“Spiacevole incidente”
Ha’aretz: The anti-Semitism that goes unreported
Ha’aretz – July 17th, 2012
Amira Hass
Here’s a statistic that you won’t see in research on anti-Semitism, no matter how meticulous the study is. In the first six months of the year, 154 anti-Semitic assaults have been recorded, 45 of them around one village alone. Some fear that last year’s record high of 411 attacks – significantly more than the 312 attacks in 2010 and 168 in 2009 – could be broken this year.
Fifty-eight incidents were recorded in June alone, including stone-throwing targeting farmers and shepherds, shattered windows, arson, damaged water pipes and water-storage facilities, uprooted fruit trees and one damaged house of worship. The assailants are sometimes masked, sometimes not; sometimes they attack surreptitiously, sometimes in the light of day.
There were two violent attacks a day, in separate venues, on July 13, 14 and 15. The words “death” and “revenge” have been scrawled in various areas; a more original message promises that “We will yet slaughter.”
It’s no accident that the diligent anti-Semitism researchers have left out this data. That’s because they don’t see it as relevant, since the Semites who were attacked live in villages with names like Jalud, Mughayer and At-Tuwani, Yanun and Beitilu. The daily dose of terrorizing (otherwise known as terrorism ) that is inflicted on these Semites isn’t compiled into a neat statistical report, nor is it noticed by most of the Jewish population in Israel and around the world – even though the incidents resemble the stories told by our grandparents.
The day our grandparents feared was Sunday, the Christian Sabbath; the Semites, who are not of interest to the researchers monitoring anti-Semitism, fear Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. Our grandparents knew that the order-enforcement authorities wouldn’t intervene to help a Jewish family under attack; we know that the Israel Defense Forces, the Israel Police, the Civil Administration, the Border Police and the courts all stand on the sidelines, closing their eyes, softballing investigations, ignoring evidence, downplaying the severity of the acts, protecting the attackers, and giving a boost to those progromtchiks.The hands behind these attacks belong to Israeli Jews who violate international law by living in the West Bank. But the aims and goals behind the attacks are the flesh and blood of the Israeli non-occupation. This systemic violence is part of the existing order. It complements and facilitates the violence of the regime, and what the representatives – the brigade commanders, the battalion commanders, the generals and the Civil Administration officers – are doing while “bearing the burden” of military service.
They are grabbing as much land as possible, using pretexts and tricks made kosher by the High Court of Justice; they are confining the natives to densely populated reservations. That is the essence of the tremendous success known as Area C: a deliberate thinning of the Palestinian population in about 62 percent of the West Bank, as preparation for formal annexation.
Day after day, tens of thousands of people live in the shadow of terror. Will there be an attack today on the homes at the edge of the village? Will we be able to get to the well, to the orchard, to the wheat field? Will our children get to school okay, or make it to their cousins’ house unharmed? How many olive trees were damaged overnight?
In exceptional cases, when there is luck to be had, a video camera operated by B’Tselem volunteers documents an incident and pierces the armor of willful ignorance donned by the citizens of the only democracy in the Middle East. When there is no camera, the matter is of negligible importance, because after all, you can’t believe the Palestinians. But this routine of escalating violence is very real, even if it is underreported.
For the human rights organization Al-Haq, the escalation is reminiscent of what happened in 1993-1994, when they warned that the increasing violence, combined with the authorities’ failure to take action, would lead to mass casualties. And then Dr. Baruch Goldstein of Kiryat Arba came along and gunned down 29 Muslim worshipers at the Ibrahim Mosque. The massacre set the stage for a consistent Israeli policy of emptying the Old City of Hebron of its Palestinian residents, with the assistance of Israeli Jewish pogromtchiks. Is there someone among the country’s decision-makers and decision-implementers who is hoping for a second round?
Amira Hass: The law, ass or donkey?
By Amira Hass, Haaretz – 18 June 2012
Three High Court justices sit down to familiarize themselves with the facts: The residents continue to build without construction permits. And the three justices issue an interim order against any such construction within the two clusters that the petition relates to. The order was issued on June 7, the day after the petition and had been discussed.
Subject of the petition: Illegal outpost
Essence of the petition: Disregard of the laws of symmetry and the failure to implement the house-demolition orders issued regarding the structures of the said outpost. The subtext is clear: You ruled against Migron and the Ulpana neighborhood; why are you silent this time?
The justices: Asher Grunis, Hanan Melcer and Daphna Barak-Erez
The buildings: Neither low-rise apartment blocks like the ones in the Ulpana neighborhood nor single-family villas similar to housing in the West Bank settlement of Ofra (the vast majority of which is constructed on private land belonging to the villages of Silwad and Ein Yabrud, and therefore also lacks a detailed construction and development plan ), not even trailers hooked up to water and electricity like the ones in Migron and Givat Assaf. Only a cluster of hovels, tents and concrete rooms slapped together in a hurry.
Guess: The residents are Palestinians (only Palestinian “illegal outposts” remain unconnected to the electricity grid, phone and water lines ).
The land: Private Palestinian land, just like in Migron, Givat Assaf and Ofra, but unlike the Jewish outposts, this “outpost” is located on land owned by its inhabitants. No forged signatures or documents, no other acts of fraud perpetuated.
Name: Susya, southern slope of Mount Hebron
Some history: The adjacent Jewish West Bank settlement of Susya was erected in 1983.
1986: A confiscation order is issued against the lands of the Palestinian village Susya. The village is decreed an archaeological site (because of remnants of an ancient Jewish settlement ). And the Palestinian residents? Instead of treating them with respect and thanking them for preserving the location over the centuries, the IDF and Civil Administration expel them from their homes (caves located among ancient stone structures ), wells and fields.
And then? Susya’s Palestinian residents, members of the Nawaj’ah family, move onto the land they’ve been farming, into caves and tents.
July 2001: Under the guise of the second intifada, the IDF and Civil Administration expel the Nawaj’ah family for a second time. Tents are crushed, caves and wells sealed and wrecked, farmland destroyed, animals killed.
A small but surprising twist: On September 26, 2001, the High Court of Justice instructs the authorities to stop destroying the buildings at the height of a public campaign by the residents and left-wing groups, and the residents’ legal battle led by attorney Shlomo Lecker.
Despite the injunction, Jewish settlers and the army prevent the residents’ access to some 3,000 dunams (about 740 acres ) of their land.
The court orders an end to the demolition and expulsion, but does not instruct the Civil Administration to allow the Palestinians to build, forcing them to build without permits, for example, a school. As of May 2012, 18 demolition orders have been issued against hovels and buildings, including a school.
Another plot twist: Via the organization Rabbis for Human Rights, Susya residents appeal the blocked access to their private land and the fact that Jewish settlers are making a grab for it.
Another surprise twist: In October 2011, the military commanding officer declares a large part of their land as “closed to Israelis,” i.e., Jewish settlers, in order to stop the encroachment and land grab.
An attempt to fix the twist, February 2012: Regavim, a nonprofit association to protect the Jewish nation’s land, and the Jewish settlement of Susya petition the High Court to accelerate the pace of the Palestinian Susya demolition orders and to stop construction. In other words: a recipe for a third expulsion.
In her response, Attorney Avital Sharon of Rabbis for Human Rights points to the petition’s lack of good faith, and why it should be rejected outright. For example, she points to unauthorized construction in Jewish Susya and to the fact that the director general of Regavim himself lives in an unauthorized outpost.
Sharon also also gives reasons for the case in question: the earliest expulsion. The Civil Administration discriminates against Palestinians by not creating construction and development plans for them. Contrary to what is stated in the petition, the Civil Administration tirelessly demolishes Palestinian structures. In the last four years alone, 1,101 such structures have been demolished. Susya and the rabbis are busy working on a construction and development plan for the village (even though this is the responsibility of the official authorities ).
The judges listen to the supposed voice of symmetry coming from the petition submitted by Regavim and the Jewish settlement of Susya and do not reject the petition outright. They even issue an interim order to stop new construction in the village of Susya.
Construction in the Jewish settlement Susya continues, as it does in its satellite outposts.
As a result of the High Court ruling, officers of the Civil Administration show up in Susya on June 12 and hand out six collective demolition orders affecting 52 buildings, including a preschool, a clinic and a solar panel system supplying electricity to the village and its steadfast residents.
Demolition time frame: within three days (Attorney Quamar Mishirqi Assad of Rabbis for Human Rights manages to get a 10-day extension to submit challenges to the demolition orders ).
The residents of Susya ask the honorable justices Grunis, Melcer and Barak-Erez: Is this how you understand the word “justice” of your titles?
Link: http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/the-law-ass-or-donkey.premium-1.437023
Il prezzo dell’espansione delle colonie israeliane in Cisgiordania
25 gennaio 2012
L’esercito israeliano demolisce due case nel villaggio di Um Al Kheer, mentre i lavori per espandere la vicina colonia di Karmel continuano.
Video riferito agli avvenimenti del comunicato stampa “Nuove demolizioni nel villaggio beduino di Um Al Kheer” (vedi sotto).
C/S: Esercito israeliano demolisce la rete elettrica in costruzione nel villaggio palestinese di Umm Fagarah
4 Novembre 2011
At-Tuwani, South Hebron Hills – Nella prima mattinata del 3 novembre, l’esercito israeliano ha abbattuto i tralicci che avrebbero dovuto allacciare il villaggio palestinese di Umm Fagarah al resto della linea elettrica.
Alle 7 del mattino, una ruspa, scortata da 25 soldati israeliani, ha percorso la strada che collega il villaggio di Umm Fagarah a quello di At-Tuwani, demolendo tutti i pali della luce precedentemente impiantati. Quattro dei quali si trovavano lungo la strada, e gli ultimi due dentro al villaggio di UmmFaggarh.
At-Tuwani ed Umm Faggarah si trovano in Area C, una zona sotto il controllo militare ed amministrativo israeliano. All’interno di quest’ area ogni costruzione deve essere approvata dall amministrazione israeliana. Secondo un rapporto dell’ONU, costruire è vietato su circa il 70% della Cisgiordania, con il 30% rimanente in cui vengono applicate tutta una serie di restrizioni che eliminano di fatto la possibilità di ottenere un permesso.
Operazione Colomba mantiene una presenza costante nel villaggio di At-Tuwani e nell’area delle colline a sud di Hebron dal 2004.
Foto dell’ incidente: http://goo.gl/vMfVw
Per informazioni:
Operazione Colomba, +972 54 99 25 773
[Note: secondo la IV Convenzione di Ginevra, la II Convenzione dell’Aja, la Corte Internazionale di Giustizia e numerose risoluzioni ONU, tutti gli insediamenti israeliani nei Territori Palestinesi Occupati sono illegali. Gli avamposti sono considerati illegali anche secondo la legge israeliana.]
Un vento nuovo
Lettera aperta dei giovani israeliani originari dei paesi arabi e islamici ai propri coetanei in Medio Oriente e Nord Africa.
Ruh Jedida (Un vento nuovo) è il titolo di una lettera aperta pubblicata nel 2011 sul blog Arab Jews e firmata da un nutrito gruppo di intellettuali, poeti, scrittori e artisti israeliani mizrahi.
Lo scopo dei firmatari della lettera è prendere una posizione precisa di fronte agli avvenimenti della Primavera Araba e manifestare il proprio senso di solidarietà: essi si identificano nelle lotte per la libertà e la democrazia sostenute dai figli della propria stessa generazione nei paesi arabi e sperano nella restaurazione di un dialogo interrotto decenni fa consapevoli della storia e della cultura condivisa da cui provengono.
Israele in Italia, l’arte della difesa
fonte: PeaceReporter
A Palazzo Mezzanotte la prossima settimana le aziende israeliane presentano l’eccellenzatecnologica nel campo della sicurezza
Il palcoscenico dell’evento non poteva essere più emblematico: Piazza affari a Milano. E’ qui che, martedì 14 giugno, si terrà uno dei più importanti incontri d’affari organizzati dal nostro Paese: l'”Italian-Israel Business Forum“. Per Israele, è il più imponente forum economico all’estero. Vi parteciperanno oltre 600 imprenditori, alla presenza delle autorità cittadine, del ministro dell’Industria e del commercio israeliano, Shalom Simhon, e del ministro dello Sviluppo economico Paolo Romani.
CONOSCERE NELLA SOLIDARIETA’ venite in PALESTINA E ISRAELE 18 – 26 luglio 2011 accompagnati da Luisa Morgantini, già Vice Presidente del Parlamento Europeo.
Durante il nostro soggiorno, viaggeremo attraverso i Territori Palestinesi Occupati e Israele, per villaggi, città, campi profughi. Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Ramallah, Hebron, Betlemme, Nablus, Gerico e la Valle del Giordano, i villaggi di Bili’in, Nili’in, At Tuwani, Gerusalemme: luoghi pieni di fascino e storia, ma anche pervasi dal dolore e dall’ingiustizia della illegalità dell’occupazione militare israeliana.
Reconsidering the Goldstone Report on Israel and war crimes
Fonte: Richard Goldstone / Washington Post – 1 aprile 2011
We know a lot more today about what happened in the Gaza war of 2008-09 than we did when I chaired the fact-finding mission appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council that produced what has come to be known as the Goldstone Report. If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.
The final report by the U.N. committee of independent experts — chaired by former New York judge Mary McGowan Davis — that followed up on the recommendations of the Goldstone Report has found that “Israel has dedicated significant resources to investigate over 400 allegations of operational misconduct in Gaza” while “the de facto authorities (i.e., Hamas) have not conducted any investigations into the launching of rocket and mortar attacks against Israel.”
Ha’aretz: The extreme right turned Israel into an anachronism
Fonte: Haaretz – 2 aprile 2011
Slowly but surely Israel is acquiring the status of an anachronistic entity. The legislation that passed in the Knesset that dark night last week, which makes ethnic inequality a legal norm, has no parallel in democratic countries because it contradicts the very essence of democracy. In terms of the principle on which it is based, institutionalized discrimination against the non-Jewish population takes us back to the early days, when Israel’s Arab citizens were under a military government.
This had a far-reaching effect on Israeli society. Aside from the desire of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and the ruling elite not to limit their freedom of action, it was the ethnic and institutionalized discrimination that rendered impossible the writing of a constitution. In that way the Israelis, who for the first time became citizens in their own country, learned that independence did not require equality and democracy did not include respecting human rights.
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