Ken Miller does Steve Lewis

Rose alerted me to this:

"Hey Stephen, check out Ken Miller’s Op-Ed in the McKinleyville Press… he has this to say about development: the horrific impacts if I, and my neighbors, exploit these opportunities, even at the 160-acre level: increased traffic through Kneeland onto Mountain View Road; water quality and habitat degradation from sediment, septics, household chemicals, domestic animals, multi-vehicle use and trash; wildfire risks; fragmented timberlands and nuisance complaints from the newly-urbanized interfaces with them; and spiraling economic pressure for wholesale conversions. Seems like he’s been listening to you after all."

Ken Miller, Humboldt Watershed Council and public environmental foe of Stephen Lewis yet writing words I could have penned myself about unregulated subdivision development. I guess after 17 years what I said finally sunk in for Ken. A politico always, he's already using the information as a political weapon to attack Palco and planners with. You can't trust any environmental information coming out of HWC as it, like all of EPIC's info, is so highly biased against corporate timber operations as to be worthless as environmental science.

Comments deleted by Eric on the SoHum Parlance blog

Once again Eric is deleting my posts that contain any criticism of Zionism, Israel, or Judaism. Evidently one has to like these Jewish religious enterprises or one's imput on eric's blog will be censored. Zionism is on the hot seat of radical activists in the Bay Area and eric and other Zionists up here do not want the anti-Zionist thought to spread to local Progressives.

I will be posting my comments as eric deletes them:

"And eric, since when is it a crime to dislike Judaism? Are you saying that no one can post comments on your blog site unless they like Judaism?

Judaism is just one of many religions and ideologies I don't like nor see any reason for liking or supporting with U.S. tax-payer money. It's against the Constitution in case you haven't read the document, counselor.

Do you like Santeria, eric? If I criticize the senseless killing of innocent animals in this religion will you delete my posts?

Not likely but criticize the senseless killing of innocent Palestinians in the way of one religion's self-proclaimed goal of stealing another people's land for themselves, and you think that's worthy of censorship. You're values are in the toilet, eric, as you've let racist ideology in its Jewish form co-opt morality.

Sun Nov 25, 03:55:00 AM"

What happens after Annapolis?

From Mazim Qimseyeh, biology professor and Palestinian peace activist:

What happens after Annapolis?

Canaan Fair Trade

Trees For Life

Trees for Life is a program implemented and administered by the Palestine Fair Trade association and in partnership and support of Canaan Fair Trade and our olive oil distributors around the world. The project plants thousands of olive trees in Palestine every year in the period between Tree Day (February 15) and Land Day (March 30). Beside its development aspect, this program helps connect the Palestinian farmers and producers in the fair trade movement in Palestine to the grassroots fair trade movement in Europe and North America in a meaningful way. It is a medium to connect the Palestinian grassroots to the solidarity they have worldwide. The Trees for Life project is solely funded by grassroots movements abroad and solely invested in the Palestinian fair trade movement in Palestine. This project helps offset the enormous destruction of trees by the Israeli occupation army in Palestine.

Trees for Life provide individual Palestinian farmers with 25 to 50 new olive tree seedlings (3 years old) to plant and nurture in order to renew their decimated groves. Allocations of trees is based on meeting the following conditions and according to the priorities bellow:

1- Applicant must be a certified member of the Palestine Fair Trade Association program for the production of olive oil. If a new farmer, applicant must demonstrate readiness to become fair trade certified and be willing to implement fair trade guidelines.

2- Applicant must own a land suitable for the number of trees applied for.

3- Applicant must demonstrate capacity to care for and nurture trees.

4- Applicant must be ready to prepare land for a collective tree plantation day that will be set for the specific village. All trees must be planted the day of delivery. Representatives of PFTA will deliver and distribute the trees and insure prompt planting. Farmers must have land ready and dug prior to delivery.

Priority will be given to the following applicants:

1- Small farmers
2- Young starter farmers that have inherited or acquired land.
3- Women that own their own land and are interested in farming.
4- Farmers that have lost trees due to the Israeli destructions.

Buyers of Canaan olive oil direct retail contribute to this program one dollar from each tin.

• Canaan Products
• Certifications
• Cart
• Exhibits and Fairs
• Trees for Life
• Scholarships

U.S. Palestinian National Conference

Reclaiming Our Voice, Asserting Our Narrative
Organized by The U.S. Palestine Conference Network (USPCN)       
Washington, DC Area Declaration. November 11, 2007                   

“. . . revitalizing our grassroots activism, speaking confidently for ourselves, and
maximizing our potential as the agents of change in our collective struggle for justice,
return, and liberation.”
From the Detroit Declaration - June 25, 2006

The U.S. Palestine Conference Network’s (USPCN) fourth meeting was held in the Washington,
DC Area the weekend of November 9-11, 2007.  The planning meeting was attended by more
than 50 activists, organizers and community members from California, Colorado,
Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, DC and Wisconsin and included a growing number of
women and young people.  Previous meetings were held in Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago.


The Coordinating Committee resigned from their positions on the meeting’s opening night,
nominations were made the second day, and elections were held on the final day of the
meeting.  The current Coordinating Committee is made up of eleven individuals; six
returing and five new.

Preparation for the U.S. Palestinian National Conference, to be held in Chicago the
weekend of August 8, 2008, continued during the Washington, DC Preparatory Meeting.  We
developed action plans and timelines for the Conference’s various committees and
subcommittees.   The all-inclusive Conference for Palestinians in the United Sates will be
a space for empowerment, action, networking and communication.  A program with a rich mix
of theme-oriented workshops, including education/political vision, youth/family,
advocacy/strategy, and culture/identity, is in development.  The program will also include
a track focused on the Nakba.  A budget was set up and we began a promising fundraising
effort.  Meeting participants also started a discussion on what is to follow the National
Conference.

Fully aware of and acknowledging the weight of this critical historical junction, the
meeting participants affirmed the following:

1. We emphasize our unity as a Palestinian people, the indivisibility of our cause and our
collective responsibility and accountability to each other.  Palestinians in the United
States must be responsible for organizing themselves. We recognize that our history as
Palestinians is intertwined with the history of the Arab people.  Therefore we welcome our
Arab sisters and brothers to help us accomplish this important task.  We will also build
working relationships with all who join us in solidarity, especially oppressed minorities
and people of color.

2. As politicians and diplomats engage in present and future negotiations, including
Annapolis, we remind all that no peace can be legitimate or enduring without full
implementation of our inalienable rights, including self-determination and the right of
return.

3. We reiterate our support for the Palestinian Civil Society Call to Action of 2005,
which called for Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions along the same lines that proved
effective internationally against apartheid South Africa.

4. We express grave concern and call for an immediate lifting of the brutal and illegal
siege of Gaza.  We are also concerned about the acute suffering of Palestinian communities
and their brethren in Iraq, Lebanon, and elsewhere.  We urge all people of conscience to
contact U.S. politicians, the media, the United Nations and other decision makers to
effect corrective actions and to end any and all support for these and other war crimes
and crimes against humanity.

We approach the 60th anniversary of the Nakba, the major catastrophic ethnic cleansing of
Palestine, with humility and determination to act. We urge all Palestinians and all
supporters to join us and the many organizations that have called for a year of
commemoration and action starting with November 29th, the International Day of Solidarity
with the Palestinian People.  Key dates will be recognized with actions, education, and
fundraising, including March 30th (Land Day), April 9th (Deir Yassin), May 15th (Nakba),
June 5th (Naksa) and September 16th (Sabra and Shatila) .  A national day of commemoration
is planned for May in front of the United Nations in New York. We urge all to renew and
intensify involvement, activism, and avocacy in this pivotal year.  We must collectively
assert that 60 years of colonization and occupation is enough.

Organizations and individuals who wish to join, shape, and contribute to the Outreach,
Program, Fundraising and/or Media committees should contact us at PalestineConferenceUSA@y
ahoo.com.

We are confident that the National Conference, and the steps taken towards it, will be
considered significant milestones in our empowerment as a community and in achieving our
collective Palestinian goals.  Please visit us at www.PalestineConference.org.

Mazin Qumsiyeh
http://justicewheels.org

Glitterati at Leviev's New York Gala Stunned by Encounter with Palestinian Rights Protest

Adalah-NY Kicks Off BDS Campaign against NYC Developers Building Israeli Settlements;

November 13, 2007

Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East

Over 100 well-dressed, well-heeled New Yorkers attending the invitation-only opening of diamond mogul Lev Leviev's Madison Avenue jewelry store this evening appeared stunned and aghast to find their evening derailed by a noisy protest against Leviev's construction of illegal West Bank settlements. Gala attendees set down their champagne glasses and gathered by windows to view the signs and Palestinian flags, and hear protesters' chants.

30 New York City human rights activists chanted, "You're glitz, you're glam, you're stealing Palestinian land", and "All your diamonds cannot hide, your support for Apartheid." Protesters called on New York City's upscale residents to boycott Leviev's diamonds. Disconcerted attendees hastily exited to their limousines to loud chants of, "Occupation is a drag, just say no to your gift bag."

What YOU can do for justice in Palestine!

Compilation from Hannah Mermelstein of
Birthright Unplugged

(MQ adds: Justice in Palestine is Key to peace in the Middle East and elswhere.  Hannah's
list can be ofcourse much larger but is an excellent list to get you going.  See also http
://www.qumsiyeh.org/whatyoucando/ and especially help us with hosting the Wheels of
Justice bus tour in your area for the Spring: see http://www.justicewheels.org/ and yes,
silence is complicity)

LOTS! No matter how small it seems, every little action is a piece of a larger movement
for justice. Below are a list of campaigns, resources, and specific ideas you can join
others in or use to create your own ideas. There are also many tactics, from public
education to direct action and much much more. Reverse
side includes info on boycott and divestment, as well as Nakba commemoration ideas. Be
creative. Palestine needs you.

Feel free to be in touch with me (Hannah) any time to brainstorm ideas or get contacts (or
to ask me to e-mail you this document so you don’t have to type in all the web addresses):
hmermels@hotmail.com.

Creative ideas anyone can do

*Join a local organization for justice in the Middle East. The US Campaign to End the
Occupation has local groups around the country: www.endtheoccupation.org/groups.php

*Fight for US tax dollars to be spent on healthcare and education, not war.
http://sustainphilly.blogspot.com/2007/01/love-philly-bring-our-money-home.html

*Subscribe to Today in Palestine for daily news headlines:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi

*Learn more, read more, watch more: See
www.birthrightunplugged.org/html/brup11links.html for ideas.

*Host a fundraising event (see “Donate to Palestine” below)

*Host the anti-apartheid speaking tour in 2008: www.endtheoccupation.org

*Get your local bookstore/grocery to carry Needle in the Groove cds:
www.needleinthegroove.org

*Give Needle in the Groove cds and Palestinian fair trade olive oil as gifts:
www.palestinianfairtrade.ps

*Talk to local lawmakers or Congress. Tell them to stop military funding to Israel. See
endtheoccupation.org for a recent congressional “report card” based on 4 resolutions.

*Tax resist: www.warresisters.org

*Speak out against attacks on Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, and everywhere else!

*If you’re not Muslim or Arab, find ways to be an ally to your local Muslim and Arab
community. One example: www.supportthemosque.org

*Media! Let them know what you think of their coverage! Letters to the editor, published
or not, are important!

*Organize Palestinian cultural/political events. Invite a Palestinian poet, playwright,
artist, or dance troupe to town. Check out Suheir Hammad, Café Intifada, Olive on a Seder
Plate, Ibdaa… and ask Hannah for more.

*Organize a protest/die-in at your local Israeli consulate, Caterpillar headquarters,
Congress member’s office, or in the middle of the street!

*Public art! Banner drops over highways, posters on street poles, murals, graffiti, etc…

Go to Palestine

*6 day trip through Birthright Unplugged: www.birthrightunplugged.org

*Volunteer with an international solidarity organizations: www.palsolidarity.org,
www.iwps.info

*Volunteer with a Palestinian organization – what’s your particular interest/specialty?

*Study in Palestine, learn Arabic, push your university to accept credit from Palestine:
home.birzeit.edu/pas

Donate to Palestine

* Tax-deductible donations to Birthright Unplugged can be sent to 18 Northview Drive,
Glenside, PA 19038. Most of our money is spent in Palestine: www.birthrightunplugged.org

* Flowers Against the Occupation empowers girls to fight for justice in rural Palestine.
Sell Needle in the Groove cds in your community or make a separate donation to Flowers
(e-mail Hannah).
www.needleinthegroove.org

* Check out Shiraa’, youth organization and circus troupe: http://shiraa.org/index.htm

* Gaza is suffering from ongoing Israeli attacks and closure. You can donate to help
through the Middle East Children’s Alliance: www.mecaforpeace.org.

Join the Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israeli apartheid

It worked in South Africa, it can work in Palestine. Even better, the movement is in
response to a specific call by representatives of all sectors of Palestinian civil
society. The call and campaign: www.bds-palestine.net

A note about BDS: Many of the campaigns linked to below have not yet been “successful” or
have “failed” to pass. However, they are both laying groundwork for other campaigns and
are normalizing the idea of
campaigns against Israeli apartheid. As my Israeli friend says, “Keep starting campaigns.
Whether you win or not, you make us Israelis feel uncomfortable, and that’s great!”

Boycott:
The US Campaign to end Israeli Occupation is developing a boycott campaign against
Motorola for its contracts with the Israeli army and its development of security systems
for illegal Israeli settlements
in the West Bank. If you’re getting a new phone, don’t buy Motorola, and keep your eye out
for the launching of the campaign.

Co-ops/grocery stores – Customers of Rainbow Grocery in Berkeley, the People’s Food Co-op
in Ann Arbor, etc. have worked to deshelve Israeli products. Do it at your local grocery!

Divestment:
Divestment resources:
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?list=type&type=28

Colleges/Universities – In many ways, campuses were the staging ground for the South
Africa anti-apartheid campaign, and there’s no reason that can’t be the case again. The
University of Michigan-
Dearborn and other schools have recently passed resolutions, and there are new campaigns
at Temple, Howard, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and others. Google “Students for Justice in
Palestine” and find lots of
campaigns at lots of universities!

Christian denominations around the world have begun to challenge Christian Zionism and
have done extensive research to develop divestment campaigns against companies benefiting
from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Presbyterians, Methodists, and others have taken
the lead and have some great resources. Check out www.neumc.org/divest

Municipalities – Many cities and towns are invested in Israel bonds and/or companies
invested in occupation. Look into it, and ask your city council to take a stand! The
Somerville Divestment Project
almost had a resolution passed, and has gotten 2 questions about Palestine on the ballot.
Now they’re doing public education campaigns in their community:
www.divestmentproject.org

Learn about the 1948 Nakba and act in solidarity with Palestinians displaced for 60
years!

* Invite a Nakba survivor or a younger Palestinian refugee to your community/congregation
to speak about her/his experiences. E-mail Hannah for suggestions.

* Start a study group using Ilan Pappe’s The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine or Sandy
Tolan’s The Lemon Tree

* Show the film Frontiers of Dreams and Fears in your community, and invite Manar (one of
the girls featured in the film, now in the US) to speak (Hannah can put you in touch).

* Invite the Ibdaa’ dabke (traditional folk dance) troupe to perform in your community
during their US tour in Fall 2008. http://www.dheisheh-ibdaa.net/home.htm

* Bring the Re-Plugged exhibit to your community to share photos and stories from children
living in Palestinian refugee camps.
www.birthrightunplugged.org/text/BRUPexhibitrequirements.pdf

* For Nakba Day (May 15), do a public mapping exercise designed by the Israeli
organization Zochrot in commemoration of destroyed Palestinian villages:
www.zochrot.org/index.php?id=522

Hannah's email:  hannahreports@lists.riseup.net

Mazin Qumsiyeh
http://justicewheels.org
http://qumsiyeh.org
________________________

Join in the 5th Annual International Week

against the Apartheid Wall, Nov. 9-16

Today marks the beginning of the 5^th Annual International Week against the Apartheid Wall, organized by the Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign. For more details, click here.

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation urges its member organizations and individual supporters to take action to protest U.S. support for Israel's illegal Apartheid Wall.

In July 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion ruling that Israel's Apartheid Wall is illegal, must be dismantled, and compensation paid to those adversely affected by it. The ICJ also ruled that all signatories to the 4^th Geneva Convention must not "recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall" nor "render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by such construction."

Despite this ICJ ruling, in May 2005, President Bush signed into law a supplemental spending bill for the war in Iraq, which included $50 million "for assistance for Israel to help ease the movement of Palestinian people and goods in and out of Israel." Israel then used this money to build high-tech "terminals" into the Apartheid Wall, thereby placing the United States in direct violation of the ICJ ruling.

In addition, in August 2007, the United States and Israel signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to increase U.S. military aid to Israel to $30 billion over the next decade. This military aid helps Israel to maintain its illegal Apartheid Wall and military occupation, again in violation of the ICJ ruling.

TAKE ACTION

1. Contact your Members of Congress. To send a letter to your Members of Congress protesting the $30 billion MOU in military aid to Israel, click here.

2. Write a letter to the editor. To look up contact information for your local media, click here.

3. Download and distribute information. To download a US Campaign fact-sheet on the Apartheid Wall, click here.

4. Start a campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS). To get resources and ideas on how to start a BDS campaign, click here.

5. Organize a teach-in or protest. To view a list of global events for the 5^th Annual International Week against the Apartheid Wall and to add your event, click here.

Book Review: "Overcoming Zionism"

Raymond Deane, The Electronic Intifada, 13 May 2007

Born in 1936 in Brooklyn of Ukrainian Jewish parents, Joel Kovel is the author of 10 books and over 100 articles. He practiced psychiatry and psychoanalysis for 24 years, abandoning them in the mid-1980s partly because of dissatisfaction with the US health care system and partly because of his intensified and multifarious political activism on the left. Describing himself as an "eco-socialist," in 1998 he was the Green party candidate for Senator from New York and two years later sought that party's Presidential nomination, losing out to Ralph Nader. Since 2003 he has been Editor-in-Chief of the quarterly journal, Capitalism Nature Socialism.

Overcoming Zionism, his first book on the question of Israel, is a contribution to the growing body of literature advocating "a single democratic state in Israel/Palestine." However, while Kovel's subtitle is longer than his title, it is the devastating critique of Zionism that occupies eight of the book's ten chapters. What is unique about Kovel's project is its multi-perspectival nature: he demolishes Zionism from historical, political, cultural, environmental, ethical, and psychological perspectives, and still has space left for elegant invective and stimulating digression. In a word, his argument isn't merely empirical, but in the broadest sense philosophical and often requires considerable concentration from the reader: such concentration is amply rewarded.

Zionism seeks "the restoration of tribalism in the guise of a modern, highly militarized and aggressive state." It "cut Jews off from what history they did possess and led to a fateful identity of interest with antisemitism, which became ... the only thing that united them." It "fell into the ways of imperialist expansion and militarism, and showed signs of the fascist malignancy." Zionists and their ilk -- those who build literal and metaphorical separation walls -- are "the splinters under the skin of humanity." In short, "if you sign on to the idea of a Jewish state, you are taking the particularism that is the potential bane of any state, mixing it with the exceptionalism that is the actual bane of Judaism, and giving racism an objective, enduring, institutionalized and obdurate character." Israel, he concludes, has "turned itself into a machine for the manufacture of human rights abuses."

This is no mere gratuitous catalogue of execration, however. The reference to "exceptionalism" is essential to Kovel's analysis. Exceptionalism leads at all times to racism. Just as anti-Semites single out the Jews from the rest of humanity as objects of hatred, Zionists accept the Jews' destiny as "a people apart" and deduce from the history of Jewish suffering a right to transcend the laws of humanity, subjecting the Palestinians to unspeakable brutality with apparent impunity.

Exceptionalism brings separation (for which the Afrikaner word is "apartheid"), but also alienation and estrangement. Chaim Weizmann, Israel's first president, called Palestinians "the rocks of Judea ... obstacles that had to be cleared on a difficult path," a remark, Kovel observes, that "also devalues the landscape and undercuts Zionism's romanticisation of the Palestinian earth, tipping the balance toward the domination of nature." Thus Kovel neatly introduces his critique of Zionism's disastrous ecological record: "Estrangement ... is the human form taken by ecological breakdown; it is a failure of recognition between human agents, which ... splits humanity from nature as well as itself. It follows that the most severely estranged society will also be the most subject to eco-disintegration."

Another key concept here is bad conscience: indeed this book stems from a lengthy 2002 essay called "Zionism's Bad Conscience." Kovel points out that on three occasions the Israeli state has been led by a former terrorist: Menachem Begin (prime minister from 1977-83), Yitzhak Shamir (1983-92, with a break in 1984-6), and Ariel Sharon (2001-6). This record "does tend to vitiate the obsessive harping on Palestinian terror" and "is combined with obsessive claims of democratic virtue and appeals to the ancient sufferings endured by Jews and their high ethical standards." The need to patch over the split between "the powerful ethical component to Judaism" and "the commission of dreadful crimes and the honoring of those" who have perpetrated them leads to "a species of collective conscience ... As it grew into a state ..., the conscience needs of Zionism grew with the state's need for legitimation and became more complex and internally riven." In such a conscience "a kind of badness, a sense that something is noxiously wrong, persists within the social body." It is also "a conscience that works badly, impeding internal development ... Badly, too, in that it brings evil and suffering into the world and propagates them."

Kovel's rich analysis of the workings of this bad conscience uncovers it throughout the Israeli body politic, as well as in the propaganda discourse that seeks to legitimate the crimes of Zionism to the world. A vivid case-study is provided by the "new historian" Benny Morris, a self-proclaimed "leftist" who in January 2004 in a notorious interview with the Ha'aretz journalist Ari Shavit claimed that Ben-Gurion should have finished the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, that Palestinians should be put in cages, and that "the great American democracy could not have been created without the annihilation of the Indians."

Kovel comments: "Morris realises that the Jewish state would not have arisen without committing massive terrorism, but he is stunned and falls into the black hole of race hatred to justify the deed ..." The acceptance of responsibility and mutual recognition constitute "a recovery of memory that is also a recognition of history -- the recognition Benny Morris couldn't stand when he turned away from the truth he had uncovered about the Nakhba, and toward his nihilist and paranoid defence of Zionism."

Clearly if the dis-integrative tendencies inherent in Zionism are to be counteracted, then re-integration must be sought via the one-state solution. Kovel itemises the factors that render the conventionally advocated two-state solution both physically impossible and morally unconscionable. For Israeli (and pro-Israeli) discourse "the notion of 'Two-State' simply means ... the continued aggrandizement of the Jewish state along with a more or less negligible 'other state' on an ever shrinking fragment of land ... Thus if the basic condition for a Two-State solution is that there be two functional states on the ground, the Two-State solution has been annihilated." It has become "a script for the posturings of statesmen, the filling of airtime on the networks and column-inches in the press ..."

Kovel rejects "the whole idea of a volkisch state for any singular kind of people ... simply because ... people do better when they are mixing and mingling in conditions of a rich diversity." He finds "an Islamist state as objectionable as a Jewish state" but is more concerned about transforming the latter because "my people and my country are responsible for Zionism's success ..." He claims that the US/Israel axis (which provokes him to the characteristic query: "as with the discoveries that certain dinosaurs had two brains, one in the head and one in the tail, just where does the executive thinking arise?") "has been over the years by far the most powerful indirect cause for the rise of political Islam in its theocratic form ... a Westerner who wishes to undercut the power of Islamic fundamentalism cannot do better than work for the overcoming of Zionism."

Given the length and depth of the critique of Zionism and the concomitant argument against two states, some readers may feel that the case for a single "secular-universal state" -- which Kovel dubs "Palesreal" -- is made a little perfunctorily. However, it is the logical culmination of everything that comes before, and clearly Kovel did not see it as part of his brief to explore in excessive detail the modalities for establishing such a state. He lays down three practical principles for activism: "Speak the truth about Israel" -- i.e. counteract the propaganda of "the tentacular Zionist lobby;" "Deprive the Zionist state of what it needs" -- i.e. cultivate academic, cultural and economic boycotts; and "Bring Palestinians home" -- i.e. foreground at all times the Right of Return of Palestinian refugees.

From an activist point of view, one of the dilemmas has always been whether to advocate explicitly a two-state or a one-state solution. Most solidarity campaigns deliberately avoid taking a stance on this issue, which is deemed best left to the judgment of the Palestinians themselves. However, as Kovel points out, the logic of repeatedly emphasising the Right of Return "contain[s] within itself both the necessary and sufficient condition for bringing down Zionism in an entirely peaceful way" and seeks to overcome Zionism "by dissolving the logic of Jewish exceptionalism and particularity."

Kovel believes that "the world would be a far better place without Zionism." Nobody reading this invaluable book can come away with the illusion that universal values are not at stake in the campaign against Israel's crimes, and Western governments' backing for them.

Raymond Deane is a composer, and a founding member and former chairperson of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

November 2, 1917: A day that will live in Infamy

90 Years ago, the Balfour Declaration was issued.

Excerpt on the Balfour declaration from the book "Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human
Rights and the Israeli Palestinian Struggle" by Mazin Qumsiyeh and a brief follow-up
comment on its relevance to today's events (wars on Iraq and soon on Iran):

The events leading up to the support of Britain and France for Zionist aspirations have
received little historical discussion.  In examining historical documents of powerful
nations like France and Britain, we find these nations issuing declarations to support the
Zionist aspirations.   This came in France first with a letter sent from Jules Cambon,
Secretary General of the French Foreign Ministry to Nahum Sokolow (at the time head of the
political wing of the World Zionist Organization based in London) dated June 4, 1917:

"You were kind enough to inform me of your project regarding the expansion of the
Jewish colonization of Palestine.  You expressed to me that, if the circumstances were
allowing for that, and if on another hand, the independency of the holy sites was
guaranteed, it would then be a work of justice and retribution for the allied forces to
help the renaissance of the Jewish nationality on the land from which the Jewish people
was exiled so many centuries ago.
The French Government, which entered this present war to defend a people wrongly attacked,
and which continues the struggle to assure victory of right over might, cannot but feel
sympathy for your cause, the triumph of which is bound up with that of the Allies. I am
happy to give you herewith such assurance" [7]

Some five months later, on November 2, 1917, the British Foreign Secretary Arthur James
Balfour conveyed to Lord Rothschild a similar declaration of sympathy with Zionist
aspirations.  It stated that:

"His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a
national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the
achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which
may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in
Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.
"

Palestinians and others in the Arab world were immediately alarmed.  This declaration was
issued when Britain had no jurisdiction over the area, and was done without consultation
of the inhabitants of the land that was to become a "national home for the Jewish
people."  The declaration also wanted to protect "rights and political
status" of Jews who choose not to immigrate to Palestine.   However, the native
Palestinians are simply referred to as non-Jews and their political rights are not
mentioned but only their "civic and religious rights".  Lord Balfour wrote in a
private memorandum sent to Lord Curzon, his successor at the Foreign Office (Curzon
initially opposed Zionism) on 11 August 1919:

"For in Palestine we do not propose to go through the form of consulting the wishes
of the present inhabitants ... The four great powers are committed to Zionism and Zionism,
be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long tradition, in present needs, in
future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000
Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land" [8]

The Jules and Balfour declarations are two documents that demonstrate the support made to
the Zionist supranational entity that facilitated giving them control over a land that
neither of the two governments had control of at the time. Some British authors have
provided explanations of this support based on a quid pro quo for Weizman's contribution
to the British war efforts through such efforts as the development of better chemicals for
explosives.  Some argued that it was related to Britain's simple domestic situation with
many Zionists both in the government and among the electorate.  It could also be argued
that Britain and France now had more reason had to benefit from a revival of their early
1840s desires to settle European Jews in Palestine as a way of a structural remodeling of
Middle East geopolitics. Undermining the Ottoman Empire, which was now allied with
Germany, provides only partial explanation and a poor one at best. 

Jewish population in Palestine at the time was miniscule and most and was hardly in any
position to engage in resistance against the Ottoman Empire.  By contrast, nationalistic
Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula were willing to oppose the Ottoman Empire and eager to
liberate their native lands from the grip of the Turks.  England in fact promised to
support their independence as a result of their convergent interests as supported by
documents such as the British correspondence with Sharif Hussain of Arabia and in the
memoirs of T. E. Lawrence "of Arabia".  As historians do, there is much argument
about the factors and their relative importance that led to the decisions made by the
governments in question.  Much is now written about how the US entered the war and the
possible role of influential corporate interests and US Zionists in bringing the US media
and government to support the war efforts.

The British had also made a promise of independence to the Arabs if they aided them in
opposing the Ottoman Empire.  This was one of many "promises" but it was the one
that was to over-ride all others as concrete actions were to reveal in just a short period
of time.  It important to note that these governments declared their public support for
Zionism, even while simultaneously making private assurances to Arabs.  The British and
French public support was later joined by the Americans.

With acquiescence by the ailing President Wilson and an American administration slowly
sinking into isolationism, the British had a free hand to implement their plans in
Palestine.  Palestinians, both Christians and Muslims, rioted against the British forces
on February 27, 1920 in Jerusalem.  The British command in Palestine recommended that the
Balfour Declaration be revoked.  However, the British leadership in London did not share
the views of their soldiers and commanders in Palestine.  As soon as Britain managed to
secure the League of Nations mandate, it replaced its military governor there with a
Zionist Jew: Sir Herbert Samuel as the first High Commissioner of Palestine (1920-25).  It
was Samuel who so effectively coached Weizmann during the Balfour negotiations.  After
Samuel became high commissioner, Jewish immigration greatly increased, and with it
Palestinian resistance.  Herbert Samuel and the Zionist leaning colonial offices in
Palestine proceeded to set up the political, legal, and the economic underpinning for
transforming the area to a Jewish country.  Britain, with the acquiescence of other great
powers, acquired the powers needed for its colonial venture.  At the World Zionist
Organization meeting held in London in July 1920, a new financial arm was established
named the Keren Hayesod. 

End of section from "Sharing the Land of Canaan"

In November 2, 1918, Balfour day parade in Jewish Jerusalem, Musa Kathim al-Husseini,
Jerusalem's mayor at the time, handed the British governor of Palestine, Storrs, a
petition from more than 100 Palestinian notables which stated:
"We have noticed yesterday a large crowed of Jews carrying banners and over-running
the streets shouting words which hurt the feeling and wound the soul. They [Zionist Jews]
pretend with OPEN VOICE that Palestine, which is the Holy Land of our fathers and the
graveyard of our ancestors, which has been inhabited by the Arabs for long ages, who loved
it and died in defending it, is NOW a national home for them." (Benny Morris,
Righteous Victims, p. 90)

Lord Sydenham of the British House of Deputies replied prophetically to Balfour:
"... the harm done by dumping down an alien population upon an Arab country - Arab
all around in the hinterland - may never be remedied ... what we have done is, by
concessions, not to the Jewish people but to a Zionist extreme section, to start a running
sore in the East, and no one can tell how far that sore will extend." (UN: The
Origins And Evolution Of Palestine Problem, section IV)

Edward Mandell House, US President Wilson's aid, wrote Lord Balfour predicting the outcome
of future implementation of the Balfour Declaration: "It is all bad and I told
Balfour so. They are making [the Middle East] a breeding place for future war."
(Benny Morris, Righteous Victims, p. 73)

AIPAC and other Israeli apologists pushed for the war on Iraq ($500 bilion, countless
lives so far) and are pushing for conflict with Iran after countless wars and tens of
thousands of lives lost and millions of refugees displaced. That it has been a
"breeding place for future wars" is an understatement.

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
http://qumsiyeh.org

Carter's Efforts To Mend Ties With Community Get Cold Shoulder

Nathan Guttman | Wed. Oct 31, 2007
The Jewish Daily Forward

Foxman: 'I Didn't Want To Be Used'

Washington - Jimmy Carter's newest efforts to repair relations with the Jewish community were rebuffed not once but twice last week ? and at the very highest levels.

Carter's first outreach effort came in an invitation to Jewish groups to discuss ways that the former president could help make the upcoming Middle East peace conference a success. While Carter invited most of the major Jewish organizations, the event was only attended by representatives of the Reform movement and by several smaller dovish Jewish groups.

"I didn't want to be used," said the Anti-Defamation League's national director, Abraham Foxman, one of the leaders who turned down Carter's invitation. "I didn't think anything constructive could come out of the meeting, except for him being able to say he met with Jewish leaders."

Carter has encountered similar difficulties in reaching out to Jewish lawmakers on Capitol Hill. A closed-door meeting he held with Jewish members of Congress turned into a passionate rebuke of the former president's views on Israel and the Middle East.

"He left the room less happy than Lincoln was when he left the Ford Theatre," said Rep. Gary Ackerman, a New York Democrat who attended the meeting.

Carter has had strained relations with much of the organized Jewish community since the publication of his book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" and his ensuing remarks regarding the Jewish lobby's influence on American foreign policy. The reception he received last week suggests that the resentment is still strong and that it may pose an obstacle for him as he attempts to offer his help in brokering peace in the Middle East.

His renewed appeal is part of his work with a group known as The Elders. Founded by South Africa's Nelson Mandela last summer, The Elders consists of 13 senior statesmen who attempt to use their international clout and their experience to deal with the world's most pressing conflicts. Along with Carter, members include Desmond Tutu, Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan. The group's first mission was to Darfur, and it is now looking into taking an active role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The invitation to Jewish organizations, sent out by Elders liaison Mickey Bergman, stated that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss ways in which The Elders can help out with the Middle East peace process.

The invitation was not totally unrewarded. The Wednesday lunchtime meeting was attended by five Jewish members, including the Reform movement's Religious Action Center, which was represented by Rabbi David Saperstein. Other groups that sent representatives were Israel Policy Forum, Americans for Peace Now, Brit Tzedek V'Shalom and the New Israel Fund. All are strong advocates of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. Another participant in the meeting was Tom Dine, a former executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who is also known for his dovish views.

"We did not raise the issue of the book in the meeting; it is old news," one participant told the Forward.

Another attendant, Brit Tzedek V'Shalom's new president, Steve Masters, said the atmosphere was good and that he sensed no tension between Carter and the Jewish activists in the room.

"We all recognized that he is one of the only people in the world who were successful in brokering peace between Israelis and Arabs," Masters said.

A Jewish organizational official speaking under condition of anonymity said that Carter invited "almost all major groups" but most of them turned down the invitation. This decision was criticized by those present.

"I think the refusal of Jewish groups to show up is offensive," said M.J. Rosenberg, Israel Policy Forum's policy analysis director, who was in attendance. "It is very unfortunate when a former president invites and people don't show up."

It was not clear if the decision not to attend was made by groups separately or was a result of consultations. Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, did not return calls from the Forward regarding the meeting with Carter.

Foxman rejects the claim that turning down the invitation was improper.

"I don't disrespect him," Foxman said, adding that his reason for not coming to the meeting was Carter's refusal to apologize for arguing that Jews control the media and academia. "He is entitled not to support Israel, but he is not entitled to come out and fuel antisemitic canards."

Bergman, who accompanied Carter in his meetings with the Jewish leaders, would not comment on the talks, saying they were "off the record and private."

Carter's chilly reception by the Jewish organizations only got worse a few hours later, when he met with Jewish lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The event, hosted by California Democrat Tom Lantos, served as a forum for Jewish Democrats to vent their outrage at Carter's book.

"I told him that the Jewish community, that has great respect for his work around the world, is extremely hurt, disappointed and frustrated from his views and that he cannot serve as an honest broker," Ackerman said.

A similar message was also voiced by Lantos and three other Jewish lawmakers who attended the meeting: Henry Waxman, Howard Berman and Jane Harman.

The members of Congress told Carter that he needs to apologize, but the former president did not do so.

Another stop during Carter's day in Washington was at the State Department, where he met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to discuss his views on the Middle East. Rice has recently conducted a series of consultations with former administration officials in order to "draw on the historical record and experiences of others," as described by spokesman Sean McCormack. The consultations included talks with former president Bill Clinton and several of Rice's predecessors: Madeleine Albright, James Baker and Henry Kissinger.

But a State Department official told the Forward that the meeting with Carter was not part of these consultations.

"She was not seeking advice from him," the official said, stressing that it was Carter who asked for the meeting and that Rice agreed "out of respect."

November 5: Global Day of Action Against Cluster Bombs

The US Campaign is joining the Friends Committee on National Legislation, Amnesty International, and other organizations on Monday, November 5 in a global day of action against cluster bombs. Take action by calling your Members of Congress and urging them to cosponsor the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act (S.594/H.R.1755).

During its war on Lebanon last summer, Israel dropped 130,000 cluster bombs containing 1.2 million cluster bomblets in 498 locations in villages throughout the south of the country. Unexploded cluster bomblets subsequently have injured and killed civilians.

For more information on how to take part in the global day of action against cluster bombs, click here.

Gazans' Place at Annapolis--Why Are Their Needs Ignored?

By Terry Walz
CNI Staff

The phantasma of peace scheduled to appear in Annapolis, where an international conference is to take place some time in "November or December" - the latest Haaretz guesstimate - has been the subject of a steady round of talking head and diplomatic activity. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is meeting "two days in a row" with her Palestinian counterpart Ahmed Qurei on undisclosed subjects; Prime Minister Salem Fayad is meeting with Minister of Defense Ehud Barak on how to revive the "roadmap" - which many of us outside the Bush administration had long considered dead; and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is making yet another trip to the Middle East to assess the timing and invitation list (still not revealed), hoping the Saudis can be persuaded to attend, but more probably to gather up crumbs from the on-going conversations that can be recycled as offerings for the Annapolis negotiating table attendees.

The core issues of borders, settlements, refugees, and Jerusalem have been put on the back burner. The situation in Gaza is left unattended. This is peace processing, not peace making.

In letters to Rice, retired ambassadors and former State Department officials have offered warnings about the possible failure of these talks, as have many pundits on both sides of the ocean. Unfazed, she has publicly consulted former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton for tips on negotiating behavior. Many have urged her to take a serious look at Gaza and begin engaging with Hamas, which remains the political representative of its 1.4 million Palestinians.

Gaza is grim indeed, and this is where any chance of peace malingers if not treated. Since June, when Hamas upended Fatah in Gaza and took over the administration of the area, Israelis have adopted a continuous series of measures harming the civilian population. Border crossings were closed - then, after an international outcry, briefly reopened to allow in food. In September, Gaza was declared "an enemy entity," and imports were restricted to 9 basic materials. Prohibited have been such items as certain medicines, furniture, electrical appliances, cow and cigarettes, and decreased amounts of such basic foods as fruits, milk and dairy products.

The Israelis say the cause for these sanctions has been Qassam rockets that are continually launched against Sderot and other towns along the Israeli border, the work of a band of insurgents. But in fact they are punishing the entire population of Gaza for the support given to Hamas, which refuses to deal with them. Since the beginning of the year, 450 Palestinians have died there and in the West Bank. Compare this figure against two Israelis who have died from rockets - leading many to say that the Israelis have over-reacted to the rocket attacks. Several days ago, Ehud Barak, the minister of defense, announced that fuel and electricity supplies would be cut. Gaza depends 100% on Israel for its fuels and close to 60% for its electricity. It imports 8% of its electrical needs from Egypt and produces 32% through the Gaza Electricity Generation plant. This is the plant that Israel bombed in June, resulting in a cutting of capacity from 45% to 32%. However, its generators are run by fuel that also needs to be imported from Israel.

Barak, who took a leave of absence from politics to rebuild his finances, is now back in government with high political ambitions, should the Labor Party rebound from its recent losses. His tough line promotes his goals. However, earlier in the week Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ruled that electricity to Gaza could not be cut - although he has allowed the rupture of the remaining economic and commercial ties between Gaza and Israel. As cuts were implemented, regular fuel was cut by 15% and diesel fuel by 13%. The Ministry of Defense is now saying it will not reduce fuel intended for the electrical generators.

The situation is alarming and shameful. The Palestinian Committee on Human Rights launched an international appeal on October 25 seeking world help. It asked that all signatories of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 pressure Israel (also a signatory) not to implement the blockade of food, fuel and electricity, pointing out that it clearly contravenes sections of Article 54 of the protocol that prohibits the cutting off of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water "to starve out civilians, [or] to cause them to move away." The actions also contravene Article 33 prohibiting collective punishment of a civilian population for the actions of individuals, and Article 55 that states that an "Occupying Power" has the duty to ensure the food and medical supplies of the population.

PCHR ends its appeal by quoting the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age, or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control."

The European Union has asked Israel to end the blockade on humanitarian grounds, and Ban-Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General, has also appealed for both an end to the Qassam attacks and to the Israeli blockade.

Where is the US Secretary of State on this matter? Why hasn't she - or President Bush - called on Israel to put an end to actions that are contrary to the Geneva Convention? If they are keen for an Annapolis peace process, why aren't they putting real teeth into the expensive shuttle/photo-op/PR diplomacy thus far practiced? How can they expect anything to emerge from Annapolis other than the usual platitudes when Palestinians of Gaza are living an imposed nightmare existence?

A CNI Delegation is currently visiting Israel and Palestine and meeting with many politicians, including Salem Fayad. They will be reporting on their trip at a public hearing on Capitol Hill November 15.