Israeli forces detain 20 in East Jerusalem

Jerusalem - Ma'an - Israeli forces detained 20 protesters during a demonstration in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah early Friday evening, onlookers said.

Among the eight arrestees was Yossi Sarid, former head of the Israeli Metetz Party.

The protesters were accused of attempting to break into Palestinian houses taken over by Israeli settlers in the past few months, the Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

Last Friday, Israeli police violently suppressed a demonstration against the eviction of Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah. Seventeen of them spent the weekend in jail but were released after the Magistrate Court in Jerusalem ruled there were no legal grounds for the arrests.

"The police are misusing their power and distorting the law so as to collaborate with the dangerous project of Judaicizing East Jerusalem," said the Israeli peace group Anarchists Against the Wall.

"Together we will show the Jerusalem Police that they cannot silence a legitimate protest with obstruction and false arrests," the group said in a statement.

In response to last week's violence, demonstrators said they planned to make Friday's protest "the largest in the history of the struggle in Sheikh Jarrah." Under the banner, "No to Eviction, No to Suppression," the activists protested against what they termed "the settler enterprise in the neighborhood."

Activist Ryan Olander Released from Immigration Detention

As the sun set behind watchtowers and barbed wire fences at Ramle prison Thursday January 15th, Ryan Olander emerged from the steel auto locking door and into the unrestricted air.  Ryan had just spent 29 days locked in the Givon immigration detention center located in Ramle, Israel following his illegal arrest on December 18, 2009 in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Shekih Jarrah.

On principle and with solidarity for other nonviolent Palestinian activists working to end the illegal occupation of Palestine, Ryan chose to take his charges and deportation warrant to court. This decision to fight for justice in a country where basic human rights are so obviously denied to those seeking to challenge Israeli empire, either by speaking out or by simply existing, was made by Ryan for the greater struggle of the resistance movement.  At his initial hearing shortly after his arrest, Ryan was denied bail. It was not for another three weeks that a bail offer was provided. Bail was set at  10,000 NIS ($2,700 USD) bail with conditions such as not to return to the Shekih Jarrah neighborhood.

On Monday January 12th the incredulous charges brought forth by the State of Israel against Ryan were seen in the District Court in Tel-Aviv. According to Ryan’s attorney, Omer Shatz, “the judge accepted all of our arguments about the illegality of Olander’s detention and deportation.” Shatz further states that the judge was unfamiliar with the term “illegal detention” which government prosecutors were using against Ryan. Lastly, the judge ordered the Ministry of Interior to rescind Ryan’s deportation warrant and gave the government 30 days to notify the court of their position. Until then, Ryan remains free on bail in both Israel and Palestine.

Ryan is elated to be out of Givon, a place he describes as “hopeless…catching only a few minutes of sunlight each day that filtered through the razor wire and rebar above our heads.” However, after spending one month in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and resistance community helping as a community organizer and solidarity activist, it is upsetting and unfortunate that he will not be able to continue working closely with the families of Sheikh Jarrah. His presence in the tents and around the evening fires is greatly missed.

Targeting international activists is becoming more commonplace in Israel. Amazing Palestinian solidarity activist, Eva Novakova, was also targeted for her activism in Palestine by the Israeli government. At 3am on Monday January 11th 20 Israeli soldiers and immigration police raided the private residence of ISM media coordinator Eva Novakova citing “expired warrant” as the reason for the full military operation in Palestinian-controlled Area A in which soldiers kicked down the door to her apartment and occupied nearby rooftops. The force used to apprehend Eva was unequivocally excessive considering her crime. Eva is now in her home country of Czech Republic. She was deported without the opportunity to contest her apprehension by Israeli forces in the Palestinian-controlled Area A which is illegal by the Oslo Accords.

Israel’s tactic of repressing nonviolent international Palestinian solidarity activists is a true detriment to the nonviolent movement. We recognize the targeting of international nonviolent activists as part of a greater campaign against all nonviolent activists in Palestine (e.g. Wa’el A- Faqeeh and Abdallah Abu Rahmah). We will not, however, let their force deter us from standing with the Palestinian people and continuing to support the nonviolent struggle for freedom.

CJPME: Canada to withdraw its funding to UNRWA

Last week, the government of Canada quietly announced it would discontinue its long-standing financial contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and redirect the monies to strengthen the judicial system of the Palestinian Authority and other food assistance programs. The news came out as UNRWA launched a special fundraising campaign to collect millions of dollars needed to support programs in the occupied Palestinian territories.

UNRWA provides assistance to 4.67 million Palestinian refugees scattered throughout the Middle East and administers programs in the areas of education, health and other social services in 59 Palestinian refugee camps. The agency operates solely through donations from various organizations and governments. It is currently under severe financial duress due to the increasing number of Palestinian refugees, the deterioration of their socio-economic level, unemployment and food insecurity.

“Canada’s decision to cut funds to UNRWA and its essential programs is very worrying and could have important consequences for Palestinian refugees,” stated Thomas Woodley, President of CJPME. “Reducing the capacity of UNRWA will terribly undermine the quality of life for these people. Canadians must respond to this announcement and protest against this radical break from traditional Canadian values of compassion and humanitarian concerns,” added Woodley.

Canada is the seventh largest donor to UNRWA and contributes on average 15 million dollars annually via the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), which is currently overseen by the Minister of International Cooperation Beverley Oda. Several groups believe that the decision of the Canadian authorities to stop its support for UNRWA is more than just a desire to reallocate the money more effectively. It could reflect an intention to have the UN agency completely disappear. “There are groups who seem to think that if UNRWA were de-funded and disappeared, the refugees would disappear too. This is a deluded fiction,” said UNRWA spokesman, Chris Gunness.

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is a non-profit and secular organization bringing together men and women of all backgrounds who labour to see justice and peace take root again in the Middle East. Its mission is to empower decision-makers to view all sides with fairness and to promote the equitable and sustainable development of the region.

A Day Of Destruction in Khirbet Tana

The Israeli army rolled into Khirbet Tana, a village east of Nablus with a population of about 300, in the morning hours on January 10, 2010. They then destroyed about thirty structures, including a school, homes, and shelter for farm animals. This destruction stems from a court ruling issued in February 2009 that cannot be appealed, stating that all structures in Khirbet Tana must be demolished, and the farmers removed from their land. The Palestine Monitor takes a look at the situation that Khirbet Tana faces, and how the villagers are trying to rebuild their lives.

The villagers of Khirbet Tana told the photographer that officials from the Palestinian Authority have visited them, but did nothing to improve their living conditions. To the minimum, Tana requires a good road, tractors (four were confiscated and are being kept at Ariel settlement; the photographer spotted one tractor in the whole village during his visit), a new school, and a popular committee or village leadership. Unlike the villages in, for example, the Hebron area, there is no permanent international presence in Khirbet Tana and the neighboring villages.

All photographs were taken by Brady Ng.

The first sight seen by the photographer as he entered Khirbet Tana was the remains of a tin-roofed home.

The demolished school.

Surveying what’s left of the school.

With the original school destroyed, villagers put up a tent to be used as a classroom. The desks, chairs, and blackboard were salvaged from the remains of the school.

Student worksheets, torn up and strewn about.

The mosque is one of the few buildings in Tana that was left untouched.

Another destroyed shelter.

The residents of Tana say that they face demolitions nearly every week. Some have become quite adept at collecting bits and pieces from destroyed homes and rebuilding their tents.

A home that faces demolition, with a tent already put in place beside it. Whenever Israeli soldiers enter the village, the family that owns the house removes all of their belongings from it and places them in the tent, accepting the fact that they may lose their home, but can still survive as long as they retain their property.

The new “homes” can be easliy spotted — they are the white tents.

Some people in Tana choose to live in caves, with a little more protection against the elements.

Tanans claim that this stone foundation is 3000 years old, laid there by their ancestors.

With no electricity in the village, illumination at night is provided by gas or oil lamps.

The well in Khirbet Tana, with water drawn from a spring up the hill in the background.

The hose connects the well to the water spring, which is the village’s only source of water aside from rain.

The well used to be uncovered. The villagers decided to build a cover over it three years ago because Jewish settlers came and swam in the well, a common tactic used by settlers to pollute water collected by Palestinians.

Goats and sheep strolling over the demolished school.

Khirbet Tana’s farmers work for self-sufficiency. The vast majority of their crops are consumed by their families or farm animals. Very little is left to be sold to other villages or cities.

With no trash collection service in Tana, heaps of refuse are left along the road.

The road leading in and out of Tana is steep and unpaved, and villagers have trouble traveling to other villages for trade. When the photographer visited Tana on a rainy day, the dirt road became a stream of mud, and it took multiple attempts for his vehicle to climb each hill.

Panorama: A Walk in the Park

This is where I spent most of my time in Palestine. The families from SJ are people I have come to love. No one in the world deserves this...especially them. Where is the justice?

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIZMOEtS7j0&feature=related

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyyfpfQKjsc&feature=related

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WupPheoviKk&feature=related

Malsin: No such thing as voluntary deportation

Ma'an - Upon landing in New York on Thursday, Ma'an News Agency's Jared Malsin, a US citizen, said Interior Ministry staff pressured him into dropping a legal challenge against his deportation order just two hours after his lawyer left for the day.

After signing a hand-written letter that Malsin said he believed was a "formality," ministry staff sent the paper to District Judge Kobi Vardi, who presided over Malsin's case, and the judge decided to lift the stay of deportation order.

A motion from Ma'an attorney Castro Daoud, requesting that his client's hearing continue in his absence, was filed and pending decision as the ruling to expel the journalist was made.

Malsin was subsequently placed onto an El Al flight to New York.

"I had no idea I was waving anything, no clue," he said, explaining Israeli officials asked him to create a legal document to withdraw his case without an attorney present, and offered a misleading explanation over what he was signing. Malsin said he wrote a note indicating that he was leaving the facility "without personal coercion."

Speaking as he was transported to the plane, however, Malsin said he had no idea there were legal implications to the paper. "I'm just so relieved to be out," he said.

"None of this was my decision," he emphasized in a phone interview minutes after arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York early Thursday morning local time, rejecting reports that he left Israel voluntarily. "There's no such thing as a voluntary deportation. I was deported, period."

Malsin said he was under the impression that the papers he signed would allow him to leave the airport while his case continued. Indeed, Daoud, had filed the motion in Tel Aviv shortly before Malsin was instructed to sign the papers.

Justice Vardi had called for a hearing on Malsin's case on Tuesday, and when no date was set for the proceedings by the afternoon, Malsin and Daoud decided to seek permission for him to leave the detention center as the hearing went forward. Daoud had previously indicated concern that Malsin's case was being dragged out, putting pressure on the journalist to leave before a legal decision was made.

In an e-mail from Malsin to Ma'an staff sent upon his arrival to his parent's home in New Hampshire, he said, about the paper, "I thought it was a formality. In retrospect I wish I hadn't signed it. I believe the prison guards were extremely manipulative, misleading, mendacious in the way they dealt with me."

Israeli explanations

Malsin's deportation was met with mixed reactions for Israeli officials.

Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Hadad told The Associated Press that Malsin raised security suspicions during an investigation upon his arrival. Hadad told AP it was for these reasons that Malsin was being deported.

She told Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth that he had voluntarily left Israel, adding, "I guess he didn't like it [detention] and chose to leave the country."

Allegations of Malsin being a security risk were made even at the start of the deportation process, with documents alleging Malsin's failure to cooperate with Israeli intelligence officers constituting such a threat.

The same day Hadad told AP Malsin was a security threat, however, she was quoted by Reuters and the Washington post as denying Malsin was refused a visa for political or security reasons.

Both rationales fit with some of the allegations in the court documents filed by the Ministry of the Interior, but neither explanation took the full range of charges into account.

Among the Interior Ministry's complaints, were that Malsin had authored articles "inside the [Palestinian] territories," including some "criticizing the State of Israel."

Early in Malsin's detention, Government Spokesman Mark Regev said charges that Malsin was being held because of his status as a journalist were "absurd."

Support for Malsin's case

While the government spokesman denied Malsin's deportation had anything to do with journalism, international press associations condemned the detention as a violation of press freedom from his second day in detention.

"We condemn this intolerable violation of press freedom," said Aidan White, the head of the International Federation of Journalists, the largest union of media professionals worldwide. "The ban of entry in this case appears to be as a reprisal measure for the journalist's independent reporting and that is unacceptable.

"This kind of interference has no place in a democracy," he added.

Israel expels top Ma’an journalist - Jared Malsin

For the first time in a week, American journalist Jared Malsin was allowed to use his mobile phone on Wednesday morning to inform Ma’an that he was being placed onto an El Al flight bound for New York.
He sounded shaken and confused. He said he did not know why he was not being flown to Prague, where he was expected to be sent, saying only that flying there “would create problems.” He said he was in an armored vehicle en route to the airport gate.

On Tuesday, Tel Aviv District Judge Kobi Vardi ordered that a hearing be scheduled to consider the Israeli Ministry of the Interior’s decision to deport the journalist. Following the call, lawyer Castro Daoud went to the airport detention facility where Malsin has been kept for the past week to deliver the news.

At about 2:30 pm, Daoud left the detention center and filed a motion requesting that Jared be permitted to leave the country while the hearing and case proceed in his absence. As the Attorney General’s Office insisted that Malsin not be permitted to attend his hearing, Daoud argued that it was no longer necessary to keep him confined to his cell in the detention center.

At about 4:30pm, staff from the US Embassy in Tel Aviv notified Malsin’s parents in the US state of New Hampshire that he would be on the next flight to Prague, even though Justice Vardi had not ruled on Daoud’s motion to let Malsin travel and still pursue the case.

At about 7:30pm, Daoud expressed shock after he received notification that a motion was signed by Malsin requesting his deportation challenge be annulled. Justice Vardi has closed the case on Malsin’s deportation order one week after it was filed.

Ma’an is deeply concerned that there was no lawyer present when Malsin apparently filed this independent motion, which was sent from the Ministry of the Interior and not his legal representative, who had just left. It is inexplicable that Malsin would knowingly drop the legal challenge after his first major success.

Without jumping to conclusions, Ma’an wants to be sure these events did not take place under duress, and is consequently concerned that Malsin’s lawyer and parents were prevented from reaching him during the 24 hours before the deportation to clarify what happened between 2:30 and 4:30pm on Tuesday afternoon.

Israel withholding NGO employees' work permits

The Interior Ministry has stopped granting work permits to foreign nationals working in most international nongovernmental organizations operating in the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, Haaretz has learned.

In an apparent overhaul of regulations that have been in place since 1967, the ministry is now granting the NGO employees tourist visas only, which bar them from working.

Organizations affected by the apparent policy change include Oxfam, Save the Children, Doctors Without Borders, Terre des Hommes, Handicap International and the Religious Society of Friends (a Quaker organization).

Until recently, the workers would register with the international relations department at the Social Affairs Ministry, which would recommend the Interior Ministry to issue them B1 work permits. Although the foreign nationals are still required to approach the Social Affairs Ministry to receive recommendations to obtain a tourist visa, the Interior Ministry is aiming to make the Ministry of Defense responsible for those international NGOs and also requiring them to register with the coordinator of government activities in the territories (COGAT), which is subordinate to the Ministry of Defense.

Foreign nationals working for NGOs had understood they would receive a stamp or handwritten note alongside their tourist visa, permitting them to work "in the Palestinian Authority." Israel is refusing work visas to most foreign nationals who state that they wish to work within the Palestinian territories, such as foreign lecturers for Palestinian universities and businessmen.

Israel does not recognize Palestinian Authority rule in East Jerusalem or in Area C, which comprises some 60 percent of the West Bank. The NGO workers say they've come to believe that the new policy is intended to force them to close their Jerusalem offices and relocate to West Bank cities. This move would prevent them from working among the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem, defined by the international community as occupied territory.

The organizations fear the new policy will impede their ability to work in Area C, whether because Israel doesn't see it as part of the Palestinian Authority or because they will eventually be subjected to the restrictions of movement imposed on the Palestinians. Such restrictions include the prohibition to enter East Jerusalem and Gaza via Israel, except with specific and rarely obtained permits; and prohibition to enter areas west of the separation fence, except for village residents who hold special residency permits and Israeli citizens.

One NGO worker told Haaretz that the policy was reminiscent of the travel constraints imposed by Burmese authorities on humanitarian organizations, albeit presented in a subtler manner.

NGO workers told Haaretz that they had been informed by the COGAT official that a policy change was forthcoming, as early as July 2009. When a number of them approached the Interior Ministry in August to renew their visas, they found that their applications had been submitted to a "special committee." They were not told who constituted this committee, and had to make do with a "receipt" confirming that they had submitted the request. The workers said the tourist visas they received differed from each other in duration and travel limitations, and surmised from this that the policy has not been entirely fleshed out.

Latest in a series of steps

A number of NGO workers who spoke with Haaretz voiced deep apprehensions about having to submit to the authority of the Defense Ministry. The groups are committed to the Red Cross code of ethics, and therefore see being subjugated to the ministry directly in charge of the occupation as problematic and contradictory to the very essence of their work.

Between 140 and 150 NGOs operate among the Palestinian population. Haaretz could not obtain the exact number of foreign nationals they employ.

The new limitations do not apply to the 12 organizations that have been active in the West Bank prior to 1967. Those groups, which include the Red Cross and several Christian organizations, were registered with the Jordanian authorities.

The new move by the Interior Ministry is the latest in a series of steps taken in the last few years to constrain the movement of foreign nationals in the West Bank and Gaza, including Palestinians with family and property in the occupied territories. Most of those who have been effected are nationals of countries with which Israel has diplomatic relations, especially Western states. Israel does not apply any similar constraints on citizens of the same countries traveling within Israel and West Bank settlements.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that the only relevant authority empowered to approve the stay of foreign citizens in the Palestinian Authority is the coordinator of government activities in the territories. "The Interior Ministry is entrusted with granting visas and work permits within the State of Israel. Those staying within both the boundaries of Israel and the Palestinian Authority are required to secure their permits accordingly," the ministry said.

"Recently, a question was raised on the issue of visas granted to those staying in the Palestinian Authority and in Israel, as it transpired that they spend most of their time in the PA despite having been provided with Israeli work permits," the statement continued. "The matter is under intense discussions, with the active participation of the relevant military authorities, with a view to finding the right and appropriate solution as soon as possible." 

Update: Jared Malsin - expelled by Israel

It may has not made the headlines in most press around the world, but Israel has recently decided to expel an American journalist working in the Palestinian territories.

It probably has not made the headlines in most press around the world, but Israel has recently decided to expel an American journalist working for the respected Ma'an News Agency, based out of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

For the first time in a week, journalist Jared Malsin was allowed to use his mobile phone on Wednesday morning to inform Ma'an that he was being placed onto an El Al flight to Prague.

The case of Jared Malsin has implications for foreign journalists who work in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). When the story of his detention first emerged, I spoke to a diplomatic source with knowledge of the case. He told me, Jared's deportation was politically motivated based on his work.

Israeli officials I have called regarding this case have provided any explanation regarding the deportation. From court documents attributed to the Ma'an News Agency, Israel is deporting Jared on "security" grounds that stem from his political beliefs.

Interrogators gathered online research into [Jared's] writing history, which the transcripts indicate included news stories, "criticizing the State of Israel" among other allegations that he "authored articles inside the territories"

This could have serious ramifications for journalists who work and cover the OPT, and who are sometimes critical of the policies carried out against Palestinians by the self-proclaimed Jewish State. International journalists have come to Jared's defense.

As if the daily physical risks of working in Israel/Palestine were not hard enough, now the Israeli government is willing to go to greater lengths to silence those who are critical of its Occupation.

Israel accused of silencing political protest

By BEN HUBBARD

The Associated Press 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/19/AR2010011901657.html

Gaza in Plain Language

by Joe Mowrey

In articles acknowledging the one year anniversary of the assault on Gaza, blunt and unsparing language about what really happened is often avoided. Despite sympathy for and support of the Palestinian people in their struggle against dispossession and oppression, the description of what took place in January 2009 is sometimes buffered by a misguided sense of political correctness. Yes, it’s terrible. Yes, it is unjust. But we don’t want to be inflammatory or risk offending the sensitivities of those who through their own willful ignorance cling to the notion that Israel is a victim state, fighting for its very survival. The argument is that we should reach out to them and attempt to educate them and win them over.

I’ll be more forthright in this commentary.

The sociopathic Zionist administration of Israel, as part of its continuing brutal colonization of Palestine, set out to deliberately devastate the already nearly-incapacitated infrastructure which supports the existence of one and a half million human refugees. The people of Gaza, second-, third-, and fourth-generation dispossessed Palestinians, are living in forced exile from land their families inhabited and cultivated for generations. Half of them are children under the age of fifteen. Their culture and their economy has been systematically ravaged by Israel for decades and since 2006 a criminal siege supported by the United States, as well as much of the international community, has deprived them of all but the most minimal resources for subsistence. This oppressed and brutalized population was then bombed, bulldozed and terrorized mercilessly for twenty-three days.

Below is a small sampling of facts concerning what the fourth largest military in the world did to a captive and defenseless population. The source materials used to substantiate these statistics are available on request. If the reality presented here goes beyond the stretch of your imagination, you can verify the data yourself. Though you’d better hurry. Much of this information appears to be disappearing down Google’s memory hole, just as is the fate of the people of Gaza. A source referencing the percentage of agricultural land destroyed in the onslaught which was used for a shorter version of this article just a few weeks ago is no longer archived in Google’s cache. Surprise, surprise.

You will also find that exact figures vary somewhat depending on the source. But whether it was 21,000 structures or 22,000 structures destroyed, whether 280 schools were destroyed or badly damaged verses 230, the overwhelming truth of the physical devastation which took place in Gaza and the fact that this destruction was deliberate and premeditated is irrefutable. Even the Goldstone Report, itself a document with severe pro-Zionist overtones issued by a declared Zionist and a supporter of Israel, states unequivocally, “…[the] deliberate actions of the Israeli forces and the declared policies of the Government of Israel … cumulatively indicate the intention to inflict collective punishment on the people of the Gaza Strip in violation of international humanitarian law.”

We’ve heard time and again that more than 1400 Palestinians were killed, over 80% of them civilians, including 342 children. It has become a familiar talking point in discussions of last year’s assault, so much so that it may have lost its impact on our consciousness. But what we often aren’t reminded of is the horrific level of carefully-planned destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza orchestrated by Israel during Operation Cast Lead.

Financed and armed by the United States, the Israeli military destroyed fifteen percent of the structures in Gaza, approximately 22,000 buildings, including 5300 housing units destroyed or subject to major damage. Another 52,000 homes received some form of structural damage. Over 200 factories and 700 stores and businesses were destroyed or badly damaged. Of the residences, factories and businesses completely destroyed, 1300 of the homes and approximately 25% of the commercial property was deliberately and painstakingly bulldozed or exploded by Israeli ground forces. Eight hospitals and 26 primary health care clinics were damaged or destroyed. More than 280 schools were damaged or destroyed.

Water and sewage treatment facilities as well as electricity infrastructure were deliberately targeted leaving vast segments of the population with little or no power or clean water for the duration of the assault and for weeks and months to follow. Massive amounts of agricultural lands were systematically bombed or bulldozed. Some estimates suggest that as much as 80% of the arable land in Gaza has been ruined or declared off-limits to the people of Gaza over the last decade. Two million litres of wastewater at Gaza City’s sewage treatment plant, bombed during the assault, leaked into surrounding agricultural land making it unusable.

An Israeli television station boasted that Israeli war planes alone, without accounting for tank, ground troop and warship ammunition, dropped approximately one thousand tons of bombs on Gaza during Operation Cast Lead. The effort involved months, if not years, of carefully-considered target selection, giving lie to any claim that the devastation was incidental. It requires a stunning level of denial and self-delusion to pretend the destruction which was achieved in Gaza had anything to do with Israel’s “security” or the targeting of Hamas militants. This was savage and barbaric collective punishment unleashed on a civilian population, nothing more. Any suggestion to the contrary must be sharply and immediately ridiculed as absurd.

This was arguably the first aerial bombing campaign ever conducted on a defenseless civilian population held captive within a fenced enclosure and not allowed to escape the assault. It is a measure of the cynical mindset of the Israeli military that leaflets were sometimes dropped in neighborhoods about to be bombed suggesting the residents flee. We are about to destroy your home; you had better get out. Flee to where? Gazans are not allowed to leave their open-air prison, not even when under attack. This tactic on the part of Israel also gives lie to the claim that homes and buildings were targeted because there were Hamas militants “hiding” inside. Why then warn them to leave before destroying the structures?

Given this litany of horror and the coldly premeditated nature of its execution, we need to ask what kind of society condones this level of savagery on the part of their government? What precedent is there for such monstrous disregard for even the most basic tenets of human decency? We need look no further than the behavior of our very own United States, of course. In Iraq, the toll of our psychotic militarism is well over a million human beings (not counting the years of punishing economic sanctions) and a large part of the infrastructure of an entire nation of more than 26 million people has been obliterated. Let’s not even begin to tally up the deaths resulting from U.S. imperialism around the globe in the last sixty years alone. It would put the Zionists to shame–mere pikers in the annals of human slaughter.

And what of Gaza today, one year later? Israel’s continued illegal siege, enabled by the U.S., Egypt (a U.S. client state) and the international community has prevented any substantial amount of building materials from entering Gaza. Essentially, no reconstruction has been possible. The people of Gaza live amongst the rubble left to them by Israeli hatred and aggression. They are attempting to rebuild their society using mud bricks and materials salvaged from the wreckage.

The next time someone attempts to argue, “Israel has a right to defend itself,” or uses what I call the abusive spouse defense, ”Look what you made me do,” tell them, “No.” Tell them there is and can never be any acceptable justification for the deliberate devastation of entire societies, no matter what political, ideological or “security” issues, real or imagined, may be at stake. It is unconscionable. It is wrong. Plainly put, there is no sane argument in favor of such behavior. Those who believe there is must be contradicted and opposed at every available opportunity.

Gazans raise money for Haiti

Palestinians in Gaza set off for the Red Cross headquarters on Monday to offer donations and financial support for the victims of Haiti’s devastating earthquake on Tuesday.

Relatives of Palestinian prisoners also participated in the drive, with many offering financial donations and goods including blankets and covers, as well as food and milk for children.

The report comes after the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank, said that it intended send humanitarian to Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake which all but leveled the island's capital city, adding that it was working to ensure the safety of members of the Palestinian community residing on the island.

Head of the Committee to Break the Siege Jamal Al-Khudary said "people may be astonished at our ability to collect donations from our people [in Gaza]; we tell them that this is a humanitarian campaign and our people love life and peace …"

"We are here today supporting the victims of Haiti … we feel for them the most because we were exposed to our own earthquake during Israel’s war on Gaza."

The Red Cross director was only able to accept financial donations as transferring goods out of the Strip is near impossible, Al-Khudary added.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Haitians were still struggling on Monday to find food and shelter in the wake of last week's earthquake, as international aid agencies reported a severe lack in supplies despite the overwhelming demand.

"There is little sign of significant aid distribution," said a representative of the Geneva-based Doctors Without Borders.

The aid group also complained of skewed priorities and a supply bottleneck at the U.S.-controlled airport, and urged the U.S. military to be clear on its prioritization of medical supplies and equipment.   

American journalist enters week 2 in detention

American journalist Jared Malsin will wrap up his first week of detention at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport tomorrow.

At the request of Justice Kobi Vardi, Ma'an lawyer Castro Daoud filed additional information in response to allegations by the Israeli Attorney General's Office, and insisted that Jared be brought out of the airport to attend a hearing on the matter.

The attorney general had requested that no hearing be scheduled, saying Malsin's presence in court would complicate efforts by the Ministry of the Interior to deport the journalist, since moving him off airport property requires a change in visa status.

"We are alarmed by these arguments. In the view of Ma'an, they attempt to legitimize a continued policy of isolation for Jared for which the legal rationale is foggy at best," said network spokesman George Hale.

"However, we are confident that Justice Vardi is as concerned as we are with the Interior Ministry's lack of transparency, evidenced by its objections to Jared addressing these allegations in a court of law," he added.

Daoud argued that Malsin has a right to a full defense and, at the least, to be present at his own hearing. Daoud further contested the attorney general's rebuttal, arguing the listed reasons for denial of entry do not constitute valid legal justifications, and that they certainly do not trump the unprecedented violation of press freedom that would accompany Malsin's deportation.

According to court documents filed on Thursday evening, signed by an Israeli interrogator, Malsin was denied entry for "refusing to cooperate" and for violating visa terms.

Disturbingly, the documents also reveal that interrogators had gathered online research into the journalist's writing history, which transcripts indicate included news stories "criticizing the State of Israel," among other allegations he authored articles "inside the [Palestinian] territories."

Trafalgar Square: Gaza 1417 Remembrance Die-In

ISM – London
 


1417 is not just a number: it’s the men, women and children who died during Israel’s 23-day assault in 2008-2009.

This event marked the anniversary of the atrocities committed in Gaza and called for the state of Israel to be brought to justice for its illegal actions and for those responsible to face trial for war crimes.

Heavy rain meant that instead of staging a “Die-in”, with people lying on the ground to represent those killed in the attack, those present decided to observe a minute’s silence for the victims. Approximatly 200 people participated with each being given the name of one of the dead to hold aloft. After a perfectly observed silence, three speakers with direct connections to the attack on Gaza addressed the crowd – Sameh Habeeb, a Gazan journalist; Natalie Abou Shakrah, a Gaza survivor; and Manal Timraz, who lost fifteen members of her family in the attack, eleven of whom were children.

Manal Timraz’s speech proved to be one of the most emotional moments of the day. People in the crowd had tears in their eyes as she told the crowd: “When I saw you all holding the names of the victims I was looking around for the names of my family members… the youngest was 2 and the eldest of the children was just twelve. Can you imagine…these are children who were not allowed to grow up.”

“Equality for all citizens on the historic land of Palestine, no matter what religion or gender or race or colour or ethnicity, justice through accountability. Just like people of conscience managed to isolate the apartheid state in South Africa we can isolate the apartheid state of Israel.” Natalie Abou Shakra.

“But we are not only here to commemorate the dead. We are here to highlight the injustice of Israel’s brutal occupation, besiegement and oppression of Gaza and its population. We – civil society – will not accept Israel’s crimes and war mongering, and we will not accept our government’s continued sponsoring of Israel’s terror tactics.” One of the event organisers said in speech.

After the speeches, some participants initiated their own die in with some lying on the ground covered in fake blood with others burning the Israeli flag in protest against the Israel state, with many others joining in chanting and calling for Freedom for Palestine.

Sheikh Jarrah court case delayed until April: Settler heckling continues

On Monday January 18th, a Jerusalem court case over the legal ownership of a Palestinian owned house in the Sheik Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem was postponed until April. The hearing against the Husseini family was delayed because the prosecution, who claims the Palestinian family does not have legal ownership over their house, needed more time to build a case.

This case comes in the wake of two other neighborhood houses being occupied by Jewish settlers since late 2009 and constant settler heckling.

On Saturday, January 16, 2010 at 4:45PM a settler girl attacked a Palestinian girl in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheik Jarrah. The incident took place on the street between two houses occupied by Jewish settlers, which belong to the Palestinian Gawi and Al-Kurds families.

A large group of settlers, largely young men, boys and one girl began to gather and walked back forth and back between the two occupied houses.

Between 4:15 and 4:30PM the group gathered on the roof the Gawi family’s occupied house and began yelling and laughing at the Palestinians. The yelling continued and until the settlers left the house to confront the Palestinians on the street where one settler girl hit a Palestinian girl before the police separated the two groups. Shortly after, the settlers left the area.

This is just one of many instances of settlers harassing Palestinians in the Sheik Jarrah neighborhood. The harassment and violence has increased significantly since the occupation of the Gawi and Al-Kurds residences.

The Gawi house was taken over 5 months ago and the family, led by Nasser Gawi has lived in a tent on the street since. The Al-Kurds family, where the front half of the house was taken in December, still lives in the back of the house.

In Lebanon refugee camp, "hip-hop is a school"

Rasmus Bogeskov Larsen
 
It doesn't take a long walk from Yasin's little, ingenious studio for him to make his point. Three teenage boys strolling up a narrow alley, cell phones in hand, share some scratchy beats.

"That is one of our songs", Yasin points out.

Inside the dimly lit 10 square meter ground floor room of his family's house, he had just been relating how it has become a common experience for him to be able to pick out his own music from the soundscape of the crowded Burj al-Barajne Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Beirut.

When Yasin began writing down his thoughts as rap lyrics some eight years ago, hip-hop to most people was the realm seen in videos of bling-bling, women and fast cars -- a world remote from the realities of camp life. But Yasin had traveled back to the roots of the genre in the impoverished black neighborhoods of the American metropolis where he discovered angry voices of disillusionment that resonated well with his own life.

At the age of just 12, when most boys are still boys, "but not so in the camps" according to Yasin, he began channeling his frustrations through rap. He entered into what he refers to as a school, a musical pathway that was to give him valuable lessons in the life of deprivation and how not to succumb to it.

Further down the street, another group of boys, older than the beat-sharing trio who passed earlier, sits on plastic chairs on the pavement smoking argileh, a tobacco water pipe. Had it not been for hip-hop, Yasin imagines he would have been sitting right next to them. At 20, he is part of the duo I-Voice, currently working on a second album and which has just returned from playing concerts in Spain.

"If I didn't have hip-hop, I would only be thinking about having fun and in the camps where there is often no electricity, where there is no library, and no money to go somewhere else, I would most likely sit with my friends in the street smoking argileh all day wasting my time. Hip-hop made me. If you want to be a good rapper, you need to write good lyrics, and so you need to read and get an education. I know so much more about life, because I have been expressing my self and writing. Hip-hop is a school," he explains.

Rap music remains in its infancy in the camps of Lebanon. But according to its pioneers it is slowly proving to have the same appeal among young people as among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and within Israel where rap has been gaining popularity for some time now.

Palestinian rap often expresses strong themes of resistance, a verbal intifada ignited by repression and discrimination, by corruption and betrayal.

In the camps the barrage of words targets everyone from political leaders, supposed to represent their people, to humanitarian organizations, supposed to provide much needed assistance, to the Lebanese, supposed to be the hosts and brothers of the Palestinians.

In one of I-voice most prominent tracks, the constant promises of revolution, inqilab, is chided as inkilab, which might translate as something akin to the ravings of a mad dog. In a new song, Katibe 5, another crew from Burj al-Barajneh, lambastes the UN agency working in the camps for pocketing funds while pretending to be the world's benevolent hand for the uprooted Palestinians.

"When people hear our music they might find it loud and aggressive, but for us its normal, it's made up of the noises and the oppression around us. You can hear the feelings in every word, the feelings of poverty and fighting and being caught in a box," explains Osloub from Katibe 5, which means Battalion 5.

Katibe 5 (Courtesy of the artists)

But as the rappers stress, hip-hop to them is much more than expressing anger and frustration. Resistance can take on many forms in the camps where apathy and submission can be the most forceful enemy. One of them is by instilling hope.

"I can say that everything is fucked up, because it is. I can mention the 70 jobs Palestinians are not allowed to take, I can mention the electricity that comes and goes, I can mention how our political leaders are all corrupt. And we did that on our first record. But I don't want to sound just like the news. I want my lyrics to reflect how I experience life, and you know, if you go to the camps you see the miserable surroundings people live in, but you will also see people smiling and having a good time. Palestinians have been placed all over the world and they have always found ways to be happy. We cannot resist without hope," explains Yasin, who together with TNT, his partner in I-Voice, puts a particular emphasis on education.

"When I graduated from school we were only 12 left out of the 40 who began in first grade. TNT had to leave school at 13 to help support his family as he was the oldest one and today he really regrets that and tries to keep his siblings in school. We try to say to kids that it is not Israel or the United States that is the enemy. Ignorance is your enemy."

And the youngsters seem to listen to the likes of Yasin, who are often approached by kids who want to get into hip-hop. By speaking about issues close to the heart of their peers and by incorporating traditional Arabic instruments and beats in their music, the rappers have succeeded in overcoming the initial suspicions towards hip-hop.

Today they play at schools and social events and have become acutely aware that they have a unique chance at fostering change through their music.

"Kids listen to us because we speak directly to their hearts. And so we feel we have a responsibility to bring back faith in our people, to continue to resist the oppression and not to give up," says Osloub.

To him, hip-hop is therefore about more than just music.

"We don't just see ourselves as rappers but more as community activists. If we were only musicians, we could not help solve problems. Classical music is great, you know, and it fits in great with a nice house and a glass of red wine. But we need to get the piano out on the streets, and be with the people, and make the piano talk to the people," he continues with a big laugh.

"This is life:" remembering earlier massacres in Gaza

Ahmad Hammad (Eva Bartlett)

It's a sunny day in the border region east of Beit Hanoun. Aside from a glaring absence of the citrus and olive trees which for decades abounded on this fertile land, finally razed by Israeli military bulldozers, all seems idyllic.

"This is the first time I've returned here since my friends were killed," Ahmad Hammad says. He stands at the edge of a vacant plot and gestures to its far end which lies over 1 km from the border separating Israel and the Gaza Strip. "They were over there, I was standing here," he explains.

Hammad, 24, recalls the day two years ago when three of his friends, all in their early twenties, were torn apart by an Israeli-fired surface-to-surface missile.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reported that an Israeli military spokesman claimed that the Israeli army "targeted Palestinian gunmen accused of launching home-made rockets at Israeli towns."

But Hammad remembers differently.

"They were all sitting over there, beside a small concrete hut. We used to come here all the time, to relax, drink tea, talk of our hopes and dreams. I was late that day."

The date -- 23 February 2008 -- is etched in Hammad's memory. His is a story of seeking a sanctuary where politics, occupation, siege and Israeli attacks didn't exist. Just friends, tea, tobacco water pipe and talk.

"I left home around 2pm when they called me. They were already here, preparing the tea, relaxing. When I arrived to this spot, Muhammad stood up and began dancing around, joking, waving me to come over."

He relives the next painful minutes in slow motion:

Then -- it was exactly 2:28pm -- there was a huge explosion and much smoke. I couldn't see the area where they'd been standing, the smoke was so thick. When I finally got through the smoke and reached where they'd been standing, I found only pieces of my friends. I couldn't even identify them by their faces, they were so destroyed.

I couldn't think straight, couldn't talk. I cried and cried, for maybe half an hour. Then I tried to call an ambulance, but I was still crying so hard the dispatcher couldn't understand me. I called a friend instead and told him to bring a car and come here. He asked why, and I just told him to come here, still crying.

We collected my friends in pieces and took them to the hospital.

Hammad walks now, venturing to the site where his best friends were martyred. He sits near a water pipe leading from the ground and explains the area. "That was the hut, it was just a single room. We'd prepare tea and heat coals [for the water pipe] here."

Pointing beyond the flat space where the hut stood, he notes a pile of rubble. "The room was destroyed in the last Israeli attacks on Gaza."

The land is parched and cracked from want of rain or irrigation. "All the water pumps and wells in this area have been destroyed," Hammad says, diverting to the troubles which now plague the region. "My own father's well, over there, just 700 meters from the border, was destroyed. It must have cost him at least $10,000 to build, and now he can't water his citrus trees."

The Hammad family is not alone in repeatedly losing trees, crops and wells to Israeli bulldozers. Throughout the border region, wells, cisterns, piping, houses, farm equipment, and crops have been destroyed over the last decade, the most thorough destruction being during Israel's invasion of Gaza last winter.

This dry, flat plot of land once sprouted onions. "Some of our other friends rented the land. They wanted to earn some money, so they planted onions and worked the land together. But they always let us come here to relax, whenever we wanted. That's why we came here that day."

He points up, over the border region where a fat white blimp hangs in the sky, surveying the land below with great accuracy. "These blimps are along the border. They can see everything with great detail, including my clothes and face."

What the blimp misses, the drone hovering above sees. During Israel's invasion, drones clouded Gaza's skies and accounted for 519 of the 1,419 Palestinian civilians murdered during the Israeli massacre, according to the al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights. Often, the first drone-fired missile would be pointedly followed minutes later by a second or third, striking those who came to rescue the injured.

Earlier this day, Israeli warplanes leafleted the border regions, again declaring the 300 meters from the border mortally off-limits to anyone on the Gaza side. The Israeli-imposed "buffer zone" goes back a decade. And although the current limit is 300 meters, in practice Israeli soldiers target Palestinians up to nearly 2km away.

"They were young, were still dreaming and planning their lives," says Hammad.

Muhammad al-Zaniin was from Beit Hanoun. He was still in school, studying business and English at al-Azhar University.

"He was an over-achiever, always wanted to get the highest marks possible. His goal was to be first in his class throughout university, and to finish early. He was always studying. Just before he was killed, he had learned the results of some of his exams: 97 percent, 95 percent. But he was killed before he knew the rest. He wasn't asking for much from life, just to do well in school, get a job, and marry a girl he loved."

Ibrahim Abu Jarrad was also from Beit Hanoun.

"He was the quietest of us all. He was very thoughtful and a mediator, always solving problems between people. His hopes were very simple: to build a home and marry the girl he loved."

Muhammad Hassanain was from Jabaliya. His father was dead and Muhammed had taken on the role of providing for the family.

"He dreamed of building a new home, large enough to house the family comfortably. He was such a responsible guy -- as paying the university tuition of his younger brother. He just wanted to marry and take care of his family."

It was the same week that the Israeli military killed another six civilians in Gaza and wounded 16. Among the martyred were an elderly shepherd and a farmer in his thirties, both nearly 3 km from the border when shelled by an Israeli surface-to-surface missile east of Gaza City. A 12-year-old and two 10-year-olds were killed later the same day west of Jabaliya, targeted by Israeli air strikes. An infant was killed by shrapnel to his head and chest after Israeli aircraft bombed a government building surrounded by houses in the center of Gaza City. A 31-year-old in the east Khan Younis region was killed by indiscriminate Israeli fire the day earlier.

"After I saw my friends torn to pieces, I kept thinking, 'I wish I had been with them.' I saw part of the missile that looked like it hadn't exploded, and I wished that it would now explode with me," Hammad says. "It was the end of the life I had, the end of my dreams."

The killing of Hammad's three friends wasn't his first personal loss, but it hit him the hardest.

"I'd seen my cousins killed, in 2004. But that was nothing. This was the most difficult thing for me, it still haunts me."

While Hammad no longer visits places that remind him of his martyred friends, he does still regularly visit their families.

"Of course, they are like my own families. But even though I know they love me, I always feel that they blame me, think I was the reason their sons were killed. I see it in their eyes."

Like most Palestinians who've suffered the loss of their loved ones, or suffer from the grinding, nearly four-year-long siege on Gaza, Hammad hides his pain behind smiles and laughter.

"I told my friends that I'd never laugh again after my best friends were killed. But we go on. And my laughter is hollow."

Fluent in English, Hebrew and his native Arabic, Hammad is educated and employed. But not happy.

"I also had many dreams. I used to dream of doing a Masters degree abroad. Now I just live day to day, continue because everyone tells me I must. This is life. It comes and takes everything you want."

Eva Bartlett is a Canadian human rights advocate and freelancer who arrived in Gaza in November 2008 on the third Free Gaza Movement boat. She has been volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement and documenting Israel's ongoing attacks on Palestinians in Gaza. During Israel's recent assault on Gaza, she and other ISM volunteers accompanied ambulances and documenting the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.

The United States, Israel and the retreat of freedom

Ali Abunimah

The world is suffering from a "freedom recession" according to a new report from the American think tank Freedom House ("Freedom in the World 2010," 12 January 2010).

Established in 1941, Freedom House markets itself as "an independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world, and advocates for democracy and human rights." Its board of directors, chaired by a former US deputy secretary of defense, is a who's who of Democratic and Republican former US government officials, prominent neoconservatives and Israel lobby stalwarts such as Tom Dine, former executive director of AIPAC. In 2007, more than two-thirds of its $16 million budget came directly from the United States government.

Not surprisingly then, Freedom House's report reveals more about the groupthink of the US establishment -- especially with respect to its continued efforts to dominate the Middle East and ensure Israel's supremacy -- than it does about the countries surveyed.

Focusing on two categories of "freedom" -- "civil liberties" and "political rights" -- the report divides the world's 194 countries into three groups: "free" (89), "partly free" (58), and "not free" (47).

Interestingly, Freedom House records "declines in freedom" in "countries that had registered positive trends in previous years, including Bahrain, Jordan, Kenya and Kyrgyzstan." Jordan was one of only six countries to move from the "partly free" category to "not free." What does it say about US "democracy promotion" that Jordan, Bahrain and Kyrgyzstan -- major political and military operating bases for the "war on terror" and US-led occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan -- have become less free as their dependence on the US has increased?

Sadly, while the report frets that "the most powerful authoritarian regimes [such as Russia and China] have become more repressive, more influential in the international arena, and more uncompromising," it has nothing at all to say about the US role in restricting freedom and spreading mayhem around the world. Sometimes this is truly absurd as the report points to "continued terrorist and insurgent violence in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen," but fails to note that two of these countries are under direct US military occupation (Afghanistan and Iraq) while the US is intervening militarily in the other three. (The report presents a mixed picture for the US-occupied countries; both are "Not Free" but Iraq allegedly became more free during 2009 and Afghanistan less free.)

Rather than offer any introspection on the inverse relationship between US efforts at global domination on the one hand, and the spread of freedom on the other, the report's overview essay concludes with a call for more vigorous intervention: "The United States and other democracies should take the initiative to meet the authoritarian challenge ..."

Freedom House's approach to Israel provides the starkest example of the abyss into which liberal thinking has fallen on the relationship between colonialism and freedom. Israel, we are told, "remains the only country in the [Middle East] region to hold a Freedom in the World designation of Free." We are informed euphemistically that "The beginning of the year [2009] was marred by fierce fighting between the Israeli military and the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip."

There is no mention of the deliberate targeting by Israel of Gaza's civilian infrastructure and the resulting massive destruction, and death and injury to thousands of Palestinian civilians. Nothing is said of the denial of fundamental political, civil and human rights, or freedom of movement, association and education to four million Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation and siege in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. There is no mention of the systematic discrimination, and social and political exclusion faced by 1.5 million Palestinian citizens of Israel, nor of the denial of the right of return of millions of Palestinian refugees.

There is an acknowledgment that "Hundreds of people were arrested during demonstrations against the Gaza conflict, and the parliamentary elections committee passed a measure banning two political parties from national elections, though the ban was quickly overturned by the Supreme Court."

Despite this, on the tables accompanying the report, "Israel" receives the highest score of "1" for political rights, and a very respectable "2" for civil liberties -- on a par with Italy and Japan. The overall impression is of minor glitches that could occur in any exemplary "Western" democracy.

Then on a separate table of "Disputed Territories" we find "Israeli-occupied territories" and "Palestinian Authority-administered territories" both listed. Both are given the designation "Not Free" and nearly the lowest scores for political rights and civil liberties. There is no narrative to explain who is responsible for this dire state of affairs. This convenient separation allows for all the ugly realities of what "free" Israel does in the occupied territories to be pushed out of sight and ignored.

But in what scheme can Israel be awarded freest of the free status when for two-thirds of its existence, since 1967, it has ruled directly over millions of disenfranchised Palestinians through violence and repression? The idea that the political regime in Israel's pre-1967 boundaries can be looked at as a "democracy" even while the situation in the occupied territories can be criticized as undemocratic is very widespread among Israelis and American liberals.

Former US President Jimmy Carter has been excoriated (and recently forced to apologize) by the Israel lobby for calling the situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip "apartheid." Yet even he had simultaneously claimed that within its pre-1967 boundaries, "Israel is a wonderful democracy with equal treatment of all citizens whether Arab or Jew." True, Palestinian citizens of Israel can vote and are accorded civil rights far wider than their Palestinian counterparts in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But even Israeli Jews commonly concede that Palestinian citizens suffer systematic and severe disadvantage and total exclusion from key political decisions about the country.

Israeli Jewish leftists (a rapidly dwindling group) and Western liberal sympathizers tend to view Israel within its 1967 boundaries as a flawed democracy -- perfectible with a reallocation of resources and less discrimination against non-Jews, even as they remain fully invested in maintaining Israel as a "Jewish state" with a Jewish demographic majority.

They view the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as the original sin that corrupted a purer Zionist vision, and thus remain fixated on the chimera of "ending the occupation" through a "two-state solution." Once this nirvana is reached, so they believe, Israel can resume its destiny as a liberal democratic state among others.

But it is not just the discrimination and limited rights of Palestinian citizens and other non-Jews that undermine the claim that Israel -- considered separately from the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- is a democracy. Nor is it even that Israeli settler-citizens in the West Bank have full voting rights for the Israeli parliament while Palestinians in the same territory have none. It is that "Israel" and the "occupied territories" are two sides of the same coin.

Israel's 1948 and subsequent ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and ongoing repressive rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are not exceptional or temporary conditions. They are constitutive of the situation that allows Israeli Jews to currently claim they live in a (flawed) liberal democracy.

To be clear, the argument is not that conditions in Israel and the occupied territories are indistinguishable; rather it is that they form a single interdependent system. Israeli Jews can "freely" elect a Jewish government in Israel only because most Palestinians have already been ethnically cleansed. Thus the maintenance of this "liberal democratic" Jewish space depends directly on the permanent denial of fundamental rights to Palestinians.

Palestinian citizens of Israel -- who form 20 percent of the population within Israel's pre-1967 boundaries -- are, as noted, accorded limited liberal rights. This helps boost Israel's external image as a "wonderful democracy," but if the exercise of these rights ever threatens Jewish domination, they are curtailed. Examples include the constant legal harassment of Palestinian members of the Knesset, and various legislative projects for loyalty oaths or to ban commemoration of the Nakba, the 1948 ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians. Overwhelming Israeli Jewish opposition to calls by Palestinians in Israel for the country to be a "state of all its citizens" is an indication that Israeli Jews value their own supremacy over democracy.

Israel has sometimes been described as an "ethnocracy" -- a state where one ethnic group dominates and enjoys a wide range of liberal rights which are denied to others. But these liberal rights depend directly on the successful repression of the non-privileged ethnic group(s). As rebellions by the disenfranchised require ever greater levels of repression and violence to control, the repression must also be turned inwards.

In recent days, Israel extended for six months a ban on Sheikh Raed Salah, an Israeli citizen, and leader of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, from traveling to Jerusalem, Israel's ostensible capital, where he had been exercising his civil rights to campaign against Israeli efforts to "Judaize" the city. (Separately Salah was also sentenced to nine months in prison for allegedly assaulting a police officer during a 2007 demonstration; a conviction condemned as political persecution by other Palestinian leaders inside Israel.)

Such repression does not only affect non-Jews. The United Nations-commissioned Goldstone report noted "that actions of the Israeli government" within Israel, during and after Israel's invasion of Gaza last winter, "including interrogation of political activists, repression of criticism and sources of potential criticism of Israeli military actions, in particular nongovernmental organizations, have contributed significantly to a political climate in which dissent with the government and its actions in the Occupied Territories is not tolerated."

These means of "internal" repression resemble the movement bans, censorship and other forms of harassment that the South African apartheid regime began to deploy in its late stages against dissenting whites, eroding the "liberal democratic" space they had for so long enjoyed at the expense of the country's black majority.

Maintaining a Jewish-controlled "liberal democratic" regime in Palestine/Israel is incompatible with the exercise of the inalienable rights of Palestinians. It emphatically depends on their permanent violation, especially the right of return. But the exercise of the inalienable rights of Palestinians -- an end to discrimination against Palestinian citizens, dismantling the 1967 occupation regime, and the right of return for refugees -- is fully compatible with Israeli Jews exercising the human, civil, political and cultural rights to which they are unquestionably entitled.

As a first step toward imagining and creating such a framework, we have to ditch the absurd idea reproduced by Freedom House, that Israeli Jews can epitomize perfect freedom while imposing perfect tyranny and dispossession on a greater number of human beings who belong to the same country.

Who is Handala?

From approximately 1975 through 1987 Naji Al-Ali created cartoons that depict the complexities of the plight of Palestinian refugees. These cartoons are still relevant today and Handala, the refugee child who is present in every cartoon, remains a potent symbol of the struggle of the Palestinian people for justice and self-determination.

Naji Al-Ali wrote: “The child Handala is my signature, everyone asks me about him wherever I go. I gave birth to this child in the Gulf and I presented him to the people. His name is Handala and he has promised the people that he will remain true to himself. I drew him as a child who is not beautiful; his hair is like the hair of a hedgehog who uses his thorns as a weapon. Handala is not a fat, happy, relaxed, or pampered child. He is barefooted like the refugee camp children, and he is an icon that protects me from making mistakes. Even though he is rough, he smells of amber. His hands are clasped behind his back as a sign of rejection at a time when solutions are presented to us the American way."

Handala was born ten years old, and he will always be ten years old. At that age, I left my homeland, and when he returns, Handala will still be ten, and then he will start growing up. The laws of nature do not apply to him. He is unique. Things will become normal again when the homeland returns.

I presented him to the poor and named him Handala as a symbol of bitterness. At first, he was a Palestinian child, but his consciousness developed to have a national and then a global and human horizon. He is a simple yet tough child, and this is why people adopted him and felt that he represents their consciousness."

Israeli excavations blamed for latest Silwan collapse

Jerusalem – Ma’an

The Wadi Hilwah Information Centre reported another collapse in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem on Monday, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City, creating a 12 meter square hole in the middle of Wadi Hilwah street.

Jawad Siam, head of the information centre, said that the latest collapse in Wadi Hilwah took place over a 10 meter deep tunnel and is a few meters from the previous cave in at the beginning of January, as a result of Israeli excavations in the area.

A child was injured and a vehicle fell ithrough the site, Siam said, adding that the local Al-Ein mosque, where Israeli excavation has intensified, was flooded as rainwater seeped into the collapsed site.

The Al-Quds Centre for Economic and Social rights said that this incident follows a number of similar collapses in Silwan recently, pointing out that last year, a collapse occurred in a girls’ school, injuring 17 students.

On 2 January 2010 The Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage reported another street collapse on the main road of Silwan.

"The collapse created a hole, two meters long and one and a half meters deep," according to a statement from the foundation, which oversees the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

According to the foundation, the collapse was related to ongoing excavations by Israeli authorities in the vicinity, apparently on tunnels extending underneath the neighborhood about 700 meters from the mosque compound. Authorities recently removed quantities of dirt and rocks from under Silwan to undisclosed locations, the statement said.