Wednesday, November 9, 2016

The bitter morning




So, the nightmare really came true.

After the East Shore polls closed at 2am Israeli time, I continued watching on CNN the unfolding drama, following the discussions of the elections experts, with their sophisticated maps and detailed knowledge of every county in every state. There were the initial moments when Hilary Clinton still seemed headed to win Florida and North Carolina. But then, in state after state the same specter was repeated: the vast red-colored regions of countryside and small towns overwhelming the embattled blue Democrat dots of the big cities.


Behind these red expanses on the CNN maps were the people whom Michael Moore depicted in his film: The workers left behind in "rust belts" when the industries went away to countries where the salaries are much lower. Embittered and hopeless, they were ready to embrace Donald Trump’s demagoguery and his promise to "Make America Great Again" – a vast tide under the surface, which the pollsters altogether missed.

In the time ahead of us there would be many recriminations. What if the Democrats had paid more attention and given better answers to the blue-collar workers who had once been their party’s mainstay? What if the Democratic Party had voted Bernie Sanders as its Presidential candidate? What if Hilary Clinton had not arrogantly taken Wisconsin for granted, but had bothered to pay that state some visits during the campaign? What if she had not cast herself for the second time for the role of The First Woman President, but rather promoted for that role a younger woman not associated with unsavory past affairs?

Many things are seen clearly in hindsight which should have been clear in real time, many roads not taken. The road which was taken has led to President-Elect Donald Trump making a jubilant victory speech to his gathered followers. How sincere were his conciliatory words? Would he be able - even if he wanted - to put down the flames of hatred which he had constantly fanned in his year of wild campaigning? Could he get rid of this blazing hatred, even if he tried? Does Trump have anything real to offer to the hopeless people to whom he gave a fleeting hope – and if he disappoints them, to whom and to what will they turn next?


Thinking of President Obama, being saddled with this very unwanted successor who personifies the undoing of all Obama stood for. Maybe this might increase Obama’s willingness to use his remaining two months in order to leave at least one final lasting legacy– i.e., removing the American veto and letting the UN Security Council adopt a binding resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict for whatever it is worth.

Too thin a crumb of hope on a bitter morning.
 
 
 






The bitter morning

So, the nightmare really came true.

After the East Shore polls closed at 2am Israeli time, I continued watching on CNN the unfolding drama, following the discussions of the elections experts, with their sophisticated maps and detailed knowledge of every country in every state. There were the initial moments when Hilary Clinton still seemed headed to win Florida and North Carolina. But then, in state after state the same specter was repeated: the vast red-colored regions of countryside and small towns overwhelming the embattled blue Democrat dots of the big cities.


Behind these red expanses on the CNN maps were the people whom Michael Moore depicted in his film: The workers left behind in "rust belts" when the industries went away to countries where the salaries are much lower. Embittered and hopeless, they were ready to embrace Donald Trump’s demagoguery and his promise to "Make America Great Again" – a vast tide under the surface, which the pollsters altogether missed.

In the time ahead of us there would be many recriminations. What if the Democrats had paid more attention and given better answers to the blue-collar workers who had once been their party’s mainstay? What if the Democratic Party had voted Bernie Sanders as its Presidential candidate? What if Hilary Clinton had not arrogantly taken Wisconsin for granted, but had bothered to pay that state some visits during the campaign? What if she had not cast herself for the second time for the role of The First Woman President, but rather promoted for that role a younger woman not associated with unsavory past affairs?

Many things are seen clearly in hindsight which should have been clear in real time, many roads not taken. The road which was taken has led to President-Elect Donald Trump making a jubilant victory speech to his gathered followers. How sincere were his conciliatory words? Would he be able - even if he wanted - to put down the flames of hatred which he had constantly fanned in his year of wild campaigning? Could he get rid of this blazing hatred, even if he tried? Does Trump have anything real to offer to the hopeless people to whom he gave a fleeting hope – and if he disappoints them, to whom and to what will they turn next?


Thinking of President Obama, being saddled with this very unwanted successor who personifies the undoing of all Obama achieved. Maybe this might increase Obama’s willingness to use his remaining two months in order to leave at least one final lasting legacy– i.e., removing the American veto and letting the UN Security Council adopt a binding resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict for whatever it is worth.

Too thin a crumb of hope on a bitter morning.
 
 
 






Saturday, October 1, 2016

A man of peace? Not exactly. But still…

The first demonstration I ever attended was at the end of 1967. On one school day, the principal went through all parts of the school, announcing: "The last two classes are canceled, everybody is going to demonstrate at the French Embassy!". We broke into a great cheer and went through the school gates. En route to the embassy we encountered the pupils from other schools, all joining in the great organized spontaneous demonstration. Someone started chanting "De Gaulle / Has a big nose!" (it rhymes in Hebrew) and everybody joined in.


In the Israel of late 1967 it was very fashionable to hate France, and in particular to hate French President Charles de Gaulle. As we read in newspapers and heard from our teachers, France had betrayed Israel and violated the alliance with us at the crucial moment and imposed an arms embargo on Israel. (Israel won the war anyway, but that's another issue.) And to add insult to injury, we were told that de Gaulle had said anti-Semitic things, though we did not know exactly what. Therefore, we were very happy to demonstrate at the French Embassy instead of studying. Some of us also wanted to throw stones and break the embassy windows, ​​but the police prevented that.


As it happened, a few weeks later I was browsing at a dusty back shelf in my favorite lending library. There a book with an intriguing title: "A Bridge Over The Mediterranean". On the front page appeared a large photo of the Israeli Minister Shimon Peres shaking hands with French President Charles de Gaulle, both smiling broadly, over the background of the Eiffel Tower and the Paris skyline. I read the first chapter in which Shimon Peres spoke at very great length about the strategic alliance between Israel and France. As described in the book, it was a strong and enduring alliance, serving the best interests of both countries. (As far as I can remember, the one thing Peres did not mention was the French aid in building the Dimona Nuclear Pile…).


Actually, it was not such an old book. It had been published just three years earlier, in 1964, but it seems somebody at the library decided to exile it to the back shelf. It was then, at the age of 12, that I was first introduced to Simon Peres "the man of great visions and designs" (not always the same visions and designs...).


In 1976, during a brief leave from the army, I participated with several dozen youths at a Tel Aviv protest against the new settler movement, "Gush Emunim" (Block of the Faithful), whose members were determined to establish themselves at the heart of the Biblically-hallowed "Judea and Samaria". After the demonstration, we sat in a cramped office and listened to the news on a tiny, black and white TV set. "Again, Gush Emunim activists managed to evade the military checkpoints, reach the old railway station in Sebastia and barricade themselves in." said the announcer "Evicting them is expected to result in violent clashes with soldiers". 

"What is this nonsense about their evading the checkpoints?" cried one of the organizers. "Defense Minister Shimon Peres is the settlers’ best friend. What more do you want to know? It's a con game, pure and simple". In that small office, we all felt a very visceral hatred of Shimon Peres.


The next morning, in the bus on the way back to base, I read of "compromise agreement" reached late at night with the blessing of Defense Minister Peres. The Gush Emunim settlers were allowed to remain "temporarily" at a nearby military base. Later, temporary became permanent, the settlers stayed and the it was soldiers who eventually left, and the military base became the settlement of Kedumim. 
Shimon Peres definitely had a major share in this outcome.


May 1981 – a crowded meeting at the Tzavta Hall in Tel Aviv, to celebrate the election of Francois Mitterrand as President of France. The keynote speaker was Shimon Peres – Leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Leader of the Parliamentary opposition and Vice President of the Socialist International. "Europe is becoming a Socialist Continent!" cried Peres. "This is the wave of the future, and we in Israel should become part of it!" It was the first time I heard Shimon Peres praising Socialism, and it did not last long. (In truth, Mitterrand himself, as well as the other members of the Socialist International, have not shown a real commitment to the principles of Socialism…)


September 1982: the First Lebanon War had been raging for three months, culminating with the terrible massacre in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. A wave of demonstrations and protests throughout the country, I have spent the previous night at the Abu Kabir Detention Center in south Tel Aviv. A crucial meeting between major activists of the "Committee Against the Lebanon War" on one hand and the leadership of "Peace Now" on the other.


- "Peace Now wants to have on Saturday night a very big rally, a huge one, on the Kings of Israel Square. It should really be a mass event, bigger than anything anyone of us ever did before. But you of the Committee got first to the police, you have the permit for using the square on that night. If you don’t pass it on to us, Peace Now will not be able to do it. And you, too, know that if you mobilize only your own supporters, the rally would be much smaller." - "OK, we are ready to give you the license." - "But there is a problem. The Labor Party is ready to join, to change their position. They are going to stop supporting the war in Lebanon start speaking out against the war. Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin are willing – they very much want - to mount the podium and speak very sharply against Begin and Sharon. But I hate to say this, Peres and Rabin are not willing to share the podium with anyone from the Extreme Left. "


All eyes in the room turned to the radical poet Yitzhak Laor, who was going to be the keynote speaker for the Committee Against The War. After a moment of silence he muttered a pungent oath and said: "The hell with it! No one will be able to say that I spoiled a big rally against the war crimes. Let Rabin and Peres have the podium to themselves and welcome!". So was born the memorable "Demonstration of the Four Hundred Thousand", the biggest public event in Israel's history until then.


Some two or three years later - again a small demonstration of several dozens, and again sitting afterwards to see the TV evening news at a dusty office (color TV this time). In this demonstration, as in many protests and events held at the time, we chanted "Talk peace / With the PLO / Now, now, now!"/ . We distributed to the indifferent Tel Avivian passers by leaflets about the meetings which activists of the Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace held with PLO officials, and about the positive messages which they got from the Palestinians.


On that evening TV interviewed Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s cabinet. Peres rejected out of hand the option of negotiating with the PLO - "It is a terrorist organization, they are opposed to peace, they have nothing positive to contribute – absolutely nothing." Conversely, he greatly praised King Hussein of Jordan - "The King is a serious, reliable partner. The real option for peace is the Jordanian Option!"


"What an idiot!" said one of the people sitting next to me. "He wants to give the Territories to Jordan. And then the Palestinians will say that the agreement does not bind them, and will continue fighting Israel. What a clever deal - pay the full prize and get nothing in return! How can such a stupid person get so high?"


As we learned later, at that time Peres had held a secret meeting with King Hussein in London and reached a draft agreement, but Prime Minister Shamir vetoed it and the initiative failed. We did not share Peres’ outrage and protest at "The loss of a historic opportunity".


April 1990 - the government coalition crisis which came to be known in Israeli history as "The Dirty Trick". With the outbreak of the First Intifada the Jordanian Option was definitely off the agenda. The Americans suggested that Israel negotiate with a Palestinian delegation not officially representing the PLO but including representatives from East Jerusalem. Prime Minister Shamir rejected the proposal out of hand and accused Foreign Minister Peres of discreetly encouraging the Americans. Peres and the other Laborites resigned and brought down the Shamir Government in a parliamentary vote of confidence.


Thereupon, Shimon Peres announced that he had managed to form a new government headed by himself, and that it would be presented to the Knesset on the morning of April 12. But on that morning, as we waited, the hours passed and there was no sign of the new cabinet. There were increasing rumors the ultra-Orthodox have abandoned Peres at the last minute and deprived him of the expected parliamentary majority. This turned out to be true. By noon, Peres appeared on the screen, tense and pale, and announced "a delay in presenting the new cabinet". "Damn!" said one of my friends. "This means that we remain stuck with Shamir, and he will continue to block everything. God damn the ultra-Orthodox to Hell! "

  

1994 - After the Nobel Peace Prize Committee announced the award of Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres for their part in the Oslo Agreements, Yedioth Ahronoth published a nasty commentary. The writer attacked Peres harshly, accusing him of being "a publicity stunt man" who had "pushed through the signing of the horrible Oslo Accord" for the sole purpose of getting the Nobel Prize.


So I immediately sat down and wrote a Letter to the Editor. I don’t have the exact text (at that time, such things were not yet preserved on the computer), but I remember quite clearly that I expressed unreserved support for Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. I wrote that he was a statesman of the first order, of whom any country could be proud. I wrote in that letter (as I wrote and said very often, at the time) that Shimon Peres deserved praise and the Nobel Prize for understanding that Israel must end the occupation and achieve peace with the Palestinians - not only for the sake of the Palestinians but also for its own future.


I praised Peres for understanding that in order to talk to the Palestinians one needs to talk with those that the Palestinians themselves regard as their representative – namely, the Palestine Liberation Organization and its Head, Yasser Arafat. I also wrote that Peres deserved to be praised for having managed to overcome his bitter rivalry with Yitzhak Rabin, work closely with Rabin and convince the Prime Minister to shake hands with Yasser Arafat.


For all these reasons, I concluded, Shimon Peres fully and rightly deserved the Nobel Peace Prize - more so than many others who got it before him. "Yediot Ahronot" shortened my letter, but the essential parts did get published on the next day.


November 1995 - The bitter night of the Rabin Assassination. A very successful peace rally on the square, the big crowds who came to express confidence in the Peace Process that began in Oslo, Rabin and Peres on the podium singing the Peace Song. The rally over, hundreds of young people dancing merrily to the tune of Brazilian Samba music from the loudspeakers. Suddenly the honking of a long column of police cars, wild rumors of a terrorist attack, the news that Prime Minister Rabin was hit by an assassin’s bullets, hundreds of people running all the way to the gate of the Ichilov hospital, Cabinet Spokesperson Eitan Haber appearing and reading out the communiquי: "The Government of Israel announces with shock ...".


Returning to the square. Sitting in mourning circles around the lighted candles. The radio reported that the cabinet convened in the middle of the night for an emergency session and elected Shimon Peres as Prime Minister Pro Tem, pending Knesset approval. Several youths walk to the wall of the nearby Tel Aviv Town Hall and spray paint a huge graffiti: "You will never walk alone, Shimon Peres!". 

Already that night, we started talking about what Peres should do. Immediately dissolve the Knesset and call new elections, so as to win a large majority? Act firmly and strongly against the settlers, now that their public standing is at a low ebb?


Alas, Shimon Peres did not follow any of our "advices". Instead, he soon got entangled in a completely unnecessary, bloody military operation in Lebanon - "Operation Grapes of Wrath". In April 1995, after 106 Lebanese civilians were killed by a stray Israeli artillery shell at the village of Qana, I was at a protest outside the home of Prime Minister Shimon Peres in Ramat Aviv. It was a militant demonstration, with very sharp slogans chanted against The Prime Minister, including such terms as "murderer", "assassin" and "war criminal". We collided with the police cordon which barred our way, and came very close to spending the night in custody. Yet, during the dispersal I told my fellow demonstrators: "There is no choice. Despite everything, in the elections we will have to vote for him." - "What? For this bastard?" - "What else? Do you want Netanyahu as Prime Minister?".


At that moment, the expression "Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu" still seemed a kind of science fiction, a remote and highly unlikely eventuality. But a bare month and a half later, it became a reality that accompanies the state of Israel up to the present. On elections night we sat awake, with the predictions showing a victory for Netanyahu – a victory by a narrow but clear margin. Hour after hour we sat in front of the screen, hoping against hope for a change - until with the morning light, predictions became certainty and Shimon Peres lost irrevocably his last chance at holding Israel’s helm of state.



I could continue this article on and on and specify more moments in the life of Shimon Peres - lights and shadows, contrary landmarks, times when we were very angry with him for agreeing to serve Netanyahu and represent him on the international arena and other times when Peres tries at least to some degree to face up to the leader of the Likud and take all sorts of initiatives to promote peace. There was the failed attempt to be elected as the (purely titular) President of Israel and a second attempt which succeeded. And the last years, when he was very popular with the general Israeli public and increasingly pushed aside the vision of peace and of The New Middle East and chose to focus on a new, non-political dream and vision – i.e. the intensive promotion of nanotechnology and of the enormous blessings nanotechnology could give to mankind.


Still, now that Shimon Peres’ long career definitely ended in a huge state funeral in the presence of Heads of State and assorted VIP’s from all over the world, I'd rather finish my personal review with that decisive moment of failure in the 1996 elections.


Was Shimon Peres a Man of Peace? Many of my political friends are skeptical about that, to say the least. It is not difficult to gather damning evidence and point to black spots all along Peres’ career.


As for me - I would have been very happy indeed if it were possible to turn the wheel backwards, go back to May 1996 and give Shimon Peres the extra thirty thousand votes which would have made him a Prime Minister for an extra four years and reduced Netanyahu to a forgotten footnote in Israel’s history.


The Shimon Peres of 1996 was completely committed, politically and personally, to the Oslo Accords. There is good reason to believe that, with a solid mandate for four more years, Peres would have embarked with his typical energy and determination on the Permanent Status negotiations with the Palestinians. That he would have seriously tried to reach an agreement by the May 1999 deadline agreed upon. And that with an agreement reached, he would have worked very hard to implement it on the ground.


Would he have succeeded? Would we now be living in a completely different situation, in a real New Middle East? Or would Peres have wasted this chance, too, and ended in a dismal failure? We will never know.


In reality it is impossible to go back in time and change history. Hopefully, we will still succeed to change the future.


The photo which no Israeli paper published this week - Peres, Arafat and the Oslo Accords

Friday, August 12, 2016

Thirst and narrative




"Here at Fasayil, in the Jordan Valley, we get water twice a week," explained our host, to the group of activists from Tel Aviv. "Twice a week the water is flowing through this little water pipe which you see here on the ground, a pipe with a 20 mm diameter. When the large container is full we distribute the water among all the families, it has to last for three days. And by the way, we are more fortunate compared to the Palestinian communities more north. To them, Israel does not give any water at all, and often the soldiers even confiscate the water which they buy for themselves. That  is because the area where they live had been declared as a firing range, and the army says they are living there illegally. So far, they did not declare Fasayil a firing range. "




So what could we do about it – we, fifty Israelis who had followed the call of “The Water Coalition" and came to Fasayil  on a Saturday afternoon? We could say a few words of sympathy and encouragement, and express shame at the acts of the country whose citizens we are. We could take down from our bus the 120 bottles of mineral water which we brought with us as a completely inadequate gesture of solidarity. (The tanker which we intended to bring got stuck on badly paved roads, and came only the following day.) But at least a cardboard box full of toys was immediately assaulted by the Fasayil children with cries of joy. We could help build a simple playground from local materials and sit down with our hosts for a modest meal. And to raise big signs “Open the tap! Water is a right” towards the camera of the Social TV.  And then we got back on the bus and went back to our homes in Metropolitan Tel Aviv where the water is always flowing in the taps. Always.

http://tv.social.org.il/en/water


Two days later, there were other visitors arriving at the village of Fasayil. In the morning, soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces came to Fasayil, accompanied by bulldozers. Two residential buildings were destroyed in less than half an hour. Twelve people, including seven minors, were left homeless.


Was that in any way related to our visit? Probably not. B'Tselem documents in recent weeks a sharp rise in the number of house demolitions carried out by the army throughout the Occupied Territories. At the Al-Moarjat community, also is the Jordan Valley, four residential buildings were demolished, leaving homeless 14 people, including two children. And five buildings were destroyed at the community of Umm al-Kheir in the South Hebron Hills, in this case leaving 27 homeless people, including 16 minors. And so on and so forth. Seven more Palestinian communities have gotten a destructive visit from the army in the past week.

https://youtu.be/B-GEt8qYq6E


The day on which  the soldiers and bulldozers came to the village of Fasayil in the Jordan Valley was also the day when Sima Vaknin, Director General of the Ministry for Strategic Affairs, attended an urgent session at the Knesset in Jerusalem. She informed the Knesset Members of a severe situation - "Israel is perceived in the world as a Pariah State". But hope is not lost. The Ministry for Strategic Affairs has established an ten-member inter-ministerial team, charged with formulating an alternative narrative, and Israel will make every effort to get it accepted by the world. The ultimate goal is to instill this alternate narrative globally during the next ten years, until 2025. "For me, victory means a narrative change in the world’s perception of Israel.  That the world will no longer equate Israel with Apartheid" she noted.



How exactly is that to be achieved? Vaknin, who until a few years ago served as the Chief Military Censor, refrained from providing Knesset Members with any detailed information. "The fight against the de-legitimization of Israel is a very sensitive topic. I'm pushing the ministry to work in utmost secrecy, and I asked for the minister in charge, Gilad Erdan, to refrain from public statements regarding the work of the ministry. We want most of the work of the Strategic Affairs Ministry to be classified. There are very many sensitivities. I can’t even explain in an open forum what these sensitivities are... Much of what we do goes under the radar. I can explain in detail only at a close session of the  Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, with an absolute prohibition on publishing anything said there. All I can say here is that the operating budget on the campaign against de-legitimization of Israel comes to 128 million in 2016. "


Still, some of the methods to be used were exposed two days later. Strategic Affairs Ministry officials held a work meeting with their colleagues from the Interior Ministry and the Interior Security Ministry, and informed them that "Dozens of international organizations are active on  the West Bank, under various guises. They are gathering information on IDF operations in the Territories. Foreign activists then make use of this information to promote a boycott and isolation of Israel. Boycott-supporting activists are agitating Palestinian residents of the West Bank, inciting them against the IDF forces and disrupting military operations.” It was  estimated that “there are several hundred such foreign activists, who enter either through Ben Gurion Airport or via the Allenby Bridge, and pretend to be tourists. Some activists are leaving after a short stay, but some remain in the West Bank for long periods".


Therefore, Ministers Gilad Erdan and Aryeh Deri resolved to establish a joint team tasked with preventing such activists getting through passport control and expelling those who already managed to enter the country. Among other things, the team will collect intelligence on foreign activists who are in the country in order to establish a judicial case justifying their deportation. Also examined by the team’s legal advisers is the option of "criminalizing" entire organizations, so as to be able to deport or deny access to anyone who is a member with no need of gathering specific evidence against each activist separately.

http://www.jta.org/2016/08/07/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/israeli-government-task-force-formed-to-locate-deport-bds-activists


On the pages of "Israel Today" (aka the Bibinews) Itai Reuveni spelled out  who is meant: "For a long time, various agencies are sending to Israel extremists disguised as tourists, in order that they will document ‘Human Rights violations' [quotation marks in the original].  

“The most blatant example is the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel, a project founded in 2002 by The World Council of Churches. Its declared purpose is to bring volunteers to ‘experience life under occupation and influence the International Community's involvement in the conflict’. This project is sending activists from dozens of countries for a period of three months, after a training in their home country which includes ways of dealing with the military and briefing to get into Israel. When arriving, they get a further briefing and then go into the field, wearing brown vests with the program logo. They are deployed at the crossings and points of friction, and even in the Old City of Jerusalem, and make one-sided documentation of  alleged Israeli violations. At a peak moment activists positioned themselves at the Wailing Wall and documented the security forces’ activities. At the end of three months, many activists return to their home countries and promote various anti-Israeli campaigns at the explicit request of the program managers. An end should be put at last to the activity of this and other organizations of the same type such as the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and The American Friends Service Committee of the Quakers, who until now got humanitarian visas."

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=16901


This morning, the radio news reported that the French Government condemns the demolition of buildings in Nabi Samwil, north of Jerusalem, whose construction was financed by France. “It is the third time this year that Israel is destroying or confiscating humanitarian aid structures which were erected by France, including a school which was destroyed six months ago. The increasing pace of demolition  is in contravention of International Law.”

Perhaps the French Ambassador should be expelled, too?



Thirst and narrative





"Here at Fasayil, in the Jordan Valley, we get water twice a week," explained our host, to the group of activists from Tel Aviv. "Twice a week the water is flowing through this little water pipe which you see here on the ground, a pipe with a 20 mm diameter. When the large container is full we distribute the water among all the families, it has to last for three days. And by the way, we are more fortunate compared to the Palestinian communities more north. To them, Israel does not give any water at all, and often the soldiers even confiscate the water which they buy for themselves. That  is because the area where they live had been declared as a firing range, and the army says they are living there illegally. So far, they did not declare Fasayil a firing range. "



So what could we do about it – we, fifty Israelis who had followed the call of “The Water Coalition" and came to Fasayil  on a Saturday afternoon? We could say a few words of sympathy and encouragement, and express shame at the acts of the country whose citizens we are. We could take down from our bus the 120 bottles of mineral water which we brought with us as a completely inadequate gesture of solidarity. (The tanker which we intended to bring got stuck on badly paved roads, and came only the following day.) But at least a cardboard box full of toys was immediately assaulted by the Fasayil children with cries of joy. We could help build a simple playground from local materials and sit down with our hosts for a modest meal. And to raise big signs “Open the tap! Water is a right” towards the camera of the Social TV.  And then we got back on the bus and went back to our homes in Metropolitan Tel Aviv where the water is always flowing in the taps. Always.

http://tv.social.org.il/en/water


Two days later, there were other visitors arriving at the village of Fasayil. In the morning, soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces came to Fasayil, accompanied by bulldozers. Two residential buildings were destroyed in less than half an hour. Twelve people, including seven minors, were left homeless.


Was that in any way related to our visit? Probably not. B'Tselem documents in recent weeks a sharp rise in the number of house demolitions carried out by the army throughout the Occupied Territories. At the Al-Moarjat community, also is the Jordan Valley, four residential buildings were demolished, leaving homeless 14 people, including two children. And five buildings were destroyed at the community of Umm al-Kheir in the South Hebron Hills, in this case leaving 27 homeless people, including 16 minors. And so on and so forth. Seven more Palestinian communities have gotten a destructive visit from the army in the past week.

https://youtu.be/B-GEt8qYq6E


The day on which  the soldiers and bulldozers came to the village of Fasayil in the Jordan Valley was also the day when Sima Vaknin, Director General of the Ministry for Strategic Affairs, attended an urgent session at the Knesset in Jerusalem. She informed the Knesset Members of a severe situation - "Israel is perceived in the world as a Pariah State". But hope is not lost. The Ministry for Strategic Affairs has established an ten-member inter-ministerial team, charged with formulating an alternative narrative, and Israel will make every effort to get it accepted by the world. The ultimate goal is to instill this alternate narrative globally during the next ten years, until 2025. "For me, victory means a narrative change in the world’s perception of Israel.  That the world will no longer equate Israel with Apartheid" she noted.



How exactly is that to be achieved? Vaknin, who until a few years ago served as the Chief Military Censor, refrained from providing Knesset Members with any detailed information. "The fight against the de-legitimization of Israel is a very sensitive topic. I'm pushing the ministry to work in utmost secrecy, and I asked for the minister in charge, Gilad Erdan, to refrain from public statements regarding the work of the ministry. We want most of the work of the Strategic Affairs Ministry to be classified. There are very many sensitivities. I can’t even explain in an open forum what these sensitivities are... Much of what we do goes under the radar. I can explain in detail only at a close session of the  Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, with an absolute prohibition on publishing anything said there. All I can say here is that the operating budget on the campaign against de-legitimization of Israel comes to 128 million in 2016. "


Still, some of the methods to be used were exposed two days later. Strategic Affairs Ministry officials held a work meeting with their colleagues from the Interior Ministry and the Interior Security Ministry, and informed them that "Dozens of international organizations are active on  the West Bank, under various guises. They are gathering information on IDF operations in the Territories. Foreign activists then make use of this information to promote a boycott and isolation of Israel. Boycott-supporting activists are agitating Palestinian residents of the West Bank, inciting them against the IDF forces and disrupting military operations.” It was  estimated that “there are several hundred such foreign activists, who enter either through Ben Gurion Airport or via the Allenby Bridge, and pretend to be tourists. Some activists are leaving after a short stay, but some remain in the West Bank for long periods".


Therefore, Ministers Gilad Erdan and Aryeh Deri resolved to establish a joint team tasked with preventing such activists getting through passport control and expelling those who already managed to enter the country. Among other things, the team will collect intelligence on foreign activists who are in the country in order to establish a judicial case justifying their deportation. Also examined by the team’s legal advisers is the option of "criminalizing" entire organizations, so as to be able to deport or deny access to anyone who is a member with no need of gathering specific evidence against each activist separately.


http://www.jta.org/2016/08/07/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/israeli-government-task-force-formed-to-locate-deport-bds-activists



On the pages of "Israel Today" aka the Bibinews, Itai Reuveni spelled out  who is meant: "For a long time, various agencies are sending to Israel extremists disguised as tourists, in order that they will document ‘Human Rights violations' [quotation marks in the original].  

“The most blatant example is the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel, a project founded in 2002 by The World Council of Churches. Its declared purpose is to bring volunteers to ‘experience life under occupation and influence the International Community's involvement in the conflict’. This project is sending activists from dozens of countries for a period of three months, after a training in their home country which includes ways of dealing with the military and briefing to get into Israel. When arriving, they get a further briefing and then go into the field, wearing brown vests with the program logo. They are deployed at the crossings and points of friction, and even in the Old City of Jerusalem, and make one-sided documentation of  alleged Israeli violations. At a peak moment activists positioned themselves at the Wailing Wall and documented the security forces’ activities. At the end of three months, many activists return to their home countries and promote various anti-Israeli campaigns at the explicit request of the program managers. An end should be put at last to the activity of this and other organizations of the same type such as the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and The American Friends Service Committee of the Quakers, who until now got humanitarian visas."


http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=16901


This morning, the radio news reported that the French Government condemns the demolition of buildings in Nabi Samwil, north of Jerusalem, whose construction was financed by France. “It is the third time this year that Israel is destroying or confiscating humanitarian aid structures which were erected by France, including a school which was destroyed six months ago. The increasing pace of demolition  is in contravention of International Law.”

Perhaps the French Ambassador should be expelled, too?



Saturday, July 9, 2016

"It can happen to anyone!"

 "We are deeply concerned at the news that the Israeli government published plans to further expand settlement construction on the West Bank. This seems to be another step in the process of systematic takeover of Palestinian land which undermines the foundations of the two-state solution" said the State Department spokesperson in Washington. Prime Minister Netanyahu got the news during the high-profile trip to Africa and was quick to respond during a press conference held in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. "What the hell? We don’t agree with the Americans. Construction in the settlements is not at all what hinders the achievement peace. The only obstacle is Palestinian incitement, only that!".

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who was standing next to Netanyahu at the press conference, added: "I, too, am criticized in the West - and I criticize the criticizers. They accuse us of having no democracy? Those who say so don’t understand Rwanda. I do what is best for our people." The fact is that Kagame holds power in Rwanda for sixteen years already, and only recently his people went to the polls and decided by a 98% majority to grant their beloved President yet another seven years. To quote from the report of Boaz Bismut of Israel Hayom, (nicknamed Bibinews), who accompanied the Prime Minister's entourage in Africa: "Kagame, one of the most impressive leaders in Africa, has a world view very similar to that of Netanyahu. Both of these leaders understand each other and trust each other, they know they can depend on each other."

As part of the government's conspicuous pampering of the settlers, five million Shekels were allocated for the establishment of bicycle paths in the settlement of Kiryat Arba. On the radio news bulletin, Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel - who was deeply involved with this decision, though it had nothing to do with agriculture – was asked: "Are there so many cyclists in Kiryat Arba? Would it not it be better to invest the money in creating more bicycle paths in Tel Aviv?" - "How can you even ask such a question, when a family in Kiryat Arba is still in mourning for a 13-year-old girl murdered just a few days ago?" Replied the minister. "The settlers have suffered a severe trauma, they feel threatened, their morale must be raised."

Indeed, the 13 year old Hallel Ariel was killed last week by a Palestinian who infiltrated into the settlement. The Israeli press repeatedly published photos of her young face, and Yediot Aharonot gave a banner headline to her mother's "Goodbye, My Princess!" at the gravesite. It is unlikely that in the course of her short life she ever heard the words "occupation" or "land grab". How would she have heard of such unpleasant things at the bossom of her loving family, in a home surrounded by vineyards at the edge of the settlement?

Hallel Ariel was killed by Muhammad Taraireh from the nearby Palestinian town of Bani Naim, who was himself killed a few minutes later by the Kiryat Arba security squad. He was 17, and he wanted to avenge the death of his cousin Yusef Taraireh, who was killed by the army on March 14, as well as of a neighbor woman killed last week. Probably he also had other reasons for wanting to die. Less than a week before he killed and was killed, Taraireh wrote on Facebook: "Grave, where are you? Are you waiting for me? Angel of Death, don’t you miss me?".

Military forces laid a tight siege to Bani Na'im and revoked the work permits of 2400 townspeople. Soldiers photographed and measured the Taraireh family home in advance of its demolition. Carrying out the demolition depends on getting the court‘s approval - but in the vast majority of cases the judges do approve such demolition orders, even if there is no proof of any involvement of family members. The government and the security services assert that demolishing the homes of families is needed in order to create deterrence. Israeli judges do not tend to argue with what the security services assert is needed for security.

Currently, the Supreme Court already approved the implementing of two previous demolition orders at Qalandiya refugee camp, for the homes of two young Palestinians who had carried out an attack in the Old City of Jerusalem and were then killed on the spot. Carrying out a demolition order in Qalandiya is far from a trivial affair. No less than a thousand soldiers and police were mobilized in order to achieve this aim. They entered the camp, met with the expected resistance of local youths and immediately opened up with tear gas and "rubber bullets" (i.e., rubber-coated metal bullets). Even Red Crescent ambulances trying to reach and evacuate the wounded were met with a barrage of tear gas. Eventually the mission was accomplished: closely guarded by the soldiers, the bulldozers did their job and the homes of the Assaf and Abu Habsa families were razed to the ground. Was deterrence achieved?

 The parents of the Palestinian boy Mohammed Abu Khdeir, who was kidnapped and burned to death by three Israelis, petitioned the Supreme Court to order the government to demolish the homes of the families of those murderers as well. So far, the government rejected such calls out of hand. According to the Defense Ministry and the security services, there are only a few isolated cases of Israeli Jews who want to harm Palestinians - and therefore, when it comes to Jews they do not need to create a deterrent, and therefore there is no reason to demolish family homes. What will the Supreme Court justices decide?

Meanwhile, at the Jaffa Military Court the trial is continuing of the famous (or infamous) Sergeant Elor Azaria, who while on service at the city of Hebron shot and killed a Palestinian who was lying wounded on the ground. Earlier this week, extensive media attention was given to the emotional (in some views, well rehearsed) courtroom outburst by Charlie Azaria, the defendant's father: "They are framing my boy! Don’t you see it? They want to put him in jail - for what? Where have we come to? What do the prosecutors know about Hebron? Had any of them ever been in Hebron? Did one of them sent an 18-year old boy to serve in Hebron? Day and night, I hear the soldiers. They talk to me. They are haunted by fear. They don’t sleep at night. They can’t walk a single meter without the fear of being stabbed. Our people are being blown up, being murdered. Is it for that that I sent my son to be a combat soldier? So that they will send him to jail? Where is the Prime Minister?"

In Yediot Ahronot, Nahum Barnea wrote:"The Israelis who demonstrate in support of Azaria do not care what the law says. They are convinced that there is no difference between shooting a terrorist who is charging , knife in hand, and shooting a terrorist who is lying helpless on the asphalt. Terrorists should be killed under all circumstances. The Israelis who commiserate with his parents on the social networks do not care about the norms in the army. They regard a 20-year old soldier as a child, who should not be held culpable - certainly not when it comes to killing a terrorist. "

http://www.yediot.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4825622,00.html

Of course, Azaria’s lawyers can’t openly present such arguments to the judges. The defense line is based on the attempt to prove that Azaria felt sincerely threatened, fearing that the person lying on the ground might be carrying an explosive device and that that was why he deliberately shot him in the head. Officers took the witness stand, one after the other, refuting such assertions and stating explicitly that Azaria had no grounds to feel threatened, and that it was up to his commanding officer who was on the spot to deal with any threatening explosive device. Thereupon, Azaria’s fans filled the social media with wild abuse and some death threats against the testifying officers.



This week, the B'Tselem Human Rights organization presented new evidence regarding the circumstances under which the 27-year-old Sarah Hajuj was shot to death at the Tomb of the Patriarchs on the morning of July 1. The police version is that she was shot when holding a knife and threatening to stab a female police officer who was about to conduct a search. Witnesses assert that she had been already subjected to massive quantities of pepper spray directly in the face which completely overwhelmed her, and that she no longer constituted any kind of threat when a policeman killed her by four consecutive gun shots.

This time, B'Tselem did not come up with a video to show the exact circumstances of the killing. No official body in Israel would consider launching yet another sensational and controversial trial, based solely on the testimony of Palestinian witnesses. The adherents of Sergeant Azaria assert that "He only got in trouble because B'Tselem took that video of him" – and they are likely right.

Also this week, the army’s "Conscience Committee" heard the arguments of Conscientious Objector Tair Kaminer, who is already for six months going in and out of the military prison, and in again. Unlike Azaria, who is not being handcuffed when taken to the military tribunal, Tair Kaminer was brought from the military prison to the Conscience Committee room with handcuffs on.

When given the opportunity to speak, she told the senior officers constituting the Conscience Committee that it would be against her conscience to take part in what she regards as the cycle of bloodshed and violence. She is not

prepared to accept the committee’s narrow definition that "conscience" consists solely of pacifism and of absolute refusal to serve in any army whatsoever, under any circumstances. "Prior to the date of the call-up, set for me by the army, I did a year of community service, working with children in Sderot on the Gaza border and experiencing the harsh reality of the Israeli children who grow up in that area. The situation is also harsh for Palestinian children who grow up in Gaza or the Occupied Territories. They all learn to hate the other side. When I look at all these children together, at the future generations of both sides and the reality in which they grow up, I see an endless continuity of trauma and pain. Already for years, there is no effort to achieve a political solution, no attempt whatsoever to bring peace to Gaza and Sderot. By opting for a violent military way, we are perpetuating on both sides a hatred which would just worsen with every new generation. Therefore, I cannot take an active part in maintaining a status quo which in my view must be completely changed. That would be completely contrary to the dictates of my conscience. "

Thirty-nine well-known jurists, including five former deans of Law Faculties at Israeli universities, wrote to the head of the IDF Legal Branch, calling upon the army to recognize Tair Kaminer’s right to Freedom of Conscience. The Military Conscience Committee is in no hurry to make a decision. Tair’s parents call every day - and every day they receive the reply that the Commission continues to deliberate on her case.

And this, too, took place this week: Israeli circus artists - and three Palestinian circus performers from Nablus - converged on the Nahalat Binyamin pedestrian mall in Tel Aviv to express solidarity with the Palestinian clown and circus artist Mohammed Abu Saha, who is already seven months imprisoned without trial. "No to Administrative Detention!" "They arrest clowns, too!" said the placards waved towards the crowds strolling to the nearby Artisan Fair. In the middle of the street, a clown was sitting in a cage. Next to him, an activist spoke through a loudspeaker: "The so-called Israeli Administrative Detention is nothing but imprisonment without trial. Without trial, without any charge, without a lawyer, without anyone telling you of what you are accused and how long you can expect to stay behind bars. Imprisonment without trial, and it can happen to anyone! It can happen to any one of us, at any time! " At this point, two other activists approached, who played the role of soldiers. They gagged the speaker while he shouted: Help! Help!, tied his hands and pushed him into the cage next to the clown.

This little performance greatly moved one of the passers-by, who tried to burst in and release the detainees inside the cage. But the police, who were present in order to maintain order, rushed up, grabbed the man and dragged him away. While being dragged off, the man screamed: "He is right! It really can happen to anyone!"