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Israeli forces close down school in Hebron’s old city

Ma’an – October 16, 2011

HEBRON — Israeli forces closed down a school in Hebron’s old city for the fourth day in a row on Sunday, a local official said.

Sameeh Abu Zakiye, an official in the Department of Education in Hebron, said that soldiers gave students orders to evict the building before forcibly removing them from the property, official news agency Wafa reported.

The school’s janitor was also detained after being accused of attacking Israeli soldiers, Abu Zakiya said.

Around 800 Jewish settlers live among 30,000 Palestinians in the parts of the ancient city that are under Israeli control.

Israeli restrictions on movement and access, many of them dating back to the Palestinian uprising at the start of the decade, have turned parts of the old city into a ghost town. Poverty has risen in a city that was traditionally an engine of the Palestinian economy.

October 16, 2011 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Subjugation - Torture | Leave a comment

Jewish settlers attack olive harvesters in Nablus district

Palestine Information Center – 10/10/2011

NABLUS — Jewish settlers attacked Palestinians harvesting olives in the village of Azmout to the east of Nablus on Monday morning while Palestinian farmers in Nablus district have appealed for protection from settler attacks.

Local sources reported that dozens of settlers from the nearby settlement of Elon Moreh which built on land confiscated from Palestinians east of Nablus, attacked Palestinian families harvesting their olive crop from their olive groves and tried to stop them from continuing with the harvesting.

The sources added that fist fights between the Palestinian farmers and the settlers ensued and farmers refused to leave their fields and insisted on continuing with their harvesting.

The settlers have recently launched a campaign of attacks on Palestinian villages and olive groves, especially in the Nablus area, on the eve of the olive harvesting season which starts early October.

Meanwhile, Palestinian villagers to the south of Nablus have appealed for protection during the season so that they can harvest their olive crop without being attacked by Jewish settlers or the wild hogs the settlers release into Palestinian farms.

A Palestinian woman was injured in the village of Awarta to the south of Nablus when she was suddenly attacked by a wild hog while harvesting olives.

A number of settler attacks have taken place lately on those villages to the south of Nablus in the form of burning and breaking trees, attacking farmers and stealing their harvest.

October 10, 2011 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | Leave a comment

Obama at the General Assembly: Sacrificing Palestine for Zionist Campaign Funds

By James Petras | October 9, 2011

Introduction

There are two views of Obama’s speech to the General Assembly on September 21, 2011, and his opposition to the recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state and its admission to the UN. The common opinion of foreign policy experts was that Obama led the US to an ignominious diplomatic defeat, deepening US isolation in the international system.

The White House’s blatant parroting of Israel’s position to continue bilateral negotiations, while Tel Aviv continued to colonize Palestinian land and forcibly evict its residents, alienated the 1.5 billion Muslims throughout the world. Obama’s refusal to even mention the return to the 1967 borders as a basis for a “peace settlement”, totally undermined any pretext that the US could act as an “honest broker” in Mid-East peace negotiations, even in the eyes of its most slavish supporters in the PLO. His one-sided reference to Israel’s minimal casualties in maintaining the Occupation, while omitting any mention of the 12,000 Palestinian political prisoners, thousands of assassinations, everyday humiliation, routine torture of suspects and frequent defacement of Palestinian religious centers (mosques and churches, cemeteries and shrines), undermined any US effort to win favor among the millions of people involved in the pro-democracy social movements sweeping the Arab world from Tunisia, Egypt to the Gulf states.

Washington’s insistence that its NATO allies line-up with it in supporting continued “bilateral” negotiations, has led to the German government’s public humiliation when it followed Obama’s line of pressuring Abbas back to ‘negotiations’ only to have the Israeli Prime MInister Netanyahu announce the construction of 1,100 illegal Jews-only housing units in occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem.

Obama’s blatant and overt pandering to Israel before the representative of 193 independent nations, which had followed the standing ovation for Abbas’ call for Palestinian recognition, highlights one of the greatest US diplomatic defeats since the founding of the UN over 60 years ago.

But was Obama’s groveling before Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu really a ‘failure’ in the eyes of the White House? Or was his speech really a carefully crafted appeal to a domestic audience in order to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from pro-Israel billionaires to finance his re-election campaign?

There is a wealth of documentary evidence showing that Obama deliberately and forcefully sacrificed US international standing, in order to satisfy the major American Jewish organizations who were demanding nothing less than total and unconditional backing for Netanyahu’s phony position of “peace negotiations” and colonization from Obama.

From the angle of satisfying the US Zionist power configuration (ZPC) and securing a massive flow of re-election financing, Obama’s UN speech was a smashing success.

Obama’s Rejection of World Opinion and the Zionist Payoff

Obama’s re-election campaign from April to the end of September has received tens of millions of dollars from wealthy pro-Israeli Jewish fund raisers and contributors, as well as endorsements from rightwing US Jewish and Israeli politicians.

In the run-up to Obama’s UN speech, Zionist lobbyists adopted “good cop bad cop” tactics. Liberal Zionist Democratic Party advisers emphasized that he was “losing the Jewish vote and funding”, highlighting the recent resignation of a disgraced Democratic Congressman from a district of Orthodox Jews because of his internet porno-exhibitionism as a sign of Obama’s growing unpopularity among Jews. Some campaign strategists emphasized the “crucial Jewish vote in swing states” like Ohio and Pennsylvania (where non-Jews, who represent well over 80% of the voters, are not “crucial” in the eyes of these election experts!).

The 52 Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organizations took turns accusing Obama of “slandering Israel”, for disobeying Netanyahu and “backing the Arabs” for protesting Israeli land grabs, even as Obama raised US government aid to Israel to an un-paralleled $3 billion per annum, in the midst of a US economic recession with 18% of American workers unemployed or underemployed. Obama’s pro-Israel critics overlooked his $205 million gift to Tel Aviv to build the Iron Dome rocket defense system together with the US military’s latest fighter jets. The Zionist power configuration demanded total surrender even as they extracted more political and economic concessions. They ignored the enormous military imbalances in the Middle East in Israel’s favor and the degradation of US standing in the region.

Hardball threats to end Jewish financial support by the rightwing Zionists was “complemented” by fund raising by liberal Zionists and promises of more to come if Obama ended his “public feuding” with Israel and vetoed Palestinian admission to the UN. Obama performed his well-rehearsed shuffle and song routine of the “absolute defender”, now and forever, of every Israeli violation of Palestinian human rights.

Obama’s Rush for the Gold

On June 20, 2011, months prior to Obama’s speech opposing Palestinian admission to the UN, a pro-Israel Washington fund raising event for his re-election campaign raised over $1.5 million, assuring Obama that “Jewish donors” were not wavering, as long as he followed Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s line of peace negotiations and land grabs (Forward, June 29 2011). During the fund raiser Obama reiterated his unconditional support for Israel’s policies, including the settlements in the Palestinian West Bank. Following the dinner he met behind closed doors to elaborate on how far he was willing to go in opposing the Palestinian initiative at the UN, (Forward, June 29, 2011). A month earlier on May 22, 2011, Obama spoke at the annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), directly appealing for funds in exchange for the United States’ total submission to the AIPAC agenda.

Obama’s dependence on Zionist funding was evident between April to June 2011: Of the $68 million raised for his campaign, $37 million was raised by 244 “big cash bundlers” – individuals who round up multi-millionaire contributors. According to one count of the 244 bundlers approximately 120 were identified as pro-Israel Jews. Among the Zionist “bundlers” are Penny Pritzker bagging contributions between $100,000 – $200,000, Jeffrey Katzenberg putting the touch on contributors for $500,000 plus; Mark Gilbert $500,000 plus, and Mark Stanley $100,000 to $200,000.

Obama’s fund raising and organizational success among Israeli right wingers and US Zionists multiplied following his UN speech opposing the recognition of Palestine. As the New York Times (September 30, 2011) noted “. . . Democratic officials maintain that they do not think that Mr. Obama is in danger of losing the Jewish vote – particularly given the President’s muscular defense of Israel at the United Nations General Assembly last week”.

Following his UN speech Obama raised several million from wealthy Zionists in Manhattan and Hollywood at dinners ranging up to $35,800 a plate. The extremist right wing Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman (influential among billionaire US Zionists), signaled his enthusiastic support for Obama, as did Abe Foxman, the notorious Israeli Firster and head of the Anti-Defamation League, and former-New York City Mayor Ed Koch, another fanatical-Zionist (NY Times, Sept. 30, 2011). Thanks to pro-Israel bundlers and hustlers, Obama had out-fund raised the leading Republican candidate, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, by more than a 4 to 1 margin by September 2011, (Reuters, Sept. 27, 2011).

The Consequences of Obama’s Embrace of Netanyahu and Rejection of World Opinion

Immediately following Obama’s UN speech, Netanyahu announced that Israel would build 1,100 new ‘Jews-only’ housing units in occupied Arab East Jerusalem with additional plans to displace tens of thousands of Bedouins from their villages to make way for new Jewish settlements. With firm assurances that American Zionist Jews have the American Presidency and Congress in their pocket, Netanyahu feels free to advance his long-stated policy of ethnic cleansing. Violent extremist Jewish colonial settlers, funded by millionaire US donors to Obama, feel free to continue their practice of defacing and burning mosques and subjecting Palestinians to daily humiliations. The US Congress and AIPAC wrote legislation eliminating 200 million dollars in funding to the Palestinian Authority because of its ‘crime’ of seeking admission for the Palestinian people to the United Nations. Obama’s “muscular” knee bends for Israel at the UN have opened the door to more intense and brutal Israeli aggression against the Palestinians, new military threats toward Iran and increased pressure on Egypt’s military rulers.

The White House’s goal is to raise a billion dollars for the re-election campaign. This involves keeping the spigot open for big bucks from Zionist millionaires in Hollywood and Silicon Valley, as well as from smaller contributors among lawyers, dentists, doctors, professors and local business people in Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and elsewhere. Obama’s strategy at the UN is designed to maximize Zionist loyalty and fund raising for his re-election. The White House has organized a campaign to delay any Security Council decision, removing the Palestinian issue from the limelight and putting it behind closed doors via procedural haggling. At the same time, Washington is pressuring Security Council members, especially Bosnia and Colombia, to block a three-fifths majority vote, which would then force the US to use its veto. If the White House does not secure the votes, Obama has promised Zionist fundraisers he will use the US veto to exclude Palestine from admission to the UN.

Obama will focus on his power to use the UN veto in order to increase fund raising among wealthy Zionists and to activate the Presidents of the 52 Major American Jewish Organizations to “get out the vote” among the electorate at large. The re-election campaign will remind Zionist mass media pundits (CNN, FOX, CBS, NBC) of how Obama “courageously stood up to” world public opinion – including that of leaders representing 90% of the world’s population – in order to “defend Israel”.

If foreign policy is an extension of domestic policy, as is clearly illustrated by Obama’s truckling to Zionist fund-raisers by acting on behalf of Israel in the United Nations, so too is domestic policy an extension of foreign policy. US overseas businesses cannot expect any “favored treatment” in Muslim countries. Increased political hostility to the US and Israel will result in greater military spending leading to more fiscal deficits and more painful cuts in domestic social programs for the American people. This will increase domestic social and political polarization. In the short-run, Obama’s sell-out to the Zionist power configuration has succeeded in filling the coffers of his re-election campaign. But in the near future it has raised insurmountable difficulties in dealing with overseas political conflicts and domestic economic crises.

Above all, Obama’s game of mutual manipulation with the Zionist Lobby has further degraded US democratic political institutions and our international standing as a free and independent country.

The Freeing of Jonathan Pollard and Obama’s Re-election: The Dirtiest Quid Pro Quo

In his gross servility to Israel and the American Zionist Lobby, President Barak Obama has surpassed all four of his predecessors with regard to the most egregious episode in Israel’s many violations of US security. According to recent news reports, Vice-President Joe Biden announced that “President Obama was considering clemency for Jonathan Pollard” (New York Times, Sept 30, 2011; Jerusalem Post, Oct. 2, 2011). While Biden originally claimed to have initially opposed this move, a week later, under intense pressure from Obama, he agreed to meet and discuss Pollard’s release with American Jewish leaders, including the executive vice chairman of the Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organizations, Malcolm Hoenlein (Globe, Oct. 8, 2011 – a major Israeli business publication.)

Reagan, Bush-Senior and Junior and Clinton, all refused to re-open the Pollard case because the confessed American spy for Israel (who was awarded Israeli citizenship and a high military rank while in US Federal prison) did more damage to US national security than any spy in our history. At his trial, the FBI and Naval Intelligence revealed the Pollard, then a High Security Naval Intelligence analyst, had turned over tens of thousands of classified documents to his Israeli handler. Many were ‘sold’ to the Soviet Union. For his ‘service to the Jewish State of Israel’, a building, illegally built in occupied Arab East Jerusalem, is named Beit Yonatan.

All Israeli leaders, from Rabin to Netanyahu, have pressed US Presidents to free their spy. But threats of mass protests and resignation from the US intelligence community prevented any serious discussion of releasing the traitor. Now, the entire spectrum of Zionist opinion – from ‘left to right’ – from ‘liberal’ Congressman Barney Frank to extremist Israel Firster, Alan Dershowitz of Harvard, and including hundreds of Rabbis are pressuring Obama to free their ‘hero’. Only a few prominent American Jews, like former US Navy Admiral Shapiro are outraged and chagrined by the “Jewish Community’s defense of a traitor“.

In a tight presidential election this 2012 we can expect Obama to trade on Pollard’s release, in exchange for a big cash injection by Zionist contributors to fund his last-minute media blitz. After all, if Obama can sell out US integrity in front of the 193 nations of the UN, what is to stop him from freeing a master Israeli spy, who imperiled US security, in order to gain a few thousand sound bites and TV slots in the run-up to the November 2012 elections?

October 9, 2011 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Progressive Hypocrite | Leave a comment

B’Tselem: Israeli govt responsible for Qusra attacks

Ma’an – 07/10/2011

BETHLEHEM — Israeli authorities are failing to stop settler attacks on the Nablus village Qusra, which has faced a repeated campaign of harassment from Israeli settlers, an Israeli rights group said on Thursday.

Israeli settlers uprooted 200 olive trees in the south of the village overnight Wednesday. Israeli organization B’Tselem said due to a new Israeli army post overlooking the valley, “the attack occurred in an open area with excellent visibility.”

“Even if soldiers aren’t present there at all times, the security forces maintain an ongoing presence in the area,” a press statement from the group said.

“Regardless of whether the soldiers noticed the settlers and chose to ignore them or whether they weren’t present in the area, this is a particularly severe case where the security forces violated their obligation to protect the Palestinian residents and their property,” it added.

B’Tselem said it had documented seven cases of Israeli settlers raiding the village in six weeks.

A village mosque was torched and vandalized in early September, and Israeli force killed one villager after settlers broke into the village later in the month.

Qusra is encircled by Jewish-only settlements, which house around 300,000 settlers in the West Bank, among some 2.6 million Palestinians. Settlements on occupied land are considered illegal under international law.

October 7, 2011 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | Leave a comment

Palestinian Children forced out of bed to be photographed by the Israeli army

By Mais Azza | IMEMC & Agencies | September 29, 2011

The British newspaper, The Guardian, reported on Thursday that Israeli troops recently invaded the village of an-Nabi Saleh, known for being a center of non-violent resistance, and went house-to-house forcing children out of bed in the middle of the night to photograph them.

The Guardian article also details some of the other mistreatment of Palestinian children by the Israeli military, referencing a recent report from Defence for Children International showing that eight recommendations made last year by the organization have not been carried out by the Israeli military and government.

These include detention of children without charge, forced interrogation of children with no lawyer or parent present, the failure to investigate reports of torture by Israeli forces against Palestinian children, the refusal to inform parents that their child has been detained and the holding of criminal proceedings against children in military courts, among others.

In the invasion of Nabi Saleh Wednesday night, residents reported that the soldiers said they plan to make a file of all the children in the village to use to identify any child that may later throw stones at the army.

The village of an-Nabi Saleh, home to around five hundred people, is one of several West Bank villages that hold weekly non-violent protests against the Israeli Annexation Wall that is being built on village land. At each protest, the Israeli army uses lethal and semi-lethal weapons to attack the non-violent demonstrators.

The inhabitants of the village say that they depend on international and Palestinian human rights organization to help document the illegal Israeli practices and violations of human rights by the Israeli military, in order to save their children from these practices.

The Guardian article also quotes a July 2011 report by Israeli human rights group B’Tselem which details the practice of photographing children in the night: “The photos were taken for what the army calls ‘mapping’: the army did not have any basis for suspecting any particular minor they awoke to photograph, but they wanted to build a reservoir of pictures they could later use for identification purposes, should the minor be involved in stone-throwing or other violent activity. In response to a report on the issue which was broadcast on Channel 10 News, the army said that ‘it uses a variety of means to maintain order and security’.”

September 29, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Illegal Occupation | Leave a comment

Study: Occupation costs Palestinian economy $7 billion

Ma’an  – 29/09/2011

BETHLEHEM — A Palestinian Authority ministry and national research institute released a joint study Thursday which estimates that the Israeli occupation cost the Palestinian economy around $7 billion in 2010.

“Without the occupation, the Palestinian economy would be almost twice as large as it is today,” the PA Ministry of National Economy and the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem said in a statement.

Losses sustained due to Israel’s occupation are equivalent to 85 percent of Palestinian nominal GDP, the study found.

Without Israel’s control of resources and access to Palestinian territories, the economy “would run a ‘healthy’ fiscal surplus, ending its dependence on donors’ aid,” the report said.

The research quantified, for example, Israel’s ban on Palestinian access to the Jordan River, Dead Sea and groundwater aquifers in the West Bank, as costing Palestinians $1.9 billion in lost agriculture revenues, $1.2 billion in mineral resources and $143 million in Dead Sea tourism.

Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip cost the Palestinian economy $1.9 billion, and restrictions on water another $1.9 billion, the study said.

Israel earns around $900 million per year through control of West Bank mining and quarrying, the research authors estimated, and $150 million from commercial Dead Sea products.

ARIJ and the national economy ministry said they had to under-estimate the figures due to a lack of data, leaving out costs which they could not quantify.

Relating to the issues of trade access and resources, the authors of the study said that the “majority of these costs do not have any relationship with security concerns,” and were motivated by Israel’s wish to restrict the development of a competitive Palestinian economy.

Minister of National Economy in the Ramallah-based government Hasan Abu Libdeh said the report backed findings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and demonstrated the case for taking Palestinian statehood to the UN through President Mahmoud Abbas’ membership bid, submitted Friday.

“No matter what the Palestinian people achieve by our own efforts, the occupation prevents us achieving our potential as a free people in our own country,” the minister said.

“It should be clear to the international community that one reason for Israel’s refusal to act in good faith as a partner for peace is the profits it makes as an occupying power.”

The PA will produce regular reports on the costs of Israeli restrictions on the Palestinian economy, the release said.

September 29, 2011 Posted by | Economics, Illegal Occupation | Leave a comment

Buffer Zone

Alhaqhr | September 27, 2011

September 27, 2011 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Subjugation - Torture, Timeless or most popular, Video | Leave a comment

Israel plans 1,100 more settlement units as legislators call for full annexation

By Saed Bannoura | IMEMC News | September 27, 2011

A group of right-wing Israeli legislators submitted a letter to the Israeli Prime Minister on Monday stating that in response to the Palestinian Authority’s unilateral bid for statehood at the United Nations, Israel must retaliate by fully annexing all West Bank settlements as part of the state of Israel. The call comes just as the Israeli Jerusalem municipality prepares to approve 1,100 new settlement units on Palestinian land in the settlement of Gilo, near Bethlehem.

The plan to move ahead with new settlement construction in Gilo received preliminary approval by the Israeli Jerusalem municipality, and was submitted to the Jewish National Fund, which owns 90% of the land in Israel, for a 60-day public comment period, after which it is expected to receive final approval, and new construction will begin.

In the midst of protests over high housing prices in Israel, Israeli authorities have sought to construct new units in illegal West Bank settlements and encourage young people to move there — in violation of international law and past signed agreements.

Indeed, Interior Minister Eli Yishai issued a directive that 20% of the new units constructed in Israeli settlements should be set aside for young couples.

The right-wing Israeli legislators who submitted a letter to the Prime Minister on Monday made a far-reaching recommendation that the Israeli government officially annex over half of the West Bank, which was occupied by Israeli forces in 1967 but remains Palestinian Territory. This annexation would leave Palestinians with just 13% of their original land, split into discontiguous islands, or reservations, much like the Native American reservations where people were forced to live after European colonizers took over their land.

In their letter, the legislators wrote, “The international damage that Israel could suffer in the wake of the UN vote is significantly smaller than that it would suffer if it doesn’t follow up on the principle you set a decade ago – ‘If they give, they’ll get; if they don’t give, they get nothing.” This last part was a reference to the Palestinian Authority and the Camp David Accords of 2000, during which the Israeli negotiators attempted to force the Palestinians to give up their internationally-recognized rights, including the right to freedom of movement, the right of return for refugees, and the right to live in a defensible state with clearly-defined borders.

The Israeli legislators, mainly from the right-wing Kadima party, called on Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to also cut off the aid money to Palestinians, which comes from international donors, but has to pass through Israeli hands for taxation, to accelerate the construction of new settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, to prevent all Palestinian construction in the West Bank, and to cancel the ‘VIP’ cards of Palestinian officials which allows them easier access through the over 500 internal checkpoints run by the Israeli army in every part of the West Bank.

September 27, 2011 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | Leave a comment

Settlers uproot 400 olive trees near Nablus

Ma’an – 25/09/2011

NABLUS — Dozens of Israeli settlers on Sunday uprooted over 400 Palestinian-owned olive trees near Nablus in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian Authority official said.

Settlement Affairs official Ghassan Doughlas said settlers attacked fields between Qusra and Duma villages south of Nablus.

On Friday, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man, Issam Kamal Odeh, 33, during clashes sparked by settlers who entered Qusra.

The incident comes amid a surge in settler violence in the northern district, including village raids, attacks on Palestinians and their property and the vandalism of two mosques in recent weeks.

In Qusra on Sept. 5, settlers torched a mosque and spray-painted anti-Arab slogans and the Star of David.

September 25, 2011 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Subjugation - Torture | Leave a comment

Daughter of Mayor: I was interrogated 13 times while handcuffed

Palestine In formation Center – 25/09/2011

RAMALLAH — The daughter of Al-Bireh mayor Jamal al-Tawil said she was bound, photographed, isolated and questioned by some 13 investigators after Israeli forces arrested her on 6 July without charges in an apparent bid to pressure her father.

Bushra al-Tawil was transferred between three detention centers in Beit El and Ashkelon and kept in isolation for sixteen days before ending up in HaSharon prison, where she is currently being held, said Botheina Daqmaq, head of the Palestinian Mandela rights organization, who at length managed to visit Tawil and collect statements.

Daqmaq learned that Tawil was denied freedom by an Israeli court although no formal charges have been placed against her.

“Thirteen investigators took turns to interrogate me while I was handcuffed to the back. They insulted me using profane language and screamed at me loudly asking that I repent,” Tawil said, adding that the investigators threatened to harm her family members and bring her parents in for the interrogation. They also photographed her while she was bound in cuffs, she said.

“In a terrible atmosphere of isolation and deprivation of all my rights, they led me one day to a private room and placed me on a lie detector for three hours, and did not allow me to pray and I was barely allowed to use the bathroom,” she said.

Tawil informed the rights activist and lawyer that she was placed in isolation for 15 days upon her arrival to the Israeli HaSharon prison, noting that the most difficult part of all was what she called the “journey of misery”, when she was repeatedly removed for court hearings.

“The prison administration sent me to court three times consecutively without a court hearing taking place,” she said, noting that each time she was transported by a large armored vehicle without air or light, where the prisoner sits shackled by the hands and feet on an iron bench.

In her first visit by a rights organization after she was denied a visit by the Red Cross, Bushra made desperate calls for looking into her case, saying that the courts ruled for release, but Israeli intelligence foiled the decision.

September 25, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Illegal Occupation, Subjugation - Torture | Leave a comment

HOUSE DEMCORATS SEND LETTER OPPOSING UNILATERAL PALESTINIAN UN EFFORT

Press Release – September 15, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer Hoyer (MD) led a letter that was signed by 58 House Democrats including Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Ranking Member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee Howard Berman, and Ranking Member on the Appropriations State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee Nita Lowey that is being sent to 40 key European heads of state today, urging them to stand with the United States in opposing unilateral action by the Palestinian Authority at the United Nations. In their letter, the members warn that there may be “devastating consequences for the peace process” should the Palestinians proceed unilaterally, and they make clear that direct negotiations are the only path forward to a just and lasting peace. The letter cites further risks of acting unilaterally, including the potential for violence on the ground and a reconsideration of U.S. assistance to the Palestinian Authority.

“We share with our friends and allies a determination to see this conflict ended peacefully,” Hoyer said. “Voting together to oppose unilateral steps that set peace back would strongly reaffirm our common commitment to this shared goal and to the longstanding principle enshrined in the Oslo Accords that both parties ought to reach a solution through direct negotiations. Quite fundamentally, it would be an expression of our common values.”

“Realizing the goal of two states, living side-by-side in peace and security, is only possible through direct talks – not in the halls of the UN General Assembly,” Pelosi said. “A vote for Palestinian statehood will not advance the peace process; it will impede it. The nations of the world must make it clear: a lasting peace cannot be imposed on Israel or the Palestinian people – it can only be negotiated between the parties themselves.”

“This is a historic moment in the Middle East. An inflammatory UN resolution, particularly one that unleashes international legal action against Israel, will put Middle East peace prospects on hold for years, if not decades,” Berman said. “We are counting on our friends and allies to stand with us at this critical time.”

Below is the full text of the letter:

Dear ___________________:

We write on a matter of great urgency, on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly meeting. It is our understanding that the leadership of the Palestinian Authority will pursue a resolution at the United Nations – in either or both the Security Council and the General Assembly – to grant the Palestinians the equivalent of statehood and/or prejudge final issues, including borders and the status of Jerusalem. One of the major goals of this effort is for the Palestinians to better position themselves to petition the International Criminal Court, very possibly bogging down the court for the foreseeable future.

It is our strong belief that such unilateral action would have devastating consequences for the peace process and the Palestinians themselves. Accordingly, we urge you in the strongest terms not to support this effort.

We believe that the only way to achieve a two-state solution is through direct negotiations leading to a peace treaty fully accepted by both governments and by both peoples. A just and lasting peace cannot and must not be imposed on the parties. If the Palestinians pursue such a unilateral approach, it violates the letter and spirit of the Oslo Accords and will deal a significant blow to future negotiations. Given the expectations gap among the Palestinian public, such action could lead to widespread violence on the ground, jeopardizing the West Bank’s impressive economic and security gains over recent years. There is also a substantial risk of more broadly inflaming the region and increasing violence at a time of already great instability. Finally, the United States will reconsider its assistance program for the Palestinian Authority and other aspects of U.S.-Palestinian relations if they choose to pursue such a unilateral effort.

We are confident that your government shares the United States’ commitment to a comprehensive resolution of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. That outcome can only be achieved through direct negotiations. A vote on a unilateral UN resolution will likely set prospects for peace back years.

Our bilateral relationship is based on certain fundamental values. We urge you to vote those values, and to stand with the United States in not supporting unilateral action at the UN that would impede the peace we all seek.

Thank you for your consideration of our views.

Steny H. Hoyer, Democratic Whip
Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Leader
Howard Berman, Ranking Member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee
Nita Lowey, Ranking Member on the Appropriations State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee
Henry Waxman, Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee
Gary Ackerman
Joe Baca
Shelley Berkley
Madeleine Bordallo
Leonard Boswell
Dennis Cardoza
Russ Carnahan
David Cicilline
Emanuel Cleaver
Gerry Connolly
Jim Costa
Jerry Costello
Mark Critz
Joseph Crowley
Susan Davis
Rosa DeLauro
Ted Deutch
Eliot Engel
Charles Gonzalez
Gene Green
Janice Hahn
Kathy Hochul
Brian Higgins
Tim Holden
Steve Israel
William Keating
Larry Kissell
James Langevin
John Larson
Sander Levin
Dan Lipinski
Carolyn Maloney
James McGovern
Gregory Meeks
Michael Michaud
Chris Murphy
Jerrold Nadler
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Bill Owens
Gary Peters
Steven Rothman
C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger
John Sarbanes
Janice Schakowsky
Adam Schiff
Allyson Schwartz
David Scott
Brad Sherman
Heath Shuler
Albio Sires
Betty Sutton
John Tierney
Edolphus Towns
Debbie Wasserman Schultz

September 20, 2011 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Progressive Hypocrite, Wars for Israel | Leave a comment

Repression and resistance sharpening in Beit Ommar

By David Warren | The Electronic Intifada | 19 September 2011

Beit Ommar – With a population of 17,000, Beit Ommar has grown into more of town than a village. But the tractors struggling up the main street and the herds of sheep wandering the alleys eating rubbish and causing mischief help it retain a certain rural charm.

Beit Ommar sits alongside Route 60, the main highway between Bethlehem and Hebron, which you can reach in about 30 minutes on a good day. Like much of the rural West Bank, the area depends on agriculture, with the village’s location in the West Bank’s central highlands particularly suitable for softer fruits such as grapes, peaches and plums.

That is where the normality ends, however. If you were to climb one of the nearby hills you would notice that Beit Ommar is encircled by no less than five illegal settlements: Karmei Tsur, Kfar Etzion, Migdal Oz, Bat Ayin and Allon Shevut. In Beit Ommar, water is regularly cut off and private wells are illegal. In the settlements, swimming pools and fountains are de rigeur.

Taking a stroll down to the entrance to the village, you could not fail to notice the tallest watchtower in the West Bank looming above you — a modern-day Panopticon from Foucault’s worst nightmares — cataloguing those who come and go. The sound of low-flying jets, helicopters and even drones is an ever-constant reminder of the destructive potential of the Israeli military, a continual source of fear. That’s the point.

This is the context in which Mohammed Shtayyeh, a senior member of Fatah’s central committee admits that, even if the United Nations approves the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood, it will not change daily life for Palestinians. “Things on the ground are not going to be different,” he said at a recent news conference (“PLO to seek full UN recognition,” Al Jazeera English, 14 September 2011).

Week of brutality

Bearing this in mind one should consider what has happened on the ground in Beit Ommar over one September week.

On 6 September, a group of 15 farmers selling fruit beside the main highway were attacked by Israeli soldiers, who proceeded to confiscate and destroy thousands of dollars worth of grapes, peaches and plums (“Israeli soldiers, police attack Beit Ommar fruit vendors,” Palestine Solidarity Project, 7 September).

Given its strategic location beside Route 60, Beit Ommar used to have the largest fruit market in the southern West Bank. Now however, the Israeli army has blocked the entrance to the market with boulders, dissuading shoppers. This is part of the ongoing campaign to destroy Beit Ommar’s economy, as local farmers are now reduced to attempting to sell what they can to passing traffic.

A few days later, on 10 September, a small sit-in protest of little more than ten persons beside the highway was savagely repressed. The group was sprayed with military-grade mace and two international activists were dragged away to be detained without charge (“Two arrested, pepper spray used as activists try to tear down fence in Beit Ommar,” Palestine Solidarity Project, 10 September) .

The next night at around 2am, the Israeli army invaded the village, abducting three young Palestinians while firing tear gas and concussion grenades into the streets and nearby houses before vanishing into the gloom (“Israeli army raid Beit Ommar, arrest three,” Palestine Solidarity Project, 12 September).

The arrest of young people towards the end of the school year is a common, vindictive practice in the West Bank, meaning that those detained will miss their final exams and therefore have to re-sit the year at great personal expense.

Early Monday morning on 12 September, settlers hacked down grape vines that were almost ready for harvesting on an area of almost 2,000 square meters. The owner of the land had a heart attack when he saw the destruction, according to the Palestine Solidarity Project (“Settlers destroy Beit Ommar farmer’s crops,” Palestine Solidarity Project, 12 September).

On Tuesday, at around 4am, soldiers came with bulldozers and destroyed two buildings in different parts of the town (“Israeli army demolish two buildings in Beit Ommar area,” Palestine Solidarity Project, 13 September).

Given that Beit Ommar found itself in Area C after the Oslo accords, it has remained under the total control of the Israeli military. Under the Oslo accords, which were signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel in the mid-1990s, the West Bank was carved up in to areas A, B and C, the latter of which covers 60 percent of the West Bank with a population of approximately 150,000. Large areas around the village have been arbitrarily closed to agriculture and building.

Waiting for Godot

Even these relatively minor events depict a scene of continual violence being perpetrated against the civilian population, a roll-call of yet another quiet horror repeated across the West Bank for decades. On occasions, there are discussions of the United Nations’ session on recognition of a Palestinian state and what might result from this.

Mousa Abu Maria, a leader of the Beit Ommar-based National Committee Against the Walls and Settlements and co-founder of the Palestine Solidarity Project, describes how in the past few years Beit Ommar has “returned to its roots,” a path of nonviolent resistance, reminiscent of the first Palestinian intifada.

Abu Maria has spent nearly seven of the past ten years in prison, most recently for 14 months under “administrative detention” without being charged with a crime or having evidence presented against him.

Now, each Saturday, Abu Maria, alongside other members of Beit Ommar’s popular committee, leads the demonstrations which place alongside the illegal settlement of Karmei Tsur. The number of protesters is currently in the dozens, but as they have grown, so too has the violence of the Israeli response.

After a recent demonstration had been dispersed, and soldiers were pursuing Abu Maria and two others, live ammunition was fired at them. The bullets sailed over their heads. At the same demonstration, Abu Maria’s brother, Yousef, was arrested and brutally beaten (“Yousef Abu Maria brutally beaten as live ammunition used at Beit Ommar demonstration,” Palestine Solidarity Project, 20 August 2011).

What happens on 21 September, and afterwards, is anyone’s guess. Whatever happens at the UN, recognition of a state or otherwise, it seems that the violence of Israel’s occupation will continue. But so too will the popular resistance.

David Warren is an activist currently working in Beit Ommar.

September 19, 2011 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | Leave a comment

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