Showing posts with label Stephen Lendman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stephen Lendman. Show all posts

Lawless Israeli House Demolitions

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The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) helps rebuild homes.
It resists Israeli “land expropriation, settlement expansions, by-pass road construction, and policies of ‘closure’ and ‘separation.’ ”
Opposes demolition of Palestinian homes and other property.
Destruction of agricultural land and crops. Militarized occupation harshness. Treating Palestinians like subhumans.
Since 1967, Israel demolished over 28,000 Palestinian homes. According to its Interior Ministry. Jerusalem Municipality. Civil Administration.
UN bodies and agencies. Israeli human rights groups. International ones. ICAHD field monitoring. Various other sources.
Demolitions are politically motivated. Lawless. Unjustifiable for:
punishment for any reason or none at all;
building without virtually impossible to get permits on Palestinian owned land;
land-clearing/military demolitions to steal Palestinian land for Jews; and
other undefined reasons.
ICADH calls Israel’s demotion policy a peace-destroying initiative.
Long-suffering Palestinians continue enduring Israeli state-sponsored terror. Institutionalized racism.
Apartheid harshness. Displacement. Dispossession. Deprivation. Long denied justice. In violation of core international humanitarian and human rights laws.
Prevented from living on their own land freely. Denied fundamental rights everyone deserves.
Frustrated by decades of Israeli occupation harshness. According to ICAHD, Israel maliciously destroys homes, businesses, agricultural land, livestock facilities and other Palestinian property.
Ethnically cleansing Arabs from land Israel wants exclusively for Jews. Confining them to cantonized worthless scrubland.
Powerless ghettoization by any standard. Institutionalizing Israeli domination. Enforced by militarized occupation harshness.
Foreclosing any viable Palestinian entity. Denying self-determination. Substituting “institutionalized discrimination and ethnic displacement,” according to ICAHD.
Calling house demolitions and forced evictions “among Israel’s most heinous practices.” Continuing “on a broad scale.”
Including against Israeli Arab citizens. Denied rights afforded Jews. Imprisoning them for demanding equal rights. Wanting to live free on their own land in peace.
Longstanding Israeli Judaization reflects pure evil. Punishing Palestinians for not being Jews. Committing grave international humanitarian law (IHL) violations.
Including the right to adequate housing. As stipulated under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 25), stating:
“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 11).
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 17).
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Article 5(e)(iii)).
Convention on the Rights of the Child (Articles 16 and 27).
General Comments 4 (1991) and 7 (1997) of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Israeli OPT policies and practices constitute cruel and unusual treatment. Collective punishment.
Inhuman acts as defined in Article 7(1)(d) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Violating the UN Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid.
Breaching the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Violating Fourth Geneva principles. Other fundamental humanitarian and human rights laws, norms and standards.
Since 1997, ICAHD called for ending militarized occupation harshness. Forced evictions. Displacements. Dispossessions.
Demolitions of Palestinian homes and property. They continue out-of-control.
Under South African apartheid, pass laws segregated blacks from whites. Restricted their movements.
Required pass books be carried at all times. Produced on demand under threat of arrest and prosecution.
Restricted entry to cities. Forcibly relocated blacks. Denied them most public amenities. Many forms of employment.
Under Israeli militarized occupation, repression exceeds South Africa’s worst harshness. A sophisticated form of social, economic, political and racial discrimination.
Strangulation. Slow-motion genocide. Incorporating the worst elements of colonialism and apartheid persecution.
Repression. Dispossession. Displacement. State terror writ large. Separating Palestinians from their land and heritage.
Denying them fundamental civil and human rights. Gradually eliminating them altogether.
Apartheid is racism’s worst form. Militarized Israeli occupation is the worst type of apartheid.
Incorporating violence. Premeditated wars at Israel’s discretion. Multiple daily community incursions.
Land theft. Home demolitions. Destruction of other property. Targeted assassinations.
Politically motivated mass arrests and imprisonments. Isolation. Policies constituting slow-motion genocide.
Israel requires all permanent residents and citizens over 16 to have color-coded ID cards.
For Palestinians, dictating where they may live, work, and move. Obstructing free movement under a Kafkaesque system of control.
Including Jews only roads. Permanent and mobile checkpoints, roadblocks and other barriers.
Control of border crossings, air space and coastal waters. Curfews for any reason or none at all.
Closures anywhere, any time without cause. Separation Wall land theft. Up to 12% of West Bank territory when completed.
Isolating communities from each other. Ghettoizing them. Eliminating many altogether.
Requiring discriminatory permits for work, education, healthcare, and other vital services.
Movement from one community to another. To and from the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Excluding Gaza nearly impossible to reach under siege. Or exit from for other areas.
Virtually impossible to enter or leave Israel without permit permission.
Required to build. Make home renovations. Grow crops. Open a factory or business.
Import equipment. Export crops or merchandise. Controlling virtually all other aspects of Palestinian life.
Enforcing harshness for political reasons. Building on Palestinian owned land without virtually impossible to get permit permission is prohibited.
Doing so assures demolitions. Lawless destruction of privately owned Palestinian property.
Violating fundamental international humanitarian and human rights laws. They don’t matter.
Israel operates with impunity. State terror is official policy. Including lawless home demolitions.
Palestinians are afforded no rights whatever. Prisoners on their own land in their own country. By ruthless Israeli militarized occupiers.
On November 4, Maan News headlined “Israel forces demolish Palestinian homes in Silwan,” saying:
On Tuesday, residents said they raided the community pre-dawn. Demolishing “two two-story buildings.”
One “belonged to former Palestinian prisoner Khalil Abu Rajab.”
“Israeli troops and intelligence officers escorted bulldozers to the Wadi Yasoul area and proceeded to knock down the walls of the building without allowing the family to remove property.”
“Abu Rajab’s family lived on the first floor of the building; the second floor was still being furnished.”
“Construction on the building had only been completed five months before.”
Demolition came without prior notice. Abu Rajab’s lawyer unsuccessfully tried getting permit permission.
A second destroyed building belonged to Ishaq Abu Sbeih. He lacked required permit permission to build on his own land.
He lived on the fifth floor of a residential building. Decided to build a new house. To live on the ground floor. Given one of his children is physically disabled.
On Tuesday, Israel forced IDF murdered Muhammad Jaabis family members to demolish two animal barns in Jabal al-Mukabbir neighborhood.
Silwan tensions “boiled…in recent weeks,” said Maan News. On October 20, extremist settlers took over 10 apartments.
Lawlessly in the middle of the night. Weeks earlier, another 25. After secretly buying them.
Doing so was universally condemned. Israeli police murdered Muatz Hijazzi in the same neighborhood.
Unjustly accusing him of shooting right-wing rabbi Yehuda Glick. Denying him due process. Judging him guilty by accusation.
According to ICAHD, Israel demolished at least 359 Palestinian homes and other property in 2014 so far.
It bears repeating. Doing so violates fundamental international humanitarian and human rights laws.
Ones Israel violates repeatedly with impunity. Over and over again. Because world leaders able to intervene responsibly support its worst crimes.
A Final Comment
On November 3, Mondoweiss discussed Israeli right-wing extremists demanding harsher crackdowns on East Jerusalem Palestinians than already.
“Let the police mow the lawn,” they say. A hideous expression. A euphemism for extreme violence. Operation Protective Edge is Exhibit A.
So is the cumulative effect of daily persecution. Systematic ruthless state terror by any standard.
Extremist settlers want harsher practices. Shoot anyone throwing stones, some say. Even young children.
In July, Israeli soldiers used live ammunition against nonviolent Qalandia protesters. Killing three. Injuring over 200.
These type incidents aren’t isolated. They repeat with disturbing regularity. Palestinian rights don’t matter.
Israeli security forces target them with tear gas canisters, stun grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets, chemically-treated skunk water and live fire.
Avoiding Israeli violence is impossible, said Mondoweiss. Young children are shot for target practice. Others in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Pre-dawn raids terrorize communities. Beatings and arrests follow. Young children are detained.
“…Netanyahu is broadening police powers to attack Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem,” said Mondoweiss.
“After a meeting with top security officials last week week, (he) expedited passage of a law that would expand the legal definition of stone-throwing, casting an even wider dragnet through the streets of East Jerusalem to make the common form of resistance punishable by up to 20 years in prison.”
Police attorneys want parents of minors held liable for charges brought against them. With punishments ranging from fines to incarceration.
Israeli security forces operate with impunity. Fear grips Palestinian communities for good reason.
Anyone can be targeted for any reason or none at all. Collective punishment is official Israeli policy.
Barbarism defines it. Lawless. Out-of-control. Vicious. Ruthless and then some.
Not good enough for extremist settlers. “(N)othing short of massacres will satisfy (their lust) for violence,” said Mondoweiss.
Official Israeli policy indulges them all too often. Especially with Netanyahu in charge.
A world-class thug by any standard. A crime boss. Lawless. Ruthless. Mocking legitimate leadership.
Just societies would hold him accountable. In Israel, anything goes unaccountably.
Stephen Lendman who wrote the above post  lives in Chicago. He can be reached atlendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.
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Momentum for Palestinian Statehood

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by Stephen Lendman

Britain's symbolic vote brings it closer to reality. It's just a matter of time before Palestine takes its rightful place among other world nations officially.

Expect America, Israel and a few Pacific islands Washington dominates to be final holdouts.

Expect world public opinion and near universal acceptance to sway their eventual coming aboard. It'll take time. It's inevitable.

It's essential for regional peace. It's impossible without it. Since 1947/48, Palestinians suffered horrendous injustice.

Israel stole their homeland. Slaughtered and expelled their people. Prevented them from returning.

Continues stealing remaining land they own. Systematically violating core international humanitarian and human rights laws.

Maintaining repressive militarized occupation. Conditions exceed the worst of South African apartheid.

Colonization and apartheid are particularly serious international law breaches. They violate core legal standards, values and norms.

Self-determination is a fundamental human right. It's inviolable. It's universally recognized.

Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states:

"All peoples have the right of self-determination."

"By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development."

"All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic co-operation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence."

"The States Parties to the present Covenant, including those having responsibility for the administration of Non-Self-Governing and Trust Territories, shall promote the realization of the right of self-determination, and shall respect that right, in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations."

Article 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights repeats the same language.

General Assembly Resolution A/RES/33/24 (November 1978):

"Reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, particularly armed struggle."

General Assembly Resolution A/RES/3246 (XXIX) (November 1974):

"Reaffirms the legitimacy of the peoples' struggle for liberation form colonial and foreign domination and alien subjugation by all available means, including armed struggle."

"Strongly condemns all Governments which do not recognize the right to self-determination and independence of peoples under colonial and foreign domination and alien subjugation, notably the peoples of Africa and the Palestinian people."

General Assembly Resolution 2649 (1970):

"Affirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples under colonial and alien domination recognized as being entitled to the right of self-determination to restore to themselves that right by any means at their disposal."

According to Princeton University Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination director Wolfgang Danspeckgruber:

"No other concept is as powerful, visceral, emotional, unruly, or as steep in creating aspirations and hopes for self-determination."

The 1960 General Assembly decolonization resolution states:

"The subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights, is contrary to the Charter of the United Nations and is an impediment to the promotion of world peace and co-operation."

"All peoples have the right to self-determination; by virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development."

"Immediate steps shall be taken, in Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories or all other territories which have not yet attained independence, to transfer all powers to the peoples of those territories, without any conditions or reservations, in accordance with their freely expressed will and desire, without any distinction as to race, creed or colour, in order to enable them to enjoy complete independence and freedom."

"All States shall observe faithfully and strictly the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the present Declaration on the basis of equality, non-interference in the internal affairs of all States, and respect for the sovereign rights of all peoples and their territorial integrity."

General Assembly Resolution 181 called for an Independent Arab state by October 1, 1948.

It asked "all Governments and peoples to refrain from taking any action which might hamper or delay the carrying out of these recommendations."

It called for the Security Council to be empowered with "the necessary measures as provided for in the plan for its implementation."

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) calls self-determination "one of the essential principles of contemporary international law."

All nations are obligated to respect, observe and promote it. Longterm militarized colonization is in clear violation.

The 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (the Declaration on Colonialism), condemns colonialism in all "forms and manifestations."

The 1973 International Convention for the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (the Apartheid Convention) calls this practice state-sanctioned discriminatory "inhuman" racism "committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them."

Apartheid is an international crime. The 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court calls it one under ICC jurisdiction.

Israel has yet to be held accountable. It's high time this changed. Every country is legally bound to observe and enforce universally accepted international laws.

They're obligated to work cooperatively to end nation-state violations. Deny scofflaws recognition. Refuse them aid.

Core international law affirms Palestinians' right to self-determination. Rejects Israel's lawless occupation.

Its illegal land seizures and settlements. Its Separation Wall ICJ judges ruled illegal in 2004. Ordered its dismantlement.

Mandated reparations for the "requisition and destruction of homes, businesses, and agricultural holdings (and) to return the land, orchards, olive groves, and other immovable property seized."

Mandated Member States reject illegal construction. Demanded Israel comply with international law.

Horrific human and civil rights violations persist. Israel bears full responsibility. Accountability is nowhere in sight. Nor is long denied justice.

Resistance is universally recognized. According to Francis Boyle:

"Palestinians have a perfect right under international law to resist an illegal, colonial, genocidal, criminal, military occupation regime of their lands and of their homes and of their People that goes back to 1948 so long as it is done in a manner consistent with the requirements of international humanitarian law."

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states grants "(e)veryone…the right to life, liberty and security of person." No one may deny them.

Israeli state terror persists. Inhumane and degrading treatment is longstanding practice. So is collective punishment.

A matrix of draconian security laws and policies permits the domination of a colonial power over its subjects.

Jews alone have special rights. Palestinians are systematically denied. Institutionalized repression reflects daily life.

Longstanding Israeli practices are illegal under international law. Resolution demands recognizing Palestinian self-determination.

Freeing it from Israeli control. Things are moving in this direction. Among the world's 193 countries, 134 recognize Palestinian statehood.

Expect increasing numbers to join them. Major countries already did so. China, Brazil, India and Russia among them.

According to Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, Moscow intends backing a Palestinian draft resolution setting a timeline for ending occupation and self-determination.

"I cannot see any reasons to cavil about this text, or about Palestinian people's wish to say once again 'let's have a look at this situation, in the UN framework,' Bogdanov said.

"So we (tell Palestinians), if you find one option or another suitable, then we will support you as friends."

"You know better what you need and how to achieve it. We think that the Palestinian case is fair, meaning that people have a right to self-determination, up to establishing their state."

Monday's UK vote sent a strong message to world governments. Recognizing Palestinian statehood is an idea whose time has come.

Militarized occupation no longer is acceptable. Nor should Israel be allowed to dominate Palestinians any longer.

At issue for Washington, Brussels and Tel Aviv isn't if, but when, Palestinian statehood will be realized. Militarized occupation ended.

Yasser Arafat said earlier the march to Palestinian statehood is "unstoppable."

Palestinian Christian leaders urge European nations to recognize it.

"From Jerusalem, our occupied capital, we send our urgent message to the whole world and particularly to Europe: We are yearning for justice and peace," they said.

"Recognizing Palestine and defining Israel's borders is a first step towards that goal."

"We have endured dispossession and forced exile since 1948, when the majority of Palestine's Christians were forcibly expelled from their homes in the Holy Land."

"We have persevered through 66 years of exile and 47 years of occupation, holding on to the message of peace of Our Lord."

"We are tired of calls for resumptions of negotiations while we can't reach our churches due to a foreign power and our people continue to be humiliated by an undesirable occupation."

"We are waiting for the day that our churches will ring celebrating freedom and justice."

"Christians have a duty to resist oppression. We believe the international community and particularly Europe has not done enough in order to achieve a just and lasting peace."

"You cannot continue holding our right to freedom and self-determination as an Israeli prerogative."

"We have a natural right to be free, and Europe has a moral, legal and political duty to hold Israel accountable and support Palestinian non-violent initiatives to end the Israeli occupation, including the recognition of the State of Palestine on the 1967 border with East Jerusalem as its capital."

Changing conditions today are too strong to prevent it. Real self-determination. Within June 1967 borders.

Controlling their resources therein. Borders, air space and coastal waters.

East Jerusalem their exclusive capital. Diaspora Palestinians able to return. Compensation paid for stolen land and property.

Liberation at last. Long denied justice ended.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen [at] sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com
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Israel's Genocidal War on Palestine Without End

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by Stephen Lendman

It's longstanding Israeli policy. Palestinians aren't wanted. Israel considers them subhuman. 

It wants them eliminated. It wants Jewish exclusivity. It wants maximum Jews and minimum Arabs. 

Israel's entire history is blood-drenched. Depravity defines it. It's longstanding genocidal war on Palestine reflects it.

In 1985, then Israeli president Chaim Herzog said:

"We are certainly not willing to make partners of the Palestinians in any way in a land that was holy to our people for thousands of years. There can be no partner with the Jews of this land."

Former Israeli military leader Moshe Dayan urged treating Palestinians like dogs.

They're denied fundamental human and civil rights. Israel spurns peace and stability. Militarized occupation harshness persists.

Rule of law principles don't matter. War without mercy is waged preemptively whenever Israel wishes. Victims are blamed for its crimes.

Imagine living in limbo under a foreign occupier. Imagine being denied self-determination.

Imagine having no control over your daily life. Imagine living in constant fear.

Imagine being economically strangled. Imagine being collectively punished.

Imagine being denied free expression and movement. Imagine Gaza's suffocating blockade.

Imagine isolated West Bank population centers. Imagine closed borders, curfews, roadblocks, checkpoints, electric fences, and separation walls.

Imagine daily Kristallnacht in Palestine. Imagine hellish state terror. Imagine normal life denied. 

Imagine torture as official Israeli policy. Imagine mass arrests and imprisonments. 

Imagine thousands of Palestinian political prisoners languishing in Israel's gulag. Imagine their brutal treatment. Imagine it for wanting to live free on their own land in their own country.

Imagine land and resource theft, targeted assassinations, and diaspora Palestinians prevented from returning to land rightfully theirs.

Imagine Israeli security forces given authority to kill, brutalize, and otherwise collectively punish Palestinians with impunity. 

Imagine them taking full advantage. Imagine them being promoted, decorated or otherwise honored for cold-blooded murder and brutality.

Imagine justice denied. Imagine Western leaders supporting Israeli genocide.

Israeli historian Ilan Pappe addressed genocide in Gaza earlier. It's "taking place," he said. It never stops.

It began long before Operations Cast Lead, Pillar of Cloud and Protective Edge. It's daily reality.

"An average of eight Palestinians die daily in the Israeli attacks on the Strip," said Pappe. 

"Most of them are children. Hundreds are maimed, wounded and paralyzed." 

(It's) daily business" as usual. It's "reported (only) in the internal pages of the local press, quite often in microscopic fonts." 

"The chief culprits are the Israeli pilots who have a field day." It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

Francis Boyle urges "the Provisional Government of (Palestine) and its president (to) institute legal proceedings against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague for violating the" Genocide Convention. 

"Israel has indeed perpetrated the international crime of genocide against the Palestinian people (and the) lawsuit would demonstrate that undeniable fact to the entire world," said Boyle.

He calls it slow-motion genocide. So does Pappe. Raphael Lemkin defined genocide as:

"the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group…" It corresponds to other terms like "tyrannicide, homicide, infanticide, etc." 

"(It) does not necessarily mean the destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings…"

"It is intended...to signify a coordinated plan (to destroy) the essential foundations of the life of national groups" with the intent to eradicate or substantially weaken or harm them. 

"Genocidal plans involve the disintegration...of political and social institutions, culture, language, national feelings, religion, economic existence, personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and" human lives.

The 1948 Genocide Convention defines it in legal terms. Their unequivocal. They're binding. Violators are supposed to be held accountable. Justice remains denied.

Genocide is the highest of high crimes. According to the Genocide Convention, it "means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious groups, as such:

• Killing members of the group;

• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about is physical destruction in whole or in part;

• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;  (and/or)

• Forcibly transferring children of the group to other groups."

The Convention calls for punishing the following acts:

• "Genocide;

• Conspiracy to commit genocide;

• Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;

• Attempt to commit genocide; (and/or)

• Complicity in genocide."

Israel is guilty on all counts. So is America. It supports Israel's killing machine. It wages global war on humanity.

Israel wants Palestinians ethnically cleansed. It wants them eliminated. It wants them exterminated.

It's waging slow-motion genocide to achieve it. World leaders able to make a difference do nothing to intervene.

They back Israel's killing machine. They support its genocidal high crimes against peace.

Rule of law principles don't matter. Nor Nuremberg principles. They established guidelines for what constitutes crimes of war and against humanity.

Principle I states: "Any person (including heads of state) who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible therefore and liable to punishment."

Punishable crimes include "crimes against peace," "war crimes," and "crimes against humanity."

It bears repeating. Israel and America are guilty on all counts. So are complicit rogue partners.

They plan, prepare, initiate, and wage wars of aggression. They do so in violation of core international law.

They commit mass murder and destruction, extermination, virtual enslavement, and other inhumane acts against defenseless populations.

Obama continues genocidal Bush policies. Netanyahu gives rogue leadership new meaning.

America and Israel are pariah states. State terrorism is official policy. So is war on humanity.

Both nations are nuclear armed and dangerous. They have large illegal chemical and biological arsenals.

They use them in wars they wage. They use radiological weapons. They use other illegal ones. 

Blood-lust defines their agenda. Their dirty hands destroy everything they touch. 

Duplicitous managed news misinformation suppresses their high crimes against peace. 

Martin Luther King called America "(t)he greatest purveyor of violence in the world."

Israel is a willing partner. So are rogue NATO states. The only threats they face are ones they invent.

They do so to wage war on humanity. They're serial international law abusers. They violate them repeatedly. They do so with impunity. World peace hangs by a thread.

Shakespeare said "(w)hat's past is prologue." History repeats. The worst of it threatens humanity.

Today's modern weapons risk the unthinkable. US/Israeli/rogue NATO partners' rage to fight risks nuclear war.

Noted geopolitical observer Hans Morgenthau (1904 - 1980) believed "the world is moving ineluctably toward a third world war - a strategic nuclear war."

"I do not believe anything can be done to prevent it," he said. "The international system is simply too unstable to survive for long."

Resistance is essential. It's a universal right. It's a fundamental imperative. It's more vital than ever. It represents hope.

John Locke said "when governments fail their people, their trust must necessarily be forfeited, and the Power devolve into the hands of those that gave it, who may place it anew where they shall think best for their safety and security."

Martin Luther King wrote:

"I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law."

He called "noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good." 

He championed "creative protest." Passivity is no option in the face of injustice.

Henry David Thoreau said "(t)he only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think is right."

"All men recognize the right…to refuse allegiance to, and to resist the government when its tyranny (is) great and unendurable."

Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark paid tribute to those punished for trying. "Our jails are filling up with saints," he said.

Supporting them is a universal obligation. When governments threaten humanity, resistance is the last line of defense.

America is lawlessly out-of-control. So is Israel. They partner in horrific high crimes against peace.

They threaten humanity. They risk global war. Stopping them is a universal imperative. So is holding their culpable officials accountable.

Francis Boyle is clear and unequivocal. Washington and Israel are guilty of "serial wars of aggression, crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes that are legally akin to those perpetrated by the former Nazi regime in Germany," he said.

Ordinary citizens are obligated to resist. They should "prevent, impede, thwart, or terminate ongoing criminal activities…"

"Today's civil resisters are the sheriffs!" US and Israeli officials are "outlaws." 

They deserve "indictment, conviction, and long-term incarceration…" They're guilty of the worst high crimes against peace.

No one should be allowed to get away with them. Not presidents. Not prime ministers. Not Congress. Not Knesset members.

Not courts at any level. Not military commanders. Not appointed officials. Not intelligence operatives. Not local security forces.

It's up to ordinary people to act. America and Israel aren't fit to live in. Full-blown tyranny looms.

It's perilously close. Freedom is on the chopping block for elimination. 

Fundamental rights are disappearing in plain sight. They no longer matter.

Right-wing extremists run things. Wars without end persist. Barbarism is official policy. 

At risk is turning planet earth into an uninhabitable wasteland. It bears repeating. World peace hangs by a thread.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen (at) sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.
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UK Methodists still half-hearted about BDS

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UK Methodists sidestepped a proposal to “strengthen the Church’s commitment to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) as a peaceful and effective method to persuade the State of Israel to end its military occupation of the Palestinian territories… by applying BDS to Israel in addition to the illegal settlements”. And they did so on a day when Israelis were ramping up their wildly disproportionate murder spree and collective punishment against Palestinians





“We’ll continue dialogue and engage prayerfully”


The UK Methodist conference has ducked the opportunity to extend BDS to the whole of Israel. They are content to limit it to firms that operate in the illegally-occupied Palestinian territories for the time being.
They sidestepped a proposal to “strengthen the Church’s commitment to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) as a peaceful and effective method to persuade the State of Israel to end its military occupation of the Palestinian territories… by applying BDS to Israel in addition to the illegal settlements”. And they did so on a day when Israelis were ramping up their wildly disproportionate murder spree and collective punishment against Palestinians in response to the alleged kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers.
A spokesperson for the Church said: “A Notice of Motion calling for Conference to look at adopting BDS at next year’s Conference was not passed and the original resolutions in the report were voted on.”
What were those original resolutions?
“The Conference, mindful of the demands made by this work upon the Connexional Team and the resources of the whole Church, encourages the Methodist people to observe a period of two years (Conferences of 2015 and 2016) before submitting memorials or notices of motion to the Conference on this or similar issues relating to Israel/Palestine that require further work or action.”
So there’s absolutely no need for urgency. What are Methodists supposed to do in the meantime?
“The Conference, recognising that significant time and energy has been expended on this work beyond what is sustainable for the Church, directs the Methodist people to the resolutions of the Methodist Conference in 2010 (see Appendix 1). This will offer to the Church a variety of ways in which people might engage prayerfully and practically with the region.
So it’s too much like hard work grappling with this BDS stuff.
“The Conference wishes to continue in dialogue with those in Britain who are closely affected by the ongoing conflict and calls on Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) to act as an agent for the Churches in drawing together the wide range of voices from within faith communities in Britain as well as continuing to work with a variety of relevant agencies…”
Thanks, we get the drift. All talk, no action.
In a briefing document http://www.methodist.org.uk/media/1071021/bds-briefing-for-methodist-people-0614.pdf circulated a few months before conference the authors(unnamed) came up with every excuse imaginable, and then some, to put the skids under the call for fuller BDS.

  • “The very notion of boycott recalls for many the Nazi organised boycott of 1933 when Hitler came to power….”

  • The term ‘boycott’ was used in Germany in the 1930s to project hatred toward the Jews and provided a means through which hatred could find physical expression.

  • “Any formal call for boycott from Churches strengthens a perception among some within the Jewish community that Christians are unwilling to counter anti-Semitism. This would present difficulties for relationships between Methodists and many in the Jewish community.”

  • “Trade sanctions against Israel would be unjust as this would be inconsistent with the approach taken to occupation in other contexts including China’s occupation of Tibet, Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara…”

  • “When divesting you close the door to further engagement with a company.”

  • “Academic boycott runs contrary to the principle of a free exchange of ideas. An academic boycott would to some extent curtail the opportunities for academic exchange and would discriminate against Israeli academics who are critical of the Israeli government. The Israeli academic community contains some of the most free-thinking members of Israeli society.”

  • “A blanket ban on all Israeli goods is difficult to achieve as Israeli manufactured products and components are prevalent in the UK market place… The pragmatic approach proposed by the BDS Movement is to boycott goods within reason, but this does rather suggest a boycott of convenience.”

  • “To some extent BDS could distract from a dialogue around the application of the core principles of justice, equality and self-determination… It is often suggested that it would be better for the Church to join with other faiths in efforts to facilitate bridge-building projects and build trust.”

  • “We have acknowledged that, when a national Church institution issues criticism of the policies of the Government of Israel it can be perceived as hatred and victimisation of the Jewish people.”
They expect to be loved after what has been done in their name for the last 60-odd years?
  • “There is general agreement that many Israelis may assume that Israel is being targeted by BDS “because they hate us” or “because they are anti-Semitic”.”

  • “The tactic of BDS, by giving credence to one perspective only, is unlikely to promote an atmosphere for dialogue that could be truly transformative in nature.”
In the end UK Methodists, at their annual conference, didn’t seem to grasp that the BDS campaign is to make Israel realise that, even if the international community continues to allow the racist regime to run amok, civil society will eventually ensure there are consequences for its cruelty and for defiling the Holy Land with its crimes. Only consequences can change the situation. Nothing else has done so.
The Methodists’ BDS briefing reads like it’s the work of the Board of Deputies of British Jews or the hasbara team in Mark Regev’s propaganda den in Tel Aviv. BDS, of course, is not a fight setting one people against another. It isthe application of social, economic and political pressure to bring about change. If it is a fight at all, it’s a fight against oppression and brutal occupation. It’s a fight for freedom and self-determination. Encouraging people to think that it might be a fight for something else, as this grubby document does, is pure mischief.
When was dialogue with Jews or their Jewish state ever “transformative”? They have forced the Palestinians to live under illegal occupation for decades. Muslims and Christians live in daily terror, their movement is severely restricted, their trade is strangled, their academic freedoms are almost non-existent, they cannot attend their holy places, their homes and livelihoods have been destroyed, their country has been pillaged and trashed. It is the Christian-Muslim perspective that claims out attention and the Christian presence in the Holy Land is dwindling fast. It is they who have suffered, and continue to suffer, while Israel prospers at their expense.

Stuart Littlewood
2 July 2014

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