OMNI
ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS NEWSLETTER #12, June 21, 2016.
Compiled by Dick Bennett FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE AND JUSTICE.
(#1 Feb.
22, 2011; #2 Feb. 16, 2012; #3 March 1, 2012; #4 May 18, 2012; #5 August 13, 2012;
#6 October 29, 2012; #7 Dec. 17, 2012; #8 March 29, 2013; #9 Oct. 21, 2013; #10
April 28, 2014; #11, July 1, 2015).
Contents Israel / Palestine Newsletter # 12
Some of the following items are dated but their relevance is not. –D]
ISRAEL’S COST TO US
Israel's cost to U.S. taxpayers:
PBS Frontline, “Netanyahu at War” (1-5-16)
“Netanyahu at War” Google Search (1-6-16)
Lisa Goldman, “A Deeply Flawed Documentary”
Netanyahu War Criminal Google Search
Dick, One Temple Rejects Zionism
Conflict Today
Beinart, Crisis of Zionism
Why Do They Stab US?
US Mainstream Media
Israel Lobby
Israel Lobby’s Free Trip to Israel for Freshmen Congressmen
Landay, Iran and Israel’s Nuclear Arsenals
Resistance to Occupation
Ann Wright Sues Barak
Protest Natanyahu’s Visit to US
End the Occupation, Anna Baltzer
US Campaign National Conference in Atlanta 2015
Mazin Qumsiyeh
Remi Kenazi
African Americans Visit Palestine Find Common Ground
Solution
International Protection Force
US Media Tell the Truth in Headlines
Israeli and Palestinian Culture
Letty Pogrebin Presents: New Book by Amos Oz and His Daughter Fania Oz-
Salzberger
ISRAEL’S COST TO US
Israel's cost to U.S. taxpayers:
Origins of Conflict
“'Netanyahu at War': An engaging but deeply flawed documentary.” By Lisa Goldman. January 5, 2016.
+972 http://972mag.com/netanyahu-at-war-an-engaging-but-deeply-flawed-documentary/115628/
Twenty three men and three women tell the captivating story of Netanyahu’s rise to power, and how he ended up on a collision course with the leader of the free world. Yes, 23 men and three women.
[photo deleted] President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu at Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel, March 20, 2013. (Kobi Gideon / GPO)
“Netanyahu at War,” a PBS Frontline documentary about Benjamin Netanyahu’s rise to power and the background to his now-infamous, ongoing feud with Barack Obama, opens with the controversy surrounding the Israeli prime minister’s address to Congress last March, which one of the Israeli prime minister’s former advisors frames as a Churchillian attempt to warn the world about the dangers of a nuclear deal with Iran. “Netanyahu,” says former advisor Eyal Arad, “has a messianic notion of himself as someone called to save the Jewish people.”
Over the next five minutes, we hear insights into the hostile Obama-Netanyahu relationship from no less than 10 name-brand experts (besides Eyal Arad): Ari Shavit, David Axelrod, Haaretz correspondent Chemi Shalev, Ronen Bergman, Sandy Berger, David Baker, Aaron David Miller, veteran Likud parliamentarian Tzachi Hanegbi, the New York Times‘ White House correspondent Peter Baker, and Dennis Ross. Axelrod describes Netanyahu’s meddling in U.S. foreign policy as “audacious” and “unprecedented.” Sandy Berger says it was a “direct attack” on Obama’s foreign policy legacy. Shalev observes that Netanyahu was “ready to undermine Israel’s relations with the U.S. in order to fight off the Iranian challenge.”
Having thus set the stage, over the next third of the documentary we learn about Netanyahu’s background. His illustrious combat career as an officer in the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit, and his involvement in the mission to release the hostages during the 1972 Sabena Airline hijacking. The years he spent in the United States, first in high school, and then as an Israeli diplomat when he built his strong relations with leaders in the Jewish community. Then on to his return to Israel in the late 1980s and his rise to leadership in the Likud party during the Oslo period, leading up to Rabin’s assassination in 1995.
Twenty three men
At this point we’re 45 minutes into this documentary and we finally hear from an actual female expert. Really. Dana Weiss, an Israeli TV news presenter, explains why Israelis were insulted that Obama didn’t “stop by for coffee” after he gave his 2009 Cairo speech. And then Diana Buttu, the prominent Canadian-Palestinian attorney who was a spokesperson for the PLO and a participant in negotiations with the Israelis, speaks. But all we hear from her is a four-second clip about the Second Intifada, in which she explains that the Palestinians were “fed up” with the stalled negotiations and broken promises. But the narrator of the program had just presented the Second Intifada as a renewal of Palestinian violence.
We hear from Buttu a couple more times. Channel 2 reporter Dana Weiss gets a few more seconds. As does Tzipi Livni, the veteran Israeli politician, former foreign minister and former leader of the Kadima party. Leah Rabin, the late widow of Yitzhak Rabin, appears briefly in archival footage of a television interview she gave to an American network after her husband’s assassination.
And that is about it for the women in this long, detailed documentary.
But in addition to the 10 men who spoke in the first five minutes, we also hear from Saeb Erakat, Ben Rhodes (Obama’s deputy national security advisor), Marvin Kalb, Dore Gold, Peter Beinart, George Mitchell, Michael Oren, Jeffrey Goldberg, Martin Indyk, Dan Meridor (Likud politician) and journalist Dan Ephron.
Twenty three men and three women, with the women given a total of maybe four minutes collectively (and I am being generous) in a nearly two-hour episode.
We hear nothing from Madeleine Albright, Condoleeza Rice, Susan Rice, Ilana Dayan, Yonit Levi, Mazal Mualem, Lara Friedman, Tamara Coffman-Wittes, Hanan Ashrawi, Lucy Kurtzer Ellenbogen, Hillary Clinton or any other important, leading female analyst, journalist or politician who is truly an expert with real insights to bring. Oh, you’ve never heard of most them? That’s probably true. Because even though they are leading experts in their fields, and despite the fact that many of them actually served in the State Department and were directly involved in negotiations with Israel and the Palestinian Authority, why bother to solicit fresh voices? Why, indeed, when the old boy’s club is so ready, willing and able.
Obama the Naive
But it’s not just the unapologetically and shamefully patriarchal attitude that undermines the credibility of this elegantly produced Frontline episode on Benjamin Netanyahu. It’s also the dubious political analysis that is left unchallenged.
Obama’s support for the Egyptian uprising, for example, is presented as childlike and naive. It is implied that the U.S. president’s enthusiasm for the popular uprising put Israeli security at risk. Jeffrey Goldberg suggests that Netanyahu was prescient in criticizing Obama for calling upon Mubarak to resign in February 2011. Netanyahu knew that “Muslim extremists” would take over, says Goldberg. This view is supported by Michael Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States, and by Dan Meridor, the Likud politician.
There are no analysts to challenge this extremely shallow analysis of the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. No one mentions that under Morsi, the deposed president who came up through the Brotherhood, relations between Israel and Egypt remained as they had been under Mubarak. In fact, in 2012 Morsi came under fire from Egyptians — including secular opponents to the Brotherhood — for sending an effusively warm official letter to his “great and good friend,” then-president Shimon Peres. Cooperation between the Egyptian army and the Israeli army continued uninterrupted under Morsi. Nor does anyone bother mentioning the potential damage to the United States’ credibility in the Arab Middle East if Obama had offered to continue supporting a deeply unpopular authoritarian leader while millions demonstrated against him on the streets.
This theme of naive Obama and Obama the Arab lover dominates “Netanyahu at War.” Obama is criticized heavily for calling for a settlement freeze right after he gave his 2009 speech at Cairo University and immediately after Netanyahu was elected. None of the analysts denies that it had always been U.S. policy to oppose Israel’s settlements in the occupied territories. But Indyk, Ross and Mitchell all agree that in hindsight it was bad timing to reiterate U.S. policy after, oh, only 42 years of unceasing settlement expansion. Obama should have waited.
Goldberg and Oren both criticize Obama for “putting daylight” between Israel and the United States in order to make nice with the Arabs. Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security advisor, is given a few seconds to point out that not only has opposition to settlements been the policy of every U.S. administration, but that in his seven years of experience he has learned that you’re “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” in every decision regarding Middle East policy.
I take serious issue with the overall tone of the analysis offered by the various participants interviewed for this program, with a few notable exceptions. At the very least, there should have been some strong voices to counter the narrative that Obama was naive or that he deliberately undermined relations with Israel in order to pursue his alleged love affair with the Arab states. Both accusations are absurd and insulting.
And I must emphasize again that this male dominated discourse has to stop. It simply must. The year is 2016. Washington is full of senior, expert female policy analysts and journalists. There is no shortage of expert women in Israel or in Palestine, either. When they are left out of a current affairs documentary for an important program like Frontline, it constitutes a serious omission that undermines its credibility. Why in the world are men in their 60s who have not been involved in policy making for nearly two decades still considered experts while female diplomats who were directly involved in high level negotiations over very recent years completely ignored?
“Netanyahu at War” will be broadcast Tuesday night (tonight) on PBS in the United States. Viewers abroad can watch it online. It’s a well-edited documentary that flows and and offers some insights that will engage even those who know the story intimately. But it is also deeply flawed in its framing and seriously undermined by its failure to include both genders — and, also, by its having omitted Palestinians. Saeb Erakat and Diana Buttu aside, what we have here is a program dominated by American Jewish men who live in Washington or New York. Again.
For additional original analysis and breaking news, visit +972 Magazine's Facebook page or follow us on Twitter. Our newsletter features a comprehensive round-up of the week's events. Sign up here.
Related stories
The real problem with Netanyahu's mufti speech By Noam Sheizaf | October 23, 2015
The craziest things Netanyahu said this week By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man | December 5, 2015
Overcoming Jewish America's Israel fantasy By Lisa Goldman | December 31, 2015
A dark tale from Netanyahu Nation By Larry Derfner | May 20, 2015
Frontline, “Netanyahu at War” Google Search, Jan. 5, 2016
A political biography of Israel’s strong security-oriented prime minister Netanyahu and his relations with the US, particularly with Pres. Obama. That it is so one-sided makes me hope for an equally extensive program from the usually fair Frontline giving Palestinian perspectives. --Dick
www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/netanyahu-at-war/
PBS
An inside
look at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political
rise and his relationship with the U.S..
With new
waves of violence between Israelis and Palestinians unfolding and Israel-U.S.
relations already emerging as a 2016 campaign issue, FRONTLINE ...
In
the news
Netanyahu,
Rabin and the Assassination That Shook History | FRONTLINE ... campaign issue, FRONTLINE begins
the new year tomorrow night with Netanyahu at War.
+972 Magazine - 15
hours ago
FRONTLINE - 12
hours ago
variety.com/.../netanyahu-at-war-review-frontline-benjamin-neta...
Variety
2 days ago
- Frontline explores Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's career - and acrimony with President
Obama - in PBS' 'Netanyahu at War.'
972mag.com/netanyahu-at-war-an-engaging.../115628/
+972
Magazine
15 hours ago
- “Netanyahu at War,” a PBS Frontline documentary
about BenjaminNetanyahu's rise to power and the background to his
now-infamous, ...
forward.com/.../israel/.../netanyahu-at-war-takes-operatic-vi...
The
Forward
1 day ago
- Netanyahu at War,” the Frontline documentary
airing on PBS stations Tuesday night, manages to walk a very narrow line with
surprising ...
www.theglobeandmail.com
› Arts › Television
The Globe
and Mail
2 days ago
- PBC documentary Frontline: Netanyahu
at War follows the polarizing Israeli prime minister on his road
to power.
www.thirteen.org/programs/frontline/netanyahu-at-war/
WNET
With new
waves of violence between Israelis and Palestinians unfolding and Israel-U.S.
relations already emerging as a 2016 campaign issue, FRONTLINE ...
www.tvworthwatching.com/post/Bets-fl-20160105.aspx
David
Bianculli
23 hours ago
- Filmmaker Michael Kirk has provided some of the best Frontline ...
of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu –
including his dealings with ...
www.msn.com/en-us/.../frontlines-netanyahu-at-war/vp-AAgpWyo
MSN
15 hours ago
- Veteran filmmaker Michael Kirk joins to discuss Frontline's new
two-hour special "Netanyahu At War,"
exploring Benjamin Netanyahu's rise to ...
Searches
related to frontline netanyahu at war
netanyahu war crimes [see following google search --Dick]
NETANYAHU’S
WAR CRIMES, Google Search, 1-6-16
www.theguardian.com › World ›
Binyamin Netanyahu
The Guardian
Sep 7, 2015 - ... to
the Guardian, MPs, union leaders and others say that as head of government
Israeli prime minister must bear responsibility for war
crimes.
www.globalresearch.ca/netanyahu-is-a-war-criminal-sign.../5469304
Sep 4, 2015 - Netanyahu is
a War Criminal: Sign the Petition to the British ...
BenjaminNetanyahu to be arrested for war
crimes when he arrives in London.
www.haaretz.com › Israel News
Haaretz
Aug 23, 2015 - British
government issues a response to e-petition, reiterating Israel's right to
self-defense and the Prime Minister's diplomatic immunity ahead ...
www.haaretz.com › Israel News
Haaretz
Sep 16, 2015 - Over
100,000 signatures on U.K. petition to arrest Netanyahu in
London ... It argued that Netanyahu should
be arrested for war crimes upon ...
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/105446
Benjamin Netanyahu is
to hold talks in London this September. Under international law he should be
arrested for war crimes upon arrival in the U.K for
the ...
https://www.rt.com/uk/313319-netanyahu-petition-war-crimes/
RT
Aug 25, 2015 - A
petition calling on the UK government to arrest Israeli PM BenjaminNetanyahu for war
crimes in Gaza when he arrives in London has ...
https://www.rt.com/uk/312358-netanyahu-arrest-war-crimes/
RT
Aug 13, 2015 - A
petition calling for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to
be arrested for 'war crimes' when he arrives in London next month has
been ...
www.jpost.com/.../Arrest-Netanyahu-for-war-crimes-...
The Jerusalem Post
Aug 11, 2015 - The
petition was created through the British parliament website.
www.charismanews.com/.../53343-spain-issues-arrest-warrant-for-netany...
Nov 19, 2015 - The judge
is determined to use a loophole in the 2010 raid.
www.rense.com/general87/patho.htm
Reading Netanyahu's speech
makes it very clear that both the Zionist Shoa and the ....The UN should only
deal with war crimes and crimes against
humanity ...
Searches
related to netanyahu war crimes
THE CONFLICT TODAY
Zionism
There is Another Choice for Jews: Reject Zionist Nationalism
At least one US Jewish Congregation separates its Judaism from Jewish political nationalism. Chicago’s Tzedek—Hebrew for justice—focuses its “efforts on relieving poverty, engendering equality and fostering peace and justice.” Rabbi Brant Rosen identifies its “core value of anti-racism and anti-oppression.” “Rabbi Questions Need for Jewish State.” Arkansas Democrate-Gazette (Sept. 26, 2015). –Dick
THE CRISIS OF ZIONISM BY Peter Beinart
. Macmillan, Picador.
"A deeply important book for anyone who cares about
Israel."—President Bill Clinton
"A probing, courageous, and timely book... Beinart
offers a forceful exposition of American apprehensions about Israel's path....
Marks a significant evolution in the debate over Israel."—Jacob Heilbrunn,
The Atlantic
In Israel, the deepening occupation of the West Bank is
putting Israeli democracy at risk. And in the United States, the refusal of
major Jewish organizations to defend democracy in the Jewish state is
alienating many young liberal Jews from Zionism itself. In The Crisis of
Zionism, Peter Beinart lays out in chilling detail the looming danger to
Israeli democracy and the American Jewish establishment's refusal to confront
it. And he renders a fascinating, groundbreaking portrait of the two leaders at
the center of the crisis: Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu. Beinart offers
provocative proposals for how the relationship between American Jews and Israel
must change, and an eloquent and moving appeal for American Jews to defend the
dream of a democratic Jewish state before it is too late.
BOOK
EXCERPTS
Read an Excerpt
1 The Crisis in Israel
As a Zionist, I believe that after two millennia of homelessness, the Jewish people deserve a state dedicated to their protection in their historic land, something enjoyed by many peoples who have suffered......
As a Zionist, I believe that after two millennia of homelessness, the Jewish people deserve a state dedicated to their protection in their historic land, something enjoyed by many peoples who have suffered......
REVIEWS
Praise
for The Crisis of Zionism
“A brave
book.” —Paul Krugman, The New York Times
“Passionately
argued.” —David Remnick, The New Yorker
“An
excellent, loving, and wise book about Israel... Eminently reasonable.” —Joe
Klein, Time
“A sharp
and ambitious polemic.” —Bernard Avishai, The Nation
“An
important new book that rejects the manipulation of Jewish victimhood in the
name of Israel's domination of the Palestinians.... Important and timely for
the future of Israel.” —Roger Cohen, The New York Times
“Mr.
Beinart has a book.... called The Crisis of Zionism. Chapter five,
on 'The Jewish President,' fully justifies the cover price.” —Bret Stephens,
The Wall Street Journal
“A
terrifyingly frank account of our current state of affairs.” —Andrew
Sullivan
“Mr.
Beinart thinks America's Jews must redeem both themselves and Israel by
rededicating themselves to Israel's ethical character.... The sentiment is
noble, and the message deserves to be heard.” —The Economist
“An
impressive achievement.” —Alan Wolfe, The Chronicle of Higher Education
“[A]
probing, courageous and timely book... [It] marks a significant evolution in
the debate over Israel.” —The National Interest
“A
passionately argued work that will evoke intense debate.” —Booklist
“An
elegant, deeply honest look at the failure of Jewish liberalism in forging
Israel as a democratic state… Straight talk by a clear-thinking intellectual
with his heart in the right place.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Peter
Beinart has written a deeply important book for anyone who cares about
WHY DO PALESTINIANS STAB US?
The answer is simple and complex, FROM WRMEA
Simple, because the causes are so obvious. Read a history of Palestine from the earliest to the latest lives of the Arab people in the region. Make a list of what has been done to the Palestinian people since 1948. Or just scan through one number of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs to see the accumulated, justifiable resentments.
8 The new US budget increases Israel’s war budget despite 50 years of violence to Palestinians, whose tanks and planes did not attack Israel for they had none.
24 Netanyahu persecutes the democratic Israeli charity, the Northern Islamic Movement, as an alien enemy.
26 The agony of Gaza where 1.8 million displaced Palestinians, who have done nothing wrong, are trapped and besieged
28 Former Palestinian homes in Haifa, part of the 700,000 Palestinians displaced from their homes during the Nakba, are now Israeli restaurants, law offices, and other businesses, while their uncompensated owners live in forced exile.
30 The “Israel 2020 Master Plan” to Judaize Palestine includes concentrating Bedouins in reservations and walling off Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem.
And so on through the magazine. Read and weep.
Complex, because the same thing happened to the Jews. For example, the new Israel was invaded by Arab countries three times. following the Nakba, the Palestinian population of Haifa dropped from 75,000 to 3,000, many of them fleeing for safety via the same port that had welcomed its Jewish refugees. Read that history, feel their fear, and weep, even though the fear has inspired their hatred and tyranny against Palestinians. Dick
US Mainstream Media Misreporting Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
I continue to collect examples of prejudiced mainstream media headlines regarding Israeli/Palestinian violent tit-for-tat: they usually blame Palestinians for starting the conflict. Here’s another: “Hezbollah Attack on Israel Answered.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Jan. 5, 2016).
Hezbollah “struck an Israeli armored patrol with a roadside bomb” at Lebanese border and Israel “responded by shelling the area.” But why did Hezbollah bomb the Israeli vehicle? The succinct report admirably provides considerable information. We learn that the Hezbollah unit was named for Samir Kantar, and Hezbollah “had blamed Israel and vowed to avenge his death.” But Kantar goes way back: Kantar decades ago “carried out an attack in Israel and spent nearly 30 years in an Israeli jail.” Here’s a chronology: preceding events (what was the first?!): Kantar attacks in Israel: Kantar imprisoned by Israel almost 30 years: Kantar released and then killed in Syria allegedly by Israel: Hezbollah attacks Israeli armored vehicle: Israelis shell. So the headline more accurately could have read: “Old Hezbollah-Israeli Conflict Continues.” Other loose ends: obviously, why did Kantar attack Israel 30 years ago? And: Israel shelled “the area.” Indiscriminately, children, women, the aged? Dick
“The Israel Lobby: Is It Good for the U.S.? Is It Good for Israel?” The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Special Supplement from the Israel Lobby Conference (April 10, 2015). To subscribe to the magazine call (202) 939-6050. To watch the presentations visit www.IsraeliLobbyUS.org or purchase a DVD from www.MiddleEastBooks.com or call (202) 939-6050. “Heralded as ‘the beginning of the American Spring’ by Haaretz columnist and conference speaker Gideon Levy.” --Dick
|
 2:50 PM
(41 minutes ago) |
|
||
|
||||
FPM invited 60 members
of Congress to Palestine at our expense.
Is one of them yours?
You will recall that two weeks ago
we put out an appeal for help in contacting the offices of all the sixty
freshman members of Congress that had been invited to go to Israel with the
American Israel Education Foundation, an AIPAC front organization. Many
thanks to those of you who responded. We got all of the FPM invitations
out by August 10! Click here to see
the template that we used. Here also is a list
of the freshman members of Congress that AIPAC invited. As you can see
only three chose not to accept the AIPAC invitation.
This month, many of these same
members of Congress are having Town Meetings with the constituents in their
district. If you are one of those constituents, we have a suggestion for
you: attend one or more of those town meetings and publicly ask this question
during the Q and A:
[Name], you just got back from a trip to
Israel, paid by the Israel Lobby. You also got an invitation to
Palestine, paid by the Free Palestine Movement. Are you accepting only
the Israel invitation, or will you also accept the Palestine invitation, in
order to see both sides?
Please report the results to us, if
you can. Let's hold them accountable!
The FPM Team
|
|
|||||||
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Visit
the post for more.
|
|||||||
|
Preview
by Yahoo
|
|||||||
|
|
|||||||
Attachments
area
FROM
ARKANSAS: HILL AND WESTERMAN ARE
GOING --D
Why Is Israel's Nuclear Arsenal Not Mentioned in Iran Deal
Debate?
Thursday, 20 August 2015 00:00 By Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy DC | News
Analysis
By Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy DC | News Analysis
Ann Wright Files Lawsuit in U.S. Court Against Former Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Barak
Former Israeli Prime Minister and Defense
Minister is facing a civil lawsuit filed by Col. Ann Wright for his role in the
murder of American citizen Furken Dogan and 8 Turkish citizens in the 2010 Gaza
Freedom Flotilla by Israeli commandos. <Article>
The infamous war criminal Binyamin Netanyahu
has been once again invited to Washington to meet with President Obama and
Congressional leaders. Netanyahu is responsible, among other crimes against
humanity, for the murderous 2014 assault on Gaza, that took the lives of 2,100
people including 500 children, wounded more than 10,000 and left hundreds of
thousands homeless. Check out the event here.|
Register for Advancing a Mass Movement for
Palestine Conference [2015]
Dear Dick,
As the last few weeks in
summer are upon us, here in Atlanta things are getting busy as we prepare to
host the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation's 14th Annual National
Conference happening September 25-27.
 We are excited that as more people are taking action against
occupation and apartheid over there and making connections to the fight
against police brutality and racism here that this conference is happening in
a city that played such an important role in the Civil Rights Movement.The conference program focuses on how we can push a mass movement for Palestinian rights in the United States through education, engaging with progressive forces, and being in solidarity with other struggles for justice. Speakers include Ahmad Abuznaid of Dream Defenders; Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore; Loubna Qutami of the Palestinian Youth Movement; Ruby Sales, a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee organizer in Alabama and Georgia from 1963-1966; and many more.  Register today. The next 50 people to
register will get a free copy of Remi Kanazi's new book,Before the Next Bomb Drops:
Rising Up From Brooklyn to Palestine, and he will sign your
book after his performance at the conference.Ten years ago the US Campaign held their conference in Atlanta shortly after Palestinian civil society issued the call for BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) by the international community to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law and human rights abuses. As BDS campaigns continue to grow worldwide in support of the Palestinian struggle, we hope you will join us in September to strengthen all of our work for freedom, justice, and equality. See you in Atlanta! 
Rev. Dr. Fahed Abu-Akel
Mary Smarr
US Campaign Advisory Board Joining Hands For Justice in Israel & Palestine Chair PS- If you cannot make it to the conference, please consider donating $25 or more to help make the conference happen. |
Individuals
[HumanRights] Global climate
|
3:47 AM
(13 hours ago)
August 5, 2015
|
|
||
|
||||
The story
that captured media attention around the world especially in
western countries was the killing of “Cecil” the Lion by a western Dentist.
Locally, the story most making the news was the killing of a local hyena by
ignorant superstitious locals . As biologists and conservationists here
working to protect our fauna and flora, we are ofcourse very angry about
these senseless killings. But we are also angry that these are the same
media outlets that are ignoring a global threat that is killing millions
(perhaps billions) of animals: global climate change. Here in Palestine
under Israeli colonial occupation temperatures are 5-7 degrees above their
norms. Even in our regular excursions to the fields we find many dead
animals (in one instance three newly dead tortoises and two birds in one
small field). The same media is also ignoring the senseless killings by
colonial Israeli settlers and soldiers of Palestinian children and youth.
Just in the past 18 months, over 2600 Palestinians (one third of them
children some burned alive). And the world still ignores Israel’s
stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction including hundreds of nuclear
weapons. The US congress remains under Israeli occupation and many
congressmen will come here to visit the apartheid regime and declare
allegiance to Israel. Zionists continue to kidnap and murder Palestinians
with impunity but the indirect killing they inflict on nearby populations
is even more devastating. Over one million Iraqis were killed and hundreds
of thousands of Syrians. And Egypt on behest of Zionists is ethnically
cleansing the Sinai of its population. The fake war on terrorism like
previously the fake war on communism and war on poverty etc were intended
to hide the real reason for wars and conflict: greed and distractions from
this greed via conflicts. Conflicts are pushed by arms merchants and other
profiteers and guided by racist notions and egotistical maniacs who think
they can shape the world. And politicians continue to lie to their own
people. Even Palestinian politicians like Mr. Mahmoud Abbas regularly lie
in public pronouncements (for example on taking the information about the
child burning to international tribunals). But always we need to be
reminded of all the great and good work being done to challenge the system
(lighting candles instead of cursing the darkness). In fact more and more
people are speaking out and even in positions of power are beginning to
realize that the trend and the status quo are dangerous even for their own
children.
Here are just some things that people are doing and that you can do
http://qumsiyeh.org/whatyoucando/ (this is now updated and with more
general applicability not just to the issue of Palestine).
We visited Bardala on the northeastern tip of the West Bank and in the
Jordan valley. It was an enlightening trip as we met with the village
council and some other farmers. The Jordan valley had 350,000 Palestinians
in 1967 and now only 70,000. Israeli colonial racists took control (theft)
of 94% of the land of the valley and the vast majority of the water
resources. Bardala has to actually now buy water from the Israeli company
Mekorot and then it is not enough. We witnessed wide scale burning in the
Jordan valley (not clear how the fires got started but it could be Israeli
settlers trying to deprive the Bedouins of grazing areas). But it is also
related to global climate change (see fires in California as a result of
drought etc). The Palestine Museum of Natural History and the Institute of
Biodiversity and Sustainability (http://palestinenature.org) discussed with
the locals ideas of sustainability and protection of biodiversity. We took
two other field trips and we worked on our botanical garden (even though it
is very hot here).
I finished writing a solicited a review of one book and a forward to
another book. We had more visitors/visiting delegations (Scotland, USA,
France, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, and locals including a local boys scout
group). Life goes on in its ups and downs, births and deaths, but we try to
have “joyful participation in the sorrows of this world”. Now it is grape
season here and we harvested much from our gardens. We also had our first
harvest of honey (about 25 kilogram) and will package it soon for gifts to
our museum donors who visit us. We are ;glad that our bees are productive
and happy as our mini-reserve (a few acres of botanical garden and small
ecosystem). Please do visit: http://www.palestinenature.org/visit/
And please join our facebook page where we post pictures of our daily
activities. It is at Palestine Museum of Natural History.
I will be giving a talk at Diyar's Palestine Diaspora Conference August
10-13 in Bethlehem
http://www.diyar-consortium.org/?TemplateId=register&PageId=53&MenuId=0&Lang=1
Head to Head - Have Palestinian leaders failed their people?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5sURpOXjHA
Gaza’s ‘Birthplace of saints and death-yard of angels’
http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/gazas-birthplace-saints-deathyard-angels/24276
Remembering our friend Vittorio Arrigoni
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nycUm7Mxq2o who used to end his emails with
"Stay human"
Love
Mazin Qumsiyeh
Professor and Director
Palestine Museum of Natural History
Bethlehem University
Occupied Palestine
http://qumsiyeh.org
http://palestinenature.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.qumsiyeh.org/pipermail/humanrights/attachments/20150805/e3ed4ecc/attachment.html>
_______________________________________________
HumanRights newsletter
http://lists.qumsiyeh.org/listinfo/humanrights
This message was sent to jbennet@uark.edu. To unsubscribe, visit:
http://lists.qumsiyeh.org/options/humanrights/jbennet%40uark.edu
western countries was the killing of “Cecil” the Lion by a western Dentist.
Locally, the story most making the news was the killing of a local hyena by
ignorant superstitious locals . As biologists and conservationists here
working to protect our fauna and flora, we are ofcourse very angry about
these senseless killings. But we are also angry that these are the same
media outlets that are ignoring a global threat that is killing millions
(perhaps billions) of animals: global climate change. Here in Palestine
under Israeli colonial occupation temperatures are 5-7 degrees above their
norms. Even in our regular excursions to the fields we find many dead
animals (in one instance three newly dead tortoises and two birds in one
small field). The same media is also ignoring the senseless killings by
colonial Israeli settlers and soldiers of Palestinian children and youth.
Just in the past 18 months, over 2600 Palestinians (one third of them
children some burned alive). And the world still ignores Israel’s
stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction including hundreds of nuclear
weapons. The US congress remains under Israeli occupation and many
congressmen will come here to visit the apartheid regime and declare
allegiance to Israel. Zionists continue to kidnap and murder Palestinians
with impunity but the indirect killing they inflict on nearby populations
is even more devastating. Over one million Iraqis were killed and hundreds
of thousands of Syrians. And Egypt on behest of Zionists is ethnically
cleansing the Sinai of its population. The fake war on terrorism like
previously the fake war on communism and war on poverty etc were intended
to hide the real reason for wars and conflict: greed and distractions from
this greed via conflicts. Conflicts are pushed by arms merchants and other
profiteers and guided by racist notions and egotistical maniacs who think
they can shape the world. And politicians continue to lie to their own
people. Even Palestinian politicians like Mr. Mahmoud Abbas regularly lie
in public pronouncements (for example on taking the information about the
child burning to international tribunals). But always we need to be
reminded of all the great and good work being done to challenge the system
(lighting candles instead of cursing the darkness). In fact more and more
people are speaking out and even in positions of power are beginning to
realize that the trend and the status quo are dangerous even for their own
children.
Here are just some things that people are doing and that you can do
http://qumsiyeh.org/whatyoucando/ (this is now updated and with more
general applicability not just to the issue of Palestine).
We visited Bardala on the northeastern tip of the West Bank and in the
Jordan valley. It was an enlightening trip as we met with the village
council and some other farmers. The Jordan valley had 350,000 Palestinians
in 1967 and now only 70,000. Israeli colonial racists took control (theft)
of 94% of the land of the valley and the vast majority of the water
resources. Bardala has to actually now buy water from the Israeli company
Mekorot and then it is not enough. We witnessed wide scale burning in the
Jordan valley (not clear how the fires got started but it could be Israeli
settlers trying to deprive the Bedouins of grazing areas). But it is also
related to global climate change (see fires in California as a result of
drought etc). The Palestine Museum of Natural History and the Institute of
Biodiversity and Sustainability (http://palestinenature.org) discussed with
the locals ideas of sustainability and protection of biodiversity. We took
two other field trips and we worked on our botanical garden (even though it
is very hot here).
I finished writing a solicited a review of one book and a forward to
another book. We had more visitors/visiting delegations (Scotland, USA,
France, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, and locals including a local boys scout
group). Life goes on in its ups and downs, births and deaths, but we try to
have “joyful participation in the sorrows of this world”. Now it is grape
season here and we harvested much from our gardens. We also had our first
harvest of honey (about 25 kilogram) and will package it soon for gifts to
our museum donors who visit us. We are ;glad that our bees are productive
and happy as our mini-reserve (a few acres of botanical garden and small
ecosystem). Please do visit: http://www.palestinenature.org/visit/
And please join our facebook page where we post pictures of our daily
activities. It is at Palestine Museum of Natural History.
I will be giving a talk at Diyar's Palestine Diaspora Conference August
10-13 in Bethlehem
http://www.diyar-consortium.org/?TemplateId=register&PageId=53&MenuId=0&Lang=1
Head to Head - Have Palestinian leaders failed their people?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5sURpOXjHA
Gaza’s ‘Birthplace of saints and death-yard of angels’
http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/gazas-birthplace-saints-deathyard-angels/24276
Remembering our friend Vittorio Arrigoni
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nycUm7Mxq2o who used to end his emails with
"Stay human"
Love
Mazin Qumsiyeh
Professor and Director
Palestine Museum of Natural History
Bethlehem University
Occupied Palestine
http://qumsiyeh.org
http://palestinenature.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.qumsiyeh.org/pipermail/humanrights/attachments/20150805/e3ed4ecc/attachment.html>
_______________________________________________
HumanRights newsletter
http://lists.qumsiyeh.org/listinfo/humanrights
This message was sent to jbennet@uark.edu. To unsubscribe, visit:
http://lists.qumsiyeh.org/options/humanrights/jbennet%40uark.edu
Attachments
area
Remi
Kanazi is a poet, writer, and organizer based in New York City. He is the
author the author of Poetic Injustice: Writings on Resistance and
Palestine and the editor of Poets For Palestine. His political
commentary has been featured by news outlets throughout the world, including
Salon, Al Jazeera English, and BBC Radio. He is a Lannan
Residency Fellow and an Advisory Committee member for the Palestinian Campaign
for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.
OTHER ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR
By Remi
Kanazi, Haymarket Books | Poems
**Sabeel DC Metro**and**New Hope
Baptist UCC** are proud to present this documentary film dramatizing the
growing solidarity between African Americans and Palestinians in their common
struggle for civil rights and basic human rights:
“al-Helm: * Martin Luther
King in Palestine”
*a winner of
numerous film awards. Al-Helm means “the Dream”
Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016 – 7 pm – 3804
Suitland Road SE (just east of 38th St.), Washington, DC
20020, at the beautiful spacious home of Rev. Kenneth H. King, Pastor
of New Hope Baptist United Church of Christ. RSVP Rev. King 202-302-0275
An African-American choir travels
to Palestine to participate in a play with young Palestinian actors
about Martin Luther King and nonviolent resistance. As Christians, these
Americans are excited about going to the Holy Land, but they are hesitant and
unsure about working with Palestinians. This is a story of discovering common
ground and of being caught off guard by the daily indignities and
injustice that their new Palestinian friends suffer under Israeli occupation.Nonetheless,
it is a story of reconciliation and the power of art and love and
common struggle.
“I have seen the
humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like
us when young white officers prevented us from moving about.” Archbishop
Desmond Tutu of South Africa
Solutions
Buttu and Hijab, “Palestine Besieged.” The Nation (Nov. 9, 2015).
Why
Palestinians Need an International Protection Force
It will
ensure that lives are placed above politics, and defend a besieged population
nearing its 50th year under brutal occupation.
By Diana
Buttu and Nadia Hijab OCTOBER
22, 2015
·
Facebook
·
Twitter
·
Email
·
Print
Palestinian women mourn at the funeral of Ahmed Al-Serhi, 27,
who was killed during clashes with Israeli troops. (AP Photo / Khalil Hamra)
Palestinians
have taken to the streets to demonstrate against nearly 50 years of military
rule and the denial of their freedom at the hands of Israel. These protests
come after the death of the peace process, the election of a right-wing Israeli
government that has stated it has no intention of granting Palestinians their
rights, and growing discontent with the unelected Palestinian Authority (PA).
The protests have also been fueled by repeated Israeli
announcements of settlement expansion; settler attacks on Palestinian lives,
property, and holy places; and the Israeli government’s decision to allow
right-wing extremists who seek the destruction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque to enter
the Haram al-Sharif compound while simultaneously denying Palestinians access
to their holy sites.
Seeking to quell the unrest, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu announced that his government would undertake more stringent measures
to suppress Palestinian protests, including the use of live rounds against
demonstrators and the immediate demolition of residences belonging to Palestinians
involved in violence. Palestinians are not safe, not even in their own homes.
Israel is also threatening to remove Palestinians from Jerusalem, rendering
them stateless.
The figures speak for themselves. By mid-October, at least 40
Palestinians and seven Israelis had been killed throughout the West Bank, Gaza,
and East Jerusalem, and at least 1,990 Palestinians and 67 Israelis had been
injured. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned
Israel’s “extrajudicial killings” and “deliberate” use of live fire against
Palestinians.
And while the mainstream Western media focus heavily on the loss of
Israeli lives, Palestinian deaths are often treated as mere numbers and
statistics. More importantly, lost in the media coverage of the violence from
“both sides” is the fact that only one side is occupying the other.
In this climate, a new framework is needed that places civilians
and their rights at the fore. With no end to Israel’s military rule in sight,
it is time for an international protection mechanism to be created. Here’s why:
First, as the occupying party, Israel is required under
international law to ensure the protection of the civilians under its rule.
Instead, Israel has, during its 48-year occupation and colonization of
Palestinian land, done exactly the opposite.
Two Palestinian generations have grown up entirely under Israel’s
military control. By 2014, more than 800,000 Palestinians had been imprisoned
by Israel, including 8,000 children under the age of 18 arrested since 2000. Currently,
there are 5,621 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. And almost
everyone in the Gaza Strip is imprisoned: Israel withdrew its settlers and
military in 2005 but maintained its occupation and strengthened its siege after
Hamas won elections in 2006; that stranglehold is now also maintained by
Egypt’s military dictatorship. Israel’s siege of Gaza is visible; its many
sieges against West Bank cities and East Jerusalem are less so. In fact, most
Palestinians are confined to one or more towns or villages in the West Bank,
and the majority cannot go to Jerusalem. Gaza is almost completely sealed off
to Palestinians from the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Second, it is clear that the PA is unable to protect Palestinian
lives. On the contrary, the PA’s own security forces—trained, armed, and funded
by US, European, and other international sources (as, indeed, is Israel’s
occupation)—are part of the problem. Far from protecting Palestinians against
Israel, the PA security forces effectively protect the Israeli military and
settlers. And the security agencies lack accountability and oversight in both
the West Bank and Gaza.
The third pressing reason for an international protection force is
to shake off the US grip over Palestinians. Washington has for years paid lip
service to a two-state solution, even as it has continued to arm Israel and use
its veto power at the United Nations to prevent coordinated international
action to end the occupation or hold Israel accountable for any of its illegal
actions. Meanwhile, Israel has made a two-state solution all but impossible
through its relentless efforts to seize as much Palestinian land as possible.
Things have reached such a pass that even PA President Mahmoud
Abbas has been compelled to call on the UN “to provide international protection
for the Palestinian people,” as he did in his September 30 speech to the
General Assembly.
To be sure, this proposal is not without its pitfalls. In addition
to the obstacles posed by Washington, such a protection force, if its
parameters and duties are not clearly specified, could end up cementing the
Israeli occupation, including the isolated Palestinian enclaves that Israel has
created. It could also serve those in the PA who are happy to maintain the
status quo, even if it means the emergence of a police state. For this reason,
a protection force must be premised on the illegality of the Israeli occupation
and on the long-established principles expressed in previous UN Security
Council resolutions, specifically 242 and 338, which emphasize the
inadmissability of acquiring territory through war.
Despite the clear obstacles, we believe that an international
protection force is doable, and that even the United States may be brought to
see its advantages. For one thing, the mechanics are tried and tested: In East
Timor in the late 1990s, the UN Security Council authorized a temporary
international protection force fully responsible for administration, security,
and law and order. Within three years, East Timor secured its independence
following decades of brutal military occupation by Indonesia. The Security
Council should authorize a similar protection force for Palestine with the
clearly expressed mission of bringing freedom to Palestinians.
Palestinian civil society and the international solidarity movement
have both reached a point of strength and maturity not seen since the first
intifada of the late 1980s. In the United States, solidarity groups are making
inroads into AIPAC’s traditional arenas on Capitol Hill, particularly in the
Democratic Party. This growing movement should do everything it can to prevent
Washington from vetoing an international protection force or from using it to
cement a sellout of Palestinian rights.
There are other reasons why the international community and Israel
should take this proposal very seriously. Abbas is in his 80s, and there is no
political mechanism for a transition of power. Palestinians will soon be facing
political chaos, and Israel might be forced to do its own dirty work by
directly managing its occupation, as it did in the pre–Oslo Accord days. This
would surely be a burden not only for Israel but for any US administration,
which will find it increasingly difficult to defend its support of the Israeli
occupation in the eyes of Europe, the Arab peoples, and the American public.
The European Union should actively promote such a proposal, given
that it funds much of Palestine’s social and economic development—the work that
Israel, as the occupying force, should be doing. The EU is now experiencing
firsthand—as well as paying for—the human cost of the failed policies and
military interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria.
As for the Palestinian leadership, it should also recognize that
such a move would not weaken its “authority”; on the contrary, it would
strengthen it and help provide a path to liberation. As many more countries are
now formally recognizing Palestine, the Palestinian leadership needs a
mechanism for transforming that recognition into independence.
Israel has often stated that it wants peace with the Palestinians.
Let that claim be put to the test. While a political solution remains elusive
at present, an international protection force will ensure that lives are placed
above politics. Such a force would not only protect Palestinians but could also
address security issues for all concerned, until a just and lasting peace
agreement can be reached. With such a mechanism in place, a political solution
may be achieved; without one, Palestinians will remain at Israel’s mercy, and
peace will move ever further from
our grasp.
TWITTER Diana
Buttu is policy adviser of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network.
NADIA
HIJAB TWITTER Nadia Hijab
is executive director of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network
(@alshabaka).
The essay preceding, like thousands before it, explain why the US Media should be reproved for its biased reporting. Typically, acts of violence are reported by US mainstream media as having been initiated by Palestinians. A look at the larger context exposes at once the blame originating with Israel and Israelis. Here are some headlines from The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
“Israeli Troops Say Attacker Shot Dead” (11-1-5). An alternative headline entirely justified by the contents of the report: “Israeli Troops Again Use Excessive Force” (no Israeli was harmed; over the past six weeks 11 Israelis have been killed by stabbings and 67 Palestinians shot to death). Buttu and Hijab: “Palestinians have taken to the streets to demonstrate against nearly 50 years of military rule and the denial of their freedom at the hands of Israel.”
“Knife Attacks Against Israelis Continue” (11-3-15). Alternative: “Palestinians Stab Israelis After Israeli Troops Kill Palestinian.” Buttu and Hijab: Palestinian “protests come after the death of the peace process, the election of a right-wing Israeli government that has stated it has no intention of granting Palestinians their rights, and growing discontent with the unelected Palestinian Authority (PA).”
ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN CULTURE
ISRAEL
Help us SPREAD THE LIGHT and
receive "Jews and Words"
|
9:00 AM
(2 minutes ago)
|
|
||
|
||||
|
Contents Israel / Palestine Newsletters # 11
http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2015/07/israelpalestine-newsletter-11.html
Historical Origins of Conflict:
Dick, Palestine
PBS, “1913: Seeds of Conflict, “
Google Search
Conflict Today:
Invasion of Gaza
Settlement Funds
Resistance Today
Organizations
Free Palestine Movement, Google
Search
US Campaign to End the
Israeli Occupation
The
Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs
B’Tselem
Catholic Church, Pope
Francis
Qumsiyeh, Pope Francis Visits West BankVatican, Pope Francis Brings Together Israeli and Palestinian Presidents, the
Courage for Peace
Phyllis Bennis on Pope Francis
Individual Commentators: Zunes, Qumsiyeh, Abunimah
Prof. Zunes’s Articles
Qumsiyeh’s latest letter: the Repression, Presbyterian Divestment, Biodiversity
in Palestine
Ali Abunimah, The Battle for Justice in Palestine, publisher’s announcement and review by Glenn Greenwald in The Intercept (April 27, 2014).
US Double Standards
Greenwald in The Intercept
OMNI’S ISRAEL/ISLAM ACTIVITIES 2001-2007.
Contact Representatives
Contents of Newsletters 4-11
Newsletters: http://omnicenter.org/dick-bennetts-peace-justice-and-ecology-newsletters/ For an informed citizenry
as the foundation for change based upon peace, justice, and ecology values and
history. Here is
the link to the Index:
For research
purposes, specific subjects can be located in the following alphabetized index,
and searched on the blog using the search box. The search box is located
in the upper left corner of the webpage.
Newsletter Index: http://omnicenter.org/dick-bennetts-peace-justice-and-ecology-newsletters/dicks-newsletter-index/
Newsletter Index: http://omnicenter.org/dick-bennetts-peace-justice-and-ecology-newsletters/dicks-newsletter-index/
END OMNI ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN NEWSLETTER #12
No comments:
Post a Comment