Hizballah’s call for legitimacy

EI: "Hizballah supporters cheer as Hassan Nasrallah delivers a speech in the southern suburbs of Beirut, May 2009. (Matthew Cassel)"

“Last week Hassan Nasrallah delivered a speech over video link from an unknown location, as he frequently does. The leader of the Lebanese Shia Islamic resistance and political group Hizballah addressed the audience in Beirut to present the group’s new manifesto, their first since 1985 when the group unveiled its initial open letter.

The new political document, however, contained few surprises for some observers like independent Lebanese journalist Bilal el-Amine. ‘It’s not new for the people who have followed Hizballah over the past 20 years,’ he said. ‘The new document only formalizes Hizballah’s process. [Unlike the 1985 letter] there is no call for an Islamic state which has been the de facto position for many years now; this shows their commitment to become an integral part of Lebanese society.’

Hizballah was founded in the early 1980s, soon after Israel’s 22-year-occupation of south Lebanon began in 1978. Initially a resistance movement aimed at liberating Lebanese territory from the Israeli occupiers, Hizballah has since become a major political party in Lebanon officially entering the government in 2005.

Nasrallah has mostly remained underground since 2006 when Israel waged war on Lebanon after Hizballah led a cross-border raid that captured two Israeli soldiers. The war lasted 34 days and devastated much of Lebanon, killing more than 1,200 Lebanese — mostly civilians — and around 120 Israelis — mostly soldiers. The war was widely seen as a victory for Hizballah, and the group’s popularity skyrocketed in both Lebanon and the region. Today, Hassan Nasrallah is considered one of the most popular political figures among Arabs and Muslims around the world.

Opponents have long accused Hizballah, which is allied with both Syria and Iran, of operating a ’state within a state’ and have frequently demanded that the group disarm, therefore leaving the Lebanese army as the only armed group in the country. Since the end of Lebanon’s bloody civil war in 1990, subsequent Lebanese governments have allowed Hizballah to retain its arms and serve as a resistance organization. After it was formed last month, the new Lebanese cabinet headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri reaffirmed this right.

‘Hizballah reasserted its right as a resistance group but talked about it in the context of coordination between the state, the army and the resistance,’ el-Amine said. ‘The new document is a message to ease any worries internally in Lebanon about what Hizballah might be up to.’

El-Amine added, ‘the document was heavy in its use of leftist terminology, much more than Islamist language and particularly in its strong rejection of neo-liberalism’…”

–Matthew Cassel, Electronic Lebanon, 8 December 2009

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10933.shtml

Settlement Freeze, Schmettlement Freeze (or “We’ve heard this one before”)

“The following media release was sent out this afternoon by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation:

U.S. Must Hold Israel Accountable for Lack of Real Settlement Freeze

Washington, DC – The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation welcomed today Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell’s statement that Israel’s partial settlement moratorium ‘falls short of a full settlement freeze.’

Speaking at the State Department, Mitchell reiterated that “United States policy on settlements remains unaffected and unchanged. As the President has said, America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements.”

According to Josh Ruebner, National Advocacy Director of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, ‘The United States must continue to push Israel for a complete freeze of settlements, including in East Jerusalem. All Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal and must be dismantled. The Obama Administration should counter Israel’s intransigence on settlements by cutting off U.S. military aid to Israel at least until it complies with U.S. policy and international law.’

While welcoming the Obama Administration’s continued insistence on the illegitimacy of Israeli settlements, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation challenged its assertion that the partial settlement moratorium ‘is more than any Israeli Government has done before,’ noting that Israeli Prime Ministers and governments have pledged at least five times since 1978 to freeze settlements (see below for documentation).

According to David Hosey, National Media Coordinator of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, ‘Previous Israeli governments have often pledged to freeze settlement construction, yet they all have continued to expand them. Today’s partial moratorium falls into this same pattern. Unless the United States puts its money where its mouth is by ending military aid to Israel there is no incentive for Israel to stop settlement construction.’

Previous Israeli promises to freeze settlements include:

* As part of the 1978 Camp David Accords negotiating process, President Jimmy Carter stated that ‘Prime Minister Begin pledged that there would be no establishment of new settlements until after the final peace negotiations were completed.’ Source: http://www.cartercenter.org/news/documents/doc137.html

* In July 1992, the Israeli government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin declared a settlement freeze. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/25/world/baker-hails-israeli-freeze-hints-at-approval-of-loan.html

* Israel accepted the Mitchell Report of April 2001, which stated ‘The GOI [Government of Israel] should freeze all settlement activity, including the “natural growth” of existing settlements.’ Source: http://www.mideastweb.org/mitchell_report.htm

* Israel agreed to the ‘road map’ of April 2003, which stipulated that ‘Consistent with the Mitchell Report, GOI [Government of Israel] freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements).’ Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2989783.stm

* At the Annapolis Conference in November 2007, Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed ‘to immediately implement their respective obligations under the performance-based road map to a permanent two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, issued by the Quartet on 30 April 2003 — this is called the road map.’ Source: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Statement_of_%22joint_understanding%22_released_after_Annapolis_Conference

Read other US Campaign press releases on our website by clicking here…”

–US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, 25 November, 2009

http://endtheoccupationblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/settlement-freeze-schmettlement-freeze.html

See also:

New Israeli funds for West Bank settlements

“The Israeli cabinet has decided to include some West Bank settlements in a national scheme that will entitle them to millions of dollars’ worth of funds. They are being designated as national priority zones, meaning they will qualify for grants, tax benefits, and other forms of aid. The move comes amid anger by Jewish settlers at a government-imposed curb on new building in settlements. The Labour Party leader warned some of the new money might go to extremists. On Friday a mosque in the West Bank was set on fire, and sprayed with Hebrew graffiti. Labour leader Ehud Barak said: ‘I don’t think that we need to award them a prize in the form of including them in the national priority map.’ His five ministers in the coalition government voted against the plan. The other three right-wing parties in the coalition – Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas – voted for it…”

–BBC News, 13 December, 2009

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8410916.stm

And from Jewish Voice for Peace

Tell President Obama to demand that Israel free Bil’in nonviolent leader Abdallah Abu Rahmah

“On December 10, 2009 at 2 AM, the Israeli military surrounded the Ramallah home of Abdallah Abu Rahmah, a high school teacher and the Coordinator of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, and arrested him. Abu Rahmah is among the leaders of the West Bank village of Bil’in’s nearly five-year nonviolent struggle of protests, lawsuits and boycotts aiming to save the village’s land from Israel’s wall and expanding settlements. Abdallah Abu Rahmah joins Mohammed Othman from the village of Jayyous, Adeeb Abu Rahmah from Bil’in and many other Palestinians who are currently jailed by Israel for working for justice. Tell President Obama to demand that Israel free Bil’in nonviolent leader Abdullah Abu Rahmah! (Your letter will be cc’ed to the American Consulate in East Jerusalem)…”

–Jewish Voice for Peace, 11 December, 2009

http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/publish/article_1239.shtml

A message from Alex Shams:

“Fellow Students for Justice in Palestine, Last Thursday we witnessed an incredible and UNPRECEDENTED victory anti-racist and progressive students on campus, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. PUBLIC CONDEMNATION OF THE USC COLLEGE REPUBLICANS for fostering an environment of BIGOTRY in light of Horowitz’ comments at our school some weeks ago. In the Daily Trojan today, a full advertisement was placed by Vice President for Student Affairs Michael Jackson condemning the comments. This is a result of weeks of pressuring and campaigning by multiple individuals, in an attempt to have redress for the bigoted, hateful, and Islamophobic remarks the College Republicans invited Horowitz to say. Today, we see an Unprecedented step on the part of the Administration- the University has NEVER condemned a student group like this for its actions But this is only the beginning. We must work from here to ensure that our campus is not merely ‘tolerant”‘or ‘liberal’- but this campus strive to be anti-racist, inclusive, and progressive! We must lead the way for our nation and for the world, because if change does not come from the youth and from our centers of education, where will it come from? We are the instruments of social change, and we are powerful- now, we must wield this power on campus in a way that actively combats oppression and creates a more open and fair society and world. Join US! Next semester, on Wed January 13th at 5 PM we will have our first meeting- more details to be announced. We have already started planning a great number of events, speeches, and conferences for the 2010 Spring Semester- and we need all the help we can get! IN SOLIDARITY, alex shams

Transcript of Letter:

“December 3, 2009 An Open Letter to the USC Community The University of Southern California has taken many institutional steps to promote tolerance and mutual respect within our academic community. Committees have been created, policies have emerged, and acts of intolerance have been condemned by the USC administration. However, our community is not merely defined by administrative actions. We all must do our part to elevate tolerance and respect for others in our community. The university strives to provide an optimal learning community with an atmosphere of free inquiry and expression– an environment that fosters the examination of major issues of social, political, economic, ethical and aesthetic importance. Thriving in such an environment means we all encounter differences: different people, beliefs, cultures, religions, ethnicities and values. The manner in which we accept and work with these differences characterizes our individual principles. Recent events have led members of our community, our Muslim students, to feel threatened, unsafe, and betrayed. The students feel attacked in part by statements made by a speaker at a non-university sponsored event. These statements claim that the USC Muslim Student Union is a terrorist organization with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. The USC MSU is an outstanding student organization that contributes to a welcoming, safe environment for Muslim students to celebrate and share their culture. Further, this organization has never engaged in any campus activities that presented concerns for the university. The MSU is comprised exclusively of USC students and deserves to be treated with respect. Referring to Muslim students or any other group in derogatory terms will not be tolerated. We are a community of scholars and Trojans; bigoted name-calling has no place here. These past events underscore the importance of each person maintaining a basic respect for the rights of people to uphold their own beliefs and to work, learn, and prosper in harmony within our academic community. We each must pledge to encourage respect for human rights and dignity on our campus, in our society, and in the global community.

Sincerely,

Michael L. Jackson Vice President for Student Affairs”

And finally, some upcoming events

On Saturday, Dec. 12 in Orange County and Sunday, Dec. 13 in San Diego, there will be special public forums and signings of the new book “Palestine, Israel and the U.S. Empire,” by Richard Becker, West Coast Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition. We urge you to attend one or both of these important meetings.

Orange County Event (Anaheim)
Saturday, December 12, 2pm
Unitarian Universalist Church of Anaheim
511 S. Harbor Blvd., Anaheim, CA 92805
Map & Driving Directions

The Forum will feature:
Richard Becker, author, “Palestine, Israel and the U.S. Empire”
Muna Coobtee, Palestinian American Women’s Association

There will be discussion, questions, and a book signing, sponsored by ANSWER, the Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East and the PSL. Click here to RSVP to the Orange County Event.

San Diego Event
Sunday, December 13, 2:00pm
Latte Mi Corazon (Coffee Shop)
129 25th St., San Diego, CA 92102
Map & Driving Directions

Speakers include:
Richard Becker, author Palestine, Israel and the U.S. Empire
Yousef Abudayyeh, Free Palestine Alliance
Abel Macias, Party for Socialism and Liberation

There will be discussion, questions and a book signing. Click here to RSVP to the San Diego Event.

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Jews from Libya: Cross-currents and Concretizations of Identity in Israel Today

A lecture by Professor Harvey E. Goldberg, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
12:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

The Goldstone Report & Int’l Law – Part 2: David Kaye, UCLA Law School

David Kaye, UCLA Law School Professor and Executive Director of the International Human Rights Program, will speak on “International Justice & the Goldstone Report.” This is the 2nd event of a 3-part lecture series titled, “The Goldstone Report and International Law” Three Perspectives”
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM

http://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/events/calendar.asp?action=NextMonth&EventDate=11/1/2009&CenterID=0&EventTypeID=0

See also:

Palestinians organize for the Gaza Freedom March

“‘From the besieged Gaza Strip, we call upon all peace lovers around the globe to come here to participate in our Gaza Freedom March that is aimed at breaking a repressive Israeli blockade on Gaza’s 1.5 million residents.’ So said Mustafa al-Kayali, coordinator of the steering committee for the Gaza Freedom March.

The march is scheduled to depart by 31 December from Izbet Abed Rabbo, an area devastated during last winter’s Israeli assault, and head towards Erez, the crossing point to Israel at the northern end of the Gaza Strip…”

–Rami Almeghari, The Electronic Intifada, 30 November 2009

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10917.shtml

Also from The Electronic Intifada:

“We will have to kill them all”: Effie Eitam, thug messiah

“Colonel Efraim (Fein) Eitam was only following orders when he told his troops to beat Ayyad Aqel in 1988. They beat him to death…”

–Jim Holstun and Irene Morrison, The Electronic Intifada, 25 November 2009

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10914.shtml

And finally, in general US Foreign Policy Activism:

On Tuesday, December 1st, President Obama will travel to the U.S. Military Academy to announce plans to expand the war against and occupation of Afghanistan through a 34,000 troop surge.  World Can’t Wait calls on people to unite against any troop escalation, to demand all troops home now, and to organize events protesting this escalation. The only resolution of this conflict that is in the interests of the people of Afghanistan and the world, including the people of the U.S., is for the U.S. to get out of Afghanistan, and to end the occupation of Iraq also.

The only resolution in the interests of the people of Afghanistan and the world, including the people of the U.S., is to get out of Afghanistan and end the occupation of Iraq.

In Los Angeles, on Wednesday December 2nd two opportunities to take message of US Out of Afghanistan and Iraq.

In Westwood: 5:00 p.m. join with other activists (including Answer LA and Code Pink) and take a bold and visible stand at the Westwood Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd @Veteran Blvd.

In MacArthur Park 6:00 p.m. corner of Wilshire and Alvarado Blvd (MacArthur Park) escort World Peace March team for one mile along Wilshire Blvd to Immanuel Presbyterian Church at Berendo Street. (Metro Red LIne exit at MacArthur Park)

7:00 p.m. World March Peace Concert – Immanuel Presbyterian Church at Wilshire & Berendo Streets. (Metro Red Line exit at Vermont )

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation:

Join Our Congressional District Coordinator (CDC) Network

You can help us move this debate forward and help create momentum for real policy change by joining our re-launched Congressional District Coordinator (CDC) network .

“Since re-launching this network last month, activists in about 50 Congressional districts have signed up to become CDC’s.  It’s a good start, but we’re only a little more than 10% of the way toward creating a coordinated nationwide network of activists who are committed to educating their Members of Congress about Palestine/Israel issues from the perspective of human rights, international law, and equality.  Learn more about what’s involved in becoming a CDC and sign up today…

http://endtheoccupation.org/article.php?list=type&type=41

And in recent news (thanks to Gary Yeritsian for drawing my attention to this):

Israeli forces racially profile, deny entry to former Black Panther leader from US

“Along with Washington DC based independent journalist Naji Mujahid, bin Wahad was detained at the Allenby bridge that crosses the River Jordan and marks the main border terminal between Jordan and the West Bank. Contrary to past signed agreements, however, Israeli forces control the border terminal, and arbitrarily detained the two men for over 11 hours before refusing them entry and forcing them to return to Jordan.

Mujahid told an IMEMC reporter, ‘As soon as we got off the bus, we were immediately singled out by the Israeli Defense Force soldiers that were there. There was a bus full of people, and this was before they even know who we were, our history, what we were there for, or anything. We believe they saw two black men and decided to single us out. They confiscated our cell phones, and took my media equipment and cameras.’

He then described a grueling 11-hour interrogation in which the two men were separated from each other and strip searched, all of their luggage examined piece by piece. Both were separately asked the same questions about their religious and political beliefs, including whether they were Muslim, what type of Muslim, if they had been on a pilgrimage to Mecca, how they felt about the government of Saudi Arabia, and many more questions about their lives and political beliefs.

The two Americans had never been to the Palestinian Territories before, and were on their way to attend a conference in Jericho convened by the Palestinian Authority on the status of political detainees in Israel.

Israel’s denial of entry to certain internationals based on their race, religion or political beliefs has become extremely commonplace since 2006. Although such racial and religious profiling is a direct violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, no foreign government has taken Israel to the International Criminal Court for its actions.”

– Saed Bannoura, IMEMC News, 27 November, 2009

http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57226

And also, on recent campus organizing:

Horowitz event spurs walkouts and protests

“A private event hosted by the USC College Republicans featuring conservative speaker David Horowitz prompted protests and a walkout Wednesday night.

The event came a day after a number of students complained about being denied entrance to the speech. Earlier this week, USC College Republicans said they would bar some individuals affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine to prevent any disruption…”

–By Christianna Kyriacou, Daily Trojan, 5 November, 2009

http://dailytrojan.com/2009/11/05/horowitz-event-spurs-walkouts-and-protests/

And the following response from Alex Shams of USC SJP:

“Fellow Students for Justice in Palestine,

Our campaign to not allow racist Horowitz to speak at our University unopposed has succeeded! The event, which was covered in the DT, the Socialist Worker, Horowitz’s blog and a few other right-wing sites, began with a number of vicious smears (among them, that SJP gives money to the Taliban), after which 10-15 SJP Members and supporters stood up and turned their backs on Horowitz! After this, DPS evicted them from the event and a rally was held outside with some 30 people.

Hate Speech spreads ignorance and racism, and with that discrimination and violence. In the last few years, hate crimes against Muslim-Americans have skyrocketed across the country, and there have been violent attacks against Muslim students on our own campus. This hatred is encouraged by the Islamophobia spewing from Horowitz’s mouth- and it is in the name of preventing the spread of violence that we stood up and refused to offer Horowitz a podium in one of the best academic institutions in the world. This is OUR University, not his, and we will defend our rights and safety.

The USC College Republicans, aware of our anger at their decision to bring a racist to campus to speak, blocked many from attending the event. But it was not just SJP students- only SJP students with Muslim-sounding names were blocked! This racial discrimination is unacceptable at a USC event, and we are currently filing complaints. If you RSVPed to the event, and were either allowed or refused entry, please send me a message with the date and time of your RSVP.

In addition, if you are a student please contact an RA and ask them to file an official complaint on your behalf to Heather Larabee regarding the Islamophobic nature of the event. No matter if you RSVPed or not, if she receives many complaints she will be more inclined to listen to us.

In Solidarity with anti-racism all over the world!

alex shams”

And an interesting perspective on media disinformation from Laurence Krauss writing  in Scientific American:

War Is Peace: Can Science Fight Media Disinformation?

“When I saw the statement repeated online that theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking of the University of Cambridge would be dead by now if he lived in the U.K. and had to depend on the National Health Service (he, of course, is alive and working in the U.K., where he always has), I reflected on something I had written a dozen years ago, in one of my first published commentaries:

‘The increasingly blatant nature of the nonsense uttered with impunity in public discourse is chilling. Our democratic society is imperiled as much by this as any other single threat, regardless of whether the origins of the nonsense are religious fanaticism, simple ignorance or personal gain’…”

–Laurence Krauss, Scientific American, December, 2009

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=war-is-peace&sc=WR_20091125

For an even more radical critique of the media, see this excellent essay by Edward Herman:

The Propaganda Model: A Retrospective

Because the propaganda model challenges basic premises and suggests that the media serve antidemocratic ends, it is commonly excluded from mainstream debates on media bias….”

–Edward S. Herman, Against All Reason, December 9, 2003

http://chomsky.info/onchomsky/20031209.htm

And finally, Thanks to Jeff  Warner for the following list of Upcoming LA Area Events

Saturday, Dec. 12

Israel-Palestine and American Empire

By Richard Becker (ANSWER)

Unitarian Universalist Church, 511 SOUTH HARBOR BLVD, ANAHEIM, CA

Sunday, Dec. 20, 10 AM

Report on Viva Palestina USA July Humanitarian Mission to Gaza

Speakers:  Jeff Warner (LA Jews for Peace) and Tony Litwinko (Friends of Sabeel)

All Saints Church, Pasadena

The Nation: American Jews Rethink Israel

“This year has seen a dramatic shift in American Jews’ attitudes toward Israel. In January many liberal Jews were shocked by the Gaza war, in which Israel used overwhelming force against a mostly defenseless civilian population unable to flee. Then came the rise to power of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, whose explicitly anti-Arab platform was at odds with an American Jewish electorate that had just voted 4 to 1 for a minority president. Throw in angry Israelis writing about the ‘rot in the Diaspora,’ and it’s little wonder young American Jews feel increasingly indifferent about a country that has been at the center of Jewish identity for four decades…”

–Adam Horowitz and Philip Weiss, 14 October, 2009

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091102/horowitz_weiss

See also:

Where To Now For Jewish America?

“During the ‘Salute to Israel’ parade in New York in May, over 100,000 Jews marched in solidarity with the Jewish state. It was an awesome sight of organisation, dedication and passion. But something was missing: Arabs and Palestinians were near invisible. There was no room for that 20 per cent of Israel’s population or for the millions in the West Bank and Gaza. There was, however, a handful of protesting Arabs, dissident Jews and ultra-Orthodox Neturei Karta…”

“In southwest Israel, at the border of Egypt and the Gaza Strip, there is a small crossing station not far from a kibbutz named Kerem Shalom. A guard tower looms over the flat, scrubby buffer zone. Gaza never extends more than seven miles wide, and the guards in the tower can see the Mediterranean Sea, to the north. The main street in Gaza, Salah El-Deen Road, runs along the entire twenty-five-mile span of the territory, and on a clear night the guards can watch a car make the slow journey from the ruins of the Yasir Arafat International Airport, near the Egyptian border, toward the lights of Gaza City, on the Strip’s northeastern side. Observation balloons hover just outside Gaza, and pilotless drones freely cross its airspace. Israeli patrols tightly enforce a three-mile limit in the Mediterranean and fire on boats that approach the line. Between the sea and the security fence that surrounds the hundred and forty square miles of Gaza live a million and a half Palestinians.

Every opportunity for peace in the Middle East has been led to slaughter, and at this isolated desert crossing, on June 25, 2006, another moment of promise culminated in bloodshed. The year had begun with tumult. That January, Hamas, which the U.S. government considers a terrorist group, won Palestine’s parliamentary elections, defeating the more moderate Fatah Party. Both parties sent armed partisans into the streets, and Gaza verged on civil war. Then, on June 9th, a tentative truce between Hamas and Israel ended after an explosion on a beach near Gaza City, apparently caused by an Israeli artillery shell, killed seven members of a Palestinian family, who were picnicking. (The Israelis deny responsibility.) Hamas fired fifteen rockets into Israel the next day. The Israelis then launched air strikes into Gaza for several days, killing eight militants and fourteen civilians, including five children.

Amid this strife, Mahmoud Abbas—the head of Fatah, and the President of the Palestinian Authority, the governing body established by the Oslo peace accords of 1993—put forward a bold idea. The people of Palestine, he declared, should be given the chance to vote on a referendum for a two-state solution to its conflict with Israel. Perhaps it was a cynical political maneuver, as the leaders of Hamas believed. The fundamental platform of Hamas was its refusal to accept Israel’s right to exist, yet polls showed that Palestinians overwhelmingly supported the concept of two states. A referendum would be not only a rebuke to Hamas; it also would be a signal to Israel—and to the rest of the world—that Palestinians were determined to make peace. Abbas set the referendum for July.

Just before dawn on June 25th, eight Palestinian commandos crawled out of a tunnel into a grove of trees in Kerem Shalom. A new moon was in the sky, making it the darkest night of the month. With mortar fire and anti-tank missiles providing cover, the commandos, some of them disguised in Israeli military uniforms, split into three teams. One team attacked an empty armored personnel carrier, which had been parked at the crossing as a decoy. Another team hit the observation tower. The two Israelis in the tower were injured, but not before they killed two of the attackers.

The third team shot a rocket-propelled grenade into a Merkava tank that was parked on a berm facing the security fence. The explosion shook the tank; then its rear hatch opened and three soldiers tried to flee. Two of them were shot and killed, but a third, lightly wounded, was captured. The attackers raced back into Gaza with their prize: a lanky teen-ager named Gilad Shalit.

First, Recent Headlines From Democracy Now!

“General Assembly Endorses UN Gaza Inquiry

Abbas Won’t Seek Re-Election as Palestinian Leader

From the U.S. Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel

Omar Barghouti’s U.S. Tour

“November 1: ‘Palestine: Thirsting for Justice. Israel’s Control of Water as a Tool of Apartheid and a Means of Ethnic Cleansing’, 4 pm, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.

Further info: Robin Ellis, rkellis19[at]earthlink.net

November 2: ‘Justice, Freedom and the Ethical Role of Intellectuals: The Question of Palestine’, 7 pm, 101 Taper Hall of the Humanities, University of Southern California; introduced by Ruth W. Gilmore, respondent Arieh Saposnik, Gilbert Chair in Israel Studies, UCLA.

Further info: David Lloyd, colles2012[at]sbcglobal.net

–From The US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

http://usacbi.wordpress.com/events/

Also, for recent news, see the Latest Headlines from Democracy Now!:

Goldstone Challenges Obama to Explain Gaza Inquiry Objections

US, Israel Stage Joint Air Drill

First, from Democracy Now!:

Palestinian President Abbas Faces Uproar for Aiding US-Israeli Derailment of UN Report on Gaza Assault

“The Security Council has rejected Libya’s request to hold an emergency session on South African Judge Richard Goldstone’s recently released report on Israel’s three-week war on Gaza last winter. Instead, the Council has agreed to advance a regular meeting to address the issues it raises.

The 575-page report by the United Nations fact-finding mission accuses Israel of war crimes and deliberately targeting civilians in Gaza. It also accuses Hamas of indiscriminate rocket fire. The report urges that the UN Security Council refer allegations to the International Criminal Court if either side fails to investigate and prosecute suspects. Some 1,400 Palestinians and thirteen Israelis were killed during the war on Gaza.

Meanwhile, outrage among Palestinians continues to rise over Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s decision to withdraw support for further action in regard to the Goldstone investigation. Last week, Abbas backed the postponement of a vote by the Human Rights Council to send the report to the Security Council for possible action. The decision reportedly came after heavy American and Israeli pressure…”

–Democracy Now!, 8 October, 2009

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/10/8/palestinian_authority_president_abbas_faces_growing

Also, from The Electronic Intifada:

After Goldstone, Hamas faces fateful choice

“The uproar over the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) collaboration with Israel to bury the Goldstone report, calling for trials of Israeli leaders for war crimes in Gaza, is a political earthquake. The whole political order in place since the 1993 Oslo accords were signed is crumbling. As the initial tremors begin to fade, the same old political structures may appear still to be in place, but they are hollowed out. This unprecedented crisis threatens to topple the US-backed PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, but it also leaves Hamas, the main Palestinian resistance faction, struggling with fateful choices…”

–Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 8 October, 2009

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10821.shtml

Other Recent Articles of Interest from The Electronic Intifada

Oct 12th, 2009: Is Canada more pro-Israel than the US?

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10824.shtml

Oct 9th, 2009: Israel’s export of occupation police tactics

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10823.shtml

Oct 8th, 2009: Following al-Aqsa clashes, Israel mulls banning Islamic movement

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10822.shtml

And, finally, a recent email I received regarding a Modern Language Association (MLA) Resolution on Palestinian literature.

Whereas Palestinian literature and culture are legitimate subjects of study;
Whereas the conditions in the occupied territories have been critical in shaping modern Arabic literature generally;
Whereas those teaching and writing about the occupation and about Middle East culture have regularly come under fire from anti- Palestinian groups on extra- academic grounds;
Whereas education at all levels in the occupied territories is being stifled by the occupation;
Be it resolved that the MLA endorse teaching and scholarship about Palestinian culture, support members who come under attack for pursuing such work, and express solidarity with scholars of Palestinian culture.

The balloting period is from November 1 – December 10, but in the meantime, the MLA has set up a members-only space to comment on the resolution at http://www.mla.org/2008resolutioncomm. Not surprisingly, there have been plenty of comments–the majority objecting to the resolution with varying degrees of vehemence…”

Thanks to Maggie Galvan for passing the email along.

You can read more about the issue here:

MLA Contemplates Taking a Stand in Support of Scholars of Palestine

“The Modern Language Association’s executive council is considering whether the organization should vote on a resolution expressing solidarity with scholars of Palestinian literature and culture…”

–The Chronicle of Higher Education, 7  January, 2009

http://chronicle.com/article/MLA-Contemplates-Taking-a/42207

Mahmoud Abbas has abandoned a resolution to hold Israel accountable for its alleged war crimes in Gaza (Link to The Electronic Intifada)

Just when it seemed that the Ramallah Palestinian Authority (PA) and its leader Mahmoud Abbas could not sink any lower in their complicity with Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the murderous blockade of Gaza, Ramallah has dealt a further stunning blow to the Palestinian people.

“The Abbas delegation to the United Nations in Geneva (officially representing the moribund Palestine Liberation Organization) abandoned a resolution requesting the Human Rights Council to forward Judge Richard Goldstone’s report on war crimes in Gaza to the UN Security Council for further action. Although the PA acted under US pressure, there are strong indications that the commercial interests of Palestinian and Gulf businessmen closely linked to Abbas also played a part.

The 575-page Goldstone report documents evidence of shocking Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity during last winter’s assault on the Gaza Strip which killed 1,400 Palestinians, the vast majority noncombatants and hundreds of them children. The report also accuses the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas of war crimes for firing rockets into Israel that killed three civilians.

Goldstone’s report was hailed by Palestinians and supporters of the rule of law worldwide as a watershed; it called for suspects to be held accountable before international courts if Israel failed to prosecute them. Israel has no history, ever, of holding its political and military leaders judicially accountable for war crimes against the Palestinians.

Israel was rightly terrified of the report, mobilizing all its diplomatic and political resources to discredit it. In recent days, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that if the report were acted on, it would ’strike a severe blow to the war against terrorism,’ and ’strike a fatal blow to the peace process, because Israel will no longer be able to take additional steps and take risks for peace if its right to self-defense is denied.’

Unsurprisingly, an early ally in the Israeli campaign for impunity was the Obama Administration, whose UN ambassador, Susan Rice, expressed ‘very serious concerns’ about the report and trashed Goldstone’s mandate as ‘unbalanced, one-sided and basically unacceptable.’ (Rice was acting true to her word; in April she told the newspaper Politico that one of the main reasons the Obama Administration decided to join the UN Human Rights Council was to fight what she called ‘the anti-Israel crap.’)

Goldstone, whose daughter has publicly described her father as a Zionist who loves Israel, is a former judge of the South African Supreme Court, and a highly respected international jurist. He was the chief prosecutor at UN war crimes tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia…
…What makes this even more galling, is the real possibility that the PA is helping Israel wash its hands of the blood it spilled in Gaza for something as base as the financial gain of businessmen closely linked to Abbas.

The Independent (UK) reported on 1 October:

‘Shalom Kital, an aide to defense minister Ehud Barak, said today that Israel will not release a share of the radio spectrum that has long been sought by the Palestinian Authority to enable the launch of a second mobile telecommunications company unless the PA drops its efforts to put Israeli soldiers and officers in the dock over the Israeli operation.’ (‘Palestinians cry “blackmail” over Israel phone service threat,’ The Independent, 1 October).

Kital added that it was a ‘condition’ that the PA specifically drop its efforts to advance the Goldstone report. The phone company, Wataniya, was described last April by Reuters as an ‘Abbas-backed company’ which is a joint venture between Qatari and Kuwaiti investors and the Palestinian Investment Fund with which one of Abbas’ sons is closely involved…”

–Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 2 October, 2009

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10807.shtml

Also from The Electronic Intifada

Obama must match rhetoric with principle

“US President Barack Obama has placed restoration of the stature of the United States among his primary foreign policy goals. He has already achieved substantial progress in Europe, where polls indicate that he is widely admired. The president’s June Cairo University speech also won praise in the Arab and Muslim worlds. Yet many across the globe still await the substantive policy changes implied by his inspiring words.

President Obama can solidify broader global respect by supporting the recommendations of the just-released Goldstone report in the United Nations Human Rights Council. Richard Goldstone, an eminent South African jurist, led a mission to investigate allegations of war crimes in Gaza last winter.
Indeed, the Goldstone mission concluded that Israel and Hamas committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. The report recommends that both parties be given six months to mount independent, internal investigations — and if they fail, that the UN Security Council refer the matter to the International Criminal Court for investigation and possible prosecutions.

Much of the 575-page report documents Israeli violations of the laws of war and human rights surrounding the intense fighting of last winter. That is fair, as the scale of harm Israel caused to lives and property in Gaza vastly exceeded that inflicted by Hamas. Israel killed approximately 100 Palestinians for every Israeli who died, and destroyed vast swaths of private housing, industrial buildings, agricultural facilities and public infrastructure…”

–George Bisharat, The Electronic Intifada, 1 October 2009

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10806.shtml

See also the latest news from Al Jazeera

Clashes as Israel shuts off al-Aqsa

“Israeli security forces have closed off the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jersualem as more than 200 Palestinians stage a sit-in at the site. Sporadic clashes broke out on Sunday as military and police checkpoints were set up around the site, known as the Haram al-Sharif to Muslims and the Temple Mount to Jews. At least seven people were wounded and seven arrested as clashes broke out at the Lion’s Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem.Al Jazeera’s Sherine Tadros, reporting from Jerusalem, said that the mosque was being protected by worshippers who wanted to stop Jewish hardliners from entering the compound.

‘They are very keen that what happened in Hebron, where hardliners did in fact storm and take over a mosque there, doesn’t happen here in this very holy site,’ she said. She said that there was a lot of tension in the city because of the standoff. ‘It could, of course, boil over if we hear of clashes between the police and those at the sit-in at the al-Aqsa compound,’ she said.

Palestinian officials told Al Jazeera that Muslim worshippers entered the mosque late on Saturday to prevent a repeat of last Sunday’s clashes in the area. In that incident, at least 13 Palestinians were injured and seven detained when fighting broke when Israeli Jews apparently attempted to enter the mosque. Police fired tear gas and stun grenades at hundreds of Palestinians, while stones, chairs and other objects were reportedly thrown…”

–Al Jazeera English, 4 October, 2009

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/10/2009104838609929.html

And an unusual piece from The Independent:

Israeli supermodels in catwalk spat over draft-dodging

“She has already been criticised by the military for her decision to avoid the draft in her native Israel, but now a former girlfriend of Leonardo DiCaprio is under attack from a fellow supermodel.

Months after a retired general rebuked Bar Refaeli for side-stepping her compulsory national service, the ‘draft-dodger’ has been berated by Esti Ginzburg.

Unlike Refaeli, the model from Tel Aviv was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for her mandatory two-year period of duty in July…”

–Danny Brierly, The Independent, 4 October, 2009

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israeli-supermodels-in-catwalk-spat-over-draftdodging-1797311.html

And, from Jewish Voice for Peace, the latest on the Ezra Nawi case:

“Faced with over 20,000 of your signatures, Judge Eilata Ziskind decided to postpone the sentencing.

A few days before her ruling, the judge got another call to conscience. Boaz Okun, a prominent judge and legal authority in Israel, published an op-ed in an Israeli daily, stating that Ezra deserved ‘defense from justice’:

The penal code allows the canceling of a guilty verdict against a criminal if the crime committed shrinks vis-a-vis the arbitrary behavior of the state. This is called ‘defense from justice.’ (1)

Ezra Nawi’s sole crime was trying to stop a military bulldozer from destroying the homes of Palestinian Bedouins in the South Hebron region.

Mr. Okun quoted from the hearing proceedings, where Yehudit Karp, a former Israel Attorney General, stated in reference to Ezra Nawi:

Those people that break the law in order to save others and to defend human rights are the ones that get written on golden pages.

But Ezra’s troubles are not over yet.

The judge has offered him an impossible ‘deal.’ She is willing to reduce his expected sentence from jail time to community service, but only if Ezra waives any further appeals–in fact acknowledging that he is guilty without any way to exonerate himself.

As we celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, many of us wondered what the new year would hold for Ezra Nawi. A judge was expected to render her sentence on his case on Monday, the first day after the holiday.

This is far from a golden page, far from a defense from justice.

We will keep you updated of future developments in his case.

In the meanwhile, we have just learned that Kobi Snitz, a long-time activist with the Israeli group Anarchists Against the Wall, begins a 20-day prison term for an arrest in 2004 in which he tried to prevent a home demolition in the Palestinian village of Kharbatha, in the Ramallah District. He is the first Israeli activist to serve time for a demonstration in the Occupied Territories. In prison, he will now join countless Palestinians who are in administrative detention — without benefit of trial — simply for exerting their rights as well.

Only yesterday Mohammad Othman was arrested on the Allenby Bridge Crossing, the border from Jordan to Palestine. Mohammad, 33 years old, has dedicated the last ten years of his life to the defense of Palestinian human rights. His village, Jayyous, has lost most of its land to the Wall and the settlements. You can learn more about Mohammad and take action here…”

–from a Jewish Voice for Peace email, 24 September, 2009

And finally,

Upcoming LA Area Events

IN TWO WEEKS Sunday afternoon, October 18; 1 -3 PM
What:  Benefit for the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions & director Jeff Halper
Location:  Penthouse on Venice Beach at 8 Brooks Ave., Venice Beach, CA
Featuring:

• Screening of Homes and Homeland, a 30-minute film by Ed Gaffney and Alicia Dwyer that features Jeff Halper and the ICAHD story.  Filmmaker Ed Gaffney will be present.
• Refreshments
• Premiums

Sponsored: LA Jews for Peace, Friends of Sabeel, and Jews for Peace between Israel & Palestine

Endorsed:  Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles

Also on Sunday, Oct. 18, 11-4 PM (attend before or after ICAHD Benefit)

7^TH Annual OPEN MOSQUE DAY

Mosques open to all in many southland cities, refreshments.

Sponsored by Islamic Shura Council

Information   http://www.shuracouncil.org or call 714-239–6473.

Amira Hass at UCLA Nov. 2 & 3

Monday, Nov. 2, 3-5 PM

Bunche Hall 6275 – Use parking lot 3

Tuesday, Nov. 3,  1-3 PM

Faculty Center, Downstairs Lounge – Use parking lot 2

Information Amy Bruinooge, Center for Near Eastern Studies
cnes@international.ucla.edu Tel: (310) 825-1181

Thanks to Jeff Warner from LA Jews for Peace for passing along the above events information

http://www.lajewsforpeace.org/Stories/Warner-story.htm