Israel land grab law 'ends hope of two-state solution'

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“Mass lifelong disability is now the prospect facing Gazan citizens, largely young”

The Gaza shootings: a massive orthopaedic crisis and mass disability

I am the Head of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in Gaza and I am writing in follow-up of the rapid response “The Maiming Fields of Gaza” of 4 May. (1) As of 18 May, the death and injury toll, rising every day, is 117 dead, including 13 children, and no less than 12,271 injured. 6,760 have been hospitalised, including 3,598 with bullet wounds. 19 clearly identified medics have been shot to date. (2)

The humanitarian agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has been operating in Gaza and says that people have been shot with bullets that have caused fist-sized wounds of “unusual severity”. Marie-Elisabeth Ingres, head of MSF Palestine says in their report that “half of the more than 500 patients we have admitted in our clinics have injuries where the bullet has literally destroyed tissue after having pulverised bone”. (3) This is what we are facing. I have seen a great deal of physical trauma in Gaza following Israeli attacks but have not seen these kind of injuries before. From the appearance of the wounds there appears to have been systematic use by Israeli Defence Force snipers of ammunition with an expanding ‘butterfly’ effect.

There are currently between 300 and 350 high energy compound tibial fractures in Gaza as a result of live fire. These are the most difficult of all open fractures to treat. Complex lower limb injuries of this severity may require between 5 and 7 surgical procedures, with each operation taking 3-6 hours. Even with state-of-the-art reconstruction, healing takes 1-2 years. Most of these patients will develop osteomyelitis. A steadily increasing toll of secondary amputations is inevitable. They will also need intensive rehabilitation, but the only rehabilitation hospital in Gaza was destroyed by Israeli bombing in 2014 and has not been re-built. Mass lifelong disability is now the prospect facing Gazan citizens, largely young, who were merely gathering in unarmed protest about Israeli occupation and siege that has rendered their political and social futures impossible.

To reconstruct such injuries is entirely beyond the capabilities of Gazan medical services already depleted by the 12 year Israeli siege described in the earlier rapid response. Shifa hospital is anyway swamped and there are no beds. Moreover the level of expertise required for such reconstructive surgery is beyond that generalist orthopaedic surgeons, requiring dedicated Limb Salvage Teams. I am sure that if over 6000 injured patients, more than half with bullet wounds, required admission to hospitals in London over a short period of time, your services would be stretched even though you are fully resourced. I am told that no single limb reconstruction service in the UK has ever been confronted with such mass leg casualties. How are we here in Gaza to manage this situation?

I understand there is now the question of an investigation by the International Criminal Court.

We in Gaza cannot but ask why has no European government spoken out about events which if they had happened elsewhere would surely have been called an international outrage and probable war crime?

http://normanfinkelstein.com/2018/06/10/mass-lifelong-disability-is-now-the-prospect-facing-gazan-citizens-largely-young/

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the Irish have a pretty good understanding of what it means to live under occupation

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Blurb

Witnesses say Israeli soldiers shot dead 21-year-old Palestinian medic Razan al-Najjar as she ran toward the border fence to provide medical aid to a wounded protester. Since nonviolent protests began at the end of March, Israeli soldiers have killed at least 119 people, including 14 children. More than 13,000 have been wounded. “It was clear to everybody that she was a paramedic, that that was murder. I mean, that was a crime committed before cameras,” said Dr. Medhat Abbas, director of Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip. We also speak with Najjar’s cousin, Dalia al-Najjar, who says the response of the international community to the Gaza crisis has been “really disappointing,” and notes the U.S. vetoed a draft U.N. resolution urging the protection of Palestinians on Friday, the same day Najjar was killed. “It’s a shameful side that the United States decided to take.”

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Why is the Palestinian Authority attacking Palestinian protests?

The Palestinian Authority is struggling with its loss of legitimacy as it clamps down on anti-Gaza-sanctions protests.

On Wednesday night in Ramallah, people mobilised once again around a new campaign calling for the Palestinian Authority (PA) to lift the sanctions it imposed on Gaza.

The sanctions include slashing the salaries of government employees by over 30 percent and the forced early retirement of nearly a third of PA employees in Gaza. Drastic moves at any time, these sanctions are made even more brutal in the context of the ongoing Israeli siege on Gaza, which has aggravated unemployment and poverty.

The protesters view the sanctions as a tool in the siege of Gaza and a mechanism of collective punishment. They also reject political polarisation and the power struggle between Fatah and Hamas.

Wednesday’s demonstration came on the back of a similar demonstration that took place in Ramallah on Sunday and was attended by nearly two thousand people. There was very little violence in Sunday’s demonstration, but what happened on Wednesday night was another story.

On Tuesday, one day before the planned demonstration, the PA announced a ban on all forms of protests until the end of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the month of Ramadan. This allowed the PA to brand the planned demonstration "illegal" and organise its forces to shut it down.

Prior to the protest, the streets of Ramallah were filled with police. Officers were placed in strategic locations in an obvious effort to intimidate activists.

Soon after the protesters started to gather, armed with nothing but posters that read "Gaza unites us", security forces started to fire tear gas and throw stun grenades. Heavily armed police officers in riot gear also wielded batons and used tasers against unarmed protesters. By the end of the night, over 40 protesters had been arrested. Detained protesters suffered beatings in police vehicles and police stations. Most detainees were released promptly, but they sustained injuries.

The worst violence came not from the police, but the paid thugs loyal to the Fatah party, known colloquially as "baltajiyeh", who showed up to beat and intimidate protesters. Identifiable by the white caps they wore, these men were incredibly violent towards protesters and sexually harassed and assaulted several women in the crowd.

The intimidation of activists in Palestine, particularly those critical of the PA, is not new. Many similar protests have been suppressed in the past, what happened on Wednesday night shouldn't surprise anyone. The leadership that attacked peaceful protesters this week has been stifling political opposition for years. It also failed to hold democratic elections for over a decade.

Yet despite all its authoritarianism and aggression towards its own people, the PA still has the support of the international community and its security forces are celebrated for their efficiency. In 2006, the PA security forces were reformed and retrained in an initiative led by the United States Security Coordinator (USSC) and the European Union Coordinating Office for Palestinian Police Support (EUPOL COPPS). They have since been praised by various Israeli politicians for their cooperation and assistance in preventing so-called "terrorist activities".

After last Sunday's protest, the PA claimed the ongoing campaign in Ramallah against Gaza sanctions was organised directly by Hamas. However, this clearly is not the case. The campaign against Gaza sanctions is a non-partisan grassroots movement. Palestinians from all backgrounds and political affiliations gathered in Ramallah on Wednesday to protest.

The main goal of the campaign is to lift the sanctions that are exacerbating the suffering caused by the Israeli siege. But it is also attempting to challenge the fragmentation of the Palestinian people, stressing that they are one - from Gaza to Haifa to Ramallah - and that their adversary is not each other but the Israeli settler colony and all its mechanisms of control.

What is clearer than ever today is that the PA has lost its legitimacy. As a product of Oslo, it remains a mechanism that aims to keep the Palestinian people occupied and subdued within the 1967 territories. It fails to represent Palestinian refugees in other countries or the Palestinians living in the 1948 territories.

But the international community continues its partnership with the PA and even worse, continues to fund its brutality towards its own people.

The beginning of the Great March of Return protests in Gaza several months ago has shown the revival of Palestinian grassroots organising. Indeed from Haifa to Ramallah, Gaza is uniting the Palestinian people.

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/op...100149988.html

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UAE accused of purchasing homes for Zionist settlers in al-Aqsa’s vicinity

In an incriminating revelation, Vice President of the Islamic Movement inside 1948 Occupied Palestine, Sheikh Kamal al-Khatib has again accused the UAE of paying huge sums of money in an attempt to speed up the Judaisation of Eastern Jerusalem.

In a Facebook post, [1] al-Khatib asserted that a businessman:

“Very close to Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi was involved in purchasing homes and estate in the occupied Old City in Jerusalem, namely in the vicinity of al-Masjid al-Aqsa with the help of a Jerusalemite associate of expelled Fatah ‘National Security Advisor’ Mohammad Dahlan…” [2]

In the post, al-Khatib added that:

“This businessman offered a resident in Jerusalem $5M to purchase his home, one that neighbours al-Masjid al-Aqsa. When the owner rejected the offer, the (purchaser’s) offered price increased to $20M for the same home.”

ccording to al-Khatib, this purchase attempt failed because “the principled homeowner’s mouth did not water over this filthy wealth,” reiterating previous revelations that had suggested “Mohammed bin Zayed’s regime in the UAE was complicit in purchasing the homes of Jerusalmites (in Silwan and Wadi Hilwah) in 2014 before transferring their ownership to (Zionist) settlements institutions.”

The Sheikh implored residents of al-Quds not to cooperate with anyone seeking to sell homes or estate to anyone or for any reason, concluding that “the rulers of the UAE are germs lurking in the body of the Ummah.” In an interview with Aljazeera, Sheikh al-Khatib said:

In his response, Dahlan, who lavishes in his Abu Dhabi home featuring plush sofas, vaulted ceilings, chandeliers and an infinity pool, accused al-Khatib of being an “Ikhwani liar”. The aide to George W Bush, chosen to lead a coup against the elected Hamas government in Gaza in 2007, [4] said al-Khatib was “hiding behind religiosity” and launched a scathing attack against Aljazeera network who broadcast the disclosures. Remarkably, Dahlan did not deny the allegations. [5]

It is noteworthy to mention that Sheikh al-Khatib has dedicated his life to the service and protection of al-Masjid al-Aqsa, becoming famous for leading the ‘Murabitū al-Aqsa’ (the Protectors of al-Aqsa). Under this movement, regular convoys are sent to the third Masjid of Islām to liven it with circles of knowledge and I’tikāf (prolonged stays) whilst providing it protection against the incursions of Zionist settlers. Al-Khatib has been repeatedly prevented from entering al-Aqsa and has suffered persecution and arrests. [6]

High Treason

Palestinians recognise selling their homes to Zionist settlers as a form of high-treason seeing that it facilitates the occupation and Judaisation of the holy land. Only 13% of Occupied East Jerusalem is permitted for Palestinian construction as it is already more or less built up. Regular coerced evictions, home demolitions and appropriation of Palestinian-owned properties occur under the pretext of those properties not having Israeli-issued building permits. [7]

Zionist NGOs that champion Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem receive hundreds of millions of dollars from private donors, and using intermediaries wedged as middle-men to make it look like an ordinary Palestinian to Palestinian transaction, occupy the city ‘one house at a time’. [8] For many, it beggars belief that at least one Arab government is assisting the Judaisation of the Islamic city and facilitating a demographic shift; one that that is likely to have extreme and dire consequences for al-Masjid al-Aqsa.

https://www.islam21c.com/news-views/uae-accused-of-purchasing-homes-for-zionist-settlers-in-al-aqsas-vicinity/

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“The PA leaders needs to recognize that the model they are perpetuating in the West Bank is the inspiration for what Israel and the Trump administration seek to do in Gaza, and that they are indirectly serving the interests of Jerusalem and Washington. The goal is to rule the Palestinians for generations, with no diplomatic agreement that necessitates determining borders and resolving the core issues.”

Abbas Opposes Plan to Rebuild Gaza, but He Has Only Himself to Blame

Palestinian Authority leaders needs to recognize that the model they are perpetuating in the West Bank is the inspiration for what Israel and the Trump administration seek to do in Gaza

What should be done with the Gaza Strip? The question comes up every time tension in the south rises.

Leading pundits ask the question of retired generals in the hope of getting an answer that promises salvation, rather like ancient Greeks longing for an answer from the gods on Olympus. But all the answers revolve around the same old colonialist approach that has characterized Israel’s security policy for generations.

Not human rights, freedom and self-determination, but control via carrots and sticks: defeating Hamas, but leaving it in power. Controlling the sea and the air and the border crossings, but giving people a glimmer of hope through minor relaxations of the siege and the introduction of infrastructure projects that will provide jobs. The main thing is for Gaza to remain a territory surrounded by fences, deterred and barely breathing, but alive.

This model wasn’t developed in the past few months or years. It also operates in the West Bank, despite efforts to conceal it. And for now, the model is working well, despite the geographic and demographic differences between the territories.
The West Bank is divided into canton centered on the main cities. With them, there is a semblance of freedom of movement and freedom of commerce, but nobody can enter or leave without Israeli permission. Many Palestinians do leave for work, despite occasional terror attacks.

Overall, Israeli control over the West Bank is almost absolute. As far as Israel is concerned, the Palestinian Authority and its security services are supplying the goods by preventing escalation. All the threats by senior PA officials to dismantle the deal and hand back the keys no longer impress anyone.

This is the model Israel would like to advance in the Gaza Strip. It would like to stay as far away as possible from a comprehensive political arrangement and promote a plan for its continued control based on the same parameters as in the West Bank. The Strip would become one big canton. Hamas would be the de facto sovereign, policing and keeping the peace. Unlike the West Bank, Gaza has no Israeli settlements, so as long as there’s no rocket and mortar fire into Israel, everything’s under control.

But Hamas, unlike the PA, is hard to restrain, mainly because of its rockets and tunnels. That’s why Israel invested billions to develop the Iron Dome anti-missile system and build the new fence around Gaza.

The entry of U.S. envoys Jason Greenblatt and Jared Kushner, in cooperation with Arab states like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, is meant in the eyes of Netanyahu’s Israel to complete this plan. Egypt, which has a vital interest in calming Gaza down because of the territory’s impact on Sinai, will play the policeman who restrains Hamas. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and perhaps the United Arab Emirates will pay for the projects, which will be under United Nations auspices.

The hope is that curbing Hamas while improving Gaza’s infrastructure will ensure long-term quiet, safeguard Israel’s security interests and sever the connection between Gaza and the West Bank, so that all talk of a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders would become irrelevant.

Hamas understands this plan quite well, and therefore, it will officially oppose and assail it. But in practice, it won’t oppose civilian projects in Gaza as long as its rule isn’t in danger.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the rest of the PA leadership will continue to warn against separating Gaza from the West Bank and to attack the plan, as they did over the weekend.

In a statement, Abbas said: “the American delegation has to realize that there’s no point in looking for alternatives and illusions that are meant to divide the Palestinian homeland and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

His spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, added on his behalf that “true peace obligates the implementation of decisions made by the international community, that are based on a two-state solution, a Palestinian state built on the 67’ borders with East Jerusalem as its capital and the creation of an international mechanism to put the peace process back on the right track.”

The PA leaders needs to recognize that the model they are perpetuating in the West Bank is the inspiration for what Israel and the Trump administration seek to do in Gaza, and that they are indirectly serving the interests of Jerusalem and Washington. The goal is to rule the Palestinians for generations, with no diplomatic agreement that necessitates determining borders and resolving the core issues. For Israel and the United States, it would be a huge success if the Arab states adopted and promoted this formula.

The Palestinian leadership in Ramallah and Gaza can kick and scream, but their complaints should be directed first and foremost at themselves and only afterward at the rest of the world. For unless they end the internal schism and return their mandate to the Palestinian people via free and democratic elections, which would produce a new leadership with a new strategy and a new agenda, the Palestinians will be left with few weapons to fight the plans being concocted to liquidate their national aspirations.

http://normanfinkelstein.com/2018/06/24/the-pa-leaders-needs-to-recognize-that-the-model-they-are-perpetuating-in-the-west-bank-is-the-inspiration-for-what-israel-and-the-trump-administration-seek-to-do-in-gaza-and-that-they-are-indirect/

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Palestinian Authority proves to be good student of Israeli repression

The tension was palpable in Ramallah’s city center as numerous Palestinian security forces gathered around al-Manara Square on the evening of 13 June. Wearing helmets and carrying batons, they peered through the square, waiting for the first person to raise their voice.

On the second of three days of protests, Palestinians gathered in Ramallah – a city in the occupied West Bank – to demand the Palestinian Authority lift sanctions it imposed on the Gaza Strip.

The protests were the first clear expression of solidarity with Gaza in Ramallah since the beginning of the Great March of Return.

As PA security officials waited for the 13 June protest to begin, women’s voices rose up chanting, “with our blood, with our souls, we will sacrifice for you Gaza.”

It only took seconds for the militarized forces to shoot stun grenades into the crowd, chase protesters and beat them with full force.

It became clear that there were many security forces in plain clothing present as young men were violently dragged away.

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“We have seen violence from the PA before, especially during peaceful protests,” Dalia Nassar, a protester at the scene, told The Electronic Intifada.

“But to this extent, no. This is violence like never before.”

Some of the security forces present wore caps bearing the emblems of Fatah, the dominant party in the PA.

“We are used to the men in uniform,” said Wafa Abdel Rahman, founder of women’s rights group Filastiniyat. “But these gangs, they were new.”

Abdel Rahman noted that the men in caps were harassing women and girls. Some of the men in caps were heard shouting “-----” at women and telling them to go home.

In at least one case, a woman was sexually abused before being rescued by acquaintances.

“I thought that they would still have some respect for women and girls, being Arabs. But I saw undercover forces beating up women the age of their mothers,” Abdel Rahman said.

Punitive measures

The protest had been organized under the banner “lift the sanctions,” and came as a response to the Palestinian Authority’s recent salary cuts of public employees in Gaza.

“First, they cut benefits, like transportation, health insurance, child support,” Hussein, a Gaza resident who was reached by phone, stated.

In April 2017, the Palestinian Authority cut the wages of public employees by 30 percent in Gaza.

“People had to live on 70 percent of their salaries for 10 months,” said Hussein (not his real name). “Then they cut 50 percent more. Then the salaries stopped for two months, then they kept paying the 50 percent.”

“But most of the money goes to banks because many people here have loans.”

Hussein asked for his real name not to be used, as he is waiting for an exit permit for medical treatment. He fears the Palestinian Authority – which processes such permits for Gaza residents – would not allow him to leave.

Tug of war

Since Hamas expelled Fatah forces and took power of the interior of Gaza in 2007, the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority has been trying to force Hamas out of power through imposing various sanctions on the strip, political analyst Mouin Rabbani told The Electronic Intifada.

The PA has “believed that a combination of Israeli military pressure against Hamas and punishment of the population of Gaza would lead to Hamas’ voluntary departure from government, or a popular rebellion against them,” Rabbani added.

Rabbani explained that as this strategy has not worked, Abbas and his associates are increasing pressure. In doing so, they do not shy away from appealing directly to the Israeli occupation authorities.

Last year, the PA asked Israel to cut Gaza’s electricity supply.

“We have come to see a disgraceful situation in which the self-proclaimed Palestinian leadership is openly soliciting for collective punishment from the occupation against its own people,” Rabbani stated.

The battle between the two parties is one for political power, stated Wafa Abdel Rahman moments before protests commenced on 13 June.

“Abbas and Hamas are both taking the Gaza people hostage,” she explained to The Electronic Intifada. “Abbas wants Gazans to rebel against Hamas, but they have done it before. They were attacked and killed. You are asking them to commit suicide.”

Abdel Rahman added, “nobody is answering the essential question: If Hamas is gone, what is the alternative?”

Rabbani expressed a similar sentiment, stating that while Abbas is attempting to oust Hamas, he is not showing a willingness to take responsibility over the Gaza Strip himself.

“The PA talks about the Gaza Strip as a foreign country to which it is providing aid, and about those who receive the salaries as if they are somehow recipients of a donor project, rather than their own people,” he said.

Diana Buttu, a former negotiator for the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that Abbas is seeking to punish the people of Gaza for voting for Hamas.

“The scary part is that the actual security services were willing to follow his orders,” Buttu told The Electronic Intifada.

Buttu emphasized that the Palestinian Authority seemed to have learned well from Israeli repression techniques.

“I watched the events via Facebook live feeds, and it was very reminiscent of what the Israelis did to solidarity protests in Haifa,” she said.

Buttu was referring to Israeli police’s violent suppression of a Palestinian protest in Haifa, a city in Israel, on 18 May. The protest had been called against Israel’s massacre of unarmed civilians in Gaza.

“From wearing riot gear when there is no riot, to stun grenades, to approaching it from a standpoint that this needs to be shut down, rather than allowing people to express themselves,” Buttu said. “They [the PA’s forces] have proven to very good students.”

https://electronicintifada.net/content/palestinian-authority-proves-be-good-student-israeli-repression/24731

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Arabic press review: Jerusalem not for sale, say Islamic and Christian leaders

Preventing a Jerusalem fire sale

Islamic and Christian organisations in Jerusalem are taking measures to ensure that Gulf countries are unable to buy up Palestinian properties in the city, news site Arabi21 reports.

Jamal Amro, a member of the Jerusalem supreme Islamic committee, told Arabi21 that the associations will form a committee of experts to monitor suspicious purchases.

"The committee will carry out a property survey to document all the Arab properties in the Old City in Jerusalem and identify the owners and the date of purchase of the property," Amro said.

Amro said that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in particular, are the countries of most concern.

The UAE, he said, is offering inflated prices for houses in the Old City while Saudi Arabia wants to replace Jordan as the custodian of Jerusalem's holy sites.

"Some residents of the city would sell their properties because of the difficult economic conditions that the residents of Jerusalem have been going through as a result of the high taxes imposed by the occupation authorities," he added.

The issue came to head recently when the deputy head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Kamal al-Khatib, said that the former leader of the Fatah movement, Mohammed Dahlan, was involved in an Emirati plan to build an Israeli settlement next to the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Jordan under pressure

Jordan's newly appointed prime minister says that the kingdom is under extraordinary pressure to change its political stances, according to the Jordanian newspaper al-Ghad.

Omar al-Razzaz did not specify what kind of pressure he meant or what position needed to change. However, several months ago, King Abdullah II said that Jordan was being pressured to change its position concerning Jerusalem in return for the resumption of financial aid.

After several consecutive days of anti-austerity protests last week, Razzaz replaced Hani al-Mulki as prime minister and was put in charge of forming a new government.

Razzaz made his comments during a meeting with representatives of political parties in Jordan in which he assured them that consultations around the new government are ongoing.

The king, he told them, has asked him not to rush so that he won't have to reshuffle any time soon.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/arabic-press-review-802064618

while Saudi Arabia wants to replace Jordan as the custodian of Jerusalem's holy sites.

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'Jordan, Palestine and Saudi Arabia warn Israel against Turkey'

Israeli daily Haaretz alleges the three Arab states have warned Israel of creeping Turkish influence in East Jerusalem.

Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Palestine have warned Israel on separate occasions about Turkey's creeping influence in East Jerusalem, according to a report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The report notes that senior officials from the three Arab countries told Israel that Turkey was "extending its influence in Arab neighbourhoods of Jerusalem" which they said was "part of an attempt by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to "claim ownership over the Jerusalem issue."

Israeli sources claimed to have been aware of Turkey's expanding influence and say they have been monitoring Ankara's efforts for more than a year.

According to the report, Jordanian officials are said to have been upset with Israel's slow response which they described as "sleeping at the wheel", especially since the signing of a 2016 reconciliation agreement which Israel is adamant to maintain.

Officials from the Palestinian Authority also expressed concern at Turkey's drive to further its influence in East Jerusalem which comes in the form of donations to Islamic organisations in Arab neighbourhoods or through organised tours by Turkish Muslim groups with close ties to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Israeli defence officials told the Israeli daily that the phenomenon had reached its peak in 2017 with hundreds of Turkish nationals establishing "a regular presence in and around the city" and increasingly clashing with police forces during Friday prayers at Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque.

"They're trying to buy real estate and strengthen their political standing," an unnamed police source is quoted as saying.

"It's also a source of concern for the PA, which doesn't want to have another country claiming responsibility for East Jerusalem."

Jordan's concerns stem from the fact that Turkey's efforts to widen its influence risk compromising the Hashemite Kingdom's position as the custodian of Islam's third holiest site.

Saudi Arabia for its part is worried that Erdogan's ambitions in Jerusalem may help boost his image in the Arab and wider Muslim world which would, in effect, present him "as the only leader truly standing up to Israel and the Trump administration".

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/06/palestine-saudi-arabia-warn-israel-turkey-180628195454983.html

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Nothing to hide? Israel considers ban on filming IDF soldiers, 5yr jail terms for offenders

A draft Israeli bill proposes to ban filming of soldiers and jail offenders for up to 5 years. Here are some videos that would qualify as an offense under the proposed ban, slammed as an attempt to hide abuse of Palestinians.

The controversial legislation states that anyone who “filmed, photographed, and/or recorded soldiers in the course of their duties, with the intention of undermining the spirit of IDF soldiers and residents of Israel, shall be liable to five years imprisonment,” according to reports in Hebrew-language media earlier in May.

The document, which critics see as a new way of silencing criticism of the Israeli army, says that the country “has witnessed a worrying phenomenon of documentation of IDF soldiers” in recent years. It accuses human rights groups such as B’Tselem, Machsom Watch Women, and Breaking the Silence of waiting patiently for any IDF activity “that can be presented in biased and tendentious form.”

The Knesset member behind the bill, Robert Ilatov, insists that Israel has “a responsibility to provide IDF soldiers with optimal conditions for carrying out their duties.”

The legislation was proposed amid worldwide condemnation of the IDF’s use of lethal force during the Palestinian ‘Great March of Return’ protests, which saw at least 119 people killed since the end of March. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) called the bill a “serious breach” of freedom of media and expression. It insisted that if IDF troops have nothing to hide, “there is no harm in documenting their actions against Palestinians.”

https://www.veteranstoday.com/2018/05/28/nothing-to-hide-israel-considers-ban-on-filming-idf-soldiers-5yr-jail-terms-for-offenders/

No wonder.

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The two-state solution means Palestine’s destruction, so why does Jeremy Corbyn support it?

If Jeremy Corbyn really cares about Palestine why does he keep talking about a two-state solution, asks Roshan Muhammed Salih.

The vast majority of Palestinians I know think that the two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict is dead. Religious Palestinians think it’s dead; secular Palestinians think it’s dead; even many of those who publicly support it because they’re part of the “peace process industry” will privately admit it’s dead.

What’s more, a majority of Israelis think it’s dead, including members of the cabinet.

Since the Oslo Accords of 1993 the “peace process” and the “two-state solution” have been the mantras of the so-called international community which has lamentably failed to deliver either. A mythical peace deal would include a demilitarised Palestinian state; an Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 lines with territorial swaps; repatriation of 100,000 Palestinian refugees; west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and east Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital; the Old City’s Jewish Quarter and Western Wall under Israeli sovereignty, and Muslim and Christian quarters and the Haram al Sharif under Palestinian sovereignty.

But the truth is that Israel killed the Oslo peace process and the two-state solution by launching wars and implementing a brutal occupation. They killed it by building more and more settlements on Palestinian land and populating them with Jews from all over the world. They killed it by constructing the Apartheid Wall. They killed it by separating the West Bank from Gaza. They killed it by isolating Palestinians from the world and from each other and by making them economically dependent on their oppressors.

This means that if a two-state solution were implemented today a Palestinian state would simply not be viable. After all, how can a state be viable when it has no contiguous territory, when it is under siege, when it has no control over its borders or its economy, or when it is not allowed to have an army?

Not to mention the fact that while millions of Palestinians and their deceendants who were ethnically cleansed from their towns and villages will not be able to return to their ancestral homes, any Jew living in any country in the world can go there any time.

Corbyn’s fudge

Yet “pro-Palestinian” Jeremy Corbyn still talks about the two-state solution (code for the destruction of the Palestinian cause) virtually every time he speaks about Palestine.

Just last week he said the UK would swiftly “recognise Palestine as a state” under a Labour government, and would take steps towards “a genuine two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “very early on” if Labour won a general election.

Now we all know that Jeremy Corbyn has been a friend of Palestine throughout his life. I’m not disputing that. He has visited the region several times and has constantly condemned Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians. I have personally interviewed him many times about Palestine and can testify to his detailed knowledge of the country and its people.

Moreover, I believe he is genuinely concerned about the dire predicament of the Palestinians and would be far more equitable to them than any Prime Minister in British history. And the Zionist lobby in the UK are well aware of that and that’s why they have targeted him relentlessly with false accusations of anti-semitism.

So deep down I believe Corbyn knows that a two-state solution is nonsense, but let’s face it he’s running to be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom so he has bigger fish to fry.

My feeling is that Corbyn talks about a two-state solution because he has bigger issues on his plate than Palestine and doesn’t want to cause further divisions in his party because of it. After all, there are many members of the Parliamentary Labour Party who would prefer to see the Tories continue in power than Labour win under Corbyn. And many of these people are die-hard supporters of Israel.

But Corbyn is at his best when he’s at his most radical. I’m talking about the Jeremy Corbyn who was allowed to be himself in the run-up to last year’s general election, not the Jeremy Corbyn who has at times bent over backwards to appease his party’s right-wing.

The people who will vote for Corbyn are those who want to see his radicalism come to the fore – the Corbyn who will nationalise the railways, who will tax the rich, who will reinvigorate the NHS and the education system, who will cut arms sales to Saudi and Israel, who will not launch wars. And yes, a Jeremy Corbyn who stops talking nonsense about a two-state solution and who calls for one state and for everyone to share the land – one person, one vote.

The truth is there is no solution

But one or two-state solution, the truth is that there is no solution to the Palestine issue at the moment. There is no military solution because Israel is much more powerful in this regard, and there is no political solution because the countries that supposedly support Palestine are divided and weaker than the countries that support Israel.

So the only thing the Palestinians can do is sit and wait for a better historical moment and not leave the land. I know I have no right to say this living in the comfort of the West, but maybe the highest calling of a Palestinian today is to literally give up any hope for a better future by staying where they are and not emigrating. I would never condemn Palestinians who choose to leave Palestine for a better life, but I only have the upmost admiration for those who choose to stay in Palestine despite the fact that they know they’re signing away their lives.

Let me end with a sign of hope – Israel may be sitting pretty now but will it be in in 50 years time? It’s facing a demographic timebomb with a rapidly rising Palestinian population, and also a rapidly rising ultra-orthodox Jewish population which doesn’t serve in the army and doesn’t contribute much to the economy.

Will Israel’s main backer – America – still want to support a Western colonial outpost in the Middle East when the whole region becomes less strategic with the end of the energy age? Will America still have the same cultural affinity with Israel as internally it inevitably becomes a more Hispanic and non-white nation?

With the advent of a multi-polar world and rising Muslim powers, will Palestinians finally get the financial, military and political backing they deserve?

None of us know the answers to these questions but I do know that time is against Israel and an argument can be made that they need a deal more than the Palestinians do.

But non-Palestinians should not tell Palestinians what to do; our role is to simply support them. Whatever the Palestinian consensuses is I’m fine with that. If the consensus is to fight Israel with arms I support that because an occupied people has the right to resist an occupation militarily. If they want to struggle by peaceful means through cultural boycotts or politics then I also support that. And if they want to do a combination of both then that’s great too.

But like the majority of Palestinians I do not support a two-state solution. And neither should Jeremy Corbyn.

https://5pillarsuk.com/2018/06/29/the-two-state-solution-means-palestines-destruction-so-why-does-jeremy-corbyn-support-it/

Salaam

Another update

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