apartheid « WordPress.com Tag Feed

B'Tselem video reports.

Djiin Of Truth — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:20:06 +0000

During a search for wanted persons soldiers destroyed seven housing units, and forced male residents of the neighborhood to undress in front of their families and neighbors.

~~~

Almost 9,000 Palestinians are being held in prisons inside Israel, in violation of international humanitarian law. In hundreds of cases, Israel forbids adult relatives to visit, so it is left to children under 16 to maintain the family contact.

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1703765327215644777&ei=V9LoSNP4C5HS2gKP3JSpCw&q=B%27Tselem]

~~~

Rasmi al-Khatib was 13 years old in October 2001, when he was playing soccer with friends. A soldier fired at the children and a bullet struck him. Since then, Rasmi's left arm has been paralyzed.

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8254427100166528536&ei=J9PoSMmCJYLi2gK3n6CiCw&q=B%27Tselem]

Tunnels feed the hungered people from besieged Gaza

Djiin Of Truth — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 14:31:55 +0000

[EN only]

"""

Hundreds of tunnels under the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt are keeping many of the Palestinian territory's 1.5 million impoverished residents supplied with food and fuel.

On Saturday, Egyptian authorities found the entrances of three tunnels and confiscated a large amount of fuel about to be smuggled into the territory.

Sources say there are more than 6,000 Palestinians employed in the clandestine industry, which merchants say is heavily controlled by the Hamas authorities.

Strict rules are imposed on what can be brought in - weapons, drugs and people-trafficking are prohibited - and tunnel operators are taxed.

Ehab Gheissen, a spokesman for the interior ministry in the deposed Hamas-led government, said: "It is the right of the Palestinian people to do whatever they can to break the siege they live under.

"They have a right to do whatever they can to get what they need, including through tunnels, but at the same time we are watching all of the things that are being brought in."

The tunnels were previously used to smuggle weapons to fight the Israeli occupation, but the blockade that was enforced after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 has made the smuggling of basic supplies a necessity.

Shortages have sent prices of flour and milk soaring, and the industry established around the tunnel smuggling system is now worth millions of dollars.

Sami Abdel Shafi, a Gaza-based business analyst, said: "These days, most of the anecdotal evidence we hear is that the tunnels are being used to bring in very human items, for lack of proper medicine in the Gaza Strip.

"They are used to bring in shoes, chocolate and 7-Up, things like that.

"Then again, all of the quantities being brought in are being blown out of proportion I feel, 1.5 million people deserve a lot more than having to operate under ground, they deserve a much better chance at operating an economy above ground." [...]

A diverse range of items, such as cigarettes, teacups and spare parts for motorcycles, were among the items awaiting collection. But no matter how important the tunnels are in keeping the Palestinian economy going, there is a human cost. At least 35 people have died in the tunnels since the beginning of the year, according to the UN.

General Mahmoud Khalaf, a military analyst, told "These tunnels are not neccessary, and illegal procedures should not be used to transport goods."

"The fact that these tunnels are seen as vital is an allegation perpetrated by Hamas to justify these actions. But yes, I do admit the Israeli-imposed siege has made life harder, but I believe these means are not the way forward."

Abu Mohammed lost his son and a brother when the tunnel they were digging fell in on them. Since then, he has stopped his other children from going down the tunnels."What can we do? We have to eat and they were making money for the family. But now, I won't allow them to work no matter how poor we are. It's just not right," he told.

Egypt is under pressure from Israel to crack down on the tunnels, some of which are in sight of the border police.

Cairo says it is making efforts to halt the trade, and the UN says that during a two-day period in August, 28 tunnels were destroyed by the authorities.

Mohyeldin reported that some Palestinians even boast that the Egyptians will never be able to shut all the tunnels because it is also a lucrative trade for many Egyptians.

But Abdel Shafi warns that longer the tunnels remain a lifeline, the more it will undermine the chances of a proper Palestinian economy being developed."It will have catastrophic consequences in the long term, even if it does provide or alleviate some of the need for the moment," he said."The Gaza Strip cannot be sustained on the operations of the tunnels."

In Gaza, 85 per cent of the population relies on aid and unemployment is running at 45 per cent. """

Palestinian father refused entry into Israel as son enlists in IDF

Antievil — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 11:44:03 +0000

A., a resident of central Israel, was married for 25 years to M., a Palestinian man. All those years the couple lived in Israel, where they raised their five children. In 2000, as the Al-Aqsa Intifada broke out, M. was granted temporary residency under family reunification regulations.

But the couple's relationship deteriorated, and A. asked the Interior Ministry not to renew M.'s residency. A. said that when she asked the clerk what would happen if she later regretted the decision, she was told she would only have to write a letter to the ministry.

In January 2007, the man was sent from Israel to the Gaza Strip. Since then, one of his children gave birth to his first grandchild - whom he has yet to meet - and his son is preparing to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. Meanwhile, all of the couple's requests to reunite in Israel have been ignored or rejected.
Advertisement
A. eventually came to regret her decision not to renew M.'s residency, and earlier this year she filed a request with the Interior Ministry asking that he be allowed to return. She was informed, however, that the family reunification process would have to be initiated anew.

She reapplied this April, requesting that M. be given permanent residency, a status he was entitled to before he returned to the Gaza Strip.

Months passed, and A. received no response from the Interior Ministry. She later learned that the clerk who had handled their case had left his job and not been replaced, leaving all requests for reunification from the Palestinian territories unanswered.

Meanwhile in May, one of M.'s children gave birth to his first grandchild. M. asked the Civil Administration in Gaza for permission to enter Israel temporarily to see the child, and his request was transferred to the liaison office at the Erez border crossing.

After receiving no response to this request, the couple appealed to Tel Aviv District Court. They stated M. had lived in Israel for 25 years, had established himself in Israeli society and had worked as an employee and contractor for construction firms. He had raised children in Israel, speaks perfect Hebrew and considers himself Israeli in every respect, they added.

A. added that had she known the implications of her request to distance him, she would never have filed it.

Furthermore, M. fears for his safety in Gaza. He told the court that on the night of July 31, three masked Hamas members came to his home and began searching his apartment. They asked him whether he had children with a Jewish woman, whether his eldest daughter had served in the Israel Defense Forces, and whether his son was currently preparing to enlist. M. said he told the men his children are Arab, not Jewish, but that they responded, "We know everything about you." He said Hamas operatives visited his apartment four times.

He now tries to minimize his time there, and suspects his neighbor is spying for Hamas, he said.

Following the appeal, the court merely instructed the Interior Ministry to inform A. why it had refused her children's father entry into Israel.

The ministry told the court in response that M. has no legal right to reside in Israel, and that since Hamas took over the Strip last summer, Gaza residents are allowed into Israel only on rare occasions, such as for medical care.

The ministry eventually offered A. a solution: She is welcome to move to the Gaza Strip under the framework of "divided family" regulations, which allow Palestinian-Israeli Arab couples to reunite in the Strip. The decision may have been influenced by the fact that A. converted to Islam before her marriage decades ago, even though she says she still considers herself Jewish.

Meanwhile, A.'s attorneys are still trying to bring M. into Israel, a prospect that now seems more distant than ever.

Ref. Haaretz

“The forgotten fighter”: Nablus’s will to live (by Frank Barat)

Djiin Of Truth — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:47:33 +0000

[EN]

""" Many Palestinians that I met during my travels in the West Bank told me that to know what Palestine really was about and meant, I had to go to Nablus. Most of them also told me that Nablus was their favourite city. After spending 5 weeks there this summer, I understand why. Arriving from Ramallah (on the fastest taxi/service ride I have ever experienced) the first thing you see on arriving in Nablus is its most famous checkpoint: Huwara. Huwara, its people and its colour. Yellow. Yellow like the hundreds of taxis and services parked on both sides of the checkpoint. You need them to leave the city and to get inside the city. Since the start of the second intifada, entry to Nablus by car or truck has mostly been forbidden. You cross the checkpoint on foot, on your way in and out. Once in a service (cheaper taxis that take people from one set stop to another, most of them old Mercedes) it takes only 5 mins to reach Nablus’ vibrant city centre. And then, something else hits you and you start to realise that Nablus is like no other place in the West Bank. The city centre is bustling with life. Cars come out of nowhere, people chat in the middle of the road, falafel shops at every street corner, a man sells coffee to stationary drivers, fruit sellers, people waving at you to stop for a chat, sounds of “welcome, how are you” coming from all directions. Nablus is non stop. You hear, smell, taste and see here. All at once. This is the best example I’ve seen so far of controlled chaos.

People seem to live here. Everyone I meet is smiling, laughing, inviting me to their homes for tea, asking me about my country. Everyone seems so happy to see me here. Everyone.

After a few days in the city, I realise that this is only the outside. Inside everything is a lot darker. Nablus reminds me of a clown. Smiling to hide its suffering.

Everyone is happy to see a foreigner, an international, because not many come to Nablus. Walking around the city you quickly realise that there is no tourism here. Only a few NGOs operate here bringing internationals (a nationality in itself in Nablus. Anyone coming from Europe, the U.S.A, Scandinavia... is called an international) into Nablus. People want to know my story and I want to know theirs. They want to understand why the world has forgotten them and I want to understand what has happened to them. They want to “take off their veil”, allow me in. I cannot refuse and decide to film them. For them to talk and the world to listen. To give them a platform to express themselves.

After a few interviews, it rapidly becomes obvious to me that everyone has a story here.

Bashir tells me that he had to stop his studies for a while because he could not afford it. He had to work in Ramallah for long hours, making only 20 shekels a day. Both his parents are unemployed. Like nearly 70% of the population in Nablus. A huge increase compared to the 1997 rate (14.2%). Nablus’s citizens have lost 60% of their income since the start of the second intifada. Most people here are young (50% of the population is under 20) and highly educated. Nonetheless most of the youth here is either unemployed or work in shops selling anything they can (some shops sell groceries but also clothes, house utilities....). Shops can be open for up to ten hours a day without a single customer. Nablusis simply don’t have money to spend.

Hakim tells me that everytime he hears the Israeli Army during the night, he wakes up, gets dressed and sits quietly on his sofa waiting for them. Not because he’s guilty of anything. Except maybe of being Palestinian. No one is safe in Nablus during the night. The situation is extraordinary. Nablus was one of the first cities to welcome a Palestinian police force a few months ago (around November 07) but this police force only acts from 6am till midnight. From midnight onwards the Israeli army takes over. Every night the Israeli army enters the city and its refugee camps (Balata, Askar, El Ayn) and, with the help of loudspeakers, sound bombs and weapons, arrest Palestinians, quite often ransacking their house, beating them and their families, and sometimes killing them. The Israeli army has “carte blanche” here. Even during the day. A police officer told me that the Israelis sometimes call them during the day to tell them that they’ll be down (the army base overlooks the city, on top of a mountain) in a few mins. They clear the place on the spot to let the Army do “its job”. It is as simple as that.

Hassan tells me that one day he was arrested while going through Huwara checkpoint. He spent 11 months in jail. To this day no one has told him why. The only thing he knows is that it was administrative detention. In every story you hear, jail comes up. For a male citizen of Nablus, jail is pretty much compulsory. Nearly half of Nablus’s male residents have gone past the Jail square. However this is no board game, and these men are not just visiting, some of them are incarcerated for months at a time without knowing why they were arrested in the first place or when they’ll be released.

Maroof tells me that during the first and second invasions of Nablus, while he was working as a volunteer with the fire brigade and the Red Crescent, he was nearly killed twice by the Israeli army. They knew he was working as a paramedic. Maroof witnessed many times blatant human rights violations by the army. The ambulances were not allowed to do their job properly and to rescue people. A lot of people died as a result of not being taken to hospital in time. Maroof and his team were once forbidden to leave the old city. They had to stay there for 12 days without edible food.

And then there is Saed who lost his mother in 2002 when she was assassinated by an Israeli sniper. There is Eslam who twice saw the Israeli army occupying his house and could not go out for days at a time. There is Ala from An Najah University (the biggest university in the West Bank) who cannot sleep at night because of nightmares due to multiples Israeli Army interventions and beatings in the old city during the night. There is Amad who went to jail with his whole family for 3 months in 2005.

And then there is this Palestinian girl, 17 years old, from Balata refugee camp, who tells me, on my last day in Nablus, while sharing a meal people from the camp had prepared for us:

“Tell me. What was the image you had of us before coming here? Did you think we were all killers? Did you think we were all crazy? Because I’ve got friends in Europe who told me that over there people think we are all crazy and terrorists. You know it hurts me so much when I hear things like this. We’re not crazy. We’re good people here. I mean not everyone’s good. Like everywhere else. But most of us are good. Nice people. Do you see many terrorists in this room? Do we all seem crazy to you? We’re just normal people and we want to live a normal life. But life for us is hard here. Can you tell the truth to your people when you go back to Europe? Can you tell them who we really are, please?”

I am so touched I cannot answer. Can you?

Most of the testimonies I filmed are now available online at: http://lifeunderoccupation.wordpress.com/
Do not hesitate to show them around and use them.

Frank Barat is a member of Palestine Solidarity Campaign: http://www.palestinecampaign.org/index2b.asp
And the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. http://www.icahd.org/eng/
You can reach him through his blog. """

~~~

[RO]

""" Mulţi palestinieni pe care i-am cunoscut în călătoriile mele prin Cisiordania mi-au spus că dacă vreau să ştiu cu adevărat despre ce este vorba şi ce înseamnă Palestina trebuie să mă duc la Nablus. Majoritatea mi-au mai spus că Nablus este oraşul lor preferat.
După ce am petrecut în această vară 5 săptămâni acolo am înţeles şi de ce.

Venind dispre Ramallah (cu cel mai rapid taxi/serviciu de transport pe care l-am experimentat vreodată) primul lucru pe care îl vezi când ajungi la Nablus este cel mai faimos punct de control al său: Huwara.

Huwara, oamenii săi şi culoarea sa. Galben.

Galben ca sutele de taxiuri şi servicii de transport parcate pe ambele părţi ale punctului de control. Ai nevoie de ele ca să părăseşti oraşul şi să intri în oraş. De la începutul celei de-a doua intifada, intrarea în Nablus cu maşină sau camion este, în mare parte, interzisă. Parcurgi punctul de control pe jos, la dus şi la întors.

Odată aflat într-un service (taxiuri mai ieftine care iau oameni de la o oprire la alta, majoritatea fiind Mercedesuri vechi) durează numai 5 minute să ajungi în vibrantul centru al oraşului Nablus.

De abia după aceea alt lucru te loveşte şi începi să realizezi că Nablus este ca nici un alt loc din Cisiordania.

Centrul oraşului forfoteşte de viaţă. Maşini care se ivesc de nicăieri, oameni care stau la taifas în mijlocul drumului, magazine de falafel la fiecare colţ de stradă, un om vinde cafea şoferilor care staţionează, vânzători de fructe, oameni care îţi fac cu mâna ca să te opreşti pentru pălăvrăgeală, sunete de „bine ai venit, cum te simţi” venind din toate direcţiile. Nablus este non-stop. Auzi, miroşi, guşti şi simţi aici. Toate în acelaşi timp.
Este cel mai bun exemplu de haos controlat pe care l-am văzut până acum.

Oamenii par să trăiască aici. Toată lumea pe care am întâlnit-o zâmbeşte, râde, mă invită la ceai în casele lor, mă întreabă despre ţara mea. Toţi par să fie atât de fericiţi aici. Toţi.

După câteva zile în oraş am început să realizez că acest lucru este numai de suprafaţă. În interior totul este mult mai sumbru. Nablus îmi aduce aminte de un clovn. Zâmbeşte ca să îşi ascundă suferinţa.

Toată lumea este fericită să vadă un străin, un internaţional, deoarece nu mulţi sunt cei care ajung în Nablus. Mergând prin oraş ajungi rapid să realizezi că nu există turism aici. Doar câteva ONG-uri lucrează aici aducând internaţionali ( o naţionalitate în sine în Nablus. Oricine vine din Europa, Statele Unite, Scandinavia... este numit un internaţional) în Nablus. În Marea Britanie, Biroul de Externe şi Commonwealth te sfătuieşte puternic ÎMPOTRIVA călătoriilor în Nablus. Dar de ce? Acesta este un oraş splendid plin de oameni uimitori. Mă chinui să înţeleg.

Oamenii vor să-mi ştie povestea iar eu vreau să o ştiu pe a lor. Vor să ştie de ce lumea i-a uitat iar eu vreau să înţeleg ce li s-a întâmplat. Vor să-şi „dea jos vălul”, să mă lase să intru. Nu pot să refuz şi mă decid să îi filmez. Pentru ca ei să vorbească şi lumea să asculte. Să le dau o platformă pentru a se exprima.

După câteva interviuri îmi devine repede clar că fiecare are o poveste aici.

Bashir îmi povesteşte cum a trebuit să-şi întrerupă pentru o perioadă studiile din cauză că nu îşi mai putea permite. A trebuit să lucreze în Ramallah pentru lungi ore, câştigând doar 20 de şekeli pe zi. Ambii săi părinţi sunt şomeri. Ca aproape 70% din populaţia din Nablus. O creştere imensă comparând cu rata din 1997 (14,2%). De la începutul celei de-a doua intifadă, cetăţenii Nablusului au pierdut 60% din veniturile lor. Majoritatea persoanelor de aici sunt tinere (50% din populaţie având sub 20 de ani) şi foarte bine educate. Totuşi, majoritatea tinerilor de aici sunt fie şomeri fie lucrează în magazine, vânzând orice pot (unele magazine vând alimente, dar şi haine, utilităţi casnice...). Magazinele pot fi deschise până şi la zece ore pe zi fără să aibă un singur client. Nablusianii pur şi simplu nu au bani de cheltuit.

Hakim îmi povesteşte cum, de fiecare dată când aude armata israeliană în toiul nopţii, se trezeşte, se îmbracă şi stă în linişte pe canapea aşteptându-i. Nu din cauză că ar fi vinovat de ceva. Exceptând poate faptul că este palestinian. Nimeni nu este în siguranţă în Nablus în timpul nopţii. Situaţia este extraordinară. Nablus este unul dintre primele oraşe care a primit, acum câteva luni (în jur de noiembrie 2007), o forţă de poliţie palestiniană, dar această forţă de poliţie acţionează numai de la 6 dimineaţa până la miezul nopţii. De la miezul nopţii încolo armata israeliană preia controlul. În fiecare noapte armata israeliană intră în oraş şi în taberele de refugiaţi (Balata, Askar, El Ayn) şi, cu ajutorul megafoanelor, a bombelor sonice şi a armelor, arestează palestinieni, le scotocesc destul de des şi casele, îi bat pe ei şi familiile lor, iar câteodată îi şi omoară. Armata israeliană are „carte blanche” aici. Chiar şi în timpul zilei. Un ofiţer de poliţie mi-a zis că israelienii îi sună câteodată în timpul zilei să le spună că vor fi jos (baza armatei situată în vârful muntelui are vedere asupra oraşului) în câteva minute. Ei eliberează locul de îndată pentru a lăsa armata „să-şi facă treaba”. Atât de simplu este.

Hassan îmi spune că într-o zi a fost arestat în timp ce traversa punctul de trecere Huwara. A petrecut 11 luni în închisoare. Nici în ziua de azi nu i-a zis cineva de ce. Singurul lucru pe care îl ştie este că a fost detenţie administrativă. În fiecare poveste pe care o auzi se iveşte închisoarea. Pentru un bărbat, cetăţean al Nablus, închisoarea este aproape obligatorie. Aproape jumătate dintre rezidenţii bărbaţi din Nablus au trecut prin curtea închisorii. Oricum, ăsta nu este un joc de societate iar aceşti bărbaţi nu sunt doar în vizită, unii dintre ei sunt încarceraţi timp de luni de zile fără să ştie, în primul rând, de ce au fost arestaţi sau când vor fi eliberaţi.

Maroof îmi spune că în timpul primei şi celei de-a doua invazii în Nablus, în timp ce lucra ca voluntar la brigada de pompieri şi la Semiluna Roşie, de doua ori a fost aproape de a fi ucis de către armata israeliană. Ştiau că lucrează ca paramedic. De multe ori a fost Maroof martor la vulgare încălcări ale drepturilor omului de către armată. Ambulanţele nu erau lăsate să-şi facă treaba cum se cuvine şi să salveze oamenii. Mulţi oameni au murit drept rezultat că nu au fost duşi la spital la timp. Lui Maroof şi echipei sale le-a fost interzis odată să părăsească oraşul vechi. Au trebuit să stea acolo timp de 12 zile fără alimente comestibile.

Mai este şi Saed care şi-a pierdut mama în 2002, când a fost asasinată de un lunetist israelian. Este şi Eslam care de două ori a văzut cum armata israeliană îi ocupă casa şi nu poate ieşi afară zile în şir. Este şi Ala, de la Universitatea An Najah (cea mai mare universitate din Cisiordania), care nu poate să doarmă noaptea din pricina coşmarurilor cauzate de multiplele intervenţii şi bătăi ale armatei israeliene din timpul nopţii în oraşul vechi. Este şi Amad care, împreună cu întreaga sa familie, a ajuns la închisoare în 2005 timp de 3 luni.

Şi apoi mai este şi această fetiţă palestiniană, în vârstă de 17 ani, din tabăra de refugiaţi Balata, care în ultima mea zi în Nablus îmi spune, în timp ce împărţeam masa preparată pentru noi de oamenii din tabăra:

„Spune-mi. Care era imaginea ta despre noi înainte să vii aici? Credeai că suntem toţi criminali? Credeai că suntem toţi nebuni? Pentru că am prieteni în Europa care mi-au spus că acolo oamenii cred că suntem toţi criminali şi terorişti. Ştii, mă doare atât de mult când aud astfel de lucruri. Nu suntem nebuni. Sunt oameni buni aici. Adică nu toată lumea este bună. Ca în oricare alt loc. Dar majoritatea dintre noi suntem buni. Oameni simpatici. Vezi mulţi terorişti în camera asta? Toţi îţi părem nebuni? Suntem doar oameni normali care vrem să trăim o viaţă normală. Dar pentru noi viaţa este grea aici. Poţi să le spui adevărul oamenilor tăi, când te întorci în Europa? Poţi să le spui cine suntem cu adevărat, te rog?”

Sunt atât de mişcat încât nu pot să răspund. Tu poţi? """

Jeszcze raz o muzungu

kkarpieszuk — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:34:29 +0000

Nie powinienem chyba odwlekać pisania artykułów. Czasem coś mi się bardzo spodoba i myślę, że to będzie dobry temat na artykuł, ale potem już pisać się nie chce, bo do tego przywykam. Dużo mam takich tematów, a ten jest jednym z nich. Zatem już niestety bez entuzjazmu opiszę jak muzungu są traktowani przez Rwandyjczyków.

Pisałem już, że gdy musiałem opłacić przedłużenie wizy trafiliśmy do czegoś co przypominało mały urząd pocztowy całkowicie zapchany ludźmi. Kolejka zbudowana była z ciał sklejonych razem; brzuchy dotykały pleców przed nimi. Wyglądało to śmiesznie, ale sprawiało, że w małym budyneczku do czterech okienek mogło stać nawet 20 osób do każdego i nikt nie stał na zewnątrz.

Dwadzieścia osób do okienka oznacza jednak, że trzeba na swoją kolej czekać z co najmniej pół godziny. Paul jednak zawołał strażnika, a ten w asyście trzymanego w ręku shot-guna (krótka strzelba z dwoma grubymi lufami, typu „przeładuj i strzelaj", muszę wspomnieć, że tu naprawdę dużo jest broni tego typu oraz kałasznikowów) przeprowadził mnie przez ten tłum prosto do okienka, zapłaciłem co miałem zapłacić, a wszyscy inni posłusznie i niemal bez słowa czekali. Potem odprowadził mnie przez ten sam tłum z powrotem do wyjścia, gdzie czekał Paul.

Pierwsze co pomyślałem: apartheid. Czarni bez słowa czekają aż biały pan zostanie obsłużony, a dopiero potem ich kolej. Paul jednak po wyjściu zapytał:

- Widzisz jacy jesteśmy gościnni?

- Gościnni? - zapytałem - Mi to się skojarzyło z apartheidem.

Wyjaśnił jednak, że to nie to, a zwykła uprzejmość. Rwandyjczycy bardzo lubią białych i starają się być dla nich jak najbardziej uprzejmi. W końcu jestem gościem w ich kraju i trzeba mnie traktować z należnymi dla gościa przywilejami.

Zapytał czy w Polsce jest tak samo wobec czarnych i odpowiedziałem mu zgodnie z prawdą, że niestety nie.

Uprzejmość tą widzę zdecydowanie częściej. Gdy mija mnie samochód policyjny czy wojskowy, pasażerowie i kierowcy machają do mnie rękoma. Pisałem też, że w drodze do Kibuye na widok białego zatrzymała się więźniarka i zabrała wszystkich pasażerów, a mi się dostało miejsce obok kierowcy.

Spacerujący policjanci także mnie pozdrawiają. Raz zatrzymali się by zapytać co słychać, skąd jestem, co tu robię (żadne przesłuchanie, a zwykła uprzejmość). Gdy wyjaśniłem, że jestem wolontariuszem i uczę tutaj informatyki, uśmiechnęli się jeszcze szerzej i uścisnęli mi rękę. Do dziś czasem w tłumie słyszę jak ktoś krzyczy Teacher! i macha do mnie. To ci sami policjanci; przystajemy i rozmawiamy ze sobą krótko.

Podobnie w szpitalu w Nyamata nie musiałem czekać w kolejce na lekarza. Pielęgniarka powiedziała lekarzowi, że przed gabinetem czeka muzungu, a ten gdy zbadał pacjenta wyszedł i zawołał mnie do środka poza kolejką. Z jednej strony szkoda mi było tych czekających ludzi, chorych podobnie jak ja. Z drugiej przez ostatnie dwa lata hartowałem się do takich sytuacji jako przedstawiciel medyczny...

* * *

Wojskowych pozdrawiających mnie było tu ostatnio wyjątkowo dużo, zaczęło się po wyborach przez co myślałem nawet, że ma to coś wspólnego z nimi. Ciężarówki żołnierzy, mundurowi stołujący się w telecentrum, był nawet minister obrony narodowej.

Dopiero po wszystkim wyjaśniono mi o co chodziło. Jakiś żołnierz zastrzelił kogoś w Kigali i uzbrojony uciekł w te okolice. Ostatecznie schwytano go na granicy z Burundi (droga na granicę wiedzie przez Nyamata) i okazało się, że cały czas ukrywał się w pobliskich bagnach.

Elektroniczny apartheid

keczua — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 08:04:17 +0000

Spotykasz w sieci ludzi. I nim zdążysz się spostrzec pojawia się segregacja światopoglądowa. Równie paskudna co jej pierwowzór rasowy. W pewnym momencie okazuje się, że nie pasujesz do koterii. Dlaczego? Odpowiedź jest prozaiczna: jesteś 'obca', 'inna', nie mówisz slangiem naszego elektronicznego getta. I co się dzieje dalej? Dostajesz swój winkiel. Kolor. Szkarłatną literę. Stałe ostrzeżenie. Otrzymujesz także niechęć części 'równiejszych'. Bynajmniej nie obojętną, bo przecież 'nikt Cię tutaj nie zapraszał, a skoro jesteś masz zamknąć ryj i się dostosować'. I masz tak naprawdę dwa wyjścia:

możesz spakować swój tobołek i iść dalej w świat, w końcu jesteś wolną jednostką ludzką,
możesz zostać i poznać mentalność oraz język getta, rezygnując przy tym dobrowolnie z części swoich praw.

Być może znacie inne rozwiązania. Być może zetknęliście się z innymi problemami w tym temacie.

Jakie rozwiązania przyjęliście na własny użytek?

Happy Gandhi Day

billdunlap — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:09:09 +0000

Dedicated to my friend Jon

Young Gandhi in South Africa

He was a strange duck, no doubt about that. Had he lived today he would be taken to task for his sexism. His poor wife didn't have that much say in their relationship. There was no doubt that he was something of a religious fanatic, although there are those who insist that he's a saint. There is no doubt of the profound effect he still has in the world, and we have not yet seen the full effect of his life and works.

Today, Gandhi has become a stereotype. He has become another dead person who is shamefully used by the establishment. Who can forget the callous Apple commercials that portrayed a picture of Gandhi with the words “think different”? Of course, what the observer was supposed to think about was MacIntosh Computers. Born again preachers will invoke his name as readily as neocon politicians to support ideas Gandhi would never have agreed with.

This only succeeds in keeping Gandhi in the public mind. This is something that preachers and politicians may live to regret. Gandhi remains a powerful symbol in the public mind. You can stick his picture on a billboard to sell computers, but he remains the man who liberated India. He did so without firing a shot. As a young attorney in South Africa, Gandhi was the man who began resistance against Apartheid. True, Apartheid did not fall until about forty years after his death, but Gandhi was the pebble that began the avalanche. Had Gandhi not challenged the South African marriage laws and won, there would have been no victories for Steven Biko and Nelson Mandela to follow.

Gandhi is a constant reminder that you do not need a gun to stand up against injustice. You do not have to use violence to make your point. You do not have to make war to be free. Courage and determination are what creates freedom. Independence is not won through battle but through negotiation. Gandhi forced the authorities in South Africa to recognize non-Christian marriages. Gandhi forced the British to the table and negotiated British withdrawal from India. In both cases, Gandhi did not lift a gun. He did not threaten harm to anyone, South African White or British Raj.

Where would the Libertarian movement be if Gandhi's example begins to catch on? Where would their Second Amendment mania get them, except to show what a dangerous anachronism Libertarianism is? Would the FBI be able to create another Weather Underground if the left really embraces the principles of nonviolence? What would have happened if we acted like Gandhi after the Sept. 11^th attack? What would have happened if we had listened to the other side? I suspect that quite a lot of oil profits would be going towards reparations and that bin Laden would be in an American prison right now.

If Gandhi has taught us anything, it is that the person who shoots first loses. Apply this lesson to the war in Afghanistan. Oh, how the American public cheered as Chimpy McFlightsuit sent the troops to the Middle East. It was called “definitive action”. I once spent an afternoon listening to an acquaintance tell me the horror that is now Kabul. He told me how he sent his young cousin to school, just to have the boy return dead in a neighbor's arms half an hour later. Two years later we invaded Iraq. Would that have happened if we had adopted the principles Gandhi taught us?

There are no good wars. There are no wars that could not be prevented. Even World War Two could have been prevented had the world put its foot down in Hitler's early days. The two wars that America is currently involved in would certainly have been prevented if we as a nation had kept Gandhi in mind. Perhaps it's good that the preachers and politicians invoke Gandhi's name for their own purposes. It's good to keep reminding us of what Gandhi stood for. Maybe if we are reminded enough times, we might catch on. Then when the next idiot wants to attack the next nation, we will tell him to get stuffed.

[caption id="attachment_308" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="War Is Good For Wall Street."][/caption]

three from Latuff ...

Djiin Of Truth — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 04:58:34 +0000

Kangamba

Yohandry Fontana — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:10:18 +0000

Kangamba es de los filmes más serios y dramáticos que vi nunca. Fue a través de la reproducción de un

: Los artistas actuaron formidablemente

disco en la pequeña pantalla de un televisor. Tal vez mi juicio esté influido por recuerdos que no es posible olvidar. Cientos de miles de compatriotas cubanos tendrán el privilegio de irlo presenciando en la pantalla grande.

Los artistas actuaron formidablemente. Creí por un instante que para producirlo habían necesitado la cooperación de decenas de angolanos. Desde el punto de vista humano, se observan escenas que hacen añicos el modo despectivo y racista con que tradicionalmente el imperialismo enfoca las costumbres y la cultura africanas. Las imágenes de las casas incendiadas por los proyectiles con que los gobernantes sudafricanos armaron una etnia africana para lanzarla contra sus hermanos angolanos no se pueden borrar nunca.

Las cosas ocurridas en aquel campo de batalla en que nuestros compatriotas, junto a los angolanos, realizaron aquella proeza fueron realmente conmovedoras. Sin su resistencia heroica todos habrían muerto.

Los que cayeron no lo hicieron en vano. El Ejército sudafricano había sido derrotado en 1976 cuando Cuba envió hasta 42 mil combatientes para evitar que la independencia de Angola, por la cual ese hermano pueblo luchó mucho tiempo, sucumbiera ante la invasión traicionera del régimen del apartheid, cuyos soldados fueron obligados a retroceder hasta la frontera de donde partieron: su colonia en Namibia.

Poco después de finalizada la guerra e iniciada la progresiva retirada de los combatientes cubanos por presión de la dirigencia de la URSS, los sudafricanos volvieron a sus andadas contra Angola.

La batalla de Cuito Cuanavale, cuatro años después de la de Cangamba -su verdadero nombre-, y el propio drama que se vivió en este punto fueron consecuencia de una estrategia soviética equivocada en el asesoramiento del alto mando angolano. Fuimos siempre partidarios de prohibir al ejército del apartheid intervenir en Angola, como al final de la guerra de 1976 lo éramos de exigirle la independencia de Namibia.

La URSS suministraba las armas; nosotros entrenábamos a los combatientes angolanos y les brindábamos asesoramiento a sus casi olvidadas brigadas que luchaban contra los bandidos de la UNITA, como la número 32, que operaba en Cuanza, casi en el límite central al este del país.

Sistemáticamente nos negábamos a participar en la ofensiva que casi todos los años se dirigía al puesto de mando hipotético o real de Jonas Savimbi, jefe de la contrarrevolucionaria UNITA, en la remota esquina sudeste de Angola, a más de mil kilómetros de la capital, con brigadas flamantemente equipadas con armas, tanques y transportadores blindados soviéticos más modernos. Los soldados y oficiales angolanos eran inútilmente sacrificados cuando ya habían penetrado en la profundidad del territorio enemigo, al intervenir las fuerzas aéreas, la artillería de largo alcance y las tropas sudafricanas.

En esta ocasión las brigadas, con grandes pérdidas, habían retrocedido hasta veinte kilómetros de Cuito Cuanavale, antigua base aérea de la OTAN. Fue en ese momento que se ordenó a nuestras fuerzas en Angola el envío de una brigada de tanques a ese punto y se tomó la decisión, por nuestra cuenta, de acabar de una vez con las intervenciones de las fuerzas sudafricanas. Reforzamos nuestras tropas en Angola desde Cuba: unidades completas, las armas y los medios necesarios para cumplir la tarea. El número de combatientes cubanos superó en esa ocasión la cifra de 55 mil.

CUITO CUANAVALE

La batalla de Cuito Cuanavale, iniciada en noviembre de 1987, se combinó con las unidades que se movían ya en dirección a la frontera de Angola con Namibia, donde se dio la tercera acción de esa importancia.

Cuando se haga una película aún más dramática que Kangamba, la historia fílmica recogerá episodios más impresionantes todavía, en que brilló el heroísmo masivo de cubanos y angolanos hasta la derrota humillante del apartheid.

Fue al final de las últimas batallas cuando los combatientes cubanos estuvieron próximos a ser golpeados, esta vez junto a sus hermanos angolanos, por las armas nucleares que el gobierno de Estados Unidos suministró al oprobioso régimen del apartheid.

Sería de rigor producir en su oportunidad una tercera película de la categoría de Kangamba, que nuestro pueblo tiene a su disposición en los cines de Cuba.

Mientras tanto, el imperio se atasca en una crisis económica que no tiene igual en su decadente historia, y Bush se desgañita pronunciando disparatados discursos. Es de lo que más se habla en estos días.

Fidel Castro Ruz

30 de septiembre de 2008

7 y 40 p.m.

VER:

¿ Por qué Cuba ayudó a Angola ?

Anécdotas de los protagonistas

La guerra de Angola y los acuerdos de paz de la ONU

Reconocen a internacionalistas que lucharon en Cangamba

Incredibile a Trapani e a Parma

crossmic — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:05:33 +0000

Ecco l'articolo che riporta la vicenda di Trapani.

"Il segretario provinciale della Uiltrasporti Ruggero Messina ha chiesto l'intervento delle autorità competenti. "Gli extracomunitari - scrive - mostrano un comportamento poco rispettoso delle regole della convivenza poiché il più delle volte sono ubriachi a tal punto da minacciare passeggeri e autisti. Incredibile, ripeto: se il problema sono gli ubriachi... …cosa c'entra parlare di "extracomunitari"?
Se il problema è che molti non pagano il biglietto…cosa c'entra parlare di "extracomunitari"?

Ubriachi e senza biglietto: questo è il problema…Ma la Uil trasporti di Trapani? Guardatevi la definizione di apartheid trovata su Wikipedia. Gli ubriachi non hanno colore….e chi non paga il biglietto solitamente prende una multa. Forse il vero problema è che a Trapani non riescono a far rispettare le più elementari norme di convivenza…ma cosa c'entrano gli extracomunitari?

E mentre scrivo questo post...apro repubblica.it e trovo la vicenda di Emmanuel Bonsu Foster, picchiato per ora impunemente e se leggete bene nella foto nella busta lasciata dai vigili c'è la scritta " Emanuel negro"...

Ma la cosa allucinante deve ancora arrivare perchè (ecco l'articolo) il giorno dopo come se avessero la coda di paglia e allo stesso tempo un senso d'impunità incredibile "alle 11.14 l'ufficio stampa del Comune di Parma invia un comunicato dove si congratula con gli agenti per l'arresto di un famoso pusher nella zona ex Eridania..... perché la Polizia municipale ha dimostrato ancora una volta di essere all'altezza dei compiti assegnati".

E il resto?

existential crisis: should i send myself the Asp application?

mybrandedlife — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:52:40 +0000

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="320" caption="I don't want to live on your friendslist anymore. Life has no meaning."][/caption]

so i've been thinking a lot about committing facebook suicide. i mean, it used to be fun, but now that i've been clean for so long it just feels a bit irrelevant to my life.it wasn't always this way. i was once a junkie too, online pretty much all day, commenting on walls, sending people growing gifts. i never stooped so low as to send the What is your Stripper Name app, and i am proud to say that i was never desperate enough to add the Zombie vs Werewolves app, but i was right in there. i was poking back.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="379" caption="One of the world's most devastating wars. Ever. There are some who say the Poke War of 2007 is what's responsible for the present crash of the world's economy."][/caption]

then, i changed jobs, and my new employer blocked facebook all day except for an hour at lunch. and not even the withdrawal pangs could keep me at my desk at lunch just to check facebook. turns out it was for the best, because once i'd had a long enough break i realised just what a shadow of myself i'd become (ok quite a pretty, airbrushed, pouting shadow, but still a shadow), slave to this glorified message board.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="422" caption="Look how hot I am."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="378" caption="Me in Real Life Book."][/caption]

the thing is, so many of my friends are still hooked and very much caught up in its web. and, like some of my smoker friends who know that I've quit, they continue to offer me cigarettes in the form of L'il Green Patch application invites, to which i am always tempted to respond:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="455" caption="Don't send me apps. Srsly. If I wanted it I'd already have it."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="397" caption="I just don't want to be in a committed scarf relationship right now. But you will always be in my heart."]The only reason I can see to keep my account open is to provide people with a place they can go to find my email address and my web addresses. maybe i should delete everything except my most basic information. but even that seems like too much effort.to me, facebook is one of those 2007 fads. the online equivalent of the palestinian scarf or the shutter shades.

[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="297" caption="An ancient relic. Yes people used to actually wear these. You can find fossils in Margate from the Loerie Awards back in 2008."][/caption] i am still in a quandary about what the right thing to do is. i am worried that if i commit facebook suicide my facebook life insurance won't pay out and i will go to facebook hell. or does facebook send its unhappy souls to facebook heaven? what is facebook heaven? is it filled with pokes and pouts? hopefully no one reading this knows the answer to that question.

South African Intelligence Minister Kasrils: Israel's behaviour worse than apartheid

Antievil — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 07:11:19 +0000

Kasrils says Israel's behaviour worse than apartheid

PRETORIA – South African Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils Thursday accused Israel of conducting a policy against the Palestinians that was worse than apartheid.

Speaking on the sidelines of a UN meeting on the situation in the Palestinian territories, Kasrils said South Africa’s townships had never been attacked by helicopter gunships and tanks, in contrast to the military means employed by Israel.

“The analogy between apartheid and Israel’s occupation of Palestine is often made. It is not the same thing. The occupation is absolutely worse,” Kasrils told reporters.

“It is important that we tell the Israeli authorities they are behaving like fascists when they do certain things, although we are not calling it a fascist state.”
Kastrils called on the United States and European Union to lift their economic and political embargo of the Palestinian Authority now that Hamas and Fatah have joined in a government of national unity.

He said the meeting would, among things, prepare for demonstrations marking the 40th anniversary year of the Israel occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian observer at the United Nations, said the gathering had been organised in Pretoria to deliver lessons from South Africa about how it had dismantled apartheid.

“An unjust system was defeated here and they have been elsewhere. We can do it in Palestine too,” he said.

“The cracks are showing in the Israeli occupation. They tried to break the Palestinian Authority but they were unable to.” –Sapa-AFP

Ref: Global Research

israel wants to annex 7.3 percent of the West Bank (August 12, 2008)

Djiin Of Truth — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:18:44 +0000

[EN]

""" Jerusalem - Israeli negotiators have told their Palestinian counterparts they want to annex 7.3 percent of the West Bank as part of a final peace deal, Palestinian officials said Tuesday.

In exchange, Israel would cede Israeli territory near the Gaza Strip that is equivalent to 5.5 percent of the West Bank, and would open a passage to allow Palestinians to travel between the West Bank and Gaza.

The officials, who are close to the negotiations, spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are supposed to be secret.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, would not comment on the Israeli offer, but said that "the gap between the two positions on the issue of borders is still wide."

Palestinian officials have said they agree in principle to a land swap that would enable Israel to annex some large Jewish settlements in the West Bank. However, the officials said they're not willing to swap more than 1.8 percent of the West Bank.

The Israeli proposal resembled offers made by Israel in previous rounds of negotiations in 2000 and 2001 before the process broke down in violence.

Today, the two Palestinian territories are controlled by bitter rivals: the Islamic Hamas rules Gaza, while Abbas' Western-backed government controls the West Bank and is negotiating with Israel.

According to the Israeli offer, the land swaps would only go ahead once Abbas had regained control of Gaza, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Tuesday. That appears increasingly unlikely to happen, as Hamas has effectively eliminated internal opposition and is firmly in control of the coastal strip and its 1.4 million residents.

Haaretz also claimed that Abbas has agreed to put off negotiations on Jerusalem. However, Abbas has said repeatedly that all issues are on the table and that he's not ready to reach a partial deal.

The final borders of the two states, Israel and Palestine, are only one of the three main issues facing the sides. They must also resolve the fate of the Palestinian refugees who lost their homes when Israel was established in 1948 and their descendants. The third issue, and the thorniest, involves Jerusalem, with its holy sites coveted by both sides.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the report of the Israeli offer was "baseless or half-truths," and charged that Israel was preparing to make it look as if the Palestinians were responsible for rejecting a generous deal.

"We hope the Israeli side will stick to the agreement to continue negotiations away from the media and not to begin engagement in the blame game," Erekat said.

Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, declined to comment on the report, but said "important progress" had been made in recent months, "including on the issue of final borders."

"More work still needs to be done, and we are committed to continuing the effort to try to reach a joint Israeli-Palestinian document," he said.

The current Israeli-Palestinian talks were launched at a U.S.-sponsored peace conference late last year, with the goal of reaching an agreement by the end 2008. Both sides have increasingly indicated they doubt they can bridge the gaps between then by the deadline.

Further complicating matters, Olmert has been buffeted by corruption charges and is facing the end of his term in office. The Israeli leader announced that he will step down after his Kadima Party elects a new leader in September, though he might stay on as head of a caretaker government for months afterward if national elections are called.

If true, the report could indicate Olmert is trying to sew up important parts of a peace deal before leaving office. """ [source]

~~~

[RO]

""" Ierusalim – Negociatorii israelieni au spus omologilor palestinieni că vor să anexeze 7,3 la sută din Cisiordania, ca parte a procesului final de pace, au declarat ieri oficialii palestinieni.

În schimb, Israel va ceda din teritoriul israelian din apropierea Fâşiei Gaza, care este echivalent cu 5,5 la sută din Cisiordania, şi va deschide un pasaj care să permită palestinienilor să călătorească între Cisiordania şi Fâşia Gaza.

Oficialii care au legătură cu negocierile au vorbit sub condiţia anonimatului deoarece, se presupune că discuţiile ar trebui să fie secrete. Nabil Abu Rdeneh, asistent al preşedintelui palestinian Mahmoud Abbas, nu a vrut să comenteze asupra ofertei israeliene, dar a precizat că „golul dintre cele două poziţii asupra problemei graniţelor este încă unul foarte mare”. Oficialii palestinieni au spus că ar fi de acord, în principiu, asupra unui schimb care ar permite Israelului să anexeze câteva aşezări evreieşti din Cisiordania. Totuşi, oficialii au precizat că nu sunt dispuşi să schimbe mai mult de 1,8 la sută din suprafaţa Cisiordaniei.

Propunerea israeliană se aseamănă cu alte propuneri făcute de Israel în runde anterioare ale negocierilor din 2000 şi 2001, înainte ca acest proces să eşueze şi să se ajungă la violenţă.

Cele două teritorii palestiniene sunt controlate astăzi de rivali înverşunaţi: Hamas conduce în Gaza, în timp ce guvernul domnului Abbas, sprijinit de Vest, controlează Cisiordania şi se află în negocieri cu Israel.

Conform ofertei israeliene, schimburile de teritoriu vor fi duse până la capăt numai după ce Abbas va recâştiga controlul asupra Gazei, a precizat astăzi cotidianul israelian Haaretz.

Pare tot mai greu de crezut ca acest lucru să se întâmple, când Hamas a eliminat efectiv orice fel de opoziţie internă, şi deţine, cu fermitate controlul asupra fâşiei costale şi a celor 1,4 milioane de rezidenţi.

Haaretz a mai afirmat că dl. Abbas a acceptat să suspende negocierile asupra Ierusalimului. Totuşi, Abbas a spus, în repetate rânduri, că toate problemele sunt puse pe masă şi că nu e pregătit să ajungă la o înţelegere parţială.

Graniţele finale ale celor două state, Israel şi Palestina, este doar una dintre cele trei probleme principale care privesc cele două părţi. De asemenea, mai trebuie să rezolve şi soarta refugiaţilor palestinieni, care şi-au pierdut casele când s-a întemeiat Israelul în 1948, şi a descendenţilor acestora.

A treia problemă, şi cea mai spinoasă, implică Ierusalimul cu locurile sfinte râvnite de ambele părţi. Negociatorul palestinian, Saeb Erekat, a spus că raportul ofertei israeliene este „neîntemeiat sau prezintă jumătăţi de adevăruri” şi a imputat că Israel se pregăteşte să facă, în aşa fel încât să arate, că palestinienii sunt responsabili de refuzarea unei oferte generoase. „Noi sperăm ca partea israeliană să respecte înţelegerea de a continua negocierile, departe de ochii presei şi să nu începem cu atacuri într-un joc al învinuirii”, a declarat dl. Erekat.

Mark Regev, purtătorul de cuvânt al guvernului israelian, a refuzat să comenteze asupra raportului, dar a spus că s-au făcut „progrese importante” în ultimele luni, „inclusiv pe tema graniţelor finale”. „Mai este încă multă treabă de făcut şi suntem devotaţi în a continua efortul pentru a încerca să ajungem la un document israeliano-palestinian comun”, a declarat acesta.

Discuţiile israeliano-palestiniene curente au fost lansate la o conferinţă de pace sponsorizată de Statele Unite, de anul trecut, cu scopul de a ajunge la o înţelegere până la sfârşitul lui 2008.

Ambele părţi au indicat pe parcurs că se îndoiesc că ar putea umple golurile dintre ele până la expirarea termenului. Ca să fie lucrurile şi mai complicate, dl. Olmert a primit o lovitură datorată acuzaţiilor de corupţie şi se confruntă cu încheierea mandatului său în oficiu. Liderul israelian a anunţat că se va retrage după ce partidul său, Kadima, va alege un nou lider în septembrie, dar s-ar putea să rămână în continuare la putere ca şef al unui guvern interimar, dacă se va decide asupra unor alegeri naţionale.

Dacă este adevărat, atunci, raportul ar putea indica că Olmert încearcă să „coasă” părţi importante ale înţelegerii de pace înainte să părăsească funcţia. """

Racist' marriage law upheld by Israel. [Citizenship Law]

ratcatcher2 — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:49:37 +0000

'Racist' marriage law upheld by Israel

Monday, 15 May 2006

Israel's High Court has narrowly upheld a law denying Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza married to Israeli citizens the right to live in the country with their spouses.

The judges voted by six to five not to cancel a four-year-old amendment to the Citizenship Law which outlaws "family unification" in Israel between Palestinians and Arab citizens of Israel.

It was passed as a one-year emergency measure in 2002 on the ground that it was needed to protect Israeli security. But the amendment, described yesterday by the Knesset member Ran Cohen, of the left-wing Meretz party, as "rooted in racism", has been renewed every year since then.

Israel's Chief Justice, Aharon Barak, sided with the minority on the bench, declaring:

"This violation of rights is directed against Arab citizens of Israel. As a result, therefore, the law is a violation of the right of Arab citizens in Israel to equality."

Muad el-Sana, an Israeli Arab lawyer who is married to a Palestinian woman from the West Bank town of Bethlehem and works for Adalah, one of the agencies bringing the case, declared:

"This is a very black day for the state of Israel and also a black day for my family and for the other families who are suffering like us. The government is preventing people from conducting a normal family life just because of their nationality."

While the court had granted el-Sana's wife, Abir, a university lecturer, a temporary injunction preventing her deportation, Mr el-Sana said the high court's ruling would make it almost impossible for the couple and their two children, aged 2 years and five months, to continue living together.

Their individual petition said that he has no right to live in Bethlehem and she has no right to live with her husband in the Negev.

Mohammed Barakeh, a prominent Arab Knesset member on Sunday said the ruling "gives racism a shady alibi." He added:

"The fact that the ruling was opposed by several of the judges is a ray of light that does not illuminate the darkness of the court's decision and the Knesset's legislation."

Official figures show that of 22,000 applications for such reunification since the Oslo accord in the mid 1990s only 6000 have been granted. Adalah said yesterday that the state had said that it had interrogated only 25 of these "for alleged involvement in terrorist activities" and that the state anyway had ample capacity to carry out security checks during the staged process towards legal status. Adalah said last night that in 1980, at the height of apartheid, a South African court had refused to approve orders similar to the present Israeli law "because they contradicted the right to a family."

Last year the then Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz slightly modified the law by widening ministerial discretion to award legal status to Palestinian spouses. Yesterday Haim Ramon, Israel's Justice Minister, indicated he would be seeking to recast the law to apply equally to all ethnic groups but warned that no country was obliged to admit citizens form an authority with which it was in conflict. He added:

"We have to remember that this law was legislated during the Palestinian uprising, when several people who received citizenship through family unification carried out attacks."

The outgoing judge Michael Cheshin, who voted with the majority, said during a debate in February:

"The Palestinian Authority is an enemy government, a government that wants to destroy the state and is not prepared to recognize Israel... Why should we take chances during wartime? Did England and America take chances with Germans seeking their destruction during the Second World War? No one is preventing them from building a family but they should live in Jenin instead of in [the Israeli Arab city of] Umm al-Fahm."

* The Israeli army said it had killed at least seven Palestinian militants in the West Bank yesterday. One of the men killed was Elias Al Ashkar, blamed for suicide attacks including the one in Tel Aviv on 17 April which killed 11.

By Donald MacIntyre in Jerusalem

My TAGS:-

racism marriage citizenship.law court apartheid Gaza female 2006 :Independent Justice Minister Knesset violated rights Arab citizen

on the economics of occupation

Marcy Newman — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:23:30 +0000

So I'm preparing for an interview on Press TV tonight. They want me to talk about four things:

1. inter-Palestinian talks in Cairo
2. U.S.-Israel sowing seeds of discord
3. Abbas' strategy as failed
4. results of the Quartet's work in Palestine

To be honest, I haven't entirely followed the talks in Cairo because I find them irrelevant in so many ways. I've been re-reading a lot of Edward Said's writings on Oslo over the past month as I theorize and organize a chapter of my book I'm completing. I find that so much of what he said even in the time immediately following Oslo has not changed one bit. If anything it's gotten worse. As if Said were prophesying. And in some ways he was. In The End of the Peace Process, for instance, Said tells us:

Labor and Likud leaders alike made no secret of the fact that Oslo was designed to segregate the Palestinians in noncontiguous, economically unviable enclaves, surrounded by Israeli-controlled borders, with settlements and settlement roads punctuating and essentially violating the territories' integrity. Expropriations and house demolitions proceeded inexorably through Rabin, Peres, Netanyahu, and Barak administrations, along with the expansion and multiplication of settlements (200,000 Israeli Jews added to Jerusalem, 200,000 more in Gaza and the West Bank), military occupation continuing and every tiny step taken toward Palestinian sovereignty--including agreements to withdraw in miniscule, agreed-upon phases--stymied, delayed, canceled at Israel's will" (360-361).

Of course, Said is correct. But it has gotten so much worse in so many ways. Today is the 8th anniversary of the second or Al Aqsa intifada. And in that time period, Ma'an News reports the following disastrous casualties of Israeli terrorism and colonialism:

In the eight years since the start of the Al-Aqsa Intifadah Israel has destroyed Palestine’s infrastructure and killed 5,389 Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem....

Of those killed by Israeli forces, [Al Haq] said, 194 were women and 995 children. During the same time 135 Palestinian patients died at one of the 630 military checkpoints throughout the areas.

The group said 32,270 Palestinians were injured over the last eight years, and 3,530 of those injured have suffered permanent handicaps, and at least 220 Palestinians have died waiting for treatment abroad.

General Director of the Health Action committee Shatha Au’da said that Israel had destroyed entire infrastructures in Palestinian lands, from road networks, to health, government and security on account of occupation and siege policies. Palestinian lands and lives have been cut up by road-blocks, concrete walls, settlements and discriminatory policies.

Settlements have expanded 30% since the Annapolis conference alone, and since 2000 7,934 Palestinian homes have been demolished. Israelis have collected 66million Shekels in fines from Palestinians living in East Jerusalem since 2006, and in that city alone 27 homes are currently threatened with demolition.

There have been 450 kilometers of separation fence build across the land, and 45% of West Bank lands are not accessible to Palestinians.

These are stark statistics of reality here over the course of the last 8 years. But there are other issues Said addresses, which have contributed to the worsening conditions here and that highlight the erroneous notion that Oslo, or any other such agreement since it, is about "peace." One problem that Said addressed, which Salman Abu Sitta also has been speaking out about in important ways, has to do with the Palestinian Authority (PA) itself and who it does or does not represent. For his part Abu Sitta has been working on trying to create a real Palestinian governing body that represents all Palestinians not just those who are allowed to live here. Said made an important distinction between the PA and this much larger body of Palestinian refugees living in exile who comprise 7.2 million people today: "No final-status negotiating team can represent national (as opposed to municipal) Palestinian interests unless there are to be no further compromises on settlements, on sovereignty, water, and other natural resources, on entrances and exits, and on Jerusalem" (25).

It has never mattered what Israeli leader or political party has been in power. Each has been more devastating than the last. One might try to mask its rhetoric and proclaim some sort of "peace" agreement, but in the end what happens on the ground is an entirely different story. Said reminds us of what Oslo has meant for the PA. Here he is talking about 'Arafat, but the same may be said of Abbas:

Arafat cooperates with the Shin Bet [Israeli internal security (read: terrorist) forces] and the settlers in rounding up "opponents of the peace process," while the occupation of his people's land proceeds. Israel holds over six thousand Palestinian political prisoners [2008: 11,000] and still controls unilaterally the water supply (although it has conceded in principle that Palestinians will be given a small additional amount of water), and of course the military occupation continues. Rabin's plan is to substitute direct control, i.e., Israeli troops in the main West Bank centers, for indirect control, i.e., Israel troops outside the towns" (17).

Direct or indirect: it makes no difference in people's lives on a daily basis. The control Said speaks of is military, but that military control, regardless of what it looks like, has an effect on people's social, political, cultural, and economic realities. But partially because the economy is one of the top headlines in the media of late, I want to consider this aspect in relation to Oslo. Naomi Klein argues in The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism that various forms of disaster--environmental and man-made alike--have created a new type of economy that yields profits in a way that makes "instability the new stability" (428) in an economic context. She uses the state of Israel as a model for the U.S. to show how peace is an obstacle to a booming economy. Thus, she argues Oslo emerged, at least in part, from the Israeli point of view accordingly:

Communism had collapsed, the information revolution was beginning, and there was a widespread conviction inside Israel's business community that the bloody occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, compounded by the boycott of Israel by Arab states, was putting Israel's economic future in peril. Seeing the explosion of "emerging markets" around the world, Israeli corporations were tired of being held back by war; they wanted to be part of the high-profit borderless world, not penned in by regional strife. If the Israeli government could negotiate some sort of peace agreement with the Palestinians, Israel's neighbors would have to lift their boycotts, and the country would be perfectly positioned to be the Middle East's free-trade hub. (429)

Notice that the state of Israel had been affected by the Arab boycott of the Zionist state. This is key for those wanting a re-birth of that movement in spite of reports about the offensive nature of Jordanian complicity in their economic, normalizing relations with the Zionist state. But this economic desire on the part of the state of Israel motivated their so-called "peace" negotiations according to Klein:

That same year [1993], Shimon Peres, then foreign minister, explained to a group of Israeli journalists that peace was now inevitable. it was a very particular kind of peace, however. "We are not seeking a peace of flags," Peres said, "we are interested in a peace of markets" (429).

Klein reports that as a result of a tremendous influx of Russians into the Zionist state--many of whom are not, in fact, Jewish all reports to the contrary--boosted not only the population of illegal Israeli settlements, but also provided a new cheap labor force, which enabled the Zionist regime to all but cease employing the Palestinian workers who used to perform those same jobs. There are various other factors, but the end result is best described by Shlomo Ben-Ami who "describes the years after the White House handshake as 'one of the most breathtaking eras of economic growth and opening up of markets in [Israel's] history'" (433).

The business sectors that the state of Israel profited most from were technology and military. After the dot-com crash in 2000, the U.S. suffered a worse fate than the Zionist state because of its redirection of government spending. Here, in this passage from Klein's book, we can see once again why it is so crucial to participate in the academic and economic boycott of Israel because of the way that these sectors are always already tied to the military and the state:

The only reason the recession was not even worse, the newspaper [Tel Aviv's business newspaper Globes] observed, was that the Israeli government quickly intervened with a powerful 10.7 percent increase in military spending, partially financed through cutbacks in social services. The government also encouraged the tech industry to branch out from information and communication technologies and into security and surveillance. In this period, the Israeli Defense Forces [known also as Israeli Terrorist Forces] played a role similar to a business incubator. Young Israeli soldiers experimented with network systems and surveillance devices while they fulfilled their mandatory military service, then turned their findings into business plans when they returned to civilian life" (435).

One of those companies, no doubt, was Motorola, which is responsible for various human rights abuses and the occupation itself, as the Hang Up on Motorola campaign makes clear:

*Producing the 980 Low Altitude Proximity Fuse for the MK-80 series of high-explosive bombs. On July 30, 2006, during its war on Lebanon, the Israeli Air Force dropped an MK-84 high-explosive bomb on an apartment building in Qana, Lebanon. The bomb killed at least 28 civilians, many of whom were children, who had taken shelter in the basement of their apartment building.

*Developing and supplying the Israeli military with the “Mountain Rose” secure cell phone communication system, which is the exclusive communications system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

*Supplying Israel with the Wide Area Surveillance System (WAAS) to monitor and maintain the illegal wall it has constructed in the Palestinian West Bank. Motorola Israel’s provision of the WAAS to Israel contradicts the International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion in July 2004.

*Providing radar detection devices and thermal cameras for 47 illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. According to the Fourth Geneva Conventions, Article 49, it is a war crime for an occupying power to transfer its civilian population in to occupied territories.

But I digress. Klein continues in that same paragraph I quoted from above on how this created a new war process (i.e., not "peace" process) economy after September 11th for the Zionist state:

A slew of new start-ups were launched, specializing in everything from "search and nail" data mining, to surveillance cameras, to terrorist profiling. When the market for these services and devices exploded in the years after September 11, the Israeli state openly embraced a new national economic vision: the growth provided by the dot-com bubble would be replaced with a homeland security boom. It was the perfect marriage of the Likud Party's hawkishness and its radical embrace of Chicago School economics, as embodied by Sharon's finance minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israel's new central bank chief, Stanley Fischer, chief architect of the IMF's [International Monetary Fund] shock therapy adventures in Russia and Asia. (435)

In a nutshell, the state of Israel has tricked the world into believe that it gives generous offers, that it is interested in "peace," that it is interested in tricking Arab regimes into normalizing, at least economically, in order to create a tremendous economic boom for the state of Israel. Moreover, what Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have become--and possibly Palestinians living in 1948--are guinea pigs there to enable the ITF to test its various demonic instruments of terror and torture on an innocent civilian population. And Klein makes it clear that the result has been "highly lucrative" for them:

Israel's exports in counter terrorism-related products and services increased by 15 percent in 2006 and were projected to grow by 20 percent in 2007, totaling $1.2 billion annually. The country's defense exports in 2006 reached a record $3.4 billion (compared to $1.6 billion in 1992), making Israel the fourth largest arms dealer in the world, larger than the U.K. Israel has more technology stocks listed on the Nasdaq exchange--many of them security related--than any other foreign country, and it has more tech patents registered in the U.S. than China and India combined. (436)

Many of these companies Klein mentions are those that work in cahoots with American contractors (aka mercenaries) who are working in Iraq and New Orleans (after Hurricane Katrina). Many of those are complicit in building the Zionist state's Apartheid Wall and on top of it exporting that to the U.S.-Mexico border where Americans are building their own Apartheid Wall (Elbit, Magal, Golan Group, Instinctive Shooting International are but a few of these companies). Klein is clear that she doesn't think this economic argument about disaster capitalism pushing forward the Israeli economy in a profitable way is the only reason why the Zionist state pursues war rather than "peace." But she does remind us why we must consider this as an issue:

The extraordinary performance of Israel's homeland security companies is well known to stock watchers, but it is rarely discussed as a factor in the politics of the region. It should be. It is not a coincidence that the Israeli state's decision to put "counterterrorism" at the center of its export economy has coincided precisely with its abandonment of peace negotiations as well as a clear strategy to reframe its conflict with the Palestinians not as a battle against a nationalist movement with specific goals for land and rights but rather as part of the global War on terror--one against illogical, fanatical forces bent only on destruction. (439)

The U.S. has learned well from this model of taking disasters, war, devastation and making it profitable. And in spite of the bailout plan for corporate American greed, Klein made some of these connections this week on Bill Maher's Real Time. As with her book, where she shows how in various contexts around the world that disasters have become profitable because they are used to help push through draconian policies to make only very particular sectors or people win tremendous profits. Watch this clip for more on the current U.S. context:

What does all this have to do with where I started? It is, in fact, relevant. The way that the U.S. and Israel have found, through their economic, military, political, and academic collaborations, to be profitable has made them prefer war economies or disaster economies to "peace." The PA, and Palestinian leadership, it would seem, in general does not seem interested in halting normalization, reinvigorating a boycott campaign, a real intifada. Much of what I've read about the talks in Cairo between the various political factions are not worth writing or even thinking about, quite frankly. It's just more of the same. It is feeding into the U.S. and Israel's creation of its divide and rule tactics by one bolstering Hamas (Israel) and the other bolstering Fatah (U.S.) in order to get more Palestinians to kill themselves (makes life a bit easier for those Zionist terrorist band). All other political parties seem to be more or less marginalized.

What is needed, I think, is unity to be sure. But unity for the sake of what. Said argued, as most Palestinians who are refugees, who live in exile argue that they must be represented. The PA has not--has never--represented this population of 7.2 million people. And whatever quibbling over issues and power there is within Palestinian leadership circles or between the normalizing-negotiating team and the Zionist colonists occupying Palestinian land it is very clear (read postings of letters from Abed, Al Awda in posts below): if the Right of Return under UN Resolution 194 were made THE ONLY priority, THE ONLY talking point, the only issue to negotiate over or fight to get back what rightfully belongs to Palestinians then all other issues would be solved. The issue of water, of borders, of Al Quds, of land--these issues would become non-issues. They would take care of themselves if we could only bring back those 7.2 million people who want to return--and force the Zionist thefts and bandits to pay reparations for those who choose not to return as well as to those who return.