Archive for the 'Politics' Category
Evidence of Israeli ‘Cowardly Blending’ Comes to Light
by Jonathan Cook
January 5 2008
antiwar.com
It apparently never occurred to anyone in our leading human rights organizations or the Western media that the same moral and legal standards ought be applied to the behavior of Israel and Hezbollah during the war on Lebanon 18 months ago. Belatedly, an important effort has been made to set that right.
A new report, written by a respected Israeli human rights organization, one representing the country’s Arab minority, not its Jewish majority, has unearthed evidence showing that during the fighting Israel committed war crimes not only against Lebanese civilians – as was already known – but also against its own Arab citizens. This is an aspect of the war that has been almost entirely neglected until now.
The report also sheds a surprising light on the question of what Hezbollah was aiming at when it fired hundreds of rockets on northern Israel. Until the report’s publication last month, I had been all but a lone voice arguing that the picture of what took place during the war was far more complex than generally accepted.
The new report follows a series of inquiries by the most influential human rights groups, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, to identify the ways in which international law was broken during Israel’s 34-day assault on Lebanon. However, both organizations failed to examine, except in the most cursory and dismissive way, Israel’s treatment of its own civilians during the war. That failure may also have had serious repercussions for their ability to assess Hezbollah’s actions.
Continue reading ‘Jonathan Cook: Evidence of Israeli ‘Cowardly Blending’ Comes to Light’
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Kosovo and the question of Palestine
by Ali Abunimah
February 25 2008
electronicintifada.net
Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence has produced a range of reactions among Israeli and Palestinian observers that reveal their anxieties about their respective situations.
An editorial in the Israeli daily Haaretz called on the Israeli government to immediately recognize Kosovo, arguing that “the struggle of the persecuted Kosovar people for independence is reminiscent of the struggles by other nations for the right of self-determination.” Of course Haaretz was not talking about the Palestinians, but about the “State of Israel, which was established in the wake of the Jewish people’s struggle for self-determination” (”Recognize Kosovo,” Haaretz, 18 February 2008).
By identifying Israel with the supposed underdog, ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, Haaretz implicitly recognizes that there are indeed some striking similarities though not ones it would acknowledge. Kosovo, like Israel, was illegally severed by force of arms from another country against the wishes of the majority population of the whole territory. Both entities came into being and can only survive with the sponsorship and support of the Great Powers of the day who sustain them in violation of international law because it suits their imperial interests. Furthermore, both entities are animated by a virulent ethno-nationalism that is fundamentally incompatible with the values of freedom, tolerance and democracy that they claim to have come into being to uphold. In this sense, Kosovo is the latest in a collection of Western-backed pseudo-states that also includes the Kurdish entity in northern Iraq.
Continue reading ‘Ali Abunimah: Kosovo and the question of Palestine’
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The Trap of Recognizing Israel
by Jonathan Cook
December 16 2006
antiwar.com
The problem facing the Palestinian leadership, as they strive to bring the millions living in the occupied territories some small relief from their collective suffering, reduces to a matter of a few words. Like a naughty child who has only to say “sorry” to be released from his room, the Hamas government need only say “We recognize Israel” and supposedly aid and international goodwill will wash over the West Bank and Gaza.
That, at least, was the gist of Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert’s recent speech during a visit to the Negev, when he suggested that his country’s hand was stretched out across the sands towards the starving masses of Gaza – if only Hamas would repent. “recognize us and we are ready to talk about peace” was the implication.
Certainly the Palestinian people have been viciously punished for making their democratic choice early this year to elect a Hamas government that Israel and the Western powers disapprove of:
- an economic blockade has been imposed, starving the Palestinian Authority of income to pay for services and remunerate its large workforce;
- millions of dollars in tax monies owed to the Palestinians have been illegally withheld by Israel, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis;
- a physical blockade of Gaza enforced by Israel has prevented the Palestinians from exporting their produce, mostly perishable crops, and from importing essentials like food and medicine;
- Israeli military strikes have damaged Gaza’s vital infrastructure, including the supply of electricity and water, as well as randomly killing its inhabitants;
- and thousands of families are being torn apart as Israel uses the pretext of its row with Hamas to stop renewing the visas of Palestinian foreign passport holders.
The magic words “We recognize you” could end all this suffering. So why did their prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, vow last week never to utter them? Is Hamas so filled with hatred and loathing for Israel as a Jewish state that it cannot make such a simple statement of good intent?
Continue reading ‘Jonathan Cook: The Trap of Recognizing Israel’
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Thanks to one jerkass Seattle Rabbi with the Central Organication of Jewish Education, all the Christmas trees at the Sea-Tac Airport have been removed. According to the Seattle Post Intelligencer, after being threatened with a lawsuit “if the airport did not erect an eight-foot menorah to balance the message of the Christmas trees” because Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky “complained they were offensive”, the Port of Seattle ordered all 15 Christmas trees removed.
People like this Rabbi are the same kind of douchebags who, having nothing else better to do after digging their noses, complain relentlessly about the “Merry Christmas” greeting. So what’s next, all the school cafetarias in the Seattle school district be made kosher because there are some Jewish kids attending the schools?
This is so ridiculous.
Update 12/14/2006
The Christmas trees are back! After receiving hundreds of threatening letters and emails, the Rabbi decided that he was not going to sue the Port of Seattle to force them to put up his Menorah. Soon after, the airport authority put all the Christmas trees back up.
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Israel’s Peace Now movement released a report showing extensive portion of Israeli settlement colonies in the occupied West Bank are “built on land which the Israeli government recognizes as privately-owned by Palestinians.”
This is front page news on the New York Times, but the title of the article - Israeli Map Says West Bank Posts Sit on Arab Land - is extremely misleading. The use of the term “posts” to describe the Israeli settlements makes the illegal colonies look like some temporary camps in the middle of nowhere. The so-called “posts” are large settlement colonies like Ma’ale Adumim and Ariel, with each having population of 32,000 and 20,000 respectively.
Reuters has a more appropriate title for its article: Israel stole private land for settlements: report.
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One of the Asses of Evil got fired!!!
St. Halcyon, referring to the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld after the defeat suffered by the Republicans in yesterday’s midterm election.
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