| Israel's recent assassinations of Palestinian resistance activists look ominously like the aggression that preceded last winter's attacks in Gaza. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages) |
Israel is once again complaining that its "security" is being threatened by new eruptions of violence along the border with Gaza. About two dozen Qassam rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza in recent days. Although they fell in (and may have been deliberately targeted at) open areas, causing no damage or injuries, Israel took revenge with destructive air raids that did cause damage and killed several people, including a 15-year-old boy.
Before asking who should stop first, one should recall who started the latest ugly round of violence.
On 26 December, Israel carried out double attacks in the West Bank city of Nablus and in Gaza, murdering three people in each place. In Nablus, Israeli death squads carried out cold-blooded extrajudicial executions in revenge for the killing of a West Bank settler several days before. According to the wife of one of the Nablus victims, her husband was at home in his living room, completely unarmed when the death squad burst in and shot him in the face. Neither he nor the other victims of these state-sponsored terrorists had been accused, tried or convicted of any crime in a court of law.
In Gaza, the three victims were reportedly workers scavenging near the border fence to salvage building supplies from the rubble of previous destruction.
Since late December, Israeli attacks have killed more than a dozen Palestinians, routine violence which is ignored by the "international community" and for which Israel is never held accountable. On the contrary, Israel's Western friends continue to justify this terrorism as "self-defense."
Israel's recent aggressions look ominously like the 4 November 2008 attack on Gaza, which killed six persons and shattered the four-month-long truce meticulously respected by Hamas. Predictably, Hamas and other factions retaliated for that Israeli provocation and then Israel used their response to justify its massacre of 1,400 people in Gaza this time last year.
It seems that whenever there is relative calm on the Gaza front, Israel is keen to destroy it. Prior to the November 2008 attack, the Gaza situation, despite the siege and the intense international pressure on Hamas, was stable -- that was the last thing Israel wanted. And despite the truth that Israel sabotaged the truce and then refused to renew it even though Hamas wanted to, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, some Arab states and the so-called international community led by the United States blamed Israel's attack on Gaza on Hamas rockets, and claimed that Hamas -- not Israel -- had rejected renewing the truce.
When Israel ended "Operation Cast Lead" last year, it refused to enter into a new formal truce with Hamas. Nevertheless, Hamas has observed a unilateral ceasefire, only using force occasionally in retaliation for Israeli attacks, say, on tunnels that bring vital supplies into Gaza from Egypt, circumventing the siege. Moreover, Hamas -- in the face of much local criticism -- has enforced the truce on other Palestinian factions.
Could Israel be following the same pattern again now with its escalating violence against Gaza? Neither last year's war nor the tightening blockade that has prevented any meaningful reconstruction have succeeded in their clear but unstated goal of toppling Hamas.
Is Israel then preparing to do again what it does best: use wanton murder and destruction to try to achieve its political goals?
It is hard to say, but this is an alarming possibility, especially as senior Israeli officials have been dropping hints about preparations for a "second Gaza war."
Israel, which does not act according to any normal or civilized standards, could have several motives for this; not least, another "small war" could give Israel a welcome distraction from the continuing diplomatic impasse or any threat of a renewed American-led peace initiative, no matter how timid.
Up to this point, it looks like Israel has been in the diplomatic driver's seat. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu easily dismissed US President Barack Obama's initial demand for a freeze on construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Obama Administration not only backed down, it also fully adopted Israeli positions and has been continuously putting pressure on the moribund Palestinian Authority to return to negotiations without "preconditions." (Of course "without preconditions" means only that Israel is not obligated to meet any conditions; Palestinians are always presented with lengthy lists of Israeli preconditions.)
But if this seems like a diplomatic victory for Israel, it may only be temporary. If, as expected, the Palestinian Authority eventually succumbs to pressure and returns to "negotiations," it will become instantly apparent that, given Israeli intransigence and expansionism, there is absolutely nothing to discuss and not even an infinitesimal prospect of any sort of peace deal.
It is doubtful that the bankruptcy of the Israeli and American positions can simply be covered up with more empty process, and expect the situation on the ground to remain quiet and stable. Bringing the crisis closer, on its own terms, and once again blaming Hamas, may be the "ideal" way out for Israel.
Hasan Abu Nimah is the former permanent representative of Jordan at the United Nations. This essay first appeared in The Jordan Times and is republished with the author's permission.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Israel Dragging Gaza to New War: Analysts
Ola Attallah
IOL, |
www.uruknet.info?p=62098
 |
| A Palestinian man passes by Hamas graffiti in Gaza City, occupied Gaza Strip, February 2009. (MaanImages/Wissam Nassar) |
Israel unveiled "Iron Dome" last week, a missile-defense system that is designed to strike a knock-out blow against short-range rockets of the variety fired into Israel by Hamas and Hizballah. In the short term, Iron Dome is supposed to herald the demise of the rocket threat to Israeli communities near Gaza four years after Hamas won the Palestinian elections.
The period in between has been marked by a series of inconclusive moves by both sides: Israel's crippling siege of Gaza has yet to break the will of Palestinians there; negotiations for the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas more than three years ago have gone nowhere; reconciliation talks between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have borne no fruit; and even the savage offensive against Gaza last year, Operation Cast Lead, achieved little in strategic gains for Israel.
Now Israel says it has a winning card in its hand. From May, the first batteries of Iron Dome -- developed at a cost of $200 million -- will be installed around Gaza, foiling the efforts of militant factions to continue their struggle against a policy that denies the enclave's inhabitants all but the most essential humanitarian items.
Militant groups in Gaza have done their best to remain defiant. A spokesman for Islamic Jihad declared last week to Maan, a Palestinian news agency, that the rocket defense system "cannot stop the projectiles of the resistance," as it launched sustained volleys of rockets and shells into Israel for the first time since Cast Lead. Ehud Barak, Israel's defense minister, has accused Hamas of turning a blind eye to this activity.
Certainly, several big question marks hang over the Israeli project, despite the large claims being made by Israeli officials.
Analyst Reuven Pedatzur noted today in the Haaretz newspaper that Israel was peddling "deceptions and half-truths" over Iron Dome. He pointed out that the flight time of a few seconds for rockets fired at Israeli communities close to Gaza, such as Sderot, is far shorter than the time needed by Iron Dome to calculate an interception.
Even more significantly, what economic sense does it make for Israel to try to destroy home-made rockets when each interceptor missile costs an estimated $100,000?
Military analysts reckon that, in addition, Israel will be forced to spend $1 billion on 20 batteries needed to protect Israeli communities next to Gaza and more in the north that are currently in the line of Hizballah's fire from Lebanon. That cost will rise rapidly as Hamas and Hizballah extend the reach of their arsenals. Another system, Magic Wand, can reportedly shoot down medium-range missiles, but each interception costs close to $1 million. And then there are additional costs to be factored in when groups in the West Bank begin launching rockets, too.
Israel's siege of Gaza could quickly be matched by a war of attrition by Hamas and Hizballah against Israel's defense budget -- at a time when Israel is pondering expensive military adventures further afield, such as in Iran.
Nonetheless, signs of unease have become apparent in Gaza over the past week. Militant groups have again risked engaging in serious clashes with Israel. On Sunday, Israel claimed that more than 20 rockets and mortar shells had been fired out of Gaza in a few days, while Palestinian sources said at least eight Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy, had been killed in Israeli air strikes.
But even if Iron Dome is little more than a new development in Israel's program of psychological warfare against Gaza, the pressure is most definitely building on Hamas on several fronts. Israel has significantly tightened its chokehold on the enclave over the past year.
One of Israel's most significant moves has been forcing Palestinians to abandon productive rural land in Gaza, much of it situated just inside the fence that surrounds the Strip.
According to Palestinian officials, Gaza once produced half of its own food, with one-quarter of its 1.5 million inhabitants dependent on agriculture. Today, about half of this land is no longer usable. Some of it was destroyed by the Israeli army during Cast Lead. Other areas, according to Italian researchers last week, have been contaminated with a cocktail of toxic metals from Israeli munitions. And yet more land is off limits because it falls within a buffer zone of 300 meters Israel has declared inside the perimeter fence, as a leaflet drop last week by the Israeli air force reminded Palestinians in Gaza. Farmers say in practice the zone often extends much deeper into the enclave.
As Gaza's chief means of subsistence has been steadily eroded, the lifeline provided by hundreds of smuggling tunnels from Egypt into Rafah, under the one border not controlled by Israel, has come under imminent danger of being severed, too.
Sealing the Rafah border was one of the main goals of Operation Cast Lead, but Israeli aerial bombardments only had limited success in destroying the tunnels there. Instead, Egypt is building a steel wall underground in an attempt to foil the smugglers. Although Cairo is taking the flak for the wall's construction, and has its own interests in punishing Hamas, the driving forces behind the scheme are almost certainly Israel and the United States. US engineers are reported to be providing the technical expertise to make the wall as effective as possible.
Another wall, this one to be built by Israel along the border with Egypt immediately south of Gaza, was announced this week. Although chiefly intended to stop the flow of refugees and illegal immigrants reaching Israel, it is also aimed "to turn the screws on Hamas" by blocking the only way into Israel for terror attacks, Yaakov Katz, an analyst with The Jerusalem Post newspaper, argued yesterday.
The increasing isolation of Gaza -- and the ratcheting up of pressure -- is designed to send a message to Gaza: that Hamas has nothing to gain, and everything to lose, from resisting Israel's occupation, and that ordinary Palestinians there should turn their back on the Islamic movement.
But there is also a message for Hamas's rivals in the West Bank. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and his Fatah supporters are being daily reminded that their own chances of extracting significant concessions from Israel -- through a policy of quietism -- are even more anaemic than Hamas's.
The hope in Israel is that sooner or later Abbas, or his successor, will realize there is no choice but to sign up to whatever territorial crumbs of the West Bank Israel is prepared to concede as a Palestinian state.
Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest books are Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (Pluto Press) and Disappearing Palestine: Israel's Experiments in Human Despair (Zed Books). His website is www.jkcook.net.
A version of this article originally appeared in The National, published in Abu Dhabi.
http://electronicintifada.net/
A convoy of eight army vehicles and bulldozers reportedly entered the coastal enclave 200 meters northeast of Ash-Shaja'yeh.
Onlookers said forces began a sweep of the area and fired machine guns and artillery shells near the eastern cemetery. No injuries were immediately reported.
An Israeli military spokesman told Ma'an there was no unusual activity in the area, nor were shots fired.
Israel's Siege Kills Another Child. Man Reported Dead At A Tunnel Site
A Palestinian child was reported dead on Monday after he was unable to leave the Gaza Strip for the medical care he urgently needed.
Three year old Mayisarah Mousa had a heart condition, but doctors were unable to treat him in the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing Israeli siege. Doctors said that he needed an operation to save his life but the Israeli military did not give his family the much needed permit to leave Gaza for medical treatement abroad.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, with Mousa's death the number of patients who died because of the Israeli siege has now reached 368. The Israeli military started its siege on the Gaza Strip in June of 2006.
Also on Monday a young man was reported dead after he fell into a tunnel at the southern Gaza Strip borders with Egypt.
Local sources identified the man as Fadi Azzam, 20 years old, from Rafah city. Witnesses told local media that Azzam fell inside a tunnel that he works in and died of his wounds.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
IT LOOKS LIKE THE "ONLY DEMOCRACY IN THE ME" HAS ABANDONED ITS "FREE SPEECH" FIG LEAVE
The chief English editor at the the largest independent news network in the Palestinian territories, Ma'an News, has been incarcerated by Israel and is facing imminent deportation. The editor, Jared Malsin, is an American citizen and graduate of Yale University. Israeli officials interrogated him for eight hours.
Israeli officials also seized his longtime girlfriend, Faith Rowold, a two-year, registered volunteer with the Lutheran Church in Jerusalem, who is also incarcerated pending deportation. Israeli officials initially lied to US consular officials inquiring into the situation.
See below for statement, timeline, and contacts for more information.
ACTION ALERT: Please contact your LOCAL MEDIA and NATIONAL MEDIA to cover this incident; and contact your Congressional representative to make a statement calling for press freedom and the release of these two American citizens.
Ma'an news is one of the most important news sources available on Israel-Palestine - we cannot let Israel seize its editors, attempt to intimidate its journalists, and damage its ability to give us the critical facts missing from US news!!!
American Journalist and Partner Denied Re-entry to Israel - Deportation Imminent
http://www.israel-The English Desk at Ma'an News Agency, the largest independent news network in the Palestinian territories, is deeply concerned that its chief editor, Jared Malsin, an American citizen [and graduate of Yale University], was detained on Tuesday afternoon upon arriving at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv. He is slated for imminent deportation.
In what can only be explained as a retaliatory measure for Malsin's reporting on Palestine, his long-term girlfriend, Faith Rowold, a two-year, registered volunteer with the Lutheran Church in Jerusalem, was also seized and placed in a holding cell pending deportation. Israeli security agents have prevented the couple from making calls, and lied to concerned American consular staff, denying that the two were even being held.
While the US Embassy is protesting both incidents, and is in constant contact with our staff on the ground, diplomatic officials say that there is little they can do when Israel cites "security reasons" for the denial of entry. Meanwhile, Israeli security officials have quietly expressed concern to Ma'an over this latest abuse of power by authorities at the Interior Ministry, skeptical that the professional journalist they know could be deemed a threat.
For its part, Israel has yet to specify any allegations against Malsin, who indicated - just before his phone was seized by airport guards - that during his hours of interrogation, security agents inexplicably questioned him over his supposed ties to international peace activists, with whom he has no relationship.
Ma'an scrupulously maintains its editorial independence and aims to promote access to information, freedom of expression, press freedom, and media pluralism in Palestine. It has no other agenda. Israel's arbitrary detention of the head of its English Desk is an affront to professional journalists not only in Palestine, but also to journalists in Israel and abroad, who rely on Ma'an for its accuracy, impartiality, and independence... Full report
Order of Events
Jared's phone was confiscated by El Al security officials when he boarded a flight in the Czech Republic on 12 January 2010. He was denied the opportunity to make any calls to his consulate, his family or a lawyer between 11am (upon boarding) and 11pm (when his mobile was briefly returned).
In what can only be explained as a retaliatory measure for Malsin's reporting on Palestine, his long-term girlfriend, Faith Rowold, a two-year, registered volunteer with the Lutheran Church in Jerusalem, was also seized and placed in a holding cell pending deportation.
At 4pm when the flight was disembarked in Tel Aviv, Faith used the phone of a fellow traveler, an Israeli national, in the restroom of the airport. She called her sister with a brief message saying she had landed but indicated that there were problems.
At 6:30pm, the office of US Citizen Services was contacted in Jerusalem. Officials called Israeli airport authorities, who assured them that there were no American citizens being held there at that time. The names of Jared and his companion, also a US national, were reportedly not flagged. The official suggested the couple were out having a good time in Tel Aviv and had simply not gotten in touch.
The official also said local police should be contacted if Jared were actually missing, but assured that his contacts at the airport were not holding him. Ma'an staff asked if the official could confirm whether or not Jared and his companion had in fact cleared immigration.
Jared used the mobile of a French traveler admitted to the detention hall at 8:30pm to call his Faith's sister again and asked a colleague to immediately contact the US Embassy. He said he was being questioned and feared being denied entry into Israel; he provided passport numbers for himself and his fellow traveler.
The US Consulate official was contacted again with the information that Jared was not out in Tel Aviv, but had in fact been in Israeli custody since 11am that morning. The official immediately expressed concern and said he would call his contacts again at the airport.
The official called back at after 9pm and asked for more information on Jared and his fellow traveler: are they married, is she pregnant, is there a Palestinian connection, what newspaper does Jared write for, etc.
The consulate official was informed that Jared worked with Ma'an. He was also informed that while the US, EU and UK fund programs and productions with the Ma'an Network, that staff at each of the consulates consult the English Desk site daily, even hourly, the State of Israel does not recognize Ma'an as a news organization, and therefore denies its journalists press accreditation.
By 11pm, both Jared and Faith were informed that they had been denied entry. Their mobile phones were returned to them for two hours, and then confiscated just after midnight when they were transferred to holding cells.
At 8am, the US consular official was contacted, called security at the airport and was informed that Jared and Faith were set to be deported at 6am on 14 January 2010, on the next direct flight to Prague, where they had been vacationing a week before.
http://www.israel-
Following the detention of Jared Malsin, Ma’an News Agency’s chief editor at Ben Gurion yesterday, IMEMC has spoken to George Hale, editor at Ma’an.Mr. Hale told IMEMC that in addition to the lawyer that Ma’an has hired on Mr. Malsin’s behalf, the United States embassy, specifically the embassy’s press officer, is also working on the case.
Ma’an's lawyer has met with Mr. Malsin and is attempting to secure an injunction against the deportation order that will see Mr Malsin depart on a flight back to the Czech Republic at 6:05am tomorrow morning, appealing to the Israeli Supreme Court to overrule the Ministry of Interior’s decision.
The Ministry has not commented officially on the situation, but Ma’an has been told that Mr. Maslin’s detention and deportation are based upon security issues.
Mr. Hale stated that he had spoken to Mr. Maslin late last night, although briefly, and Mr. Maslin reported that he had been subjected to “8 hours of grueling interrogation.”
Mr. Hale continued, “Even if the chances are slim, Ma’an will still protest, as Jared has done nothing illegal. He’s a journalist; he’s not a security threat to the State of Israel… Jared speaks to the Israeli military probably 20 times a day. Ma’an staff has been invited to tour Israeli military bases and have done so without issue.”
With regards to the other members of Ma’an’s staff, Mr. Hale stated that, “no threats have been made against other members of staff, but our position is that we support Jared publicly and should the Israeli government decide that we don’t have the same rights afforded to the journalists on the other side of the wall… it doesn’t concern our day to day lives until they tell us to stop.” Full story
--
Alison Weir
Executive Director
If Americans Knew
office: (202) 631-4060
NEVER LOSE HOPE! TWO GOOD NEWS!
Here's a piece of great news: Jamal is free, in the office and working !!!!
THANK YOU for all your support!
You have shown Israel that the Palestinian grassroots struggle and Stop the Wall have powerful allies around the world.
Now, we need to let Israel know that the release of Jamal is a great victory but by far not enough. The policy of arrests and repression of Palestinian human rights defenders is still continuing.
Currently there are some 40 anti-Wall activists in Israeli jails. Out of some 8500 Palestinian political prisoners, almost 300 Palestinians are kept in administrative detention, hence jailed without charges or trial.
We will release a full press release on the issue together with Addameer. However, as many have already asked me quotes from Jamal for their own press releases, I am sending below a lengthy quote for you to use.
Best
Maren (Stop the Wall)
Jamal Juma’, the coordinator of the Stop the Wall Campaign has been released yesterday evening after a month long detention in Israeli jails. He had been called for interrogation and then arrested on December 16. Yesterday, the military court decided for Jamal’s release.
Jamal Juma’ comments upon his release:
“Like for the other Palestinian human rights defenders in Israeli jails, there was never a case in the courtroom. Not a single charge has been put forth. The reason for my arrest was purely political – an attempt to crush Stop the Wall and the popular committees against the Wall. Therefore, the reasons for my release are also outside the courtroom: The impressive support of international civil society has moved governments and used the media to an extent that made our imprisonment too uncomfortable.
This international solidarity has given our popular struggle against the Wall further strength. We are deeply thankful for all the efforts.
Yet, the latest arrests and continuous repression show that we have not yet defeated the Israeli policy as such, as Israel remains determined to silence Palestinian human rights defenders by all means.
We therefore need to ensure that the campaign for the freedom of all anti-wall activists and Palestinian political prisoners continues to grow. We have to combine our energies to ensure that the root cause – the Wall – will be torn down and the occupation will be brought to an end.”
Coordinator
1948: LEST WE FORGET
Dear All,
Some of you may have heard about the case of the Palestinian student Berlanty Azzam who had been arrested and prevented by the Israeli authorities from completing her studies. No charge and no reason. Typical behaviour from the zionist state. She has now done it and has received her degree. We received the email below which summarises the events surrounding Berlanty's case.
She did it!
You did it!
We did it!
Thanks for all your support!
Gaza Student Completes Her Bachelors Degree
from Bethlehem University
· Ms. Berlanty Azzam completes course requirements for her bachelors degree!
· 75 days from when she was blindfolded, handcuffed, and taken from Bethlehem to Gaza
· Berlanty graduates in Gaza at the Holy Family Church
· Bethlehem University expressed gratitude to Gisha and to thousands of local and international friends who joined in the efforts to seek justice for Berlanty.
· Bethlehem University continues to seek support for other Palestinian students from Gaza to enroll in and attend courses at the Vatican- sponsored Bethlehem University � as well as at all other Palestinian universities in the West Bank or Gaza.
Bethlehem University officials traveled to Gaza on Sunday, 10 January to mark the occasion of Ms. Berlanty Azzam completing her semester courses, to encourage other students from Gaza who seek to pursue their education at Bethlehem University or other Palestinian universities in the West Bank, and
· to recognize the more than 430 other graduates of Bethlehem University from Gaza.
Timeline of Events for Berlanty Azzam and the Israeli military�s interference in her education:
· Sept 2005:Berlanty enrolls at Bethlehem University as a first year student
· 28 Oct 2009: Berlanty blindfolded, handcuffed, and taken from Bethlehem to Gaza by Israeli military
· 12 Nov 2009: Israeli High Court Hearing, Court orders Israeli Military to hold due process hearing
· 18 Nov 2009: Israeli Military Conducts an Administrative Hearing with Berlanty at Erez Crossing
· 30 Nov 2009: Israeli High Court Hearing, Court orders Israeli Military to submit 2005 permission
· 9 Dec 2009: Israeli High Court issues ruling: Berlanty cannot return to Bethlehem
· 10 Jan 2010: Berlanty Graduates in Gaza at Holy Family Church
Hi All,
i've been forwarded this - it's a petition for Kings College London to finance five for scholarships for palestinians to come to the UK to study. It can be signed by anyone and everyone. Please can we distribute it far and wide and support the effort at Kings in showing support and solidarity with the Palestinians.
http://www.petitiononline.com/pscholar/petition.html
Rapid means of taking action on EU/Israel research policy (urgent)
For a quick way of responding to the previous call for action on the review of EU/Israel research cooperation, simply send your email to EU2020@ec.europa.eu and add a subject line of 'Inclusion of Israel within ERA' or similar. (This is the email address that the links specified eventually lead to.)
For a draft text, see my suggestion below, which should, of course, be reworded or adapted for maximum effect.
HTH
Andrew
---
Dear Sirs
I wish to voice my objection, shared by that of many fellow researchers of my acquaintance, to the ongoing inclusion of Israel with the European Research Area.
As an academic myself, I recognise that much high-quality research is carried out in Israel. Nonetheless, the EU must not ignore the fundamental violations of human rights carried out by the Israeli state and implicitly or explicitly supported by that country's research establishment. These violations are of a nature and an extent that we would not accept from a fellow EU member state or a state applying for EU membership. Why, therefore, should we expect less from those countries to which we grant partnership rights in respect of EU-organized activities?
Furthermore, many of the actions of Israel directly damage the education access and rights of the Palestinians at all levels. Notably, its attacks on Gaza one year ago directly targeted many universities, colleges and schools. Many Palestinian students are also prevented from travelling to school or university by Israeli-imposed restrictions within the OPT and at exit routes from the OPT (e.g. for students attempting to carry out research abroad).
The overwhelming majority of Israeli academics and research institutions have failed to distance themselves from or condemn the actions I refer to above. On the contrary, in fact, many Israeli academics and universities collaborate extensively with the Israeli army and government.
For these reasons, as both a citizen and a researcher, I implore you to exclude Israel from the ERA framework at the time of the forthcoming review. As Europeans, we expect that our member states and their institutions respect human rights. An exclusion from ERA would show Israel and its researchers that they need to share such a respect if they wish to be collaborate with us as equal partners.
On 11 January 2010 at 10:10 palmem@monabaker.com wrote:
Dear friends -
Urgent action is needed as there is public consultation on the EU2020 Strategy ( European Research Policy for next Framework Programme) to be launched by President Barroso on 24 November. BUT THE CUT OFF DATE IS 15 January 2010
this action will take you only a few minutes!
EU public consultations seem not be designed to consult the public. It provides an opportunity to us as researchers to comment not on the general proposals in Barroso's vision of Europe, but on very precisely on Europe's glaring failure in its research ethics, ie the continued inclusion of Israel in the European Research Area (broader than the EU).
Israel is both a research powerhouse and has been condemned for its war crimes and breaches of Human Rights, most recently in the attack on Gaza. It is therefore vulnerable to pressure from the research community in a way that nations with lesser research status are not. As you will know initially the European Parliament tried to block ERA membership to Israel, but the political drift to the right has led to the EU shamefully ignoring its own foundational commitment to Human Rights. The issue of research collaboration was shelved as it was too hot just after Gaza but the Europe has abandoned its foundational Human Rights commitment What you can do:
open the link below and follow the links within it to where you are entitled as a citizen to comment.
On p5 of the Barroso document there is a section entitled 'Creating value by basing growth on knowledge.'
The section goes on to say:
'An efficient effective and well resourced European Research Area is an indispensible part of the EU 20/20 vision.'
Possible comment along the lines:
Research without ethics, research without respect for fundamental human rights, cannot and must not be part of any vision for the future of the EU. Inclusion within the ERA of countries, such as Israel, who do no respect those rights, and who are in breach of international human rights conventions is unacceptable.
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/
PA sets up fund for boycotting products made in settlements
Ha'aretz
Economics Minister Hassan Abu Libda said in his speech that Israel prevents the entry of Palestinian goods into Israel. He said the PA intends to boycott ...
See all stories on this topic
Open letter to Bono: entertaining apartheid Israel…U 2 Bono?
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)
Dear Bono,
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) was deeply disturbed to learn that that you are scheduled to perform in Israel this coming summer. Two years ago, you were invited by Israeli President Shimon Peres to attend a conference in Israel marking Israel‘s contributions to medicine, science, and conservation; we urged you then, as a prominent activist on issues of global inequality and a campaigner for basic human rights, to say no to Israel, especially since the invitation coincided with celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state.[1] You did not go to Israel then; we call on you now not to grant legitimacy to a state that practices the most pernicious form of colonialism and apartheid.
Performing in Israel would violate the almost unanimously endorsed Palestinian civil society Call for Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.[2] This Call is directed particularly towards international activists, artists, and academics of conscience, such as yourself. Moreover, it would come a year and a half after Israel’s bloody military assault against the occupied Gaza Strip which left over 1,440 Palestinians dead, of whom 431 were children, and 5380 injured.[3] The 1.5 million Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, the overwhelming majority of whom are refugees who were expelled from their homes by Zionist forces in 1948,[4] were subjected to three weeks of relentless Israeli state terror, whereby Israeli warplanes systematically targeted civilian areas, reducing whole neighborhoods and vital civilian infrastructure to rubble and partially destroying Gaza’s leading university and scores of schools, including several run by the UN, where civilians were taking shelter.
This criminal assault comes after three years of an ongoing, illegal, crippling Israeli siege of Gaza which has shattered all spheres of life, prompting the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Richard Falk, to describe it as “a prelude to genocide”. The UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, headed by the highly respected South African judge, Richard Goldstone, found Israel guilty of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, as did major international human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The Goldstone report concluded that Israel’s war on Gaza was “designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability.”[5]
In a recent New York Times op-ed[6], you wrote of your hope “that the regimes in North Korea, Myanmar and elsewhere are taking note of the trouble an aroused citizenry can give to tyrants.” You went on to further elaborate on the hope that “people in places filled with rage and despair, places like the Palestinian territories, will in the days ahead find among them their Gandhi, their King, their Aung San Suu Kyi.” Rather than shifting the blame from the violence of the colonial oppressor to the resistance of the indigenous oppressed and characterizing the Palestinians as a population filled with “rage and despair,” it is more apt to consider them among the “aroused citizenry” responding to tyranny – Israel‘s regime of occupation and apartheid.
As to your hope that the Palestinians will soon find their own leading figure to champion nonviolent resistance, the Palestinian civil society Call for Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions against Israel is one of the largest nonviolent, morally consistent movements for ending Israel’s system of apartheid and colonial oppression. It is endorsed by a majority of Palestinian civil society. As a leading artist who is concerned about human rights, it is your moral obligation to honor this call and not to cross our “picket line.”
A whole generation was affected by your musical activism, when you sang of the civil rights movement in America, the everyday human heroes in El Salvador and the brave struggles in Ireland – you filled a space that forced political morality into pop culture. Entertaining apartheid Israel despite all the injustice it is committing against the Palestinians would significantly smear this great legacy of yours.
Through systematic repression and incarceration of human rights defenders without due process, Israel has made sure that those Palestinian “Gandhis” and “Kings” do not rise to prominence. Activists such as Mohammed Othman, Abdallah Abu Rahma, and Jamal Jum’a, to mention only a few recent examples, have been imprisoned without charge or trial, a practice that has been harshly condemned by Amnesty International.[7] Historically, successive Israeli governments went even further in suppressing civil and popular resistance: one of Yitzhak Rabin’s strategies in the First Intifada, for instance, was to “break the bones” of young Palestinian protestors, often “preemptively;” more recently, Israeli military forces have brutally dispersed weekly nonviolent Palestinian protests against Israel’s Wall—which was declared illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004—by firing rubber bullets, teargas canisters, and sometimes live ammunition onto protestors. Such methods have resulted in the injury of hundreds of peaceful protesters, including some internationals and Israelis, as well as the death of several Palestinian civilians and American human rights activist, Tristan Anderson.
Your appearance in Israel would lend to its well-oiled campaign to whitewash all the above grave violations of international law and basic human rights through “re-branding” itself as a liberal nation enjoying membership in the Western club of democracies. Above everything else, it would serve to deflect attention away from Israel‘s three forms of oppression against the Palestinian people: the legalized and institutionalized system of racial discrimination against the Palestinian citizens of Israel; the military occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; and the continuous denial of the Palestinian refugees’ UN-sanctioned right to return to their homes and to receive just reparations.
As a promoter of peace and justice, you are a distinguished member and co-founder of the ONE Campaign to end extreme poverty in Africa. The international patron of this campaign, South African Nobel Laureate and celebrated anti-apartheid activist, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, remarked[8] that “the end of apartheid stands as one of the crowning accomplishments of the past century, but we would not have succeeded without the help of international pressure– in particular the divestment movement of the 1980s…a similar movement has taken shape, this time aiming at an end to the Israeli occupation.” He concluded that “if apartheid ended, so can this occupation, but the moral force and international pressure will have to be just as determined. The current divestment effort is the first, though certainly not the only, necessary move in that direction.”
We urge you to heed the wise words of Archbishop Tutu and to honor the Palestinian Call. Your performance in Israel would be tantamount to having performed in Sun City during South Africa’s apartheid era, in violation of the international boycott unanimously endorsed by the oppressed South African majority. We call on you not to entertain Israeli Apartheid!
[1] http://pacbi.org/etemplate.
[2] http://pacbi.org/etemplate.
[3] http://www.ochaopt.org/
[4] Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2007.
[5] http://www2.ohchr.org/english/
[6] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/
Posted under: Press Releases
Tags: apartheid, BDS, Bono, PACBI
Monday January 18th 15h00 - 17h00
live broadcast on CKUT radio, 90.3fm
tune-in globally via live stream at www.ckut.ca
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/
Artists Against Apartheid is an ongoing concert series in Montreal that brings
together groundbreaking artists and musicians for performances in solidarity
with Palestinian human rights.
Over eleven concerts in Montreal incredible local artists performed for
hundreds at various concerts halls across the city, many of these concerts were
recorded by CKUT radio...
CKUT radio presents a special radio broadcast featuring live performances
recorded at the Artists Against Apartheid, recordings being broadcast for the
first time live on CKUT community radio.
Broadcast will feature performances from groundbreaking artists from different
front-lines within Montreal's internationally celebrated music scene...
Featuring recordings of live performances from the late Lhasa de Sela,
saxophonist Colin Stetson, violinist Sarah Neufeld from Arcade Fire,
percussionist Shahzad Ismaily, cellist Rebecca Foon, Esmerine, Seven Arrows
ensemble featuring Andrew Barr (percussion), Sarah Pagé (harp), Yuki Isami
(flute), Joe Grass (pedal steel) and also a trio performance featuring Sam
Shalabi (oud), Omar Dewachi (oud) and Pierre-Guy Blanchard (percussion)...
As a cultural initiative Artists Against Apartheid occurs as Israel's military
occupation over the Gaza Strip and West Bank intensifies, in violation of
international law and multiple U.N. resolutions. Palestinian citizens face an
entrenched system of racial discrimination and segregation, resembling the
defeated apartheid system in South Africa. A matrix of Israeli-only roads,
electrified fences, and over 500 military checkpoints and roadblocks erase
freedom of movement.
In response to apartheid policies imposed on the Palestinian people by Israel
multiple artists are coming together in Montreal through the ongoing Artists
Against Apartheid concert series, presenting a cultural force in solidarity
with the ongoing Palestinian struggle for freedom.
* Tadamon!: boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israeli apartheid
http://www.tadamon.ca/
Tadamon! Montreal:
tel: 514 664 1036
email: info[at]tadamon.ca
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
By Avirama Golan
Anyone observing Israel these days - and the hazing to which the Turkish ambassador was subjected is only the latest example - sees the neighborhood bully. Anyone who cares about self-preservation will stay away from this hard-hearted, dull-witted madman whose sole guiding principle is "national honor" - or in other words, sowing strife and dissension that undermines the state's interests.
Yet this bull-in-a-china-shop behavior toward other countries is dwarfed by the mad frenzy at home. Ever since they were sworn in, the cabinet and Knesset have been competing over which will make life harder for the state's Arab citizens. And the climax of this frenzy was reached over land.
The land grabs that both the executive and the legislature have been perpetrating are the height of evil and folly. Evil, because all the new laws and reforms are explicitly intended to deny Arabs the self-evident civil right of buying a plot of land and residing on it. And folly, because it seems there isn't one politician who does not yearn to humiliate and inflame the Arab public.
For one brief moment, financially well-off Arabs deluded themselves into thinking that the land reform would benefit them. After all, the government had decided to open up the real estate market, to liberate lands from the Israel Lands Administration's governmental clutches and replace this stranglehold with a free market. Therefore, anyone who had a bit of ready cash would be able to buy land anywhere he pleased.
The government undoubtedly found this hilarious. For in the same breath, it decided - via Amendment 7 to the law, passed last August - that of the 13 members of the ILA's governing council, six would be representatives of the Jewish National Fund. It thereby gave these representatives, who have an interest in preventing Arabs from buying land, the ability to do so. Via this amendment, the government also reserved the right to increase its own representation on the council. And finally, it concluded a land swap with the JNF under which the latter would cede land in high-demand areas in the center of the country (where, despite all the hysterical warnings about "millionaires from the Gulf states taking over Gush Dan," not a single Arab has even tried to buy). In exchange it would get control over the Negev and the Galilee.
This new arrangement makes an already problematic situation even worse. Those same lands that the state expropriated from Arabs in the past for "public use," and which were then added to the vast land reserves it controls, are now being privatized, meaning they are being sold to the highest bidder. As long as he's a Jew, of course. Granted, you won't find a sign anywhere saying "no entry for Arabs," but aside from that, all the rules of the Wild West are in force.
But in contrast to those towns, where the local sheriff determined the laws, here the central government is taking care to hermetically seal Jewish communities against Arabs. Thus in December, MKs Shai Hermesh and Israel Hasson (Kadima) succeeded in passing an amendment to the law that enables acceptance committees in "community towns" to reject people "who aren't suited to the community."
These are small, homogenous communities, the MKs said disingenuously, not big cities. Have they forgotten how Carmiel succeeded in barring Arabs who sought to buy land in its single-family home district in 2004, or how wealthy Jews in Jaffa closed themselves off behind a fence?
And after all, they said cunningly, it wouldn't be reasonable for a meat-eater to be accepted into a vegetarian community like Amirim. So, responded MK Hanna Swaid (Hadash), does that mean a Muslim vegetarian would be accepted?
We need to set up community towns for Arabs too, the law's sponsors said sanctimoniously - knowing full well that since the establishment of the state, not a single new Arab community has been established in the Galilee, and that every Israeli government has shown great efficiency in demolishing every scrap of illegal construction in Arab communities.
In contrast, a proposed amendment to the Israel Lands Administration Law submitted by Arab MKs, which would have mandated "equal allocations to the Arab population," was voted down. And not for the first time.
The law "is designed to preserve the ability to realize the Zionist dream," declared Hasson, as if the state did not yet exist. And MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) thinks the law does not go far enough, as it does not "correct" the High Court of Justice's ruling in the Qadan case - as if the Knesset were an underground fighting against the High Court's White Paper.
In this way, the Knesset and the cabinet are trampling over the principle of equality and intensifying their battle against the court, which is now the only address left for Arab citizens (Swaid petitioned the High Court against the land reform last week). And in this way, Israel is shutting an entire population group out of the state's life and turning it into an oppressed, bitter, irredentist community.
Sharon's real legacy - keeping the Arabs out of sight
By Aluf Benn
Let's assume the optimistic forecast by special U.S. envoy George Mitchell comes true and in two years the establishment of an independent Palestine is declared at a ceremony. The event will be broadcast on prime time, but most Israelis will opt to view "Big Brother 6," "Survivor 7" or whatever the next television hit is. Viewers will behave this way not because they oppose a Palestinian state but because they are indifferent. Palestine-shmalestine simply does not interest them.
Most Israelis today are cut off from the conflict with the Palestinians and do not interact with them. From their point of view, the Palestinians are blurry figures during TV newscasts: Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh speak, women covered from head to toe mourn in a tent, men run with a stretcher after an ambulance, men concealing their faces fire Qassam rockets. Israelis have no interest in knowing anything further. Nablus and Ramallah are about 40 minutes by car from Tel Aviv, but in the eyes of Tel Avivians they are on a different planet. New York, London and Thailand are much closer.
The settlers beyond the separation fence are the only Israelis who see Palestinians, mostly through car windows on the roads they share. The settlers, like the Palestinians, are disconnected from the residents of the Tel Aviv region, Haifa or Be'er Sheva, who hardly ever cross the fence. They have no business in Elon Moreh, Yitzhar or Psagot. The big settlements like Ma'aleh Adumim and Ariel can be reached almost without having to see Palestinians.
The policy of isolation is the real legacy of Ariel Sharon, who built the fence in the West Bank, left the Gaza Strip and pushed the Palestinians out of the Israeli labor force. Sharon did not believe in peace and was not interested in links with the "Arabs." All he wanted was to protect the Jews from attacks by their "bloodthirsty" neighbors. Keeping them out of sight lets Israelis live as if there were no conflict, with only settlers on the periphery and soldiers on the firing line.
The "demographic problem" also is not frightening when it is locked up behind walls and fences.
In the past Israel's economy relied on Palestinian workers, but only older Israelis remember them at restaurants, construction sites and gas stations. Here and there one can still find friendships; waiters at Restaurant 206 in Kiryat Shaul sometimes gather their tips for a Palestinian friend who once waited tables and is now besieged in the Gaza Strip. Stories like this are almost part of folklore. The Israeli economy is geared toward Wall Street, not Shuhada Street. The stock market is hardly affected by routine security issues, and real estate prices are flying high as if this were Hong Kong, not a country under threat on a constant war alert.
The Israel Defense Forces, who sent generations of Israelis to the territories, has minimized the exposure of its soldiers to the Palestinians. Fewer and fewer people do reserve duty, and even fewer in the West Bank. The regular army has minimized the activities of its units in the territories and transferred much of the policing duties in the West Bank to the Kfir Brigade. Air force crews, who carry the burden of the fighting in the Gaza Strip, see the Palestinians as silent spots on their screens fed from drone footage.
Entertainment intensifies the gap in the way Israelis have come to regard their country, and the way it is seen in the world. The local media describes Israel as a Western high-tech superpower, an annex of Manhattan and Hollywood. The foreign media covers the conflict: terrorist attacks and assassinations, settlements and peace talks. When the Israelis who have never visited a settlement see themselves on CNN they are offended: We are not like that. This is anti-Semitic propaganda.
Foreigners visiting Israel are amazed to discover the degree to which reality here is disconnected from what they heard at home. They expect a violent apartheid state, and are surprised that the toilets and buses are not separate for Jews and Arabs. They imagine a conservative, buttoned-up society and are shocked by Tel Aviv's nightlife. They walk in the street and realize that in London or Paris they see a lot more Arabs than in most Israeli cities.
Because of the entertainment and indifference, the government doesn't face public pressure to pull out of the territories and establish a Palestinian state, and the opposition to the American peace initiative is being led by the extremists on the right. Most Israelis simply don't care; they gave up on the territories a long time ago. If Mitchell succeeds in his mission, they will hear about it and change the channel.
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![Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon meeting Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Oguz Celikkol, captioned "the height of humiliation" in Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom [Image: Lior Mizrahi/Israel Hayom]](http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47092000/jpg/_47092205_ayalon226.jpg) One newspaper captioned the picture "the height of humiliation" [Image: Lior Mizrahi/Israel Hayom] |
Israel has apologised to Turkey in an effort to defuse a row over the treatment of its envoy in Tel Aviv.
Israel's prime minister said he hoped this "would end the affair".
Ankara had threatened to withdraw the ambassador unless it received a formal apology from Israel by Wednesday evening.
The row began when the envoy was summoned to Israel's foreign ministry over a Turkish TV series portraying Israeli agents kidnapping babies.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon summoned Ambassador Oguz Celikkol to rebuke him over the fictional television series Valley of the Wolves, popular in Turkey.
Mr Ayalon ensured the ambassador was seated on a lower chair and removed the Turkish flag from the table.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul said the ambassador would "return on the first plane" on Thursday unless Israel issued a public apology.
In the letter of apology, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "again expressed his concern over the cooling of the ties between Israel and Turkey" and instructed officials "to find ways to prevent this trend", according to a statement from his office.
'Repeated provocation'
Footage of Mr Ayalon urging journalists to make clear the ambassador was seated on a low sofa, while the Israeli officials were in much higher chairs, has been widely broadcast by the Israeli media.
He is also heard pointing out in Hebrew that "there is only one flag" and "we are not smiling".
 | ANALYSIS  Jonathan Head, BBC News, Istanbul The diplomatic stunt had the potential to escalate into a serious breach between Israel and Turkey. Clear splits have emerged within Israel's coalition government over how to handle the Turkish government, which has become an increasingly strident critic of Israel at the same time as it has moved closer to Iran and Syria. It is less clear what Turkey's long-term aims are with Israel, for decades a close military and trading partner, but the governing party has said it no longer sees its relationship with Israel as a priority. |
"In terms of the diplomatic tactics available, this was the minimum that was warranted given the repeated provocation by political and other players in Turkey," he said, according to Reuters.
One Israeli newspaper marked the height difference in a photo, and captioned it "the height of humiliation".
Last October Israel complained over another Turkish series, which depicted Israeli soldiers killing Palestinians. In one clip, an Israeli soldier shoots dead a smiling young girl at close range.
The row comes ahead of a planned visit by Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak to Turkey on Sunday.
Turkey has long been an ally of Israel, but relations have deteriorated as Ankara has repeatedly criticised Israel for its offensive in Gaza a year ago.
Rights groups say about 1,400 Palestinians died during the operation, which Israel said had been aimed at ending rocket fire by Hamas.
Thirteen Israelis died during the violence.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/THE TRUTH OF THE ASSASSINATION WILL EVENTUALLY EMERGE, AND IT IS LIKELY NOT TO FIT EVERYONE'S WISHES...
Nuclear scientist Massoud Ali Mohammadi assassinated in Tehran
AF
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www.uruknet.info?p=62088
Link: www.theaustralian.com.au/news/
-in-tehran/story-e6frg6so-
Assassinated Iranian scientist worked on regional project with Israelis
Laura Rozen
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www.uruknet.info?p=62110
Link: www.politico.com/blogs/
regional_project_with_
IM: What is your take on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is very
popular on the Left in America? He is interviewed in progressive
organs such as The Nation, for instance. He appears on the mass media
as leading a front against America together with Ahmadinejad.
HP: We really do not know. We are really confused as to why Chavez is
Ahmadinejad’s buddy. It makes no sense to us. It has made it almost
impossible in Iran to defend his BolÃvarian Revolution. When you have
people being beaten or tortured, and so on, and then tell them, “Well,
there is this government that supports your government, but these guys
are good guys,” it is difficult to fathom, really. We hope that Chavez
changes his policy, because when there is a change of government in
Iran it will be accompanied by a total rupture with everyone who
supported Ahmadinejad.
Iraq invasion violated international law, Dutch inquiry finds
Investigation into the Netherlands' support for 2003 war finds military action was not justified under UN resolutions
Afua Hirsch, legal affairs correspondent guardian.co.uk,
The Dutch government's decision to support George Bush and Tony Blair's attack on Iraq had no basis in international law, the Davids report found. Photograph: Mario Tama/AFP
The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a violation of international law, an independent inquiry in the Netherlands has found.
In a damning series of findings on the decision of the Dutch government to support Tony Blair and George Bush in the strategy of regime change in Iraq, the inquiry found the action had "no basis in international law".
The 551-page report, published today and chaired by former Dutch supreme court judge Willibrord Davids, said UN resolutions in the 1990s prior to the outbreak of war gave no authority to the invasion. "The Dutch government lent its political support to a war whose purpose was not consistent with Dutch government policy. The military action had no sound mandate in international law," it said.
The report came as the Chilcot inquiry in the UK heard evidence from Tony Blair's former press secretary, Alastair Campbell, about Britain's decision to enter the war.
Comparisons between the Davids report, which looked at the decision-making process surrounding the Dutch decision to back the war, and Chilcot's have led to criticism that the UK was not conducting a similar analysis of the legal implications in the run-up to the war.
The findings of the Davids report has serious implications for the UK, experts say, as it raises questions about the use of intelligence about weapons of mass destruction (WMD), an issue addressed by Campbell in his evidence before the Chilcot panel this morning.
"In its depiction of Iraq's WMD programme, the [Dutch] government was to a considerable extent led by public and other information from the US and the UK," the Davids report says.
It found that when the Dutch government decided in August 2002 to support the attack on Iraq it treated intelligence about WMD and the legality of an invasion as "subservient". The Dutch cabinet's policy was laid out in a 45-minute meeting, and came at a time when the newly elected prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, was preoccupied with domestic concerns, it said.
The Dutch intelligence agencies were "more reserved" in their assessments than the government when discussing the initiative in parliament, the report found.
During the build-up to the war, in 2003, the US abandoned an attempt to get a UN security council resolution approving the invasion when it became apparent it would not be granted. In 2004, the UN secretary general at the time, Kofi Annan, said the invasion was illegal.
The US as a great warrior tribe | ||
| By Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst
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According to tribal Yemeni tradition, if a dispute has been resolved peacefully, any dagger that has been drawn cannot go back into its scabbard unless it tastes blood. Traditionally, an animal is slaughtered to satisfy its thirst and restore its holder's honour. Since the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact without a single shot, let alone nuclear warheads, being fired, the 'Greater Middle East' region has been turned into a real theatre of war. From the Gulf war in 1991 through to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, from Somalia in 1993 to Yemen in 2010, and through Afghanistan and Pakistan, the US military has gone to great lengths to demonstrate its strategic capacity to act in faraway places and to prove its ability to guard and advance US and Western interests. In return, the Pentagon's budget has almost doubled from the level it was before 9/11 to surpass the combined military expenditures of all the countries of the world, all under the guise of the 'global war against terror'. The US and its regional allies have empowered and financed tribal leaders, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, to defeat unrelenting Islamist opposition or nationalist insurgencies, just as America's enemies have tried to gain the support of tribes for their cause against the "foreigners". In the process, salient - and not so salient - tribal power has been empowered in all the areas of conflict in the 'Greater Middle East' by undemocratic leaders. Yemen, Libya, Jordan, Palestine and, even failed states like Afghanistan and Somalia, have witnessed the emergence of tribal loyalties and power. But the failure of the US and its allies to attain stability - let alone to declare victory - has slowly but surely transformed the political landscape into a coalition of tribes or 'a warrior ruling tribe' over many. With the advent of 9/11 and the 'war on terror', anger, humiliation and fear nudged the US into wars of 'shock and awe', revenge, torture, and rendition - stripping their 'enemy-combatants' of their very humanity in far away prisons. | ||
| http://english.aljazeera.net/ |
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