or two to reflect on this.  Some 20% of the population of Palestine has been imprisoned by the Israelis over the past 40 years.

Currently there are, according to the Israel Prison Service, approximately 5,200 Palestinians in Israeli prisons.  The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights claims that more than 6,000 Palestinians are in prison.

It is also important to note that though these Palestinian prisoners are civilians they are dealt with by Israeli military courts.  This in itself is against UN conventions.  In addition human rights organizations have found wide spread abuses of the accused people’s rights, including interrogation without the presence of a lawyer.

All this of course in the context of an ongoing occupation.  Any kind of resistance to this brutal occupation is met with arrest and subsequent imprisonment via a military court.  It should also be noted that most of this resistance to the occupation is either peaceful - marches, demonstrations etc - or involves throwing stones.   Not the sort of activities that would normally get you imprisoned in the UK.  Even in Northern Ireland during the height of the troubles, was there such a heavy handed resort to imprisonment.

The treatment of Palestinian prisoners within Israeli prisons leaves much to be desired.   Amnesty International has reported “consistent allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, including of children. Among the most commonly cited methods were beatings, threats to the detainee or their family, sleep deprivation, and being subjected to painful stress positions for long periods.”

It seems that things have got even worse.  As a result since September 27, thousands of Palestinian prisoners have been on a hunger strike to protest the conditions of their incarceration. They have made several key demands, including an end to abusive isolation, restrictions on higher education in prisons, denial of books and newspapers, shackling, excessive fines, and most importantly, an end to all forms of collective punishment, including the refusal of family visits, night searches of prisoners’ cells, and the denial of basic health treatment.

While news of the release of Gilad Shalit has made the front pages of newspapers world wide, little has been reported about this hunger strike, which is now in its third week.  Let us hope that amid the joy at the release of some Palestinian prisoners, the world’s media turn some attention to the conditions of the remaining prisoners.

For more information about Palestinian prisoners, see this fact sheet published by the Institute for Middle East Understanding.

Palestine - State No 194

The Palestinian bid for full recognition as a member state of the UN will come to some kind of climax next week, when the proposal is expected to go before the UN.  At this stage it is not clear just how this bid will pan out.  The proposal which has the backing of the Palestine National Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization seeks recognition for Palestine as the 194th member state of the UN.  It seeks this on the basis of the so-called 1967 borders.  This would mean a state which included the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.  The full statement can be read here.

Palestinians have already secured the support of most members of the UN, though they need a 2/3 majority in the General Assembly.  At the moment this is close.  The precise role of the Security Council in this is a bit unclear.  However the USA has already indicated that it will veto any resolution the comes before the Security Council.  Once again the USA falling meekly in behind Israel.  Quite where the UK stands is also unclear.

What is odd about this is that the Palestinian bid for statehood within the 1967 borders is what all countries and international organizations have been calling for since, well, since 1967.  The USA has regularly re-iterated its support for this outcome.  Even Israel is supposed to be in favour of the two state solution.  So why this opposition?

The reality of course is that Israel, despite all the lip service it gives to two states, is and always has been adamantly against any such outcome.  Pray why does Israel constantly annexe Palestinian land and build settlements after settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank if it was serious about a two state solution?

Israel and its western backers have had over forty years to reach a settlement with the Palestinians.  And all the evidence shows that Israel has never seriously tried to reach a just settlement.  As the leaked Palestinian Papers showed, Israel always asks for more and more.  Trully there is no partner for peace and that is Israel.

However, even if this statehood bid does succeed, it will not immediately effect the situation on the ground.  There are in fact some Palestinian groups who oppose this bid precisely because it may make things even worse for Palestinians, at least in the short run.  The argument is that Israel may well react with its usual show of brutal force.

What we must never forget in all this is that the fundamental call from all Palestinians is for Justice.  And this is best summed up in the three basic demands as follows:

1  End Israel's occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in 1967;


2 Honour the right of Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality by ending the Israeli system of legalized and institutionalized racial discrimination (which conforms to the UN definition of apartheid);


3  Respect and enable the implementation of the UN-sanctioned right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and lands from which they were expelled.

These are the key principles on which a just and long term settlement must be built.  Whatever the outcome in the UN next week the struggle for justice will continue both in Palestine and the rest of the world.

Do Israelis just like to kill Palestinians?

I pose this question in light of the recent outburst of killings in Gaza and southern Israel.  In this case the initial attack was launched by three militants in and around Eilat.  A bus with some soldiers on board was gunned down, and in all it seems seven Israelis were killed in the attacks.  What is particularly interesting about this is that the Israelis immediately blamed a specific Gaza based Palestinian group, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC).  And then of course immediately started to bomb Gaza.  So far it seems that 15 Palestinians have been killed by the Israelis.

However the Israelis have as yet produced no evidence whatsoever that it was the PRC, or any other Palestinian group that carried out the attacks.  It is worth baring in mind that the initial attacks took place in Eilat.  This is an Israeli resort at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba, close to the Egyptian border in Sinai.  This means that it is hundreds of miles from Gaza.  There is also the little matter that no Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.  As Paul Woodward explains in an article for War in Context:  “Generally speaking, Palestinian militant groups are not shy about claiming responsibility for attacks against Israelis — especially those that can be described as military operations where Israeli soldiers are killed or injured. Indeed, the problem is more often that too many groups — not too few — want to claim the honor.”

Woodward goes on to suggest that the reason for this is that it wasn’t a Palestinian operation.  There is some support for this claim.  First, the IDF itself refused to endorse the Government’s assertion blaming the PRC.  Secondly eye-witnesses reported that the gunmen were wearing Egyptian military uniforms.  Thirdly the Sinai has been the scene of various guerilla type actions in the recent past.  The blowing up of pipelines for example.  The Egyptian military has been trying to bring the area under control and round up militant groups.  Fourthly there are reports that the Egyptians have identified the people responsible for the attacks and one is a leader of a terrorist cell in Sinai, while another is a fugitive who owns an ammunition factory.   Thus it is quite probable that the Eilat attacks originated in Egypt and had nothing to do with Gaza or Palestine.

Not that the Israelis have ever bothered to let such facts get in the way of killing Palestinians.  Any excuse seem to do.  Israel kills Palestinians all the time. On average, the IDF kills one Palestinian civilian every two days with impunity in the occupied territories, as B'tselem documented last year.  In this most recent case the Israelis seem to have outdone even themselves.  Richard Silverstein details a particularly gruesome killing.  “Today, an Israeli drone performed heroically for the fatherland by incinerating a car (or in other reports a motorcycle) carrying a Palestinian doctor and his family to hospital seeking treatment for a sick child.  The doctor, his brother, and the doctor’s little boy were killed in the attack.  Ynet announced: Oops, we missed.  The drone was aiming for a terrorist cell traveling nearby.  WAFA says the doctor’s brother was an Al Quds commander, which would mean that the IDF is willing to kill sick 2 year old children in order to get alleged terrorists as well.”

So much for the most moral army in the world.  Alas there is mounting evidence that for many Israelis the only good Palestinian is a dead one.

Israel - Social Justice and the Occupation

Israel is currently in the midst of a major social protest which began on July 14th and is thus known in Israel as the J14 protests.  They started as a protest about housing prices in Tel Aviv, but quickly became a mass street protest with hundreds of thousands of Israelis camping out on the streets.  The protests have now spread to other Israeli towns and cities and the basic demand is for profound changes in the socio-economic structure of just about every aspect of life in Israel. 

Except for one thing, the big O - The Occupation.  The protesters and their supporters in the media made it clear from the beginning that the protests and the demands were confined to life within Israel and would not get involved in anything to do with the Occupation.  It is not clear if this approach can hold.

In the first place Palestinian citizens of Israel have participated in some of the protests and there is a joint Palestinian-Israeli tent in Tel-Aviv.  This is because Palestinian Israelis have suffered the same injustices as their Jewish fellow citizens - only much worse.  While many Jewish protesters will continue to call for greater public spending for Jews and to hell with the Palestinians, this may become more and more difficult to sustain.  It would confirm Israel as an Apartheid state, which would conflict with the claim that Israel is a democratic state and would lead to difficulties with its sole backer - the USA.  It may be that through the protests more and more Jews realize that if they are to succeed in changing the policies of the government then making common cause with their Palestinian fellow citizens is the best way forward.

This seems to be the line taken, so far, by most of the Palestinians.  As Ami Kaufman puts it:  “Even the Arab speakers at the various demonstrations, from what I’ve heard (I may have missed some), have not directly addressed the occupation either – or even utter the word. Rather, they point out how they, too, are victims of capitalism and that they have it even tougher because of Israeli policies, of how the wealth is distributed. But the focus is still on money, on how the system screws everybody – equally.”   Kaufman’s line is that this is fundamentally a protest against capitalism and that, if successful, the protests may lead to ending the occupation, but only as a by-product.  His whole article is well worth reading in full - here.

Though the Occupation is not on the agenda as yet, it may force its way through into the consciousness of the protesters.   This is because as Ami Kaufman observes in his article the protest is mainly about money.  And so much of Israel’s money goes into the Occupation.  It is ironic that the one place where Jews can get affordable housing is in the illegal settlements.  Because they are heavily subsidized by the state.  This is just one example of how the costs of the Occupation continue to hurt and blight the lives of most Jewish Israelis.  At some point in the developing argument over how to divvy up the state’s spending, someone may start to question all this scarce money going to maintain the Occupation while most Israelis suffer from poor housing, the lack of good education and health services etc.

It is still too early to know just how these protests will pan out, but they do serve as a useful reminder that Israel is far from some safe haven and that within the Jewish majority there are huge and potentially destabilizing tensions.  Now that the genie is out of the bottle, who knows what will emerge.  For a Palestinian Israeli view on the protests here is the text of a moving speech by Odeh Bisharat. 

Netanyahu Kills off the Two State Option

Well, the cat is well and trully out of the bag now.  After Netanyahu’s little tantrum there can be no doubt about it.  The two state solution to the Israeli/Palestine conflict is dead as a dodo.  And all because the Israelis refuse to even contemplate any kind of negotiations.  Just why Netanyahu decided to come clean so vociferously and so explicitly is a bit of a mystery.  After all President Obama merely reiterated the long standing US position that a Palestinian state has to be based on the 1967 borders.  This leaves plenty of wriggle room for the Israelis to claim many, if not all, the illegal settlements.  However it is clear that even this is not enough for Israel.  Note that it is not just Netanyahu and his right wing bloc that opposes any kind of deal that leaves any settlement out of Israel.  As the leaked Palestinian Papers show even the so-called moderates like Tzipi Livni refused to accept a deal from Fatah which would have left most of the settlement blocs inside Israel.

The reason for this obduracy can only be that Israel does not feel itself to be under any pressure to reach a negotiated settlement.  Israel wants all the settlements and the right to build new ones.  Israel wants to control the Jordan river.  Israel wants all of Jerusalem.  Clearly Israel does not give a XXXX about the Palestinians.  For even the most reactionary Zionist knows that there will never be a majority of Palestinians who could agree to this kind of offer.  At least Netanyahu has done us the favour of clearing away any remaining doubts.  There is no Israeli partner for a peace deal and once again Israel has shown its unfailing instinct for never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

Though in the short run Israel will manage to get away with this defiance of international law, thanks to its blank cheque from the USA, it is still amazing that Israel and all its Zionist supporters have conspicuously failed to come up with a plan that would secure Israel’s future not just for the next decade or so, but forever.  To place all your eggs in the one, US basket is a bit short-sighted, to say the least.  For how long will the USA remain the world’s sole superpower?  Perhaps more pertinently for how long will the USA, even its elites, remain so much in thrall to Israel and Zionism?  Given that the Zionist project is based on memories of a past that goes back thousands of years, you would think that Zionists would want some kind of assurance that their project has a chance of surving for more than a few decades.

If Israel is to survive permanently as a enclave in an Arab and Muslim world, it can only do so by reaching a long term agreement with the people who live on the land Israel wants, and an agreement with its neighbours.  And to date there has been no sign that Israel wants to know anything about this.  It has repeatedly dismissed out of hand any and every proposal from the Palestinians and from the wider Arab world.  Not only that, Israel has already lost any support it had in Latin America, Africa and most of Asia.  Even in Europe, the tide has turned against Israel.  It is only a matter of time before European governments adopt a much more forceful stand against Israeli intransigence.

With luck Netanyahu’s recent outburst will hasten the day when more governments accept the reality that Israel does not and never has wanted a Palestinian state, no matter how restricted this state was.  Israel has always and usually violently, said no to the Palestinians.  It is time for the rest of the world to say no to Israel.

Al-Nakba 2011

Today is Al-Nakba Day, when Palestinians throughout the world remember the catastrophe (Al-Nakba in Arabic) which befell their community in 1948.   The Nakba was a real and violent catastrophe.  The deliberate destruction, looting, massacres and forced expulsion of the Palestinian inhabitants of what was to become Israel.  Because this was also of course the period of the proclamation of the state of Israel and the two are intimately linked.  Without the forced expulsions of Palestinians there would have been no Israel.  While Nakba remembers an historic event, the violence against Palestinians continues right up to the present.  Palestinian land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem continues to be confiscated and their inhabitants forced out.  An insight into the underhand means that Israel is prepared to use to expel Palestinians can be found in a recent article by the great Israeli journalist Gideon Levy.  He reports on a study which shows that by the time of the Oslo Accords, Israel had revoked the residency 140,000 Palestinians from the West Bank.  Palestinians who had gone abroad to study or work and stayed away for more than six months had their right to return denied forever.  By the stroke of a bureaucratic pen.  As Levy put it - “In other words, they were expelled from their land and their homes.  In other words: ethnic cleansing.”  You can read the whole article here.

What is clear from all this is that without the forced expulsion of the original inhabitants of the land, there would be no Israel and without the continuing expulsion of Palestinians Israel could not survive as a Jewish state.  The more people know about Al-Nakba, the more people will start to question the whole basis for the creation and continuing existence of Israel as a Jewish ethnocracy.  Which is no doubt why the Israeli Parliament has been trying to criminalize any mentioning of the Nakba.  So much for the claim that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East.  Not all Jews share this draconian view and Noam Sheifaz, an independent journalist has written a powerful piece for 972 magazine explaining why Jews need to talk about the Nakba.

It seems that the Palestinians are beginning to mount a credible challenge to continuing Israeli rule.  The recent unity agreement between Hamas and Fatah is one sign of this,  Another is the impact that the recent pro democracy uprisings in the rest of the Arab world is beginning to have among Palestinians.  Aziz Abu Sarah is a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem and he has written here about how the Arab Spring is inspiring Palestinian protesters.  And part of this is the Nakba Day manifestations.  Below are links to some of the works produced by Palestinians to commemorate this “catastrophe”.  

First up is this video, which I came across via Mondoweiss.  It is called The Manifesto, and is a reply to the Gaza Youth Manifesto.  The makers describe it as a simple, true, self-explanatory, expression of what we’re sick of.  I have not been able to find out just who has produced this video.  

Next is a link to Palestine Monitor, an online resource about the Palestinian struggle for justice.  There you find a video about their Nakba Day event - Return to Palestine, Take to the streets on Nakba. 

The third link is to Nakba Survivor and is  in many ways the most moving.   This is a new website, a multi-media initiative of the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU), set up to for this the 63rd commemoration of the Nakba.  It features the personal testimonies of Palestinian refugees who fled (or whose parents and grandparents fled) Israel’s ethnic cleansing project that began in 1948.  Palestinians all over the world were asked to upload video testimonials or contribute their stories on Twitter.  These latter show up on a live feed on the website.  A great and moving collection.

The rest of the world can of course contribute to the ongoing struggle of Palestinians for justice.  The key, basic demands of justice are that Israel respects its obligations under international law by:

1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967 and dismantling the Wall;

2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and

3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinians refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.

We can our bit by supporting any local initiatives of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.  In Dundee our next campaign is to persuade the local Council to refuse to accept any bids for council contracts from any company which aids or benefits from the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.  A motion is to go before the Council in June.  If you want to help us you can find out more from either Tayside for Justice for Palestine or Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign.  

Another way to show our solidarity with the struggle of Palestinians is to support the various worldwide campaigns to break the blockade of Gaza.  Here in Scotland we hope to raise enough money to send our own ship to join the forthcoming flotilla.  For more information about this campaign visit the Scotland to Gaza website.

Ending the Occupation

Though the recent popular uprisings continue to spread through most of the Middle East, Israel/Palestine remains, as yet, relatively calm.  Only “relatively”.  Palestinian peaceful protests continue and the Israelis continue with their brutal and violent reprisals.  And, surprise, surprise, pro-settler right wing Israelis have today attempted to block the entrance to Jerusalem in the first actions of a declared nation-wide “day of rage”, organized to protest the Israeli government’s demolition of illegal outposts in the West Bank.

This somewhat hilarious attempt by the illegal settler community to hijack the tactics of the popular uprisings in Arab countries only serves to highlight once again the centrality of the (illegal) Occupation.  For, whichever way you look at it the conflict in Israel/Palestine always comes back to the Occupation.  All the way back to 1948 and Israel’s massive land grab.  When the newly created Israeli state seized 78% of historic Palestine as opposed to the 55% they were awarded by the UN.  In the process of this land grab the Israelis forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee their ancestral homes.  Their descendants now make up the five million plus refugees who live in poverty in refugee camps throughout the Middle East.  Israel has continually refused to even contemplate the return of these refugees.  An action contrary to every tenet of International Law.

Israeli Occupation is never meant to be a temporary situation.  As can be seen to this day as Israel continues to confiscate and appropriate Palestinian land in the post 1967 Occupied West Bank.  The annexation of East Jerusalem and the always expanding and increasing number of colonies in the West Bank - all of them, every single one of them illegal - are all evidence of Israel as an expansionist colonialist state.

That Israel has no intention of ever leaving the West Bank is clear from its policies towards the Palestinians.  The whole of Israel/Palestine is one customs Union - controlled by Israel.  The only legal currency is the Israeli shekel - controlled by Israel.  The international borders of the West Bank are controlled by - Israel.  All this is part and parcel of a policy to keep the Palestinians in a state of permanent underdevelopment and totally dependent on Israel.  The construction of the illegal settlements, the Jewish only roads and the Wall are other key elements in this policy of permanent subjugation.  Along with the Apartheid Wall the Jewish only roads break up the West Bank into little Bantustan type enclaves surrounded by Jewish colonies or roads.  Though the Wall is partly designed to keep Palestinians out of Israel, a major purpose of the Wall is to keep Palestinians divided.  As Shir Hever puts it in his book on the Political Economy of Israel’s Occupation;  “..in reality, Israel is surrounding Palestinians with a wall.  The proper term is not fortification, but incarceration - because the Wall is being built around Palestinian communities in the West Bank.”  Thus it is pretty clear that official Israeli policy is to permanently divide the West Bank and to make life for Palestinians as unbearable as possible and most important of all to make the creation of a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank unachievable.

Further evidence for this has recently emerged with the publication of the Palestinian Papers.  These show just far the current Palestinian leadership in the West Bank was prepared to go to meet Israeli demands.  In fact Mahmoud Abbas and Saed Erekat were willing to give Israel almost everything the Israelis wanted in terms of land.  Yet it was not enough.  And remember, this was the supposedly moderate Israeli government that refused to make any concession whatsoever.  Once again the Israelis have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

Quite clearly the Israelis in refusing to even negotiate over the Palestinian proposals, demonstrated that they do not want a resolution to the conflict.  After all why should they? The current situation on the ground is just fine for almost all Israelis.  There is no violence in pre 1967 Israel and in the West Bank the peaceful protests are kept under control with a combination of army and settler violence against the peaceful protesters.  The illegal settlements continue to expand and more settlements are planned.   The Israelis control the scarce water resources, diverting them to the settlements and into Israel itself.  Economically the Palestinians form a captive market for Israeli goods.  Why give any of this up?

Unless and until the Israelis feel some kind of real pressure from the outside nothing will change.  The Palestinians could move from trying (unsuccessfully) to negotiate a rump state in the West Bank, and instead demand full Israeli citizenship including voting rights.  After all there already is one state and it is run by Israel.  If the Palestinians were to give up on the two state option and simply demand equal rights within Israeli rule that would be a game changer.  But it does not seem that a majority of Palestinians are as yet ready for such a momentous step.

The other kind of pressure that could force the Israelis to change is economic pressure from the rest of the world.  This is where the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement comes in.  Already in a few years BDS has won a series of important victories.  In Scotland and in the rest of the UK, more and more local councils are beginning to exclude Israeli companies from bidding for contracts.  The cultural and academic boycotts are also beginning to bite.  The big change will come when governments come on board.  But that will only happen when there is enough popular support for BDS.  So this is one are where individual action, if repeated by enough people, can lead to real change at government level.  So whatever you do - just refuse to buy any Israeli products.

Gaza 2 years on - A Jewish Voice

Just over two years ago, on 27th December 2008, the mighty Israeli military launched an unprovoked and unannounced air strike on the defenceless population of Gaza.  This murderous onslaught would continue for a further three weeks.  In which time over 1,400 Palestinians would be killed.  Of these, 397 were defenceless, innocent children.  In addition countless others suffered terrible physical and mental injuries.

To honour all the people killed and injured during this onslaught Tayside for Justice in Palestine organized a commemorative event in Dundee last Saturday, 22nd January 2011.  The centre point of this event was an installation by local artist Pat Donnachie.  This featured 357 mini paper coffins wrapped in a Palestinian flag.  The mini coffins were surrounded by 357 pairs of children’s shoes - all to represent the 357 children who were brutally killed by Israeli forces. 

At the commemorative event we had speeches from a wide section of Dundee’s population, including the Lord Provost.  One of the most moving contributions came from Sarah Glynn, who is one of the founding members of Tayside for Justice in Palestine.  Sarah is a Jew and here is her personal testimony.

“I’m standing here as a member of Scottish Jews for a Just Peace. 

Like all of us here I am appalled at what has been happening in Gaza and want to do what little I can to help.

But why do I want to speak with a specifically Jewish voice?

Scottish Jews for a Just Peace exists to tell a very particular message.

To say that, whatever they may claim, the Israeli government does not speak for or act on behalf of the Jewish people. 

Last summer, when the Israeli army attacked the ships bringing aid to Gaza, I tired to write down what it means to be Jewish at a time when people with whom I share a history and an ethnicity have committed such crimes in its name.

Most people sense a pull of family history and a feeling of belonging to a clan. And who could not feel a sense of awe at being part of a clan that has survived two millennia of persecution. Who would not feel a tug on the heart strings when exploring a personal connection to a Polish Shtetl – even if their first introduction to that lost world was through Fiddler on the Roof?

I have been to Poland and seen the small wooden house my grandfather left as a toddler over 100 years ago. And I have seen how the Nazis erased every trace of its Jewish population from that town. Who could not be moved by such a sight?

I have also been to Israel, where others of my family helped build a Jewish homeland. And I am sure that they sincerely believed that they were creating a better world where there would be less persecution. 

But, as I have observed the aggression of the modern Israeli state and read more about its evolution, I have learnt to question the image of Israel that I and so many others of all backgrounds grew up with. I have discovered that the story of a gallant Israeli David fighting for survival against an Arab world committed to its destruction was a foundation myth: a myth that hid a much more troubling reality of another people’s history of suffering and oppression. 

I saw another people’s nightmare. A new exile. A new nation of refugees.

The world not better, but bitter. Crueller. More dangerous.

I saw persecution recreated - in a distorted mirror image with Jews as oppressors. And three generations of Israelis taught to hate.

The Israeli government has tried to use our Jewish history to justify its actions and claim Jewish loyalty and support. I want to claim my history back. I will not boast of Jewish survival - It was not me who was oppressed for two millennia – but, like everyone else, I can learn lessons from that history. I take no personal responsibility for Israeli aggression - It was not me who took Palestinian land and lives – but like everyone else I can do what I can to try and end that suffering. After the Holocaust the world said ‘never again’. That never didn’t just refer to one people’s persecution, nor do we have to wait until millions are dead before we act. 

I will always be moved by the melancholy sound of a Yiddish song; but also by the cries of Gaza’s children.

So I join with you all to say Freedom to Gaza

Free free Palestine”

Though last Saturday was a commemorative event, it is never enough to just remember past sufferings.  Not when the suffering and degradation continues to this very day.  That is why Tayside for Justice in Palestine has chosen this commemorative event to launch our appeal for the next flotilla. This time Free Gaza plans to send a boat bought and supplied by the people of Scotland. We are asking everyone to contribute what they can so that we can demonstrate Scottish support for Gaza and Scottish resistance to this cruel and illegal blockade.

The following list can only give an indication of what the blockade means:

• 6 out of 10 people have running water only once every 4 to 5 days, and 90% of this is contaminated and not fit to drink

• Only small amounts of construction materials have been allowed in for UN projects, and nothing has been allowed for private building. Of the 6,000 homes that suffered major damage 2 years ago, 4 out of 5 have not been rebuilt.

• Because of lack of materials for new buildings, 40,000 children have been turned away by UN schools. 

• Restrictions on the import of fuel means power plants are only working at 2/3 capacity. There are regular electricity blackouts, which impact on essential services.

• Gaza’s fragile economy has been destroyed by a combination of the lack of power, restrictions on raw materials, and the almost complete ban on exports. 4 out of 10 people in Gaza are unemployed.

• 1/3 of Gaza’s farmland and most of its fishing areas are cut off by Israeli soldiers, who will shoot to kill. 

• Entry and exit to and from the Gaza Strip remains severely restricted and unpredictable. Since 2009, 33 patients have died before being given permission to leave Gaza and get to the hospitals they have been referred to.

Regardless of our views on Gaza’s political leaders, or on the tactics some have chosen with which to resist the occupation of Palestinian land, we must condemn this collective ‘punishment’. The real sin of the Palestinians, in the eyes of the Israeli government, is simply to want to be free to live in the villages and towns in which they were born.

Amidst all the horror there is still hope. Israel depends on the support of other nations, especially the USA, and widespread criticism of the Israeli government’s actions can have an impact. We have a long way to go, but, already, an increasing number of people have realised what is happening, and resistance is growing, including within Israel itself. Here in Dundee, thousands of miles from Gaza we can be part of this resistance. 

To find out more, please email us on

taysideforjusticeinpalestine@gmail.com