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Netanyahu Called For Mass Expulsions of Palestinians in 1989

The Jerusalem Post of 19 November 1989 reported Netanyahu’s address to students at Bar-Ilan University in reference to the June 1989 Tiananmen Square crisis:

HIGHLIGHT: Deputy Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has called for Israel to exploit political opportunities in order to expel large numbers of Palestinians from the territories. Netanyahu made the remark in a speech to Bar-Ilan University students on Thursday. In a tape recording of a portion of Netanyahu’s address obtained by The Jerusalem Post last night, the deputy foreign minister clearly states that “five, 50 or 500” inciters should have been expelled at various times since the start of the intifada.

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Netanyahu told the students that the government had failed to exploit politically favourable situations in order to carry out “large-scale” expulsions at times when “the damage would have been relatively small.

“I still believe that there are opportunities to expel many people,” Netanyahu said.

Then on November 21, 1989, the Jerusalem Post reports Netanyahu attempting to mitigate his previous, unambiguous comments:

EVERYONE KNEW WHAT I MEANT,’ SAYS NETANYAHU ABOUT EXPULSIONS

HIGHLIGHT: Deputy Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu yesterday denied that he had called for large-scale expulsions of Palestinians from the territories. Replying in the Knesset to a motion for the agenda by Tewfik Toubi, (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) which was struck off by a large majority, Netanyahu said that in his speech to students at Bar-Ilan University last Thursday he had referred to inciters and not to the general population.

The Jerusalem Post documents cannot be reproduced without permission, but “are available on LexisNexis if you have access. They can also be purchased from the ProQuest Archiver (here and here).”

Is Netanyahu attempting to create and exploit favourable conditions by agitating for a war with Iran in order to begin mass expulsions of Palestinians now, “when the damage might be relatively small”?

Is Israel’s expulsion of thousands of Sudanese refugees a practice run?

Ethnic cleansing has notable political support in Israel – Tzipi Livni and Avigdor Lieberman have also raised the spectre of mass expulsions from Israel more recently.

Livni, often misrepresented as a “dovish” figure, has been consistent in her desire to get rid of Palestinian citizens of Israel in order to maintain Jewish ethnic purity, so much so, that even former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was shocked by Livni’s extreme views.

During Palestinian-Israeli negotiations in 2008, the Palestine Papers revealed, Livni was one of the foremost proponents of transferring areas populated by Palestinians from within Israel to the putative Palestinian state.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and other Israeli politicians openly advocate various kinds of “transfer” schemes.

Whether Netanyahu is contemplating a critical scenario enabling mass expulsions, he is already facilitating mass dispossession and displacement of Palestinians by inexorable stealth.

Professor Raquel Rolnik, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing said this month:

“From the Galilee and the Negev to East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the Israeli authorities promote a territorial development model that excludes, discriminates against and displaces minorities, particularly affecting Palestinian communities.” The Rapporteur also added that “Throughout my visit I received repeated complaints regarding lack of housing, threats of demolitions and evictions, overcrowding, the disproportional number of demolitions affecting Palestinian communities side by side with the accelerated development of predominantly Jewish settlements”.

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According to Prof. Rolnik, in East Jerusalem she witnessed the inadequate housing conditions and deficiencies in basic infrastructure faced by Palestinian neighbourhoods and villages. “The policies adopted by Israeli authorities severely restrict Palestinians from building legally through various means. Among others, Israel has not provided Palestinians with the necessary planning framework to ensure that their basic housing and infrastructure needs are met.” she said. Moreover, the number of permits issued is grossly inadequate to housing needs leading many Palestinians to build without obtaining a permit. As a result, numerous Palestinians homes or extensions to these are considered illegal so that the inhabitants are subjected to eviction orders and the demolition of their houses. “Currently tens of thousands of Palestinians are estimated to be at risk of their homes being demolished due to unregulated building. The mere threat of demolition has a profound impact on families and particularly on children, psychological and otherwise.” explained the Rapporteur.

In the West Bank the territorial fragmentation and the severe deterioration of Palestinian standards of living are furthered by decades of accelerated expansion of Israeli settlement units that expropriate land and natural resources. “To a certain extent, these territorial and demographic changes promoted in the West Bank, mirror changes occurred within the Israeli territory after 1948, where Palestinian presence was progressively limited in parallel to a disproportional support to the expansion of Jewish communities.” said Rolnik.Following a visit to the Arab al-Jahalin Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar, UN Special Rapporteur Rolink said: “This community, among others in the area of “Greater Jerusalem”, has been informed by the Civil Administration that a master plan has been approved which would lead to their expulsion from the area where they currently live for the expansion of the Ma’ale Adumin settlement. The only school in the area, which was built by the community, is under a demolition order. The community is in great uncertainty regarding its future.”

Prof. Rolnik concluded that after the Oslo agreements, Israel retained official temporary control over the vast majority of the occupied West Bank (Area C). At present, more than half a million Israeli-Jews, have settled in the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem. “Throughout my visit, I was able to witness a land development model that excludes, discriminates against and displaces minorities in Israel which is being replicated in the occupied territory, affecting Palestinian communities. The Bedouins in the Negev – inside Israel – as well as the new Jewish settlements in area C of the West Bank and inside Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem – are the new frontiers of dispossession of the traditional inhabitants, and the implementation of a strategy of Judaization and control of the territory.

Related Links

Bernard Avishai says in his book “The Hebrew Republic” a 2007 poll showed 60% of Israeli Palestinians feared mass expulsions, while 68% of Israeli Jews feared civil uprising by Israeli Palestinians.
Jewish settlements in the rulings of the European Court of Justice

Day 63 of Khader Adnan’s Hunger Strike For Palestinian Justice & Dignity

CNN picks up the story: Palestinian’s hunger strike puts spotlight on Israeli detentions
Khader Adnan: Hungry for dignity
The people of Bil’in, who continue to struggle for the return of their lands still sequestered behind Israel’s wall, marked seven years of resistance this Friday. The demonstration was devoted to express solidarity with Khader Adnan, the administrative detainee who has been on hunger strike for the past 62 days and is currently on the verge of death.
Addameer profile of KHADER ADNAN MOHAMMAD MUSA
Khader Adnan at Electronic Intifada
Khader Adnan at Risk of Death on 60th Day of Hunger Strike
“We are all Khader Adnan” : Thousands of Palestinian people demonstrate for #KhaderAdnan in West Bank & Gaza
Write a letter of support and solidarity to Khader Adnan and his family
More weasily words from Ashton: EU’s Ashton ‘concerned’ for Palestinian hunger striker

Palestine / Israel Links

Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (09 – 15 Feb. 2012)
The Seacret Debate: Conflict over the Conflict

Seacret is an Israeli company that sells cosmetics made from minerals extracted from the Dead Sea.

Its products are labelled, “Made In Israel”.

The Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA) is an Adelaide-based activist group formed in 2003, which campaigns against Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people.

AFOPA accuses Seacret of stealing Palestinian resources to make its products.

Since October 2010, members of AFOPA having been regularly protesting on Friday nights outside the Seacret store in Rundle Mall.

They wear green shirts, carry Palestinian flags and hand out flyers.

“Firstly, we hope that the effects of the boycott will encourage the owners of Seacret to put pressure on the Israeli government to change their inhumane policies to the Palestinians,” AFOPA member Margaret Cassar says.

“Secondly, Seacret is an Israeli company that profits from the illegal military occupation of Palestine.

“Its use of Dead Sea minerals in its products is in direct contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention which forbids exploitation of resources in land held by an occupying power.”

Israeli Extremists On Facebook Celebrate Death of Palestinian Children Killed In Traffic Accident

Israel divestment campaign picks up steam among Presbyterians
Book identifies pressure points for boycott actions
Israel teaches American police how to treat Occupy Wall Street protesters like Palestinians

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Free Khader Adnan – Dignity and Justice for Palestinians

Respect to Khader Adnan and his family – let’s hope that the cruel apartheid Israeli regime delivers a rare display of mercy so the life of this heroic Palestinian is preserved. Khader is being held by Israel on no charge and without trial. The capricious Israeli military court has refused his appeal against arbitrary detention.

62 days into a hunger strike protest, Khader personifies the spirit of Indigenous Palestinian sumud, steadfastness in the face of overwhelming political malice – the collective punishment, colonialism and apartheid perpetrated by the ethnosupremacist zionist state.

According to Prisoners Rights organisation, Addameer, Israel currently holds 310 Palestinians under administration detention, including 18 Palestinian Legislative Council members. Free all Palestinian political prisoners now!

Related Links

If Khader Adnan was anything but Palestinian
The West Bank’s Bobby Sands : Khader Adnan’s two-month hunger strike has made him a hero among Palestinians outraged by Israel’s policy of arbitrary detention –

Physicians for Human Rights issued a medical report this week supporting a petition to the Supreme Court for his release. In it the group said that even though Mr Adnan had agreed to be treated with an infusion of liquids and salts, augmented by glucose and vitamins, he had refused to end his hunger strike and was in “immediate danger of death”. The report added that a fast “in excess of 70 days does not permit survival”.

The Supreme Court petition, for which no date has been set for a hearing, is the last judicial chance to save his life as Mr Adnan has said he will not end his fast until he is released from his four months of administrative detention. A military appeals court ruled this week that he must remain in detention until May.

The EU’s shameful silence on Khader Adnan :

‘Catherine Ashton, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, publicly sympathised with the family of Shalit at every conceivable opportunity, never acknowledging that the Israeli soldier belonged to an army of occupation and was taking part in acts of aggression against the Palestinian people when he was captured. Does she regard his life as more important than that of Adnan, a man in detention without being charged or convicted of an offence?

Is she more worried about the oppressor, than the oppressed? It would appear so.

Almost 12 hours ago, I contacted Ashton’s office, requesting an urgent explanation for her silence on Adnan’s hunger strike. I have still not received a response.’

Palestinian’s Hunger Strike Challenges Detention by Israel

Palestine / Israel Links

Some Israelis react with joy to deaths of Palestinian kids in bus crash, others revolted by racism
After Jerusalem crash, racist comments appear on Netanyahu’s Facebook page: Satisfaction that “only Palestinians” were the victims and slogans such as “Death to Arabs, why do we help them?” were posted on the Facebook pages of Netanyahu, Wallah and the Israel Police.
“I was not counting my todahs and shukrans” new Jerusalem NY Times bureau chief Jodi Rudoren becomes aware of zionist linguistic apartheid.
‘A level of racist violence I have never seen’: UCLA professor Robin D. G. Kelley on Palestine and the BDS movement

‘To me, that emphasis on normalization is one of the more dangerous things, because if they succeed in convincing the world that this is not a state of war or occupation but rather this is really the heart of the kind of Western democracy that’s like the rest of the world, the Western world at least–then in some ways that’s how they try and win. And part of what the boycott does is it delegitimizes the claim that this is a normal situation. It’s not a normal situation, it’s a settler-colonial situation, a situation of oppression.’

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“Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy” by Ben White

This is the video of Ben White’s address to a packed hall at the launch of his new book at Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre in London on 26th January, 2011.

‘Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy’ is the new book by Ben White, and considers an issue neglected by the mainstream “peace process” and many commentators: the Palestinian minority in Israel.

What many in Israel call ‘the demographic problem’ White identifies as ‘the democratic problem’ which goes to the heart of the conflict: Israel’s definition not as a state of its citizens, but as a Jewish state.

With a foreword by Member of Knesset Haneen Zoabi, and endorsements by the likes of Prof. Ilan Pappe and Booker Prize-shortlisted author Ahdaf Soueif, White’s new book describes how a consistent emphasis on privileging one ethno-religious group over another cannot be seen as compatible with democratic values and that, unless addressed, will undermine any attempts to find a lasting peace.

You can buy Ben White’s new book at Pluto Press.

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Make Palestine Your Valentine : Boycott Apartheid Israel

Valentine for PalestineValentine for Palestine

Watch videos of Palestinians in love who struggle to be together agaisnt Israel’s apartheid laws which discriminate against non-Jewish people and crush Palestinian rights everywhere. Don’t forget to join the Love Under Apartheid Facebook page.

Share your love and raise your voice especially with Khader Adnan, deprived of human rights under military detention without trial or charge and who is in his 58th day of a hunger strike to protest for Palestinian dignity. The Israeli military occupation “court” has denied his appeal. Hundreds of Palestinians have joined in solidarity with Khader’s hunger strike.

Ali Abunimah writes in Al Jazeera English:

Though the life in his body hangs on by a thread, his spirit is unbroken.

“The Israeli occupation has gone to extremes against our people, especially prisoners,” Adnan wrote in a letter published through his lawyer, “I have been humiliated, beaten, and harassed by interrogators for no reason, and thus I swore to God I would fight the policy of administrative detention to which I and hundreds of my fellow prisoners fell prey.”

Please remember to boycott Israeli blood diamonds – share this album over the next 24 hours, on radio shows, media outlets, NGO’s like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch etc. Make Israeli blood diamonds an issue for Jewellers this Valentine’s Day.

Related Links

“As Israel continues in its audacious refusal to abide by international law so does Lebanon.”
Condemned to arbitrary detention without trial or charge, Khader Adnan continues to pursue Palestinian resistance to Israeli fascism through hunger strike. 58 days without food.
Khader Adnan and Israel’s use of administrative detention
Rightwing zionists attempting another troll to attract pre-election Christian zionist support in the US?
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Raquel Rolnik describes this aspect of Israeli apartheid: “In very different legal and geographical contexts, from the Galilee and the Negev to East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the Israeli authorities promote a territorial development model that excludes, discriminates against and displaces minorities, particularly affecting Palestinian communities.”
A swing in Australia toward Palestine? when will the opinion polls ask better questions, like “Do you think Israel should be prosecuted in the ICC for its apartheid, colonialism and collective punishment”?
Zionist hasbara collides: NGO Monitor collectively punishes antisemitic Danny Ayalon in conjunction with the UN
Roger Cohen emphasises Beinart’s flawed, antisemitic thesis of “Jewish power” – this is a bait and switch by the zionist ruling class
Illiterate hasbaroid zionists cam’t tolerate Mahmoud Darwish and Habiby, condemn them as propaganda for BDS
Another day of 64 years of foul Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed with impunity thanks to the US/UK/Australia/Canada: Twenty Israeli military vehicles descend on village south of Hebron, demolish 22 buildings, displace 120 Palestinians
The apartheid entity victimises Palestinian children : Israeli Bulldozers Destroy Playground in Silwan – International Middle East Media Center
Recognising Israel’s appalling crimes of apartheid and colonialism, US academics declare their support for BDS
Better late than never? a bit late to the crime scene : IMF warns Israel over Arab, Haredi Jew poverty

Other Links

“Why is the United States supporting the Bahraini police with tear gas and with weapons? You know, we want basic freedoms such as the ones that you have in the United States. And, you know, why is your government not acknowledging that?”
Al-Akhbar contributor Austin Mackell freed, recalls screams of torture in Egypt

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“It’s very complicated” : Shit Zionists Say

Hilarious!

In response to the video, there’s rumours of an Academy award for Ali Abunimah feted as “highly convincing as a zionist”, from JF’s Dan Friedman.

And on a more serious note, from the Russell Tribunal on Palestine:

John Dugard gives a presentation on how “the apartheid regime operated in law and policy in South Africa, and provide an overview of Israeli law and policy with respect to the prohibition on apartheid.” for the 3rd International Session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine in Cape Town in November 2011

Related Links

So much for ‘normalisation’ : A school set up to promote peace and understanding between Arab and Jewish communities in Jerusalem has been hit by vandals who have daubed racist threats on its playground walls, including “Death to Arabs”.

Michael Ladson reports on the racist opposition to the Penn BDS conference:

An historic national conference to promote the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement directed at ending Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people was held at the University of Pennsylvania Feb. 3-5.

Even before the conference began a wave of vicious racist attacks were directed against Palestine solidarity activists by the campus press, on-line blogs and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Penn students active in organizing the conference were verbally attacked by pro-Israeli forces.

Perhaps the most disgusting was the anti-Semitic slur of “kapos” aimed at Jewish pro-BDS students by Professor Ruben Gur in the campus paper The Daily Pennsylvanian. The term refers to Jews who collaborated with Nazis in concentration and extermination camps during World War II.

The night before the conference opened, Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz — an apologist for Israeli and U.S. war crimes — addressed an event sponsored by several Penn academic departments and the college chapters of the Republicans and Democrats.

Dershowitz encouraged this audience to deny the brutal ethnic cleansing of Palestinians during the creation of the State of Israel, known as al-Nakba.