#Israel - WaPo whitewashes plan to steal 1000 acres of #Palestinian land - August 31 2014

by Diane V. McLoughlin

Comment posted at 8:43 PM, August 31st, 2014.

One has to wonder, exactly when will the WaPo editorial board quit giving solace to Israel's criminal regime and start telling it like it is? The title of this piece, 'Israel proposes taking more West Bank land for Jewish settlers' [William Booth and Ruth Eglash; Washington Post; August 31, 2014] soft-peddles the horror.

A more accurate title and lead would read something like this:

'In a stunning act of betrayal within mere days of a ceasefire agreement, in a move reminiscent of Fascism's darkest days, Israel's hard-right leadership proposes stealing a whopping 1,000 acres of Palestinian land to further displace the native population. The long-term aim is clearly meant to replace the indigenous Palestinian people with Jewish European squatters.  This will only further cement the current apartheid system, frustrating the efforts of moderates on both sides working for human rights, security and peace'.
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Reading Room:

The Establishment
And how they get away with it
New: September 4 2014
By Owen Jones

'A biting critique of the British Establishment and a passionate plea for democracy from the author of the acclaimed "Chavs". Jones is a prominent political voice in the UK as a weekly columnist for the "Guardian" and having appeared on "Question Time" and "Newsnight".'


 

Response to Fatalist Gerald Caplan on Peace in #Israel - #Palestine - 21082014

by Diane McLoughlin, August 21, 2014

The best aspect of Gerry Caplan's analysis of the Israel-Palestine conflict is his frank acknowledgement of the oppression and ethnic cleansing that Israel continues to perpetrate against the suffering Palestinian people. It is vitally important to share here that Israel's latest assault on Gaza is an act of genocide - not self-defense!

The worst aspect of Gerry Caplan's analysis is his sorrowful shrug that the situation in Israel-Palestine is intractable and that nothing can be done about it. While it may be a tough nut to crack, wherever there is oppression and injustice we should not back away from our moral and ethical duty to denounce it while encouraging healing and repair of relations between parties. It is a gentle irony that Mr. Caplan himself does not shy away from the ethical duty to speak, and it seems obvious that he cares.

So there is what-is on the one hand, while what-should-be stands separate and apart on the other. There is in an immense space in-between that is open to creative and determined and intelligent and dedicated and good people who set themselves to the challenge of changing the parameters of conflict. Such effort is not futile in the furtherance of justice, peace and global stability, even though you will almost certainly not know how your efforts assisted in tipping the scales.

Some of the ways to apply nonviolent pressure to help bring about peaceful change:

Boycott

As with South African Apartheid, ways to encourage Israeli political direction to change include boycotting Israeli goods, divesting from one's investment portfolios of Israeli companies, and to demand ones' own countries sever political ties with Israel - Boycott, Divest, Sanctions - BDS for short.

Examples:

- BDSmovement.net - lots of resources at this website.

- The 'Long live Palestine boycott Israel' buycott app' was begun in April. Once Israel launched its latest military assault on Gaza beginning in July, the numbers of new buycott users exploded. [over 390,000 users and counting.]

  The buycott campaign organizers explain that the boycott,

'will continue until Israel complies with the precepts of international law by

    1. Ending its occupation of Palestine and dismantling the Wall.

    2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel          to full equality.

   3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to               return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.'

Cut military and intelligence ties

Let it be known to your government that you believe it would be the right thing to do to cut all military cooperative ties with Israel - no more donations of bullets, bombs, software or intelligence.

Ban public and private donations that further injustice

Render it illegal for private individuals to donate funds to Israeli institutions that further the aims of stealing Palestinian land.

Ban private business from profiting from oppression

Render it illegal for any company to collude with Israel to extract Palestinian-owned natural resources. In the mix is the recent discovery  that Gaza owns a vast wealth of natural gas off-shore.

Ban citizens from enlisting in foreign militaries which enforce oppression

Render it illegal for citizens to serve in Israel's military.

Ban politicians from accepting gifts including trips

Render it illegal, if it isn't already, for politicians to accept Israel-funded trips. By all means, politicians ought to travel to Israel to witness what's going on. But only if the investigation includes fact-finding in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza, meeting with Palestinian authorities, as well.

Conclusion

Mr. Caplan's argument is an important one, in that he may have helped to finally open political debate in Canada on Israel that for too long has been censored and suppressed.

Reponse to, 'No matter what leaders do, there won't be peace in the Middle East'; Gerald Caplan, African scholar, former NDP national director and regular panelist on CBC’s Power and Politics; The Globe and Mail; August 15, 2014.

___________________________

link - Israel to speed up settlement construction in Jerusalem, West Bank - CNN.com

Link:  http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/01/world/meast/israel-settlements/

FREE GAZA - dialogue with an Israel supporter

by Diane V. McLoughin

The following is an interesting personal message sent to me which is critical of my recent piece, 'FREE GAZA'.

I responded using the greater-than (>) sign to pin my points where I respond. I feel bad about the acrimony:

Dear Ms. McLoughlin,

This article is an example of distorted news coverage.

>I disagree.

While there is legitimately much to criticize in the way that Israel responds

>This paints Israel as the victim - *reacting* - never instigating - revealing a misinformed bias;

I object to one-sided, dishonest and manipulative reporting

>I also have objections: to one-sided, dishonest and manipulative responses;

I object to a double standard

>Me, too

Israel being painted as the sole villain while Hamas is exonerated despite exploiting its own people and committing terrorism

>Hamas is the democratically-elected representative political party of the Palestinian people; the P.A. exploits its people in my opinion, and colludes with the occupier, Israel; you are woefully uninformed as to who and what Hamas is and what Hamas proposes (1), which is most unfortunate, considering your apparent engagement in the public square;

There has been both a continuous Jewish presence and a continuous Arab presence in the holy land since antiquity

>This is a complete misrepresentation of the historical facts. Palestine was an Arab region with a tiny Jewish minority. Jews, misguided by fanatical, lieing political and religious leadership, in their European plight, were hoodwinked into immigrating to 'a land with no people' - which was a complete, out-and-out lie.

And in recent times, additional Jews, and additional Arabs, have migrated there from other lands.

>Again, misrepresentation.

Both people have a right to live there in peace.

>Yes. But what I take you to really mean to say is that Jewish settlers, then, have an equal right to outright steal - murder, if necessary - that which is not theirs, because there is an 'equal' claim.

It is equally tragic when civilians are killed, whether they are Arab or Israeli.

>Show me where I ever stated otherwise.

However, you are misrepresenting history. Example; The map of Israel that you have labeled "Israel 1949-1967" is actually a map of Israel after the 6 Day War of 1967. Israel annexed this land in 1967, only after being threatened with annihilation on all fronts by its Arab neighbors.

>I suggest accessing real history books, such as Ilan Pappe's, 'The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine'.

I support Palestinian statehood, but not at the cost the destruction of Israel.

>Define 'destruction of Israel'. I suspect it will be racist in nature, that is, that to you, if Israel is not exclusively Jewish in character, then it is not 'Israel'. 23% of Israel proper is Palestinian-Israeli; plus besieged Gaza, plus occupied West Bank, plus the refugees, plus, plus, plus. The fact of the matter is that the numbers of Palestinians to Jews is pretty close to a perfect 50-50 split. The chorus grows ever louder for one
bi-national state.

I accept legitimate criticism of Israel, as I do of my own country, the USA, but I can't accept slander in either case.

>The typical Zionist slant: All time taken up with attack, a pastiche at the end saying that of course, legitimate criticism of Israel is permitted - but admission of Israel's crimes never actually transpires.

I am trying to figure out if you are just misinformed or you are being paid to tell lies.

>I am informed. Paid?  No, I am not in anybody's pocket.
I don't like getting personal - I am trying to help - but your insults border on slander. So the truth of it is that in my opinion you are brainwashed with bromides that are lies. And until enough people like you are able to see the situation for what it is, Israel, that which you care about so, will never have peace, because her supporters do not realize her self-destructive ways and so do nothing to steer her clear from rocky shoals. Is it peace you want, though?

>Or land.

In either case, the truth matters.

>Yes, that would be what I care about. The truth. Justice. And peace.

--------------
Footnote:  The woman wrote back to say that her main objection was that in her opinion the map which accompanies my FREE GAZA article is inaccurate.  I wrote her back again with a few observations to share while expressing my sincere regret at the poor tone of our original exchange.

(1)  'Hamas renews offer to end fight if Israel withdraws'; with editing by Kevin Liffey; Reuters; May 30, 2010; http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64T2AM20100530

What is Wrong With Palestinians? (The Answer May Surprise You)

By Diane V. McLoughlin; Feb., 2010
www.mcloughlinpost.com
www.mcloughlinpost.blogspot.com

 At first blush it seems confusing, even rather silly and reactionary, for Palestinians to object to the rather innocuous move by Israel of declaring that in the West Bank there are features that are of Jewish historical significance. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu declared them to be Jewish  archeological and 'Zionist' heritage sites, according to the New York Times.

The sites in question are Ibrahimi Mosque, (also known variously as the Sanctuary of Abraham, and the Cave of the Patriarchs), and Rachel's Tomb.

In understanding why this might in any way be provocative, we first ought to be mindful of the fact that Abraham, who is believed to be buried at the Ibrahimi Mosque location, is revered by all three religions: Jewish, Christian and Muslim. 

But some are loathe to acknowledge this shared reverence for either Abraham or the land of Palestine itself.  In 1994, a militant New York-born Zionist, Baruch Goldstein, murdered, in a scene of utter carnage, as many as 52 Muslim worshippers while injuring 150, in the Ibrahimi Mosque.  (Goldstein was disarmed and subsequently beaten to death  - Wikipedia.)

In the Palestinian rioting that followed, Israel imposed a two-week curfew on the 120,000 Palestinian inhabitants of the city of Hebron, while 400 settlers continued to enjoy freedom of movement within their midst.

Goldstein is a hero to some Zionist settlers.  His grave was actually a shrine where settlers made pilgrimage. In 1999 after a legal ruling outlawing monuments to terrorists Goldstein's shrine and prayer area near his grave were bulldozed by the Israeli army.  (But reportedly, every year Jewish Zionist settlers have parties to celebrate the Goldstein murders.)

At Goldstein's funeral, Rabbi Yaacov Perrin declared that “one million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail.”

Baruch Goldstein was a physician, with all of the presumptive reverence for human life that ought to have entailed.

The fear which arises from Israel's listing of West Bank historical sites partly stems from the fact that Israel is viewed as being hostile to preserving Palestinian cultural heritage (see, for example, the 1,000 year old Mamilla cemetery in Jerusalem. Also, article, 'History Erased'; Meron Rapoport; '07; Haaretz.) Conversely, it is fair to say that there is sometimes a dirth of trust between both Jews and Palestinians when it comes to respecting and preserving each others' heritage at the site of al-Aqsa Mosque/Temple of the Mount.)

So, on the one hand there is concern that the history of the Palestinian people in the region - that stretches back millenia - is at risk of being destroyed and by its absence used  to disprove the significance and long-term existence of Palestinians in Israel.

On the other hand you have the highlighting of so-called 'Zionist' heritage sites in the occupied territories and the inviting of outsiders to come in to enjoy them while holding millions of Palestinian people hostage in a military occupation.  To do so ignores or tacitly minimizes the suffering caused to Palestinians by the illegal military occupation as if it, or they, didn't exist.. 

It seems to me that the objections by Palestinians of this recent declaration by Israel regarding the  historical significance of places in the Palestinian territories, which, I repeat, is currently under Israeli military occupation, really has nothing to do with whether or not there is Jewish historical significance attached to them.  It has everything to do with the fact that all historical sites in Palestinian territory should be under the care and stewardship of the Palestinians, who in turn should be in ownership and control of their own lands.  This follows Israel's own argument that the two peoples should be separated and apart.

In reality, Palestinians are denied the right to live free within their lands by the illegal, racist military occupation.  This military cover is used by Jewish-supremacist settlers to evict Palestinians from their homes and lands on the basis of religious and racist discrimination.

For some Israeli Jews it may be that, after the ultimate horrors of the Final Solution and the Holocaust, in their hearts the doors open to the possibility of trusting anyone not Jewish closed for good.  This is as understandable as it is tragic.  Out of fear we are capable of the worst atrocities.  One wonders how they could not fail to see the parallels in discussing final solutions to their 'Palestinian problem.'

        Auschwitz: child victims of Holocaust terror rolling up sleeves to show concentration camp I.D. tattoos.





Gaza, Operation Cast Lead; Khalil Hamra; AP



And of course, similar levels of fear and mistrust are instilled in the hearts of many Palestinians, too.

The underlying mindset of the far-right wing Likud Party currently in power in Israel, is articulated in the 1999 Likud Charter which proclaimed it is the right of Jews to settle in Gaza and the West Bank.

Some Likud members have been quoted as stating outrageously racist, derogatory slurs against the Palestinian people.  And it is not hard to find similar slurs toward Jews by Palestinian representatives. 

But are there any signs for hope? Wikipedia states that Netanyahu outlined in June, 2009, his vision of a future Palestinian state.  With current pressure to resume peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians coming both from the Arab League and the U.S., presumably sooner or later the Likud-ruling government of Israel will have to come clean on whether or not they are willing to deal on peace and how far they are willing to go.

And there are reports that Hamas may be more willing to negotiate, and have a more pragmatic view, than perhaps many Israelis realize. For example, 'Ismail Abu Shanab (assassinated by Israel) said that Hamas would halt its armed struggle if "the Israelis are willing to fully withdraw from the 1967 occupied territories and present a timetable for doing so." ('Hamas: The Last Chance for Peace?' - Henry Siegman; Apr. 27, '06; The New York Review of Books.)

As I allude to above, I am of the view that reconciliation would require the ability of both sides to articulate, and have acknowledged, the pain and suffering endured by both sides.

In a recent New York Times Op-Ed, 'Therapeutic diplomacy, not rational negotiation, is the way forward in the Middle East', Carlo Strenger, chairman of the clinical graduate psychology program at Tel Aviv University, argues that:

'The region’s collective traumas may easily lead one to conclude that the situation is hopeless. But the peace process stands a chance if it is seen not as a rational intervention but as a course of therapy that will allow both sides to work through emotional aspects of their traumas, dreams and shattered hopes.'

So in answer to the question what is wrong with Palestinians, as in all things context and inquiry are key to understanding.  And understanding can bring us closer to resolution of conflict.  That is what I continue to believe.

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