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

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Zvi Barel: As occupier, Israel must face up to Goldstone report

25 October 2009

Goldstone uses the term “continuum,” assessing [the Gaza attack] as part of a chain of events, which also includes the complete closure of the Gaza Strip for three years, the policy of razing homes, the arrests, the interrogations and torture, not only in the Gaza Strip but also in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In short, Operation Cast Lead is not an “incident.” It is a link in a chain as old as the occupation itself… Goldstone puts the symptom under the microscope and derives the illness. The result is a textbook whose title should have been “A manual for the occupier in the fifth decade.”

IOA Editor: Ground breaking commentary.

In praise of… Amira Hass

24 October 2009

Only Amira Hass could have received the International Women’s Media Foundation lifetime achievement award by saying her life as a journalist had been a failure. By her standards maybe, but then she sets them high… But make no mistake, the Haaretz columnist fully deserves this award.

Poll: Israel’s Labour party in free-fall

23 October 2009

Labour, the dominant party for the first three decades of Israel’s existence, would only get seven MPs in the 120-strong parliament if elections were held today, according to a public opinion poll published on Friday.

Henry Siegman: Hamas is not the real problem

23 October 2009

Israeli governments have avoided dealing with Hamas not because they fear that engaging the organization might not produce a peace agreement, but because they know they could not manipulate Hamas the way they have been able to manipulate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas – namely, by using content-less peace talks as a fig leaf for the continued expansion of the settlement enterprise.

Israel confirms settlers ramping up West Bank construction

23 October 2009

Israeli senior defense official: “The settlers are very much in tune with the ticking political clock… You can sense it on the ground, with the infrastructure work that is being done, but also in more minor things. They are acting without any legal authorization and are ignoring the state… whoever can, goes ahead and builds… It begins with the official leadership of the Yesha Council [of settlements] and ends with the hilltop youth.”

Martin Indyk: ‘Turkey ties could head for breakup’

23 October 2009

Indyk: The “all-purpose solution to every problem that has to do with Israel – make peace, and everything will be all right.”

VIDEO: San Francisco protestors call Olmert ‘war criminal’

23 October 2009

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators disrupt former prime minister’s speech, week after similar incident in Chicago. Woman identified as a Jews shouts at him, ‘No more genocide in my name.’ WATCH VIDEO.

Simon Tisdall: Israel is in denial over Turkish rage

22 October 2009

Turkey was shocked by Goldstone’s report on the Gaza conflict, but Israel is seeking other explanations for deteriorating ties.

Amira Hass wins women media award

22 October 2009

The International Women’s Media Foundation honoured Israeli journalist Amira Hass with 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award. Amira Hass is a regular columnist with Israel’s Ha’aretz newspaper and the only Israeli journalist to have spent several years living in and reporting from Gaza and the West Bank.

Israel has lost Turkey as a strategic ally

22 October 2009

A leading Israeli defense analyst said the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has decided to end defense and military cooperation with Israel. Analyst Ron Ben-Yishai said the Turkish Defense Ministry has shelved a range of proposed Israeli projects.

Goldstone dares US on Gaza report

22 October 2009

Richard Goldstone: “I have yet to hear from the Obama administration what the flaws in the report that they have identified are. I would be happy to respond to them, if and when I know what they are.”

ADC Releases Information Detailing Campaign Against Illegal Settlements

22 October 2009

ADC has filed multiple administrative complaints with the US Department of the Treasury, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), requesting investigations into the activities of organizations claiming tax-exempt status under section 501(c)3 of the US Tax Code yet allegedly raising funds for the development of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Gideon Levy: A nation alone

22 October 2009

Any legitimate criticism is immediately labeled here as anti-Semitism, including Richard Goldstone, the Jewish Zionist. We are pushing everyone into a corner roughly and hope they will change their opinions and suddenly be filled with a deep understanding for the killing of children in Gaza.

Israeli and Iranian representatives hold first talks on nuke-free Mideast

22 October 2009

A representative of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission and a senior Iranian official met last month to discuss the chances of declaring the Middle East a nuclear-free zone, Haaretz has learned. This is the first direct meeting between official representatives of the two states since the fall of the Shah in 1979.

IOA Editor: As the leading Israeli strategic analyst Zeev Maoz shows convincingly in Defending the Holy Land, having nuclear weapons only harms Israel – without them, Israel would have found it much preferable to accept a peaceful diplomatic settlement.

Nicolas Pelham: Gaza Diary

22 October 2009

While a new entrepreneurial class dines in restaurants, four out of five Gazans… live in poverty; 20,000 war victims are still displaced. Gazans in rural areas continue to scavenge for basics, and mercantile families have begun to collect UN food rations. Short of gas, old men bent double haul bundles of wood. It’s not just the loss of their savings: Gazans complain that their leaders sheltered underground during the war, leaving their people exposed to the shelling.

Ezra Nawi gets month in jail for assault

21 October 2009

Ezra Nawi: “The court has been permitting the occupation for years, they are trying to stop me at all costs. The judge doesn’t scare me, and neither does the 30-day sentence. This is testimonium paupertatis to the court, I tried to stop criminal activity, and I ended up having to pay two officers who acted brutally. This is the Israeli reality.”

Daniel Luban: The War On J Street

21 October 2009

The hawks seem to think that if only J Street is crushed, American Jews will obediently fall back into line behind Israel’s every action. But I think they misread the mood of the Jewish community, the changes it has undergone in recent years, and the extent to which J Street is designed to play a moderating, rather than a radicalizing, role on Jewish public opinion.

IOA Editor: Indeed, a moderating role – AIPAC-lite. Moderately against the Occupation? Perhaps an Obama-like Occupation policy? Only time will tell. In the meantime, already behaving much like AIPAC, J Street Booted a Poet from its conference program. This after having pleaded with right-wing Israeli ambassador Oren to speak there (“what J Street shares in common with you far outweighs that on which we disagree”)… Alas, they were snubbed by Mr. Ambassador – maybe for being Occupation-lite?

Israel ranks low for freedom of press, after Gaza war media ban

20 October 2009

“Israel has begun to use the same methods internally as it does outside its own territory,” said Reporters Without Borders, adding that journalists had been arrested and imprisoned and that military censorship also posed a threat.

Yitzhak Laor: Public opinion, where art thou?

20 October 2009

Israeli democracy is being administered by four elites: the political elite (which includes influential journalists), the financial elite (which excels in extraordinary cowardice when it comes to opposing the powers that be), the military elite (whose power is greater than anyone would like to admit), and the academic elite (whose role is to legitimize the other three elites).

Not much of an olive branch

20 October 2009

West-Bank village of Al-Mughayir – Some 200 Palestinian-owned olive trees cut down by settlers (The Economist, 15 Oct 2009). Palestinian Agricultural Ministry: “nearly 500,000 olive trees have been bulldozed, burnt down or uprooted in the territories since the second intifada.”

Olive harvest season begins with sabotage

20 October 2009

West-Bank village of Al-Mughayir – Some 47 Palestinian-owned olive trees cut down by settlers (YNet News, 20 Oct 2009). “… complaints are of no use… Only several weeks ago that same farmer filed a complaint with the police and nothing helped. We filed at least 20 complaints over the last two years to no avail.” Rabbis for Human Rights organization said that IDF and the police, which have promised to deal with the offenders were not doing anything to stop the sabotage.

Poet booted from J Street meet for comparing Guantanamo to Auschwitz

20 October 2009

J Street’s poetic injustice: “I told [J Street] I don’t think it’s the legitimacy they want, because it’s not the legitimacy that makes change. When you’re trying to make change, you must expect that some people will push back. But they kick out their allies – and I still consider myself an ally. I’m not personally offended – I’m politically disappointed… The Jewish community acts like children, with smear campaigns and name-calling.”

IOA Editor: J Street – more change you cannot believe in.

Israel refuses to let French FM visit Gaza

20 October 2009

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not grant French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner permission to visit the Gaza Strip, an Israeli official said on Tuesday. Kouchner had requested to travel to the coastal territory during his upcoming visit to Israel and the West Bank.

Suicide rates in Palestine highest ever

20 October 2009

[Professor] Abu Hein sees the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip as the main reason behind the rising rate of suicide attempts. “Every aspect of their lives is affected by the blockade. They became enclosed upon themselves and unable to communicate with the outside world. They cannot travel, marry, get an education, or buy basic goods from outside the strip.”

Israel envoy Michael Oren rejects J Street invite

20 October 2009

“In response to the question about J Street’s invitation to participate in its conference, the Embassy of Israel has been privately communicating its concerns over certain policies of the organization that may impair the interests of Israel,” the embassy said in a statement.

IOA Editor: No matter how “pro-Israel” you declares yourself to be – question the Occupation, however slightly, and you’re out.

Top IDF officer warns: Settlers’ radical fringe growing

20 October 2009

“The West Bank today is a hothouse for weeds,” the officer said. However, he stressed, most of the Jewish settlers are “normative” individuals.

IOA Editor: As “normative” as an Occupier is.

For an excellent analysis of the settlers role and impact, see Nicolas Pelham’s Israel’s Religious Right and the Peace Process.

‘If Israel strikes Iran, US will likely join’

20 October 2009

The United States would find it difficult not to join an Israeli air strike in the event that Jerusalem decides to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, a former top-ranking U.S. Air Force officer told participants at a conference this weekend organized by a Washington think tank.

IOA Editor: So the tail will be wagging the dog? Or might it be the dog’s own doing, after all?

Israel pulls textbook over reference to ‘ethnic cleansing’

20 October 2009

Israel’s Education Ministry has recalled all copies of a history textbook because of a passage alleging “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians during the 1948 war, a newspaper reported on Monday. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said the secondary school textbook was removed from shelves because it sought to present both Israeli and Arab perspectives on the departure of some 750,000 Palestinians during the fighting that erupted after the creation of the Jewish state.

IOA Editor: “Deny, deny, deny…” see No Atonement

Poll: Two-thirds of Israelis support two states

19 October 2009

Sixty-four percent of Israelis support the creation of a Palestinian state, a new poll carried out by researchers at Tel Aviv university shows. The poll… shows that 33% of Israelis oppose the “two-state solution.” The survey also showed that 60% of the Israelis believe that continued settlement expansion reducing the chances of a two-state solution or would lead to a bi-national state while 33% have the opposite view.

Nadia Hijab: The Siege on Gaza Continues

19 October 2009

The siege against Gaza, which began years ago, tightened to an almost total lockdown in June 2007 and continues to this day. And though the United States, Egypt, the EU and the UN move slowly – if at all – international groups and activists are working to end it.

Israel’s Napoleon: Ehud Barak’s lavish lifestyle under scrutiny in Israeli media

19 October 2009

As Defense Minister Ehud Barak continues to be the subject of a torrent of criticism over his extravagant spending on five-star hotels with the use of taxpayer money, Israelis are becoming increasingly aware of the decorated former general’s lavish lifestyle.

IOA Editor: This story is presented here to show how not only criminal, from an international-law standpoint, but also profoundly corrupt Barak is. This report focuses on Barak’s personal lifestyle and twisted personality, leaving out a range of suspicions concerning his business practice, including income of several million dollars for services which, so far, remain unidentified.

Gideon Levy: The Grove That Was

19 October 2009

Abu Awad lost 70 olive and 10 almond trees in the pogrom. A neighbor, Sudki Abu Aleiah, lost 120 olive trees. The Shehadah family lost 120 olive and 20 fig trees. Altogether, 340 fruit trees were cut down in one night of savagery… On one of the stumps, a single branch has survived, torn and twisted sideways. Abu Awad cuts it off and hands it to us as a memento. An olive branch from a tree that has been cut down. There are tears in his eyes.

Richard Goldstone: My mission – and motivation

18 October 2009

Richard Goldstone responds to Israel: “In Gaza, I was surprised and shocked by the destruction and misery there. I had not expected it. I did not anticipate that the IDF would have targeted civilians and civilian objects. I did not anticipate seeing the vast destruction of the economic infrastructure of Gaza including its agricultural lands, industrial factories, water supply and sanitation works. These are not military targets.”

Aluf Benn: US using Goldstone report to punish Netanyahu

17 October 2009

[T]he [Gaza] victory was a Pyrrhic one. Israel did not realize that the rules have changed with Barack Obama’s election as U.S. president… the Gaza campaign continues being fought – in the diplomatic arena and in public opinion – and Israel must cope with its consequences in a less-friendly Obama era.

IOA Editor: This is a useful, Israel-centric analysis in that it reflects Israel’s concerns for its ability to maintain an upper hand in view of global opposition to the Occupation. Benn’s implied assertion that there is a profound change toward Israel under the Obama administration is, at best, premature; more likely, it is simply unfounded. So far, there is no evidence of US pressure on Israel to ‘change its ways’, and this ‘would-be’ pressure can only be added to the long list of theoretical, invisible Obama changes of past US ME policies – widely assumed, incorrectly.

Also, unlike Benn, some pointed to Israel’s failed Gaza attack soon after it took place. To cite the obvious, see Gideon Levy’s Everyone Agrees War in Gaza Was a Failure – aside from its profound immorality, which Levy has been pointing to repeatedly from day one.

Over 750 International Voices Demand Prosecution of Israeli War Criminals

16 October 2009

Over 750 individuals and organizations from around the world signed on to the US Palestine Community Network’s letter to Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, demanding the full implementation of the Goldstone report into Gaza war crimes. Sign letter.

Despite promises to Obama, construction continues in dozens of W. Bank settlements

16 October 2009

Human rights activists monitoring the West Bank report that… widespread building activity commenced three weeks ago in at least 12 settlements: ground preparation, pouring concrete and drilling construction foundations. This work is not part of the projects that Israel and the United States had reached an understanding on.

IOA Editor: Occupation as usual.