Report: 500 Palestinians Are Currently Held Under Administrative Detention
By Saed Bannoura | IMEMC News | February 5, 2015
The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has reported that the current number of Palestinians, held by Israel under Administrative Detention orders without charges or trial, has arrived to 500.
The PPS said the Hebron district, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, witnessed the highest number of arrests and Administrative detention Orders.
It added that twelve administrative detainees, including democratically elected legislators, have been held under such orders for many years.
The detained legislators are Mohammad Jamal Natsha, Hatem Qfeisha, Mohammad Bader, ‘Azzam Salhab, Nayef Rajoub, Basem az-Za’arir, Samir al-Qadi, all from Hebron, in addition to Abdul-Jabbar Foqaha and Hasan Yousef from Ramallah, Mohammad Abu Teir and Ibrahim Abu Salem from Jerusalem, in addition to Abdul-Rahman Zeidan from Tulkarem.
The PPS said 208 of the 500 administrative detainees are from Hebron, including Ahmad Shabana, who spent eighteen years in Israeli prisons, including 13 years under Administrative Detention orders.
His latest arrest was on February 2 2014, and has been held since then; he also participated in the June 2012 61-day hunger strike, along with all Administrative Detainees.
Furthermore, detainee ‘Omar al-Barghouthi, 61 years of age, from the central West Bank city of Ramallah, has been detained since June of last year,
His repeated arrests led to him spending more than 25 years in Israeli prisons, including twelve years under Administrative Detention orders.
Israel “justifies” the use of Administrative Detention by claiming to have “secrets files” against the detainees, that neither the detainees, nor their lawyer can have access to.
EU Parliament cancels visit of Israeli official who has ‘blood on his hands’
MEMO | February 5, 2015
Left-wing politicians in the EU Parliament undermined a visit by Israeli Major General Yoav Mordechai because he has “blood on his hands” according to Northern Ireland MEP Martina Anderson.
Mordechai, who is one of the commanders of the Israeli elite force, is the coordinator for the Israeli government activities with the European Parliament regarding the Palestinian territories. His visit, which was due on Tuesday, was cancelled shortly before it was due to take place.
Portuguese parliamentarian Marisa Matias, from the European United Left–Nordic Green Left grouping, was quoted as saying that “giving him [Mordechai] a platform to host a lecture would legitimise his violations of international law and human rights”.
She pointed out: “Rather than giving a warm welcome to those, who stand for repression and apartheid, the EU institutions should pressure the Israeli government to abide by the rules of international law and UN resolutions.”
Calling for prosecuting him and his likes, she said: “We must bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”
Another member of the same political grouping, Northern Ireland MEP Martina, chairwoman of the Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the Palestine Legislative Council, welcomed the cancellation, even though she said the reasons behind it were unclear.
However, she said: “We condemn the fact that it was set to go ahead in the first place. We cannot accept someone with such a track record being welcomed to the European Parliament. Put simply, this man has blood on his hands.”
Israeli war crime suspects may be able to run but they cannot hide
By Dr Daud Abdullah | MEMO | February 5, 2015
The resignation of William Schabas from his post as head of the UN commission to investigate possible war crimes during Israel’s 2014 onslaught on Gaza was always on the cards. From the time of his appointment in August last year, he has been subjected to a relentless campaign that questioned both his integrity and impartiality.
The manner and timing of his resignation, weeks before the commission presents its report to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), recalls the case of Judge Richard Goldstone who was forced to disassociate himself from the findings of another UN enquiry into the 2008-09 war on Gaza. Instead of subjecting himself to similar humiliation, Schabas decided to throw in the towel sooner rather than later.
While Israeli officials may count this as a victory, it does not lift the spectre of war crimes charges against them. Nor will it alter Israel’s image as an international pariah. Whether Schabas stayed or resigned is, therefore, actually irrelevant. Israel has never, and never will, cooperate with an independent investigation into its wartime conduct. Hence, the claim that the UNHRC is innately biased must be seen for what it is — a rather pathetic attempt to evade accountability.
Lawyers acting on behalf of human rights organisations in Gaza point out that all the evidence presented to the UN suggests that there is a compelling a case for a formal investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The character assassination of Schabas will not change the course of events.
What is at stake is whether or not Israel acted within the confines of the law that governs armed conflict. Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s claim that the UNHRC “is the same body that only in 2014 passed more resolutions against Israel than against Iran, Syria and North Korea combined” is immaterial; it’s simply an attempt to deflect world attention from the real issue.
Did the UNHRC set out deliberately to malign Israel as Netanyahu claims? On 23 July2014, Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, reiterated the fact that war crimes and crimes against humanity are two of the most serious types of crimes in existence. She noted that in the case of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip the “credible allegations that they have been committed must be properly investigated.”
A newly published survey by Chatham House — the Royal Institute of International Affairs — showed that 35 per cent of Britons said that they “feel especially unfavourable towards” Israel. The study, conducted in 2014, showed that the number of those viewing Israel unfavourably had actually increased by 18 points since 2012, presumably because of its military campaign in Gaza which led to thousands of casualties among Palestinian civilians.
Significantly, the categories of international crimes referred to by Pillay originated in the Nuremberg Tribunal of 1945-46. Though intended to deal with those responsible for the persecution of Jews in Europe, their writ was never confined to the Nazi leadership. Robert H Jackson, the former US Supreme Court Justice and prosecutor at Nuremberg, wanted to make it clear, “That if this law is first applied against German aggressors, the law includes, and if it is to serve a useful purpose it must condemn aggression by other nations, including those which sit here now in judgment.”
Given the circumstances which led to the tribunal it seems utterly mind-boggling that Israel should today seek to deny others the benefit and protection of the laws used at Nuremburg. As such, none of these laws will be worth the paper they are written on as long as Israeli officials continue to enjoy apparent impunity and evade accountability for their actions. The consequences of this selective approach to justice and the rule of law are already evident across the Middle East and beyond.
Moreover, not even the countries that support Israel have been spared the consequences of its disregard for the rule of law. Consider, for example, the 2010 assassination of a Hamas official, Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, in a Dubai hotel. Several of the suspects involved used false passports of several European countries to carry out the operation. Apart from the expulsion of junior diplomats from Britain, Australia and Ireland, not one of the 29 Israeli suspects have been brought before a court of law.
More than anyone, Israelis who have hunted down Nazi war criminals for decades are well positioned to know that the pursuit and prosecution of those believed to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity is relentless and not bound by time. Their perceived success in bringing down William Schabas will have absolutely no bearing on the Palestinian quest for justice. Israeli war crime suspects may be able to run but they cannot hide; they may continue to avoid arraignment at The Hague but they know for sure that they have already lost in the court of world opinion. In the grand scheme of things, it is perhaps this which matters most, for Israel must remain isolated and a pariah in the community of nations until justice is seen to be done.
Demonstrators face military violence for protesting Israeli President Rivlin’s visit
International Solidarity Movement | February 5, 2015
Hebron, Occupied Palestine – On Monday, February 2nd, Palestinian demonstrators faced military violence at the hands of Israeli forces in occupied Al-Khalil (Hebron). Protesters gathered in Bab Al-Zawiye, on the H1 (Palestinian administered) side of Shuhada checkpoint, to denounce Israeli president Reuven Rivlin’s visit to the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit Hadassah. Israeli sodliers and border police fired rounds of tear gas and numerous stun grenades, injuring at least two protesters.
The demonstration was organised by local Palestinian organisation Youth Against Settlements against the visit of the Israeli president to the settlement, which is illegal under international law and serves as a frequent source of oppression and violence against local Palestinians. Palestinians claimed their own rights, trampled by the military occupation, in the face of the visit’s attempt to legitimate the settler colonisation. Some signs called for opening the once vibrant and now closed Shuhada street, some for an end to the illegal settlements, some for President Rivlin to be brought before the International Criminal Court.
Around fifty Palestinians began the demonstration outside of Shuhada Checkpoint, holding signs and banners and hanging Palestinian flags on the fence. Israeli forces stopped them from passing through the checkpoint, preventing them from protesting on Shuhada street, near where the president was due to speak. As protesters continued to demonstrate, holding signs, waving flags and chanting for an end to occupation, a group of Israeli soldiers and border police exited the checkpoint and pushed protesters further back. Soldiers also occupied the roofs overlooking Bab Al-Zawiye “I just heard a soldier on a roof say ‘okay, enough’ and five minutes later they started throwing stun grenades and tear gas,” stated an ISM activist. “It was extremely sudden, and very scary.”
Israeli forces targetted Palestinian activists and organizers, hitting many in the legs with stun grenades and tear gas grenades. One man was hit directly with a stun grenade, which detonated right by his leg. “He screamed and fell down, rolling on the ground” one ISM activist recalled. Another man was also hit in the head with a stun grenade after the Israeli forces continued to use potentially lethal force against unarmed Palestinian protesters.
Demonstrators then attempted to continue the protest into the souq (Al-Khalil’s Old City market), but Israeli forces threatened them with stun grenades and prevented them from advancing. The protesters decided to go back after the army launched one stun grenade directly into the group of demonstrators. The protest eventually dispersed in Bab Al-Zawiye, after being targeted by a few more rounds of tear gas grenades.
Demolitions in Qusra
International Solidarity Movement | February 3, 2015
Qusra, Occupied Palestine – In the early morning of February 2nd, 2015, Israeli forces demolished a two-room structure, a water well, and damaged a stone wall in Qusra, Occupied West Bank. All of the destroyed property was on land belonging to brothers Anwar and Akram Tayseer.
Israeli forces, at approximately 5:00am, destroyed the property with bulldozers. When farmers went out into their fields at 5:00am, five Israeli military jeeps were still present at the site, loitering around the recently destroyed infrastructure. The occupying forces refused to speak with anyone. The water well and small concrete structure were built with money donated by the French Consulate, to facilitate agricultural development in the vulnerable region. Located in Area C, Qusra is subject to common attacks from nearby illegal Israeli settlements, mainly the Esh Kodesh outpost. Settlers living in the illegal outpost Esh Kodesh have been implicated in various ´price tag´ attacks throughout the West Bank (acts of violence against Palestinians by settlers). Settlers come after every time local Palestinians work their land, in day or night, sometimes armed with iron bars; families often wake up to destroyed trees, structures, or crops. Israeli soldiers are often present at these incidents, intervening only to protect settlers. An Israeli military watchtower was constructed on the hill overlooking the agricultural lands around ten months ago. In the past, village residents have received Israeli orders to stop building on their land, which they have always respected (despite their illegality). However, it is not uncommon, according to locals, for farmers to have their agricultural structures demolished shortly after receiving these orders, despite the lack of further development.
This is not the first time the Tayseer´s family land has been attacked by settlers. On one occasion two years ago, Akram Tayseer was taken by the settlers, and severely beaten. He sustained injuries which put him in the hospital for two months, in his head, face, and arm. He was unable to leave his home for one year. Since this incident, residents recount that they have not seen him smile, and perceive that he is broken inside. The family has documents indicating their ownership of the land and the property which once stood on it.
The cost of agricultural structure demolished is approximately 5000 NIS (~$1275USD). The water well served as a collection site, and an important reservoir to nourish the fields. Enclosing the plots of land, around 500 meters of a traditional Palestinian stone wall was dismantled. The fields are the main source of income for the family.
According to OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), 82 Palestinian homes and agricultural structures have been demolished by Israel since the beginning of 2015. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, it is illegal for occupying powers to destroy property; Article 53 states: “Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons…is prohibited.” Since 1967, Israel has demolished over 27,000 Palestinian structures in the Occupied West Bank.
Israel freezes another $100m in Palestinian tax revenues
MEMO | February 3, 2015
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has frozen an additional 400 million shekels ($100 million) from Palestinian tax revenues, Israel Today revealed yesterday.
The funds were from January’s tax revenues, the newspaper said, and will be added to the 500 million shekels ($128 million) that Israel froze in December, making the amount of Palestinian tax revenues frozen about $228 million.
Sources close to Netanyahu told the newspaper that he promised continuous tax freezes as a punishment for the Palestinian leadership’s application to join the International Criminal Court.
Such revenues constitute 70 per cent of the Palestinian Authority’s source of income which finance the bulk of salaries and public services in the West Bank such as hospitals and schools.
It is worth mentioning that the money freeze last month faced critical reactions from the UN, US and many EU countries, but none of them put any pressure on Israel to recede its decision.
The Israeli newspaper reported that sources say the situation in the West Bank is expected to explode because of the hard economic circumstances resulting from the lack of funds.
Netanyahu: UN Gaza probe should be ‘shelved’
MEMO | February 3, 2015
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said that a probe by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) into last year’s Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip should be shelved in light of the recent resignation of inquiry commission head William Schabas.
“After the resignation of the committee chairman, who was biased against Israel, the report that was written at the behest of the UNHRC… needs to be shelved,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
The Israeli premier went so far as to slam the rights council as “an anti-Israel body, the decisions of which prove it has nothing to do with human rights.”
“This is the same council that in 2014 made more decisions against Israel than against Iran, Syria and North Korea combined,” Netanyahu asserted.
“It is Hamas, the other terrorist organizations and the terrorist regimes around us that need to be investigated, not Israel,” he added.
The Israeli government has already said it would not cooperate with the UNHRC committee formed to investigate violations committed during Israel’s onslaught on the Gaza Strip last July and August.
Israel had said that the UN council would not be objective.
The Israeli offensive left more than 2,160 Palestinians dead and some 11,000 injured – the vast majority of them civilians – while partially or completely destroying thousands of residential structures across the territory.
The onslaught, which was launched with the stated aim of ending rocket fire from the coastal enclave, finally ended with the announcement last August of an open-ended cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian resistance factions.
On Monday, Schabas, a Canadian professor of international law, reportedly resigned from his post as head of the investigation committee due to Israeli allegations of bias.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, for his part, hailed Schabas’ resignation, saying it was a “victory” for the self-proclaimed Jewish state.
“It is an Israeli diplomatic victory. However, it will not change the probe’s conclusions,” he said.
He added that the appointment of Schabas to investigate last year’s war against Gaza was like “appointing Cain to investigate who killed Abel.”
Lieberman: Third Lebanon war, fourth Gaza operation inevitable
Press TV – February 1, 2015
Israel’s foreign minister has described as “inevitable” a third war with Lebanon and a fourth aggression in the besieged Gaza Strip in the wake of a recent retaliatory attack by Hezbollah.
“A fourth operation in the Gaza Strip is inevitable, just as a third Lebanon war is inevitable,” Avigdor Lieberman said in an interview with Israel’s Ynet on Sunday.
“There’s no doubt the rules of the game have been changed, what Hezbollah forced upon us. We don’t respond, but rather decide to contain this incident,” Lieberman said, adding that the Lebanese resistance movement is “more determined.”
The Israeli official also said that another war on the Gaza Strip was on the horizon, adding that Hamas was already rebuilding its military capacities.
“We saw 10 rockets being fired at the sea last week. We see every week how they’re rebuilding [their arsenal],” he said, referring to the Palestinian resistance movement.
Hezbollah killed two Israeli soldiers and destroyed at least nine Israeli military vehicles in a retaliatory attack on a military convoy in northern occupied territories on January 28. Tel Aviv said a 20-year-old sergeant and a 25-year-old captain were killed.
Following the attack, Hezbollah said the move was in retaliation for Israel’s January 18 attack on the Syrian section of Golan Heights, where six Hezbollah members and an Iranian commander lost their lives.
Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of martyred Hezbollah top commander, Imad Mughniyeh, was among those killed in the attack.
Israel Arrests, Mistreats 700 Palestinian Children Every Year: Report
Palestinian protestors hold posters of 14-year-old Palestinian girl Malak al-Khatib who is in Israeli jail, during a demonstration to show solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Nablus, West Bank on January 27, 2015. Anadolu Agency/Nedal Eshtayah
Al-Akhbar | February 1, 2015
A lawyer for the Department of Prisoner Affairs released a report on Saturday on the mistreatment of Palestinian minors by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) after she visited Palestinian minors in Israeli custody.
The report came after Child Rights International Network (CRIN) published in its first 2015 report that some 700 Palestinian children per year are arrested and face “ill-treatment” by the IOF.
The IOF have shut down a program meant to decrease the number of nighttime arrest raids targeting children in Palestinian homes after less than a year, with statistics suggesting that even when the program was active night raids barely decreased at all.
Military Court Watch, a Palestinian legal monitor focused on the treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli detention, said in a statement on Thursday that the Israeli military had also failed to keep any statistics on the program it implemented of its own accord, meaning no independent evaluation could be conducted.
The report comes less than a year after Israeli military authorities unveiled the program to the international media with great fanfare, in the wake of a series of concerns raised in Europe and Australia over the effects of Israeli nighttime raids on Palestinian homes.
Hiba Massalha said in a statement that many of the minors spoke of being assaulted and beaten during their arrests and throughout interrogation.
Malek Hamdan, a 16-year-old Palestinian from Jerusalem, was beaten to the point of his bones being fractured while he was held at the Russian Compound detention center, the statement said.
Additionally, 17-year-old prisoner Mohammed Abdul Fattah Radwan, from Qalqiliya, told Massalha that during his detention, he was assaulted and dragged for a long distance while handcuffed and blindfolded.
Radwan was held at the al-Jalama detention center for 15 days. He was interrogated for several hours each day while tied to a small chair.
The teen said he was held in a small, filthy, cold room with the lights kept on all day and all night.
Another prisoner, 16-year-old Mohammed Yusuf Ikhleil from al-Khalil (also known as Hebron), was detained on November 1 while he was on his way home from school. He is currently being held in HaSharon prison.
Ikhleil said he was shot with a live bullet in the thigh, and while he was being detained, he lost a lot of blood as Israeli soldiers beat him.
He was moved to the Soroka Hospital in Beersheba for treatment, where he was kept in the ICU for three days and underwent a bone surgery for his thigh injury.
Ikhleil added that he was interrogated for an hour while at the hospital, and that he was shackled to the bed for 24 hours while guards watched him.
He was taken to the al-Ramla Hospital where he stayed for two months before being moved to HaSharon prison.
Meanwhile, 14-year-old prisoner Hussam Omar Mohammed Abu Khalifa from Bethlehem is suffering from depression and needs constant medical care.
Hussam is currently being held in HaSharon prison.
Moreover, 18-year-old Lina Khattab, a student at Bir Zeit University and dancer in the al-Funoun Palestinian cultural dance troupe, was arrested on December 18 and charged in a military court for “throwing stones” and “participating in an unauthorized demonstration.”
Khattab’s trial has been postponed more than six times. The military court had refused to release her on bail or put her in house arrest. The judge said at the time: “looking at her, I can see the characteristics of a leader.”
In 2013, the UN children’s fund (UNICEF) reported that Israel was the only country in the world where children were “systematically tried” in military courts and gave evidence of practices it said were “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.”
The UNICEF report said in a 22-page report that over the past decade, Israeli forces have arrested, interrogated and prosecuted around 7,000 children between 12 and 17, mostly boys, noting the rate was equivalent to “an average of two children each day.”
CRIN report
According to CRIN, some 700 Palestinian children per year are arrested and face “ill-treatment” on the hands of Israeli soldiers.
“During 2014, an average of 197 children were held in military detention every month, 13 per cent of whom are under the age of 16,” the CRIN report read.
“Arrested children are commonly taken into custody by heavily armed soldiers, blindfolded with their wrists tied behind their backs before being transported to an interrogation centre,” CRIN said, adding, “Children questioned about their experience frequently report verbal and physical abuse during the arrest.”
According to research conducted by Defense for Children International in Palestine, which was cited by CRIN in their report, some 56 percent of children report having experienced “coercive” interrogation techniques during their time in Israeli custody.
Some 42 percent say they were forced to sign documents in Hebrew, despite the fact that most Palestinian children do not speak or understand the language.
Additionally, 22 percent of detained children say they underwent up to 24 hours of solitary confinement, in violation of international standards.
“This detention is a clear violation of children’s rights under several international human rights treaties to which Israel is a party,” the CRIN report said.
“The UN’s Special Rapporteur on Torture has called for a complete ban on solitary confinement for juveniles, warning that it ‘can amount to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment when used as a punishment, during pre-trial detention, indefinitely or for prolonged periods, for persons with mental disabilities or juveniles.'”
The report said that while it is technically possible to file a complaint about the way a child is treated in Israeli detention, “complaints are almost universally dismissed,” and there are “very few examples of soldiers being punished for ill-treatment.”
The report highlighted a case in which a 14-year-old girl from Ramallah was arrested on December 31 and held for 22 days in Israel before being issued a sentence.
She was charged with throwing stones, blocking the road, and allegedly possessing a knife, “sentenced to two months in prison, and fined $1,528 by an Israeli military court.”
The Israeli cabinet approved early November a new legislation that would allow the imposition of a prison sentence up to 20 years for those convicted of throwing stones or other objects at Israeli soldiers or their vehicles.
Her father believes she was coerced into confessing, saying: “She seemed to be very sick and scared.”
“The plight of this one girl put a face on a system that routinely runs roughshod over children’s rights,” CRIN said, adding “But behind this story there is a broader issue.”
The report recommended reforms while noting that countless other recommendations by human rights groups regarding the treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli custody have gone unheeded by Israeli authorities.
Ultimately, CRIN concluded, children will never be treated well under an Israeli military justice system.
“Regardless of the precise formulation of military rule, it can never protect children in the same way as a developed civilian juvenile justice system which places the best interests of the child at the center of its work,” the report read.
(Ma’an, Al-Akhbar)
Jewish settler runs over Palestinian journalist in al-Khalil
Palestine Information Center – February 1, 2015
AL-KHALIL – A Jewish settler ran over a Palestinian journalist called Raed Abu Rmaileh at noon Sunday near al-Haram al-Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City of al-Khalil.
The PIC reporter said the journalist Abu Rmaileh was transferred to hospital by Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance for treatment in one of the city’s hospitals.
Abu Rmaileh is a journalist from al-Khalil. He is working at B’Tselem human rights organization; he documents the Israeli crimes against Palestinians in al-Khalil, specially the Old City and the vicinity of al-Haram al-Ibrahimi Mosque.
Israel and the US: a Troubled Romance
By Robert Fantina | CounterPunch | January 30, 2015
It is sometimes interesting to see the many hoops the United States jumps through to accommodate the brutal whims of Israel. With Palestine ratifying the Rome Statute, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) beginning its initial investigation of possible Israeli war crimes committed against the Palestinians, more such information is leaking out.
Israel, it is reported, is pressuring nations that fund the ICC, however inadequately, to either reduce or suspend that funding altogether. Reports are that poor Israel is being rebuffed at every turn, with the major funding nations saying they have no intention of making such adjustments. The U.S., this writer is sure, would cease all funding for the ICC, if it had ever deigned to join. But no international body, it seems, has the right to judge the soldiers and/or leaders of the self-described ‘land of the free and home of the brave’ for illegal invasions, wanton killing of civilians, or torture of political prisoners. So Israel, which has in the past successfully demanded that the U.S. cease any aid to Palestine, can’t rely on the U.S. to pull the plug on the ICC.
All this comes at a very awkward time for the troubled romance between Israel and the U.S., a time when perhaps the final nail has been hammered into the coffin of the dysfunctional bromance between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Murderer Benjamin Netanyahu. In March, Mr. Netanyahu will visit the U.S. to give Congress his instructions regarding U.S. negotiations with Iran. This, in all likelihood, will torpedo the delicate, years-long negotiations that Mr. Obama, with support from much of the international community, has been spearheading. But the general direction of these negotiations has been displeasing to Mr. Netanyahu, and he will inform Congress of that fact in no uncertain terms. Congress, always responsive to the holders of the purse strings, will fall into line. So what if it means that more young Americans will be sent to kill and die in another war? What is this, when funds are needed for one’s next re-election campaign?
A presidential spokesperson said that Mr. Netanyahu’s forthcoming visit to the U.S. is a slap in the face of Mr. Obama. And U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, an international joke if ever there was one, is said to be particularly peeved. Did he not, as has since been reported, contact at least fifty world leaders in December, begging and pleading with them on Israel’s behalf, to vote down a resolution being introduced at the United Nations, that would have mandated an end to the Israel occupation of Palestine by 2017? Was he not successful in procuring Israel’s desire at the expense of the basic human rights of the Palestinians? And then, within days, to have Mr. Netanyahu spit in his eye! Oh, the shame of it! One is confident that Mr. Kerry will send a strongly-worded message to someone in Israeli diplomatic circles, perhaps a staff member responsible for cleaning the guest bath at the ambassador’s residence.
A reasonable person might ask what response to this is most appropriate. Unfortunately, we have moved far beyond reasonable when the U.S. tramples the basic human rights of an entire nation to please a powerful lobby, and when a member of the House of Representative invites a world leader to address Congress without mentioning it to the president. But let’s play the ‘what if’ game anyway.
The U.S. gives Israel $3 billion a year, with no strings attached. One might think that that would give the U.S. some leverage in getting Israel to adapt its behavior in some way. Might not the U.S. say that the next gift, perhaps a shipment of bombers, is contingent on a cessation of new, illegal settlement activity? Or perhaps an end to the brutal blockade of the Gaza Strip? Some adherence to international law, it seems, could be tied to continued U.S. funding.
But no, there is no precedent for such actions; in fact, the reverse is true. There is historical precedent for simply writing a blank check to Israel. In 1988, an Israeli journalist commented that “One may say no to America and still get a bonus.” Nothing has changed in twenty-seven years.
So there we are. In March, Mr. Netanyahu will be in town to address Congress and participate in that even more important governing body, AIPAC (American Israel Political Affairs Committee). Most of Congress will join him there, where the real governing takes place, to bow and scrape before the holders of the biggest checkbooks. Heaven forbid they spend as much time or energy with constituents; what a waste of valuable time! Money, it is said, talks, and the members of Congress always have a listening ear.
Fortunately, the rest of the world is looking in another direction, recognizing the arrogance of Mr. Netanyahu, the cruelty of the occupation, the hypocrisy of the U.S. and the ineffectual administration of Mr. Obama. The work of the ICC will continue slowly, but it will continue. Without Israel’s cooperation, which it has vowed not to provide, there may be no just outcome, but the focus is on Israel. While an accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty, the reputation of an accused who gets off on the technicality of refusal to cooperate is more than a little tarnished. Israel’s long walk toward international isolation is accelerating. And the U.S. is only expediting it.
Whatever the next several months bring for Palestine, Israel and the U.S., only a few things are sure: Palestinians will continue to suffer under the brutal, apartheid Israeli regime even as more and more nations recognize it; Israel will continue to draw almost universal condemnation, with the U.S. being the main holdout, for the brutal occupation of Palestine, and the U.S., long seen outside its own borders as the world’s main terrorist nation, trampling on the human rights of entire nations simply to ensure the filling of corporate coffers, will do nothing to dissuade the world from that opinion. The U.S. and Israel will impede the march of justice, but increasingly it is obvious that they cannot stop it.
Robert Fantina’s latest book is Empire, Racism and Genocide: a History of US Foreign Policy (Red Pill Press).
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