Tag: Politics

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September Spring Surprises

According to Haaretz, the Israeli Knesset is paddling Nutanyahoo for lack of preparation for the declaration of Palestinian fakestatehood this month whilst acclaiming the IDF for its perspicacity.

Based on discussions with MKs and others who have read the report, its authors warned that a successful Palestinian bid for UN recognition as an independent state UN will produce “a long-term anti-Israel process” that will further Palestinian interests and restrict Israel’s ability to maneuver.

The report argued that had Israel offered “a political option” that would have enabled the U.S. administration to draft an agreed formula for resuming Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, it might have been possible to neutralize the Palestinian move.

The report also criticized the failure to integrate the work of various relevant agencies, something that is the responsibility of the Prime Minister’s Bureau and, especially, of the National Security Council.

On the other hand, the committee was favorably impressed by the preparations of the defense establishment, and especially the IDF, for the possibility of a confrontation in September.

The report concluded that what happens in September will create a risk of regional escalation and deterioration. Even though the current Palestinian leadership is not interested in another armed conflict like the second intifada, it said, the impact of the atmosphere generated by the “Arab Spring,” combined with frustration among the Palestinian public at the gap between the UN’s declaration and the reality on the ground, could result in an outbreak of frustration that could end in serious violence.

The IDF alarm should be taken under hasbara advisement, particular in regard to their last claim of Hamas working with Bedouin in the Sinai:

The senior IDF and Shin Bet officials who appeared before the committee warned that following the UN vote, a “dynamic of events” might develop, and under certain circumstances, this could result within mere days in nonviolent Palestinian demonstrations turning into violent confrontations with many casualties. Under such circumstances, the defense establishment believes the Palestinian security organizations might not be able to contain the violence.

The officials also noted that Iran and Hezbollah have a clear interest in a violent confrontation between Israel and the Palestinians.

Clashes in the West Bank could result in isolated settlements having to defend themselves against mass marches of Palestinians. This in turn could lead to acts of revenge against the Palestinians by extremist settlers.

Defense officials also warned that the confrontation could spill over into Sinai, where there has been growing activity by Hamas in conjunction with groups of extremist Bedouin.

It is not only the the fakestatehood declaration which comes up this month in the UN General Assembly, but the Goldstone Report (aka the UN Fact-Finding Mission Report on the Gaza Conflict), the UN HRC report on Israel’s flotilla attack and the Palmer Report. With a back drop of Israel’s version of Arab Spring – the J14 protests, this may not be a fortuitous month for Israel’s ruling Likud party.

Edward Said deconstructs the spurious Zionist claim to sole ownership of the region they call Israel. “Nobody has a claim which overrides any others and entitles them to drive people out.”

Related Links

‘What will happen if this bid indeed changes nothing on the ground, as most Palestinians indeed believe? What will happen when the Palestinians realize that UN recognition doesn’t change their lives, that the settlements continue to expand, and the occupation continues?
August Position Paper of the Palestinian Delegation to Australia and NZ on statehood makes no mention of Res 194 or ’67 borders.
‘Adalah and ACRI demand that the Israeli police and security services do not treat Arab citizens of Israel who exercise their right to demonstrate as enemies of the state. This demand comes in light of the bitter experience of police conduct towards protests and demonstrations by Palestinians in Israel, first and foremost in October 2000 in which 13 Arab citizens were killed by police fire’
Comprehensive list of various analyses on the fakestatehood bid
As PA ditches “1967 borders” to win UN vote, It’s time to switch to Civil Rights. ‘Now, instead of recognizing Palestine within the 1967 borders, it will say that the permanent borders will be determined by, yes, you guessed, negotiations with Israel “based on” the borders of June 4, 1967. This is where the negotiations were at five years ago.’
Leila Khaled: ‘People who support negotiations, must identify whom the Palestinians must negotiate with’.

‘At the Viva Palestina Arabia conference at the American University of Beirut, there was little enthusiasm among the Palestinians for the idea of a UN membership for rump Palestine.

Far from helping it, the PA’s bid for UN recognition has worsened its political crisis. Palestinians point out that it is meaningless for towns, villages and refugee camps surrounded by Israeli walls to be presented as a sovereign state.

Dr Ghada Karmi, a leading Palestinian activist and writer, has for decades been an ardent supporter of a civil revolt as opposed to armed resistance. She, however, was severely critical of the insistence of PA president Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah group on talks with Israel. “They (Fatah) have closed all doors,” said Karmi, 74, while referring to the president’s position that negotiations are the only means to a solution. “Once your enemy knows that carrying out [futile] talks is all you are capable of, he won’t care. You can talk for as long as you like and they (the Israelis) will build settlement upon settlement,” she added.’

Relevant UN General Assembly Agenda items:

36. Question of Palestine (resolutions 65/13 to 65/16).

51. United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near
East (resolutions 65/98 to 65/101).

52. Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the
Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied
Territories (resolutions 65/102 to 65/106).

61. Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied
Syrian Golan over their natural resources (resolution 65/179).

Are Palestinians walking into a trap at the UN?
Why Israel’s Blockade on Gaza is Illegal
Palestinian Americans “unequivocally reject” PA’s UN statehood bid
Ben White: The problem with Palestinian political leadership : A legitimacy deficit, a lack of smart tactics and a focus on power for power’s sake are all barriers to Palestinian liberation
Leila Khaled: ‘People who support negotiations, must identify whom the Palestinians must negotiate with’.

Palestine / Israel Links

Danon sleazes up to South Sudan, which needs to get a clue about the apartheid entity.
For the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state is to declare their surrender, meaning, to waive their group dignity by negating their historical narrative and national identity.

Wikileaks

WikiLeaks: Iraqi children in U.S. raid shot in head, U.N. says
A massive archive of unredacted US diplomatic cables is circulating freely on the web

WikiLeaks accused the Guardian’s investigative reporter David Leigh of divulging the password needed to decrypt the files in a book published earlier this year.

It’s done: bruised egos lead to the release of uncensored WikiLeaks cables – Bernard Keane has a rounded view
Jonathan Holmes :

the fact that Dorling has sole custody of the WikiLeaks cables, and the editors of The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald have not insisted on the publication of cables relevant to Dorling’s news stories, regardless of what WikiLeaks was doing, is a dereliction of their editorial responsibility.

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Beyond July 14

Predicated on an antisemitic fallacy that Jewish people can only be safe in a Jewish state and that Jews bring antisemitism with them, Herzl’s political zionism was intrinsically bigoted. Jews should be able to be safe anywhere – there is no place for racism or bigotry of any kind within social systems which respect universal human rights and justice.

Jewish ‘security’ in Israel is mounted on two-tiered formally legislated privilege for Jews and dispossession of non-Jews, beginning with the fact that only Jews are nationals of Israel, while all are citizens.

So political zionism turns out not to be like ‘ANY nationalism’. In democracies, nationality is not determined by religion or ethnicity. Not so in Israel where more than 30 laws discriminate against non-Jews. Racist division and class envy are useful to elites, who then redirect challenges to their ruling hegemony toward chosen scapegoats. Palestinians, their supporters, and most visibly, the demonised spectre of Hamas, serve as zionist hegemony’s scapegoats.

The July 14 movement is protesting the practices of a state which imposes legal constraints circumscribing zionist elite privilege, challenging oppressive neoliberal structures directly on the issue of unequal access to housing, an issue adversely affecting a large majority, save the elite, across many divides within the imaginary Israeli borders. This movement is organic, seems to be inclusive and coopting of common cause, heading in the right direction toward equal rights for all, challenging the internal class divide. There is understandable concern that Palestinians who have located themselves within the protest movement are being used to further zionist privilege whilst the urgent, grievous lack of Palestinian rights is neglected for political expediency and a tactic of uniting the polity (not including Palestinians in the OPT) against the state.

The protest has support of 85% of the Israeli populace – if it maintains momentum, there’s potential for the racist state and its exclusivist zionist ideology to be irrevocably transformed by the process as its polity – its complete citizenry – transforms through direct action and interaction. Palestinians have erected tents to highlight their issues and spoken to demonstrations. Yet to expect uncritical solidarity for a movement which marginalises the most severe injustices perpetrated by the zionist regime as a tactical move by excluding them from the main agenda is petulant. Social justice movements worthy of the name aim for justice for all, not ‘just us’ and seek allies who are solidly grounded in human rights and social justice, not drive them away or expect them to drop their long-held principles – that is a form of colonisation, the prerogative of the Occupier.

Those who are annoyed that some folks aren’t rushing to acclaim the J14 protests unequivocally might consider the reaction in Australia if Aboriginals and their supporters were told to back a cause for affordable housing prices across Australia where specific Aboriginal housing concerns and dis-advantage were kept off the main agenda in order not to alienate wide support.

@AboriginalOz lol, the condition of participation for Aboriginal ppl is to exclude the possibility of meeting the needs of Aboriginal ppl? ummm #

UPDATE RT @Budouroddick @davidsheen Since list of demands drops all references to aiding non-Jewish groups who suffer worst from housing crisis, #j14 is now officially #jew14 #

Related Links

Kadima opportunism on the J14 movement, including annotation of early views
Essential reading: Max Ajl, “Social Origins of the Tent Protests in Israel”
Can the J14 protests help overcome zionism? ‘Palestinian-Israelis join the July 14 protests at great personal risk. They fear that by joining the movement their own national identity will be co-opted to advance a struggle that will betray them in the end’.
Olive Revolt in Palestine
Yossi Gurvitz casts out the doubters and critics … ‘Israelis have never received any education about equality.’
The sham solidarity of Israel’s Zionist left
J14 and the rift between Israeli and international activists
Arab social justice needs heard by the gov’t-what about J14?

‘The initial list of demands J14 released included two items specifically about Arab citizens – blanket recognition for unrecognized Bedouin towns and the expansion of municipal borders for Arab towns to accommodate natural growth, Dimi reported. But a separate document prepared by a different grassroots group has no special demands related to Arabs – rumor has it that these might be adopted by the Student Union, although it’s not clear. In a press conference last week, Daphni Leef – the symbolic leader of the original housing protesters – presented a short list described as the most urgent priorities, which had no such demands.’

Amira Hass: Israel must get ready for its own ‘Irene’
The September Journey part 1: Why I’m heading off
In final push, J14 to hold ‘million-person’ march
Max Blumenthal : J14 and the Calamity of Hope: a response to critics
Palestine is Still the Issue The Zionist left in theory and practice
Normalcy, hope and the Israeli tent protesters

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Open Letter to Marianne Faithfull from Don’t Play Apartheid Israel

Dear Marianne Faithfull,

We write you this letter in the hope that you will carefully consider cancelling your 18 October concert in Israel. Your wise decision not to play in apartheid South Africa shows that you are well aware of the power of a cultural boycott in support of human rights. Now, about 30 years later, you are being asked not to play in apartheid Israel [1] (Israel practices the three pillars of apartheid). Fighting apartheid in South Africa was right, and fighting apartheid wherever it raises its ugly face is still right.

We would be happy to send you information about the plight of the Palestinian refugees, pictures of the illegal apartheid wall, beautiful quotes by South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu in support of the Palestinian people and horrendous testimonies of Israeli interrogation.

The recent International Red Cross report on the siege of Gaza demonstrates how terribly damaging it is to Palestinians. [2] The siege most definitely constitutes human rights abuse. Also, the UN Report of 2009 finds Israel guilty of committing war crimes in its assault on Gaza in 2008/2009, including using white phosphorous on civilians and using human shields. [3]

In 1990 you worked with Roger Waters on the rock opera The Wall live in Berlin, you also collaborated with him in your Vagabond Ways album in 1999. You may not be aware that Roger Waters has asked his colleagues in the music industry, to boycott Israel. He says:

“In my view, the abhorrent and draconian control that Israel wields over the besieged Palestinians in Gaza and the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem), coupled with its denial of the rights of refugees to return to their homes in Israel, demands that fair-minded people around the world support the Palestinians in their civil, nonviolent resistance.

Where governments refuse to act people must, with whatever peaceful means are at their disposal. For me this means declaring an intention to stand in solidarity, not only with the people of Palestine but also with the many thousands of Israelis who disagree with their government’s policies, by joining the campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel.

My conviction is born in the idea that all people deserve basic human rights. This is not an attack on the people of Israel. This is, however, a plea to my colleagues in the music industry, and also to artists in other disciplines, to join this cultural boycott.

Artists were right to refuse to play in South Africa’s Sun City resort until apartheid fell and white people and black people enjoyed equal rights. And we are right to refuse to play in Israel until the day comes – and it surely will come – when the wall of occupation falls and Palestinians live alongside Israelis in the peace, freedom, justice and dignity that they all deserve.”

(guardian.co.uk at 21.30 GMT on Friday 11 March 2011)

The BDS (Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions) movement has reached global proportions and people around the world are joining in solidarity with the oppressed people who live under Israel’s harsh, oppressive, racist apartheid system. Solidarity is alive and well in Australia, Ireland, the USA, South America, Europe, Japan, Korea, and many other places such as Fiji.

We are not asking you to join or be a spokesperson (though we would be thrilled if you chose to) of this dynamic movement. It’s not complicated, you are merely being asked to refrain from playing in Israel and endorsing apartheid.

Over 200 artists in Ireland, where you live, have signed a pledge to boycott Israel. [4] These artists refuse to allow their music to be exploited by an apartheid state that disregards international law and universal principles of human rights, but look forward to the day when normal cultural relations can be re-established with an Israel that fully complies with such laws and principles. Playing in Israel truly is a political statement in support of apartheid, and against human rights. Please be aware of the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s statement in 2005 that “We see culture as a propaganda tool of the first rank, and…do not differentiate between propaganda and culture.”

In the light of last year’s murder of humanitarian activists by the Israeli military and the ongoing illegal and immoral siege of Gaza, as well as the occupation of Palestine, it is profoundly important that Israel not be allowed to profit from artists visiting the state until it upholds international law.

Our sincere hope is that you will refuse to cross the picket line drawn by the Palestinian call for cultural boycott and cancel your concert plans in Israel.

Sincerely,

Don’t Play Apartheid Israel

We are a group, of over 745 members, representing many nations around the globe, who believe that it is essential for musicians & other artists to heed the call of the PACBI, and join in the boycott of Israel. This is essential in order to work towards justice for the Palestinian people under occupation, and also in refugee camps and in the diaspora throughout the world.

[1] See references below for documentation on apartheid in Israel:

Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa (HSRC) study : Israel is practicing both colonialism and apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

http://www.hsrc.ac.za/Media_Release-378.phtml

Full report of the South African Human Sciences Research Council

https://www.kadaitcha.com/pdfs/3EE20d01.pdf

Israel/Palestine, South Africa and the ‘One-State Solution’: The Case for an Apartheid Analysis
[Bakan, Abigail B. and Abu-Laban, Yasmeen(2010)

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/ftinterface~content=a931468637~fulltext=713240930~frm=section

Do Israel’s practices in occupied Palestinian territory, namely the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, amount to the crimes of colonialism and apartheid under international law?

http://www.odsg.org/co/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1735%3Ais-israel-an-apartheid-state&catid=35%3Areports&Itemid=57

[2] Gaza Closure: Not Another year!

http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/update/palestine-update-140610.htm

[3] UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/FactFindingMission.htm

[4] IPSC “Irish artists’ pledge to boycott Israel” http://www.ipsc.ie/archives/pledge/

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Israel’s Criminal Reprisals Against the Civilians of Gaza

Reprisals against civilians are a war crime, a fact to which Nutanyahoo is oblivious as he sends bombs to murder the people of Gaza in response to the Eilat attacks committed by as yet unknown assailants. No one in Gaza has claimed responsibility for the attacks, yet even if they had, reprisals against Gazan civilians would still be an international war crime.

Tellingly, Israel had preplanned an attack on Gaza.

‘The IDF recently completed the preparation of different plans of action against Hamas and the rest of the terror organizations in the Strip – from surgical strike to a wide-scale operation. ‘

Nutanyahoo has much to gain by creating a conflagration – to disrupt the UNGA vote for a Palestinian state, the Palmer report which is due for release at the end of this month, discussion of the Goldstone and HRC flotilla report in the UN in September, along with the J14 protests in Israel which threaten zionist privilege by merging Jewish and Palestinian housing and social welfare issues. Ironically, war will reduce the funds available for social welfare, and after its cessation, housing costs are likely to skyrocket.

At present, the J14 protests continue.

Shafir criticized calls by ministers including Ayoub Kara (Likud ) to end the protest due to the terror attacks. “The fact that the government is calling on us to halt the protest because of the terror attacks is an attempt to use our pain as citizens hurting for their friends and families to make us bow on the social front, and that’s sad for several reasons,” she said.

Perhaps as a smokescreen, Nutanyahoo’s mysterious aides have been floating unconfirmed signals in the past couple of weeks which indicate that Nutanyahoo *might* be willing to negotiate on 67 borders.

Leaks from unnamed aides to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu claim he has shifted positions on another critical peace process issue – borders – but so far there’s no official confirmation. It appears to be a tactical move to derail the Palestinian strategy for a UN statehood resolution next month, and it could work if the Israeli leader can convince Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that he is serious.
…
Netanyahu is demanding a quid pro quo, aides are telling Israeli media. He will acknowledge the 1967 Green Line as the reference point for negotiations of future borders if the Palestinians will agree to ultimately recognize Israel as a Jewish state

According to Benny Morris:

‘And Netanyahu has failed to publicly, clearly chart out the main lines of a territorial compromise (necessarily along the lines of the Clinton parameters of December 2000) that could serve as a basis for a two-state solution acceptable to Washington and Europe. Instead, Netanyahu has talked vaguely about his willingness to engage in “painful” concessions for peace, a formula that may sell well on the hill but has had little traction anywhere else.’

In the absence of confirmation from Nutanyahoo himself, these claims that he is prepared to negotiate seriously, also aired on Israel TV according to AP, should be considered as hasbara. The apparent concessions are in contradiction to Nutanyahoo’s stated position in May, along with his Bar Ilan speech and the Likud charter.

Predictably, Israel is now blaming their convenient whipping boy, Hamas, for rockets attacks launched pursuant to the Israeli reprisals.

In response to Israel’s murder of 5 Egyptian security personnel, Egypt has recalled its ambassador from Israel.

“The cabinet committee has decided to withdraw the Egyptian ambassador in Israel until the result of investigations by the Israeli authorities is provided and an apology from the Israeli leadership over the hasty and regrettable statements about Egypt is given,” the cabinet statement said.

STATEMENT REMOVED

The statement was later removed from the website, prompting speculation that Cairo may have retracted its decision. An Egyptian government spokesman said the cabinet stood by statements made by its information minister, but declined to make any reference to the recall of the ambassador, which was also reported by state media.

…
Emad Gad, senior researcher at Cairo’s Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said neither Egypt nor Israel was keen to escalate the issue further. “Withdrawing the Egyptian ambassador is a good step but Egypt still has to insist on a formal apology from Israel,” he said

Israel continues to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity unchallenged by the international national community. This is one of the important reasons why BDS, which circumvents government, is so effective and essential.

The Arab League has urged the UN to act to stop Israeli attacks on the people of Gaza and on Egyptian land.

As Livni screams for the blood of innocent Gazans,
with the aid of Egypt, Gazan militant groups agree to cease-fire with Israel from today, Sunday 21/8/11.

Israeli faux pas shock horror – Egypt identifies three men responsible for Eilat terrorist attack and it doesn’t look like they are from Gaza.

Related Links

This is the Ehud Barak we remember and know from various past predilections, his fetishes are taking an even grosser form. : “Those who operate against us will be decapitated” – does Barak mean he’s going to assassinate, whilst ‘collaterally’ murdering countless civilians, whom he thinks are at the head of the resistance? or just generally chop everyone’s heads off whom he suspects of opposed Israel’s oppression?

Really? Senior IDF officials suggest amending Israel’s peace treaty with Egypt
Spring is so short here
Hamas: Gaza militant groups agree to cease-fire with Israel
Hamas was not behind the attacks on Thursday

, nor does it seek to increase tensions with Israel. Therefore, a direct attack on Hamas will be perceived as disproportionate and unjustified. Egypt will not be able to stand aside; this time it will surely call back its ambassador from Tel Aviv and freeze the peace.

The international community will not show restraint; it will present Israel as a war-monger. And when hundreds of rockets from Gaza hit Sderot, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Be’er Sheva, Rehovot, Rishon Letzion and Tel Aviv, the Iron Dome will be deemed ineffectual. Netanyahu will face dilemmas that tore Ehud Olmert apart.

Members of Knesset from Israel’s leading opposition party, Kadima, urged the cabinet on Sunday to launch a military campaign in the Gaza Strip, in light of the ongoing barrage of rockets.
Gaza Under Attack – in pictures
IDF officer: Terrorists planned an abduction attack
Is Israel planning to invade the Sinai?
The SCAF has largely been silent about identifying the armed groups who launched the attack.

“Given the conflicting reports, where is the SCAF’s official statement on the recent developments in Sinai?” ElBaradei asked on his Twitter account, adding that the SCAF needed to inform the public about its strategy to handle the delicate security situation in the peninsula.’

Al-Qassam: Israel ‘crimes’ cannot be ignored
Israel’s video game killing technology
Israel’s revenge attacks against defenceless civilians in Gaza continue
Israel weighs response after rocket barrage leaves one dead, several wounded
Minister Shalom: Not ruling out option of ground operation in Gaza
Opposition MKs urge IDF action in Gaza as rockets keep falling on southern Israel
From spy intrigue, self-sabotage & condom failure to neolib softdrink stands, the WHR has it all!

Also, the General Security Service (Shabak) wasted no time in making it very clear, very loudly that they had given the army very detailed and specific information of the impending attack. But remembering Clinton trying to take out Bin Laden back in ‘98 and getting blamed unfairly for wagging the dog? I should shut up about the obvious thoughts pursuant to the above intelligence.

War crimes, collective punishment … does Israel hope the people of Gaza drown in their own excrement?
Palestinians farming creatively to overcome the ‘buffer zone’
Israel to expel Palestinian activists
Israel launches bloody reprisals in Egypt and Gaza

Palestine / Israel Links

What sort of monsters fire tear gas at children?
Demolitions by Israel increase fivefold, says new UN report
Another BDS success: Tuba Skinny cancels show at jazz festival in Israel
Occupy, Colonize, Exploit: The Economic Uses of the Separation Barrier
Murdoch press success; discuss Palestine and BDS and ignore occupation
Attacks on Gaza continue: “I’ve never seen shrapnel wounds like this before.”
Palestinian youth in Gaza skeptical about PA’s UN bid
Zionist idiotic waffle on the fake state: ‘Virtual’ Palestinian state could lead to actual disaster
Australia’s leaders must back Palestinian bid for statehood : Robert Newton pontificates pompously on the fake state.
Flashback to Obama giving Nutanyahoo the Jordan Valley as if it was his to give, nearly a year ago: Obama in personal appeal to Netanyahu: Extend settlement freeze for two months
Kafka at the Rafah border

Other Links

John Pilger: Riots reveal Britain’s forbidden truth
A New Approach: A statement by prominent Australians urging political leaders to break the stalemate on refugee and asylum policy
Ita still tells the truth? Murdoch told me to have someone followed: Buttrose
Malcolm Fraser exposes the truth about Beazley’s political opportunism which blind freddy could see at the time anyway, and which disgusted then as now.

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‘Deeply Disappointing’ is Code for a Nod and a Wink to Israeli Land Thieves

Today, there’s yet another ‘deeply disappointing’ from the UK foreign minister as Israel swipes more Palestinian land to sprout illegal Jews-only housing.

Israel’s interior ministry announced its sanction of 1,600 new homes in Ramat Shlomo, and impending approval of 2,000 more in Givat Hamatos and 700 in Pisgat Zeev on Thursday, a week after 900 housing units were announced in Har Homa.

On August 11, the US was ‘deeply disappointed’ with Israel’s new East Jerusalem construction plan, on April 6, Catherine Ashton arched an eyebrow and sighed she was ‘deeply disappointed’ at previous land theft.

Without concerted action, this ‘deep disappointment’ is shallow. When will there be a ‘totally despicable’ and ‘we are going to sanction and divest from you until you stop stealing land from Palestinians, end your illegal occupation and apartheid?’

Disability and Palestine

RT @Tweet_Palestine: i wish we had people fighting for disabled peoples’ rights here there is no regards to disability despite large numbers
RT @Tweet_Palestine: 1of the biggest problems now is that the PA is not paying all benefits to those with disability which are very low to start with
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
@occpal also read Art 30, 2nd paragraph, of 1949 Geneva Convention III :Special facilities shall be afforded for the care …etc”
RT @Budouroddick: Disability rights in Pal are criminally overlooked. I tried to start an empowerment project, but none helped.
Help this radio station in Gaza get equipment for blind reporters

Palestine / Israel Links

Israel approves 227 new homes in West Bank settlement of Ariel
The US escapes an audit and resumes operations of its aid organizations in Gaza
Palestine solidarity groups condemn attempts to silence BDS movement
Palestinian activists form committee to watch UNRWA
BDS campaigners declare victory as international bidders for Agrexco drop out “There is now a clear pattern of companies targeted by BDS campaigners going into serious financial meltdown” said Adel Abu Ni’meh, head of the Palestinian Farmers’ Union (part of the BNC). “Agrexco and Veolia, two major companies strongly linked to illegal Israeli settlements are both in serious trouble now.”
Israel’s “social justice revolution” extends to illegal mega-settlement of Ariel
Leader of Gaza youth group said arrested by Hamas authorities on return from France