ZNet | Activism
Annapolis Hypocrisy Hides Occupied Palestine Reality
by Stephen Lendman; December 04, 2007
Against the sham backdrop of Annapolis, life in occupied Palestine is a
daily struggle to endure and survive what Edward Said once referred to as
Israel's "refined viciousness." This article addresses one week of it no
different than most others. It shows the road to peace isn't through
Annapolis nor can it be achieved without a willing partner or with the
legitimate Palestinian government excluded. Talks are futile as long Israel
spurns peace, violates international law, attacks Palestinian civilians,
seizes their land, destroys their homes, restricts their movements, conducts
targeted assassinations, denies them essential services, and holds Gaza
under a medieval siege in the world's largest open-air prison while blaming
the victims.
Unreported is that the West Bank is also under siege that's been tightened
in recent weeks on targeted communities. Palestinian civilians are severely
impeded especially in their movement in and out of Jerusalem. Other
communities affected include Nablus, Tulkarm, Bethlehem, Jenin, Hebron and
Ramallah. None of this is reported in the mainstream.
Each week, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reports on conditions on
the ground by documenting Israeli human rights violations in the
Territories. They're systematic, unending and savagely brutal by a nation
pretending to want peace in the latest theatrics going nowhere. Against a
backdrop of talks, photo-ops and high-sounding rhetoric, here's the reality
on the ground from November 22 to 28. It's much like most previous weeks and
those yet to come. It's why talk of peace is pretense, and the struggle
continues. Here's an unreported snapshot of life in occupied Palestine
amidst all the Annapolis hoopla:
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF):
-- killed 11 Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank; one victim was
extra-judicially assassinated; two others were killed by banned flechette
shells that propel metal fragments on detonation for maximum destructive
effect against human targets; an Israeli Air Force raid killed another five
Palestinians in Gaza early Saturday and wounded eight others as part of its
regular terror-inflicting operations the IDF complements with savagery on
the ground;
-- wounded 28 Palestinians, including four children and an Israeli human
rights defender; prevented ambulances from reaching victims to provide
medical aid and transport to hospitals; one or more victims bled to death as
a result;
-- conducted 12 incursions into the West Bank and two into Gaza; targeted in
the West Bank were al-Bireh and the neighboring al-Am'ari refugee camp;
Ramallah; Jenin town and refugee camp; Azzoun village, east of Qalqilya; and
Nablus and neighboring Balata and Ein Beit al-Maa refugee camps; Gaza
targets included al-Shouka village, east of Rafah; in all cases, civilians
were victimized;
-- conducted air strikes at locations in Gaza including against the
Palestinian naval police in Khan Yunis and Hamas' Izziddin al-Qassam
Brigades military wing;
-- arrested 30 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank plus 12 in Gaza making
the total number of arrests this year 2476 in the West Bank; year to date
Gaza arrests weren't reported but may be comparable in number to the West
Bank; as many as 12,000 Palestinians are in Israeli prisons under deplorable
conditions, most are uncharged under administrative detention, and Israeli
human rights organization B'Tselem estimates 85% of them are subjected to
torture or abuse; Israel continues making more unreported illegal arrests
than the number of prisoners theatrically released; most are near the end of
their unjustified sentences;
-- destroyed one house and razed 7 donums (about 2 acres) of agricultural
land in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza;
-- destroyed buildings and factories in the Gaza Ere zindustrial zone that
remained after others there were destroyed earlier;
-- allowed one patient to die because she was denied access to treatment
outside Gaza;
-- continued construction of the illegal annexation wall in the West Bank on
seized Palestinian land;
-- used force to disperse peaceful demonstrations protesting the wall's
construction in Bal'eom village, west of Ramallah, and al-Ma'sara, south of
Bethlehem;
-- continued illegal West Bank settlement activities;
-- allowed Israeli settlers to continue attacking Palestinian civilians and
their property; attacks also injured 13 Palestinian civilians traveling in a
minibus;
-- continued to violently beat Palestinians attempting to bypass checkpoints
to enter Jerusalem; this happens mostly on Fridays when they wish to pray at
the al-Aqsa Mosque;
-- seized the homes of three Palestinian families for use as military sites;
and
-- Israeli settlers attacked a Hebron school causing damage; they broke
windows, uprooted trees, demolished walls and tried to burn down the
building; Settlers also attacked a private home; they set fires, broke
windows and damaged a car and barnyard; in both instances, IDF forces were
nearby but didn't intervene as they almost never do in situations like this
so settlers can freely terrorize Palestinian civilians.
In addition, the IDF has kept all Gaza border crossings closed for almost 17
months as part of a total siege on the Territory. Rafah International
Crossing bordering Egypt is Gaza's only connection to the outside world, and
it's been closed since June 25, 2006. Currently, around 6000 Palestinians
are trapped on the Egyptian side unable to return home. Most have depleted
their funds and rely on spotty assistance. Deaths have resulted, now at
least 19 in number.
The result is a humanitarian and economic disaster. The flow of essential
food, medical supplies and fuel as well as construction and other materials
have been severely impeded or stopped altogether. Conditions became
especially severe after the Israeli government declared Gaza a "hostile
entity" on September 19, 2007 and escalated further collective punishment
measures. Fuel supplies, already low, were cut again and are at critical
levels. In addition, plans were to scale back electricity December 2 until
Israel's Supreme Court ruled November 30 the action must be postponed for at
least a week pending a full presentation of the proposed operation.
The Court's directive stopped short of an injunction halting the measure.
Instead the justices said they "assumed that until the required additional
information and necessary clarifications are received, the plan to limit
electricity to (Gaza) will not begin to be implemented."
Now a delay of at least three weeks is likely because authorities have 12
days to provide the requested information after which groups opposed have a
week to file briefs with their positions. At the same time, the Court
approved the government's plan for further fuel supplies cuts that attorney
Hassan Jabarin, representing the Adalah center for Arab minority rights in
Israel, said "constitutes serious harm to the basic principle of
international humanitarian law." He added that international law prohibits
collective punishment for any reason or using a civilian population for
political purposes. Gaza fuel supplies were already low, and further cuts
threaten all aspects of civilian life - health services, sewage disposal,
drinking water wells, transportation, commerce, industrial production,
agriculture and education.
Other collective punishment measures include allowing only nine basic
materials into Gaza. The result is severe shortages of everything including
vital supplies. Local markets ran out of many goods and can't get banned
ones. In addition, prices have risen sharply and in some cases fivefold
making them unaffordable. People report being unable to get razors and
shaving material, coffee, diapers, printing paper or even shoes, socks,
underwear, wool clothes or jackets. Medical supplies are also exhausted so
critical items like life-saving drugs and oxygen aren't available.
Other banned items include furniture, electrical appliances, headstone
materials for graves and cigarettes. Restricted also are fruits, milk and
other dairy products. In addition, severe restrictions have been imposed on
fishing. This affects 35,000 people in coastal communities, including 2500
fishermen as well as 2500 support staff and their families. In addition,
Palestinians in Gaza aren't able to enter Israel or the West Bank for any
purpose including essential medical care unavailable in the Strip. The
result is predictable - needless deaths and great human suffering.
UNRWA Gaza field office director, John Ging, expressed great concern about
Israel's actions with comments about "crushing sanctions, significantly
adding to the human misery and suffering of 1.5 million civilians in Gaza
(that) are in fact counterproductive to their stated purpose....You must be
on the ground for days and weeks to begin to appreciate the full horror of
the situation....living conditions continue their relentless downward
spiral, to what can now only be described as truly appalling."
Ging continued saying: "The impact on the medical situation for those
affected is quite simply atrocious (with) essential drugs....in chronically
short supply or have run out altogether (and) 800 patients needing treatment
abroad (can't) leave Gaza (and are enduring great) physical suffering and
mental anguish. The food situation is equally bad (for 80% of Gazans)." UN
"handouts" can only provide 61% of their daily caloric intake to sustain
life.
After two years of UN service in Gaza, Ging added that the occupation caused
the education system to collapse with a 90% literacy and numeracy failure
rate the evidence. He also felt "compelled to discard the usual niceties of
diplomatic speak" for blunt talk about the appalling Israeli policy of
collective punishment and inhumane illegal sanctions against defenseless
civilians suffering hugely.
None of this was on the table at Annapolis, and Ging's boss, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, didn't raise them. Nor was the following
discussed: the refugees' right of return, ending the occupation, the rights
of Palestinian Israeli citizens, the annexation wall, dismantling West Bank
settlements, Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital or a legitimate integrated
Palestinian state and not one cantonized in the West Bank and separated from
Gaza. The so-called "peace process" instead demands that Palestinians
recognize Israel as a Jewish state; give up their right of self-defense
against the world's fourth largest military power; legitimize an ideology of
racism, ethnic cleansing and colonization; and have a Palestinian security
force be Israeli enforcers against the legal rights of their own people.
Fatah Palestinian Authority (PA) Security Force Repression Ordered by
Quisling President Mahmoud Abbas to Please Israel and Washington
Many thousands of Palestinians in communities throughout Gaza and the West
Bank took to the streets on November 27 in peaceful protests against the
sham peace offensive they denounce. Demonstrations were organized by several
political parties and civil society organizations and were held in the West
Bank cities of Ramallah, Hebron, Tulkarem, Bethlehem and Nablus in defiance
of a Fatah-imposed ban on them. As a result, they were repressively met by
hundreds of Fatah security personnel. Fist fights broke out, dozens were
arrested, and police beat demonstrators with batons to disperse them. They
also used tear gas and fired indiscriminately in the air and into crowds
that responded by throwing rocks. One civilian died from a gunshot to the
chest. Thirty others were injured, some seriously.
Journalists covering the event were also attacked, beaten, detained and
prevented from doing their jobs. In addition, the evening before (November
26) and throughout November 27, demonstration organizers were arrested. Some
were later released. Others remain in custody. Similar protests also took
place around the region as Palestinian refugees and their supporters in
other Arab countries publicly demanded their right to return be honored
according to UN Resolution 194 Israel won't even acknowledge, let alone
observe.
The scene in Gaza was another story. Huge crowds of well over 100,000 (some
estimates were 250,000) assembled to protest and were addressed by the
legitimate Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh. He denounced the Annapolis
talks saying they "don't represent the Palestinian people." The sentiment in
the streets was powerful with chants of "No recognition of Israel, America
is the head of the snake," and cries calling Abbas a traitor by tens of
thousands of outraged and unrepresented people.
One woman summed up the prevailing sentiment saying: "We don't want more
alleged peace conferences, which bring us more suffering. We prefer poverty
to accepting shameful peace." Others expressed similar views preferring to
suffer than to give up their legitimate rights long denied and won't be
resolved at Annapolis or what follows next. And their allies extend beyond
Hamas. They include Islamic Jihad, the Islamic Liberation Party, Palestinian
Liberation Organization-linked parties and responsible intellectuals who
believe real peace won't come through Annapolis or other sham processes like
it.
Life in the Occupied Territories goes on where Palestinians won't accept
surrender for peace. Their struggle for freedom and justice continues.
Israel remains defiant so expect many more weeks on the ground like the last
one. It's so future generations can be free because past ones endured so
much for them.
Ramallah Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Summit
Palestinians have allies everywhere outside seats of power, and 300 of them
gathered on November 22 in Ramallah. Activists, union members and NGO
representatives came to plan a global civil resistance campaign against
Israel's repressive occupation and rule. Their aim: an action plan for
boycott, divestment and sanctions that proved successful liberating India
from Britain and South Africa from white supremacist apartheid. Where
negotiation fails, pressure may succeed and conference participants see it
as a priority in the current environment.
The Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) convened the conference along with the
OPGAI Coalition (Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy
Initiative), PACBI (The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural
Boycott of Israel) and Stop the Wall (The Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign). Dr.
Allam Jarrar of PNGO called the conference an historic event 60 years after
the Palestinian Nakba. Now "we are beginning to revise the strategy of our
struggle for the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, foremost
among them our rights to self-determination, independence and (right of)
return. The boycott campaign will re-vitalize popular resistance and restore
dignity" as well as dispel the myth that Palestinians can only engage in
negotiations that have never worked and won't now.
The balance of power can only shift through sustained and effective
pressure, and Stop the Wall representative Jamal Jum'a believes that the BDS
movement today is so diverse and widespread the Zionist Lobby can't destroy
it. Neither can Annapolis obscure it. Only ineffective resistance can do it
that must be avoided. To prevent it, consensus was reached that building a
civil resistance campaign is crucial, and recommendations were made as
follows:
They involve forming a Steering Committee for the Campaign and more:
(1) The local Palestinian BDS Campaign:
-- consumer boycott of Israeli products by Palestinians; use of local
alternatives instead; dialogue with Palestinian companies to support them
and expand employment of the Palestinian work force;
-- educate by reviewing the Palestinian curriculum to ensure its historic
accuracy; enlist students in the BDS campaign; urge the Ministry of
Education to urge private schools stop selling Israeli products and refrain
from normalization projects with Israeli organizations;
-- media awareness pressure to stop advertising Israeli products; public
awareness measures to support the boycott; and
-- mechanisms for campaign building and promotion by forming popular boycott
committees to raise public awareness, initiate action and build a popular
culture supporting boycott instead of normalization that's futile; pressure
PA officials to support the effort and express solidarity with other Global
South popular struggles to gain theirs in return.
(2) An Arab World Campaign
-- cooperate and coordinate with other Arab world anti-normalization
committees; lobby for reactivating the Arab League boycott committee; inject
BDS into the mainstream Arab media; urge Arab investors to support the
Palestinian economy; promote Palestinian products in Arab countries.
(3) An International/Global Campaign
-- an overall strategy to challenge Israel's legitimacy as a Jewish state
and a colonial apartheid one; the boycott to include targeting Israel's
economy, academia, culture and sports.
Success depends on building alliances with unions, faith-based organizations
and other potential allies in the Arab world, throughout the Global South,
and with marginalized Global North communities. In addition an emphasis must
be placed on coordinating global activities and campaigns to build a
worldwide BDS effort.
On its web site, the Palestine BDS Campaign targets Israel with punitive
non-violent measures "until it complies with international law and universal
principles of human rights." As representatives of Palestinian civil
society, it "call(s) upon international civil society organizations and
people of conscience (everywhere) to impose broad boycotts and implement
divestment initiatives against Israel (like) those applied (against
apartheid) South Africa....for the sake of justice and genuine peace." It
must include an end to occupation and colonization, granting Arab Israeli
citizens equal rights to Jews, and letting Palestinian refugees return to
their homeland as stipulated under UN Resolution 194.
These are fundamental principles of international law applying to all
nations. They're not negotiable, and no nation gets a pass. Peace isn't
possible until Israel goes along and becomes a member in good standing in
the world community. Up to now, it's never been one. It's about time that
changed, and it's hoped an effective BDS campaign is the way to do it
because other ways for 60 years haven't worked.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
***
Join LA Jews for Peace
on the Third Street Promenade
Sunday, January 6 , 2 to 4 PM
on the corner of Santa Monica and 3rd
In the spirit of peace for 2008, LA Jews for Peace joins Israeli,
Palestinian, international, and American groups in calling for an end of
Israel's siege of Gaza, and an end of unconditional U.S. support of Israel
and its practice of collective punishment. Since June 2007, Israel has
subjected the 1.5 million people living in Gaza to a siege that restricts
movement of people and limits supplies of food, medicine, water, fuel, and
electricity, and stops all commercial goods. These Israeli government
restrictions have made a humanitarian crisis. Please join us and others in
the fight for human rights and justice.
Help Stop the Ongoing Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip
Demonstrate to
FEED the CHILDREN of GAZA and ISRAEL MUST END SIEGE OF GAZA
The Third Street Promenade
Sunday, January 6 , 2 to 4 PM
Corner of Santa Monica and 3rd
LA Jews for Peace will have a large signs. Bring your own sign; flags are
not welcome.
More information: call Jeff at 562-694-1637 or
e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] or
http://www.geocities.com/LAJewsforPeace/
Jeff Warner
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