Volcano

 

 

 Photo: www.geo.mtu.edu 　

Two weeks ago, a volcano erupted in downtown Reykjavik, capital of Iceland. At least, that is how the Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel defined the resolution taken by the Reykjavik City Council, which called for a boycott of goods from Israel "in order to show support for the Palestinians' right to independence, and to put pressure on the Israeli authorities to end the occupation of Palestinian territories." In the summary of the Foreign Ministry spokesperson: "A volcano of completely blind and unreasoning hatred against Israel." For its part, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith threatened to initiate a boycott of Iceland in the United States – quite a threat to a small country in whose economy exports to the US play a significant role.

In Ha’aretz, Gideon Levy remarked: "Once upon a time Reykjavik loved Israel very much, sending the best of her sons and daughters to volunteer on kibbutzim. Reykjavik, like most of the world, hates the Israeli occupation. She hates injustice, and apartheid, and colonialism, and violations of International Law. Reykjavik which once loved Israel cannot keep silent anymore."

Eventually, the mayor of Reykjavik issued a clarification, stating that the intention is to boycott settlement products and not all Israeli products. Thus, Reykjavik fell into line with the European Parliament which resolved by an overwhelming majority to conspicuously mark settlement products reaching the European market. Particularly, the Icelandic Social Democrats, all of whom dominating the city council, aligned themselves with the unanimous position of the Scandinavian Social Democrats, all of whom are committed to struggle against the Israeli occupation and settlements and for the realization of the two-state solution. (The Copenhagen City Council already adopted a few months ago a resolution to boycott settlement products, which did not cause so much commotion…)

Another diplomatic volcano - this time on Yehuda Halevy Street in Tel Aviv, location of the Brazilian Embassy to Israel. It was visited by a delegation of former Israeli diplomats who became very sharp critics of the policies enacted by the current government of Israel. Heading the group were Alon Liel, former Foreign Ministry Director General; Ilan Baruch, former Israeli Ambassador to South Africa; and Eli Bar Navi, former Ambassador to France. The three met with the Brazilian Ambassador and asked him to forward a message to Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil, containing an unusual request – that she refuse to accept the Israeli ambassador-designate Danny Dayan.

Danny Dayan is a talented man who successfully filled various public positions. He is also a native of Argentina, Brazil's neighbor, and speaks fluent Spanish. But a large part of the public positions held by Dayan were within the Judea and Samaria Council, leadership body of the Israeli settlers on the West Bank, which he for some years headed. He is not just a settler, but a settler political leader and ideologue, nicknamed "the foreign minister of the settlers." The three dissident diplomats stated that if the Brazilian Government accepts Dayan as Israel’s Ambassador to Brasilia, it would be tantamount to a recognition of the Israeli settlement enterprise in the Occupied Territories. "Dayan is a settler, ideologically committed to a policy which the government of Brazil defines as illegal and in violation of International Law. Dayan is staunchly opposed to the two state solution. Brazil’s accepting his appointment would send a very negative message to all Palestinians and Israelis who support this solution."

According to diplomatic protocol, a country seeking to appoint a person to the position of its Ambassador to another country should formally request the written consent of the host country. If the host country does not issue such a letter of consent, the appointment cannot take place. In practice, only rarely is there an official outright rejection of a designated Ambassador – since usually such appointments are agreed upon in preliminary, informal contacts between the two governments. In this case, Netanyahu was in a hurry to announce the appointment in Brazil, as a reward to Danny Dayan who supported him in the last election, and apparently without completely clarifying it in advance with the Brazilians. The President of Brazil had expressed unofficially her displeasure with the appointment, although so far she did not officially reject it.

Upon publication of the diplomatic rebels’ act, there arose a veritable storm of verbal attacks against them. The main "opposition" leader Yair Lapid, Yitzchak Herzog and Shelly Yechimovitz publicly announced their full support for the appointment of Danny Dayan and asked the Brazilians to accept. Yechimovitz went as far as publishing a warm testimonial of her personal friendship with Danny Dayan: "He is a most worthy appointee – a military officer, a talented high-tech entrepreneur, an economist, an elected official, a public servant - so what if he lives in a settlement? Many people in various positions of authority live in settlements"). Indeed, there are many settlers who hold senior positions of all kinds in the State of Israel – the soon to be appointed new commissioner of the Israel Police will also be one of them. Usually, however, the appointments of settlers to influential positions does not require the consent of the government of Brazil…

Meanwhile the situation on the ground continues to sizzle. True, as of now the situation in the highly sensitive holy site of Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif has calmed down. But in many other places, less famous and less sacred - in fact, almost at any spot where Palestinians are living under an occupation which has become unbearable - daily incidents continue: confrontations, shooting and the hurling of stones and Molotov cocktails. Is it the Third Intifada, which had been so much talked of and awaited with apprehension? The Israeli mass media no longer bothers with this vexing question, having invented a new term: "Terrorism of the Stones ". This solves the problem. Obviously, if it is a form of terrorism it must be stamped out. So cries out daily the Prime Minister Netanyahu, from whom the threat of the Iranian Bomb was snatched and who is in urgent need of a replacement. So it appears every day, with banner headlines and lurid colors, on the pages of "Yediot Ahronot" – a paper which in elections times opposes Netanyahu and supports any candidate running against him, but which now gives the PM a big boost in The War Against Terrorism of the Stones.

Netanyahu is strongly pushing for three interconnected measures: police snipers to be stationed to shoot stone throwers from afar; long mandatory prison terms for those who make it alive to the dock; and heavy fines imposed on the parents of stone-throwers who are still under the age of criminal responsibility. The third one might prove the most draconian. If the parents of a stone-throwing boy are unable to pay the heavy fine imposed on them - and there is no doubt that such will often be the case - then according to Netanyahu's proposal they would be denied their Social Security allowance, a small pittance which is the only thing keeping many impoverished East Jerusalem families afloat. But whether the imposition of a harsh utter poverty would prove the right method of bringing stone throwing to an end, remains doubtful.

Remarkably, Attorney Yehuda Weinstein has placed obstacles in the way of approving the Prime Minister’s measures, making various well-reasoned objections on grounds of civil and human rights, due process and the independence of the judiciary system. Remarkably – because Attorney General Weinstein was specifically selected to his job in order to pliant and not place obstacles in the PM’s path.

Also IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot is not really enthusiastic about Netanyhau’s highly publicized campaign. "Already, since the beginning of this year, 19 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank, in clashes due to the throwing of stones and Molotov cocktails. This is a high figure which is not conductive to calming down the situation." Therefore, according to the report by Amos Harel of Ha’aretz, "Eizenkot and OC Central Command, Roni Numa, do not succumb to pressures exerted on them by settler leaders and right-wing MKs to use more force during crowd dispersal or issue more lenient open-fire regulations to soldiers on the ground."

　

However, since the above was published last Sunday, the figure of 19 dead Palestinians is no longer up to date. On Tuesday - in the midst of Yom Kippur, the day set aside by the Jewish religion for believers to reflect on their sins and tensely await God’s verdict – a young Palestinian woman was shot dead by soldiers in the city of Hebron. According to the army's version, the 18-year old student Hadeel al-Hashlamun went through the checkpoint; the electromagnetic system beeped an alarm; the soldiers shouted for her to stop but she continued on her way; they shot several bullets towards the floor to warn her, and then saw she was holding a knife – whereupon they shot several more bullets which proved lethal. The testimonies collected by B’tselem indicate that, while she indeed had a knife, there was a 1.2 meter metal barrier between her and the soldiers, and certainly after she was shot in both legs and was lying on the ground she posed no threat of any kind, and there was no justification for the lethal shooting to the torso. "The military command’s knee jerk defense of the soldiers, as expressed in the army’s official response to the incident, sends soldiers on the ground a clear message that there are very little limitations when it comes to using force, including lethal force, against Palestinian civilians" said the B’tselem activists. Precisely the opposite message to what the army’s supreme commander seemed to convey a few days earlier.

http://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20150922_hadil_al_hashlamun



Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) is preparing for his long-anticipated speech at the United Nations next week, on 30 September. For several weeks, Abbas has raised expectations and promised to "drop a bomb". The nature of this "bomb" was not explained and prompted a wave of speculations: The overall abrogation of the Oslo Accords; a declaration of the dissolution of the Palestinian Authority and the handover of responsibility to Israel as the Occupying Power; the cessation of security cooperation between the security services of the Palestinian and those of Israe; a declared founding of "a Palestinian state under occupation" which would seek the protection of the International Community; an appeal to the Security Council to admit Palestine as a full UN Member State.

In the past days, there were rumors of Abbas being strongly pressured by American and European diplomats, making him agree to tone down his intended speech - reduce the size of his "bomb". Even so, with the occupation going on and no sign of hope on the horizon, sooner or later a bomb would be dropped, not necessarily a diplomatic one.

 

Or a new volcano would erupt.

 

Conflagration on the island of stability

A burning bus at Ras el Amud, East Jerusalem

Photo: Jerusalem Fire Department 

 

On Sunday last week, Prime Minister Netanyahu sent an official greeting to the citizens of Israel on the occasion of the Jewish New Year, telling them how lucky they all were. "Over the past year we have seen how special is the State of Israel. All around us, the ground is shaking - but Israel is an island of stability, of prosperity. We have established here a magnificent country, a free, vibrant, creative democracy, a beacon of sanity and progress" said the Prime Minister, adding, "Our first priority is to continue to surrounding the State of Israel with security fences."


Two and a half days after that graceful greeting, the Prime Minister chaired an emergency cabinet meeting concerned to address the conflagration raging in the city of Jerusalem, not far from his bureau - widespread riots, widespread clashes between police and Palestinian demonstrators, dramatic footage from Jerusalem getting to the focus of world news...

As in many past cases the spark that set off the Jerusalem conflagration came from the holy compound known to Jews as Har Ha-Bayit (Temple Mount) and to Muslims as Haram a-Sharif (The Noble Sanctuary).

This is the place where the Jewish Temple had stood - rather, two consecutive Temples, the second one of which had been destroyed by the legions of the Roman Empire in 70 AD. The Jews carried the memory of the Temple with them throughout their wanderings, and in their collective consciousness the Temple was cleansed from the corruption that characterized its priests during much of its existence and became the very quintessence of beauty and perfection, the ultimate dream of redemption for countless generations. After centuries of later Roman and early Byzantine rule, during which the site was used as a garbage dump, the armies of Islam came to Jerusalem. The Muslims cleaned up the garbage and constructed there the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is for the past 1300 years the third holiest site in Islam, immediately after Mecca and Medina. According to Muslim belief, this is the place where the Prophet Muhammad arrived in his miraculous Night Journey on the back of his flying horse.

For many generations the Jewish religion was led by wise Rabbis who were well aware of the dangers inherent in a religious conflict over such a sensitive site. They found a sophisticated theological way to defuse this bomb, instructing the faithful that the Temple is too holy a place, not to be violated by the passage of mundane feet. Ascent to this awesome place should be postponed until the arrival of the Messiah. In the meantime, observant Jews were instructed to go on praying at the Wailing Wall, a remnant of the Temple - as they have been doing for generation after generation, century after century.

Nowadays, however, the Jewish religion – at least in the version dominant in Israel – has undergone a mutation. Increasingly, religious leaders are calling on their flock to ascend en masse the Temple Mount, to hold prayers there, drive a wedge of Jewish presence into the site and eventually destroy the Mosque and build the Third Temple instead. Once, this kind of "Temple Seekers" had been tiny groups, considered crackpots even in the right-wing milieu. Not anymore. Like other "wild growing weeds" in the Israeli society, they grew and greatly multiplied, gaining the open support of what passes for mainstream Knesset Members, including cabinet ministers.

The official position of the government of Israel is that Jews - and other non-Muslims - should have the chance to visit the mount. To that, as such, the Muslim authorities did not express any opposition – indeed, they sell admittance tickets from which a considerable source of income is derived. But in recent months, there is a constant increase in the number and size of organized groups of extreme right Jewish Israelis, who make no secret of their intentions and desire to become not visitors but landlords and eventually dispossess the Muslims. This inevitable brought an increasing number of incidents and confrontations. For some time the police began to prohibit the entry of Muslim aged less than fifty, but continued to allow the entry of Palestinian women. Thereupon, groups of Muslim women organized and clashed with right-wingers, who demanded that Muslim women be banned as well. In the past months police began a new procedure, to altogether prevent Muslims from ascending the mount in the morning hours, so as "to prevent attacks on Jewish visitors" - which aroused the suspicion of an intention to create a new status, with some hours reserved for Jewish prayer.

And so we came to past week - the week of the Jewish New Year. Most Israeli citizens took advantage of it for relaxation and recreation and barbequing in public spaces. But hundreds of religious nationalists announced their intention to celebrate the New Year by ascending Temple Mount and holding there a public prayer. They were led by Uri Ariel, Agriculture Minister in the Netanyahu Government, and among them were also the Young Guard of Netanyahu's Likud Party, declaring their determination to "assert Jewish Sovereignty."

To get around the police limitations, dozens of young Palestinians rushed to defend their Holy Site, arriving already on the previous night and camping at the mosques in order to face the Israeli right-wingers. In the early morning, a large police force raided the mosques in order to "safeguard the visit of the Jews" and had a very violent clash with the youngsters. Dozens of young Palestinians were detained and others were pushed into the mosque and the doors barred, whereupon Minister Ariel and his fellows arrived under heavy police guard. The Minister held an ostentatious prayer on the Mount and promised to return the next day.

Hearing the news, many hundreds of Muslims flocked to the mosques. The police began preventing the entry of "Muslim troublemakers" on the basis of lists of names and photographs compiled by the Security Services. The people denied entry clashed violently with police in the alleys around the perimeter of the Sacred Mount. The clashes quickly spread all over East Jerusalem. All along the winding "Seam Line" - separating Arab neighborhoods from the Jewish ones built on confiscated Palestinian land - there broke out riots, clashes and the hurling of stones, firecrackers and petrol bombs. An Israeli driver, the 64-year old Alexander Levlovitz, was killed in a car accident. Police determined that the accident was caused by stones hitting his vehicle, causing him to lose control.

Israeli media focused mainly on the death of Levlovitz - much less on the events which preceded it. The mass circulation papers competed in composing inflammatory headlines: "Alexander was murdered on the way the from holiday dinner" / "Rampaging Stone Terrorism!" / "The Stone Kills, A Stone is a Murder Weapon" / "Stop the Murderers!" / "In the Streets of Jerusalem, Terrorism Never Sleeps" / "A Capital City Under Attack!"/ "Stop the Leniency to Stone Throwers! "/ "Needed – an Iron Fist!". Indeed, in the emergency cabinet meeting, held at the heart of the PM’s Beacon of Stability and Progress, Netanyahu pushed through a whole series of harsh measures against stone throwers and against the parents of stone-throwers - heavy fines, requiring judges to impose long prison terms, changing the rules of engagement to give police more freedom to shoot, placing snipers to target stone-throwers from a distance.

Meanwhile, reactions in the international arena tend to point at the source of the problem – the attempts of a Jewish take-over of a Muslim Holy Place. Russia, the EU, the UN and the State Department all issued stern calls upon the government of Israel to strictly maintain and preserve the status quo and not permit any change on the Mount. King Abdullah of Jordan, whose Kingdom is accorded under the 1994 peace agreement an official status at the Holy Places in Jerusalem, warned that "Any further provocation or confrontation of police with Muslim worshipers at Al-Aqsa might damage relations between the two countries". For his part, King Salman of Saudi Arabia conducted a whole series of urgent and highly publicized phone calls with world leaders – starting with Putin in Moscow, through European Prime Ministers and Presidents and culminating with Obama - asking for their intervention to prevent a conflagration in Jerusalem. Just a few days before, Netanyahu confidential adviser Dore Gold, recently appointed Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, boasted of the good relations which developed in recent years between Israel and Saudi Arabia...

And this morning, the UN Security Council unanimously and firmly called upon Israel to maintain the status quo at Haram A-Sharif – calling it by this and no other name. In vain did the Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor complain of "a one-sided text which did not mention Palestinian stone-throwing".

At the same time, however, Netanyahu got on a different issue a far from inconsiderable consolation prize. At the urging of the US and with European support, The International Atomic Energy Agency rejected out of hand a proposal to subject Israel’s nuclear pile at Dimona to international inspection.

The combination of the two resolutions on the same day implies a wishy-washy message from the International Community: Israel is asked to thread carefully in its relations with Palestinians as a people and with Muslims as a religious community – but is given at the same time a free hand to maintain behind the scenes a nuclear monopoly, complete with submarine-mounted missiles which can wipe off the map any city in the Middle East - such an island of stability.

A very educational week, indeed

In 2008 was born a new "friction hot spot" in the Ramallah area of the West Bank.  Israeli settlers from Hallamish went down to the spring which had been used for many generations by the people of the nearby Arab village of Nabi Saleh. The settlers took up spray cans and sketched blue Stars of David all around the spring. They put in place canopies and benches, and most importantly - blocked  residents of Nabi Saleh from any further access. Initially, a sign was placed reading "Archeological site - no entry”. Later, an unknown hand added a more explicit handwritten notice "No entry to Arabs."

 

The Nabi Saleh villagers were not resigned to the loss of their spring. First, they approached the military government’s Civil Administration and presented it with documents attesting to their long-standing ownership of the spring. For its part, the Administration was in no rush to take care of the matter. The documents were turned over to an open-ended “judicial examination” pending which the spring remains in exclusive possession of the settlers.

 

Thereupon, the residents of Nabi Saleh adopted a model which began at Bil'in a few years earlier. Every Friday, the villagers – accompanied by Israeli and international volunteers – set out on a protest march toward the stolen spring - usually blocked and violently dispersed by the military long before they could arrive there. The Nabi Saleh protests are distinguished from those at Bil'in and other villages by an especially conspicuous participation of the village women.

 

Usually, the Israeli media does not report on the weekly clashes in Nabi Saleh: the heavy barrages of tear gas grenades which the military lobs at the protesters, sometimes even before the procession gets out of the built-up area, and which occasionally escalates to the shooting of live bullets; the large number of wounded and detained villagers, including many minors; the raids on the village in the wee hours and large-scale detentions of people in their homes… All of that is essentially a weekly routine already lasting for six or seven years. Usually, the photographs and footage taken among the houses of Nabi Saleh and in the fields on the way  to the spring are virtually the same as those taken last week and those which will be filmed next week. For the news editors in the Israeli media, it is simply not news.

 

The images which came from Nabi Saleh last week were different. The arrest of a twelve-year old boy and his being wriggled out of the soldier’s hands got attention worldwide. A picture is worth a thousand words, but what exactly did these pictures convey?

photo AFP

 

The right-wingers of various stripes had no doubts about what they could see in the images from Nabi Saleh: "The shameful photos of an IDF soldier being assaulted and struck by Palestinian women and children convey the army’s weakness and helplessness"/ "It is not the fault of the soldier, but of the political and military leaders who hobble the soldiers and deny them the freedom to act." / "The little Ayrab threw stones like a big terrorist and then when the soldier grabbed him he started crying like a baby. Well done to the soldier who acted with restraint and exhibited his higher morality." / "A soldier should not have to run like a goat among the rocks in order to catch stones throwers, this is futile and shameful. We should instead place snipers at a 300-400 meters distance, to shoot each stone-thrower in the knee.”

 

 "No soldier had been assaulted in the village of Nabi Saleh. This is an Israeli national psychosis, evidence of the public's growing disconnection from reality that it generates" wrote Rogel Alpher in Haaretz. "Anyone who looks at the video documenting the incident in Nabi Saleh and concludes that a soldier is being attacked suffers a cognitive failure derived comes from a deep moral corruption. The eyes of these Israelis see a soldier brutally trying to arrest  a 12-year old Palestinian boy with his hand in a cast, and some Palestinian women and a girl in a desperate hysterical effort to prevent the detention. That is all. The soldier is armed with a gun and tear gas, the women are not armed. It is obvious that he was not in danger. As soon as he lets go of the child, they let go of him. But these viewers' brains tell them a different story than what they plainly see. "

 

Suddenly, the focus of the debate shifted from the Israeli soldier and the Palestinian women to another Israeli )not a soldier) who was also present there. It turned out that among the Israeli peace activists at Nabi Saleh was also Herzl Schubert, a longtime history teacher at the ORT school in Ramat Gan. Until this week, few knew his name. But he gained maximum media exposure  as soon as somebody recognized him  in one of the photos  from the demonstration. Within less than twenty-four hours after this discovery, extreme right-wingers launched a full-scale campaign, exerting pressure to get Schubert fired – to that end appealing to Education Minister Bennett, to the ORT educational system, to Right-wing Knesset Members and to the Municipality of Ramat Gan. Ramat Gan Mayor Yisrael Zinger proved receptive, declaring: "If the information presented in the media is correct, then a man who hit IDF soldiers has no business educating this city's children. " (In fact, no evidence was brought of Herzl Schubert assaulting any soldier." Knesset Member Bezalel Smotrich of the Jewish Home Party wrote: “A teacher should serve as a role model, also beyond the frontal teaching hours, and should act accordingly. There should be a thorough investigation of whether Mr. Schubert's deserves to bear the sublime title of Teacher' in the education system of Israel."

 

Columnist Eran Rolnik had a different answer then the one intended by  Smotrich.  In an article entitled “We are all Herzl Schuberts" he wrote: “In the France of 1968, hundreds of thousands marched through the streets, chanting ‘We are all German Jews’, expressing solidarity with Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the student leader persecuted by the French government. In 2015 Israel, the  exceptional person is a history teacher participating in a demonstration against the occupation, who came to the aid of a Palestinian child being attacked by an armed soldier. He is denounced from all sides as a traitor, and the question of his suitability for the job of a teacher is cast  in doubt. It seems to be a further proof that the fate of Israeli democracy will not be determined by the composition of the government coalition, but rather by the willingness of decent people to stand up in opposition to the gravitational pull of fascism. What we urgently need at this time is not the replacement of the Likud Party by the Zionist Unity Party – what democracy needs, first and foremost, are brave educators such as the teacher from Ramat Gan. On the day when we will all be Herzl Schuberts, not afraid to identify with the weak and oppressed, we will understand the true meaning of opposition - even when the chances of ending the occupation seem more slim than ever. To be in opposition at this time means to continue searching for a way to live in this country without giving up our place in history as Jews."

 

It happened that all this commotion took place just in the week that the new school year began.  The mass media was filled with photos of cute kids arriving for their first day in First Grade. But there had been one recent educational event which  got no mention in the Israeli media. It did get a mention here, on this blog: "On the morning of August 20, the army destroyed the Samra School at Khirbeit Samra in the Jordan Valley, which villagers had constructed with the help of the Jordan Valley Solidarity Committee and international volunteers. Previously, local children had to go by bus to a school 25 kilometers away in Ein el Beida. All four classrooms were demolished, with educational materials buried under the ruins." The Jordan Valley Solidarity Committee had sent their press release to all the media, but none of the editors saw fit to take it up.

　

 

http://jordanvalleysolidarity.org/index.php/news-2/news2015/856-israeli-army-destroys-samra-school-in-the-jordan-valley#.VdhWOKGhkCw.facebook

 

The settler organization Regavim (”Clods of Earth”), which is busily monitoring the situation on the ground, did pay attention. They are happy with the demolition of the Khirbet Samra school, but it is not enough for them - they want more! On Tuesday this week Regavim uncovered a real scandal: the EU is building schools for the Palestinians! Yes, so declared Regavim leader Oved Arad on Tuesday this week: "The European Union established an illegal school in the Hebron Hills. The Europeans are violating Israeli law in order to  strengthen the Palestinian settlement in Area C. We have photos of how the EU is just ignoring Israel law. It is a completely illegal school which should be destroyed immediately. And this is already the second case. Already in  October 2014 we have revealed that the EU had set up an illegal school on Route 60, east of Jerusalem. They did it completely openly, the EU Flag is flying proudly on an illegal school, they just don’t  give a damn about us. This is a breach of Israeli sovereignty, they teach the Palestinian pupils how to take over the land. And it is not only schools, the Europeans also provide the Palestinians turbines to produce electricity from the wind, and they also set up toilet for the Palestinians. All this must be destroyed, immediately, to block the Palestinian-European takeover of Area C."

 

Would Oved Arad of the Regavim Movement have been considered worthy of bearing the sublime title of Teacher' in the education system of Israel? In the current situation, very possibly he would.

Money to buy bulldozers

Photo: 'Aref Daraghmeh, B'Tselem

We spent the last few weeks at a picturesque Dutch town, where on the way to shopping in the local supermarket we often had to wait for the bridge over the canal to come down after the boats have passed. Even that quiet and peaceful region had once been the scene of wars and bloody conflicts. During a cruise on a canal which had once been part of the fortifications, the guide told us: "Following the massacre which the Spanish army perpetrated here in 1572, in which most of the town’s inhabitants perished, it was rebuilt as a fortress town. Mighty fortifications were erected, a double system walls and ramparts and moats. Everywhere, artillery pieces were placed, ready to pour a deadly hail of fire in every direction and at every angle from which an enemy army might arrive. For hundreds of years, almost half of the city's inhabitants were soldiers." All this is, of course, ancient history. As we could see, nowadays the town’s boys climb the ancient cannons and on hot days they jump the ramparts for a long refreshing swim along the moats.


Even in the quiet Netherlands we could not completely get away from what is happening in a crazy country at the heart of the Middle East, which in the very present lives the life of a beleaguered fortress. At a newsstand located on the ground floor of a Seventeenth Century house we saw a big headline in one of main Dutch newspapers: "With the settlements, Israel has its own anti-democratic monster".

 Even with an imperfect knowledge of Dutch, it was not difficult to make out that the article, covering an entire page, was referring to the murderous attack on the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem and the immediately following arson of a Palestinian family home at the village of Duma near Nablus, where a father and his baby son died. From Jerusalem, correspondent Derk Walters informed the Dutch readers of the alarming increase of violent extreme right groups upholding a Nationalist-Religious Messianic ideology. He recounted the openly voiced explicit calls for attacking Arabs and homosexuals and for the torching of Christian churches, and quoted extensively the sharp denunciations made from all parts of the Israeli political spectrum. The article ended with a question: "Is the Netanyahu Government capable of taking serious measures against the settlers, when some of the cabinet ministers are themselves settlers?". Quite a few Israelis are asking themselves the same question.


Upon returning in the night flight to Ben Gurion Airport, I found on my answering machine a message from Haj Sami Sadeq, head of the small village of Aqaba in the Jordan Valley - who asked me to call him urgently. The village of Aqaba had suffered many years of harassment by the army, which stopped when the village head went on US lecture tour sponsored by the "Rebuilding Alliance", and had several meetings in Washington, D.C. As its name implies, the Alliance also raised funds to reconstruct what was destroyed in the village.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqabah


It seems, however, that the period of grace is now over. "Why are they doing this to us? We never threw stones, never. We just want to live in peace" said Haj Sami. "They came suddenly, without any warning. Hundreds of soldiers, with two huge bulldozers. They destroyed seven structures and also toppled the electricity poles. I spoke with Asher Tzur of the Civil Administration, the man who is persecuting us for many years already. I told him, 'I have a letter from Prime Minister Ehud Barak, he confirmed that we had the right to build power lines, to have light in our homes and air conditioning in the hot summer. He told me, 'Your entire village is illegal, we will yet wipe it off the map. The Americans give you money to build, but to us the Americans give money to buy bulldozers. "


What happened at the village of Aqaba is certainly not the only case, though in other afflicted villages residents don’t know my phone number. In the past two weeks, an intensive house demolition campaign is going on throughout the West Bank, the largest such since 2012. B'Tselem is carefully documenting what is going on:


"17 Aug 2015 - This morning, around 6am, Civil Administration and army forces demolished the homes of four families numbering 32 people, of them 21 minors, at the a-Sa'idi community, near a-Za'ayem. The forces then moved to the Abu-Falah community, in the Khan al-Ahmar area, and demolished a residential shack housing two people and a structure used to house guests. Later were demolished 12 structures in the adjacent Bir al-Maksub and Wadi Shneisel communities, nine of them residential homes."


"18 Aug 2015: This morning, 17 homes were destroyed, as well as 7 structures for livestock, in the village of Fasayil in the Jordan Valley, leaving 48 people homeless, 31 of them minors. Most of the families whose homes were destroyed have already lost their homes in previous demolitions. Evicted inhabitants were exposed to temperatures which reached 40 degrees Celsius."

And the latest, as of now: "20 Aug. 2015 - This morning, at the community of Khitbet Einun east of Tubas were demolished the homes of two families, totaling 11 people, including 7 minors, and a sheep pen. Then, the forces moved on to the Khirbet a-Deir community near the Jordanian border, and demolished the home of an 8-person family, including three minors. (…) Also destroyed was the Samra School at Khirbeit Samra, which villagers had constructed with the help of Jordan Valley Solidarity and international volunteers. Previously, local children had to go by bus to a school 25 kilometers away in Ein el Beida. All four classrooms were destroyed by the army, educational materials buried under the ruins."
　
http://www.btselem.org/planning_and_building/20150820_jordan_valley_demolitions
http://www.btselem.org/planning_and_building/20150818_fasayil_demolitions
http://www.btselem.org/planning_and_building/20150817_demolitions_in_maale_adumim_area

http://jordanvalleysolidarity.org/index.php/news-2/news2015/856-israeli-army-destroys-samra-school-in-the-jordan-valley#.VdhWOKGhkCw.facebook

Why was this campaign of destruction launched precisely now? Perhaps because the army and the government came under pressure to "counter-balance" the demolition of two homes in the settlement of Beit El, ordered by the Supreme Court when they were shown to have been erected in manifest illegality on privately owned Palestinian land.

Since returning from Holland, I looked up the Israeli press every morning. Except in Haaretz, there was no mention of the campaign of destruction carried out by the military authorities. 

On the first page of "Yediot Ahronot" appeared the headline "Terror without stop", referring to continuing attempts by Palestinians to stab soldiers at checkpoints, and praising the rapid response of the soldiers who managed to swiftly "neutralize" (i.e. kill) the stabbers. Also stone-throwing is nowadays defined by the mass circulation press as "a form of terrorism".


On op-ed pages, commentators continued arguing on whether we have gotten to "The Third Intifada", already awaited with great apprehension for so many years, or whether what we are witnessing is still a mere "pre-Intifada".
For his part, Yitzchak Herzog of the opposition Zionist Unity Party traveled to Ramallah to meet with President Abbas, and stated that it is possible and necessary to achieve peace with the Palestinians within two years. However, he hastened to add: "With regard to terrorism, our position is unequivocal - anyone who tries to harm Israelis had brought death upon himself."


And, of course, a lot of the headlines dealt with the hunger striking detainees Mohammed Allan. A lawyer and political activist from Einabus village near Nablus, Allan began a hunger strike after being placed under Administrative Detention without trial and without any charge being brought or been proven against him (which did not prevent quite a few people from the political right-wing to call him "a terrorist with blood on his hands"). State authorities tried to make use of the new, hastily enacted law, allowing the force feeding of hunger strikers. They came up, however, against the opposition of Israeli doctors, who adhered to the directive of Dr. Leonid Eidelman of the Israel Medical Association – stating that force-feeding is a form of torture and a violation of medical ethics. Also the transfer of Alan from one hospital to another failed to provide the authorities with "more amendable" physicians. In the meantime, the name of Muhammad Alan became well-known to newspaper readers throughout the country (and to quite a few outside it) and opposite the entrance to the hospital violent clashes broke out between opposing groups of demonstrators.


In the end, after it became unequivocally clear that the hunger striking Mohammed Allan started suffering brain damage, the Supreme Court ordered his release. Thereupon, the judges were subjected to concerted attacks from right-wing politicians ("The judges gave in to terror!"), much of the politicians’ ire was directed at the Israeli medical profession and its practicioners. However, the Court’s ruling included the possibility that Mohammed Allan’s brain damage would turn up to be reversible and he would once again constitute "a threat to national security", it would be possible to renew his detention...

"It seems to be the new status quo created between Israel and the Palestinian Administrative Detainees. Provide an MRI scan that indicates brain damage, and you go scot free," commented Ayala Hasson, the newscaster of the Friday Weekly News on Israel’s First Channel TV. Commentator Ari Shavit added, "We have to face it, hunger strikers always get enormous interest – and enormous sympathy, whatever strategy you choose towards them. The British have learned this again and again, at several times and places. Now we learn it, too. (…) The essential problem is that the Palestinians are being ignored. There is at present no Israeli diplomatic initiative even on the far horizon. Israelis think that we can lock up the Palestinians behind walls and fences and forget about them. The International Community has many other issues at the top of its agenda, and also the Arab World is nowadays concerned with things which seem far more troubling and urgent. The Palestinians feel that everybody has forgotten about them. I fear that this might end badly."


In the meantime, the broader Israeli public showed much more interest in the controlled blowing up of the Ma'ariv Traffic Bridge in Tel Aviv. The bridge served for forty years to regulate traffic in the metropolis, but was doomed once it had been defined as an obstacle to construction of the city’s new Light Rail system.


To watch the destruction, people flocked around the fourteen concrete pillars on which the huge bridge rested, and police needed to deploy considerable forces to prevent them from approaching the danger zone. Transport Minister Israel Katz had insisted on his right to blow up the bridge personally. The big moment was shown with great detail on television - the countdown: "Three, two, one - boom!" and then a happy smile was clearly discernable on the minister’s face as he pushed down the plunger and the great bridge came down.


"It was totally unnecessary," said on TV a retired engineer who was among the crowd at the explosion site, and whose face bore no smile. "I know that bridge very well, is was specifically designed for the option of orderly dismantling. It could have been taken apart and moved to another location and used again. That would have also been much cheaper than collecting and disposing of all the debris scattered after the explosion. I wrote to them, I wrote again and again and explained it with all the technical specifications, but nobody wanted to listen to me. "

A traffic jam in the middle of the desert

 

The rendezvous was scheduled for 11:30 am, outside the Arlozorov Street Railway Station in Tel Aviv. I arrived at 11:35. "Three buses have already been filled, but don’t worry – the fourth bus will soon arrive" said the organizers’ representative. "There will be a place for anyone who wants to go to the protest in Susiya."

It is long since there was such a wide response to a call for a demonstration in the wild West Bank. Among the passengers could be seen quite a few long-time activists who had however not been seen in recent years. Why did the case of Susiya evoke so much attention, in Israel and throughout the world? (Circulating on the bus was the current New York Times op-ed page, featuring a moving personal story of a Susiya resident). This tiny threatened village is in every way worthy of support and solidarity - but in the past, quite a few instances of no less outrageous injustice have been perpetrated and met a virtually complete indifference and silence. One can never know in advance which particular case will become the focus and symbol of a struggle.


 Little more than an hour's drive separates the vast metropolitan Tel Aviv from the godforsaken hamlet of Susiya in the middle of the desert. First the travel is along congested intercity highways – then, through back roads which become ever more narrow and in bad repair, the further one continues to the east and south. Somewhere, without noticing, the Green Line is crossed into the territory where there is not even a semblance of democracy, where the landscape is predominantly brown rather than green - apart from the occasional green patch of a settlement, which had the privilege of being connected to the Israeli water system.

At the end of the trip, the narrow road forks, and the sign to the right side says "Susiya" - but nevertheless, we turned to the left. The sign erected by the military authorities refers to the other Susiya – the Israeli settlement Susiya, which claims to be the continuation of a Jewish village of the same name which existed on this location during the Roman and Byzantine period. "Come and see Susiya - an ancient Jewish town" says the sign on the road we had not taken.

The Jews who lived here 1,500 years ago had lived in caves. In the Twentieth Century, Palestinians had been living in these same caves, until in 1986 the army came to expel them and turn the caves into an archeological site managed by the settlers. The Palestinians had to move to miserable shacks erected on what was left of their land. Is it possible that they actually were the descendants of those who resided in those caves in the Fifth Century? At the beginning of the Zionist Movement, David Ben Gurion promoted the idea that at least some of the Arabs in this country are descendants of Jews who lived here in the past, and who at some time were converted to Islam and started speaking Arabic. In 1918 Ben Gurion even published an entire book on this subject, in cooperation with the future President of Israel Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, including detailed historical documentation to support this theory. But before long it became clear that, even if some of the Palestinians’ ancestors had been Jewish, at present they have no interest whatsoever in being Jewish or promoting the Zionist Project. So, Ben-Gurion and his colleagues lost interest in further discussing this issue.


In the direction of Palestinian Susiya there was no road sign. For the Israeli authorities, it simply does not exist. "The competent military authorities take the position that there had never existed an Arab village named Susiya" stated on the Knesset floor Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan, of the Jewish Home Party. "Palestinian structures were built without permits on that location, and were demolished during the 1995-2001 period. Illegal construction continued, against which demolition orders were issued. In May 2015 the Supreme Court rejected a petition by the Palestinians for an interim injunction against the demolition of these structures."

There are no road signs, but it is not difficult to find Palestinian Susiya, with the Palestinian flag painted on rocks along the road. Four buses arrived from Tel Aviv and three from Jerusalem, plus quite a few private cars, and a minor traffic jam was created in the middle of the desert. "Pay attention, it is now the hottest hour of the day, it's one of the hottest places in the country, and there is almost no shade" warns the young woman in charge of my bus. "Please be sure, all of you, to cover your heads and take water with you. For those who have not brought it with them, we provide bottled water". On a low ridge above the bus could already be seen a human stream winding its way towards the rally.

The concrete cover of a rainwater collection cistern has become a makeshift podium, with several loudspeakers and a Palestinian flag flying. When the group from our bus arrived, the speeches were already under way, in a mixture of Arabic, English and Hebrew. "67 years after the Palestinian Nakba, it is still going on! They want to expel the residents of Susiya from their land! Are we going to let them do it?" cried former Palestinian Minister Mustafa Barghouti, eliciting a loud chorus of "No! No!". "After the Apartheid regime in South Africa fell, Nelson Mandela said that the fight is not over, the next part is the Palestinian struggle. We are here, we are struggling. We will go on struggling until Palestine is free!" (Chanting in Arabic and English "Free Palestine! Free Palestine! Free, free Palestine! "

Susiya resident Nasser Nawaj'ah, a leader activist of the struggle, spoke in Hebrew to those who came from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem: "Welcome to Susiya, all of you, welcome to Susiya, the fighting Susiya which will not give in! Our struggle is already going on for decades. In 1982, they erected the settlement of Susiya on our land. In 1986, they expelled us from the caves and turned them into an archaeological site of the settlers, then we moved to the farmland, all what was left to us. In 2001, they destroyed everything and drove us away, but we came back and set up our village again. You are most welcome here, we are grateful for the solidarity and support of all those who have come here. You are the other face of Israel, the face which is different from what we see of the soldiers and settlers who come to us every day. You give us hope, the hope that we can still live together, Palestinians as Israel's neighbors in peace."

He was followed by Professor Yigal Bronner, who teaches history of India at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is a prominent activist of the Ta'ayush Movement, which is active already for many years in support of the residents of the South Hebron Hills. "We are here in Susiya. What is Susiya? Not much. Some cisterns which the army had not filled with dirt, a few sheep which the settlers have not yet stolen, some olive trees that have not yet been cut down. What is Susiya? Susiya is 350 people who hold on to the land, clinging and clinging and holding on and not giving up, because it's their home. Quite simply, this is their home. Opposite us is the other Susiya. The Susiya which is armed and surrounded by a fence, which is connected to to water and electricity and sewage and has representatives in all the corridors of power, and it wants to grab what little is left of this Susiya where we stand. Susiya against Susiya, this is the whole story. The Palestinian Susiya has no soldiers and no police and no representatives in the Knesset and in fact it does not have the vote. But it has us. We are here to stand with Susiya and we will not leave. We will do everything we can to be here and prevent the destruction. And if does take place, we will be here the next morning to rebuild, together with the residents. Susiya is not alone! "(Chanting of "Susiya, Sussiya do not despair, we will end the occupation yet!" in Hebrew and "Yaskut al Ikhitlal", "Down with the Occupation" in Arabic.
"It is very important that you all came here, it is important to continue the struggle. There will be here another demonstration next Saturday, and on August 3 at 9:00 am there will be the hearing on the appeal of Susiya at the Supreme Court. It is very important to be there! Susiya is not alone! Susiya is not alone!"

After the speeches - the march to the edge of the ridge. "For anyone who feels badly affected by the heat and sun, there is a tent with shade and plenty of water. Don’t get hurt unnecessarily. And now – forward!"

Together with the Palestinians, locals and those who especially came, we all moved ahead to the rhythmic beating of the "Drummers Against the Occupation", and the heat did not seem to reduce their energy and enthusiasm. Above the crowd　were waving　the placards　of "Combatants for Peace",　one of　the demonstration's organizers,　with the caption　"There is Another Way" in Hebrew,　Arabic　and English.　 "Though shalt not rob thy fellow" read the big sign carried by Rabbi Arik　Asherman, who already for many years did not miss any demonstration, "Rabbis　for Human Rights" being another of　the protest initiators. Other Biblical slogans: "Have we become the like of Sodom, did we assume the face of Gomorrah?", "Save the poor his robber, protect the miserable from the heartless despoiler" "By Justice shall Zion be redeemed", "Each shall sit in content under his vine and his fig tree."


A five years old Palestinian girl held upside down a large sign in Hebrew reading "No more land grab!". One of the Israelis drew the attention of a woman in traditional Palestinian dress, apparently the grandmother. The granddaughter, laughing, turned the sign to the correct direction before the press photographers arrived at this part of the march. Near was walking a strapping young man wearing a T-shirt of the FC St. Pauli soccer club of Hamburg, Germany, whose fans are known for their fight against racism, and next was a woman whose shirt proclaimed "Stop the Pinkwashing!", protesting the cynical use made of LGBT people by the government international PR apparatus ("Hasbara"). The text on the bag of a veteran Jerusalem activist referred to the elctions earlier this year: "We did not succeed in throwing Netanyahu out, which is very harsh and painful, but at least let him keep his paws off Susiya!"

At the end of the march, dozens lifted with great effort a 30-metre long sign reading: "Susiya is Palestinian, and Palestinian it will remain!". When the buses on the way back passed the official sign about "The ancient Jewish town" we could see it at the top of the ridge above the road.

Life and Death

Sharon Gal is the latest among the long string of Israeli journalists who moved over to a political career. Immediately upon being elected to the Knesset he found a convenient hobby horse to ride – the call for introducing the death penalty for Palestinians "terrorists". At the same time as tabling a bill to that effect, Gal also placed on Facebook a selfie photo of himself holding a sign reading "I, too, am in favor of Death to Terrorists" and called on others to join in – and indeed, quite a few others posted similar photos of themselves, among them young children. Former Knesset Member Moshe Feiglin, who failed to gain election to the current Knesset, won a precious minute of media attention by declaring himself a volunteer hangman, ready and willing to perform executions with his own hands.

To Sharon Gal's surprise and chagrin, Prime Minister Netanyahu responded quickly and decisively – completely forbidding members of the ruling Likud Party to support the Death Penalty Initiative and removing it from the agenda in one fell swoop. In fact, this should not have come as a surprise, considering that for already decades the Israeli security services and IDF high command are firmly opposed to pronouncing the death penalty on Palestinians. That refers, of course, to a death penalty imposed publicly by a regular court of law, when months or even years might pass between the issuing of the verdict and its implementation in practice – more than enough time for the condemned person to become the focus of world-wide attention and for mounting pressures to avert the execution.

Only once did the State of Israel try to go this way, when in 1965 Mahmoud Hijazi – a Fatah member who had infiltrated into Israel and unsuccessfully tried to blow up an agricultural installation - was sentenced to death by an Israeli military court. The case generated enormous publicity and controversy, particularly due to the high-profile involvement of the sensationalist French-Algerian lawyer Jacques Vergès. Eventually, the authorities were forced to commute Hijazi’s punishment, and in 1971 he was released in a prisoner exchange. Ever since then, all branches of the Israeli security establishment are determined not to repeat this experience.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Verg%C3%A8s

All this does not apply to extra-judicial executions, carried out without any prior notice, such as the killing these days of 17-year old Palestinian Muhammad 'Ali-Kosba by Colonel Yisrael Shumer. At first it was claimed that the shooting was a justified act of self-defense, as the officer and the soldiers under his command were in life danger. Yair Lapid, a prominent leader of the Israeli parliamentary "opposition", declared that "Full backing and support should be given to an officer who shot and killed a terrorist throwing rocks at his car. Rocks can kill, and soldiers need to be able to defend themselves".

After a week, the Human Rights organization B’Tselem attempted to spoil the party by publishing footage from the security camera of a Palestinian gas station near to where the shooting had taken place. It showed that though the boy did throw a stone at the windshield of the colonel’s jeep, he then fled with other teens – whereupon the colonel and his soldiers pursued on foot, fatally shooting the boy in the back from a distance of some ten meters, at a time when he posed them no threat. However, the revelation made no real change in the sweeping expressions of support made by senior military officers and politicians.

http://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20150712_killing_of_muhammad_ali_qusbah

It was summed up neatly by Adi Arbel of the "Institute for Zionist Strategies": "A person who threw a rock at a car once would do it again. The first time he attempted murder justifies shooting him even during his escape, and if he accidentally dies, too bad. His being dead prevented his doing it again, for which the shooter deserves a commendation. With truly moral rules with regard to opening fire, there is really no need for a law to prescribe the death penalty." What do Arbel and his fellows in Institute for Zionist Strategies think about several incidents in which Israeli settlers hurled stones at the soldiers who were supposed to protect them, in some cases attacking senior officers? As far as can be ascertained, in such cases the Institute does not recommend shooting to kill.

　

Tiptoing around the elephant

　
On the evening before the Iran accord became an official fact, heads of the Likud Party were given summary messages which they were to repeat on all media interviews as soon as news from Vienna would confirm the signing of the agreement. And so it came to pass. "Israel Today" aka the Bibinews came out with the banner headline "An Agreement of Eternal Disgrace", and government speakers went on a media blitz, carefully reiterating the prepared messages: 1. The agreement is bad, very bad, terrible, an abject surrender agreement, a new Munich Agreement, Obama is the new Chamberlain appeasing the new Hitler in Tehran etc. etc. 2. Were it not for Netanyahu and his tireless efforts for the country, the situation would have been far worse, far more devastating. 3. The opposition parties and their leaders should feel ashamed of not having sufficiently supported Netanyahu in the past, and of criticizing him in the present moment when the grave situation mandates that everybody rally patriotically around the Prime Minister.

　
The third talking point turned out to be particularly effective. Yitzchak Herzog, head of the Labor Party/ Zionist Unity which is supposed to be the main opposition party, announced himself in complete agreement with the PM’s harsh criticism of the agreement with Iran, declared that "On issues of National Security there is no government and opposition" and announced his intention to go out on a PR mission in the United States and campaign against the agreement. In fact, Herzog volunteered to play the role which the Foreign Minister in Netanyahu's cabinet is supposed to perform, prompting rumors that he will soon receive the official title as well (so far, Herzog vehemently denies it...).

"What kind of agreement is this? The agreement gives Iran 24 days' notice before an inspection in their nuclear facilities. 24 days is more than enough to hide what is going on there!" warned the prime minister. As is well known, it is already much more than 24 years since US President John F. Kennedy demanded that Israel allow periodical inspections at the nuclear reactor in Dimona - a demand which at the time caused a serious crisis in relations between Israel and the United States (though it was kept mostly secret). More than twenty four years have also passed since Mordechai Vanunu conducted a completely informal and unauthorized inspection there and published his findings in the international press – for which he spent eighteen years in prison, and is up to the present forbidden to leave the country or meet with foreigners, so as to prevent him from reiterating publication of his 1985 findings. However, the Israeli nuclear arms are not – nor are they going to be - part of the ongoing debate on the Iranian agreement. It can be assumed with virtual certainty that also in the future, debaters will tiptoe around this big elephant in the middle of the room.

As things now look, over the next two months Netanyahu will devote all his time and energy to a tireless struggle in his favorite milieu, i.e. American domestic politics. All that remains of Israel’s influence and prestige will be invested in a no holds barred confrontation with the President of the United States, an effort to mobilize at all costs thirteen Democrat Senators who would agree to cross the lines, overcome a Presidential veto, and cause a crushing defeat to a President of their own party and a major victory to their Republican foes . This titanic struggle will occupy the next two months, the time period set for Congress to review the agreement with Iran.

According to this timetable, the dramatic vote will take place on Capitol Hill exactly in mid-September – which would coincide neatly with the opening of the UN General Assembly, the time when new initiatives might come up with regard to the Israeli occupation which is fast approaching its fiftieth anniversary. And then? Would Obama feel exhausted from the tremendous struggle and disinclined to start a new one - or vice versa, full of anger and bitterness at the Prime Minister of Israel and ready to totally confront him also on the Palestinian issue?

Teachers’ dilemma

On July 21 in Ottawa, Canada, the issue of relations between Israel and the Palestinians will figure on the agenda of the conference of Education International, a worldwide federation incorporating no less than
321 trade unions of teachers and educational workers from 162 countries. Towards the conference, the teachers 'unions from the United Kingdom and South Africa introduced sharply worded draft resolutions, particularly with regard to the widespread killing and destruction in the Gaza Strip last year and especially their severe impact on children and youths - culminating with an official call upon all teachers' unions worldwide to promote a boycott of the State of Israel.

At a preliminary meeting in Brussels last month, the representatives of the Israeli Teachers’ Union conducted a bitter struggle against the British and
South African proposals. Eventually, it was agreed that the conference would not adopt new resolutions on the Palestinian issue, but only reaffirm the resolutions already adopted on this issue at the previous conference, in 2011.

However, in order to get this result, the Israeli teachers had to agree to themselves endorse the resolutions adopted in 2011. These included statement that "The continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the existence of illegal Israeli settlements there and their impact on the lives of Palestinians, including [denial of] access to water, along with the siege of Gaza, impose severe constraints on the potential for Palestinian economic and social development." Also endorsed was the call for the 700 kilometer Wall to be removed, in accordance with the decision of the International Court of Justice of July 2004 and the expression of "Concern at the inhuman treatment of Palestinian child prisoners as documented by DCI (Defense of Children International)".

Two weeks later, somebody leaked to Channel 10 Israel TV the text of the resolutions embarassing the Teachers' Union, which represents 150,000 Israeli teachers including teachers at schools in the West Bank settlements... Sensational headlines appeared in the press: "Stop press: Teachers Union signing a call for a boycott of the settlements!" "Teachers' Union supports a Palestinian state" and more in the same vein. Immediately there were the predictable outraged reactions from the right side of the political spectrum, and even threats by National-Religious teachers to altogether quit the Teachers Union. The Union representatives defended themselves: "By signing the document we prevented a boycott of Israeli teachers by their foreign colleagues, we prevented a far sharper anti-Israeli resolution. Among other things, we prevented a recognition of the Palestinian Right of Return and a condemnation of the Israeli Air Force bombing in Gaza. True, even the remaining resolutions are harsh, but we all know how things stand in the international arena". And the Teachers' Union made a pledge: "We presented all the relevant data before the professional bodies at the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Strategic Affairs. We will act responsibly and in accordance with their recommendations." So, in four days the Israeli teachers' representatives will show up at the huge convention hall in Ottawa, caught in a vise. How will they vote?

Susiya again

The removal of the fearsome bulldozers which appeared near the village of Susya in the Southern Hebron Hills two weeks ago turned out to be a strictly temporary respite in the military government’s plans of destruction. On July 12, the military authorities summoned Susya villagers to a meeting, where an official informed them that postpopnement of the demolitions had been a humanitarian gesture on the occasion of Ramadan, and that the demolition of nearly half of the buildings in the village would be carried out immediately after the end of the Muslim holy month. The military officials spoke candidly of the "virtually irresistible" pressure put on them by settlers from settlements near to Susya and by the settler association "Regavim" ("Clods of Earth"), clamoring for "the illegal houses" to be destroyed with no further delay.

http://www.btselem.org/press_realese/20150716_susiya_demolition

Thereupon, B’Tselem and the Rabbis for Human Rights sounded the alarm, activists from Jerusalem called for the continuous presence of Israelis at Susya to try to prevent or at least delay the destruction, and it was resolved to hold there a joint demonstration of Israelis and Palestinians on Friday July 24. In the United States, the call was joined by Donna Baranski’s "Rebuilding Alliance" and Jewish Voice for Peace". Signatures were collected on a petition calling upon Secretary of State John Kerry for urgent intervention. Anna Eshoo, Member of the House of Representatives from California - who has a special relationship with the Middle East, being a member of the Assyrian Church based in Iraq – added her voice to the call to avert the destruction of Susiya.

And indeed, the US State Department did find time for Susiya among all the hot issues on the international agenda.

"We’re closely following developments in the village of Susiya in the West Bank, and we strongly urge the Israeli authorities to refrain from carrying out any demolitions in the village" said U.S. State Department spokesperson John Kirby. "Demolition of this Palestinian village or of parts of it, and evictions of Palestinians from their homes would be harmful and provocative. Such actions have an impact beyond those individuals and families who are evicted. We are concerned that the demolition of this village may worsen the atmosphere for a peaceful resolution and would set a damaging standard for displacement and land confiscation, particularly given settlement-related activity in the area. We urge Israeli authorities to work with the residents of the village to finalize a plan for the village that addresses the residents’ humanitarian needs."
http://972mag.com/u-s-warns-israel-against-evicting-palestinians-from-susya/108989/

This should be more than enough to deter Netanyahu, but nevertheless, it is important to maintain a presence at Susiya during the coming weeks.

P.S. : Adi Arbel, whose words in favor of killing stone-throwers were quoted on this page, requested to note down that these remarks were made on his personal behalf only and not in the name of the Institute for Zionist Strategy where he holds a position. Further, with regard to the possibility of soldiers shooting at stone-throwing Jews, he quoted what he had written on Facebook in response to a question on this precise point  - stone throwing by settlers / Ultra-Orthodox, he had written  explicitly: "Whoever throws a stone at a moving vehicle should be shot Very simple. If he dies – that’s his problem. He had asked for it". Adi Arbel is indeed consistent – still I  doubt whether he would actually call for a soldier who shot a settler to death to be given a commendation. I certainly doubt very much that others on Arbel’s side of the political spectrum would take such a stance. In any case, it's not going to be put to the test – soldiers refrain even from detaining  settlers – all the more, God forbid, from shooting them.