The Palestine thread

[seafoid]

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.582838

Christie apologizes to Adelson for 'occupied territories' remark
Christie made the remark during a speech Saturday to the Republican Jewish Coalition; crowd of Jewish Republicans at Christie's speech reportedly gasped at N.J. governor's use of the loaded term.
By JTA and Haaretz | Mar. 30, 2014 | 8:22 PM |  10


New Jersey Governor Chris Christie apologized to casino magnate Sheldon Adelson for referring to the "occupied territories" in a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition.

Christie met with Adelson, a major GOP donor, privately on Saturday afternoon in Adelson's Las Vegas office in the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, which hosted the RJC meeting, Politico reported, citing an unnamed source.
During his speech on Saturday, Christie spoke of his family's trip to Israel in 2012.
"I took a helicopter ride from the occupied territories across and just felt personally how extraordinary that was to understand, the military risk that Israel faces every day," he reportedly said.
Several news outlets reported that the crowd of Jewish Republicans at Christie's speech noticeably gasped at Christie's use of the loaded term.
Politico reported that the unnamed source, which it called "familiar with the conversation," said that Christie made clear "that he misspoke when he referred to the 'occupied territories.' And he conveyed that he is an unwavering friend and committed supporter of Israel, and was sorry for any confusion that came across as a result of the misstatement."
The source told Politico that Adelson accepted Christie's explanation.
Christie said that during his trip to Israel, everyone he met wanted "America to be their unblinking, unwavering, unquestioning friend. The sense I got from my trip was that many of those folks, not all, but many of them were worried that we were no longer being that," The Star-Ledger newspaper reported.
Also attending was the RJC's Spring Leadership Meeting was Israel's U.S. Ambassador Ron Dermer.
The American-born envoy was one of a list of high-profile guests, including Christie, ex-UN Ambassador John Bolton, Ohio Governor Jon Kasich and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. According to the RJC website, former vice president Dick Cheney was keynote speaker at the event's gala dinner. Dermer attended the event's Shabbat dinner, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The ambassador attended the event amid a strike by employees of Israel's Foreign Ministry, declared last week, which closed down the country's foreign missions and totally paralyzed the Israeli diplomatic system.
For a foreign ambassador to speak at a political event, particularly one aligned with party in the opposition is highly uncommon, according to LobeLog, which added that Dermer agreed to speak at the event days after he replaced former ambassador Michael Oren in February last year.

[give her dixie]

US isolated in latest UN vote on Palestine
Submitted by Ali Abunimah on Fri, 03/28/2014


http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/us-isolated-latest-un-vote-palestine

The international community today took a firm stance totally isolating the United States over its opposition to Palestinian rights and its support for Israel's criminal violations of international humanitarian law.

The UN Human Rights Rights Council in Geneva passed four resolutions on the question of Palestine, and the United States was the sole "no" vote in every single case.

"Criminal complicity"

Anti-Palestinian groups, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) had strongly criticized the resolutions (A/HRC/25/L.37/Rev.1) including one urging UN member states to "ensure that they are not taking actions that assist in any way the expansion of settlements or construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, either directly or indirectly."

The resolution urges states "to take appropriate measures to encourage businesses domiciled in their territory and/or under their jurisdiction, including those owned or controlled by them, to refrain from committing or contributing to gross human rights abuses of Palestinians, in accordance with the expected standard of conduct in the Guiding Principles and relevant international laws and standards."

This marks a step forward in outlawing private corporations' complicity with Israeli crimes.

But based on comparison with earlier drafts quoted in media reports, the final revision of the resolution appears to have been watered down to remove references to "international criminal liability, for corporate complicity in breaches of international law related to illegal settlements."

Before the vote, the ADL's Abe Foxman had warned that the "resolution attempts to advance a very similar position to elements of the vehemently anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and at the same time, it puts a serious damper on the current peace talks taking place."

Human rights crimes

Another resolution (A/HRC/25/L.38/Rev.1) condemns a horrifying list of human rights abuses against Palestinians, including the detention of thousands of "Palestinians, including many children and women and elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council" in "Israeli prisons or detention centres under harsh conditions, including, inter alia, unhygienic conditions, solitary confinement, lack of proper medical care, denial of family visits and denial of due process, that impair their well-being."

The resolution also expresses "deep concern" about "the ill-treatment and harassment of any Palestinian prisoner and all reports of torture."

[give her dixie]

Israel killed 12 Palestinians, arrested 364 in March


Twelve Palestinians were killed and 364 arrested by Israeli forces in Gaza Strip and the West Bank during March, a study released yesterday has found.

The information appeared in the annual report issued by Ahrar Centre for Prisoners Studies and Human Rights, which documents the Israeli violations against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.

According to the report, the number of Palestinians arrested from Jerusalem was 83, 81 from Hebron, 48 from Jenin, 46 from Bethlehem, 43 from Nablus, 17 from Qalqilya, 13 from Ramallah, 11 from Jericho, eight from Salfit and Tulkarm and six from the Gaza Strip.

The prisoners counted in the report were arrested in night raids from homes, kidnapped at checkpoints or during clashes between stone throwers and armed occupation forces.

Ahrar chief Fuad Al-Khufash said that the occupied West Bank is completely vulnerable to the Israeli occupation army. The West Banks cities, villages and neighbourhoods are invaded by the Israeli armed forces almost every night for the purpose of arresting Palestinians.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/10652-israel-killed-12-palestinians-arrested-364-in-march

[lawnseed]

History repeats itself. The jews are doing to the palestinians what the nazis did to them..

The russian action and the missing plane are perfect media diversions for the jews to do what they want on the qt so to speak.

I'd imagine correspondants sending these stories in and editors rolling their eyes. "lets go with the plane..

[seafoid]

It is such a mess. Maybe Mike Sheehy can sort it out.

http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/west-of-eden/.premium-1.583508#
Israeli-Palestinian blame game is on, but the outcome is known in advance

Both sides are practicing clever claims and crushing retorts, but basic reality will clinch it: Israel is the occupier and Palestinians are the occupied. Period.

By Chemi Shalev    |  Apr. 2, 2014 | 11:40 PM |  1
The term "blame game' was coined, or at least popularized, by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Writing in 2002, the late and great master of current English usage, William Safire, traced the first use of the term to a speech that Reagan gave two decades earlier, in which he tried to deflect growing criticism of rising unemployment: "In recent weeks, a lot of people have been playing what I call the 'blame game'," Reagan said.

In the Israeli-Palestinian arena, the blame games have become a tradition, and they are set to begin in earnest once again, unless the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are resuscitated soon. In fact, the preliminary rounds of the blame tournament have been going on for quite some time, alongside Secretary of State John Kerry's last-ditch efforts to extend the peace talks. While they're exchanging positions, demands and concessions, both sides have also been jockeying for position for the main event, ready to put the onus on the other the moment the whistle blows and the battle begins.

In Jerusalem they've been stocking up on time-tested claims of rampant Palestinian violence, incitement and rejectionism, while Ramallah is replenishing its arsenal of charges against occupation, "price tag" attacks and human rights violations. Back from their long strike in the nick of time, Israeli hasbara experts can start practicing their lines about how the Palestinians showed their true colors by refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, while Palestinians are busy printing the maps that will prove the extent of Israel's annexationist settlement drive.

One of the most heated bouts will be played out in Washington, of course. Both sides will be vying for an American verdict that firmly convicts the other. Israel will enjoy a home-court advantage and is certain to draft Congress to its team, if only to counteract some administration officials' burning desire for payback for the indignities they have suffered, in their eyes, at the hands of Benjamin Netanyahu and others in his government. As of mid-week, at least, the administration was hedging its bets.

But you shouldn't be holding your breath in anticipation of the results. While the game may have some sporting value in Washington and in a few other capitals such as Ottawa or Canberra, in much of the world the fix is on, the verdict is in and the outcome is a foregone conclusion. No matter how much effort and creativity Israel puts into its hasbara campaign, and even it were to present a truly compelling case against Mahmoud Abbas', the international jury is certain to find for the his side. It's best to prepare yourself in advance.

First of all, it's in the nature of the beast: no matter how successfully Israelis and Diaspora Jews convince themselves that Israel is the victim and the underdog; no matter how extensively (and cynically) Israeli leaders peddle this perception; and no matter how justifiable such a view may be in the longer view of history - the world just won't buy it. For most people, the physical evidence is irrefutable: Israel is strong, the Palestinians are weak; Israel is the occupier, the Palestinians are occupied; Israelis live in the "only democracy in the Middle East," the Palestinians remain disenfranchised and stateless.

Israel has also done more than its fair share in recent years to build up reservoirs of bad will among large sectors of Western public opinion: the jury is predisposed to rule against it. The growing numbers of unabashed xenophobic and/or theocratic and/or anti-democratic politicians who have been making their way to the top in Israeli politics provide ample fodder for Israel's detractors. Unjust as it may be, Israel's self-inflicted image of arrogance, insensitivity and even racism, in some cases, often offsets the negative ramifications of Palestinian adherence to violence and armed struggle.

Yes, and there is also anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism and lots of double standards, though these have been thriving in recent years, most Jews forget, against the backdrop of Israel's 47-year occupation.

Of course, once Israelis and many Diaspora Jews understand that international public opinion is blaming them rather than the Palestinians, despite what they perceive to be the overwhelming and incontrovertible evidence on their side, they will only grow more insular, more isolated and more convinced not only that the "world is against us", as their leaders keep telling them, but that it is inherently Jew-hating as well.

And once the Palestinians begin to gain acceptance to international organizations and the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions starts to really take off, Israelis will increasingly pin the blame on traitors in their midst, informers from within, Jewish back-stabbers bought and paid for by hostile money from malevolent foreigners abroad. And they will dig in their heels even more.

It's a depressing vicious circle, an inevitable scenario, a tragedy just waiting to happen. Unfortunately, far too many Israelis and Diaspora Jews still find it easier to walk down this treacherous path than take a long, hard look in the mirror, once and for all. 

[lawnseed]

I find myself looking at things in shops like fruit etc checking that it didnt come from israel before I put it in the basket.. Does anyone else feel like this?

[seafoid]

I find myself looking at things in shops like fruit etc checking that it didnt come from israel before I put it in the basket.. Does anyone else feel like this?

I do too. It's going the way of South Africa pre Mandela. 

[give her dixie]

The boycott against Israel goods produced on stolen Palestinian land, and against companies who profit from doing business there has gained serious momentum and not a week goes by but some company pulls out or another university votes to boycott. The noose is tightening, and its beginning to hurt.

Sadly though, we had a perfect chance to take a stand against the number 1 violator of Palestinian human rights, Caterpillar. Instead of living up to their claims of solidarity with Palestinians, both the SDLP and Sinn Fein turned their backs on them and came out praising Caterpillar. Martin McGuinness went one further a visited their factory where these weapons of mass destruction are made and spoke in glowing terms about them. Not only that, but both parties rubber stamped a grant of £1.6 million to them. Don't expect them to pay much in taxes as they have set up a company in Switzerland so as to avoid paying

taxes.......http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/mar/31/caterpillar-avoid-4billion-us-taxes-senate-report

The boycott of South Africa showed the world how people power can make a difference, and it also showed us how Governments, politicians and companies ignored the boycott and continued to do business with the apartheid regime. History will also show us who stood with the occupied and oppressed Palestinians, and who stood with those carrying out the oppression and occupation.

[seafoid]

The boycott against Israel goods produced on stolen Palestinian land, and against companies who profit from doing business there has gained serious momentum and not a week goes by but some company pulls out or another university votes to boycott. The noose is tightening, and its beginning to hurt.

Sadly though, we had a perfect chance to take a stand against the number 1 violator of Palestinian human rights, Caterpillar. Instead of living up to their claims of solidarity with Palestinians, both the SDLP and Sinn Fein turned their backs on them and came out praising Caterpillar. Martin McGuinness went one further a visited their factory where these weapons of mass destruction are made and spoke in glowing terms about them. Not only that, but both parties rubber stamped a grant of £1.6 million to them. Don't expect them to pay much in taxes as they have set up a company in Switzerland so as to avoid paying

taxes.......http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/mar/31/caterpillar-avoid-4billion-us-taxes-senate-report

The boycott of South Africa showed the world how people power can make a difference, and it also showed us how Governments, politicians and companies ignored the boycott and continued to do business with the apartheid regime. History will also show us who stood with the occupied and oppressed Palestinians, and who stood with those carrying out the oppression and occupation.

If the Palestinians go to the UN the momentum of BDS will increase. Zionism is barely holding the line in the US.
Their PR content is dead. They have no Plan B  either.

[Mike Sheehy]

It is such a mess. Maybe Mike Sheehy can sort it out.

No, I don't think I can sort it out because unlike you and your ilk I don't believe in simple "final solutions" to problems of this nature.

One thing I do know for sure though is that anyone with over 13000 hate-filled posts in 4 years on this issue on mondoweiss.com and on this board  is always going to be part of the problem and will never be part of the solution.

[seafoid]

It is such a mess. Maybe Mike Sheehy can sort it out.

No, I don't think I can sort it out because unlike you and your ilk I don't believe in simple "final solutions" to problems of this nature.

One thing I do know for sure though is that anyone with over 13000 hate-filled posts in 4 years on this issue on mondoweiss.com and on this board  is always going to be part of the problem and will never be part of the solution.

Apartheid is justified by the Shoah. Is that it?
Give us your solution.
A free caid for everyone, is it ?

Even Alan Dershowitz is being called an anti-Semite now. (Dershowitz played corner back for Gnieveguillia in 1966)
The insult is meaningless.

[Mike Sheehy]

Not everyone that is critical of Israel is an anti-semite, for sure. Israel deserves plenty of criticism, no doubt about that. There is, however, a small vocifreous minority of Israel critics that are undoubtedly anti-semitic and you are at the extreme end of that scale.

[give her dixie]

Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town Desmond Tutu, a legendary figure in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, issued this statement on 2 April 2014 condemning escalating legislative efforts in the United States to curb freedom of speech and ostracize those who support justice in Palestine.

    Statement by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on US Efforts to Curb Freedom of Speech

    I am writing today to express grave concern about a wave of legislative measures in the United States aimed at punishing and intimidating those who speak their conscience and challenge the human rights violations endured by the Palestinian people. In legislatures in Maryland, New York, Illinois, Florida, and even the United States Congress, bills have been proposed that would either bar funding to academic associations or seek to malign those who have taken a stand against the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

    These legislative efforts are in response to a growing international initiative, the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, of which I have long been a supporter. The BDS movement emanates from a call for justice put out by the Palestinian people themselves. It is a Palestinian-led, international nonviolent movement that seeks to force the Israeli government to comply with international law in respect to its treatment of the Palestinian people.

    I have supported this movement because it exerts pressure without violence on the State of Israel to create lasting peace for the citizens of Israel and Palestine, peace which most citizens crave. I have witnessed the systematic violence against and humiliation of Palestinian men, women and children by members of the Israeli security forces. Their humiliation and pain is all too familiar to us South Africans.

    In South Africa, we could not have achieved our democracy without the help of people around the world, who through the use of non-violent means, such as boycotts and divestment, encouraged their governments and other corporate actors to reverse decades-long support for the Apartheid regime. My conscience compels me to stand with the Palestinians as they seek to use the same tactics of non-violence to further their efforts to end the oppression associated with the Israeli occupation.

    The legislations being proposed in the United States would have made participation in a movement like the one that ended Apartheid in South Africa extremely difficult.

    I am also deeply troubled by the rhetoric associated with the promulgation of these bills which I understand, in the instance of Maryland, included testimony comparing the boycott to the actions of the Nazis in Germany. The Nazi Holocaust which resulted in the extermination of millions of Jews is a crime of monstrous proportions. To imply that it is in any way comparable to a nonviolent initiative diminishes the horrific nature of that genocidal and tragic era in our world history.

    Whether used in South Africa, the US South, or India, boycotts have resulted in a transformative change that not only brought freedom and justice to the victims but also peace and reconciliation for the oppressors. I strongly oppose any piece of legislation meant to punish or deter individuals from pursuing this transformative aspiration. And I remain forever hopeful that, like the nonviolent efforts that have preceded it, the BDS movement will ultimately become a catalyst for honest peace and reconciliation for all our brothers and sisters, both Palestinian and Israeli, in the Holy Land.

    Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/tutu-condemns-us-efforts-curb-free-speech-palestine

[seafoid]

Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town Desmond Tutu, a legendary figure in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, issued this statement on 2 April 2014 condemning escalating legislative efforts in the United States to curb freedom of speech and ostracize those who support justice in Palestine.

    Statement by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on US Efforts to Curb Freedom of Speech

    I am writing today to express grave concern about a wave of legislative measures in the United States aimed at punishing and intimidating those who speak their conscience and challenge the human rights violations endured by the Palestinian people. In legislatures in Maryland, New York, Illinois, Florida, and even the United States Congress, bills have been proposed that would either bar funding to academic associations or seek to malign those who have taken a stand against the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

    These legislative efforts are in response to a growing international initiative, the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, of which I have long been a supporter. The BDS movement emanates from a call for justice put out by the Palestinian people themselves. It is a Palestinian-led, international nonviolent movement that seeks to force the Israeli government to comply with international law in respect to its treatment of the Palestinian people.

    I have supported this movement because it exerts pressure without violence on the State of Israel to create lasting peace for the citizens of Israel and Palestine, peace which most citizens crave. I have witnessed the systematic violence against and humiliation of Palestinian men, women and children by members of the Israeli security forces. Their humiliation and pain is all too familiar to us South Africans.

    In South Africa, we could not have achieved our democracy without the help of people around the world, who through the use of non-violent means, such as boycotts and divestment, encouraged their governments and other corporate actors to reverse decades-long support for the Apartheid regime. My conscience compels me to stand with the Palestinians as they seek to use the same tactics of non-violence to further their efforts to end the oppression associated with the Israeli occupation.

    The legislations being proposed in the United States would have made participation in a movement like the one that ended Apartheid in South Africa extremely difficult.

    I am also deeply troubled by the rhetoric associated with the promulgation of these bills which I understand, in the instance of Maryland, included testimony comparing the boycott to the actions of the Nazis in Germany. The Nazi Holocaust which resulted in the extermination of millions of Jews is a crime of monstrous proportions. To imply that it is in any way comparable to a nonviolent initiative diminishes the horrific nature of that genocidal and tragic era in our world history.

    Whether used in South Africa, the US South, or India, boycotts have resulted in a transformative change that not only brought freedom and justice to the victims but also peace and reconciliation for the oppressors. I strongly oppose any piece of legislation meant to punish or deter individuals from pursuing this transformative aspiration. And I remain forever hopeful that, like the nonviolent efforts that have preceded it, the BDS movement will ultimately become a catalyst for honest peace and reconciliation for all our brothers and sisters, both Palestinian and Israeli, in the Holy Land.

    Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/tutu-condemns-us-efforts-curb-free-speech-palestine

The Yanks have painted themselves into a corner over Palestine. To see Samantha Power, the soi disant human rights defender, threaten the PA blue murder if they go to the UN, is incredible. She is such a hypocrite. 
No American politician bar Ron and Rand Paul is capable of being honest about Israel.

[seafoid]

Not looking good for Israel.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.583709#

In an emergency meeting Thursday evening between U.S. envoy Martin Indyk and the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams, both teams issued new demands. The meeting was aimed at pulling the peace process out of the crisis precipitated by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's decision to cancel his scheduled visit to the region and place the responsibility for a solution in the hands of Israel and the Palestinians. Participants at the emergency session dubbed it a "tough battle."

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who represented Israel in the meeting, submitted a formal request to the Palestinians, asking them to withdraw their application to join 15 international conventions. The Palestinian negotiating team, headed by Saeb Erekat, demanded deliberations on the core issues still outstanding, including recognition of the 1967 borders, as well as recognition of East Jerusalem as the future capital of Palestine. "We didn't come here to discuss packages, we came to discuss the core issues," Erekat said in the meeting.

A senior Israeli official stressed that if the application is not rescinded and the negotiations are not extended, Israel will take a number of punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority.

A second senior Israeli official informed about what was discussed at the meeting said the application to the United Nations agencies had created new conditions, in light of which Israel would not be able to release the 26 Palestinians of the fourth prisoner release.

A third senior Israeli figure said that staffers in the Prime Minister's Office had begun deliberating over the possible sanctions that could be taken in the event the Palestinians persist in their applications to the UN. Among the possibilities that are on the table are suspending the transfer to the PA of taxes collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinians, moving to collect the hundreds of millions of shekels the PA owed the Israel Electric Corporation and imposing restrictions on PA activities in Area C of the West Bank, which under the Oslo Accords is under exclusive Israeli control.

In the meeting, Livni told Erekat that the Palestinians' unilateral move was carried out at a time when the Israeli government was making a genuine, coordinated effort to reach a deal on extending the negotiations that was to include the prisoner release, and clarified that the fourth prisoner release would not be possible in light of the move.

"You knew that well when you acted," Livni told Erekat. "The agreements on the prisoner released were subject to the fulfillment of the Palestinian promise not to turn to the UN through the end of April. No one-sided move will advance the negotiations, and you must withdraw your requests and return to the negotiating table."

The Palestinian representatives said in response that they had not come to the meeting in order to discuss the fourth prisoner release, adding that this issue had been agreed upon with the United States and that Israel violated that agreement.


"If you escalate the situation against us, we will pursue you as war criminals in all the international forums," Erekat told Livni in response to her threat of Israeli sanctions against the Palestinians.
Palestinian demands

The Palestinians issued six main demands in connection to the core issues at the meeting:

1. A letter of commitment from Benjamin Netanyahu, in which the Israeli prime minister recognizes the 1967 borders and recognizes East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state.

2. The release of 1,200 Palestinian prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti, Ahmed Sa'adat and Fuad Shubaki.

3. Implementation of the border crossing agreements and an end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

4. The return of the Palestinians who were expelled from the West Bank in 2002 after a siege in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.

5. A freeze on construction in Jewish settlements, including Jerusalem, the reopening of Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem and family reunification for 15,000 Palestinians.

6. Prohibition of the entry, for the purpose of carrying out arrests and assassinations, of Israeli security forces into areas of the West Bank that are under Palestinian control, and the transfer of Area C to Palestinian control.