----- Original Message -----
From: "Sid Shniad" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Ha'aretz 04/02/2008
The lights have been turned off
If all the residents of the Gaza Strip deserve to be punished
because of the Qassam rockets, then maybe all Israelis
deserve to be punished because of the occupation?
By Gideon Levy
One after another, the final lights are being turned off, and a moral gloom
is falling upon us as we stand at the edge of an abyss. Just last week,
three more lights were turned off. The Winograd Report did not come out
clearly against the fact that Israel embarked on a pointless war; the
Supreme Court authorized collective punishment and the attorney general
concluded that the killing of 12 Israeli citizens and someone from the
territories by the police does not warrant a trial. The final keepers of
order, the lighthouses of justice and law, are reconciling themselves with
the most serious injustices of the institutions of authority and no one so
much as utters a word about it. The upsetting and depressing crop of a
single week has drawn the moral portrait of the country.
As expected, the Winograd Committee became irrelevant. It avoided dealing
with the first question that should have been on its agenda: Was there any
justification for embarking on the war? A committee that says nothing about
a country that declares war on its neighbor, kills a thousand of its
citizens, causes mass destruction, makes use of horrific munitions and
continues to kill dozens of innocents to this day - is a derelict committee.
If the committee didn't delve into these key issues, then who will? A
single, circuitous remark exposed the game: "We do not conclude, and have
not concluded, that the decision to embark on war following the abduction
[of the two reservists] was not justified." Well, what did it conclude?
Despite what it said, this is what you really hear: It is legitimate in the
eyes of the committee to go to war over two abducted soldiers. It is
legitimate to utilize the tool of war, to kill indiscriminately, to
disproportionately bomb and destroy - all as the preferred first response.
No negotiations, no limited military operation - just war - and on such
dubious grounds, and of course with such pathetic results. Not a word on the
killing and the destruction that we caused in vain. The dignified-looking
committee conducted itself like a public information office and supported
what many around the world have described as war crimes. A golden
opportunity to say something ethical about the language of force that we are
always eager to use, was missed. The Winograd Committee is therefore a panel
lacking a moral backbone, which avoided coming to terms with substantive
questions.
On the same day that the committee released its final report, the Supreme
Court, that same institution to which all eyes are turned, and over whose
influence there is a bitter, ongoing battle, authorized another bug in the
works. A panel of justices headed by Court President Dorit Beinisch ruled
that Israel is authorized to limit the supply of electricity, gasoline and
diesel to the Gaza Strip, "since even these diminished quantities
sufficiently meet humanitarian needs."
It is difficult to tell what "humanitarian needs" are according to Beinisch,
but in the Gaza Strip a million and a half people are crying out for fuel,
water and electricity. It is fair to ask the court president: Has she ever
been exposed to the scenes of wretchedness in the Gaza Strip? Did she ever
see the miserable people there carrying fuel jerry cans from Egypt? Has she
considered the cold, which cannot be countered without electricity or fuel?
Has she given any serious thought to what happens to children, the infirm
and the elderly without these necessities? They are all innocents.
But the severity of the Supreme Court's decision is not only on the human
level: The Supreme Court is authorizing collective punishment, which is
specifically forbidden under international law (Article 33 of the Geneva
Convention). Henceforth, Israel will no longer be able to complain about
attacks against innocents in Israel: If all the residents of the Gaza Strip
deserve to be punished because of the Qassam rockets, then maybe all
Israelis deserve to be punished because of the occupation?
"This is the difference between Israel, a democracy fighting for its life
within the framework of the law, and the terrorist organizations fighting
against it," the Supreme Court stated sanctimoniously, like a lowly
spokesman from the Foreign Ministry.
"According to the law?" Which law? Not international law. "Israel is
fighting for its life?" And maybe the Palestinians are fighting a war that
is no less justified, against occupation and imprisonment? All this was not
on the Supreme Court's agenda.
And last, but not least: Attorney General Menachem Mazuz. Twelve citizens
and a resident of the territories were killed by the police, and Mazuz ruled
there was no point of initiating a criminal investigation at such a late
stage. (The state prosecution decided at the time to delay the investigation
until the Or Commission of Inquiry completed it work.) Why shouldn't the
court decide? All the excuses, including passing the blame onto the victim's
families, who did not permit autopsies, do not in the least diminish the
well-founded suspicion: Had the dead been Jewish citizens, this would not
have happened; the police would not have killed and the attorney general
would not have closed the case.
After all this, people here complain about those who wish to live in a more
just country, who are forced to turn to institutions of international law.
Who else can they turn to? The Supreme Court? Winograd? The attorney
general? Their lights have all been turned off.
----- Original Message -----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 3:14 AM
Subject: [PDLA] Sun., Feb. 17, Santa Monica, Meet Anna Baltzer,Witness in
Palestine
Silence only helps the oppressor never the oppressed. Elie Weisel
Anna Baltzer presents:
LIFE IN OCCUPIED PALESTINE: EYEWITNESS STORIES & PHOTOS
Sunday February 17th
10:15 am - 11:45 am Presentation
Noon Potluck Lunch, DVD & Discussion
Book signing, DVD, ethnic arts & crafts for sale.
The Church at Ocean Park, 235 Hill St. Santa Monica 90405.
(NE corner 2nd & Hill)
For information: Church office, 310-399-1631
www.annainthemiddleeast.com
Anna Baltzer, a Jewish American Columbia graduate, Fulbright scholar,
granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, and volunteer with the International
Women's Peace Service, is touring the United States with her acclaimed
presentation and book describing her experiences documenting human rights
abuses in the West Bank and supporting Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance to
the Occupation.
Providing photographic documentation and critical information often
misrepresented or ignored in the Western media, Anna's presentation covers
checkpoints, settlements, demonstrations, Israeli activism, the 1948 war &
refugees, censorship, the Separation Wall, and more. For further information
about Anna's work and tour, please visit www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.com
Anna will also be selling and signing copies of her second book: Witness in
Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories and will be
selling:
Palestinian handicrafts: embroidery, keffiyehs, and bracelets
DVD of the presentation
Israel/Palestine: How to End the War of 1948 by Israeli academic Tanya
Reinhart
Visit: www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.com/presentations/schedule for details.
PDLA mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://mailman.svpal.org/mailman/listinfo/pdla
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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