Former American officials accuse Israel of breaching international law

For the first time, six former senior American officials issued a statement candidly accusing Israel of breaching international law and undermining peace talks.

Zbigniew Brezinski,

The statement came after a speech by the US secretary of state in Congress, in which he blamed Israel for delaying and meddling with negotiations because of its retreat from the release of the fourth batch of veteran Palestinian prisoners.

Former US national security advisor Zbigniew Brezinski, former US defence minister Frank Carlucci, chairman and ranking member of the house committee on foreign affairs Lee Hamilton, former secretary of housing and urban development Carla Hills, retired US ambassador Thomas Pickering and former national director of the American Jewish Congress Henry Siegman signed the statement.

These former officials called on US Secretary of State John Kerry to stop brokering Palestinian-Israeli peace talks in order to compel Israel to comply with international law.

They also objected to recognising Israel as a Jewish state and stressed the right of the Palestinians to stick to their vision of historical Palestine, as well as calling on the American administration to keep away from this issue.

According to Alarab Alyawm, which reported the news, the high-ranking American figures called for an end to stealing Palestinian land to build Israeli settlements. They also rejected the Israeli security justifications to continue its occupation of the Jordan Valley. More

© 2014

Losing the Propaganda, Moral and Legal War

JERUSALEM — ON Feb. 4, 1965, as a teenager, I left South Africa, the country of my birth, for a new home in a place I’d never been — Israel.

Palestinian Land Loss 1946 - 2010

I loved South Africa, but I loathed the apartheid system. In Israel, I saw a fresh start for a people rising from the ashes of the Holocaust, a place of light and justice, as opposed to the darkness and oppression of apartheid South Africa.

Now, almost 50 years later, after decades of arguing that Israel is not an apartheid state and that it’s a calumny and a lie to say so, I sense that we may be well down the road to being seen as one. That’s because, in this day and age, brands are more powerful than truth and, inexplicably, blindly, Israel is letting itself be branded an apartheid state — and even encouraging it.

In apartheid South Africa, people disappeared in the night without the protection of any legal process and were never heard from again. There was no freedom of speech or expression and more “judicial” hangings were reportedly carried out there than in any other place on earth. There was no free press and, until January 1976, no public television.

Masses of black people were forcibly moved from tribal lands to arid Bantustans in the middle of nowhere. A “pass system” stipulated where blacks could live and work, splitting families and breaking down social structures, to provide cheap labor for the mines and white-owned businesses, and a plentiful pool of domestic servants for the white minority. Those found in violation were arrested, usually lashed, and sentenced to stints of hard labor for a few shillings per prisoner per day, payable to the prison service.

None of this even remotely exists in Israel or the occupied territories. But, increasingly, in the mind of the world it does. This is because of Israel’s own actions and a vigorous campaign by those who oppose its occupation of Palestinians’ land and, in some cases, Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. They understand that delegitimization is Israel’s soft belly and apartheid the buzzword to make it happen.

International isolation is potentially more dangerous for Israel than the Iranian nuclear program. The Palestinians and their supporters, particularly the young generation, some of whom have graduated from the best universities in the world, have come to realize that the stones of the first intifada and the suicide bombers of the second are yesterday’s weapons in yesterday’s war.

Boycott, divestment and sanctions are now the way they seek to end the Israeli occupation or Jewish Israel itself. Their message has started to resonate with trade unions, churches, universities and international companies in Europe and the United States, who see Israel as oppressing Palestinians and violating their human rights.

A Dutch pension giant’s decision last month to divest from Israel’s five largest banks because of their ties to occupation rang warning bells in Israel’s business community and the Treasury. According to the finance minister, even a partial European boycott would cost Israel 20 billion shekels (about $5.7 billion) in exports annually and almost 10,000 jobs. But the greatest damage is self-inflicted.

The “apartheid wall,” “apartheid roads,” colonization, administrative arrests, travel restrictions, land confiscations and house demolitions are the clay apartheid comparisons are made of, and cannot be hidden or denied, for as long as Israel continues with the status quo.

Military occupation comes with checkpoints, antiterrorist barriers, military courts, armed soldiers and tanks. That’s the reality, no matter what your politics, and just the ammunition the Palestinians and their supporters need in their new war.

In the coming weeks, the United States is expected to put forward a framework for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, brokered by Secretary of State John Kerry. The Palestinians have said that if the talks fail to produce an agreement, they will take the battle against Israel and for their independence to the International Criminal Court and the United Nations and its various organizations, and fight for sanctions and boycotts, which they hope will force Israel, like apartheid South Africa before it, to its knees. As South Africa learned in the 1980s, possessing nuclear weapons may deter foes on the battlefield, but it doesn’t help you win a propaganda war. More

 

Democracy? Not!

Arab-Israeli politician Haneen Zoabi disqualified from re-election

MP who was on board flotilla that attempted to breach Israel's blockade of Gaza in 2010 has faced long campaign for expulsion

An Israeli-Arab politician who took part in an attempt to breach the blockade of Gaza has been disqualified from standing in next month's general election after being accused of undermining the state of Israel.

The central elections committee voted 19-9 to back a motion brought by rightwingers against Haneen Zoabi's candidacy. The decision has been automatically referred to the supreme court, which must rule before the end of the month.

Before the hearing, Zoabi said her disqualification would mean "disqualifying an entire generation of young Arabs".

Danny Danon, a member of parliament for the ruling Likud party who presented a 11,000-signature petition calling for Zoabi's disqualification, told the Guardian: "Her place is not in the Knesset [Israeli parliament] but in jail. Democracy must have its limits." Zoabi had worked "against the interests of the state and for our enemies," he added.

One of 11 MPs representing Arab parties, Zoabi has faced a robust campaign since she took part in a flotilla of ships attempting to breach Israel's blockade of Gaza in May 2010. Nine Turkish activists were killed when Israeli commandos stormed the lead ship, the Mavi Marmara, on which Zoabi was a passenger.

Her parliamentary privileges were revoked but an attempt to bring criminal charges against her failed. She was assigned special protection after a number of death threats were made against her.

The committee cited Zoabi's participation in the flotilla as the chief reason for her disqualification.

David Rotem, an MP for the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party, told the committee: "To say that a member of Knesset was aboard the Mavi Marmara does not constitute the critical mass equalling support for a terrorist organisation reflects a lack of understanding of what happened aboard that ship."

Another far-right MP, Michael Ben-Ari, said the aim of the disqualification was to ensure "our kids will be able to live in a normal Jewish state, not one in which 30 Zoabis serve in the Knesset". More




 

Nobel peace laureates call for Israel military boycott over Gaza assault

A group of Nobel peace prize-winners, prominent artists and activists have issued a call for an international military boycott of Israel following its assault on the Gaza Strip this month.

Hamas police station destroyed by an Israeli air strike

The letter also denounces the US, EU and several developing countries for what it describes as their "complicity" through weapons sales and other military support in the attack that killed 160 Palestinians, many of them civilians, including about 35 children.

The 52 signatories include the Nobel peace laureates Mairead Maguire and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel; the film directors Mike Leigh and Ken Loach; the author Alice Walker; the US academic Noam Chomsky; Roger Waters of Pink Floyd; and Stéphane Hessel, a former French diplomat and Holocaust survivor who was co-author of the universal declaration of human rights.

"Horrified at the latest round of Israeli aggression against the 1.5 million Palestinians in the besieged and occupied Gaza Strip and conscious of the impunity that has enabled this new chapter in Israel's decades-old violations of international law and Palestinian rights, we believe there is an urgent need for international action towards a mandatory, comprehensive military embargo against Israel," the letter says.

"Such a measure has been subject to several UN resolutions and is similar to the arms embargo imposed against apartheid South Africa in the past."

The letter accuses several countries of providing important military support that facilitated the assault on Gaza. "While the United States has been the largest sponsor of Israel, supplying billions of dollars of advanced military hardware every year, the role of the European Union must not go unnoticed, in particular its hefty subsidies to Israel's military complex through its research programmes.

"Similarly, the growing military ties between Israel and the emerging economies of Brazil, India and South Korea are unconscionable given their nominal support for Palestinian freedom," it says.

The letter opens with a quote from Nelson Mandela: "For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."

The other signatories include John Dugard, a South African jurist and former UN special rapporteur in the occupied territories; Luisa Morgantini, former president of the European parliament; Cynthia McKinney, a former member of the US Congress; Ronnie Kasrils, a South African former cabinet minister; and the dramatist Caryl Churchill. More

 

Boycott Companies Violating Human Rights Of The Palestinians, Says UN Expert

Call to boycott Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard, Motorola, Veolia Environment, G4S, Dexia, Volvo Group, Assa Abloy, Ahava, Elbit Systems, Mehadrin, Riwal Holding Group and Cemex has been made by the UN special investigator on human rights in the Palestinian territories.

These companies are violating international human rights and humanitarian laws by exploiting Palestinian resources and helping Israel construct illegal settlements and provide security for them.

An AP report carried by Arizona Daily Star [1] said:

Richard Falk, the UN special investigator on human rights in the Palestinian territories called on October 24, 2012 for a boycott of all companies that have dealings with Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem until they adhere to international rights standards and practices.

In a report presented to the UN General Assembly, Falk said a number of Israeli-owned and multinational corporations headquartered in the US, Europe and Mexico appear to be violating international human rights and humanitarian laws by exploiting Palestinian resources and helping Israel construct illegal settlements and provide security for them. But he said further investigations will be made to determine whether the allegations are well-founded.

Falk said the call for a boycott is an effort to take infractions of international law seriously and "use what influence we have to change behavior." He said the pace of Israeli settlement building has accelerated and Israel has ignored UN resolutions condemning the practice, so "there is a sense that what the U.N. says doesn't count."

Falk, a professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, has previously angered Israel by comparing the Jewish state to Nazi Germany and accusing it of crimes against humanity because of its treatment of Palestinians. Israel has barred Falk from visiting the Palestinian territories.

In the report, Falk reiterated his request that the Israeli government cooperate with his efforts, as he said it is required to do under the UN Charter.

However, an AFP news carried by gulfnews.com [2] said:

The US and Israel on October 25, 2012 slammed the call for a boycott of companies helping Israel’s colony expansion in the Palestinian territories.

US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said the boycott appeal by Richard Falk would “poison the environment for peace.”

An Israeli spokeswoman criticized the “distasteful sideshow.”

Richard Falk singled out Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and Motorola of the United States, Veolia Environment of France, G4S of Britain, Dexia of Belgium, Volvo Group and Assa Abloy of Sweden, Ahava, Elbit Systems and Mehadrin of Israel, Riwal Holding Group of the Netherlands and Cemex of Mexico.

He said all were involved in building and maintaining Israeli colonies in the occupied territories that the UN, US and EU all consider illegal. More

 

Israel ‘Pillaging’ Palestinian Resources

JERUSALEM, Sep 3 2012 (IPS) - By mining natural resources from the occupied Palestinian territories for its own economic purposes, Israel is committing the war crime of pillage in the Dead Sea area, according to a report released Monday by Palestinian human rights group Al Haq.

“Israel is openly in violation of its obligations as an Occupying Power in the (occupied Palestinian territories), because it is encouraging and facilitating the exploitation of Palestinian natural resources and actively assisting their pillaging by private actors,” said the Al Haq report, titled ‘Pillage of the Dead Sea: Israel’s Unlawful Exploitation of Natural Resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory’.

Criminal responsibility for the crime of pillage does not only extend to the state of Israel, but can also be applied to individuals, namely Israeli settlers who benefit from the extraction of resources from the Dead Sea, Al Haq said.

“Although settlers and companies involved in the exploitation of the natural resources of the Dead Sea are mainly encouraged to do so by the State of Israel, they cannot ignore that such resources are considered Palestinian under international law. This should be sufficient to substantiate the ‘mental element’ of the crime of pillage, thus allowing for some Israeli settlers to be considered as the direct perpetrators of that crime,” the report stated.

Israel has maintained that numerous covenants of international humanitarian law do not apply to the occupied Palestinian territories since these areas are not under Israel’s jurisdiction. Recently, an Israeli government-appointed committee, known as the Levy Committee, also ruled that Israel is not an occupying power and that therefore, Israeli settlements in the West Bank are legal.

Nonetheless, many international jurists have maintained that Israel is violating basic principles of international law in its occupation of the Palestinian territories and exploitation of the area’s resources. Article 47 of the Hague Convention (1907), which outlines war crimes under international humanitarian law, states that “pillage is formally forbidden.”

Activists have launched a worldwide boycott campaign against Israeli products that are manufactured in the occupied Palestinian territories, and are inaccurately labeled as “Made in Israel.”

Recently, the South African government stated that it wouldn’t import goods produced in the occupied West Bank that are marked as Israeli-made. The United Church of Canada, the country’s largest Protestant church, also passed a similar boycott resolution against all settlement products.

The consequences of Israel’s exploitation of Palestinian resources don’t end at the Dead Sea, however. In 2009, Israeli human rights group Yesh Din submitted a petition the Israeli Supreme Court challenging the legality of Israeli quarrying activities taking place throughout the West Bank. More