Israeli Occupation Archive – Israel’s war against Palestine

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Netanyahu making final push to foil Swedish plan to divide Jerusalem

6 December 2009

Sweden’s initiative calls for the division of Jerusalem and the recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. The 27 European foreign ministers are to discuss a draft of the proposal, which is expected to be published on Tuesday. The draft proposal also reportedly hints that the European Union would recognize a unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence.

Gideon Levy: Settlers, leaders act out scripted roles in ‘The Freeze’

6 December 2009

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the settlers do not mean what they say. They freeze and they wink, for the show must go on. The settlers, as is their wont, scream to the high heavens in order to sow fear and warn of what awaits us in the future.

Help save the Palestinian village of Lifta from total destruction

5 December 2009

Lifta, a most picturesque Palestinian village, lies on the slopes of West Jerusalem below the highway linking it to Tel-Aviv. It has been abandoned since the invading Hagana underground forces backed by the Stern Gang drove the last of its Palestinian inhabitants in 1948 during the ethnic cleansing of Palestine… Now the Jerusalem Municipality has produced plans to turn Lifta into a luxurious and exclusive Jewish development – reinventing its history in the process.

IOA Editor: The Nakba continues: the few recognizable bits of pre-1948 Palestine will be joining their post-1967 counterparts: master-planned for extinction.

Israel closes sole oil and gas terminal on Gaza border

4 December 2009

The population of the Gaza Strip is facing an acute cooking gas shortage this winter, after a unilateral Israeli decision in October to permanently close the sole oil and gas terminal between the coastal Palestinian territory and the Jewish state.

Video: “Elie Wiesel, Come with us to Gaza!”

4 December 2009

A Holocaust survivor, a retired military officer wife and I issued an invitation to Elie Wiesel to come to Gaza with us. This invitation was extended as he spoke before a standing-room crowd of around 2800 people on Tuesday evening, December 1, at St. Louis University… He responded with an immediate and dismissive “I heard you.” He then turned and looked in the other direction.

Zeev Sternhell: An end to vagueness

4 December 2009

Israeli society will have to decide what it prefers: a future of peace, relative security and economic prosperity in exchange for territories, or holding on to the territories while endangering the future of the Jewish state…

IOA Editor: These concerns are shared by moderate Israelis who view the prospects of a “binational state” as “gloomy.”

Orly Noy: New construction in East Jerusalem – What it really means

4 December 2009

If realized, these plans would connect Israeli Jerusalem to the Gush Etzion settlements. At the same time, the swath of Israeli neighborhoods on the South East would join the neighborhoods that close on Jerusalem from the North and North East, thus cutting a major territorial bridge between the future Palestinian state and East Jerusalem.

Boycott of Ahava Dead Sea products makes an impact

3 December 2009

The international campaign to boycott Ahava beauty products has recently won the support of a Dutch parliamentarian and an Israeli peace group. During the past few months, activists in Canada, the UK, Ireland, Israel, the United States and the Netherlands have campaigned against the sale of Ahava products because of the company’s complicity in the Israeli occupation.

Revealed: The secret war over IDF officers’ exorbitant salaries

3 December 2009

The Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, has a monthly salary of NIS 68,060; a major general makes NIS 48,265 a month; and a brigadier general makes NIS 39,340 a month. The average monthly salary in Israel is close to NIS 8,000. While questions are occasionally raised as to the disparity between these sums, it appears that there are other potentially highly inflammatory data about military wages that the army is hiding.

IOA Editor: This seemingly domestic Israeli subject is important. It covers the economic interests in the continuation of the Occupation and war. As detailed by Amira Hass in Israel knows that peace just doesn’t pay, by the late Tanya Reinhart, and others, the influence of the IDF and the Israeli ‘defense industry’ on the shaping of Israel’s policies and behavior is enormous. This is just the latest bit of evidence.

UN Palestinian refugee agency faces deficit

3 December 2009

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Wednesday it was facing an “unprecedented” budget deficit that could force it to cut back on services to more than 4.7 million people.

Barak softens terms of building freeze in bid to appease settlers

3 December 2009

[On] Wednesday… the coordinator of government activities in the territories, published a list of 84 apartment buildings and public structures on which construction would be allowed to continue despite the freeze. The residential buildings include 492 apartments.

IOA Editor: The “freeze” that never froze. A meaningless Netanyahu-Barak charade.

‘Barghouti refuses to be deported’

3 December 2009

“Marwan is going nowhere; he wants to return to his home and family in Palestine,” said his wife, Fadwa Barghouti.

Haaretz’s Amira Hass awarded journalism prize by media watchdog

2 December 2009

The Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday awarded veteran Haaretz correspondent Amira Hass a “Press Freedom” prize, for “independent and outspoken reporting.”

JNF donation to Rawabi sparks uproar

2 December 2009

“We are deeply critical and indeed shocked by the decision of the JNF to donate thousands of trees, grown with money donated by Jews from around the world, to the PA,” [said] ZOA national president… “Has it really come to this? That a venerable Zionist organization with only one purpose – the building-up of a sovereign Jewish national existence – takes money from Jews and then uses [the] funds to make a gift of trees to Israel’s unreconstructed enemies?”

IOA Editor: Founded in 1901, the Jewish National Fund (JNF), that “venerable Zionist organization,” is a quasi Israeli government agency in charge of land development for Jewish-only use, funded by Zionist donors world-wide. From its inception, it has been at the forefront of a campaign of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from approximately 500 towns and villages, and their replacement by legally-binding, exclusively-Jewish land ownership and use. It is indeed peculiar that the JNF got involved in tree planting on the West Bank while Israeli settlers, at the current forefront of the Zionist colonization program, are busy destroying Palestinian olive groves nearby. However, no number of freshly planted trees can redeem a century of crimes perpetrated by the JNF against the Palestinian people.

Palestinian BDS National Committee supports the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions endorsement of BDS

2 December 2009

The Palestinian labor movement has never been as united as it is today in supporting the boycott against Israel and calling on all international trade unions and trade union federations to endorse BDS as the most effective form of solidarity with the people of Palestine in general and our working class in particular. Furthermore, we repeat our appeal to all international trade unions to sever their links with the Histadrut, a racist organization that has always played a key role in perpetuating Israel’s occupation, colonization and system of racial discrimination, and that has justified and applauded Israel’s war crimes in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009.

EU envoys: Israel trying to sever East Jerusalem from West Bank

2 December 2009

A classified report drafted by European consuls in East Jerusalem and Ramallah slams Israeli policy in East Jerusalem and recommends that the European Union take steps to strengthen the Palestinian Authority’s status in the city. It also advises taking various measures to protest Israeli policy in the city, as well as sanctions against people and groups involved in “settlement activity” in and around it.

IOA Editor: None of this is new, and much of it has been reported on the pages of the IOA before (search “Jerusalem” to find previous coverage). The EU has been issuing these reports annually, but keeping them secret. This year, perhaps in light of Israel’s campaign of death and destruction in Gaza, certain elements within the EU might be willing to challenge Israel on its carefully planned and calculated colonial program in the Occupied Territories. A welcome change, if it were to happen.

Israel stripped thousands of Jerusalem Arabs of residency in 2008

2 December 2009

[A]n all-time record for the number of Arab residents of East Jerusalem who were stripped of residency rights by the [Israeli] Interior Ministry. Altogether, the ministry revoked the residency of 4,577 East Jerusalemites in 2008 – 21 times the average of the previous 40 years… The [effort] was the brainchild of former interior minister Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) and [the head of] the ministry’s Population Administration.

IOA Editor: Depopulating the Palestinians, or ethnic cleansing, is not new for Israel. In addition to the forcible removal of Palestinians during the Nakba, the Israeli government has used a variety of tricks to “redeem” the Land of Israel from its native Arab population. The removal of East Jerusalem Palestinian residents is somewhat similar to a government practice of the early 1950s, targeting the so-called “absent present” residents: those who temporarily left their homes or land during the war, but remained within what later become Israel. They were prevented from reclaiming their property and Israel was thus able to confiscate it for the exclusive use of its Jewish citizens.

Pollard enraged by deal to free Schalit

2 December 2009

The jailed Israeli spy, Jonathan Pollard, came out fiercely on Tuesday against the proposed deal with Hamas in which Israel would release 980 Palestinian prisoners in return for kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit.

IOA Editor: Pollard is an extreme right-wing Israeli, as are his friends. He is an interesting case for one reason only: Since his jailing, some 25 years ago, every US president has been asked – by every Israeli leader and by many prominent US Jews – to let him go to Israel before completing his jail term. Despite the on-going pressure, every US president refused to do so. Apparently, AIPAC and the Jews are not “dictating” US foreign policy or, surely, they would have by now brought about Pollard’s release.

Adam Shapiro: Selling Out in Congress

1 December 2009

Congressman Perriello, I am afraid, has become like so many of his colleagues, a mere tool of a hard-right AIPAC agenda that has no business dictating American policy. He has become part of an American dog wagged by an Israeli and AIPAC tail.

IOA Editor: AIPAC is a strong and highly influential organization. But there is no evidence, in this article or elsewhere, that it is “dictating” American policy or that it is the tail that wags the dog – it is bad enough that AIPAC buys influence, and that it does so better than most.

History shows that when a US president wants to apply pressure on Israel, he can do so without much resistance from Congress: whether it is blocking persistent Israeli attempts to release its jailed spy, Jonathan Pollard, or punishing Israel for selling to China advanced military technologies against the wishes of the US. This has been done and could be done again, if only there were a president who wanted to do more than just talk about peace and justice. It is easy to focus on AIPAC, and much more difficult to deal with a president who talks about peace and justice while pursuing war and destruction throughout the Middle East – in many ways, reminding us of his predecessor, except for his far greater propaganda skills.

VIDEO: Nakba – updated 1 Dec 2009

1 December 2009

A selection of video clips covering the Nakba, destroyed villages and related subjects.

EU foreign ministers likely to call for division of Jerusalem

1 December 2009

The draft refers directly to the situation in East Jerusalem, calling on “all parties to refrain from provocative actions” and stating the EU Council “has never recognized the annexation of East Jerusalem. If there is to be a genuine peace, a way must be found to resolve the status of Jerusalem as capital of two states… On the issue of borders, the document states that the EU will not accept any changes made by Israel to the 1967 borders unless they have PA approval.

IOA Editor: Palestinian Authority forces should immediately pull their troops and armored vehicles out of West Jerusalem so as not to unnecessarily provoke its Jewish residents; they should also cease house demolitions which further victimize Jewish folk, inflicting homelessness and disease, especially now that the cold Jerusalem winter is only days away…

Despite the asymmetry between occupier and occupied, which is not properly reflected in this news story, the draft document, as reported, could form a good basis for future decisions by the EU – decisions that are long overdue.

UN’s Middle East envoy urges halt to demolitions, evictions in East Jerusalem

1 December 2009

The top United Nations envoy to the Middle East today reiterated Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call for an immediate end to demolitions, evictions and the instalment of Israeli settlers in Palestinian neighbourhoods.

How does the US help fund pro-settler IDF troops?

1 December 2009

[T]he organization that offered every soldier refusing to evacuate a settlement… NIS 1,000 for every day they spend in military prison, is a registered non-profit organization and has a license to operate. Like many of the extreme right-wing organizations receiving money from U.S. supporters, the funding for the group enjoys tax-free status. Peace groups and Palestinians have complained to U.S. authorities, but there has been no change in the status of the organizations supporting the right wing.

New IDF unit to fight enemies on Facebook, Twitter

1 December 2009

Responding to criticism of Israel’s ability to face hostile entities on the Web… the new program would be able to deal with the problem.

IOA Editor: They’ve identified the enemy, and it is us. Now they’ll go an eye for an eye, Israeli style: TheirTube against OurTube, their Tweet against our Tweet, etc. In the process, civilian and military propaganda commissars merge their activities, blurring further the few remaining lines separating brute-force from policy-making, in the “Only Democracy in the Middle East.”

The IOA Twitter page: IsOccupation

Israel’s Arab Women Workers Need Not Apply

30 November 2009

Jonathan Cook: A recent report from Israel’s National Insurance Institute showed that half of all Arab families in Israel are classified as poor compared with just 14 per cent of Jewish families.

Haaretz: Release Barghouti

29 November 2009

Barghouti is considered a Palestinian leader. Before he moved on to subversive activities and running a terrorist cell, he was a peace activist and sought to hold meetings between Israelis and Palestinians. He considered the Oslo Accords the basis for dialogue. From his cell he developed, along with Hamas leaders, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Document and has not abandoned diplomatic discourse. Anyone who thinks that keeping him behind bars will contain his political power and standing is welcome to learn from South Africa, which imprisoned Nelson Mandela for decades only to see him become president.

IOA Editor: This Haaretz editorial reflects the domestic discussion in Israel on the impending Shalit-prisoners exchange deal.

Zvi Barel: None of the excuses to reject Shalit deal holds up

29 November 2009

Hamas proved its prestige in 2006, when it won a large majority in the Palestinian general election. Back then, it did not need an Israeli captive or a prisoner release. It seized authority in Gaza because no party – not Israel nor Fatah, nor the countries of the Quartet – agreed to recognize its esteemed position. Hamas continued to grow stronger as it became clear that without it, there was no point in holding diplomatic discussions on any part of Palestine.

IOA Editor: Barel’s commentary reflects the domestic discussion in Israel on the impending Shalit-prisoners exchange deal.

Uri Avnery: And A Little Child Shall Lead Them

29 November 2009

Netanyahu is not even deceiving Obama. The American president knows full well that this is all play acting. He is very intelligent. He is not very courageous… This is a great victory for Netanyahu, his second over Obama. Not yet the decisive victory, but a victory that bodes ill for the chances of peace in the near future.

IOA Editor: Avnery is able to see through Thomas Friedman’s ‘advice,’ but he’s not considering the possibility that Obama is actually going exactly as far as he wants to, and entirely by choice: a verbal pursuit of Peace in the Middle East, not the sort that requires any action.

New York Times: Diplomacy 101

29 November 2009

Peacemaking takes strategic skill. But we see no sign that President Obama and Mr. Mitchell were thinking more than one move down the board. The president went public with his demand for a full freeze on settlements before securing Israel’s commitment. And he and his aides apparently had no plan for what they would do if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said no.

IOA Editor: Even Mr. Obama’s natural allies, the US “liberal media elite” are not impressed by his ME peace initiative. What should the rest of us think? “Hope?” “Change?” Blah, blah. Incidentally, the New York Times has no criticism of Israel. None.

Palestinian to testify against regiment commander

27 November 2009

“… [W]e know the incident I was involved in was not an unusual one, but one that happens a lot… The only difference is that in my case it was documented and that’s how the entire world saw and heard about it… The Israeli courts have proved and taught us that they are part of the occupation system. It’s like the judge, the defendant and the prosecutor are the same thing, as they are part of one system. How can the same system judge itself?”

Tom Segev: The Makings of History / With the wave of a hand

27 November 2009

Rabin on the killing of 250-400 Lydda residents under his command in 1948: “There was no way to avoid the use of weapons and warning shots in order to force the residents to march 10 to 20 kilometers… The residents of Ramle observed what was happening and learned the lesson. Their leaders agreed to evacuate voluntarily.”

IOA Editor: Not so, for both towns, according to Segev’s coverage. Despite the differing views among Israeli researchers, and the still restricted sources, it is clear that Palestinians did not leave their homes ‘voluntarily.’ Undoubtedly, another reason to award Rabin the N-Prize.

Notes from Area C / Between forced and ‘voluntary’ expulsion

27 November 2009

[T]he head of the Civil Administration, Yoav Mordechai, came and proposed to the residents that they move eastward… they were also explicitly told they would not be given building permits… In his letter to Mordechai, [human-rights attorney Michael] Sfard says the proposal to uproot the village is an expression of “the Civil Administration’s ‘transfer’ policy, whose aim is to ‘cleanse’ the seam area of its Palestinian inhabitants … Even if you believe that there is a big difference between forced transfer and so-called ‘voluntary transfer,’ the difference is really minimal.”

B’Tselem’s 20th anniversary: Israel’s ‘mark of Cain’

26 November 2009

A majority of Israelis seem to get by just fine with the occupation, while B’Tselem is met with suspicion and accused of treason. Despite this, over the years in which targeted assassinations, smart bombs, closures, checkpoints, detentions without due process, lack of running water, poverty and a separation fence five minutes from Kfar Sava have all become routine, B’Tselem has continued to undermine the passion for denial, and to defend the rights of Palestinians and thus also the image of Israeli society.

B’Tselem’s 20th anniversary: They won’t allow us not to know

26 November 2009

If not for B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, the State of Israel would look different today. The occupation might have been even crueler, or just as cruel, but we certainly would look different. In its 20 years of existence, this important human-rights organization may not have succeeded in changing reality, but at least it has made it possible for us to know what that reality was.

Report: Israel will release Barghouti in Shalit deal

26 November 2009

Israel will release Fatah strongman Marwan Barghouti as part of a deal to secure the release of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, [reports] Al-Sharq al-Awsat… If Barghouti is released in the prisoner exchange, it could have far-reaching strategic implications on internal Palestinian balance of power, and attempts to strike a peace deal with Israel.

UPDATE More recent reports now suggest that Israel is refusing to release Marwan Barghouti. See Haaretz story

Antony Loewenstein: Changing people’s perceptions about Jews

26 November 2009

“In a Muslim-majority country like Indonesia, it might come as a surprise to learn that Jews are critical of Israel,” Loewenstein tells The Jakarta Post… “I’m trying to challenge people’s perceptions that I’m Jewish, and I’m proud to be Jewish, but I’m pro-Palestine,” he says. “Israel is still occupying Palestine, and it’s my moral responsibility to fight against it in my own ways.”