Israel’s War Against Palestine: Documenting the Military Occupation of Palestinian and Arab Lands

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Anshel Pfeffer: When did the Israeli right become so McCarthyite?

5 February 2010

B’Tselem, Yesh Din, Machsom Watch, Breaking the Silence and their ilk are nudniks, they are one-sided, they pick up any story floating around, often giving exaggerated credence to hearsay testimony and they have a tendency for overkill, conflating every report into a phenomenon. Yet we couldn’t do without them.

IOA Editor: Indeed, without them, liberal Anglo-Saxon Jewish immigrants such as Mr. Pfeffer could themselves become targets of the neo-fascist camp that is rapidly rising in Israel as a counter-movement to domestic human rights organizations and to Israel’s international critics. This Israel-centric commentary is presented here to show the tremendous pressure Israeli rights organizations are operating under, and the limited support they receive even from relatively-friendly media such as Haaretz.

Amid row over contentious ad, Jerusalem Post fires Naomi Chazan of New Israel Fund

5 February 2010

“They’re using me to attack in the most blatant way the basic principles of democracy and the values of the Declaration of Independence: Values of equality, tolerance, social justice and freedom of speech,” she added. On Thursday, Chazan received an e-mail from Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief David Horovitz, informing her the newspaper would cease publishing her column. Chazan had provided the daily with one of its few leftist voices in recent years.

IOA Editor: Democracy for Jews only. The Declaration of Independence has been a part of Israel’s democratic facade since 1948: it never stopped Israel from robbing the Palestinian people of their homeland and turning them into refugees and third class citizens of the Only Democracy in the Middle East. In addition, unlike the US Constitution, the “Declaration” is just that: a non-binding statement without any legally enforceable powers.

American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein to open in New York next week!

5 February 2010

Ridgen and Rossier’s new compelling documentary about controversial Jewish-American academic Norman Finkelstein is to open soon at Anthology Film Archives. The film has already played in prominent festivals around the world including the Sheffield Doc/Fest documentary festival, IDFA in Amsterdam and the Jewish Film Festival in Jerusalem.

Yossi Melman: Robbing Sderot of defense from rockets

4 February 2010

The decision to develop Iron Dome appears to have been, from the start, an effort to keep the Rafael scientists employed and compensate the company for not benefiting from the research and development funding for the Arrow system, which is being developed by Israel Aerospace Industries.

IOA Editor: So much for Israeli security and for defending our people from Gaza-based terrorism. There’s no business like War Business (there’s even an Irving Berlin Broadway-tune to go with it). Israeli war profiteering is an important part of the equation. See also:
Amira Hass: Israel knows that peace just doesn’t pay
Who Profits?
Wikipedia – Iron Dome

Israeli report claims $2bn stolen from Palestinians

4 February 2010

Jonathan Cook: [Israel's] finance ministry has admitted that most of the money taken from the workers was passed to Israeli military authorities in the Palestinian territories to pay for “infrastructure programmes”. [The] co-author of the report said she believed that the ministry was actually referring to the construction of illegal settlements… In one especially cynical use of the funds, the report notes, the money was spent on portable stoves for soldiers involved in Israel’s three-week attack on Gaza last year.

Police would issue arrest warrant for Israeli PM if Mossad is behind Dubai killing

4 February 2010

“Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, will be the first to be wanted for justice as he would have been the one who signed the decision to assassinate [Mahmoud] al Mabhouh in Dubai. We will issue an arrest warrant against him.”

According to Yossi Melman, Israel’s Mossad assassinated Mabhouh. See: Mossad killing of terror chiefs has little impact on Israel-Hamas war.

Rights groups under fire for scrutiny of Israel’s conduct of Gaza war

4 February 2010

“These organizations are trying to help Hamas in [its] fight against Israel,” argues Im Tirtzu chairman Ronen Shoval. “They are slandering the State of Israel and the Israeli soldiers around the world.”

Israel warned against any conflict with Syria

3 February 2010

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem warned Israel on Wednesday about launching any war against his country, saying it would turn into a wider conflict. “Israelis, do not test the power of Syria since you know the war will move into your cities,” Muallem told journalists in the Syrian capital Damascus.

Avi Shlaim: Blair – Gaza’s great betrayer

3 February 2010

The wall of shame, as Egyptians call it, will complete the transformation of Gaza into an open-air prison. It is the cruellest example of the concerted ­Israeli-Egyptian-US policy to isolate and prevent Hamas from leading the Palestinian struggle for self-determi­nation. Hamas is habitually dismissed by its enemies as a purely terrorist ­organisation. Yet no one can deny that it won a fair and free election in the West Bank as well as Gaza in January 2006.

Howard Zinn: 1922-2010 – video

3 February 2010

Howard Zinn: 1922-2010
Amy Goodman interviews Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Alice Walker, and Anthony Arnove.

Additional Videos:
“Three Holy Wars” – May 2009
The Daily Show with Jon Stuart – 6 Jan 2005
Introducing A People’s History
On human nature and aggression – 2004
On civil disobedience – 2002

IDF legal official: Israel should probe Goldstone Gaza report

3 February 2010

Sharvit-Baruch… was concerned by the Goldstone report’s negative effect on Israel’s legitimacy in the global arena, and that Israel could potentially turn into “a kind of South Africa or Serbia” or a “criminal” or “racist” state in international opinion…. [S]he added, “We are now in a situation in which we need to give our friends – who don’t want to see lawsuits filed against us in their own courts – the tools to do away such claims, along with other charges against us,” she said. “If they need a commission of inquiry then that’s what we’ll give them,” she added.

IOA Editor: Israel is clearly very concerned about damage to its image in the aftermath of the Goldstone report. Yet, if there is any ‘regret’ here, it is strictly a tactical PR and legal issue: Let’s help our friends help us get out of the legal mess our own Gaza war-crimes put us in.

Salam Fayyad: Occupation must end

3 February 2010

In a rare speech to an Israeli audience, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Tuesday that Israel must show the Palestinians that it is beginning to roll back the occupation, and that the way to do that is primarily by stopping both settlement construction and IDF incursions into Palestinian areas.

IOA Editor: So, “it’s the Occupation, stupid,” eh? Some of us have been saying it for over four decades.

Also The Washington Post: Palestinian premier gives a key address…

Ursula Lindsey: Egypt’s Wall

2 February 2010

[M]any, across the political spectrum, are deeply uncomfortable with the shift in policy that has turned the Palestinians, from historical “brothers,” into something like enemies… [T]he columnist Fahmi Huwaydi remarks that Egypt’s “strategic vision has changed, and Egypt has come to reckon the Palestinians and not the Israelis a danger. And if this sad conclusion is correct, then I cannot avoid describing the steel wall…as a wall of shame.”

Arab politicians ‘facing increased persecution’ in Israel

2 February 2010

MP Zahalka: “Imagine the outcry if a Jewish representative in the US or Britain was expected to swear loyalty to his country as a Christian state.”

Ur Shlonsky: an exchange on the academic boycott of Israel

2 February 2010

An illuminating e-mail exchange between Ur Shlonsky, professor of linguistics at the Universite de Geneve, and the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation. As Shlonsky points out, it is remarkable when accusations of anti-Semitism, or “self-hating Jew” (the version used for Jews), come from the executive director of a major research-funding agency.

BADIL: Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons 2008-2009

2 February 2010

BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and
Refugee Rights is proud to announce the release of its biennial Survey
of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons 2008-2009.

UN find challenges Israeli version of attack on civilian building in Gaza war

1 February 2010

UN team find remains of aircraft-dropped bombs, contradicting Israeli report on military conduct during three-week conflict.

IOA Editor: UN evidence vs. Israeli propaganda. Who’s going to win?

Breaking the Silence: Women Soldiers’ Testimonies

1 February 2010

Breaking the Silence: Women Soldiers’ Testimonies (2009)

IDF denies disciplining top officers over white phosphorous use in Gaza war

1 February 2010

The Israel Defense Forces on Monday denied that two of its senior officers had been summoned for disciplinary action after headquarters staff found that the men exceeded their authority in approving the use of phosphorus shells during last year’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli government wrote in a recent report.

IOA Editor: Looking past Israel’s propaganda smoke screen, it is apparent that at the IDF no evil deed goes punished.

Attorney Sfard: Israeli Police Investigation of Shooting of Tristan Anderson “Gravely Negligent”

1 February 2010

Michael Sfard: “I am embarrassed to say that the investigation team did not even go to Ni’ilin, the scene of the shooting… If a Jewish man had been shot and wounded, there is no doubt that the entire village would be under curfew and Israel would do everything possible to investigate.”

Alice Walker: Saying goodbye to my friend Howard Zinn

31 January 2010

Howard Zinn was magical as a teacher. Witty, irreverent, and wise, he loved what he was teaching and clearly wanted his students to love it also. We did.

IOA Editor: As did this former Zinn student, and probably everyone else. A friend who knew Howard well and worked closely with him said: “Howard had that je ne sais quoi that is rare beyond expression. Allowed him to say the most amazingly radical thing and seem like common sense. And make you laugh while doing it.” Exactly.

Ameer Makhoul: “Our community is at risk”

31 January 2010

Israel is pushing the Palestinian community to a big confrontation, in order to harm the whole community. We must look at the whole of the Palestinian community since 1948. We need to include the 1.4 million Palestinian people living in Israel in our efforts for just solution.

Carleton U (Canada) students launches pension divestment campaign

31 January 2010

Carleton University (Canada) students’ new BDS campaign video which re-tells the story of the censorship of a poster by the University and the reasons behind the new divestment campaign.

Gideon Levy: Israeli left needs to wake up before it’s too late

31 January 2010

We can continue to remain silent and know that silence means collaboration. But when the left wakes up it will be too late. In fact, it is already too late. Meretz is dead, Labor is dying, Kadima is nonexistent, Peace Now is still deliberating over whether to petition against the pardon, and the right is freely celebrating and going wild.

Dershowitz: Goldstone is a traitor to the Jewish people

31 January 2010

“The Goldstone report is a defamation written by an evil, evil man,” Dershowitz said.

IOA Editor: The use of the term “traitor” is important: a Traitor loses a good deal of protection provided by civil society, and may become a target of assassination. Such a declaration is as close to a Fatwa as Jewish society gets – including secular, “Western” Jewish circles.

Robert Fisk: In the West Bank’s stony hills, Palestine is slowly dying

31 January 2010

But look at the statistics and leaf through the pile of demolition orders… and it all looks like ethnic cleansing via bureaucracy. Perverse might be the word for the paperwork involved. Obscene appear to be the results.

Bob Herbert: A Radical Treasure

30 January 2010

Mr. Zinn was chagrined by the present state of affairs, but undaunted. “If there is going to be change, real change,” he said, “it will have to work its way from the bottom up, from the people themselves. That’s how change happens.”

Walid Khalidi: Keynote UN Address on Jerusalem – 30 Nov 2009

29 January 2010

Walid Khalidi, Palestinian historian, co-founder and General Secretary of the Institute for Palestine Studies, delivering the keynote speech at a UN event commemorating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. While Khalidi ends by outlining what he sees as the “pillars” of an honorable and peaceful solution for Jerusalem today, he devotes most of his speech to a historical overview of the city, with particular emphasis on the millennium-plus period of Muslim rule, the 1947 UN resolution, and the transformation of the city since its conquest in 1967.

JNF: 240 million trees planted since 1901

29 January 2010

In addition to its plating activities, JNF also holds studies on forestation and ecology and hosts delegations from around the world interested in learning plating methods in dry conditions and forest protection.

IOA Editor: The JNF’s greatest contribution to the success of Zionism and the State of Israel has been the facilitation of the replacement of Palestine’s Arab population by a Jewish population, a process that is generally termed Ethnic Cleansing. Starting well before the establishment of Israel, it peaked after 1948 and continued on.

MORE: JNF: Colonizing Palestine since 1901

Female soldiers break their silence

29 January 2010

“A female combat soldier needs to prove more…a female soldier who beats up others is a serious fighter…when I arrived there was another female there with me, she was there before me…everyone spoke of how impressive she is because she humiliates Arabs without any problem. That was the indicator. You have to see her, the way she humiliates, the way she slaps them, wow, she really slapped that guy.”

Howard Zinn: Finishing School for Pickets (1960)

29 January 2010

Spelman College girls are still “nice” but not enough to keep them from walking up and down, carrying picket signs, in front of two supermarkets in the heart of Atlanta. They are well-mannered, but this is somewhat tempered by a recent declaration that they will use every method short of violence to end segregation.

IOA Editor: In these days of Apartheid Walls and resistance to military occupation, it is both interesting and inspiring to read Howard Zinn’s account of protesting segregation in the South.

Israeli Press Reports – updated: 28 Jan 2010

28 January 2010

A selection of news stories from the Israeli Media (Hebrew)

  1. Not Machover – Globes, 28 Jan 2010

Noam Chomsky: Foreword to “Howard Zinn: A Radical American”

28 January 2010

It has been a wonderful privilege to have been able to join Howard on his “moving train” on many occasions over these years of challenge, inspiration, torment, and persistent concern over impending catastrophe. Like everyone who knows him, I too have been struck by his enduring optimism… Howard’s life and work are a persistent reminder that our own subjective judgments of the likelihood of success in engaging human problems are of little interest, to ourselves or others. What matters is to take part, as best we can, in the small actions of unknown people that can stave off disaster and bring about a better world, to honor them for their achievements, to do what we can to ensure that these achievements are understood and carried forward. In brief, to follow the model provided for us by the subject of this welcome biography.

JNF: Colonizing Palestine since 1901

28 January 2010

JNF eBook, Vol. I: JNF – Colonizing Palestine since 1901
Edited by Mortaza Sahibzada

Introducing the Jewish National Fund

Gideon Levy: Holocaust remembrance is a boon for Israeli propaganda

28 January 2010

We have a prime minister who speaks about evil but is building a fence to prevent war refugees from knocking at Israel’s door. A prime minister who speaks about evil but shares the crime of the Gaza blockade, now in its fourth year, leaving 1.5 million people in disgraceful conditions. A prime minister in whose country settlers perpetrate pogroms against innocent Palestinians under the slogan “price tag,” which also has horrific historical connotations, but against whom the state does virtually nothing.

Howard Zinn, historian who challenged status quo, dies at 87

27 January 2010

“He’s made an amazing contribution to American intellectual and moral culture,” Noam Chomsky, the left-wing activist and MIT professor, said tonight. “He’s changed the conscience of America in a highly constructive way. I really can’t think of anyone I can compare him to in this respect.”

IOA Editor: Howard Zinn, our friend, teacher, a life-long activist so many of us followed with great interest and admiration, and an IOA Advisory Board member, passed away today. Words cannot express how much he will be missed.

MORE:
Howard Zinn – IOA Video Selection
HowardZinn.org
Democracy Now! – a tribute