This is a roundup of news related to Palestine with a particular focus on grassroots action and peaceful civil disobedience in the Occupied Territories and within the borders of Israel proper.
We use the name Filasṭīn, since that is the pronunciation preferred by Arabic speakers (irrespective of faith) for their homeland.
For you, Palestinian kid killed by IDF was just a statistic
(
at Haaretz)
Abu Yasser has buried three of his brothers. His tragedy is heartbreaking; ours is that we are slowly losing our humanity.
Some Israeli media reported he [Mohammed al-Kasbeh, shot in the head and back last Friday morning near Qalandiyah checkpoint] was throwing rocks at a military jeep when he was gunned down; some Palestinian media reported he was fleeing the scene when he was shot.
Israeli officials defended the killing as “self-defense”; the IDF distributed a photo of Shomer’s jeep, showing the shattered windscreen as evidence, and pointed to the fact he fired warning shots first.
“This is how a commander in the IDF should act,” boasted Naftali Bennett on Facebook. “The people of Israel are behind you.” Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben Dahan blared in solidarity: “Throwing stones is terrorism. Stones kill. The Binyamin Brigade commander was acting in self defense.”
But if you – like me – have stood at Qalandiyah checkpoint and witnessed this man-made hell (and been hit by tear gas to boot) then I respectfully submit that you – like me – would probably conclude that you too would end up throwing stones. Ehud Barak once conceded that had he been born Palestinian, he too would have come to the same conclusion.
Citizen Odeh: The Arab leader who feels the Jews' pain
(
at Haaretz)
The Joint Arab List might not be the obvious champion for Ethiopian Jews protesting against discrimination. Yet when Ethiopian Israelis took to the streets in May after policemen were filmed beating an Israeli Ethiopian soldier, marching by their side was Knesset Member Ayman Odeh, chairman of the newly formed party.
[...]
Odeh however says it was “natural” for him to support the Ethiopians - and pledged “to stand and struggle by their side until there is a more equal and just society here, in which there is no difference between black and white, man and woman, Jew and Arab.”
But there's been a growing school of thought that Israel’s Jewish left has no chance of reconstituting itself politically if it doesn’t make common cause with the Arab minority. Odeh said as much during the February 26 televised debate: “The left cannot bring about peace and democracy without the Arab population. We can only succeed if we work together. What unifies our united list, which is for social justice, but not only, is that we are for national justice for two peoples.”
While on the topic, Odeh went on to suggest, without having been asked: “We aspire to a joint Jewish-Arab list. We aren’t strong enough for it yet, but it’s what we aspire to.”
One of those killed in October 2000 was Asil Asleh, a 17-year-old boy from the town of Arrabe, in the Lower Galilee. Asleh was an active member of the Jewish-Palestinian youth group Seeds of Peace. He was unarmed when he attended the demonstration on October 2, 2000, and was shot in the neck by police. His older sister, Nardine, a gynecologist, is Ayman Odeh's wife. When their second child was born, on what happened to be the anniversary of Asil’s birth, the couple decided to name him for his late uncle, whose final years saw him passionately involved in coexistence activities with people he refused to see as his enemies.
When he concluded his inaugural speech in the Knesset last month, Odeh explained that he and Nardine took the coincidence of his birthday as an omen. "We decided to call him Asil to indicate that we have chosen life. Whatever happens, our children and grandchildren will live together in this land, Arabs and Jews," he says "We have no choice but to choose life. Let us choose life.”
Two states, one homeland — a new configuration?
(
at +972mag)
If you ask most people, you’ll find that the only two conceptions of how to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are either a one- or two-state solution. But what if there’s a third path? A recent conference explored that option.
"We're talking about one homeland for two peoples on the basis of a union called Israel-Palestine."
"What's been the outcome of all these talks? More occupation, more settlements and more detainees. The initiative also addresses the return of Palestinian refugees. Refugees can receive Palestinian citizenship and permanent resident status in Israel."
"There are two people who live here and neither are going anywhere."
Two states, One homeland
(
at Shatil)
Last week, as I was sitting in a brightly lit auditorium in central Jerusalem listening, admittedly skeptically at first, to a presentation from the newly formed group, Two States, One Homeland, something occurred to me about the peace process. The crux of peace, as we think about it now, is two states. It is the end of the occupation, and the fulfillment of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. In this way, it is a peace to be inscribed in the sacrosanctity of borders, a peace defined by separation – of Israel and Palestine – and disengagement – of the Israeli army and Israeli citizens from the West Bank. It is a peace of leaving the other alone.
To be sure, this peace sounds much better than the status quo. It is a peace commensurate with international law, with ideals of democracy, human rights and self-determination. But, in being so, it is a peace of politicians rather than a peace of peoples. It is a peace where “the other” remains “the other,” and where walls don’t get torn down, but instead they can be lawfully built up. It seems ironic to promote initiatives that bring Jews and Palestinians together, when the ultimate goal of two sovereign states is more likely to keep them apart. As I sat in the auditorium listening to the people from Two States, One Homeland speak, I began to wonder, as each of them has been wondering: If we are dreaming, why are we dreaming of being apart?
Recognizing further that both Jews and Palestinians have “profound historical, religious and cultural ties” to the entirety of the land, the Two States, One Homeland initiative emphasizes that, despite the desire for two sovereign political entities, the land itself should be open, one homeland in which citizens of both states have the right to travel, work and live in all parts of the land. It also envisions a formal union between the two states with joint institutions that will cooperate on issues of common concern, such as infrastructure, security, natural resources, and the economy.
Why Netanyahu can’t just wish Palestine away: Analysis of a failed policy
(
at +972mag)
Instead of earnestly pursuing peace, consecutive Israeli governments have attempted three policies: separating the Palestinians, erasing borders and boundaries, and attempting to change the world’s perception of reality. All three have failed.
Israel has long pursued the physical, political, economic, cultural and religious separation between Gaza and the West Bank. The hope was that Israelis, the international community and no less important, Palestinians themselves, would view these societies as different entities, requiring different political solutions. The idea of a cohesive Palestinian state was supposed to dissolve.
This week, the absurdities around messaging reached new heights when a survey was released showing massive partisan gaps in support for Israel in the U.S., Israel’s warmest audience. Democrats are losing sympathy and patience, while Republicans toe to the party line — theirs and Israel’s. The survey was conducted by Frank Luntz, messager extraordinaire for The Israel Project. His task at TIP for years and untold sums? To find the sharpest language to change minds. His findings? Israel’s image has reached a new low among U.S. political elites. His solution? More messaging.
As Israelis Are Tried in a Palestinian’s Murder, Agonizing Intimacy in Court
(
at the NY Times)
The teenager, a second youth and one adult, Yosef Haim Ben-David, 30, are on trial in Jerusalem District Court, charged with the abduction and premeditated murder of a Palestinian teenager, Muhammad Abu Khdeir. He was snatched off a street near his East Jerusalem home, driven to a forest, beaten unconscious and burned to death in the early hours of July 2, 2014.
A year later, a final chapter of that traumatic period is playing out with agonizing intimacy in a cramped courtroom where the three defendants, who are all related, and the parents of the victim sit a few yards apart.
Mr. Ben-David and the yeshiva dropout are also charged with trying to kidnap an 8-year-old Palestinian boy in the same area of East Jerusalem the night before Mr. Abu Khdeir was killed. That abduction failed when the Palestinian boy’s mother shouted and struggled with the kidnappers and the boy escaped.
Hundreds march in memorial service for murdered Palestinian teen
(
at +972mag)
Hundreds of Palestinians marched last Thursday in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat to mark one year since the abduction and murder of 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khdeir. Participants waved Palestinian flags and held posters with Abu Khdeir’s face as they marched from the mosque where he was kidnapped, to the local girls elementary school where a memorial service was held.
Abu Khdeir was murdered in the early morning of July 2, 2014 by three Jewish men, purportedly as a random act of “vengeance” in response to the murder of three Jewish teenagers by Palestinians in the West Bank. The perpetrators kidnapped Abu Khdeir as he was walking to a neighborhood mosque for early morning prayers, took him to a Jerusalem-area forest, where they beat and burned him alive.
[In an interview with +972′s Hebrew-language sister site, Local Call, Abu Khdeir’s cousin Said said ] “Palestinians who take part in terrorism have their homes destroyed, but when Jews do the same nothing happens to their homes. I understand that this is because the state is racist. After all, we are talking about Jews who have rights here.
“I must say that despite all of my anger at the killers’ parents, I do not think it is right to destroy their homes. They shouldn’t have to pay for what their children did. My only demand is that they are convicted and spend the rest of their lives in jail, so that everyone can understand that what they did is unconscionable.”
Israeli forces pepper-spray Palestinian journalists
(
at +972mag)
Israeli security forces attacked a demonstration commemorating Mohammed Abu Khdeir last Thursday, including pepper-spraying in the face two Palestinian journalists working for a Jordanian news station. Troops also used tear gas and stun grenades against participants in the demonstration, which took place near the settlement of Geva Benyamin in the central West Bank.
Journalists and activists have reported numerous incidents of Israeli forces pepper-spraying non-violent demonstrators in the West Bank in recent months. The IDF is currently planning to distribute pepper spray to all non-combat soldiers, starting from 2016. Although considered a “non-lethal” weapon, pepper spray is a powerful inflammatory agent that can cause serious injury and even contribute to death.
Palestinian home and market attacked by settlers from illegal settlement of Beit Hadassah
(
at Int'l Solidarity Movement)
At 18:30 PM on the 29th of June 2015, masked settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Beit Hadassah attacked Palestinian houses and souq (market) with a water hose and stones.
Shadi Sider, a Palestinian man, had to be hospitalized due to a stone thrown by a settler that hit him in the knee. The settlers attacked the Sider family home, the water went inside the living room, completely soaking the interior including a computer. During the attack, an Israeli settler arrived with an assault rifle. Israeli soldiers were present throughout the entire incident, they stood and watched but never intervened to stop the settler violence. They were standing above the Palestinian market, which they occupy.
Netanyahu rejects minister's claims that Reform Jews are not Jews
(
at Jerusalem Post)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday rejected comments made by a minister in his coalition disparaging Reform Jews as not actually being real Jews.
Earlier on Tuesday, Religious Services Minister David Azoulai (Shas) said in an interview with Army Radio that only people who follow Jewish law can be described as Jewish and described non-Orthodox streams as “people who try and falsify” the Jewish religion.
“Any Jew who observes the Torah and commandments is for us a Jew...A Reform Jew, from the moment he does not follow Jewish law I cannot allow myself to say that he is a Jew,” said the minister.
In response, Netanyahu's office stated that the prime minister renounces "the hurtful remarks about Reform Judaism, which do not reflect the position of the Government."
Israeli Minister Says Reform Jews Are Not Really Jewish
(
at NY Times)
The more liberal forms of Jewish practice advocated by the Reform and Conservative movements, to which most affiliated American Jews belong, have never taken strong root in Israel. Fewer than 10 percent of Israeli Jews are said to identify with those movements.
President Reuven Rivlin infuriated American Reform Jews with remarks he made in the 1980s, when he was a member of the Israeli Parliament. After attending a service at a Reform synagogue in New Jersey, he told an Israeli newspaper, “This is idol worship and not Judaism.”
Since becoming president he has sought to mend relations with non-Orthodox streams of Judaism. When he met with a delegation of American Reform leaders in November, he told them, “We are one family, and the connection between all Jews, all over the world, is very important to the State of Israel.”
But Conservative movement leaders were upset again last month when, they said, Mr. Rivlin reneged at the last minute on a plan to host a disabled children’s bar mitzvah ceremony under the auspices of Conservative and Orthodox rabbis, instead agreeing to hold it under exclusively Orthodox auspices.
Reform Jews should take Minister Azoulay’s vile rant as a compliment
(
Opinion at Haaretz - Chemi Shalev)
I really don’t know why everyone is ganging up on Religious Affairs Minister David Azoulay. Yes, he said that Reform Jews are a disaster, or, in another statement, that they’re not Jewish at all. So? What’s wrong with that? Azoulay is simply reiterating what sages, mentors and venerated rabbis of the ultra-Orthodox movement that he represents have been saying for the past 200 years. Do people expect him to hypocritically hide his views simply because he is now a minister in the Israeli cabinet?
Azoulay is a representative of Shas, a senior partner in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition. And it was Shas’ revered spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef who ruled in 1988 that Reform Jews are the same as pagans, from whom one is not allowed to receive donations. And it was Yosef who mocked “the Reform Women of the Wall,” as he called them, for wearing the talis traditionally reserved for men, suggesting that they “should be buried in them." And it was Yosef who affixed his signature to a 2012 petition sponsored by another Shas luminary, Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, in which Reform rabbis were called “uprooters and destroyers of Judaism.” So what do you expect from Azoulay? He should be less holy than his popes?
the ultra-Orthodox, as they came to be known, have lived in a land frozen in time, circa 19th century Eastern Europe, locked in a never-ending struggle with the demons who are trying to undermine their sacred way of life. And the sweet irony, of course, is that it is now the Moroccan born David Azoulay, along with the rest of Shas, who has turned his back on the lenient and accommodating practices of Sephardi Jewry, serving instead as the self-appointed Guardian of this petrified Eastern European Ashkenazi world.
Azoulay is not the problem, therefore, but a mere symptom. He is a product of a part of Israeli society that has grown increasingly intolerant and xenophobic. He is a manifestation of an Israeli political system in which the dominant secular party, Labor or Likud, repeatedly and voluntarily cedes control of the country’s religious life to Jewish fundamentalists in exchange for a free hand on foreign and military affairs.
Israeli Cabinet Rejects Measure to Ease Jewish Conversions
(
at NY Times)
The Israeli cabinet on Sunday rejected a proposed change that was supposed to ease the process of conversion to Judaism in Israel, a move that signaled the renewed strength of ultra-Orthodox parties in the ruling coalition formed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he won parliamentary elections in March.
The change was promoted by secularist and liberal parties in the previous government, which excluded ultra-Orthodox politicians. It was approved by a cabinet vote last November but was never passed into law.
That made it easier for Mr. Netanyahu’s new cabinet to abrogate the decision, in line with coalition agreements reached with the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties.
Shuhada Street 2015: Suffering from Israeli propaganda and ongoing military closure
(
at Int'l Solidarity Movement)
Hundreds Palestinian shops and warehouses were closed on Shuhada Street by the Israeli army in 1994 following the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, in which twenty-nine Muslims were murdered during prayer inside Ibrahimi Mosque by Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish settler from Kiryat Arba. In the name of protecting Jewish settlers after the massacre of Palestinians during Ramadan, Palestinian vehicular traffic was prohibited and pedestrian access restricted in addition to the closure of businesses and municipal offices. In 1997 Israel agreed to reopen Shuhada Street to Palestinians and to restore closed shops in order to reestablish pre-1994 conditions. To this day, nearly twenty years later, none of the shops have been reopened and the street remains closed to Palestinian vehicles.
On July 24, a Palestinian store-owner, with the permission of the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, attempted to get to his shop, which is located further up on the same street as the supposed store openings, in order to restore it to workable condition. He was, however, blocked from entering his shop by a big gathering of settlers, escorted by border police. The settlers brought chairs and a tent, and sat down in the front of the Palestinians shop on Shuhada Street to have their breakfast, taunting Muslims who were fasting for Ramadan. ISMers witnessed this event. This occured again in the evening of the same day, when they brought banners, as well as the next morning. As of yet, this is the most action the stores of Shuhada Street has seen. To us, and other people who frequent the area of the Ibrahimi mosque daily, it is hard to draw any other conclusion than that the whole story is simply a another Israeli PR campaign with little basis in reality.
How Israel's media shows us only half the picture in Gaza
(
Opinion in Haaretz - Oded Even Or)
When Israeli newspapers reported recently that a rocket was fired at Israel from Gaza, they cited as background only a chronology of recent rocket fire and immediate Israeli retaliation via airstrikes. The reports were invariably titled with variations of "calm broken again in southern Israel."
What the reports failed to mention was Israel's regular use of force against Gaza. As the Israeli media monitor The Seventh Eye pointed out, an average of two Gaza residents were wounded every week in 2015 due to Israeli use of force, according to a June report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In March, Israel Navy fire killed a Gaza fisherman. According to an OCHA report from March, fisherman were fired upon in 30 other incidents since the end of the war, wounding two. Recently, a mentally disabled 18-year-old was shot and wounded while attempting to climb the border fence. According to the OCHA, between June 9 and 15 there were 12 other incidents of Israeli fire at civilians who reportedly ventured into restricted areas in Gaza, though no injuries were reported.
Arab-killing never hurt an Israeli cop’s record
(
Opinion in Haaretz - Oudeh Basharat)
How can it be that Sao, who commanded the Border Police in the north during the October 2000 protests and was responsible for the deaths of young people in Umm al-Fahm, is being appointed police commissioner? According to the Or Commission, which investigated the incidents, Sao violated police rules when he used snipers against demonstrators, treated Umm al-Fahm as an enemy city and captured three buildings, one of which bore the name “The Red House.” Perhaps he was seeking to restore the crown to its ancient glory. Another “Red House,” in Tel Aviv, is where Plan Dalet, which dealt with expelling the Arabs in 1948, was prepared and implemented.
More snippets below the orange separation barrier:
- Imprisoned for incitement on Facebook? Only if you're Arab
- Protestant churches split over anti-Israel divestment resolutions
- Boycott movement gains steam, causing alarm in Israel but little economic damage
- Clinton 'alarmed' over calls for Israel boycott, urges bi-partisan action
- Israeli minister to decide on deportation of Palestinian MPs
- Israel-India détente picks up steam
- Jewish, Arab women establish protest tent outside PM's residence
- Until an Arab plays for Beitar Jerusalem...
- Bill mandating death sentence for terrorists splits Likud ministers
- Why is Israel concocting ties between Hamas and ISIS?
- Mike Huckabee: There’s no such thing as a Palestinian — and they should all be relocated
- Why Hillary Clinton is moving left on every issue except Israel
- Family of Israeli missing in Gaza urges Hamas to release him
- Wooing Jewish-American millennials: A job for Israel's left
- 'Black Friday': The day Israel officially adopted its 'anything goes' morality
- How does Israel's media fight sexual harassment? With racism
- Hasidic pilgrims and Ukrainian sex workers: Prayer and pleasure in Uman
- Don't be fooled by our prosperity – Israel is quietly committing suicide
Imprisoned for incitement on Facebook? Only if you're Arab
(
at +972mag)
We do not live in a state where people are equal before the law. This is a fact that shouldn’t surprise anyone. The Internet, on the other hand, has maintained a kind of facade where freedom and equality are set in stone. But no more. This week, 23-year-old Uday Biyumi from Jerusalem was sentenced to 17 months in prison for publishing Facebook posts “systematically and widely.”
The sentence is not something out of the ordinary. Sami Da’is received eight months for his posts on social media; Omar Shalbi was sentenced to nine months; and many others are still being held until the end of legal proceedings, waiting for a decision on their case. All of them for publishing statuses on Facebook.
Perhaps you have noticed that there is not a single Jewish person among those arrested—this isn’t a coincidence. The following article will compare some of these remarks to those made by Jews, who were never forced to spend seven months in jail. Not a single Jewish citizen of Israel has ever been sent to prison for publishing a status on social media.
Protestant churches split over anti-Israel divestment resolutions
(
at Haaretz)
It was one step forward and a step and a half back for the anti-Israel BDS movement this week. On Thursday, just two days after the United Church of Christ passed a measure requiring divestment from companies connected with Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops voted down a similar resolution, while the much smaller Mennonite Church postponed any boycott decision to 2017.
The Reform movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis called the UCC move “a shameful episode.” Ethan Felson, senior vice president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said the move “poisons the well for reconciliation” between Israel and the Palestinians. Rabbi Noam Marans, the AJC’s director of interreligious and intergroup relations, said, “The UCC’s one-sided view singles out Israel and, shockingly, ignores any Palestinian accountability. UCC have been deluded by their Palestinian advisers that peace can be achieved through demonization of Israel.”
Members of the BDS-supporting Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP), who attended the UCC and Episcopalian conferences, are eager for attention to be drawn to the power of divestment from companies whose products are used in any way to maintain the occupation.
Boycott movement gains steam, causing alarm in Israel but little economic damage
(
at US News & World Report)
Ten years ago, a small group of Palestinian activists had a novel idea: Inspired by the anti-apartheid movement, they called for a global boycott movement against Israel as a nonviolent method to promote the Palestinian struggle for independence.
Long confined to the sidelines, the so-called BDS movement appears to be gaining momentum — so much so that Israel has identified it as a strategic threat on a par with Palestinian militant groups and the Iranian nuclear program. While Israel says the movement is rooted in anti-Semitism, its decentralized organization and language calling for universal human rights have proven difficult to counter, resulting in a string of recent victories that have alarmed Israeli leaders.
"We are now beginning to harvest the fruits of 10 years of strategic, morally consistent and undeniably effective BDS campaigning," said Omar Barghouti, one of the group's co-founders. "BDS is winning the battles for hearts and minds across the world, despite Israel's still hegemonic influence among governments in the U.S. and Europe."
Clinton 'alarmed' over calls for Israel boycott, urges bi-partisan action
(
at Haaretz)
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton expressed her alarm last week over the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement, and said countering it was a priority that stretches "across party lines," vowing to always "stand up for Israel" if she becomes president.
In a July 2 letter sent to Israeli-American businessman Haim Saban – a major donor and fundraiser for Clinton – she stressed the need to counter the BDS campaign "with information and advocacy" and to "fight back against further attempts to delegitimize Israel."
Clinton also said she was concerned by "attempts to compare Israel to South African apartheid," particularly at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise. Israel, she noted, "is a vibrant democracy in a region dominated by autocracy, and it faces existential threats to its survival."
Clinton's letter to Saban – and it's dissemination by Saban's spokespeople and Clinton's election headquarters – are meant to garner support among the American Jewish community, in particular Jewish voters who are unhappy about President Barack Obama's policy towards Israel and are considering voting for a Republican nominee.
Israeli minister to decide on deportation of Palestinian MPs
(
at Ma'an News)
The Israeli Minister of the Interior was given 30 days by the Supreme Court on Monday to reach a final decision on the possible deportation from East Jerusalem of three Palestinian lawmakers and a former Palestinian Authority Jerusalem affairs minister.
Monday's hearing was a follow-up to a previous hearing in the same court on May 5, 2015 that discussed the possibility of revoking the Jerusalem residency rights of officials Muhammad Abu Teir, Ahmad Attun, Muhammad Tutah and Khalid Abu Arafeh.
The pretext for the ruling is disloyalty to the Israeli state, the lawmakers said last year. The four were initially detained along with other lawmakers and, after their release, Israeli police seized their identity documents.
The permanent residency status of 107 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem was revoked in 2014, adding to the 14,309 revoked by Israel since 1967.
Israel-India détente picks up steam
(
at Times of Israel)
During the meeting, Gold was expected to thank India for its recent pro-Israel moves in international forums. On Friday, India had abstained in a vote on a UN Human Rights Council resolution that backed a report critical of Israel’s behavior during last summer’s Gaza war.
The Palestinians were not amused at India’s move. “We were shocked,” said the Palestinian Authority’s ambassador to India, Adnan Abu Alhaija. “The Palestinian people and leaders were very happy with the UN resolution, but the voting of India has broken our happiness.”
Although New Delhi emphasized that its vote did not signal any change in its policy of support for the Palestinian cause, India’s abstention was celebrated in Israel as a remarkable diplomatic achievement.
India was one of five countries that abstained, while 41 countries — including staunch allies of Israel such as Germany, Britain and the Netherlands — voted in favor of the resolution. Only the United States opposed.
Jewish, Arab women establish protest tent outside PM's residence
(
at +972mag)
At the entrance to the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem, nearly 30 women are sitting on mattresses, surrounded by banners calling for peace negotiations. One of their shirts reads “Women waging peace and stopping the next war.” Some of them hold signs that read: “Fasting!” Despite the uniform dress, the women come from different backgrounds: some are Arab, some religious, some Mizrahi, others Ashkenazi.
On Thursday, a year after Operation Protective Edge, the “Women Wage Peace” group has built a protest camp outside the prime minister’s residence, calling on the government to return to negotiations with the Palestinians. The movement was established during last year’s war by Israeli and Palestinian women from across the country who are hoping to prevent the next casualties of war. As part of their protest, the women will go on single-day fasts for the duration of 50 days, the length of last year’s war. The decision to fast stems from their desire to show solidarity with the pain and struggle of war, and because fasting requires making sacrifices and steadfastness, much like peace negotiations.
Until an Arab plays for Beitar Jerusalem...
(
at Haaretz)
In its near-80-year history, the capital’s largest club has yet to field an Arab player. The time has come to end this exclusion, but also to understand the reasons behind it.
Since then, not a single Arab player has set foot on the field for Beitar Jerusalem. This, in a city where 40 percent of the population is Arab (some 300,000 people). Their property taxes were spent on building and renovating Teddy Stadium, to the tune of hundreds of millions of shekels. Their mayor, Nir Barkat, has often been kept busy on Beitar matters – attempts to save it by finding new owners and investors, as well as supporting it in many other ways.
Last week, in response to a request from Haaretz, the Economy Ministry’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission began an inquiry into the matter, and whether to put Beitar on trial. Haaretz will be following this story closely, and updating readers if anything changes. Haaretz revealed Thursday that the club has now been summoned to the commission to explain why it doesn’t sign Arab players.
For now, we will leave you with a hypothetical situation to think about: Imagine a European team – an English, Italian or French soccer club, say, that for all its years of existence never hired a black player, or a Jewish or Asian one. Imagine that the representative of the owners of that same team said, “We will not sign a black/Jewish/Asian player, in order to avoid antagonizing the fans.” Or if the team coach says, “This is not the time to add a black/Jewish/Asian player, since it would create tension and cause much greater damage. Even if the player was right for me professionally, I wouldn’t sign him.”
Bill mandating death sentence for terrorists splits Likud ministers
(
at Haaretz)
Likud ministers are divided over whether to support a Yisrael Beiteinu bill that would introduce the death penalty for terror-related murder.
The bill, submitted by MK Sharon Gal (Yisrael Beiteinu), reflects one of the party’s flagship issues during the recent election campaign. It will be brought before the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday, which will decide whether the coalition supports the bill.
The death penalty already exists on Israel’s legislation books, for the offenses of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and treason in wartime (although Adolf Eichmann remains the only person to have been sentenced to death in Israel).
Why is Israel concocting ties between Hamas and ISIS?
(
at +972mag)
Maj.-Gen. Mordechai’s accusations are expedient for many reasons. Firstly, Hamas’s relationship with the Egyptian government has gone from bad to worse since the overthrow of former president Muhammad Morsi. In recent weeks, however, a détente of sorts has begun to take shape, most recently evidenced when Cairo reversed an earlier decision that had declared Hamas a terrorist organization. It is no secret that the current Israeli government believes it is in its interest to ensure that Egypt remains adversarial toward Hamas, and what better way to advance that goal than to tie the latter to ISIS.
Secondly, Netanyahu hopes that the more he can concoct an association between Hamas and ISIS, against which there is an international consensus that any force is justified, then Israel will have an easier time the next time it goes to war against Gaza. Never mind the absurdity of actually comparing the ideology, goals, tactics and identity of the two groups. The only thing more absurd would be to compare ISIS to Iran. In addition to the fact that ISIS is a fanatical Sunni group and the Iranian regime is Shia, Ishaan Tharoor wrote in The Washington Post earlier this year, “Iran’s theocratic rulers are hardly champions of religious pluralism and tolerance, but they are not crazed fundamentalist jihadists, bent on smashing idols and butchering religious minorities.”
Mike Huckabee: There’s no such thing as a Palestinian — and they should all be relocated
(
at Buzzfeed)
“Basically, there really is no such thing as — I need to be careful about saying this, because people will really get upset — there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian,” Huckabee said at the 2008 campaign stop while speaking to two Orthodox men. “There’s not.”
Huckabee made similar comments earlier this year when argued a two-state solution is “irrational and unworkable” and that “here’s plenty of land in the world” outside Israel for a Palestinian state.
“You have Arabs and Persians,” Huckabee continued at the 2008 appearance. “And there’s such complexity in that. But there’s really no such thing. That’s been a political tool to try and force land away from Israel.”
Huckabee added he thought a Palestinian state could be made out of land in Egypt, Syria, or Jordan.
Why Hillary Clinton is moving left on every issue except Israel
(
Opinion at Haaretz - Peter Beinart)
From immigration to campaign finance reform to criminal justice, Hillary Clinton’s campaign strategy is clear: Move to Barack Obama’s left, to energize liberal voters. Except on Israel, where she’s moving to Barack Obama’s right, to energize hawkish donors.
Reading Hillary’s letter in light of its recipient, a few things become clear. First, don’t expect her to express much concern for Palestinians. In his campaign book, “The Audacity of Hope,” Obama emphasized the common humanity of Palestinians and Israeli Jews. “Traveling through Israel and the West Bank,” he wrote. “I talked to Jews who’d lost parents in the Holocaust and brothers in suicide bombings; I heard Palestinians talk of the indignities of checkpoints and reminisce about the land they had lost. I flew by helicopter across the line separating the two peoples and found myself unable to distinguish Jewish towns from Arab towns, all of them like fragile outposts against the green and stony hills.”
Thirdly, and most intriguingly, Hillary is signaling that she may oppose Obama if he backs a two-state resolution at the UN this fall. In her letter, she goes out of her way to equate the BDS movement with Palestinian initiatives at the UN. “We’ve seen this sort of attack before at the UN and elsewhere,” writes Hillary. “As senator and secretary of state, I saw how crucial it is for America to defend Israel at every turn. I have opposed dozens of anti-Israel resolutions at the UN ... And I made sure the United States blocked Palestinian attempts at the UN to unilaterally declare statehood.”
Family of Israeli missing in Gaza urges Hamas to release him
(
at Haaretz)
The family of Avera Mengistu, the Israeli who disappeared into Gaza 10 months ago, has called on Hamas to release him immediately and on the Israeli government to do everything possible to bring him home safely.
On Thursday an Israeli court lifted a gag order on Mengistu’s disappearance, following a request by Haaretz. Defense officials believe he is being held by Hamas after having climbed over the security fence.
Ilan Mengistu, one of Avera’s brothers, told reporters at his Ashkelon home that the affair was a “difficult humanitarian matter because my brother is not in good health.”
Wooing Jewish-American millennials: A job for Israel's left
(
Opinion in Haaretz - Maya Kornberg)
Polls show young American Jews feel less connected to Israel than their elders, which suggests a generational trend of deteriorating ties. A new poll of American Jews, conducted by Brandies found that 20% of respondents aged 18-29 did not feel at all connected to Israel, compared to 13% of respondents aged 45-59 and just 7% of those above 60. This suggests a declining connection. Yet Israel depends on the billions of dollars it receives annually from the United States in military aid, as well as donations to the arts, academia, and countless other causes. Young American Jews represent the next generation of American support for Israel, so Israel must strengthen its connection to them to secure its future. And the answer can be found in Israel's left.
One reason for this split identity is that for the past decade, Israel has had a right-wing government whose policies are often contrary to the ideology of most American Jews. Furthermore, if 69% of American Jews voted for Barak Obama in 2012, and Netanyahu repeatedly pushes Congress to challenge Obama’s policies, why wouldn’t American Jews question their commitment to Israel?
Another reason for the growing gap is that the bulk of organizations that deal with the American connection to Israel are associated with the American political right. Birthright Israel-Taglit is funded by Sheldon Adelson. Adelson also funds Netanyahu; Israel Hayom, the free daily associated with Netanyahu; and 2012 U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. AIPAC is identified with unremitting support for Israel’s right-wing government. While there are also organizations such as J Street and Jewish Voice for Peace, and American donors behind leftist Israeli campaigns like V15, their presence is minor compared to the right-wing organizations. AIPAC has 50 influential political figures at its helm and a budget of $67 billion. J Street, on the other hand, has a budget of less than $5 million. Adelson has a net worth of $28.6 billion, whereas Daniel Abraham and Daniel Lubetzky, the main donors for the V15 campaign, have a net worth of a few billion dollars. If the dominant figures and organizations on the U.S. pro-Israel scene are associated with the right, little space remains for a pro-Israeli American on the left.
'Black Friday': The day Israel officially adopted its 'anything goes' morality
(
Opinion at Haaretz - Gideon Levy)
“Black Friday” should be considered as such first and foremost because, on that day, Israel Defense Forces soldiers went wild as never before and killed dozens of innocents, perhaps too as never before. IDF sources admitted at the time that “it was the most aggressive Hannibal procedure that the IDF had ever implemented,” referring to the protocol employed when an IDF soldier is believed captured.
According to Palestinian sources, about 150 people were killed on that accursed day, most of them civilians. The IDF admits to killing 41. The soldiers bombarded every car in motion and every building in a number of neighborhoods in Rafah, the most blighted city in the Gaza Strip. August 1, 2014 was indeed a day blacker than black.
That’s how the media works in the service of brainwashing; that’s how the system of dehumanization works, perhaps the most efficient system here. Three soldiers killed – a national event; 150 Palestinians killed – no story there. Their lives and death are nothing. Empty air.
This is also the preparation of hearts and minds – if any is even needed – for the IDF’s new doctrine, implemented in the last war: For the life of one Israeli soldier, the IDF can do anything. One hundred Palestinians dead, or a thousand, perhaps ten thousand – ask the author of the IDF’s updated ethical code, media personality Avri Gilad.
How does Israel's media fight sexual harassment? With racism
(
at +972mag)
Israeli news site Walla! ran an article [Hebrew] on Friday with the following headline: “Palestinians who come to Tel Aviv’s beaches cannot resist the women.” The article describes how Palestinian men from the West Bank take advantage of their entry permits—which are granted with greater ease during the month of Ramadan in order to allow worshippers access to Jerusalem—to enjoy the beaches of Tel Aviv.
“We see this phenomenon every year during Ramadan,” said police investigator Yoni Hirshhorn during a hearing over whether to extend the man’s detention. “The Ramadan tourists who obtain permits to pray take trips to Tel Aviv. They come to the beaches of Tel Aviv and some of them cannot help themselves when they see the women, that’s when we receive reports of sexual harassment and assault.”
While the former is par for the course in the Israeli media, it is the latter conclusion that has gained traction over the last several years, especially with the emergence of the anti-miscegenation group, Lehava, which tries to prevent marriages between Jewish women and Palestinian men, and urges Israeli women to refrain from associating with “non-Jews.” But while the racism of Lehava is out in the open for all to see, Walla tries to pass off its article as “news.” What happens when we can no longer discern between the two?
Hasidic pilgrims and Ukrainian sex workers: Prayer and pleasure in Uman
(
at Haaretz)
Yitzhak, 35, a father of three, first visited Uman three years ago. He prostrated himself at the graveside of Rabbi Nachman, the founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement, for the sake of spiritual enrichment and for the mitzvah, hoping to secure a good living, answers to his problems, and a happy life. “When we finished the evening prayer … my friend suggested we take a walk and get fresh air,” says Yitzhak. “He took me to a neighborhood at the edge of town. We went into one of the houses. I didn’t think about my wife at all and she knows nothing about this. I know about other Hasidim who go to prostitutes in Uman: married, single – Hasidim of all types.”
Last month, Labor Knesset member Merav Michaeli sparked a Facebook storm when she uploaded a video of herself discussing another Knesset member, Likud’s Oren Hazan (who allegedly used hard drugs and coordinated escort services for clients at the casino he managed in Bulgaria before entering politics). In the video, she also mentioned prostitution in Uman. With that, Michaeli touched on a sore point, which the Hasidic pilgrims tend not to discuss.
Poor women in rural Ukraine may have few options other than prostitution, and many wind up in Kiev, which has earned itself the soubriquet of the sex capital of Europe. Some 50,000 women are believed to engage in prostitution in Kiev itself (and one of of every five is believed to be a minor); about 30% of them are believed to be addicts; and 20% to carry AIDS. (In the previous decade, thousands of Ukrainian women seeking a living reached Israel, too).
The Haredi establishment is not unaware of the problems. Some rabbis have actually banned their followers from flying to Uman, lest they fall to temptation to sin, says Cohen of Kikar HaShabbat.
Don't be fooled by our prosperity – Israel is quietly committing suicide
(
Opinion in Haaretz - Ari Shavit)
Why did Zionism emerge? So that there would be one place on Earth in which Jews would not be a minority, but a majority. And so that, due to that majority, the Jews would be able to have what they didn’t have for two thousand years – sovereignty. So that the clear majority would enable the Jewish people to establish an enlightened sovereignty in a democratic context. That’s the whole deal.
It’s for this that we came together here and for this we have sacrificed all that we’ve sacrificed. And because the Zionist idea was a correct one, we succeeded. We have performed a miracle here.
But ever since the cursed summer of 1967, we have been desecrating the miracle we wrought. For 48 years, we have been eroding the Jewish majority and destroying Jewish sovereignty. And that being the case, we are also dismembering this singular Israeli democracy. Quietly, without anyone noticing, we are committing suicide. Another settlement and another settlement and another, until there won’t be a national home to return to. More and more and more settlers, until we will no longer be able to sustain a democratic Jewish state here.
This is a roundup of news related to Palestine with a particular focus on grassroots action and peaceful civil disobedience in the Occupied Territories and within the borders of Israel proper. The goal is to provide a bi-weekly update on the non-violent resistance movement.
Diplomatic negotiations and actions by armed resistance groups are covered quite widely by the mainstream press and in other diaries on DKos so they will rarely be included.
We use the name Filasṭīn, since this is the pronunciation used by Arabic speakers (irrespective of faith) for their homeland. The more familiar Palestine is the Hellenic or Roman variant. Filasṭīn refers to the geographic entity roughly encompassing Israel and Palestine. It is a likely cognate of "Philistine", the name used in the Hebrew bible to describe a rival of the Jewish kingdom of that era.
Prior diaries:
July 5, 2015: Israel losing Democrats, ‘can’t claim bipartisan US support,’ top pollster warns
June 28, 2015: Israel's Deputy Interior Minister: I’ll seek to revoke Arab MKs’ citizenship
June 21, 2015: Prisoner's hunger strike enters 48th day; Vandals torch Church of Loaves and Fish
June 14, 2015: Soldiers remove Palestinians from pool in Area A so Settlers can bathe undisturbed
June 7, 2015: French Telecom Executive’s Remarks on Israel Incite Furor.
May 31, 2015: Online database "exposes" pro-Palestinian college students to "damage their careers".
May 24, 2015: Soldier pays the price for criticizing the Israel army
May 17, 2015: Despite literal "smoking gun", settlers cleared of charges for shooting
May 10, 2015: "Palestinians are beasts, they are not human" - new head of West Bank civil administration
May 3, 2015: 6 year old child arrested in Jerusalem; The Death of Compassion
April 26, 2015: No Arabs Allowed; Christian cemetery vandalized; Annual March of Return
April 19, 2015: Shooting kids in the back, segregating female soldiers, state-sanctioned theft