[News] Palestine - A glimmer of hope
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Thu Nov 12 16:28:06 EST 2009
A glimmer of hope
Ziyaad Lunat and Max Ajl, The Electronic Intifada, 12 November 2009
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10888.shtml
The Obama Administration proved twice recently that it intends to
continue to consider Israel above the law. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton caused consternation amongst the US's allies in the
Palestinian Authority and across the region by declaring Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's intention to "restrict"
settlement activity in the West Bank "unprecedented." Netanyahu's
restriction restricts very little. Three thousand housing units that
are already approved will be built. Netanyahu announced plans for
building a new settlement in Jerusalem, Ma'aleh David, while settlers
continue their violent assault against Palestinians, intending to
expel them from the city. Last week, settlers invaded a Palestinian
house, backed by a court order. The US responded with a statement
calling Israel's moves "unhelpful," but did nothing to stop them.
If Obama's first message to the Palestinians as elected president
went to those living in the occupied West Bank -- as president-elect
he was quiet during Israel's winter invasion of Gaza -- the second
was to the families of the thousands of victims of that three-week
attack. Last week the US voted against a UN General Assembly
resolution to endorse the findings of the Goldstone report, which
calls for Israel and Hamas to investigate allegations of war crimes.
Hamas accepted the report. Israel, which killed 1,417 Palestinians,
926 of them civilians, including 437 children, according to the
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, did not. The US consented to
Israel's disapproval and initiated a campaign in the UN to discredit
the report. The facts in the report remained unchallenged.
The US House of Representatives condemned the report as "one-sided
and distorted." In a letter to the sponsors of the resolution, Judge
Goldstone pointed out gross "inaccuracies" in the resolution. It is
probable that most of those who voted for the resolution, sponsored
by the powerful lobby American Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC), did not read the 575-page report. What's called "support for
Israel" in Congress has achieved the status of a sacred cow. Dissent
comes only at significant political cost, and inevitable smear
campaigns by the pro-Israel lobby. Notwithstanding these facts, 36
representatives opposed the resolution, and 22 abstained, signs that
the lobby's control of Congress may be cracking slightly. In
contrast, the House was almost unanimous in its support of the
Israeli offensive in January.
The US has a long history of vetoes to protect Israel from
accountability. During the Nixon presidency, in 1972, the US first
used its veto power in the Security Council to protect Israel. This
was its second veto overall, preventing the passing of a resolution
that would have condemned Israel for the killing of hundreds of
civilians in air raids against Syria and Lebanon. The US has since
used its veto power more than 40 times to give Israel a free hand to
commit atrocities against Palestinians and the region's peoples.
Bush Administration Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, defending
the US's refusal to support a cease-fire during the 2006 assaults on
Lebanon and Gaza, said that "It is time for a new Middle East, it is
time to say to those who do not want a different kind of Middle East
that we will prevail; they will not." The "new Middle East" that Rice
was referring to is one where Israel can continue to occupy the land
of millions, kill thousands and kidnap hundreds, all the while
running roughshod over human rights and international law.
Susan Rice, the Obama Administration ambassador to the UN, is
scarcely distinguishable from the other top diplomat sharing her last
name. She said in an interview with The Washington Post that the
Goldstone "mandate was unbalanced, one-sided and unacceptable." She
justifies this statement by claiming that it was "85 percent oriented
towards very specific and harsh condemnation and conclusions related
to Israel."
Yet, even if Judge Goldstone had wanted to dedicate an equal number
of pages to both sides, there is only so much one can write about the
three Israeli civilians killed by Palestinian fighters, or of the
holes punched in roofs by the home-made projectiles. The difference
in power, Israel's status under international law as an occupying
power, and the catastrophe that befell a besieged population that had
nowhere to flee (unprecedented in modern warfare) suggest nearly
indisputable grounds for substantiating the allegations of "war
crimes" and "crimes against humanity." Moreover, all that the report
asked for were credible investigations and prosecution for those
found to merit it. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon said
that Israel arrived at a "silent understanding" with the Obama
Administration that a veto will be applied if there are attempts made
to put the report before the Security Council following the UN
General Assembly vote.
But there is a glimmer of hope that the people of Gaza will see
justice. The massacre brought about sweeping change, across the
world, in perceptions of Israel. Citizen-led mobilizations in the
past few months have showed that where governments have failed,
ordinary citizens can, perhaps, make a difference. Even in the US,
where public support for Israel has been consistently high, a
discourse supporting justice for Palestinians is now voiced in
mainstream media. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was met
with a frigid reception in a series of lectures around the country,
with audience members interrupting constantly, calling for his
immediate arrest. Moreover, there are signs that opposition to
AIPAC's dominance within the Jewish American community is gaining strength.
The movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) called for
by Palestinian civil society in 2005 has also gained momentum, as the
Norwegian government has divested from Elbit Systems as a result of
its role in the construction of the apartheid wall. Last month, an
Israeli deputy prime minister was forced to cancel a trip to the UK
for fear of arrest. He has since announced that he will forgo all
trips to European capitals.
And while the world's most powerful governments cavil over making
Israel comply with international law, their citizens do not. Some of
them -- some of us -- are taking up the banner of the international
nonviolent struggle, staying loyal to principles of human rights and
international law, following the wishes of the Palestinian people. In
December, we will march in solidarity with the Palestinians living
imprisoned in Gaza. In December, the Gaza Freedom March will attempt
to lift the siege of Gaza, as we commemorate the one-year anniversary
of Israel's invasion. From 29-31 December, we will move through Rafah
and Khan Younis and Gaza City, the length of the Strip, with a host
of luminaries including Alice Walker and Walden Bello. On 31
December, we will march to the threshold of the Erez crossing. The
peoples of nearly every continent will be there, in Gaza, demanding
that the world take action, that the leaders of the world recognize
their peoples' solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, and
recognize the inhumanity of the siege, and end it. Punishing a people
in this way is not only illegal. It is wrong. It is time to make it stop.
Ziyaad Lunat is one of the organizers of the Gaza Freedom March
(<http://electronicintifada.net/v2/www.gazafreedommarch.org>www.gazafreedommarch.org)
and an activist for Palestine. He can be contacted at z.lunat A T
gmail D O T com. Max Ajl is also one of the organizers of the Gaza
Freedom March and blogs on the Israel-Palestine conflict at
<http://www.maxajl.com/>www.maxajl.com.
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