Posts by Stanley Walinets

‘Don’t ever let the Palestinians feel at ease’

Stanley Walinets — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:48:04 +0000

These are extracts from an article by Ha'aretz journalist Meron Rapoport, in this month's LeMonde Diplomatique (www.mondediplo.com):-
"In testimonies collected and published by the NGO Breaking the Silence, we learn what Israeli soldiers did, and were expected to do, in the West Bank and Gaza in the past decade, to impose the occupation.

“I’ll tell you when I flipped. We were in action in Gaza… We were in a trench and children got closer and threw stones. The orders were that the moment [a Palestinian] can hit you with a stone, he can hit you with a grenade... so I shot him. He was 12, or 15, something like that. I don’t think I killed him. I’m saying that … to sleep better at night. I flipped when … I talked about it with my friends [and] family: I was fucking aiming [a weapon] at someone and I shot him in the leg, in the ass. Everyone was happy, they made me a hero, they announced it in the synagogue. I was in shock”

In his book If This Is a Man, Primo Levi recalls a dream he kept having in Auschwitz.... He was back home, telling his family about the horrors of Auschwitz, but nobody was listening ... This was his nightmare: to tell his story and not be heard, or understood.

Gaza is not Auschwitz, and the Israeli soldiers whose testimonies are collected in "Occupation of the Territories" are not Shoah survivors. Yet they share with Levi the need to tell their stories. Those around them are not interested, they feel threatened by the stories and prefer to ignore them or reinterpret them within their existing ideas of how things work in Gaza, the West Bank, behind the Wall, behind the newly reconstructed checkpoints.....

“What did you want the parents of this soldier to say to him?” said Avihai Stoler, an ex-soldier who helped to collect the testimonies for the book. “‘Don’t worry, kid, you killed a child, so what?’ The parents prefer not to understand his dilemma.”

The book collects testimonies from men and women who have served in the Israeli army in the West Bank and Gaza in the last 10 years. It is the most comprehensive insider account of Israel’s modus operandi in the occupied territories — not the decisions taken in high places, just the everyday reality of Israeli military control over Palestinian homes, fields, roads, property and time, the lives and deaths of inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza.

Some 40—60,000 Israeli conscripts have served in combat units in the last decade.... Seven hundred and fifty of them were interviewed for this book — 1-2%. The sample is far larger than that needed for an opinion poll or an academic study, so it can’t be denied that this is the way things work.

THE 'NORMAL' SOLDIER'
Shovrim Shtika (Breaking the Silence), which collected the testimonies, was founded in 2004 by some Israeli soldiers who had served in or around Hebron and wanted show Israeli society, and the world, what the occupation felt like. At first they tried to publish horror stories: photos of soldiers who cut off the heads of Palestinians killed in battle and stuck them on the barrel of their guns. But later, they understood that cases of extreme cruelty missed the point. “We are not interested in the soldier who abuses an old man at a checkpoint,” explained Michael Menkin, a founder of the group. “We are interested in the soldier who stands beside him, the ‘normal’ soldier.”

Even so, the book chronicles war crimes: a mentally handicapped Palestinian beaten so badly that he bleeds all over; Palestinian passers-by sent to detonate suspected bombs at the top of a minaret because the military robot cannot climb the stairs; the killing of a unarmed Palestinian because he was standing on a rooftop (“Why did I shoot, you ask me today? Just out of pressure. I surrendered to the pressure of the guys,” according to one testimony). There are also the premeditated executions of unarmed Palestinian policemen in revenge for an attack on a checkpoint; the orders from a high-ranking officer on how to deal with a presumed terrorist lying wounded or dead (“YOU APPROACH THE CORPSE, YOU PUT A GUN BARREL BETWEEN ITS TEETH AND SHOOT”); the stealing, looting or destruction of property.

But “this book is not a Tsahal [army] horror show,” said Stoler. “It is the story of a generation, our generation.” In the first 30 years after the 1967 war, much of the debate within Israel centred on the occupation — the need for it, its evils — but in the last 15 years the word has almost disappeared. Israelis will talk about Judea and Samaria, or the West Bank, or just “the territories”, without using the word “occupied”. The word “occupation” became almost taboo, not to be spoken in public. I was working on a television show and one of the guests said that violence in Israeli society was rising “because of the occupation”. My colleagues in the control room were alarmed. They pleaded with me — tell the anchorman to ask the guest to take back the word "occupation". As if it had the power to burn them.

There are several reasons. The terrorist attacks of the second intifada gave the army carte blanche, in the view of the Israeli public, to “prevent terrorism”. The futile “peace process” became background music, and convinced Israelis that there was no rush to solve the conflict; it made them feel the conflict was already solved because the Israelis had already agreed to give up the territories, have a two-state solution and grant self-determination to the Palestinians..... ........... .......

’OUR MISSION WAS TO DISRUPT'
There is a military factor. Since the beginning of the second intifada, and especially since the construction of the Separation Wall, military control over the Palestinians has become more systematic and “scientific”.......
“Our mission was to disrupt and harass the lives of the citizens,” reads one of the testimonies. “This is how our mission was defined, because the terrorists are citizens, and we want to disrupt [their] activity, and the operational way to [do this] is to harass the lives of the citizens. I am sure of this.”
Harassing the locals and disrupting their lives is not just carelessness or abuse but the cornerstone of Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza.

Avihai Stoler, who spent almost three years in the Hebron area, met Israeli soldiers who had detonated explosive devices in the centre of a village “so that they will know we were here”. According to Stoler a “noisy patrol”, “violent patrol”, “manifestation of presence”, “low-key activity”, “Happy Purim”, are all names for a regular type of action: to enter a village or city in force, throw shock grenades, erect makeshift checkpoints, carry out random house searches, remain there for hours or days “to produce a sense of being persecuted, so they will never feel at ease”. Stoler was citing his orders.

Stoler and Avner Gvaryahu served in an elite unit whose activity had been measured (so they were told by a high-ranking officer) by the number of dead terrorists. They are aware that people don’t want to hear what they have to say. Not a single Israeli TV crew came to their book launch, only foreign media. “My father is second generation after the Shoah,” said Gvaryahu; “In his eyes, we are the persecuted.” But both he and Stoler are optimistic; both of them believe that eventually Israeli society will understand what is being done on its behalf and will change, because it is society that needs fixing, not the army. “I was once interviewed by a Colombian journalist,” said Stoler. “She asked me what all the fuss was about: in Colombia soldiers chop off insurgents’ heads on a daily basis and nobody pays attention. But I think Israeli society wants to be moral. This is what drives us forward; without this collective will there is no point in our action. ...... ......."

End of my extracts. Interesting? Sad? Hopeful, that these soldiers have spoken up?

President Gingrich? Wonderful news for Israel - maybe...

Stanley Walinets — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:38:44 +0000

How might the US Presidentials affect Israel? An item just copied to me from the current 'Forward', the Jewish daily paper:-
"Adelson Millions Ensure Gingrich Steers to Far Right on Israel" ( Read on, then rejoice - or despair........

"It is safe to say that without multi-billionaire Sheldon Adelson's help the chances of Newt Gingrich becoming the Republican nominee for president would be zero - and consequently the race itself, going into
Florida at the moment, would not be the competitive, drag-out fight it has become. Adelson, the hotel and casino magnate, has kept Gingrich alive, first through an infusion of $5 million into a super PAC, which
allowed the former speaker to defend himself against attacks by Mitt Romney and led to Gingrich's thumping victory in South Carolina. And now we know that Adelson's wife, Miriam, has committed another $5 million to
the cause of Newt.

One of Adelson's passions - and a reason for his desire to play such a big role in American politics - is undoubtedly Israel. And his positions are unambiguously right-wing and hawkish to the extreme. When it comes
to the Palestinians, there is no one to be trusted. The New Yorker quotes him as calling Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister widely respected in the West, as being one of the "terrorists" running the Palestinian Authoriy. Even AIPAC was not far enough to the right for him. After being a diehard supporter - funding a new building in Washington, D.C. - he split with the group in 2007 when it decided to support a congressional initiative, backed by the Israelis, to increase economic aid to the Palestinians. "I don't continue to support organizations that help friends committing suicide just because they want to jump," he said at the time by way of explanation. He had the same reaction when Ehud Olmert, whom Adelson had once befriended, came to the conclusion that he had to pursue negotiations with the Palestinian leadership.

In short, Adelson does not believe in the two-state solution. As he told The Jewish Week last year, "The two-state solution is a stepping stone for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people."

What does it mean to have someone with these views have such an outsized influence on a candidate and the race he is in? Well, for Gingrich it seems this has translated into him tripping over himself to prove his
pro-Israel bona fides, to the point where he was willing to say, this past December in an interview with the Jewish Channel, that the Palestinians were an "invented" people who "had the chance to go many places". No Palestinians, no need to negotiate a state. And Adelson clearly showed his satisfaction with Gingrich's line. As he told a group of Birthright participants at a Hanukkah party a few weeks later, "Read the history of those who call themselves Palestinians, and you will hear why Gingrich said recently that the Palestinians are an invented people."

As Wayne Barrett recently reported in The Daily Beast, there has been a marked turn in Gingrich's positions on Israel since his political life began depending on Adelson. Not that long ago, in a 2005 Middle East Quarterly article, Gingrich urged the "Palestinian diaspora" to invest in "their ancestral lands," and even proposed that Congress "establish a program of economic aid for the Palestinians to match the aid the U.S. government provides Israel."

You will not hear anything like this from Gingrich again any time soon.

But the greater concern is that because of his influence on Gingrich, Adelson has turned the Republican contest into a competition of extreme rhetoric, in which there is no room for compromise or diplomacy, and the
only answer to any international problem is unmitigated toughness. No one wants to be outflanked by the right when it comes to foreign policy (no one, I should say, besides Ron Paul) and so Gingrich's apparent parroting of Adelson's hardline attitudes about Israel - and, I should add, Iran - means that the whole tone of the race is affected......"

Certainly makes you despair at the nature of our democracies, that the elections of our Governments are really decided by the millionaires who happen to back them. We the people elect our Governments.... ho ho ho...

ICAHD Peace Center 'Beit Arabiya' Demolished for the Fifth Time

Stanley Walinets — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:05:21 +0000

Interested, anyone? News just received from ICAHD-UK (The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions)

Israeli authorities demolished Beit Arabiya (“Arabiya’s House”) last night (Monday, January 23rd) for the fifth time, along with structures in the East Anata Bedouin compound. Beit Arabiya, Located in the West Bank town of Anata (Area C) just to the northeast of Jerusalem, is a living symbol of resistance to Occupation and the desire for justice and peace.

As its name suggests, Beit Arabiya is a home belonging to Arabiya Shawamreh, her husband Salim and their seven children, a Palestinian family whose home has been demolished four times by the Israeli authorities and rebuilt each time by ICAHD's Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists, before being demolished again last night.

At around 11p.m. Monday, a bulldozer accompanied by a contingent of heavily armed Israeli soldiers appeared on the Anata hills, to promptly demolish Beit Arabiya, along with residential and agricultural structures in the nearby Arab al-Jahalin Bedouin compound. 3 family homes were demolished along with numerous animal pans, and 20 people including young children were displaced, left exposed to the harsh desert environment. While standing in solidarity with Palestinians, ICAHD staff and activists were repeatedly threatened by Israeli soldieries. ICAHD Co-Director Itay Epshtain was beaten and sustained minor injuries.

Beit Arabiya was issued a demolition order by Israeli authorities back in 1994, following their failure to grant a building permit. It has since been demolished four times, to be rebuilt by ICAHD activists. Following a reissue of the demolition order last Thursday, came last night's fifth demolition. ICAHD Director, Dr. Jeff Halper, standing astride the ruins, vowed to support Salim and Arabiya in rebuilding their home. "We shall rebuild, we must rebuild forthwith, as an act of political defiance of the occupation and protracted oppression of Palestinians" said Halper.

If anyone wants more info, I'm sure ICAHD will be glad to hear from you - website: http://www.icahduk.org

Another new message - should we be ashamed of this then?

Stanley Walinets — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:25:45 +0000

I was criticised for my previous posting - it was suggested that since it consisted of a statement by a Palestinian, it was suspect - indeed, that I'd 'concocted' it myself. So here's a similar experience we should make ourselves aware of, but this one comes from a young Israeli Jew. Please read on, with an open mind:

Dear Stanley,

My name is Tom Pessah. I'm an Israeli sociology student. I study in the U.S., but right now I’m back home in Israel for my research.

I’m also an activist, which is how I came to know and love Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

Here’s the truth. It’s hard for me, and for so many of my Israeli and Palestinian friends and allies, to stay hopeful. The obstacles to peace in our homeland seem huge. But I’ll tell you where we get our inspiration when we really need it: Jewish Voice for Peace.

You see, like many, I’ve come to believe the only way we can ever end all of this suffering is through a massive, united, Arab-Jewish movement for a just peace. The alternative is to let the pro-occupation, pro-war forces divide us.
.................. ........... ...........

Some of the reasons that I support JVP:
They powerfully stood (and continue to stand) against the persecution of Muslim UC Irvine students who protested against the Israeli ambassador for being complicit in the attack on Gaza.

They were able to provide massive support for the Palestinian-led effort to desegregate buses in the West Bank. I know how important this campaign has been to my Palestinian friends.

And they gave immense backing to the beautiful multi-ethnic coalition that formed in my school, UC Berkeley, to demand divestment from American arms manufacturers accused of war crimes in Palestine.
....... ................ ......... ..........
And if what I’ve said so far hasn’t moved you .... .... I hope the excerpt below will. It’s from a letter I just sent to a Jewish-American academic, about an aspect of life in Israel not even many Israeli Jews know about. And it illustrates exactly why the JVP way of joining together with Palestinian and Arab allies is the only way.

Dear Professor,

I'm Jewish and I didn't grow up with Palestinian Arabs, even though they are 20% of the population here, because the country is so highly segregated. In Tel Aviv, I lived for twenty years without even knowing one person who had Arab friends—not schoolmates, not romantic partners, not comrades in youth movements.

Apart from the servers in cheap cafes, or strangers in Jaffa, most of the Arabs I saw were on TV. I only made some good Arab friends when I was in university, when we are finally 'allowed' to mix. I want to share what they told me about what the Jewish state is like for them. The names are fictitious, but the people are real.

I went to visit my friend Maha in Haifa a few weeks ago. We were driving and she opened the window to ask another driver some directions, in Arabic. I asked how she knew he was a Palestinian citizen of Israel, because despite growing up in Israel I can't physically distinguish most Arabs from Mizrachim (Jews of Middle Eastern descent), unless they are wearing some distinctive clothing.

She said it isn't in the physical features but in the body language: Palestinian citizens of Israel can often recognize each other through their behavior, which essentially boils down to fearfulness and discomfort.

She can see it in the face of a driver in a car on the other side of the road. Fear of politicians that constantly threaten to transfer them out of their homes, just like the government is currently displacing thousands of Bedouins in the Negev.

Or fear of protesting, or saying too much on the phone and being invited to a "friendly conversation", because the Shabak (security service) may be listening.

Maha tried to find an apartment in Tel Aviv for several months, sleeping on friends' couches. It took many weeks until they found a landlord willing to rent to an Arab—then she was fired from her job as a waitress because she talked in Arabic to the cook in the kitchen.

A couple of weeks later I visited another friend, Amal, who lives in Nazareth. She took me past the local courthouse, which for her is the place from which sharpshooters aimed at unarmed Arab protesters in 2000, when the state killed 13 of its own citizens.

She refers to Nazareth as "the ghetto", where Arabs are forced to buy flats at prohibitive prices because so much of the land around the city has been expropriated to create neighborhoods primarily meant for Jews.

Though there are open letters circulating against renting apartments to Arabs, she managed to find a house in one of those neighborhoods, with only one other Arab family in the area. Her husband is worried that they won't be able to pay the mortgage if someone burns down their house.

Professor, I'm Jewish, and I don't want to live in a state where so many people are fearful and discriminated against. I don’t want to live in a state that oppresses its Palestinian citizens in exactly the ways we were oppressed in other countries.

I don't want them to feel out of place in their own country. We Jews have legitimate concerns, Israel should stay as a haven for Jews who are persecuted, but keeping it as a Jewish state in the form it is now is just incredibly cruel.

If you don't speak up loudly and clearly and consistently about this oppression, and if you don't say a word about the refugees, who are the relatives of Maha, and Amal and would like to be able to live close to them—just as my British relatives could come to Tel Aviv and live with me—you don't enable a joint Jewish-Arab movement to develop. You don’t ally yourself with kind, generous and conscientious people like them, the best friends and fellow citizens anyone could wish for.
_____________________________________________________________________

End of Tom Pessah's message. Comment, anyone?

Message just received.Should we be ashamed of this?

Stanley Walinets — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:37:10 +0000

Here's a message just received. I look forward to the heated responses to come, which will doubtless scream at me as a 'delegitimiser', at the Israeli demonstrators involved who are also self-delegitisers, will tell me how many other nations all do much worse, how we should rejoice because Israel is a true democracy, etc etc etc.

Dear Stanley,

I have just been released from jail, after three days inside. I was arrested last Friday, together with 22 others, in the village of Nabi Saleh, during a demonstration commemorating the murder of Mustafa Tamimi. Our arrest took place as we peacefully protested near the entrance to the Jewish-only settlement of Halamish, which is built on lands stolen from Nabi Saleh.

Minutes after we got to the gate, Israeli Border Police officers moved in to remove us from the scene. Palestinians, Israeli and international activists, we were all shackled and dragged away into military jeeps that transported us to the adjacent military base, which is in fact part of the settlement.

In the military base, still shackled, I was assaulted by a settler who hit me in the face, leaving me with a bloody nose. Shortly after, the settler also attacked a female Israeli activist who was by my side. The soldiers and policemen present did not prevent the attack, nor did they bother to detain the settler after the fact. Instead, the zip-tie locks on my hands were removed, only for my arms to be bound again, this time behind my back.

Hours later, at the police station, I learned that to cover up their responsibility for my attack, the soldiers have laid a bogus complaint against me for assaulting them. My hands were tied, my face was bleeding, but it was I who spent the night in the inside of prison cell.

Mohammed Tamimi from Nabi Saleh was also arrested during that same demonstration. While the police decided to release all the others, he and I were to remain in jail. During our demonstrations, soldiers often take pictures, to later use them as "incriminating evidence". This time, the soldiers used one such picture to accuse Mohammed of throwing stones during a demonstration a few weeks or months back. The man pictured in that photograph is not Mohammed Tamimi from Nabi Saleh, regardless, he remains in jail. Military law allows Israel to keep us Palestinians in jail for eight days before seeing a judge, and even then, it is a soldier in uniform who is the so called neutral arbitrator.

As the prison doors closed behind me, my happiness was clouded by the fact that Mohammed Tamimi was not released. The battle for his freedom is only beginning, as our lawyers prepare the petition for his release. If you can, please help us fund legal aid for him and for the countless others who are regularly arrested protesting Israeli Occupation.

I would also like to use this letter to extend my gratitude to Ayala Shani, an Israeli comrade who was arrested with me. She refused the injustice of being released while both me and Mohammed Tamimi were still detained. As these words are written, she is still in jail, despite having been offered her freedom twice already by Israeli courts.

Sincerely,
Mohammed Khatib

(Mohammed Khatib is a protest organizer from the village of Bil'in, was arrested during a demonstration in memory of the killing of Mustafa Tamimi. Mustafa was murdered by a soldier who shot a single tear-gas projectile at him from only a few meters away while standing safely within an armoured military jeep.

The demonstration Khatib was arrested in, together with 22 others - Palestinians, Israelis and internationals - was the first to take place after the shooting. The Israeli army, unaccountable and unaffected, supressed this demonstration too, barraging the protesters with tear-gas and making arrests.

Conservative MEP Rt.Hon. Sir Robert Atkins, visits Gaza

Stanley Walinets — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 03:37:26 +0000

November 24, 2011: Report by MEC Business Intelligence Consultants (www.meconsult.co.uk) of a visit to Gaza three weeks ago, published on the Conservative Middle East Council website. Sir Robert Atkins is a Conservative member of the European Parliament and former minister.

Yet again, Israel refused us access via its crossing-point so we arrived (and returned) via the Rafah Crossing in Egypt. This necessitates an arduous 6-hour coach journey and is an unbelievably slow and overly-bureaucratic procedure. It took us three hours to clear all the paperwork, etc. from Egypt but only 10 minutes into Gaza! There was some doubt initially as to whether we could enter Gaza because of the IDF bombing which had occurred two days previously (October 27th/28th) but the ceasefire held and we were able to cross.

UNRWA- United Nations Relief and Works Agency
The two Deputy Directors told us that much had got worse since our previous visit, with the exception of partial reconstruction. There was restoration and rebuilding happening in the private sector, which we witnessed, largely as a result of the necessary materiel coming in through the tunnels. But the built environment is still badly damaged and rubble and detritus abounds everywhere.
The irony is that UNRWA has to import all its materiel for schools, housing, hospitals etc. – with the attendant bureaucratic delays, inordinate paperwork and extra cost (15 percent more) – from Israel. Additionally, all projects, design, timescale, materiel etc. have to be cleared with Israel, including details about drivers, vehicles, numberplates, mobile phones etc. Unavoidable vehicle or driver problems cause lengthy Israeli delays. For example, there is an urgent need for at least 10,000 new houses for Gazans displaced by IDF incursions and very little expectation that the construction will be allowed by Israel any time soon.
The Agency, understandably, has to use official channels and cannot use ‘tunnel’ products. Consequently, UNRWA (i.e. the world’s taxpayers) is penalised by Israel but HAMAS benefits from its taxation of the hugely-increased flow of ‘exports’ coming through the tunnels which are both quicker and cheaper.

CROSSINGS
Effectively, all the crossings except Kerem Shalom are closed and ‘exports’ to the West Bank ceased in May of this year. This means that about 60 percent of Gaza-based trade is removed from the businesses struggling to survive.
Israel has banned the transfer of money from Gaza to Israeli bank accounts so that there is a real shortage of cash in the Strip. Accordingly, banknotes have to be smuggled in by any and various vehicles or using dubious middlemen. Hardly conducive to legitimate trading! Not content with that petty restriction, Israel has now banned electronic transfers between banks in the West Bank and Gaza or Israel and even between company offices. This has the effect of preventing Gazan businessmen from purchasing in Israel, a further unjustified interference by Israeli authorities. Apparently, even President Obama and Hilary Clinton have remonstrated with Netanyahu about this but, after a token cessation, the process has been reinstated.

FISHING
There are some 3,000 fishermen in Gaza and they are restricted by the IDF from operating beyond 3 nautical miles offshore. That means limited catches of under-sized fish from the most polluted part of the Mediterranean. Now they even have to resort to attempting to fish from the beach.

FOOD
As I indicated in my last report, some 600,000 are fed daily by UNRWA of which about 300,000 are in abject poverty. In 2001, 10 percent of the population was reliant on food aid, it is now 60 percent.
The already paltry rations provided by UNRWA are to be halved from January 2012. It will mean also that half the refugee population in Gaza will be without any food in 2012 (1.1 million refugees in a population of 1.54 million). The blockade adds at least $3 million to UNRWA’s annual costs.

UNEMPLOYMENT
75 percent amongst 17-25 year olds and about 45 percent amongst the adult population. The UNRWA Job Creation Programme has been cut by 30 percent, with more in the pipeline. That has resulted in JCP options in agriculture, fishing, health and rubbish disposal all being stopped.

EDUCATION (1)
DFID funds a number of educational projects and is well-regarded. However 12 schools are planned, costing £20 million of UK taxpayers’ money, and UNRWA is wholly unsighted on start dates and materiel imports, which, as usual, are dependent on sanction by Israeli authorities. We were told that UNRWA tries to ‘front-load’ the import of necessary construction supplies so that there are not delays but, invariably, Israel finds some excuse to hold up an important component just at the key moment.
And it is still the case that 100 schools are needed urgently to provide for an increasing child population and, to date, only 12 have been built. All the three schools that we visited were using ships’ cargo containers as classrooms to provide extra teaching space and you can imagine the heat in high summer.

EDUCATION (2)
We visited two universities and had the chance to hear some students talk about their hopes, fears and reactions. All were high articulate – in fluent English – very bright and in despair about their futures. Freedom of movement is restricted by Israel so that foreign university placements are out of the question. Unemployment is 75 percent of the graduate age group.
Cultural and religious pressures make career options for girls very difficult, even supposing there were jobs available for them. Sadly, they did not think that they could change attitudes and simply wanted to get out of Gaza at all costs.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Gaza is knee-deep in rubbish, from building rubble to plastic bottles. Some enterprising people set up a scheme to re-cycle the plastic, paper etc. but, as soon as it became a successful operation, Israel stopped taking the processed waste – for ‘security reasons’ – the constant undefined excuse for cessation. As mentioned earlier, the UNRWA waste and litter removal has been stopped for lack of funds.
Potable water and sewage treatment remain huge problems. 95 percent of water is of wholly unacceptable quality, high in nitrates and salt, the only aquifer that supplies Gaza is severely contaminated – and getting worse! – and the costs of treating it grow daily. The situation is exacerbated unfairly by the fact that for every 80 gallons used by Palestinians, 300 gallons are taken by Israelis. New retrieval, desalination and treatment facilities are needed desperately but all is constantly delayed by the Israeli blockade.
Up until 2007, there was a lagoon of raw untreated sewage some 30 million litres in size which needed disposal. Only after a serious flooding accident to an adjacent village, causing 30+ deaths and the ruin of hundreds of houses, did Israel allow the necessary equipment through to resolve the problem. Eventual remedial work, however, was destroyed by the IDF in 2008 and they have only just completed the rebuilding. Unsurprisingly, Gazans fear that Israel will damage it again, given any excuse to do so. 80,000 litres of raw sewage are discharged daily into the Mediterranean.

NGOs
We had discussions with various representatives of local and international NGOs, such as Oxfam, Save the Children and the like. The latter were largely foreign managers, the former local residents. They represented most that is good and humanitarian in Gaza and they were more sad than angry at current events. Clearly, they are frustrated by Israel’s constant determination to maintain the blockade and to make life impossible for Gazans. But, like the students, they were as critical of the West for expressing support for Palestine but always deferring to the USA when it comes to the crunch. UNESCO membership is a case in point.
People simply do not understand how Palestine’s long-overdue bid for statehood, beginning with a huge supportive vote for UNESCO, can provoke the hypocritical response from Western States that it does. I had no answer as to why the UK abstained and France voted in favour. I still don’t.

BUSINESS
We had a very productive and informative dinner with six prominent businessmen. All were Gaza-born, although one was also a UK citizen and another US. They were at the end of their tether over the Israeli blockade. The CEO of Pepsi-Cola told us that he had lost 50 percent of his trade with the West Bank.
They suggested that Israel was trying to force Gaza into Egypt’s sphere of influence, something deeply opposed by locals, as their historic and ethnic links are with the West Bank and Jerusalem. As one put it, ‘If Israel really wants peaceful co-existence with its neighbours, it must stop the blockade and do business with us all – politically as well as economically. Everyone assumes – wrongly – that Palestinians want rid of Israel when actually it is Israel that wants rid of Palestine.’
They were also of the view – shared by me – that the prisoner deal with HAMAS was deliberately designed by the Israeli Government to cause maximum embarrassment to FATAH following President Abbas’s triumph at the UN.

PRISONERS
We met about a dozen of the newly-released prisoners. There are still 5000 in Israeli gaols. This was a very tense meeting, with at least one participant carrying a loaded pistol! Most of them had been in gaol for terms varying between 20-30 years – a lifetime sentence. Of course, they are no angels and I pressed them for details of their offences which were described as ‘heroic actions against the enemy’ i.e. violence, murder and destruction of property.
However, their treatment, before trial and during their imprisonment, appears to me to be disgraceful and well outside the Geneva Convention. Severe torture during interrogation, dubious evidence and representation at their trials, regular violence against them in prison, sleep deprivation, hot/cold rooms, head-bagging, lack of proper medical care and refusal to allow family contact were some of the charges laid against their Israeli custodians. Torture until death during interrogation apparently is acceptable to Israeli courts. And a sinister unit called METZAR(?) regularly takes over sections of a gaol for up to 12 hours at a time to implement unrecorded beatings and other violent procedures. As to their veracity, I am not in a position to judge, but if there is a scintilla of truth in the prisoner allegations, they must be investigated and relayed to the international community. Only in that way can the truth be established and if necessary, legal action taken against the perpetrators.

PALESTINE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
The chief objective of our delegation was a visit to and detailed exchange of views with members of the plc. This was at the Parliament’s Headquarters and comprised representatives of all the political parties. As before, I felt that the HAMAS MPs were much more far-sighted than FATAH which, in Gaza, is in a minority.
The various party spokesmen, and their supporters were highly critical of the failure of Western Governments and EU Member States to take action against Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza, its continuing contraventions of UN Resolutions, its treatment of Palestinian prisoners and the wholly illegal construction of new settlements.
They fail to comprehend how other aspirant states in the world can have their causes supported but, because of some countries’ collective guilt over Israel, fear of or support for the USA or sheer refusal to acknowledge Israel’s intransigence over peace negotiations, Palestine is always the guilty party and forgotten or ignored.

SUMMARY
1. The blockade is illegal, inhuman and designed to bleed the life out of Gaza. It must be lifted.
2. Israel, the USA, the ineffective Quartet and EU must include HAMAS in any negotiations. They are too influential and powerful to ignore and they are not going away.
3. Even in this most difficult economic climate, UNRWA funding for the poorest, sickest and most-deprived citizens of Gaza must be restored or alternatives found. Otherwise people will starve next year, children will not be educated and violent unrest, inevitably, will ensue.
4. Pressure must be exerted on Israel and her diaspora to realise that what they are doing in Palestine generally, and Gaza specifically, is not only illegal under international law but is also inhumane. It is reminiscent of the treatment experienced by Jews in Europe during parts of the last century.
5. There is incomprehension and dismay at the continual failure by Western nations to support Palestine in its campaign for nationhood, exacerbated by the complete refusal of Israel, supported by the US Congress, to negotiate on equal terms or to cease the construction of new settlements on Palestinian land.

THE CORE QUESTION IS REALLY QUITE SIMPLE
How much longer can Israel continue to get away with it? Given her reliance on a fickle and uncritical US Administration and the purblind support of the US Congress, when will anyone stand up to her? With our historic and economic links to Palestine and the Arab world, and our traditions of justice and fair play, why does Britain not take up the challenge? Given a proper lead, most of Europe would follow and it would begin to resolve this intractable issue once and for all.

www.meconsult.co.uk
Registered in England No. 3212282,
Reg Office: 25 Harley St, London W1N 2BR

Law of Return

Stanley Walinets — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 11:15:42 +0100

Extract from a JC news item, Sep 30th:

"21,300 people moved to Israel last year under the Law of Return, compared to around 17,900 the previous year. They came from places as far flung as Hong Kong, Honduras, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Monaco, Suriname,China, Angola, the Philipines, Thailand, Japan, Malta, Congo, South Korea and Nicaragua ... including a "10% jump in immigration from North America".

Return? RETURN? All those individuals were actually returning to a country they used to live in? Well now, what a wonderful law that Law of Return must be. It must clearly mean that all those Palestinians who used to live there, and whose families had lived there for generations, are also entitled to return to this land they used to live in. What an honourable law - well done, Israel!

Or have I misunderstood something?

A Palestinian State?

Stanley Walinets — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:50:14 +0100

I've just received this Cecilie Surasky of the US organisation Jewish Voice for Peace. It's worth reading.

"Forty-one.
That’s the number of times the United States has used its veto in the United Nations Security Council to block efforts to secure Palestinian rights over the last 40 years.

Now the United States and Israel want the Palestinian Authority (PA) to drop its bid for recognition at the United Nations —and if the vote goes to the United Nations Security Council as soon as next week, we think the U.S. might make that veto forty-two.

That’s just plain wrong.

Please tell your friends to join 20,000 others in telling U.S. Hillary Clinton and UN Ambassador Susan Rice that the U.S. must NOT veto yet another push for Palestinian rights.

To be sure, the Palestinian Authority bid for UN recognition is complicated. Israel and the United States- and their Jewish institutional backers—say they are opposed because such a move would be "unilateral". But what is more unilateral than a 44-year-long military occupation of another people? And what forum more multilateral than the United Nations?

Israel and the United States also say the Palestinians should return, instead, to the peace process. But the so-called “peace process” has meant several decades of expanding settlements and illegally confiscated land.

That said, and despite the emptiness of Israeli and U.S. rhetoric, there are real criticisms of the PA’s effort. Palestinian leaders and civil society organizations have raised a number of concerns ranging from questions about the Palestinian Authority itself to the possible negative significance of the UN vote for refugee rights.

As a Jewish-American organization, we know that Palestinians will be the ones who have to figure out their most effective strategies.

But we also know we need to continue to speak out for one thing everyone agrees upon:
stopping the United States from continuing to play an obstructive role in securing a lasting and just peace.

No matter what happens, the significance of the vote will be dwarfed by what happens the next day. There will still be an occupation. There will still be refugees. There will still be no Palestinian state.

But there will be an extraordinary nonviolent people’s movement in Palestine, in Israel, in the United States, everywhere in the world—and we should use the moment to escalate our demands for justice, fairness, and a future for ALL people in the region.

Our Palestinian and peace-loving Israeli allies on the ground will need our support more than ever—and we’ll be ready to provide it.

But for today, let's send the United States a message. The world is watching. USA? What side are you on?

****(There's a 'click here' line in the email for signing a petition if you want to but I'm not computer-clever enough to reproduce it here! I can forward the full email to you if you want - email me on stan.walinets246@btinternet.com)

How to make friends and influence protesters

Stanley Walinets — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:33:42 +0100

I've just received this from the American "Popular Struggle Coordinating Committee". Interesting?
(If you'd like to make a donation, let me know and I'll give you their web address)

Ibrahim Srour, a resident of Nil'in, has been imprisoned by Israel for nearly two years for participating in local protests. He will be released from prison on October 2nd, if the immense 12,000 NIS ($3,250) fine placed by a military court judge is raised in time.

Ibrahim Srour, 20, was arrested on January 7th, 2010, during a nighttime raid on his village, Ni'ilin. The soldiers who snatched him from his bed at gunpoint had been sent to arrest him for his participation in demonstrations held in protest of the construction of the Wall and the theft of some 30% of Ni'ilin's lands. Protests, in which five unarmed protesters, including a 10 year-old boy, were killed by the Israeli army.

Prior to his arrest, Ibrahim was the main breadwinner to a large and poor family, including a sick father. Based on flimsy evidence, he was eventually sentenced by a military tribunal to twenty months in prison and a $3,250 fine. Ibrahim's family cannot afford to pay the fine. Please help us raise the money to secure his release.

Ibrahim was arrested and charged based on statements drawn from a mentally challenged youth from the village. These coerced statements were used against not only Ibrahim, but dozens of Ni'ilin's protestors. The statements themselves and the man who gave them were so unreliable, that even a military judge was forced to disqualify them and acquit a defendant in another case.

The practice of pressuring weak individuals into making incriminating statements in order to put protesters and protest leaders behind bars is in common use by the Israeli army, as in the case of Nabi Salah, where the coerced confession of a 14 year-old boy during an unlawful interrogation brought about the arrest of more than 20 people.

Minister for Overseas Development Alan Duncan's video

Stanley Walinets — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:25:23 +0100

The JC Letters page printed on Aug 26 a letter from me supporting the Alan Duncan video. Andrew Balcombe of British Israel Group responded to it the following week, Sep 2nd. I then wrote responding to Mr Balcombe's objections but the Letters page hasn't printed it - no doubt due to space demands.
I think my response to him was valid however, so I'm printing it here on my blog-site. I trust it will be of interest. My letter sent Sep 4th is as follows:-

Dear JC,

I appreciate Andrew Balcombe's response (JC Sep 2nd) to my letter re Alan Duncan's 'Land Grab' video. May I comment?

(1) Mr Balcombe says the security barrier is merely for defence, the legal status of the land it covers still being negotiable. If I built a ten metre high wall inside Mr Balcombe's garden, cutting off access to his gate and requiring him to tramp several miles to reach his farm land, and his children to get to their schools, and perhaps making him wait hours at checkpoints before my security staff let him through; would he then feel OK with my assurance that my 'fence' on his land remains negotiable? (and 'negotiable' only provided he'd let my settlers remain on his land?).

(2) Mr Balcombe says Duncan's 'open land', i.e., the West Bank, "never belonged to an entity called Palestine". He also says (4) "There has never been a state of Palestine". I've known some of our brethren use that 'fact' to assert that Palestinian people don't exist either, so have no rights. However, before 1948 there was certainly no land internationally recognised as 'Israel', yet we don't pretend that we too never existed.

3) Mr Balcombe accuses Mr Duncan of dishonesty, regarding water sharing between Israeli and the West Bank inhabitants. Here are some facts. (Source the US website "What every American needs to know about Israel/Palestine", echoed in the Israeli B'Tselem website "Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories").
a) Israel consumes the majority of water from the Jordan River, despite only 3% of that river falling within Israel's pre-1967 borders.
b) Of the water available from West Bank aquifers, Israel uses 73%, illegal settlers use 10%, and West Bank Palestinians use17%.
c) When supplies of water are low in summer, the Israeli water company Mekorot closes the valves which supply Palestinian towns and villages, so as not to affect Israeli supplies. This means that settlers can have their swimming pools topped up and lawns watered while Palestinians living next to them, on whose land the settlements are situated, do not have enough water for drinking and cooking.
d) Around 50 groundwater wells, over 200 cisterns, and 35,000 meters of water pipes have been destroyed or isolated from their West Bank owners, in the building of the Security Wall.

I do feel Mr Balcombe is skilled in legalist presentation but perhaps economical with the truth. It is more in our interests to consider uncomfortable revelations such as Minister Duncan's, than to simply ignore them in anger.

Your's sincerely,
Stanley Walinets

"The Jews in secret Nazi reports on popular opinion in Germany, 1933-45"

Stanley Walinets — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:12:21 +0100

David Cesarani reviewed this recently discovered book in the July 9th JC. His final sentence in his review was especially compelling.
The SD (the Nazi Security Service) recorded various reports during the final deportations. Among reports it received were also reports that "...among people who have been bombed out you can hear statements saying that if we had not treated the Jews so badly, we would not have suffered so much from terror attacks".

Try placing the word 'Palestinians' in that sentence instead of the word 'Jews'. I suggest we might one day hear that very statement from Israeli citizens, and even from those of us who maintain that Israel can do no wrong and must never be criticised. Are we intelligent enough to heed such a lesson?

How to make friends and influence people, IDF style...

Stanley Walinets — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:30:22 +0100

Here's an interesting Press release I received yesterday. Comments, anyone?

"From The Freedom Theatre Foundation, Jenin, Palestine
04.46 (gmt+2), July 27, 2011

Special Forces of the Israeli Army attacked the Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp at approximately 03:30 this morning. Ahmad Nasser Matahen, a night guard and technician student at the theatre woke up by heavy blocks of stone being hurled at the entrance of the theatre. As he opened the door he found masked and heavily armed Israeli Special Forces around the theatre.

Ahmed says that the army threw heavy blocks of stone at the theatre, “they told me to open the door to the theatre. They told me to raise my hands an forced me to take my pants down. I thought my time had come, that they would kill me. My brother that was with me was handcuffed. “

The location manager of The Freedom Theatre, Adnan Naghnaghiye was arrested and taken away to an unknown location together with Bilal Saadi a member of the board of The Freedom Theatre. When the general manager of the theatre Jacob Gough, from the UK, and the co--‐founder of the theatre Jonatan Stanczak, from Sweden, arrived to the scene they were forced to squat next to a family with four small children surrounded by about 50 heavily armed Israeli soldiers.

Jonatan says: “Whenever we tried to tell them that they are attacking a cultural venue and arresting members of the theatre we were told to shut up and they threatened to kick us, I tried to contact the civil administration of the army to clarify the matter but the person in charge hung up on me. “

For more information please contact:
Jacob Gough at +972 (0)59 534 83 91
Jonatan Stanczak at +972 (0)54 391 57 08

Email:
jonatan.stanczak@gmail.com
jacob

A Housing Policy we can be proud of?

Stanley Walinets — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 12:17:40 +0100

Israel's Government expects Diaspora support, calls us 'delegitimisers' if we disagree with its policies. But I have to say I don't feel happy that this sort of thing is being done in my name. How do others feel? Read this,
just received from http://www.neontommy.com/news/2011/04/arab-israel-two-stories-lod, a University of Southern California website. Check the site for photographs....

"A Home, Demolished, in Israel"

LOD, ISRAEL -- When a Palestinian house is demolished, the bill is sent to the family whose home was turned to rubble. The only problem is, there's no longer any address to which that letter can be sent.

Hani Khawaja, 54, a lifelong resident of the Arab neighborhood in Lod — just outside of Tel Aviv — received such a bill after his house was recently bulldozed.

His story was told via the help of translator and guide Khalil Aby Shehadi, who lives in the same Arab neighborhood in Lod that is known as the "Railway Station Neighborhood" because the train tracks run adjacent to the corrugated iron homes.

"To demolish a house, it costs a lot of money. It's about half a million shekels, that's about $150,000. When they come, they bring the police with them. They close the two entrances to the neighborhood," said Shehadi. "We can't go to school, we can't go to the hospital, we can't go anywhere. At 4:30 in the morning, they closed the neighborhood. They put police everywhere, on horses, on cars, on foot. And helicopters. There were 250 policemen."

The helicopter cost 1,000 shekels per half hour. Cleaning the rubble costs another 70,000 shekels.

"They – he and his small children, tried to take everything out of their house. They took them out by force," continued Shehadi. "They destroyed the house with everything in it. Schoolbags, books, everything! Refrigerator, everything! Everything, yes."

Khawaja's blacksmith salary of $1200 a month leaves him unable to pay for the razing of his house. And so he doesn't pay. He won't pay. Somewhere in the Israeli administrative system, Khawaja is slowly racking up fees and travel restrictions.

He is not alone. There are 1400 other demolition orders in his neighborhood."

Walinets - Apologies - Accident

Stanley Walinets — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:18:00 +0000

Dear Friends - a quick note - my apologies for non-contact over recent weeks - I had an accident on my motorcycle on Feb 17th and have been in hospital since then, fractures etc.... Came home this week but am now wheelchair-bound for 6 weeks or so, till everythings mended. Can at least reach my screen now, so hope to contribute to debates again.
Regards,
Stan Walinets

‘Cast Dread’ – Secret record just released by Al Lukheer, previously unknown Mid-East TV channel

Stanley Walinets — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 17:01:10 +0000

Explanatory Comment. These notes, code-named ‘Cast Dread’, are the secret record of a political Party meeting which took place in late 2008. All names have been disguised to prevent identification. The notes are prefaced by an anonymous reporter, who for unknown reasons records the meeting in present tense:-

Funny things, elections, aren’t they? I mean, take US Presidentials. The US procedure, roughly, is that each candidate spends huge amounts of money, the aim being that the one who spends most, wins. Doesn’t always work, but that’s their system and that’s the way they run it.
Another Election process is underway now, in a Middle East state. This state has many close kinfolk all around the world. So let’s call this country the State of Usrael. It’s December 2008, the Nation will vote next February. Election customs and practices are different in Usrael of course. But the various Parties fight for victory as eagerly as in any other country, using the Usraeli rules. These rules are, that each Party has to be seen as the strongest. Strength is the currency. All the Parties compete to show they’ve got the most.

So how’s it going? The current ruling Party, CODIMAH, decides, after several months of meticulous PR planning, to show just how strong it will be if re-elected. It terminates a truce which, everyone agrees, the neighbouring government of GEEZA has maintained for far too long. It does so by quietly sending a crack mission to eliminate six or seven Geezas. Its clever calculation provokes retaliatory rockets from the Geezas. Then, free to display righteous fury, it sends Usrael's fighter planes flashing across the skies in SELF-DEFENCE.

Does this impressive display of electoral strength impress LIKHED, the main opposition Party? No way! Party Leader Nutiyahoo shouts to the electorate “No! You must vote for us! Look – all Codimah promise is they’ll silence the Enemy’s rockets. Then they’ll leave ’em alone. Leave ’em alone? Feh! When our Party’s in power we’ll make sure none of these Enemies will be left alive, cluttering our Promised Land! That’s what WE’LL do. Vote for us!”
“Tee hee hee!” comes a tinkling chorus from the tiny, ringlet-cheeked, big-hats-over-little-skull-caps, DEEPLY PIOUS PARTY. They’re small in number but very powerful, because of Usrael’s proportional representation system. “We may be small”, they shout, “but by Adonoy (aka G*d) we’ll make these others listen to us! Whoever gets to be the Government, they’ll need our support. So they’re gonna have to do what we tell 'em. We’re strong too!”

The Codimah Party’s getting worried. Prime Minister Ehud Goldmert (who is on his way out of office, for reasons we cannot disclose under the Official Deceitcrets Act), calls another Cabinet meeting.

“Send for the Generals!” he orders, “We’ll show ’em who’s the strongest Party!”
The Generals attend, to the relief of the Electorate, who’ve all been brought up to admire these Strong Honest Men.
“OK,” advises one General, “We’d better send some tanks to surround them.”
“Yeah,” says another, “and we’d better call up some Reservists, we might need them.”
“Hmm,” says a third General, “OK... But I’m a bit worried… There’s a new bunch of crazy youngsters who’ve joined together as Conscientious Objectors, would you believe? Say they won’t join the Army, for Adonoysake!”
“Oh no…!” cry the Cabinet Members, aghast.
“No problem, friends,” purrs Defence Minister Ehud Ballacks, “I’ve had a word with the Judges… We’re putting them in Prison, as an example to the rest…”
“Right on!” applauds a Member of the Laborious Party, “Our youngsters look forward to their Army stint – it’s part of our national culture.”
Foreign Minister Tslippi Luvmi agrees, “Yes, everyone knows that. The people love the Army. They want it to be strong, to protect our Adonoy-given Nation. We love our brave soldiers. The polls prove it.”
“Except for maybe the 5% dissenters, those messhugganahs who don’t read the right papers…” snarls the Defence Minister.
“Mmm… Yeah…” murmurs the rest of the Cabinet and the Generals.
“So we can ignore them.” says Prime Minister Goldmert, “So, what do we do next, gentlemen?” .
“Well,” says one of the Generals, to nods from the others, “We up the air raids, don’t we? And then we invade.”
“Isn’t that rather … er … excessive?” mutters a rather pathetic Deputy Minister, “I mean, quite a few nations round the world – well, all of them, actually – say we’re going too far…”
“Except America, stoopid!” says Development Minister Musselman, “THEY know we’re doing the right thing. And the EU and the UK – well, they’re not going to disagree, are they?” Confident nods around the table. “So don’t worry, ok?”
But Deputy Minister Worrier is still unhappy. “We HAVE killed a lot of their people, haven’t we? I mean, what is it – 1,000 or so, if we count the children?”
“More,” says a brusque General, “We’re not in there to waste our time.”
Tslippi Luvmi is a little uneasy.
“I do agree, General, but – I know it’s a nuisance, but they are civilians…” she says, “We do always say the last thing we want is for civilians and children to suffer… I am very concerned for them…”
The General looks to his colleagues for support. One of them steps in.
“You’re right of course, Foreign Minister. But what people don’t understand is, they use them as shields… They give the kids, like, hand grenades and stuff, probably wrapped up as Chanuka presents, and tell them to hide them in the cellar when their parents aren’t looking… ”
“He’s right!” says Defence Minister Ballacks, “So what else can we do, faced with these evil swine who’ll shelter behind innocent families like that? It’s unfortunate. But, ce le guerre, as the Frenchies say…”
The other Ministers nod sad agreement. One adds “And we all know Nutiyahoo wouldn’t worry about so-called ‘innocents’, would he?”
“No, he wouldn’t.”
“No.”
“Right, that’s agreed,” says Defence Minister Ballacks, “So when’s the Election?”
“Only a few weeks now…” says Tslippi Luvmi (who hopes to become Prime Minister if Codimah wins).
But Deputy Minister Worrier interrupts again, still worrying.
“Er – just a minute, chaverim… I’ve just had a note from my secretary – she says there’s an awful lot of organisations and websites all over the world, criticising what we’re doing – saying we’re cold-blooded murderers, all that sort of thing … I’m beginning to feel a bit … well, uncomfortable…”
The assembled Cabinet Ministers stare at him, astonished. The Generals turn to each other, rolling their eyes in disbelief.
“Get real, Worrier!” groans Defence Minister Ballacks, “Can’t you understand? They’re all just anti-Semites!”
“But – but a lot of them are Jews!”
“SELF-HATERS!!”, screams Tslippi Luvmi. Then she pulls herself together. “Listen dear – we’re fighting an Election, right? Just concentrate on the main task, yes? Please?”
“Sorry, Prime Min – er, Foreign Secretary…. You’re right of course … Sorry…”
“OK dear – I know, we’re all under stress – but we have to get on with it – we’re a Democracy aren’t we? Elections are very important to our chosen way of life … ”
She turns to the Generals. “OK, thanks a lot for your assistance, gentlemen – we … er … won’t forget you…. you’d better leave now, while we finalise plans…. No, wait! I’ve had an idea. To comfort our friend here and all those nutters he’s worried about, we’ll give the civilians a break, right? A three-hour cessation of bombs etc, every afternoon, once you’ve got the tanks in. So they can – oh, y’know, have something to eat, go to the loo, whatever those people do with their spare time….”
The Generals look doubtful.
“Really.” she goes on, “It’ll look good if we do that, get all these ignorant critics off our backs, yes?”
“Alright,” say the Generals, “You’re the boss – or will be… We’ll do it – but so long as we can keep the tanks and the guys’ guns pointed at ’em, so they don’t try anything funny.”
“Oh, certainly. And keep the helicopters circling, of course…”
“Right folks,” says Prime Minister Goldmert, “It’s getting late, I’m calling the meeting to a close. And it’s Shabat tomorrow so we’ve got to be up early for Shull.”

The Ministers leave the Knuthouss building, by a side door. As they disperse, one Minister murmurs to a colleague “Y’know, I just wish the rest of the world would realise, we’re under threat here…”
“Yeah,” says his friend, “Nuti’s closing in on us… We just have to keep on doing what we know is right … This Election’s important. I think the Electorate will understand …”

Bil'in - my Us-Them Pt2 Blog interrupted...

Stanley Walinets — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 12:29:51 +0000

I trust people will remember my Jan 9th blog, based on Anshel Pfeffer's helpful JC article on the death from tear-gas of a woman at the Bil'in demonstration.
There were many responses to that blog, ending with this rather typical one from jose:
"jose 10 January, 2011 - 04:29 : Any intention to apologise for your blood libel, Walinuts?"

I replied to all the comments I'd received. But to my surprise, straight after my reply came this message:
"Anonymous 12 January, 2011 - 15:59 : Comments for this page are now closed."

I emailed Webmaster, who told me this closure was because "The comments on the blog had descended into name-calling and it was no longer a constructive debate." (The name 'Anonymous' had been a site error, should have been 'Administrator').

This was distressing, precisely because my response had been DRAWING ATTENTION to the name-calling and urging people to stop it and look again at what Anschel Pfeffer had actually written, and comment on that.

So -- since people weren't able to do that because the blog had been closed, I'll now copy my last comment below: and I invite people to take up the points I'd made. I hope you all will.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stanley Walinets
12 January, 2011 - 14:57

Oh my God!
Why don't such commenters as 'jose', 'Yoni1', 'amber' and the rest of them above (who perhaps understandably hide behind anonimity)- WHY do not they EVER read what I've written but simply leap into their (often semi-literate) howls of insults? Do you people really sincerely believe that if you see any facts you don't like, you can prove there's no truth in them by simply shrieking, and insulting, and even mis-spelling names (eg 'Walinuts') just like the kids in the playground did when I was at school? Is that how you believe truth can be found? Even Mr Hoffman spells my name correctly, though he regards it as a swear-word...

But look. I'm a patient man. So I have to point out that none of you - NONE OF YOU - have acknowledged above that what I've written there is simply quoting the article by the JC's Jerusalem correspondent Anshel Pfeffer. NONE of you seems to have even read it. Or perhaps you have, and have written to him to scream at him to stop being a self-hater...

I'll forgive you. Just read what he wrote and what I quoted. If you'll look at it again, I wrote:-
"Perhaps Anshel's article still doesn't give an absolutely clear answer. But if you're prepared to read it carefully, then re-read Mr Hoffman's version, you will see Mr H has not checked his sources honestly (perhaps he was overcome by his perceived smell of ordure...)."
I went on:-
"What's really important is that we read especially carefully paragraphs 4,5,and 7. (GO ON, READ THOSE NOW!) They show there's a whole important background to this incident going back several years; mentioning the IDF's refusal to carry out the Supreme Court Order; the 21 Palestinians who've been killed and others injured during these protests; and the reasons behind these protests - the village cut off from a large part of its agricultural land."

"I sincerely hope, dear friends, (I wrote) that you will consider this event and its history and begin to think how we ourselves would like to be treated like this."

Now - do it. Or forever give up any claim to have the ability Jews have for centuries been proud of, the ability to consider facts and think with wisdom.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I look forward to your reasoned comments. And I'm sure Webmaster does too.

Death at Bil'in / or Us and Them part 2

Stanley Walinets — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 13:27:15 +0000

I drew attention last week to the West Bank protest against the 'Security Fence' and the death of a Palestinian woman from tear gas. Not surprisingly, my blog drew angry responses and denials. Typical, perhaps, was the response from Jonathan Hoffman, headed with his usual politeness: "@Walinets, you piece of ordure - you going to apologise?".
Jonathan's and others' responses (all very polite of course...) were denials of what happened - was the 36-year-old woman killed or not? was she there or not? Jonathan's 'evidence' included this:

"a military investigation found that the woman who supposedly died when she inhaled tear gas at a demonstration Friday was not even present at that protest. She did not die of tear gas inhalation but of cancer, the IDF found, and had been lying in a hospital bed for ten days before passing away.
Arabs and leftists propagated the story that the woman, Jawaher Abu Rahma, 36, had inhaled tear gas at the weekly riot at Bilin, in Samaria. Adding pathos to the story was the allegation that she was the sister of an Arab who was killed in Bilin in 2009 after being struck by a tear gas canister."

Let me now draw your attention to the report by Anshel Pfeffer in Jerusalem in this week's JC. (I've numbered the paragraphs for ease of reference):

"WAS IT CANCER OR TEAR GAS? THE DEBATE RAGES
1) A Furious debate has broken out in Israel and across the blogosphere over what caused the death.....
2) The villagers of Bil'in in the West Bank claim Jawaher Abu Rahme was suffocated by tear-gas shot, by Israeli soldiers. The IDF maintain she died of an illness that she was already suffering from.

3) Ms Abu Rahme died on Saturday morning, but that is just about the only detail that is not in dispute. Her family in Bil'in and activists who took part in the weekly demonstrations against the separation fence near the village claimed that she had started suffocating after inhaling tear-gas shot by Israeli security forces at the demonstrators on Friday afternoon.

4) Demonstrations in Bil'in have taken place every Friday for the past six years, ever since the separation fence cut the village off from a large part of its agricultural land. The Israeli Supreme Court ruled three and a half years ago that the route of the fence should be changed in the village's favour, but the Defence Ministry has yet to carry out the order.

5) Twenty-one Palestinians have died in demonstrations against the fence, but over the past 20 months, there have only been a handful of light casualties, mainly due to changed IDF procedures.

6) An IDF officer said under condition of anonymity that "we received the medical reports from the Palestinians only after three days and they were full of inconsistencies. An earlier report has her leaving hospital on Friday with no serious injuries. There is no proof that she even participated in the demonstration and we have information that she was being treated for cancer."

7) Michael Sfard, an Israeli lawyer representing the Abu Rahme Family, said: "Jawaher was suffocated by tear gas, and she did not leave hospital before her death. She certainly did not have cancer."

Perhaps Anshel's article still doesn't give an absolutely clear answer. But if you're prepared to read it carefully, then re-read Mr Hoffman's version, you will see Mr H has not checked his sources honestly (perhaps he was overcome by his perceived smell of ordure...).

What's really important is that we read especially carefully paragraphs 4,5,and 7. They show there's a whole important background to this incident going back several years; mentioning the IDF's refusal to carry out the Supreme Court Order; the 21 Palestinians who've been killed and others injured during these protests; and the reasons behind these protests - the village cut off from a large part of its agricultural land.

I sincerely hope, dear friends, that you will consider this event and its history and begin to think how we ourselves would like to be treated like this.

'When the Messiah Comes': Funny/Serious article in 'Ha'aretz

Stanley Walinets — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 11:27:17 +0000

'When the Messiah comes', by Bradley Burston

When the Messiah comes, Israel will deport him
When the Messiah comes, the Right will crucify him. Im Tirzu will roll out ads and billboards showing him with a tail to go along with his horns.
By Bradley Burston
When the Messiah comes, he will be without papers.

When the Messiah comes, he will be taken into a small room, off-white and chilled, with one gray metal chair at each side of a gray metal desk.

When the Messiah comes, he will be questioned by a junior officer of the Shin Bet, and by an official of the Interior Ministry, who got his job through his cousin, who is an inspector of ritual dietary observance at a cookie bakery and who got his job through his sister's father-in-law, third assistant to the deputy chair of the Shas party branch in Ramla.

When the Messiah comes, no one will know.

His donkey, which is white and is named Snowpea, will be impounded in a leaky underground police lot near the Lod railroad station. There will be no paperwork. By nightfall it will have disappeared, spirited into a closed truck by the lot's watchman, who after his shift will drive the donkey to a moshav. Money will change hands, and the donkey as well, four times, until it is sold by settlers to Palestinians some of whose ancestral land now lies inside the settlement fence.

When the Messiah comes, the first sign will be a gag order.

A coded report on a high-profile news website will be made to disappear. It will reappear on a blog in Seattle, and then in the Guardian. The government will delay response, finally issuing a statement ascribed to sources in Jerusalem, reading "We have no knowledge of this." The IDF, quoting an unnamed senior military official, will state that there is no evidence that a Messiah of any kind has come. It will later soften the denial, saying it is checking the report and directing reporters to the Defense Ministry, which turfs them to the Prime Minister's Office, which cannot be reached for comment.

When the Messiah comes, rabbis will treat him like Jesus.

They will brand him disloyal, diseased, Reform.

In wall posters, Sabbath sermons, ritual decrees and signed petitions, careful not to use his title, chief rabbis of cities and towns will warn of an existential threat to the essential Jewish character of the state. Under no circumstances are Jews to sell or rent homes or lots to someone like this. The rabbis' wives will vilify him as a carnal threat to Jewish girls.

The rabbis' declarations will divide the Jewish people and bring wrath and dishonor upon Israel. The rabbis will continue to draw large civil service salaries, as well as generous tips, in cash, goods and services under the table and off the books.

When the Messiah comes, the Right will crucify him. Im Tirzu will roll out ads and billboards showing him with a tail to go along with his horns. A blogger from Commentary will call him a whiny, petulant boob. In Maariv and the Jerusalem Post, seven columnists will all have at him in the same three day period. NGO Monitor will ask for donations to expose his sources of funding.

When the Messiah comes, the Occupation will end.

But before it does, a global social network led by the Republican Jewish Coalition, Fox News, The Zionist Organization of America and Daniel Pipes, will launch a campaign aimed at exposing the Messiah as a Muslim.

When the Messiah is crucified, the army will deny that he was even present at the time.

When the Messiah comes, an Israel political party whose voters are routinely denigrated by native-born Israelis as whores and non-Jews will propose legislation declaring him a delegitimizer of Israel and the army (over the crucifixion), a blasphemer of Zionism (for suggesting that the Palestinians were not the sole obstacles to peace), and rendering him ineligible for citizenship unless he signs a loyalty oath stating that even if Israel did practice crucifiction, it did so in a democratic and Jewish manner.

Aides to Knesset Member Michael Ben-Ari, along with Beitar Jerusalem soccer fans, will take out a Facebook page headed "Mavet L' Mashiach" – Death to the Messiah.

When the Messiah comes, he will be granted refugee status by the United Nations as a legitimate seeker of asylum, but will be held at a detention camp in Israel's Area 51, near the perimeter of the Dimona nuclear reactor facility, where a judge will trick him into signing an illegible document, which will force his deportation to Chad.

By the time the messiah leaves the Jewish state, he'll be thrilled to go.

Us, as experienced by our Occupied neighbours

Stanley Walinets — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:33:33 +0000

Just received this from an aquaintance in the West Bank. Interesting.

Dear Stanley,

At the threshold of the New Year, I write to wish you a new year of freedom and liberation. This has been an unbelievable year for me in both highs and lows. A year during which I have witnessed how, despite repression, ordinary people all across Palestine take to the streets for freedom.

In my village, Bil'in, thousands of people marched on the Wall today to take it down. During the demonstration, one protestor, a 36 year old resident of the village, Jawaher Abu-Rahmah, was critically injured by severe tear-gas inhalation. She is currently hospitalized in Ramallah, unresponsive to medical treatment as the doctors are fighting for her life.

Bil'in has been struggling for almost six years against the Wall that was built on our lands. The illegality and absurdity of this wall has been recognized worldwide, and even by the Israeli Supreme Court, which ruled it must be dismantled over three years ago. Yet the Wall still stands. We, the people of Bil'in, the people of Palestine, have waited enough. Today was therefore declared by the Bil'in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements as the last day of the Wall. Together with our supporters, we managed to bring a substantial part of the wall down but we still have a long way to go.

On a personal note, the beginning of 2011 also strikes notes of fear. In just a few days, on January 3rd, 2011, my trial in front of an Israeli military court will draw into conclusion. Captain Sharon Rivlin, the soldier-judge presiding in my case, will hand down my verdict. If found guilty of "incitement", my next letter will likely be written from inside a prison cell; If found guilty, despite having proved that evidence against me was falsified, I will proudly join my friend and comrade, Abdallah Abu Rahmah, who is now spending his second new year's eve behind bars. PSCC's media coordinator, my friend and brother in struggle, Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak, will also be going to prison, again, for three months on January 11th, for protesting Israel’s siege on Gaza.

We are all facing tremendous challenges, as individuals and as a movement. It is our pride and strength that keeps us going. It is your support and involvement, which is becoming more crucial than ever. Join us – take our struggle forward, so that the year of 2011 will become an historical year of Palestinian liberation and a just peace.

In solidarity,
Mohammad Khatib

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This message was sent to Stan Walinets by Popular Struggle Coordination Committee,Ramallah, Occupied Territories

The current uproar over Mick Davis's views

Stanley Walinets — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 17:28:02 +0000

I am full of admiration for UJIA leader Mick Davis for speaking out, and for the JC for giving his views such prominence. At last we in the diaspora are realising the true responsibilities of friendship. To be a friend of Israel does not mean we must never voice our concerns. A true friend shows his sincerity by telling his friend when he is harming himself. It is false friendship to encourage your friend to believe he can do no wrong, to encourage him to ignore uncomfortable truths.

Davis said Israel's actions impact on Jews in London. Absolutely true. But US Anti-Defamation League Abe Foxman's re-action is that that's "arrogant nonsense". Abe -- you are talking like an ostrich with its head deep in the sand. We need only read the regular reports in the JC of anti-Semitic acts over recent decades, to realise that the growth in anti-Semitism has gone hand in hand with Israel's increasingly unacceptable behaviour. After the Hollocaust, sympathy and respect for Jews was world-wide. The undeniable growth in anti-Semitism since then has been an inevitable response to Israel's behaviour since then. And we in the diaspora are its victims, along with our brethren in Israel itself. So we are very much entitled to comment on Israel's mistakes. We suffer too.

A simple analogy. If I'm in a car with my best friend and he's driving dangerously I'd certainly better tell him, before he kills us both. Mick Davis has bravely opened this discussion. It's time to say to Israel, especially its self-important, self-deceiving, extremist frummers, "Israel -- stop. Your behaviour as Jews cannot go on. You are destroying yourself. And you're destroying the rest of us with you."

We must speak out and say that to Israel. Then we can talk seriously about how to make Israel the State we can really be proud of -- humane, intelligent, achieving, an example to all nations. A legitimate State, in fact.