OMNI REFUGEE NEWSLETTER #2

OMNI

UNITED STATES, REFUGEES, ASYLUM NEWSLETTER #5, June 28, 2016

COMPILED BY DICK BENNETT FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE, JUSTICE, AND ECOLOGY

(#1, August 2, 2014; #2 Nov. 24, 2015; #3 Dec. 17, 2016; #4 April 7, 2016)

207517 pageviews - 1589 posts, last published on Jun 21, 2016 

http://omnicenter.org/donate/

Contents #4 at end

Contents Refugees Newsletter #5, June 28, 2016

United Nations Refugee Data

Welcoming Refugees

United Nations

UN for Displaced Women and Children

The Progressive Magazine

US Big Deal: 10,000 [3000] Syrians [and Central Americans]

Resettling Refugees in Arkansas

Urgent Need to Protect Refugees Crossing the Mediterranean

By June ’16, 3400 Dead or Missing

Ongoing Effort to Understand Fear and Hatred of Immigrants and Refugees

The central delusion of Western civilization

Google Fear of Refugees

OMNI Climate Change Refugees Newsletter #1

UNITED NATIONS NEWS

UN: Conflict displaces a record 65 million people

6/27/2016

 The United Nations said 65 million people have been displaced by conflicts around the world, with 41 million considered internally displaced. Refugees will be a focus of the September meeting of the UN General Assembly.

Full Story:

The New York Times (free-article access for SmartBrief readers), BBC, The Guardian (London)

More Summaries: 

UN General Assembly, UN, United Nations

Related Summaries

UN: 1 in 122 people worldwide have been forced to flee homes

12/18/2015

   The United Nations refugee agency says in a report on the world's forcibly displaced people in the first half of 2015 that "one in every 122 humans is today someone who has been forced to flee their homes." The total of 20.2 million refugees worldwide, meanwhile, is the highest since 1992. The UN today is recognizing International Migrants Day, about which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, "Let us commit to coherent, comprehensive and human-rights-based responses guided by international law and standards and a shared resolve to leave no one behind."

Full Story:

BBC, Reuters, Eco-Business.com

More Summaries:

UN, Ban Ki-moon, coherent

UN: 2014 saw record number of world refugees

6/19/2015

 In 2014 a record 59.5 million people were refugees, asylum seekers or displaced due to conflict, violence or war, says an annual global trends report by the United Nations refugee agency. That total figure is up 16% from 2013 and 59% from 2004, says the report, which was released in advance of World Refugee Day on Saturday.

Full Story:

The Guardian (London), The New York Times (tiered subscription model), Voice of America, Voice of America

More Summaries:

UN, United Nations

UN: One-half of Syria's people are refugees or displaced

8/29/2014

 More than 3 million Syrians are registered refugees, says the United Nations, with 6.5 million internally displaced. The combined total is nearly one-half of Syria's population. "The Syrian crisis has become the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era, yet the world is failing to meet the needs of refugees and the countries hosting them," says Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Full Story:

Reuters, Thomson Reuters Foundation

UN: Record number were internally displaced in 2013

5/14/2014

Violence and conflict caused a record 33.3 million people to be internally displaced during 2013, a rise of 4.5 million from 2012, say the United Nations refugee agency and Norwegian Refugee Council. Most of the increase was due to the ongoing Syrian civil war.

Full Story:

National Public Radio

WELCOMING REFUGEES

May 11, 2016 DONATE  ⋅  FOLLOW THE UN FOUNDATION

News covering the UN and the world SIGN UP ⋅   FORWARD

un wire:   TOP STORY Ban: Global response to refugees, migrants must be more effective A "more effective global response" is necessary to provide assistance to the rising numbers of refugees, migrants and displaced people around the world, writes United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. This month's World Humanitarian Summit and September's special UN General Assembly meeting are opportunities to craft such a response. "I will spare no effort to ensure that the United Nations does everything in its power to help refugees and migrants everywhere," Ban writes. LinkedIn (5/10),  Inter Press Service (5/10)

Scholarly articles for refugees and displaced persons, women and children
Refugees and displaced persons: war, hunger, and … - ‎Toole - Cited by 265 The refugee in international law - ‎Goodwin-Gill - Cited by 1481 Psychological well-being of refugee children - ‎Ajduković - Cited by 200

---

UN FOR DISPLACED WOMEN AND CHILDREN, Google Search, June 28, 2016

Women's Refugee Commission - About

https://www.womensrefugeecommission.o...

Women's Refugee Commission

The Women's Refugee Commission advocates vigorously for laws, policies ... the rights of refugee and internally displaced women, children and young people, ... are currently almost 60 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) ...

Refugees and internally displaced persons - Gender Statistics Wiki

unstats.un.org/.../Print.aspx?...Refugees...displaced-person...

United Nations

May 26, 2015 - School attendance for refugee children by sex, age and level of education. ... Refugee and internally displaced women and girls are less likely ...

[PDF]Reconceiving Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons - UNHCR

www.unhcr.org/4bbb2a...

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

by SH Rimmer - ‎2010 - ‎Related articles

refugees or IDPs and their relation to transitional justice. I argue for .... IDP cohorts show a majority of women, children, elderly and people with disabilities.

UNHCR - Refugee and displaced women and children

www.unhcr.org/.../refug...United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Refugee and displaced women and children. The Economic and Social Council,. Recalling that the majority of refugees and displaced persons are women and children...

The Progressive Welcomes REFUGEES

The May 2016 number of The Progressive Magazine foregrounds “Welcoming Refugees” with three articles, the editorial, and several related items.   The articles are on Obama’s detainees, Syrians in Ohio, and justice for kidnapped and raped indigenous women in Guatemala (violence in Central America), and the GOP’s diversity problem.    The cover shows families from around the world walking toward people with open arms.

A Guatemalan court gave kidnapped, raped, enslaved indigenous Q’eqchi’ women compensation.  Lawrence Reichard.  "Justice in Guatemala."  The Progressive Magazine (May 2016).  And two Army officers were sentenced to prison for WAR CRIMES, another important first.  People are fleeing from Central America for good reasons.

Dick

Despite the reasons for fleeing, ICE still deports families.

Who’s Pounding on the Door?

The Progressive Foundation , By John Heid

http://www.nukewatchinfo.org/Quarterly/2016%20Spring/Page%208%20Spring%202016.pdf

…you only leave home when home won’t let you stay. no one leaves home unless home chases you fire under your feet hot blood in your belly it’s not something you ever thought of doing until the blade burnt threats into your neck...

—Excerpted from “Home” by Warsan Shire

The sign beside our front door reads in black and white: “US Border Patrol: Do Not Enter Without A Lawful Search Warrant.” Who knows how effective it really is? After all, the majority of house raids are carried out by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and most raids happen in the dark of night by its armed, aggressive agents who jackboot their way into homes forcibly removing mothers and children alike in handcuffs. The sign presents a minor legal hurdle, if that. Still, I dusted it off on Christmas morning.

The night before, the White House had announced that raids to deport Central American women and children would begin in January. A few days later, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced: “Our borders are not open to illegal immigration. If you come here illegally, we will send you back consistent with our laws and values.” Laws and values? Who’s values and what laws sanction nighttime raids on families? The policy and strategy of house raids runs roughshod over the rule of law, let alone ethics.  (continued at http://www.nukewatchinfo.org/Quarterly/2016%20Spring/Page%208%20Spring%202016.pdf)

U.S. Struggles With Goal of Admitting 10,000 Syrians [and admitting and deporting Central Americans]

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, MAY 30, 2016  [I first read a portion of this article in the AD-G June 1, 2016.]

Feryal Jabur and her husband, Nayef Buteh, arrived in November in Detroit with their son, Arab Buteh, 8. They are among about 2,500 Syrian refugees admitted to the United States in the past eight months by the Obama administration, which wants to have 10,000 resettled by October. CreditSalwan Georges for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Obama invited a Syrian refugee to this year’s State of the Union address, and he has spoken passionately about embracing refugees as a core American value.

But nearly eight months into an effort to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees in the United States, Mr. Obama’s administration has admitted just over 2,500. And as his administration prepares for a new round of deportations of Central Americans, including many women and children pleading for humanitarian protection, the president is facing intense criticism from allies in Congress and advocacy groups about his administration’s treatment of migrants.

They say Mr. Obama’s lofty message about the need to welcome those who come to the United States seeking protection has not been matched by action. And they warn that the president, who will host a summit meetingon refugees in September during the United Nations General Assembly session, risks undercutting his influence on the issue at a time when American leadership is needed to counteract a backlash against refugees.

“Given that we’ve resettled so few refugees and we’re employing a deterrence strategy to refugees on our Southern border, I wouldn’t think we’d be giving advice to any other nations about doing better,” said Kevin Appleby, the senior director of international migration policy at the Center for Migration Studies of New York.

“The world notices when we talk a good game but then we don’t follow through in our own backyard,” Mr. Appleby said.

The delay is frustrating for Mr. Obama, who has made a point of speaking out against anti-immigrant sentiment both in the United States and abroad, arguing that Republicans, particularly the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, are playing on misplaced fears about terrorism.

“We’ve got to push back against anti-immigrant sentiment in all of its forms, especially by those who are trying to stoke it just to seek political gain,” Mr. Obama told a gathering this month of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders in Washington.

At the White House, he has instructed his top advisers that they must not fall short of meeting his goal to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees to the United States by the fall. But an onerous and complex web of security checks and vetting procedures, shared among several government agencies, has made the target difficult to reach.

At the same time, White House officials concede that the challenging election-year politics surrounding the issue — 47 House Democrats joined Republicans in November in voting for legislation to further tighten the screening process — make it impossible to quickly take in substantially more Syrians by removing any of the tough vetting procedures.

Mr. Obama “has been very clear that he expects us to find a way to make this happen consistent with our security standards,” Amy Pope, a deputy homeland security adviser, said of reaching the target of 10,000 refugees. “The dynamics within Congress have certainly made it difficult to lean far forward in terms of refugee processing, but our obligation is to leave the refugee process in better shape than we found it.”

[Read the expose of doublethink, doubletalk, cant, hypocrisy, and fear by Julie Hirschfeld Davis (The New York Times), "Critics Call President's Syrian Refugee Talk Hollow," AD-G (June 1, 2016).

The consequence of Obama's and Congress's multilayered fecklessness (one of many descriptors needed) is their outrageous failure to embrace the refugees. They should say we can do at least as well as Canada’s 25,000 and aspire as high as Germany’s 100,000, instead of that paltry 10,000, as yet not 3000.  –Dick]

Photo

Central American families in Roma, Tex., in April after crossing into the United States to seek asylum. CreditJohn Moore/Getty Images

The Central American migrants [read refugees] pouring across the Southern border pose a different but no less challenging problem. Individuals who enter the United States illegally do not necessarily qualify as refugees, although a growing proportion of Central Americans are arriving with claims of asylum, asserting that they are seeking refuge from violence and mortal threats in their home countries.

While administration officials say they are working to address the root causes of the migration and to set up new programs to extend humanitarian protection to those who need it, their primary response has been to try to deter Central Americans from making the dangerous journey to the United States. One method has been to deport those whose asylum claims have been rejected.

“We have to control the border, that’s our job, and we have to honor our humanitarian obligation,” Cecilia Muñoz, the director of Mr. Obama’s Domestic Policy Council, said in an interview. “The situation in Central America, as terrible as it is, the legal standard may not be fully up to addressing why people are leaving.”

Humanitarian groups have denounced the administration’s approach, arguing that the president must recognize the Central American migrants as refugees.

“The administration’s entire foreign policy has been built upon enforcement, not protection,” said Anna Greene, the director of policy and advocacy, United States programs, for the International Rescue Committee. “If this situation was playing out far from our borders, our government would be funding a humanitarian response and demanding that other countries abide by their international obligations.”

The criticism comes as some of Mr. Obama’s allies on Capitol Hill are arguing that he has not done enough to respond to the Syrian refugee crisis. Twenty-seven Democrats led by Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, who was Mr. Obama’s partner in the Senate and maintains close ties with the president, told him in a letter this month that the administration “can and should do much more” to accept Syrian refugees.

“The Syrian situation is the most pressing humanitarian crisis of our time,” Mr. Durbin said in an interview, “and if we do not respond in a positive and proactive way, we’re going to have future generations asking, ‘Where were you?’”

The administration has scrambled to pick up the pace of resettling Syrian refugees, officials say. The Departments of State and Homeland Security sent a surge of personnel to Jordan this year to interview about 12,000 refugee applicants referred by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and officials have begun processing cases in Beirut, Lebanon, and Erbil, Iraq. But the numbers remain stubbornly low.

Germany has not said how many refugees it might accept. In 2015, it registered 447,336 new applicants for asylum, about 25 percent of them Syrians.

A program begun by the United States in 2014 to allow Central American children with a relative in the country to qualify as refugees has approved only 300, an administration official said. Secretary of State John Kerry announced in January that he would create another initiative to admit as many as 9,000 refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras after processing outside the United States, but the program has not begun.

Administration officials argue that Mr. Obama is doing more than most — the United States admits more refugees over all than any other country and is the largest contributor to humanitarian relief.

“When you step back and look at the longer-term picture in terms of the United States’ record on the U.N. refugee program,” Josh Earnest, Mr. Obama’s press secretary, said this month, “it’s hard for other countries to criticize.”    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/31/us/politics/as-us-admits-migrants-in-a-trickle-critics-urge-obama-to-pick-up-the-pace.html?_r=0

Resettling Refugees in Arkansas

Canopy group will make sure refugees are covered - Arkansas Catholic

www.arkansas-catholic.org/.../Canopy-group-will-make-sure-refugees-ar...

Apr 4, 2016 - Clint Schnekloth, stand with refugee couple Faez Arso and his wife Ahlam ... The goal is to learn how Canopy can make northwest Arkansas a ...

Group seeks to bring 100 refugees to Ark. yearly - The Baxter Bulletin

www.baxterbulletin.com/...refugees-ark.../85192512/

The Baxter Bulletin

May 31, 2016 - Arkansas took in about 1 out of every 1 million refugees who sought shelter worldwide last year. ... Arkansas sells home health program for $39M to private firm ..... A local group called Canopy NWA wants to raise that number despite a ... The group operates in Northwest Arkansas through Catholic Charities ...

Catholic Charities eyeing Arkansas for new resettlement site ...

https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/.../catholic-charities-eyei...

May 23, 2016 - Here is news from the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette: Arkansas ... a new group Canopy NWA for the purpose of creating a new refugee ...

2016 May 23 « Refugee Resettlement Watch

https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2016/05/23/

May 23, 2016 - C .Richard UN/US State Dept Refugee Admissions Program ... CanopyNWA ... Here is news from the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette:.

URGENT NEED TO SUPPORT REFUGEES TRYING TO CROSS THE MEDITERRANEAN

“Dead, Missing ’16 Migrants Put at 3,400.”  AD-G (June 16, 2016). 

More accurately died or missing during the first five months of 2016.   That’s “12 percent above the 2, 780 deaths or disappearances…for the same period in 2015.”  For all of 2015, 5,400 died or were reported missing.  Data source: International Organization for Migration.  [The proper term for fleeing people should be refugees not migrants.  --Dick]

The Ongoing Effort in These Newsletters to Explain US Fear and Hatred of Immigrants and Refugees

The central delusion of Western civilization

Library of Social Science via uark.onmicrosoft.com  6-28-16	11:10 AM (23 hours ago)
The Central Delusion of Western Civilization The most persistent delusion of Western thought—that goes on and on and on, and continues to dominate public discourse—is the belief that people upon the political stage act “rationally”—responding to their “interests.” There is no evidence supporting this claim. Belief that human beings are governed by rational thought processes is one of the foundational myths of Western civilization. Fear of immigration grows out of identification of one’s nation (a body politic) with one’s own body, leading some people to imagine that immigrants are “creeping in” to their own body or—worse yet—intent upon “rape” (violation of one’s body). The political “reality” in which we are immersed—manifests a gigantic (shared) delusion.

This message was sent to jbennet@uark.edu by oanderson@libraryofsocialscience.com

GOOGLE “FEAR OF REFUGEES” for a wide range of examples and analysis.   The Washington Post report on Sweden’s IKEA attack, for example,  reveals how complicated refugee violence can be, very often not reducible to labels or stereotypes.

END REFUGEES NEWSLETTER #2

ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN NEWSLETTER #12

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).

http://omnicenter.org/donate/

Contents Israel-Palestine Newsletter #11 at end  

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:

http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/the-staggering-cost-of-israel-to-americans-read-it-spread-it.html

Origins of Conflict
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:

http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/the-staggering-cost-of-israel-to-americans-read-it-spread-it.html

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

Netanyahu at War | FRONTLINE - PBS

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..

Netanyahu at War - PBS

www.pbs.org/video/2365637161/   PBS  

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.

'Netanyahu at War': An engaging but deeply flawed documentary

+972 Magazine‎ - 15 hours ago

Martin Indyk: Obama “Has Essentially Written Off Netanyahu”

FRONTLINE‎ - 12 hours ago

More news for frontline netanyahu at war

TV Review: Frontline's 'Netanyahu at War' - Variety

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.'

'Netanyahu at War': An engaging but deeply flawed ...

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,  ...

'Netanyahu at War' Takes Operatic View of Premier's Rise ...

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 ...

John Doyle: Always at war – a hard look at Benjamin ...

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.

Netanyahu at War | Watch Frontline PBS Full Episodes Online

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 ...

FRONTLINE: "NETANYAHU AT WAR" - TV Worth Watching

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 ...

Frontline's 'Netanyahu At War' - MSN.com

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 record

netanyahu war hero

netanyahu war crimes  [see following google search  --Dick]

netanyahu war criminal

netanyahu warmonger

NETANYAHU’S WAR CRIMES, Google Search, 1-6-16

Binyamin Netanyahu's UK visit denounced - The Guardian

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.

Netanyahu is a War Criminal - Global Research

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.

U.K. Petition to Arrest Netanyahu for 'War Crimes' Reaches ...

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 ...

UK Parliament Won't Debate Petition to Arrest Netanyahu for ...

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  ...

Benjamin Netanyahu to be arrested for war crimes when he ...

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 ...

UK petition to arrest Netanyahu for Gaza war crimes ...

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 ...

45,000 demand Israel PM Netanyahu's arrest for 'war crimes ...

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 ...

Arrest Netanyahu for war crimes, British petitioners demand

www.jpost.com/.../Arrest-Netanyahu-for-war-crimes-...

The Jerusalem Post

Aug 11, 2015 - The petition was created through the British parliament website.

Spain Issues Arrest Warrant for Netanyahu Over 'War Crimes'

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.

Netanyahu's UN Speech - The Pathology Of Evil - Rense.com

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

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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.

http://us.macmillan.com/thecrisisofzionism/peterbeinart

"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......

READ THE FULL EXCERPT

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

... more

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

FPM Newsletter newsletter@freepalestinemovement.org via uark.edu	2:50 PM (41 minutes ago)
to FPM   8-19-15

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

freepalestinemovement.org

				Free Palestine Movement Visit the post for more.
				View on freepalestinemovemen...	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

Why Is Israel's Nuclear Arsenal Not Mentioned In Iran Deal Debate?

By Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy DC | News Analysis

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/32442-why-is-israel-s-nuclear-arsenal-not-mentioned-in-iran-deal-debate

Resistance to Occupation

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>

Join VFP and Allies on November 9th in Washington DC to Protest Netanyahu Visit!

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

Mazin Qumsiyeh mazin@qumsiyeh.org via uark.edu	3:47 AM (13 hours ago) August 5, 2015
to James, Human

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
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Attachments area

Preview YouTube video Head to Head - Have Palestinian leaders failed their people?

Head to Head - Have Palestinian leaders failed their people?

Preview YouTube video Documentary about Vittorio Arrigoni

Documentary about Vittorio Arrigoni

REMI KANAZI   http://www.truth-out.org/author/itemlist/user/51398

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

"Before The Next Bomb Drops": Three Poems Of Liberation And Struggle In Palestine And Beyond

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 38^th 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

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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).

US MEDIA SOLUTION:  REPORT THE OCCUPATION AS THE BRUTAL OCCUPATION IT IS.  Compare it to the many WWII occupations by Hitler and Japan, and by S. Africa and other racist countries.
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"

Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Americans for Peace Now APNDC@peacenow.org via uark.edu	9:00 AM (2 minutes ago)
to James  12-11-15

Dear Dick, Jews are called “the people of the book” for a reason. Over thousands of years, despite endless persecution, adversity and exile, we have remained a people, linked to one another and our history by our sacred texts, ideologies and teachings. The words in these texts—interpreted anew with each generation—are what binds us together, nourish our Jewish identity, and inspire provocative, mind-expanding (occasionally maddening) discussions in our communities and at our dinner tables. As it is said: ask two Jews, you’ll get three opinions. I​n their new book, Jews and Words, Amos Oz and Fania Oz-Salzberger, a father-daughter team, examine the ​powerful connection between the Jewish people and their textual heritage. With wit, brilliance and grace, Oz and Oz-Salzberger explore the rich Jewish tradition of disputation, debate and dialogue. "We are trying to seduce people to this wonderful heritage,” Oz confessed in an NPR radio interview, adding, “you don’t have to be religious and you don’t even have to be Jewish in order to be attracted to this legacy.” This Chanukah, join the conversation and further enrich the legacy by sharing Jews and Wordswith your family and friends​. For a donation of $90 or more, APN will send you a copy of Amos and Fania’s book. $78 of your donation will be tax deductible​. Please be sure to put “Jews and Words” in the comment field. On behalf of APN I wish you and your loved ones a brightly illuminated and spiritually illuminating Chanukah. Thank you, ​Letty Cottin Pogrebin Letty Cottin Pogrebin is a member of Americans for Peace Now’s Board of Directors, a past Chair of the Board, and author of Single Jewish Male Seeking Soul Mate.

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 Bank
    Vatican, 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/

Blog:  http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/

END OMNI ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN NEWSLETTER #12