[Peace-discuss] Fw: [socialistdiscussion] West Bank news

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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Reimann" <1999wildcat at gmail.com>
To: "socialist discussion" <socialistdiscussion at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 9:53 AM
Subject: [socialistdiscussion] West Bank news


Comrades:

Below are some fairly long reports on events in the West Bank. They
are probably too long for most to read. In sum, it seems that Israel
is stepping up its attacks there, especially on villages such as
Jayous where there has been (non-violent) resistance to the
construction of the Apartheid Wall, in the form of mass protests, etc.
There is also some significant expansion of settlements. The report
points out that the present situation plus the stepped-up attacks
makes the idea of a two-state solution all but impossible. This leaves
one of two alternatives: Increased apartheid and repression or
outright expulsion (ethnic cleansing). I would add that a combination
of the two is also possible.

I had always thought that US capitalism prefers a two state "solution"
and had thought that the new Obama administration might push for that.
However, now I am not so sure. They must be aware of what is being
created on the ground and are apparently not even doing the minimum to
pressure Israel. While they hypocritically continue to talk about two
states, they must know that the physical possibility grows less by the
day. Perhaps they feel that an expanded Israel will be stronger and
they have given up hope for any sort of peaceful "settlement", no
matter how temporary. I would also suspect that the complicity of the
surrounding regimes also makes them feel that they can get away with
this, given the lack of a real workers' movement in the region.

I also wonder how policy towards Iran figures into this equation.
Increased aggression by Israel towards the Palestinians might serve to
push Iran further, thus giving the US further excuse to attack there.

John


(1)
The real Israel-Palestine story is in the West Bank
Ben White
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/20/
israelandthepalestinians-israeli-elections-2009
Friday 20 February 2009

It is quite likely that you have not heard of the most important
developments this week in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the West
Bank, while it has been "occupation as normal", there have been some
events that together should be overshadowing Gaza, Gilad Shalit and
Avigdor Lieberman.

First, there have been a large number of Israeli raids on Palestinian
villages, with dozens of Palestinians abducted. These kinds of raids
are, of course, commonplace for the occupied West Bank, but in recent
days it appears the Israeli military has targeted sites of particularly
strong Palestinian civil resistance to the separation wall.

For three consecutive days this week, Israeli forces invaded Jayyous, a
village battling for survival as their agricultural land is lost to the
wall and neighbouring Jewish colony. The soldiers occupied homes,
detained residents, blocked off access roads, vandalised property, beat
protestors, and raised the Israeli flag at the top of several
buildings.
Jayyous is one of the Palestinian villages in the West Bank that has
been non-violently resisting the separation wall for several years now.
It was clear to the villagers that this latest assault was an attempt
to intimidate the protest movement.

Also earlier this week, Israel tightened still further the restrictions
on Palestinian movement and residency rights in East Jerusalem, closing
the remaining passage in the wall in the Ar-Ram neighbourhood of the
city. This means that tens of thousands of Palestinians are now cut off
from the city and those with the right permit will now have to enter
the city by first heading north and using the Qalandiya checkpoint.

Finally – and this time, there was some modest media coverage – it was
revealed that the Efrat settlement near Bethlehem would be expanded by
the appropriation of around 420 acres land as "state land". According
to Efrat's mayor, the plan is to triple the number of residents in the
colony.

Looked at together, these events in the West Bank are of far more
significance than issues being afforded a lot of attention currently,
such as the truce talks with Hamas, or the discussions about a possible
prisoner-exchange deal. Hamas itself has become such a focus, whether
by those who urge talks and cooption or those who advocate the group's
total destruction, that the wider context is forgotten.

Hamas is not the beginning or the end of this conflict, a movement that
has been around for just the last third of Israel's 60 years. The Hamas
Charter is not a Palestinian national manifesto, and nor is it even
particularly central to today's organisation. Before Hamas existed,
Israel was colonising the occupied territories, and maintaining an
ethnic exclusivist regime; if Hamas disappeared tomorrow, Israeli
colonisation certainly would not.

Recognising what is happening in the West Bank also contextualises the
discussion about Israel's domestic politics, and the ongoing question
about the makeup of a ruling coalition. For the Palestinians, it does
not make much difference who is eventually sitting around the Israeli
cabinet table, since there is a consensus among the parties on one
thing: a firm rejectionist stance with regards to Palestinian
self-determination and sovereignty.

During the coverage of the Israeli elections, while it was clear that
Palestinians mostly did not care which of the candidates for PM won,
the reason for this apathy was not explained. Labor, Likud and Kadima
alike, Israeli governments without fail have continued or intensified
the colonisation of the occupied territories, entrenching Israel's
separate-and-unequal rule, a reality belied by the false "dove"/"hawk"
dichotomy.
Which brings us to the third reason why news from the West Bank is more
significant than the Gaza truce talks or the Netanyahu-Livni rivalry –
it is a further reminder that the two-state solution has completed its
progression from worthy (and often disingenuous) aim to meaningless
slogan, concealing Israel's absorption of all Palestine/Israel and
confinement of the Palestinians into enclaves.

The fact that the West Bank reality means the end of the two-state
paradigm has started to be picked up by mainstream, liberal
commentators in the US, in the wake of the Israeli elections. Juan
Cole, the history professor and blogger, recently pointed out that
there are now only three options left for Palestine/Israel:
"apartheid", "expulsion", or "one state".
(http://www.juancole.com/2009/02/right-wing-sweeps-israel-
racialist.html)

The path of the wall, and the number of Palestinians it directly and
indirectly affects, continues to make a mockery of any plan for
Palestinian statehood. Jayyous is just one example of the way in which
the Israeli-planned, fenced-in Palestinian "state-lets" are at odds
with the stated intention of the quartet and so many others, of two
viable states, "side by side". As the World Bank pointed out, land
colonisation is not conducive to economic prosperity or basic
independence.

In occupied East Jerusalem meanwhile, Israel has continued its process
of Judaisation, enforced through bureaucracy and bulldozers. The latest
tightening of the noose in Ar-Ram is one example of where Palestinian
Jerusalemites are at risk of losing their residency status, victims of
what is politely known as the "demographic battle".

It is impossible to imagine Palestinians accepting a "state" shaped by
the contours of Israel's wall, disconnected not only from East
Jerusalem but even from parts of itself. Yet this is the essence of the
"solution" being advanced by Israeli leaders across party lines. For a
real sense of where the conflict is heading, look to the West Bank, not
just Gaza.
---------------

(2)  The following item provides detailed information on the current
military onslaught against West Bank Palestinian villagers peacefully
resisting the theft of their lands and livelihoods by Israel's
"separation wall". It was compiled and circulated by activist Haggai
Matar of Anarchists Against the Wall and New Profile, on February 22,
2009.

Rela Mazali

Nightly invasions to Palestinian villages in the West Bank

Imagine being awakened to the sound of a stun grenade. Imagine such a
grenade landing in your front yard every night. This is the reality
that residents of Palestinian villages who are struggling against the
apartheid wall are forced to deal with since the attack on Gaza.
These nightly invasions by the army, which terrorize villagers, are
becoming ever more frequent. Invasions take place three to four time a
week in the villages of Beit Likia and Bil'in. In the last week, the
villages of Ma'asara, Ni’ilin and Jayus too have joined the list, as
troops have been harassing those who participate and organize the
village protests.
During the invasions soldiers shoot tear gas and stun grenades into
civilian's houses. They also use rubber coated bullets and live rounds.
On 13.2.09, two children were injured in their homes in Beit Likia, and
a 60 year old woman was hit in the stomach. On that same night,
soldiers reached the homes of Ma'asara popular leaders Muhammad Barjia
and Mahmoud Zoahara, kept them for hours outside their homes in the
cold with very little cloths, and caused damage to their property,
threatening to arrest the two if demonstrations in the area were to
continue. A report by Zoahara is attached hereunder.
The media does not report these incidents, which have become a tiring
routine of the reality of occupation.  It seems that under this media
blockade, army commanders feel free to carry out these crimes.

Raise a voice and stop them!

A link to a video from Wednesday 18.2.09. The army invaded during the
day to set a checkpoint and later at night, just to shoot some teargas
and bullets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rGnjNM25Y4

Urge your politicians to demand from Israel to stop those night raids,
which are done just to set terror on the people.

Write and call to Public Requests and Complaints in Ministry of Defense
of Israel to protest against the nightly invasions.

Email: pniot at mod.gov.il
Phone:
+972(0)3-6975540
+972(0)3-6975423
+972(0)3-6975349
FAX +972(0)3-6976711

Sample letter:

To Ministry of Defense

I write to you in order to protest against the nightly invasions of the
villages of Bil'in, Beit Likia, Ni’ilin,  Jayus and Ma'asara, committed
by the Israeli army on an almost every-night basis. Such actions are in
violation of international law, which hold the occupying army
responsible to the welfare and safety of civilians living under its
rule. You must stop these invasions at once, and prosecute whoever is
responsible for them.
Sincerely, _______
--------

Background on the villages:

The village of Bil'in has become renowned for its on going struggle
against the wall, and Beit Likia too has been known to participate in
the struggle. Three Beit Likia children were killed by soldiers and
private security guards. The village of Ma'asara has for two years now
been leading the popular struggle of the Beit Lehem district villages,
in quite demonstrations against the land grabs committed by both
settlements and the wall. Jaaus was the first village that conducted a
struggle against the wall, back in 2003 and Ni’ilin is protesting for
the last year. Four people were killed by the army in Ni’ilin, two of
them were children.

The night after the demo in AL-Ma'sara village
At the mid of the night 7 Israeli army cars entered the village, they
have two target places to attack on is the house of Mohammed BRYJYA The
spoken man of the popular community against the wall in the village and
the second is the house of Mahmoud Zwahre the coordinator of the
popular community against the wall.

Around 12:30 at night the solders nock the door of my house asking me
to open the door in a non pilot way then I opened the door more than 10
solders entered my house without my permission, then they asked for my
ID and my wife also, and then the check the house putting everything on
the other destroying the furniture of the house , at that time they
push me out side in the cold weather wit very light clothes, asking the
same questions for the demonstration many questions, they told me that
they are going to arrest me and they blind me and they  tied then they
remove the things on my eyes and they start taking pictures for my,
while im on the ground on my knees  at that time I thought that im in
Gwantanamo , then they tied off me and then he told me this week we
came and we will not arrest you, the massage this week take care we are
going to arrest you next week we are going to come in more difficult
way

So don't come to demonstrate, don't organize demos

At that time I preferred to be quite no answers and I refuse to talk to
them because I know the mode that they are in at that time

While they was checking in my house they found emails for many friends
from solidarity associations from Europe I dint know if they are going
to use them or not ?

After three hours they left me then I phone Mohammed and I found that
they did the same to him

All of what they are doing we expect it since long time

All of that is a sign of victory

Today or tomorrow we are going to win because we have the faith

Mahmoud

-----------------------

(3)
Israel plans to double West Bank settlers - study
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?
edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=99790

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israel's Housing Ministry has plans for West Bank
construction that would nearly double the number of settlers there, the
group Peace Now said Monday.

The presence of the so-called Israeli "settlers" in the Occupied
Territories is illegal under international law.

The group gave the estimate in research issued on the day that US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to visit to Israel on her
first trip to the region since taking office.

US President Barack Obama has vowed to vigorously pursue peace efforts
in the region, and Israeli settlements on occupied land have long been
one of the main obstacles to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

"The Ministry of Construction and Housing is planning to construct at
least 73,000 housing units in the West Bank," said the Peace Now study,
based on analysis of data on Israeli government websites.

"At least 15,000 housing units have already been approved and plans for
an additional 58,000 housing units are yet to be approved," it said.

Out of the units already approved, nearly 9,000 have been built, Peace
Now said.

"If all the plans are realized, the number of settler in the
territories will be doubled," the research document said, adding that
the estimate is based upon an average of four people in each housing
unit.

"The completion of these projects will make the plan of creating a
Palestinian state next to Israel totally unrealistic," Peace Now head
Yariv Oppenheimer told Army Radio.

Included among the government's plans are some 17,000 housing units
outside existing settlements in the Bethlehem area, the Peace Now study
said.

"There are plans for huge construction to double the size of some
settlements" including Beitar Illit, Ariel, Maale Adumim and Efrat, it
said.

Some 19,000 units are planned to be built to the east of Israel's
illegal separation barrier in the Occupied West Bank, and the ministry
plans include at least six wildcat outposts - settlements not
authorized by the Israeli government, it said.

"The plans published are only a small part of the overall housing plans
for the Occupied Territories," the group said. "There are other
thousands of housing units in plans of the local authorities, private
initiators and other public authorities, all of which we are in the
process of collating." Under the internationally drafted "road map for
peace," Israel is committed to dismantle all settlements built since
March 2001.

But construction in Israeli settlements jumped 60 percent in 2008 in
the wake of the re-launching of the Middle East peace process at a US
conference at which the parties pledged to implement the road map. At
least 1,257 new structures were built in settlements over the course of
2008, compared to 800 erected the previous year, according to figures
compiled by Peace Now. - AFP with The Daily Star

-- 
Check out:
http://www.iww.org/en/blog/1411


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