The Israeli High Court Ruled that the path of the Wall in Bil'in is illegal and must be rerouted more than three years ago. This Friday, on the last day of the decade, Thousands will celebrate the last day of the Wall in its current path.
What: Mass demonstration in Bil'in
Where: Bil'in Village, West of Ramallah
When: Friday, Decemebr 31st at 12:30
Media Contact: Jonathan Pollak +972-54-632-7736
Nearly six years have passed since residents of Bil'in, together with their Israeli and international supporters, started regularly demonstrating against the Wall and the confiscation of more than half their land by it. It has been more than three years since the Israeli High Court ruled that the path of the Wall must be changed as soon as possible, and the people of Bil'in have waited long enough.
The Bil'in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements declared this Friday – the day closing 2010 – as the last day of the Wall on the village's lands. Bil'in's residents, together with many hundreds of their supporters – from Israel, around the world and across the West Bank – will march once more towards the lands sequestered behind the Wall, but have no intention of being stopped by it.
The last day of the year will be the last day of the Wall's current path. The first day of 2011 will be the first day of the struggle against the new path, and for the return of the lands still behind it.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Think Christmas is commercial? Wait until you see the 'Jesus trail'
By SHEERA FRENKEL
McClatchy Newspapers
NAZARETH, Israel -- Strains of "Silent Night" stream from the tour bus speakers on what has become known as the Jesus circuit in Nazareth, northern Israel.
Locals here joke that the carols constitute a whole new category of music in the largely Palestinian city, but the bigger joke, they claim, is making money selling Americans their own Christmas music.
"There have always been Christians who come to the Holy Land. But in recent years they come in huge groups, in tour bus caravans, in the thousands!" said Ibrihim Mansouf, a local shop owner in Nazareth. "They want to buy anything, anything that was made in the Holy Land."
Of the 3.5 million tourists that visit Israel each year, 2.4 million travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories for "Christian Tourism" according to the Israeli Tourism Ministry.
It's a billion-dollar industry - one that both Israeli and Palestinian businesses have just begun to capitalize on.
"The Holy Land is becoming the heart of life for people of faith across the entire world. Christmas is a tradition of this land, and all the inhabitants can enjoy the atmosphere and message of peace that the season brings," said Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the custodian of the Holy Land, who oversees Israel and neighboring countries on behalf of the Franciscan Order.
In recent years, there has been a boom in sites and services that mix modern-day tourism with biblical stories. In the north, tourists can visit the "Nazareth Village" a re-creation of life in the time of Christ, complete with wandering shepherds and carpenters who interact with guests.
The "Jesus trail" begins just outside the city, and allows the hardy to walk - quite literally - in the footsteps of Jesus. It's 40 miles long and takes three to five days to cover. Across the north of Israel, Maronite Christian villages offer one-week Aramaic courses based on readings from the New Testament, as well as walks along the hills where Jesus is said to have given the sermon on the Mount.
All of this before tourists even get to Jerusalem or Bethlehem.
"Tourism is a bridge to peace and dialogue among cultures," Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov told reporters recently. In recent years, his office has worked to establish access to tour sites in Israel, as well as in the Palestinian territories, he said.
"If I can bring in three more tourists, and two of them visit the Palestinian areas, they will create employment there. This is a win-win situation for Israel and the Palestinian Authority," said the Russian-born Misezhnikov.
Not everyone feels that Israel's new push to cater to Christian tourists benefits both sides equally.
Victor Batarseh, mayor of Bethlehem, recently lashed out as Israeli Tourism officials for trying to "cash in" on tourists visiting the region.
"Israel takes 95 percent of the benefits (of tourism to Bethlehem)," he said. "Israel uses the name of Bethlehem, since religious tourists go to two places, Bethlehem and Jerusalem."
He argued that years of Israel's military occupation and the separation barrier that winds its way around the city have made it difficult for businessmen in Bethlehem to make ends meet - let along build the type of infrastructure the tens of thousands of tourists would need.
This year, every single hotel room in Bethlehem has been booked - with tens of thousands of tourists spilling out in neighboring Jerusalem for accommodation.
"We don't have enough hotel rooms to deal with these numbers. That's why most of these pilgrims sleep over in Israel. That's why they get most of the profits," Batarseh said. There are five new hotels currently under development in Bethlehem, but Batarseh said that 10,000 to 15,000 additional rooms would need to be built to house the tourists the city sees in one Christmas season.
Misezhnikov said Batarseh is unjustly heaping guilt onto Israel. He pointed out that Israel has endorsed several international conferences in Bethlehem to plan and fundraise for future business projects in the city.
"I would support any plan that would build world-class and innovative tourism accommodations. I have been pushing for this whether it happens in the Palestinian areas or Jewish ones," Misezhnikov said.
Sarah Anderson, a 46-year-old teacher from Chicago, visited Bethlehem and Jerusalem for the first time this week.
"There is a big wall between them, and I was expecting two different worlds," she said. "But I felt the holiness of each place was equal and special and had nothing to do with politics."
(Frenkel is a McClatchy Newspapers special correspondent.)
Christian tourism cannot help but help Palestinian Christians in Israel and Palestine and Messianic Jews in Israel if it brings in tourist dollars. Think of the hotel building that could be happening and the support industries to handle a large volume of tourists. But GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY, who needs all that racket and pollution and foreigners running around in the Holy Land? Is there no value placed on spiritual serenity and peaceful quiet of sacred sites? But then again it will encourage protection of these minority religious groups and keep building bridges between Western Christians and Palestinians as more tourists become familiar with more Palestinians. After all, the Book has been a best seller for centuries with such religious tourism, a Holy Crusade. Now, will that be cash or credit for you today?
McClatchy Newspapers
NAZARETH, Israel -- Strains of "Silent Night" stream from the tour bus speakers on what has become known as the Jesus circuit in Nazareth, northern Israel.
Locals here joke that the carols constitute a whole new category of music in the largely Palestinian city, but the bigger joke, they claim, is making money selling Americans their own Christmas music.
"There have always been Christians who come to the Holy Land. But in recent years they come in huge groups, in tour bus caravans, in the thousands!" said Ibrihim Mansouf, a local shop owner in Nazareth. "They want to buy anything, anything that was made in the Holy Land."
Of the 3.5 million tourists that visit Israel each year, 2.4 million travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories for "Christian Tourism" according to the Israeli Tourism Ministry.
It's a billion-dollar industry - one that both Israeli and Palestinian businesses have just begun to capitalize on.
"The Holy Land is becoming the heart of life for people of faith across the entire world. Christmas is a tradition of this land, and all the inhabitants can enjoy the atmosphere and message of peace that the season brings," said Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the custodian of the Holy Land, who oversees Israel and neighboring countries on behalf of the Franciscan Order.
In recent years, there has been a boom in sites and services that mix modern-day tourism with biblical stories. In the north, tourists can visit the "Nazareth Village" a re-creation of life in the time of Christ, complete with wandering shepherds and carpenters who interact with guests.
The "Jesus trail" begins just outside the city, and allows the hardy to walk - quite literally - in the footsteps of Jesus. It's 40 miles long and takes three to five days to cover. Across the north of Israel, Maronite Christian villages offer one-week Aramaic courses based on readings from the New Testament, as well as walks along the hills where Jesus is said to have given the sermon on the Mount.
All of this before tourists even get to Jerusalem or Bethlehem.
"Tourism is a bridge to peace and dialogue among cultures," Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov told reporters recently. In recent years, his office has worked to establish access to tour sites in Israel, as well as in the Palestinian territories, he said.
"If I can bring in three more tourists, and two of them visit the Palestinian areas, they will create employment there. This is a win-win situation for Israel and the Palestinian Authority," said the Russian-born Misezhnikov.
Not everyone feels that Israel's new push to cater to Christian tourists benefits both sides equally.
Victor Batarseh, mayor of Bethlehem, recently lashed out as Israeli Tourism officials for trying to "cash in" on tourists visiting the region.
"Israel takes 95 percent of the benefits (of tourism to Bethlehem)," he said. "Israel uses the name of Bethlehem, since religious tourists go to two places, Bethlehem and Jerusalem."
He argued that years of Israel's military occupation and the separation barrier that winds its way around the city have made it difficult for businessmen in Bethlehem to make ends meet - let along build the type of infrastructure the tens of thousands of tourists would need.
This year, every single hotel room in Bethlehem has been booked - with tens of thousands of tourists spilling out in neighboring Jerusalem for accommodation.
"We don't have enough hotel rooms to deal with these numbers. That's why most of these pilgrims sleep over in Israel. That's why they get most of the profits," Batarseh said. There are five new hotels currently under development in Bethlehem, but Batarseh said that 10,000 to 15,000 additional rooms would need to be built to house the tourists the city sees in one Christmas season.
Misezhnikov said Batarseh is unjustly heaping guilt onto Israel. He pointed out that Israel has endorsed several international conferences in Bethlehem to plan and fundraise for future business projects in the city.
"I would support any plan that would build world-class and innovative tourism accommodations. I have been pushing for this whether it happens in the Palestinian areas or Jewish ones," Misezhnikov said.
Sarah Anderson, a 46-year-old teacher from Chicago, visited Bethlehem and Jerusalem for the first time this week.
"There is a big wall between them, and I was expecting two different worlds," she said. "But I felt the holiness of each place was equal and special and had nothing to do with politics."
(Frenkel is a McClatchy Newspapers special correspondent.)
Christian tourism cannot help but help Palestinian Christians in Israel and Palestine and Messianic Jews in Israel if it brings in tourist dollars. Think of the hotel building that could be happening and the support industries to handle a large volume of tourists. But GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY, who needs all that racket and pollution and foreigners running around in the Holy Land? Is there no value placed on spiritual serenity and peaceful quiet of sacred sites? But then again it will encourage protection of these minority religious groups and keep building bridges between Western Christians and Palestinians as more tourists become familiar with more Palestinians. After all, the Book has been a best seller for centuries with such religious tourism, a Holy Crusade. Now, will that be cash or credit for you today?
Mazin and Al-Walaja Update
The good news is that the bulldozers stopped working today thanks to the
brave people of Al-Walaja but they still need our collective support. 100
internationls will be in Al-Walaja tomorrow morning (Friday at 9 AM).
The video that I recorded and loaded this morning summarizes what happened
to us after our arrest in Al-Walaja, a peaceful beautiful village that is
slated for ethnic cleansing (for the second time). The beatings and pepper
spray used on Sheerin and the young men of Al-Walaja was truly vicious.
During the arrest, I managed to text message, take notes, and even take a
couple of pictures from under the stairwell without the soldiers being aware
(details maybe for my next book!). We challenged the soldiers' demand that
we not speak to each other or to them. Many of the soldiers kept saying
they are obeying orders and I and others reminded them that obeying fascist
order is not an excuse in international courts of justice (we are not there
yet, but I believe the day is coming). I was truly inspired by the courage,
vision and dedication of villagers like Sheerin and Dia who exemplify
decency and dignified poise in front of the machine that still comes up
among humans every few decades. From fascism to Nazism to Zionism, the
enemy is one: racism and greed that in the end is self-destructive. But if
enough good people stand-up, the end may come sooner and more people on all
sides would be saved the physical and emotional scars of colonization.
Anyway, here is my statement on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaa_6I-PMoM
Our friend Olivia Zemor and many others were denied entry on Ben Gurion
airport. You can read her statement here (in French, may translate using
translate.google.com): http://www.europalestine.com/spip.php?article5701
However, thousands of people from around the world still managed to enter
Palestine through Israeli controlled ports of entry like Ben Gurion airport.
Some were asked to sign stupid statements about not entering "Palestinian
areas". Of course all of this land is Palestinian areas, they should state
entering the ghettos or bantustans to make it clearer.
In the holding cell with tight handcuffs cutting our circulation, we had a
sense of peace and self-confidence. We shared smiles and whispered words of
encouragement to each other. It was uplifting experience and camaraderie. I
myself started singing (Fairuz-Zahrat Al-Madaen, Christmas songs, the
Palestinian national anthem etc). After all we were told not to speak to
each other but they said nothing of singing. I wished to dance but then I
thought this might be too much for my cell-mates. We all believe that it is
a sign of weakness and desperation that the Israeli army increasingly
brutally attacks unarmed people who are simply challenging occupation
nonviolently or merely asking pointed questions. From the Gaza freedom
flotilla to Rafah to Bilin to Al-Walaja, to Stuttgart, to Paris, and to the
rest of the world, the cracks in the walls holding empire of lies are being
felt. Again, there will be an event in Al-Walaja Friday at 9-11 AM. For
those outside Palestine, thank you for acting in your spheres of influence.
Auschwitz Survivor on Palestine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSlFR541Uoo
Why will there not be a US foreign policy that benefits US population? Is it
because certain Jews make money out of the tribalism that is Zionism? An
article in Haaretz on "How much do U.S. Jewish leaders [sic] make?"
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/how-much-do-u-s-jewish-leaders-make-1.33
0414
Song for Kairos Palestine (Manal abdo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IStkXO4eCks
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
http://qumsiyeh.org> http://qumsiyeh.org
brave people of Al-Walaja but they still need our collective support. 100
internationls will be in Al-Walaja tomorrow morning (Friday at 9 AM).
The video that I recorded and loaded this morning summarizes what happened
to us after our arrest in Al-Walaja, a peaceful beautiful village that is
slated for ethnic cleansing (for the second time). The beatings and pepper
spray used on Sheerin and the young men of Al-Walaja was truly vicious.
During the arrest, I managed to text message, take notes, and even take a
couple of pictures from under the stairwell without the soldiers being aware
(details maybe for my next book!). We challenged the soldiers' demand that
we not speak to each other or to them. Many of the soldiers kept saying
they are obeying orders and I and others reminded them that obeying fascist
order is not an excuse in international courts of justice (we are not there
yet, but I believe the day is coming). I was truly inspired by the courage,
vision and dedication of villagers like Sheerin and Dia who exemplify
decency and dignified poise in front of the machine that still comes up
among humans every few decades. From fascism to Nazism to Zionism, the
enemy is one: racism and greed that in the end is self-destructive. But if
enough good people stand-up, the end may come sooner and more people on all
sides would be saved the physical and emotional scars of colonization.
Anyway, here is my statement on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaa_6I-PMoM
Our friend Olivia Zemor and many others were denied entry on Ben Gurion
airport. You can read her statement here (in French, may translate using
translate.google.com): http://www.europalestine.com/spip.php?article5701
However, thousands of people from around the world still managed to enter
Palestine through Israeli controlled ports of entry like Ben Gurion airport.
Some were asked to sign stupid statements about not entering "Palestinian
areas". Of course all of this land is Palestinian areas, they should state
entering the ghettos or bantustans to make it clearer.
In the holding cell with tight handcuffs cutting our circulation, we had a
sense of peace and self-confidence. We shared smiles and whispered words of
encouragement to each other. It was uplifting experience and camaraderie. I
myself started singing (Fairuz-Zahrat Al-Madaen, Christmas songs, the
Palestinian national anthem etc). After all we were told not to speak to
each other but they said nothing of singing. I wished to dance but then I
thought this might be too much for my cell-mates. We all believe that it is
a sign of weakness and desperation that the Israeli army increasingly
brutally attacks unarmed people who are simply challenging occupation
nonviolently or merely asking pointed questions. From the Gaza freedom
flotilla to Rafah to Bilin to Al-Walaja, to Stuttgart, to Paris, and to the
rest of the world, the cracks in the walls holding empire of lies are being
felt. Again, there will be an event in Al-Walaja Friday at 9-11 AM. For
those outside Palestine, thank you for acting in your spheres of influence.
Auschwitz Survivor on Palestine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSlFR541Uoo
Why will there not be a US foreign policy that benefits US population? Is it
because certain Jews make money out of the tribalism that is Zionism? An
article in Haaretz on "How much do U.S. Jewish leaders [sic] make?"
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/how-much-do-u-s-jewish-leaders-make-1.33
0414
Song for Kairos Palestine (Manal abdo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IStkXO4eCks
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
http://qumsiyeh.org> http://qumsiyeh.org
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Mazin and 7 Others Arrested Today at Al-Walaja
Wednesday December 22, 2010
Link to the pictures of arrests http://tinyurl.com/3xjky9j
If you are currently in the Bethlehem area, please join us for a demo set
for this Friday morning December 24, 2010 at 9 a.m. at Al-Walaja. Contact
0569956478 for information.
This afternoon at around 2:30 Mazin said that we have to go to Al-Walaja
immediately. He said he just got a call from the villagers that Israeli
bulldozer was clearing an area in a different side of the village (the
villagers were still trying to figure out the legal situation) than the
familiar site where illegal Israel wall construction has been going on for
the past year. We were at his office at Bethlehem University at the time.
We dropped everything we were doing and took off. When we arrived at the
site, the bulldozer was idle with a dozen solders and private security
personnel around. We found out from the 20 some villagers gathered there
that they managed to asked the work to be stopped pending further
instructions. Thirty minutes later, some military spokesperson came to talk
to the villagers in Arabic (which I don't understand.) He came along with
more armed forces - there were about 50 to 60 by then, more than the number
of the local villagers present. If I understood correctly through Mazin's
brief translation, Israeli spokesperson was saying that their work was based
on the 2006 order (but that order has expired and currently there is a
supreme court case pending.) So as the bulldozer resumed, and the soldiers
spreaded out getting villagers away from the work site and started arresting
people who simply were hanging around there. While I was taking picture of
a Palestinian male being taken away by Israeli soldiers, I suddenly noticed
Mazin was surrounded by soldiers in a lower level terrace from where I was
standing trying to speak to the solders (probably telling them they don't
have any valid work order and should not resume the bulldozing.) Right at
that moment, they decided to take him away. That was around 3:20 p.m., less
than an hour after we got there. I only remembered to take a picture of him
being taken away from a distance. In rapid succession, Israeli soldiers
snatched more Palestinian villagers - in all eight of them, including an
older gentlemen, two teeagers, three other gentlemen, and Sheerin Al-Araj
whom I knew as the vocal activist from the village.
Mazin was not reachable by phone after that for two hours. Then I reached
him by phone and took down some notes from him during a short conversation.
He said that they are detained outside Bethlehem Checkpoint 300 at the time.
An Israeli soldier named Almog Kahalani was very rough with them. He beat
the two young Palestinian men, causing one with stomach problem. The
soldiers were very rough with Sheerin that I can hear in the background
while talking with Mazin on the phone. Three of them had metal handcuffs, he
and the rest were tied with plastic handcuffs that was very tight and
causing circulation problem. A young men's handcuff was so unbearably tight
but Israeli soldiers refused to loosening it. The soldiers had just untied
the plastic ones after about two hours (but kept the metal ones on the other
three, Sheerin was one of them) and that's why Mazin was able to use his
hand to hold his phone and speak with me. They were asked to sign on a
piece of paper (don't know what's the content but must be in Hebrew that
nobody understand). But everyone of them refused to sign as advised by a
Palestinian lawyer who was present there. While detained there, they tried
to speak to the soldiers about international law, but the soldiers were
saying that they don't give a f--- about international law and you people
and they only care about obeying orders. Mazin reasoned to them that German
soldiers were also obeying orders during the Nazi regime. The Israeli
solders responded by saying that German soldiers would have shot you by now.
Another hour later, I got another update from Mazin that they have been
transferred to Atarot (I don't know where is this, but people familiar with
this said it is near Ramallah.) They are waiting to appear in front of a
judge. They are cold and hungry. The Israeli personnel there sprayed cold
water on them and claiming it is an accident.
More update as I am still composing this -- Mazin said that there were three
arrested from Jenin joining them, so now there are total eleven at Atarot
detention.
Mazin asked you all to keep Al-Walaja people and village in your prayer. We
should be proud of the villager's nonviolent resistance effort.
If you are currently in the Bethlehem area, please join us for a demo set
for this Friday morning December 24, 2010 at 9 a.m. at Al-Walaja, and stay
alert tomorrow all day. I will keep you updated as event unfold.
J. Qumsiyeh
during Mazin's absence
Link to the pictures of arrests http://tinyurl.com/3xjky9j
If you are currently in the Bethlehem area, please join us for a demo set
for this Friday morning December 24, 2010 at 9 a.m. at Al-Walaja. Contact
0569956478 for information.
This afternoon at around 2:30 Mazin said that we have to go to Al-Walaja
immediately. He said he just got a call from the villagers that Israeli
bulldozer was clearing an area in a different side of the village (the
villagers were still trying to figure out the legal situation) than the
familiar site where illegal Israel wall construction has been going on for
the past year. We were at his office at Bethlehem University at the time.
We dropped everything we were doing and took off. When we arrived at the
site, the bulldozer was idle with a dozen solders and private security
personnel around. We found out from the 20 some villagers gathered there
that they managed to asked the work to be stopped pending further
instructions. Thirty minutes later, some military spokesperson came to talk
to the villagers in Arabic (which I don't understand.) He came along with
more armed forces - there were about 50 to 60 by then, more than the number
of the local villagers present. If I understood correctly through Mazin's
brief translation, Israeli spokesperson was saying that their work was based
on the 2006 order (but that order has expired and currently there is a
supreme court case pending.) So as the bulldozer resumed, and the soldiers
spreaded out getting villagers away from the work site and started arresting
people who simply were hanging around there. While I was taking picture of
a Palestinian male being taken away by Israeli soldiers, I suddenly noticed
Mazin was surrounded by soldiers in a lower level terrace from where I was
standing trying to speak to the solders (probably telling them they don't
have any valid work order and should not resume the bulldozing.) Right at
that moment, they decided to take him away. That was around 3:20 p.m., less
than an hour after we got there. I only remembered to take a picture of him
being taken away from a distance. In rapid succession, Israeli soldiers
snatched more Palestinian villagers - in all eight of them, including an
older gentlemen, two teeagers, three other gentlemen, and Sheerin Al-Araj
whom I knew as the vocal activist from the village.
Mazin was not reachable by phone after that for two hours. Then I reached
him by phone and took down some notes from him during a short conversation.
He said that they are detained outside Bethlehem Checkpoint 300 at the time.
An Israeli soldier named Almog Kahalani was very rough with them. He beat
the two young Palestinian men, causing one with stomach problem. The
soldiers were very rough with Sheerin that I can hear in the background
while talking with Mazin on the phone. Three of them had metal handcuffs, he
and the rest were tied with plastic handcuffs that was very tight and
causing circulation problem. A young men's handcuff was so unbearably tight
but Israeli soldiers refused to loosening it. The soldiers had just untied
the plastic ones after about two hours (but kept the metal ones on the other
three, Sheerin was one of them) and that's why Mazin was able to use his
hand to hold his phone and speak with me. They were asked to sign on a
piece of paper (don't know what's the content but must be in Hebrew that
nobody understand). But everyone of them refused to sign as advised by a
Palestinian lawyer who was present there. While detained there, they tried
to speak to the soldiers about international law, but the soldiers were
saying that they don't give a f--- about international law and you people
and they only care about obeying orders. Mazin reasoned to them that German
soldiers were also obeying orders during the Nazi regime. The Israeli
solders responded by saying that German soldiers would have shot you by now.
Another hour later, I got another update from Mazin that they have been
transferred to Atarot (I don't know where is this, but people familiar with
this said it is near Ramallah.) They are waiting to appear in front of a
judge. They are cold and hungry. The Israeli personnel there sprayed cold
water on them and claiming it is an accident.
More update as I am still composing this -- Mazin said that there were three
arrested from Jenin joining them, so now there are total eleven at Atarot
detention.
Mazin asked you all to keep Al-Walaja people and village in your prayer. We
should be proud of the villager's nonviolent resistance effort.
If you are currently in the Bethlehem area, please join us for a demo set
for this Friday morning December 24, 2010 at 9 a.m. at Al-Walaja, and stay
alert tomorrow all day. I will keep you updated as event unfold.
J. Qumsiyeh
during Mazin's absence
Friday, December 17, 2010
U.S. to sign U.N. declaration on native rights
The Washington Post
Posted: 12/17/2010 01:00:00 AM MST
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Thursday that the U.S. will sign a United Nations nonbinding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, a move that advocates called another step in improving Washington's relationship with Native Americans.
Obama announced the decision during the second White House Tribal Conference, where he said he is "working hard to live up to" the name that was given to him by the Crow Nation: "One Who Helps People Throughout the Land."
The United States is the last major country to sign on to the U.N. declaration, which was endorsed by 145 countries in 2007. A handful of countries, including the United States, voted against it because of the provision that says indigenous peoples "have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied, or otherwise used and acquired."
That language does not override national law, and Canada and New Zealand, which also initially opposed the declaration, said in recent months that they would support it.
Obama has told Native American leaders that he wants to improve the "nation-to-nation" relationship between the United States and the tribes and repair broken promises.
There are more than 560 Indian tribes in the United States. Many had representatives at the White House conference and applauded Obama's announcement.
Native American leaders said this week that they have mixed assessments of the administration's progress. Many praised the White House focus on Indian country, but others said some problems remain entrenched.
Logically, this should have a negative impact on U.S. long time support of Israel's anti-indigenous ethnic cleansing policies. We shall see..
Posted: 12/17/2010 01:00:00 AM MST
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Thursday that the U.S. will sign a United Nations nonbinding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, a move that advocates called another step in improving Washington's relationship with Native Americans.
Obama announced the decision during the second White House Tribal Conference, where he said he is "working hard to live up to" the name that was given to him by the Crow Nation: "One Who Helps People Throughout the Land."
The United States is the last major country to sign on to the U.N. declaration, which was endorsed by 145 countries in 2007. A handful of countries, including the United States, voted against it because of the provision that says indigenous peoples "have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied, or otherwise used and acquired."
That language does not override national law, and Canada and New Zealand, which also initially opposed the declaration, said in recent months that they would support it.
Obama has told Native American leaders that he wants to improve the "nation-to-nation" relationship between the United States and the tribes and repair broken promises.
There are more than 560 Indian tribes in the United States. Many had representatives at the White House conference and applauded Obama's announcement.
Native American leaders said this week that they have mixed assessments of the administration's progress. Many praised the White House focus on Indian country, but others said some problems remain entrenched.
Logically, this should have a negative impact on U.S. long time support of Israel's anti-indigenous ethnic cleansing policies. We shall see..
Monday, December 13, 2010
Rights group: Police making illegal arrests of Palestinian children
Haaretz.com
Mon, December 13, 2010 Tevet 6, 5771
B'Tselem report accuses police of arresting Palestinian minors as young as five in East Jerusalem and dealing with them in ways that violate the law.
By The Associated Press
An Israeli human rights group is accusing the police of arresting Palestinian minors as young as five in East Jerusalem and dealing with them in ways that violate the law.
In a report released on Monday, B'Tselem says Israeli police arrested at least 81 Palestinian minors between November 2009 and October 2010 on suspicion of throwing stones at Israelis in the flashpoint Silwan neighborhood near Jerusalem's Old City.
The report says police arrested many minors in their homes in Silwan at night, seizing some from their beds. Undercover officers nabbed others on the street. At least 30 of the 81 detained were younger than 15, the report said. Four were younger than 12 and the youngest was five.
They were detained from a few hours to a few days and interrogated, sometimes without parents present, the report said. Some said police roughed them up. The report also says some were released after paying fines as high as $1,300. Others were placed under house arrest for up to two months, allowed only to go to school accompanied by a parent.
Soldiers detain a Palestinian teenager in Herbon, April 2010
Photo by: Ma'an
B'Tselem said arresting and interrogating minors at night or without a parent present violates Israeli laws that protect minors.
Israeli police say the arrests are not only legal but necessary to stamp out stone throwing, which often targets police or West Bank settlers. It's especially common in parts of East Jerusalem, where tensions run high between Palestinian residents and Israeli police, settlers and their security guards.
Earlier this month, sixty Israeli childcare experts and literary figures sent an open letter to the prime minister and attorney general calling on the authorities to monitor more closely police interactions with minors suspected of stone throwing in East Jerusalem.
The letter came amid recent complaints that the police have been making illegal arrests and using questionable interrogation methods in their campaign against stone throwing.
According to the letter, police have acknowledged arresting around 1,200 minors in East Jerusalem on suspicion of stone throwing. But critics say that more troubling than the absolute number is the manner in which youths are being detained and questioned.
"Children and youth have reported being taken from their beds in the middle of the night or apprehended by undercover detectives and special forces in their neighborhoods," the letter said. "They were brought in for questioning without a parental escort and sometimes without having been able to notify their families in time. Some were required to give names or to implicate their friends and relatives as conditions for their release."
The letter also noted a growing trend of underage suspects suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress including nightmares, sleepwalking and bedwetting.
Detainees, it said, were subjected to "threats and humiliation by interrogators, and their transfer and detention were sometimes accompanied by considerable physical violence. Particularly alarming are the testimonies showing that a number of children under the age of 12 - the age of criminal liability - were interrogated by police, who despite their age were forced to endure harsh methods of interrogation."
Mon, December 13, 2010 Tevet 6, 5771
B'Tselem report accuses police of arresting Palestinian minors as young as five in East Jerusalem and dealing with them in ways that violate the law.
By The Associated Press
An Israeli human rights group is accusing the police of arresting Palestinian minors as young as five in East Jerusalem and dealing with them in ways that violate the law.
In a report released on Monday, B'Tselem says Israeli police arrested at least 81 Palestinian minors between November 2009 and October 2010 on suspicion of throwing stones at Israelis in the flashpoint Silwan neighborhood near Jerusalem's Old City.
The report says police arrested many minors in their homes in Silwan at night, seizing some from their beds. Undercover officers nabbed others on the street. At least 30 of the 81 detained were younger than 15, the report said. Four were younger than 12 and the youngest was five.
They were detained from a few hours to a few days and interrogated, sometimes without parents present, the report said. Some said police roughed them up. The report also says some were released after paying fines as high as $1,300. Others were placed under house arrest for up to two months, allowed only to go to school accompanied by a parent.
Soldiers detain a Palestinian teenager in Herbon, April 2010
Photo by: Ma'an
B'Tselem said arresting and interrogating minors at night or without a parent present violates Israeli laws that protect minors.
Israeli police say the arrests are not only legal but necessary to stamp out stone throwing, which often targets police or West Bank settlers. It's especially common in parts of East Jerusalem, where tensions run high between Palestinian residents and Israeli police, settlers and their security guards.
Earlier this month, sixty Israeli childcare experts and literary figures sent an open letter to the prime minister and attorney general calling on the authorities to monitor more closely police interactions with minors suspected of stone throwing in East Jerusalem.
The letter came amid recent complaints that the police have been making illegal arrests and using questionable interrogation methods in their campaign against stone throwing.
According to the letter, police have acknowledged arresting around 1,200 minors in East Jerusalem on suspicion of stone throwing. But critics say that more troubling than the absolute number is the manner in which youths are being detained and questioned.
"Children and youth have reported being taken from their beds in the middle of the night or apprehended by undercover detectives and special forces in their neighborhoods," the letter said. "They were brought in for questioning without a parental escort and sometimes without having been able to notify their families in time. Some were required to give names or to implicate their friends and relatives as conditions for their release."
The letter also noted a growing trend of underage suspects suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress including nightmares, sleepwalking and bedwetting.
Detainees, it said, were subjected to "threats and humiliation by interrogators, and their transfer and detention were sometimes accompanied by considerable physical violence. Particularly alarming are the testimonies showing that a number of children under the age of 12 - the age of criminal liability - were interrogated by police, who despite their age were forced to endure harsh methods of interrogation."
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Wikileaks protests in Spain over Julian Assange arrest
BBC
11 December 2010
Last updated at 18:01 ET
Protests have taken place across Spain calling for the release of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is facing extradition from the UK to Sweden for alleged sexual offences.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the British embassy in Madrid calling for him to be freed.
Wikileaks is publishing insights from hundreds of thousands of sensitive US diplomatic and military documents.
The demonstrators believe Mr Assange's detention is politically motivated.
The whistle-blowing website has angered and embarrassed governments around the world through its publication in recent weeks of classified US diplomatic cables.
Sensitive issue
While supporters have mounted cyber-protests, Saturday's protests were some of the first street demonstrations in support of Wikileaks.
Wearing Julian Assange face masks, the crowd in Madrid shouted for his freedom, outside the vast glass tower that houses the British embassy, says the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Madrid.
Many of the demonstrators were angry at some of the revelations in the cables, our correspondent says.
These include the suggestion Spain came under pressure to stop a criminal investigation into the killing of Jose Couso, a Spanish cameraman who died when American soldiers fired a tank round into his hotel in Baghdad.
The Free Wikileaks website, which organised the demonstrations, said protests were also planned for other Spanish cities, including Barcelona, Valencia and Seville.
It called for the restoration of Wikileaks' internet domain, which was cut off by Amazon after it began publishing the diplomatic cables two weeks ago.
And it demanded that Visa and MasterCard restore credit card services because, it said, no one had proven Mr Assange's guilt.
Our correspondent says the issue of freedom of speech is sensitive for Spaniards, who only emerged from four decades of authoritarian rule in the 1970s.
11 December 2010
Last updated at 18:01 ET
Protests have taken place across Spain calling for the release of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is facing extradition from the UK to Sweden for alleged sexual offences.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the British embassy in Madrid calling for him to be freed.
Wikileaks is publishing insights from hundreds of thousands of sensitive US diplomatic and military documents.
The demonstrators believe Mr Assange's detention is politically motivated.
The whistle-blowing website has angered and embarrassed governments around the world through its publication in recent weeks of classified US diplomatic cables.
Sensitive issue
While supporters have mounted cyber-protests, Saturday's protests were some of the first street demonstrations in support of Wikileaks.
Wearing Julian Assange face masks, the crowd in Madrid shouted for his freedom, outside the vast glass tower that houses the British embassy, says the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Madrid.
Many of the demonstrators were angry at some of the revelations in the cables, our correspondent says.
These include the suggestion Spain came under pressure to stop a criminal investigation into the killing of Jose Couso, a Spanish cameraman who died when American soldiers fired a tank round into his hotel in Baghdad.
The Free Wikileaks website, which organised the demonstrations, said protests were also planned for other Spanish cities, including Barcelona, Valencia and Seville.
It called for the restoration of Wikileaks' internet domain, which was cut off by Amazon after it began publishing the diplomatic cables two weeks ago.
And it demanded that Visa and MasterCard restore credit card services because, it said, no one had proven Mr Assange's guilt.
Our correspondent says the issue of freedom of speech is sensitive for Spaniards, who only emerged from four decades of authoritarian rule in the 1970s.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Venezuela's Chavez to move into Gaddafi tent
BBC
10 December 2010
Last updated at 20:07 ET
President Hugo Chavez addressing flood victims in Caracas President Chavez has taken personal charge of relief efforts
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he is going to govern temporarily from a tent so that families made homeless by recent floods can take refuge in his office.
Mr Chavez said he would have a Bedouin tent given to him by the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi put up in the garden of the presidential palace.
Twenty-five families are already living in the palace after losing their homes.
The floods have made more than 100,000 people homeless across the country.
"Put up Gaddafi's gift," said Mr Chavez during a visit to a refuge for flood victims close to the Miraflores palace in Caracas.
"You can install it in the garden at Miraflores because I'm going to move into the tent. We can put some beds in my office."
Mr Chavez is an admirer of Col Gaddafi, who lives in a huge Bedouin tent in Libya, and brought one with him when he visited Venezuela last year.
The Venezuelan leader has been personally supervising relief efforts in response to the floods.
A man looks at a destroyed house in the Catia district in Caracas
The worst rains in a decade have caused widespread destruction and killed more than 30 people.
Some of the worst damage has been in poor hillside neighbourhoods of Caracas, where landslides have swept away precarious houses.
Mr Chavez has promised a massive home-building programme, and on Friday appointed culture minister Francisco Sesto to the new role of minister for reconstruction in Caracas.
Neighbouring Colombia and much of Central America have also suffered from one of their worst May-November rainy seasons in decades.
10 December 2010
Last updated at 20:07 ET
President Hugo Chavez addressing flood victims in Caracas President Chavez has taken personal charge of relief efforts
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he is going to govern temporarily from a tent so that families made homeless by recent floods can take refuge in his office.
Mr Chavez said he would have a Bedouin tent given to him by the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi put up in the garden of the presidential palace.
Twenty-five families are already living in the palace after losing their homes.
The floods have made more than 100,000 people homeless across the country.
"Put up Gaddafi's gift," said Mr Chavez during a visit to a refuge for flood victims close to the Miraflores palace in Caracas.
"You can install it in the garden at Miraflores because I'm going to move into the tent. We can put some beds in my office."
Mr Chavez is an admirer of Col Gaddafi, who lives in a huge Bedouin tent in Libya, and brought one with him when he visited Venezuela last year.
The Venezuelan leader has been personally supervising relief efforts in response to the floods.
A man looks at a destroyed house in the Catia district in Caracas
The worst rains in a decade have caused widespread destruction and killed more than 30 people.
Some of the worst damage has been in poor hillside neighbourhoods of Caracas, where landslides have swept away precarious houses.
Mr Chavez has promised a massive home-building programme, and on Friday appointed culture minister Francisco Sesto to the new role of minister for reconstruction in Caracas.
Neighbouring Colombia and much of Central America have also suffered from one of their worst May-November rainy seasons in decades.
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Operation Payback cripples MasterCard site in revenge for WikiLeaks ban
Hackers attack credit card company and Swedish prosecution authority as 'censorship' row escalates
Esther Addley and Josh Halliday
guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday 8 December 2010 17.28 GMT
Operation Payback appears to have orchestrated a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack on MasterCard. Photograph: AP
The websites of the international credit card MasterCard and the Swedish prosecution authority are among the latest to be taken offline in the escalating technological battle over WikiLeaks, web censorship and perceived political pressure.
Co-ordinated attacks by online activists who support the site and its founder Julian Assange – who is in UK custody accused of raping two Swedish women – have seen the websites of the alleged victims' Swedish lawyer disabled, while commercial and political targets have also been subject to attack by a loose coalition of global hackers.
The Swedish prosecution authority has confirmed its website was attacked last night and this morning. MasterCard was partially paralysed today in revenge for the payment network's decision to cease taking donations to WikiLeaks.
In an attack referred to as Operation Payback, a group of online activists calling themselves Anonymous appear to have orchestrated a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack on the financial site, bringing its service to a halt.
Attempts to access www.mastercard.com have been unsuccessful since shortly after 9.30am.
The site would say only that it was "experiencing heavy traffic on its external corporate website" but insisted this would not interfere with its ability to process transactions.
But one payment service company told the BBC its customers were experiencing "a complete loss of service" on MasterCard SecureCode. The credit card company later confirmed that loss.
MasterCard tonight said in a statement it was "working to restore normal service levels" after "a concentrated effort to flood our corporate web site with traffic and slow access." The company added: "It is important to note that our systems have not been compromised and there is no impact on our cardholders' ability to use their cards for secure transactions globally."
MasterCard announced on Monday that it would no longer process donations to WikiLeaks, which it claimed was engaged in illegal activity.
Visa, Amazon, Swiss bank PostFinance and others have also announced in recent days that they will cease trading with the whistleblowing site.
The moves have led to concerted attempts by hackers to target companies they deem guilty of "censoring" WikiLeaks.
Operation Payback, which has been targeting commercial sites that have cut their ties with WikiLeaks for some days, has also made threats to other organisations including Twitter, which it says is suppressing the site.
"We will fire at anything or anyone that tries to censor WikiLeaks, including multibillion-dollar companies such as PayPal," a statement circulating online, apparently from Operation Payback, said.
"Twitter, you're next for censoring #WikiLeaks discussion. The major shitstorm has begun," it added.
Twitter has issued a statement denying it has censored the hashtag, and saying confusion had arisen over its "trending" facility.
Meanwhile it has also emerged that Visa has today ordered DataCell, an IT firm that helps WikiLeaks collect payments, to suspend all of its transactions – even those involving other payees – a day after it cut off all the firm's donations being made to WikiLeaks.
DataCell, a small Icelandic company that facilitates transfers made by credit cards including Visa and MasterCard, says it will take up "immediate legal actions" and warned that the powerful "duopoly" of Visa and MasterCard could spell "the end of the credit card business worldwide".
Andreas Fink, chief executive of DataCell, said in a statement: "Putting all payments on hold for seven days or more is one thing but rejecting all further attempts to donate is making the donations impossible.
"This does clearly create massive financial losses to WikiLeaks, which seems to be the only purpose of this suspension.
"This is not about the brand of Visa; this is about politics, and Visa should not be involved in this.
"Visa customers are contacting us in masses to confirm that they really donate and they are not happy about Visa rejecting them. It is obvious that Visa is under political pressure to close us down."
Earlier, PayPal, which has also been the subject of technological attack since it suspended payments to WikiLeaks last week, appeared to admit that it had taken the step after an intervention from the US state department.
PayPal's vice-president of platform, Osama Bedier, told an internet conference the site had decided to freeze WikiLeaks' account on 4 December after government representatives said it was engaged in illegal activity.
"[The US] state department told us these were illegal activities. It was straightforward," he told the LeWeb conference in Paris, adding: "We ... comply with regulations around the world, making sure that we protect our brand."
Though he later reined back the comments, saying that PayPal had not been contacted directly by the state department but had seen a letter it had sent to WikiLeaks, his remarks will undoubtedly intensify criticism from supporters of WikiLeaks that the site is being targeted for political reasons.
Operation Payback, which refers to itself as "an anonymous, decentralised movement that fights against censorship and copywrong", and has been linked to the influential internet messageboard 4Chan, argues that such steps "are long strides closer to a world where we cannot say what we think and are unable to express our opinions and ideas".
It added: "We cannot let this happen. This is why our intention is to find out who is responsible for this failed attempt at censorship.
"This is why we intend to utilise our resources to raise awareness, attack those against and support those who are helping lead our world to freedom and democracy."
The MasterCard action was confirmed on Twitter at 9.39am by user @Anon_Operation, who later tweeted: "We are glad to tell you that http://www.mastercard.com/ is down and it's confirmed! #ddos #WikiLeaks Operation: Payback (is a bitch!) #PAYBACK"
PostFinance was successfully hacked on Monday after it shut down one of WikiLeaks' key bank accounts, accusing Assange of lying. Its service since has been seriously disrupted.
PayPal has also been targeted a number of times, but while its internal blog was paralysed for more than two hours, the payment processing facility has so far been able to withstand the attacks.
Other cyber attacks were mounted yesterday on EveryDNS.net, which suspended dealings on 3 December, while Amazon, which removed WikiLeaks content from its EC2 cloud on 1 December, may also be a possible target.
According to bloggers monitoring the cyber attacks, those involved in the protests have also been targeting the websites of US senator Joe Lieberman, who is an outspoken critic of WikiLeaks, and Sarah Palin, who said Assange should be treated like a terrorist.
Claes Bergstrom, the lawyer of the two women who claim Assange raped or assaulted them, confirmed his website was shut down overnight, as was the site of a lawyer representing Assange in Sweden. This was the first time such an attack had occurred, he said.
DDoS attacks, which often involve flooding the target site with requests so that it cannot cope with legitimate communication, are illegal.
Esther Addley and Josh Halliday
guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday 8 December 2010 17.28 GMT
Operation Payback appears to have orchestrated a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack on MasterCard. Photograph: AP
The websites of the international credit card MasterCard and the Swedish prosecution authority are among the latest to be taken offline in the escalating technological battle over WikiLeaks, web censorship and perceived political pressure.
Co-ordinated attacks by online activists who support the site and its founder Julian Assange – who is in UK custody accused of raping two Swedish women – have seen the websites of the alleged victims' Swedish lawyer disabled, while commercial and political targets have also been subject to attack by a loose coalition of global hackers.
The Swedish prosecution authority has confirmed its website was attacked last night and this morning. MasterCard was partially paralysed today in revenge for the payment network's decision to cease taking donations to WikiLeaks.
In an attack referred to as Operation Payback, a group of online activists calling themselves Anonymous appear to have orchestrated a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack on the financial site, bringing its service to a halt.
Attempts to access www.mastercard.com have been unsuccessful since shortly after 9.30am.
The site would say only that it was "experiencing heavy traffic on its external corporate website" but insisted this would not interfere with its ability to process transactions.
But one payment service company told the BBC its customers were experiencing "a complete loss of service" on MasterCard SecureCode. The credit card company later confirmed that loss.
MasterCard tonight said in a statement it was "working to restore normal service levels" after "a concentrated effort to flood our corporate web site with traffic and slow access." The company added: "It is important to note that our systems have not been compromised and there is no impact on our cardholders' ability to use their cards for secure transactions globally."
MasterCard announced on Monday that it would no longer process donations to WikiLeaks, which it claimed was engaged in illegal activity.
Visa, Amazon, Swiss bank PostFinance and others have also announced in recent days that they will cease trading with the whistleblowing site.
The moves have led to concerted attempts by hackers to target companies they deem guilty of "censoring" WikiLeaks.
Operation Payback, which has been targeting commercial sites that have cut their ties with WikiLeaks for some days, has also made threats to other organisations including Twitter, which it says is suppressing the site.
"We will fire at anything or anyone that tries to censor WikiLeaks, including multibillion-dollar companies such as PayPal," a statement circulating online, apparently from Operation Payback, said.
"Twitter, you're next for censoring #WikiLeaks discussion. The major shitstorm has begun," it added.
Twitter has issued a statement denying it has censored the hashtag, and saying confusion had arisen over its "trending" facility.
Meanwhile it has also emerged that Visa has today ordered DataCell, an IT firm that helps WikiLeaks collect payments, to suspend all of its transactions – even those involving other payees – a day after it cut off all the firm's donations being made to WikiLeaks.
DataCell, a small Icelandic company that facilitates transfers made by credit cards including Visa and MasterCard, says it will take up "immediate legal actions" and warned that the powerful "duopoly" of Visa and MasterCard could spell "the end of the credit card business worldwide".
Andreas Fink, chief executive of DataCell, said in a statement: "Putting all payments on hold for seven days or more is one thing but rejecting all further attempts to donate is making the donations impossible.
"This does clearly create massive financial losses to WikiLeaks, which seems to be the only purpose of this suspension.
"This is not about the brand of Visa; this is about politics, and Visa should not be involved in this.
"Visa customers are contacting us in masses to confirm that they really donate and they are not happy about Visa rejecting them. It is obvious that Visa is under political pressure to close us down."
Earlier, PayPal, which has also been the subject of technological attack since it suspended payments to WikiLeaks last week, appeared to admit that it had taken the step after an intervention from the US state department.
PayPal's vice-president of platform, Osama Bedier, told an internet conference the site had decided to freeze WikiLeaks' account on 4 December after government representatives said it was engaged in illegal activity.
"[The US] state department told us these were illegal activities. It was straightforward," he told the LeWeb conference in Paris, adding: "We ... comply with regulations around the world, making sure that we protect our brand."
Though he later reined back the comments, saying that PayPal had not been contacted directly by the state department but had seen a letter it had sent to WikiLeaks, his remarks will undoubtedly intensify criticism from supporters of WikiLeaks that the site is being targeted for political reasons.
Operation Payback, which refers to itself as "an anonymous, decentralised movement that fights against censorship and copywrong", and has been linked to the influential internet messageboard 4Chan, argues that such steps "are long strides closer to a world where we cannot say what we think and are unable to express our opinions and ideas".
It added: "We cannot let this happen. This is why our intention is to find out who is responsible for this failed attempt at censorship.
"This is why we intend to utilise our resources to raise awareness, attack those against and support those who are helping lead our world to freedom and democracy."
The MasterCard action was confirmed on Twitter at 9.39am by user @Anon_Operation, who later tweeted: "We are glad to tell you that http://www.mastercard.com/ is down and it's confirmed! #ddos #WikiLeaks Operation: Payback (is a bitch!) #PAYBACK"
PostFinance was successfully hacked on Monday after it shut down one of WikiLeaks' key bank accounts, accusing Assange of lying. Its service since has been seriously disrupted.
PayPal has also been targeted a number of times, but while its internal blog was paralysed for more than two hours, the payment processing facility has so far been able to withstand the attacks.
Other cyber attacks were mounted yesterday on EveryDNS.net, which suspended dealings on 3 December, while Amazon, which removed WikiLeaks content from its EC2 cloud on 1 December, may also be a possible target.
According to bloggers monitoring the cyber attacks, those involved in the protests have also been targeting the websites of US senator Joe Lieberman, who is an outspoken critic of WikiLeaks, and Sarah Palin, who said Assange should be treated like a terrorist.
Claes Bergstrom, the lawyer of the two women who claim Assange raped or assaulted them, confirmed his website was shut down overnight, as was the site of a lawyer representing Assange in Sweden. This was the first time such an attack had occurred, he said.
DDoS attacks, which often involve flooding the target site with requests so that it cannot cope with legitimate communication, are illegal.
WikiLeaks avoids shutdown as supporters worldwide go on the offensive
Network News
By Joby Warrick and Rob Pegoraro
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 8, 2010; 2:09 PM
Over the past several days, the anti-secrecy Web site WikiLeaks has been hit with a series of blows that have seemed to threaten its survival. Its primary Web address was deactivated, its PayPal account was frozen and its Internet server gave it the boot.
The result: WikiLeaks is now stronger than ever, at least as measured by its ability to publish online.
Blocked from using one Internet host, WikiLeaks simply jumped to another. Meanwhile, the number of "mirror" Web sites - effectively clones of WikiLeaks' main contents pages - grew from a few dozen last week to 200 by Sunday. By early Wednesday, the number of such sites surpassed 1,000.
At the same time, WikiLeaks' supporters have apparently gone on the offensive, staging retaliatory attacks against Internet companies that have cut ties to the group, as well as other perceived enemies. On Wednesday, hackers briefly shut down access to the Web site for MasterCard, which announced it had stopped processing donations to the group.
WikiLeaks' long-term survival depends on a number of unknowns, including the fate of its principal founder, Julian Assange, who is being held in Britain while awaiting possible extradition to Sweden related to sexual assault allegations. But the Web site's resilience in the face of repeated attacks has underscored a lesson already absorbed by more repressive governments that have tried to control the Internet: It is nearly impossible to do.
Experts, including some of the modern online world's chief architects, say the very design of the Web makes it difficult for WikiLeaks' opponents to shut it down for more than a few hours.
"The Internet is an extremely open system with very low barriers to access and use," said Vint Cerf, Google's vice president and the co-author of the TCP/IP system, the basic language of computer-to-computer communication over the Internet. "The ease of moving digital information around makes it very difficult to suppress, once it is accessible."
Thus, despite the global uproar over the release of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables, Assange's Web site remained defiantly intact Wednesday. Over the past week it has continued to publish a steady stream of leaked State Department documents with little visible evidence of injury from repeated, anonymous cyber-attacks, or the multiple attempts to cut off its access to funding and Web resources.
By contrast, companies that have pulled the plug on WikiLeaks have suffered publicly from cyber-attacks.
While a group of "hacktivists" targeted MasterCard - part of "Operation Payback" they called it - anonymous assailants have also staged attacks in recent days against PayPal and Visa, both of which also severed relations with WikiLeaks, citing violations of their terms of service.
Web sites for the Swedish prosecutor and a Swedish lawyer have also been hit, as has the banking arm of the Swiss postal service, which said it had frozen Assange's account.
WikiLeaks' seeming invulnerability to attacks is seen by experts as a demonstration of the power of new Web-based media to take on not only governments but also the traditional news media.
By Joby Warrick and Rob Pegoraro
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 8, 2010; 2:09 PM
Over the past several days, the anti-secrecy Web site WikiLeaks has been hit with a series of blows that have seemed to threaten its survival. Its primary Web address was deactivated, its PayPal account was frozen and its Internet server gave it the boot.
The result: WikiLeaks is now stronger than ever, at least as measured by its ability to publish online.
Blocked from using one Internet host, WikiLeaks simply jumped to another. Meanwhile, the number of "mirror" Web sites - effectively clones of WikiLeaks' main contents pages - grew from a few dozen last week to 200 by Sunday. By early Wednesday, the number of such sites surpassed 1,000.
At the same time, WikiLeaks' supporters have apparently gone on the offensive, staging retaliatory attacks against Internet companies that have cut ties to the group, as well as other perceived enemies. On Wednesday, hackers briefly shut down access to the Web site for MasterCard, which announced it had stopped processing donations to the group.
WikiLeaks' long-term survival depends on a number of unknowns, including the fate of its principal founder, Julian Assange, who is being held in Britain while awaiting possible extradition to Sweden related to sexual assault allegations. But the Web site's resilience in the face of repeated attacks has underscored a lesson already absorbed by more repressive governments that have tried to control the Internet: It is nearly impossible to do.
Experts, including some of the modern online world's chief architects, say the very design of the Web makes it difficult for WikiLeaks' opponents to shut it down for more than a few hours.
"The Internet is an extremely open system with very low barriers to access and use," said Vint Cerf, Google's vice president and the co-author of the TCP/IP system, the basic language of computer-to-computer communication over the Internet. "The ease of moving digital information around makes it very difficult to suppress, once it is accessible."
Thus, despite the global uproar over the release of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables, Assange's Web site remained defiantly intact Wednesday. Over the past week it has continued to publish a steady stream of leaked State Department documents with little visible evidence of injury from repeated, anonymous cyber-attacks, or the multiple attempts to cut off its access to funding and Web resources.
By contrast, companies that have pulled the plug on WikiLeaks have suffered publicly from cyber-attacks.
While a group of "hacktivists" targeted MasterCard - part of "Operation Payback" they called it - anonymous assailants have also staged attacks in recent days against PayPal and Visa, both of which also severed relations with WikiLeaks, citing violations of their terms of service.
Web sites for the Swedish prosecutor and a Swedish lawyer have also been hit, as has the banking arm of the Swiss postal service, which said it had frozen Assange's account.
WikiLeaks' seeming invulnerability to attacks is seen by experts as a demonstration of the power of new Web-based media to take on not only governments but also the traditional news media.
Meanwhile, back to ethnic cleansing, Israeli army demolishes 12 West Bank homes, strikes on Gaza
Palestinians collect wrecks of a poultry farm after it was destroyed by Israeli air strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip on Dec. 8, 2010. Israeli warplanes bombed two targets in southern Gaza Strip early Wednesday. (Xinhua/Khaled Omar)
RAMALLAH / GAZA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army Wednesday demolished 12 Palestinian houses and a school in a village near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, residents and security sources said.
The residents said that the Israeli army bulldozers demolished 12 Palestinian-owned houses in the village of Kherbet Tana, allegedly saying the constructions were illegally built.
The residents said that the demolition on Wednesday is the third of its kind, where around 45 houses were demolished in the village this year. Tana, with a population of 180, is a small village in Nablus area.
Meanwhile, Palestinian security sources said that the Israeli army arrested overnight nine Palestinian activists in the West Bank cities of Nablus, Tulkarem and Hebron, saying they are wanted by the Israeli security forces.
In the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Palestinian witnesses said Israeli warplanes struck at predawn on Wednesday two targets in the strip in response to earlier homemade rockets attacks carried out by Gaza militants.
They said that the Israeli F16 warplanes struck a poultry farm near the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, injuring one Palestinian civilian and causing severe damages.
The warplanes also struck a tunnel used for smuggling under the borderline between southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, the witnesses said, adding that the tunnel was destroyed, but no injuries were reported.
Israel radio quoted an Israeli army spokesman as saying that Israeli war jets struck a weapons' depot and a smuggling tunnel in response to earlier mortar shells fired by Gaza militants at southern Israel.
Assange 'not responsible for security breaches' says Kevin Rudd
Legal liability lies with US, says Australia's foreign minister Kevin Rudd, and not WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
James Meikle
guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday 8 December 2010 11.04 GMT
Australian foreign minister Kevin Rudd and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Photograph: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images
Australia's foreign minister said the US government and whoever originally leaked 250,000 diplomatic cables should bear the responsibility for any security breaches – not the Australian WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange.
Kevin Rudd said legal liability rested with the initial leakers and Assange should be protected from threats to his safety as the US stepped up pressure on companies and organisations with ties to WikiLeaks.
His comments came after the Sydney Morning Herald published leaked cables in which US diplomats described Rudd, then Australia's prime minister, as a mistake-prone control freak with a tendency towards making "snap announcements without consulting other countries or within the Australian government". Rudd dismissed the criticism, saying that it was "like water off a duck's back".
Assange, who was arrested in London yesterday, faces extradition to Sweden for alleged sexual assaults, but Rudd took the offensive against the US over the leaks. "Mr Assange is not himself responsible for the unauthorised release of 250,000 documents from the US diplomatic communications network," Rudd told Reuters.
"The Americans are responsible for that. I think there are real questions to be asked about the adequacy of their security systems and the level of access that people have had to that material over a long period of time.".
"The core responsibility, and therefore legal liability, goes to those individuals responsible for that initial unauthorised release," he said.
"There is a separate and secondary legal question … which is the legal liabilities of those responsible for the dissemination of that information, whether it's WikiLeaks, whether it's Reuters, or whether it is anybody else.".
His robust remarks in interviews with the Reuters news agency and Seven network coincided with the publication of an opinion piece by Assange in the Australian in which the WikiLeaks founder accused Australian authorities of "pandering" to the US and being prepared to harass WikiLeaks supporters and "frame" an Australian citizen.
Rudd said today that Australia would provide Assange with consular assistance after a request by him to the country's high commission in London. "That is the proper thing to do for any Australian citizen," he said.
Julia Gillard, who toppled Rudd in June, yesterday called WikiLeaks actions "grossly irresponsible" but said publication would not have been possible "if there had not been an illegal act undertaken" in the US. However, she made clear Australian authorities were still investigating whether Assange had broken any Australian laws.
Assange says he has faced calls for his assassination, among other threats. Rudd said: "We'd be concerned about the safety and security of all Australians. People should be free from any such threats."
Asked what governments should do in response to the leaked cables, Rudd said: "Rule No 1 for our friends in the United States is – how do you tighten things up a bit?
"I think that's a fair old question. Maybe 2 million or so people having access to this stuff is a bit of a problem.''
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the leaked cables show how US diplomats initially saw Rudd as a "safe pair of hands," but the favourable impression was soon replaced by criticism of his apparent focus on media opportunities and a string of "foreign policy mistakes."
Rudd dismissed the criticism of his own "micro-management" in leaked cables, saying: "I don't, frankly, give a damn about this sort of thing. You just get on with it."
Gillard defended Rudd, telling reporters today: "Kevin Rudd is a man who throughout his adult life has devoted himself to expertise in foreign policy. He's bringing that expertise to bear for the Australian nation and doing an absolutely first-class job."
James Meikle
guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday 8 December 2010 11.04 GMT
Australian foreign minister Kevin Rudd and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Photograph: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images
Australia's foreign minister said the US government and whoever originally leaked 250,000 diplomatic cables should bear the responsibility for any security breaches – not the Australian WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange.
Kevin Rudd said legal liability rested with the initial leakers and Assange should be protected from threats to his safety as the US stepped up pressure on companies and organisations with ties to WikiLeaks.
His comments came after the Sydney Morning Herald published leaked cables in which US diplomats described Rudd, then Australia's prime minister, as a mistake-prone control freak with a tendency towards making "snap announcements without consulting other countries or within the Australian government". Rudd dismissed the criticism, saying that it was "like water off a duck's back".
Assange, who was arrested in London yesterday, faces extradition to Sweden for alleged sexual assaults, but Rudd took the offensive against the US over the leaks. "Mr Assange is not himself responsible for the unauthorised release of 250,000 documents from the US diplomatic communications network," Rudd told Reuters.
"The Americans are responsible for that. I think there are real questions to be asked about the adequacy of their security systems and the level of access that people have had to that material over a long period of time.".
"The core responsibility, and therefore legal liability, goes to those individuals responsible for that initial unauthorised release," he said.
"There is a separate and secondary legal question … which is the legal liabilities of those responsible for the dissemination of that information, whether it's WikiLeaks, whether it's Reuters, or whether it is anybody else.".
His robust remarks in interviews with the Reuters news agency and Seven network coincided with the publication of an opinion piece by Assange in the Australian in which the WikiLeaks founder accused Australian authorities of "pandering" to the US and being prepared to harass WikiLeaks supporters and "frame" an Australian citizen.
Rudd said today that Australia would provide Assange with consular assistance after a request by him to the country's high commission in London. "That is the proper thing to do for any Australian citizen," he said.
Julia Gillard, who toppled Rudd in June, yesterday called WikiLeaks actions "grossly irresponsible" but said publication would not have been possible "if there had not been an illegal act undertaken" in the US. However, she made clear Australian authorities were still investigating whether Assange had broken any Australian laws.
Assange says he has faced calls for his assassination, among other threats. Rudd said: "We'd be concerned about the safety and security of all Australians. People should be free from any such threats."
Asked what governments should do in response to the leaked cables, Rudd said: "Rule No 1 for our friends in the United States is – how do you tighten things up a bit?
"I think that's a fair old question. Maybe 2 million or so people having access to this stuff is a bit of a problem.''
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the leaked cables show how US diplomats initially saw Rudd as a "safe pair of hands," but the favourable impression was soon replaced by criticism of his apparent focus on media opportunities and a string of "foreign policy mistakes."
Rudd dismissed the criticism of his own "micro-management" in leaked cables, saying: "I don't, frankly, give a damn about this sort of thing. You just get on with it."
Gillard defended Rudd, telling reporters today: "Kevin Rudd is a man who throughout his adult life has devoted himself to expertise in foreign policy. He's bringing that expertise to bear for the Australian nation and doing an absolutely first-class job."
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Israel upset by Argentina Palestinian recognition
(AP) – 2 hours ago
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel expressed disappointment Tuesday with Argentina's recognition of a Palestinian state in territories Israel occupied in 1967, saying they undercut American-led efforts to create such a state through negotiations with Israel.
Argentina said its move, announced Monday just days after Brazil took a similar step, reflected the country's deep frustration with gridlocked peace efforts.
But Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said unilateral recognition was "counterproductive" to peacemaking.
"This disappointing and damaging decision is contrary to the existing Israeli-Palestinian agreements," which call for the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of a peace treaty, Palmor said.
Peacemaking efforts ground to a halt in late September, just three weeks after they began, when Israel resisted U.S. and Palestinian efforts to extend a moratorium on housing starts in West Bank settlements.
Palestinians say they won't return to the negotiating table unless Israel halts all settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.
The Palestinians want both territories, along with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, for a future state.
The Palestinians say more than 100 countries have recognized a Palestinian state over the past two decades, most of them Muslim and former Soviet bloc countries. The United States and European Union — the major foreign powers involved in peacemaking — have not.
Argentina's foreign minister, Hector Timerman, said Monday that in view of stalemated peace efforts, "the time has come to recognize Palestine as a free and independent state."
Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, played down the significance of the actions by Brazil and Argentina, telling Army Radio that the two nations are "distant" countries that "don't realize the diplomatic mistake they made." He said the declarations have no practical meaning.
Palestinian officials were buoyed by Argentina's recognition.
Palestinian peace negotiator Nabil Shaath said Argentina's recognition was significant because it is one of Latin America's most developed countries and because it has a vibrant Jewish presence: Argentina has Latin America's largest Jewish population and is the headquarters of the umbrella group for Latin America's Jewish communities.
"We don't say that such recognitions immediately end Israeli occupation, but it gives us a push forward and helps getting more recognition," Shaath said, adding that in the future the Palestinians would focus their efforts on European countries.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he would give negotiations a chance first. But Palestinian leaders have said they would push for unilateral recognition of a state in the 1967 borders if negotiations with Israel fail. And they have been lobbying for international support for their fallback option.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel expressed disappointment Tuesday with Argentina's recognition of a Palestinian state in territories Israel occupied in 1967, saying they undercut American-led efforts to create such a state through negotiations with Israel.
Argentina said its move, announced Monday just days after Brazil took a similar step, reflected the country's deep frustration with gridlocked peace efforts.
But Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said unilateral recognition was "counterproductive" to peacemaking.
"This disappointing and damaging decision is contrary to the existing Israeli-Palestinian agreements," which call for the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of a peace treaty, Palmor said.
Peacemaking efforts ground to a halt in late September, just three weeks after they began, when Israel resisted U.S. and Palestinian efforts to extend a moratorium on housing starts in West Bank settlements.
Palestinians say they won't return to the negotiating table unless Israel halts all settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.
The Palestinians want both territories, along with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, for a future state.
The Palestinians say more than 100 countries have recognized a Palestinian state over the past two decades, most of them Muslim and former Soviet bloc countries. The United States and European Union — the major foreign powers involved in peacemaking — have not.
Argentina's foreign minister, Hector Timerman, said Monday that in view of stalemated peace efforts, "the time has come to recognize Palestine as a free and independent state."
Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, played down the significance of the actions by Brazil and Argentina, telling Army Radio that the two nations are "distant" countries that "don't realize the diplomatic mistake they made." He said the declarations have no practical meaning.
Palestinian officials were buoyed by Argentina's recognition.
Palestinian peace negotiator Nabil Shaath said Argentina's recognition was significant because it is one of Latin America's most developed countries and because it has a vibrant Jewish presence: Argentina has Latin America's largest Jewish population and is the headquarters of the umbrella group for Latin America's Jewish communities.
"We don't say that such recognitions immediately end Israeli occupation, but it gives us a push forward and helps getting more recognition," Shaath said, adding that in the future the Palestinians would focus their efforts on European countries.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he would give negotiations a chance first. But Palestinian leaders have said they would push for unilateral recognition of a state in the 1967 borders if negotiations with Israel fail. And they have been lobbying for international support for their fallback option.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Boycott Amazon and PayPal this Christmas for their role in trying to silence Julian Assange
FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2010 file photo, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks during a news conference at the Geneva press club, in Geneva, Switzerland. Assange is a former computer hacker who has embarrassed the U.S. government and foreign leaders with his online release of a huge trove of secret American diplomatic cables. (AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini, File) (Martial Trezzini - AP)
Julian Assange is going through the secular equivalent of crucifixion for being a whistle-blower and truth-teller. The super powers and their corporate support have ganged together to try to destroy Assange in retaliation for exposing super power nefarious and often illegal spy operations. If you support freedom of speech and freedom itself, you should not stand for this gross Goliath intimidation of a David with his slingshot that hit the giant right between the eyes.
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Abbas Threatens to Dissolve Palestinian Authority
VOA News
04 December 2010
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (file photo)
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has raised the possibility of dissolving the Palestinian Authority if a peace deal cannot be reached with Israel.
In a television interview Friday, Mr. Abbas said he will push to end Palestinian self-rule in the occupied territories if Israel does not stop building settlements on the land, and if U.S.-backed negotiations collapse.
Pointing to Israel's occupation of the West Bank, President Abbas said he cannot remain the president of an authority that does not exist.
Asked if he meant he would dissolve the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, President Abbas said that is what he is telling the Israelis. He called Israel occupiers and said the situation cannot remain as it is.
The Palestinian Authority was created after the Oslo peace accords were signed in 1993. The authority was charged with governing parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war, until a final agreement could be reached.
But 17 years later, there is no conclusion in sight. U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and the Palestinians stalled recently after a 10-month moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank expired in September.
On Friday, Brazil announced its recognition of a Palestinian state within borders pre-dating Israel's 1967 seizure of the West Bank and Gaza.
04 December 2010
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (file photo)
Share This
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has raised the possibility of dissolving the Palestinian Authority if a peace deal cannot be reached with Israel.
In a television interview Friday, Mr. Abbas said he will push to end Palestinian self-rule in the occupied territories if Israel does not stop building settlements on the land, and if U.S.-backed negotiations collapse.
Pointing to Israel's occupation of the West Bank, President Abbas said he cannot remain the president of an authority that does not exist.
Asked if he meant he would dissolve the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, President Abbas said that is what he is telling the Israelis. He called Israel occupiers and said the situation cannot remain as it is.
The Palestinian Authority was created after the Oslo peace accords were signed in 1993. The authority was charged with governing parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war, until a final agreement could be reached.
But 17 years later, there is no conclusion in sight. U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and the Palestinians stalled recently after a 10-month moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank expired in September.
On Friday, Brazil announced its recognition of a Palestinian state within borders pre-dating Israel's 1967 seizure of the West Bank and Gaza.
Easter Island land dispute clashes leave dozens injured
BBC News
4 December 2010
Last updated at 00:05 ET
At least 25 people have been injured during clashes between Chilean police and local people on Easter Island.
Witnesses say police fired pellets as they tried to evict several indigenous inhabitants from buildings they occupied earlier this year.
The Rapa Nui group say the buildings were illegally taken from their ancestors several generations ago.
Easter Island, which was annexed by Chile in 1888, is a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Chilean security forces began their operation in the early hours of the morning, says reports.
When the group refused to leave and others gathered at the scene, they opened fire with pellet guns.
Officials said 17 police officers and eight civilians had been injured. But the Rapa Nui put the number of injured locals at 19, and denied that any police had been hurt.
Continue reading the main story
“The land on this island has always been Rapa Nui. That's why we're asking for our land to be returned”
-Maka Atan Rapa Nui lawyer
A number of people were also arrested and at least one person was air-lifted to the mainland for medical treatment.
A statement on the Save Rapa Nui website said several people had been shot at close range. It said police had used rubber bullets and tear gas.
"They injured at least 23 of our brothers and sisters, three of them seriously," Edi Tuki, a relative of one of those injured, told the Efe news agency.
"One was shot in the eye with a buckshot pellet from just a metre away."
'Shooting to kill'
Maka Atan, a Rapa Nui lawyer, told the Associated Press police had been "shooting to kill". He said he was shot in the back by pellets.
"It seems like this is going to end with them killing the Rapa Nui," he said.
Rapa Nui is the official name for the remote Easter Island, which lies more than 3,200 km (2,000 miles) off the west coast of Chile.
The tiny island has a population of about 4,000 but is best known for its ancient giant carved stone heads, known as Moais.
The indigenous Rapa Nui people have been protesting for the past three months about what say are plans to develop the island, as immigration and tourism increase.
They are demanding the return of ancestral land they say was unlawfully seized from their grandparents.
"The land on this island has always been Rapa Nui. That's why we're asking for our land to be returned," Mr Maka told AP.
"Nobody has said this is a normal situation," said Raul Celis. "There was an eviction, and buildings had been occupied illegally for several months."
Mr Celis said the evictions would continue.
Media reports said police reinforcements were traveling to the island from the mainland.
4 December 2010
Last updated at 00:05 ET
At least 25 people have been injured during clashes between Chilean police and local people on Easter Island.
Witnesses say police fired pellets as they tried to evict several indigenous inhabitants from buildings they occupied earlier this year.
The Rapa Nui group say the buildings were illegally taken from their ancestors several generations ago.
Easter Island, which was annexed by Chile in 1888, is a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Chilean security forces began their operation in the early hours of the morning, says reports.
When the group refused to leave and others gathered at the scene, they opened fire with pellet guns.
Officials said 17 police officers and eight civilians had been injured. But the Rapa Nui put the number of injured locals at 19, and denied that any police had been hurt.
Continue reading the main story
“The land on this island has always been Rapa Nui. That's why we're asking for our land to be returned”
-Maka Atan Rapa Nui lawyer
A number of people were also arrested and at least one person was air-lifted to the mainland for medical treatment.
A statement on the Save Rapa Nui website said several people had been shot at close range. It said police had used rubber bullets and tear gas.
"They injured at least 23 of our brothers and sisters, three of them seriously," Edi Tuki, a relative of one of those injured, told the Efe news agency.
"One was shot in the eye with a buckshot pellet from just a metre away."
'Shooting to kill'
Maka Atan, a Rapa Nui lawyer, told the Associated Press police had been "shooting to kill". He said he was shot in the back by pellets.
"It seems like this is going to end with them killing the Rapa Nui," he said.
Rapa Nui is the official name for the remote Easter Island, which lies more than 3,200 km (2,000 miles) off the west coast of Chile.
The tiny island has a population of about 4,000 but is best known for its ancient giant carved stone heads, known as Moais.
The indigenous Rapa Nui people have been protesting for the past three months about what say are plans to develop the island, as immigration and tourism increase.
They are demanding the return of ancestral land they say was unlawfully seized from their grandparents.
"The land on this island has always been Rapa Nui. That's why we're asking for our land to be returned," Mr Maka told AP.
"Nobody has said this is a normal situation," said Raul Celis. "There was an eviction, and buildings had been occupied illegally for several months."
Mr Celis said the evictions would continue.
Media reports said police reinforcements were traveling to the island from the mainland.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Military Incursions continue in the Occupied village of Bil'in
Daily life in Bilin
http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=329&Itemid= 1
Military Incursions continue in the Occupied village of Bil'in. Bil'in 11 - 23 - 2010 at 2:30 am, Israeli forces stormed the village of Bil'in in a night raid. Four soldiers raided the home of Adeeb Abu Rahma, one of the prominent organizers of the non-violent demonstrations against the Wall. Adeeb Abu Rahma has been imprisoned by Israel for the last 17 months. Tonight, Israeli forces arrested Mohammed Adeeb Abu Rahma, Adeeb's son, who is under 16 years old. It is unknown where he was taken. Mohammed is Adeeb's only son. He was helping the family with their affairs while Adeeb remains unjustly detained by Israel. Seven daughters and Adeeb's wife also live in the home that was raided. In this inhumane attack on the Abu Rahma house, Mohammed was beaten by the Israeli soldiers when he peacefully resisted arrest. During filming of the raid, local journalists Haitham Al-Khatib and Hamde Abu were mercilessly beaten by Israeli Occupation Forces and caused extensive damage to Haitham's Camera, wanting Haitham to stop filming what was happening during the incursion. This is what happened in Bil'in today and this is what happens in the village of Bil'in and other Palestinian villages every day.
http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=329&Itemid= 1
Military Incursions continue in the Occupied village of Bil'in. Bil'in 11 - 23 - 2010 at 2:30 am, Israeli forces stormed the village of Bil'in in a night raid. Four soldiers raided the home of Adeeb Abu Rahma, one of the prominent organizers of the non-violent demonstrations against the Wall. Adeeb Abu Rahma has been imprisoned by Israel for the last 17 months. Tonight, Israeli forces arrested Mohammed Adeeb Abu Rahma, Adeeb's son, who is under 16 years old. It is unknown where he was taken. Mohammed is Adeeb's only son. He was helping the family with their affairs while Adeeb remains unjustly detained by Israel. Seven daughters and Adeeb's wife also live in the home that was raided. In this inhumane attack on the Abu Rahma house, Mohammed was beaten by the Israeli soldiers when he peacefully resisted arrest. During filming of the raid, local journalists Haitham Al-Khatib and Hamde Abu were mercilessly beaten by Israeli Occupation Forces and caused extensive damage to Haitham's Camera, wanting Haitham to stop filming what was happening during the incursion. This is what happened in Bil'in today and this is what happens in the village of Bil'in and other Palestinian villages every day.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Burmese Aids patients ordered to leave shelter after Aung San Suu Kyi visit
The TELEGRAPH
Burma Myanmar
By Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok
5:04PM GMT 21 Nov 2010
Burmese authorities ordered more than 80 Aids patients and staff to leave a shelter hours after they gave Aung San Suu Kyi, the freed democracy leader, a rapturous welcome.
A throng of about 600 turned out to see Aung San Suu Kyi at the clinic in the city's eastern suburbs Photo: AP
The patients and staff, who need permits renewable monthly to live at the shelter on Rangoon's outskirts as they are not from the former capital, were told to go after the Nobel laureate's high-profile visit.
Few are in any doubt the authorities' notification that the 82 patients would have to leave or face legal action was a direct result of Ms Suu Kyi's trip last Wednesday and the regime's efforts to stymie her.
"We have been allowed to renew our permits in the past," said Zeyar, who uses only one name and is a member of Ms Suu Kyi's disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD) party. "I think the authorities want to pressure us because of [Mrs Suu Kyi's] visit."
A throng of about 600 turned out to see Ms Suu Kyi, 65, at the clinic in the city's eastern suburbs, where she called for more medical assistance for the shelter's 82 inhabitants, which include young children.
It came four days after she was freed without strings from seven years of house arrest - the latest detention of 15 of the past 21 locked away - when she pledged a "peaceful revolution" while seeking dialogue with the autocratic generals who rule.
The simple shelter, a wooden house and a two-storey structure with thatched walls, was set up by Phyu Phyu Tin. A prominent member of the NLD's youth wing, he wanted to cater to a few of the estimated 240,000 Burmese living with Aids.
Many Aids sufferers had lived in monasteries and were nursed by monks in the past. But since the 2007 monk-led uprising, the so-called "Saffron Revolution", patients are no longer allowed to stay in monasteries.
Htin Aung, a patient at the Rangoon clinic, told the BBC Burmese Service the shelter which provided food and medicines was his slender lifeline and only option.
"I don't think we can move out," he said. "In our home towns we see all the patients die. Here we have systematic treatment and we have medicines."
Burmese Junta same ol' same ol'. It's mainly drug money from opium production that buys their guns, pays their soldiers and maintains their rule.
Burma Myanmar
By Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok
5:04PM GMT 21 Nov 2010
Burmese authorities ordered more than 80 Aids patients and staff to leave a shelter hours after they gave Aung San Suu Kyi, the freed democracy leader, a rapturous welcome.
A throng of about 600 turned out to see Aung San Suu Kyi at the clinic in the city's eastern suburbs Photo: AP
The patients and staff, who need permits renewable monthly to live at the shelter on Rangoon's outskirts as they are not from the former capital, were told to go after the Nobel laureate's high-profile visit.
Few are in any doubt the authorities' notification that the 82 patients would have to leave or face legal action was a direct result of Ms Suu Kyi's trip last Wednesday and the regime's efforts to stymie her.
"We have been allowed to renew our permits in the past," said Zeyar, who uses only one name and is a member of Ms Suu Kyi's disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD) party. "I think the authorities want to pressure us because of [Mrs Suu Kyi's] visit."
A throng of about 600 turned out to see Ms Suu Kyi, 65, at the clinic in the city's eastern suburbs, where she called for more medical assistance for the shelter's 82 inhabitants, which include young children.
It came four days after she was freed without strings from seven years of house arrest - the latest detention of 15 of the past 21 locked away - when she pledged a "peaceful revolution" while seeking dialogue with the autocratic generals who rule.
The simple shelter, a wooden house and a two-storey structure with thatched walls, was set up by Phyu Phyu Tin. A prominent member of the NLD's youth wing, he wanted to cater to a few of the estimated 240,000 Burmese living with Aids.
Many Aids sufferers had lived in monasteries and were nursed by monks in the past. But since the 2007 monk-led uprising, the so-called "Saffron Revolution", patients are no longer allowed to stay in monasteries.
Htin Aung, a patient at the Rangoon clinic, told the BBC Burmese Service the shelter which provided food and medicines was his slender lifeline and only option.
"I don't think we can move out," he said. "In our home towns we see all the patients die. Here we have systematic treatment and we have medicines."
Burmese Junta same ol' same ol'. It's mainly drug money from opium production that buys their guns, pays their soldiers and maintains their rule.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Aung San Suu Kyi aims for peaceful revolution
BBC
15 November 2010
Last updated at 07:30 ET
Newly-freed Aung San Suu Kyi, on 14 November 2010 Aung San Suu Kyi says she wants to hold wide-ranging talks on Burma's future
Two days after being freed from house arrest, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said that her aim is for a peaceful revolution in Burma.
Speaking to the BBC at the headquarters of her National League for Democracy, she said she was sure democracy would come to Burma eventually, although she did not know how long it would take.
She said she would take any opportunity to speak to ruling generals.
Her release came six days after Burma held its first election in 20 years.
Aung San Suu Kyi's party won the last election overwhelmingly but was never allowed to take power.
This poll was won by the biggest military-backed party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), but denounced by the West as being neither free nor fair.
'Dialogue process'
The BBC's World Affairs editor, John Simpson, said several security officials watched the interview from across the street at NLD headquarters but did not intervene.
Aung San Suu Kyi said she did not want the junta to fall but to change and serve the country better.
"I don't want to see the military falling. I want to see the military rising to dignified heights of professionalism and true patriotism," she said.
"I think it's quite obvious what the people want; the people just want better lives based on security and on freedom."
But the pro-democracy leader also said she hoped for a non-violent end to military rule.
"I think we also have to try to make this thing happen... Velvet revolution sounds a little strange in the context of the military, but a non-violent revolution. Let's put it that way," she said.
The 65-year-old also confirmed that she was not subject to any restrictions on her freedom.
But she said that she was fully prepared to take the consequences if the military government decided to lock her up again for what she said or did.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention. She was released on Saturday when her latest period of house arrest expired.
On Sunday, thousands of jubilant supporters gathered to hear her speak, as she urged Burmese people to unite.
The most senior American diplomat in Burma, Charge d'Affaires Larry Dinger, told the BBC the US wanted to encourage reconciliation between the Burmese government and Ms Suu Kyi but no more.
"I don't think it's for the United States to determine her course or Burma's course, frankly. From our perspective it's for the Burmese people to work that out," he said.
"And the role that perhaps we can best play is to encourage all sides - the various players in the democratic community and the ethnic groups, the government in (the capital) Naypyidaw, to work through their issues."
'Dialogue process'
Around the region, Asian nations have responded to her release with varying levels of enthusiasm, the BBC's Vaudine England reports.
Asia's democracies have issued statements supporting her in what they hope is a broader shift towards democratic reform.
"The next challenge now is how to ensure that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters can become part of the solution to the situation in Myanmar [Burma], can be part of those who promote democratisation in Myanmar," said Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.
Satoru Sato, press secretary to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, echoed that view.
"Now we are expecting the government of Myanmar to take further positive measures to realise the improvement of human rights situation and promote democratisation as well as a national reconciliation," he said.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said it did not make sense "to think that one particular event would be big enough to signal some kind of radical change".
"The challenge more is to see how the post-election scenario shapes up," he said.
Thailand is one of the leading trading nations with Burma along with China, Singapore and India. Thailand also wants stability in Burma in order to reduce the flow of refugees over the border.
By contrast, China, Singapore and Vietnam, have said little about Ms Suu Kyi's release, our correspondent says.
Some analysts suggest that if Aung San Suu Kyi's release leads to a change in the sanctions against trade and investment in Burma, China's leading role in the economy could be challenged.
15 November 2010
Last updated at 07:30 ET
Newly-freed Aung San Suu Kyi, on 14 November 2010 Aung San Suu Kyi says she wants to hold wide-ranging talks on Burma's future
Two days after being freed from house arrest, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said that her aim is for a peaceful revolution in Burma.
Speaking to the BBC at the headquarters of her National League for Democracy, she said she was sure democracy would come to Burma eventually, although she did not know how long it would take.
She said she would take any opportunity to speak to ruling generals.
Her release came six days after Burma held its first election in 20 years.
Aung San Suu Kyi's party won the last election overwhelmingly but was never allowed to take power.
This poll was won by the biggest military-backed party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), but denounced by the West as being neither free nor fair.
'Dialogue process'
The BBC's World Affairs editor, John Simpson, said several security officials watched the interview from across the street at NLD headquarters but did not intervene.
Aung San Suu Kyi said she did not want the junta to fall but to change and serve the country better.
"I don't want to see the military falling. I want to see the military rising to dignified heights of professionalism and true patriotism," she said.
"I think it's quite obvious what the people want; the people just want better lives based on security and on freedom."
But the pro-democracy leader also said she hoped for a non-violent end to military rule.
"I think we also have to try to make this thing happen... Velvet revolution sounds a little strange in the context of the military, but a non-violent revolution. Let's put it that way," she said.
The 65-year-old also confirmed that she was not subject to any restrictions on her freedom.
But she said that she was fully prepared to take the consequences if the military government decided to lock her up again for what she said or did.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention. She was released on Saturday when her latest period of house arrest expired.
On Sunday, thousands of jubilant supporters gathered to hear her speak, as she urged Burmese people to unite.
The most senior American diplomat in Burma, Charge d'Affaires Larry Dinger, told the BBC the US wanted to encourage reconciliation between the Burmese government and Ms Suu Kyi but no more.
"I don't think it's for the United States to determine her course or Burma's course, frankly. From our perspective it's for the Burmese people to work that out," he said.
"And the role that perhaps we can best play is to encourage all sides - the various players in the democratic community and the ethnic groups, the government in (the capital) Naypyidaw, to work through their issues."
'Dialogue process'
Around the region, Asian nations have responded to her release with varying levels of enthusiasm, the BBC's Vaudine England reports.
Asia's democracies have issued statements supporting her in what they hope is a broader shift towards democratic reform.
"The next challenge now is how to ensure that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters can become part of the solution to the situation in Myanmar [Burma], can be part of those who promote democratisation in Myanmar," said Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.
Satoru Sato, press secretary to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, echoed that view.
"Now we are expecting the government of Myanmar to take further positive measures to realise the improvement of human rights situation and promote democratisation as well as a national reconciliation," he said.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said it did not make sense "to think that one particular event would be big enough to signal some kind of radical change".
"The challenge more is to see how the post-election scenario shapes up," he said.
Thailand is one of the leading trading nations with Burma along with China, Singapore and India. Thailand also wants stability in Burma in order to reduce the flow of refugees over the border.
By contrast, China, Singapore and Vietnam, have said little about Ms Suu Kyi's release, our correspondent says.
Some analysts suggest that if Aung San Suu Kyi's release leads to a change in the sanctions against trade and investment in Burma, China's leading role in the economy could be challenged.
Monday, November 08, 2010
Views from Mazin Qumsiyeh
The Israeli judges of the "supreme court" today seemed at first
sympathetic to the plight of the villagers of Al-Walaja whose houses are being
surrounded on all sides as they get separated from their agricultural lands
(and all their water sources). But the system was clearly stacked against
natives. Half the people who were slated to go from Al-Walaja to the court
were denied entry to Jerusalem where the court is held (this includes people
impacted directly like farmer Abu Nidal, the village council head, other
members of the village council, and me!). The judges ruled to postpone for
another hearing in 45 days and allowed the apartheid government to continue
building the wall in the meantime! This is to give the government time to
come-up with confiscation orders for land that will be now on the other side
of the wall (maybe even the graves of Abu Nidal's family members). My wife
and many international observers attended the hearings but it was all in
Hebrew and so they could not understand much of what was going on. With
Israeli Zionist judges using Zionist laws (contrary to International law)
and judging between the Israeli Zionist government and native occupied
Palestinians, it is hard to be optimistic about the legal discourse (but it
is attempted anyway and must be accompanied by other actions). There are
other cases of abortion of justice in the past week:
[Israel] Supreme Court ruling allows Jews-only housing in Jaffa [Arab]
neighborhood
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/supreme-court-ruling-allows-jews-only-h
ousing-in-jaffa-neighborhood-1.323421
Israeli court in Haifa continues the charade and killing prospects of
justice for murdered Rachel Corrie (a victim of the apartheid state).
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/world/middleeast/08corrie.html?_r=1&ref=wo
rld
And the Israeli government just approved tenders for 1300 new buildings in
illegal Jewish colonial settlements in Arab East Jerusalem (contrary to
International law including the fourth Geneva Convention and a number of UN
Security Council Resolutions. This while Netanyahu is visiting the US
demanding they attack yet another sovereign country (Iran) to please his
agenda. Meanwhile, the human and material cost of the Zionist-inspired wars
on Afghanistan and Iraq continue to escalate.
[I cannot overemphasize how critical it is fior all people to watch this
hebrew language documentary (English subtitles). Simply stunning expose of
a history the Zionist movement worked very hard to suppress. The data here
should put the final nail in the coffin of the idea that Zionism is good for
those who believe in Judaism]. The Antisemitic Side of Zionism
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4452153918748081072#docid=902406897
2366598651
(Glilad Atzmon, ex-Israeli saxophonist comments on this film:
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/gilad-atzmon-the-anti-semitic-side-of-zionis
m-must-watch.html
[stunning and uplifting] This soulful song by the great Mahalia Jackson, and
accompanied by striking images, is dedicated to all the ordinary citizens of
the world, who have dared challenge the brutal blockade of Gaza. In
particular, it pays homage to the martyrs aboard Mavi Marmara, who were shot
in cold blood by the Israeli Defense Forces. The video was put together by
Sana Kassem of goldstonefacts.org http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDbZogbTY3Q
Israeli documents show deliberate policy to keep Gazans at near-starvation
levelsþ
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21799
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home
http://www.qumsiyeh.org
http://www.pcr.ps
sympathetic to the plight of the villagers of Al-Walaja whose houses are being
surrounded on all sides as they get separated from their agricultural lands
(and all their water sources). But the system was clearly stacked against
natives. Half the people who were slated to go from Al-Walaja to the court
were denied entry to Jerusalem where the court is held (this includes people
impacted directly like farmer Abu Nidal, the village council head, other
members of the village council, and me!). The judges ruled to postpone for
another hearing in 45 days and allowed the apartheid government to continue
building the wall in the meantime! This is to give the government time to
come-up with confiscation orders for land that will be now on the other side
of the wall (maybe even the graves of Abu Nidal's family members). My wife
and many international observers attended the hearings but it was all in
Hebrew and so they could not understand much of what was going on. With
Israeli Zionist judges using Zionist laws (contrary to International law)
and judging between the Israeli Zionist government and native occupied
Palestinians, it is hard to be optimistic about the legal discourse (but it
is attempted anyway and must be accompanied by other actions). There are
other cases of abortion of justice in the past week:
[Israel] Supreme Court ruling allows Jews-only housing in Jaffa [Arab]
neighborhood
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/supreme-court-ruling-allows-jews-only-h
ousing-in-jaffa-neighborhood-1.323421
Israeli court in Haifa continues the charade and killing prospects of
justice for murdered Rachel Corrie (a victim of the apartheid state).
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/world/middleeast/08corrie.html?_r=1&ref=wo
rld
And the Israeli government just approved tenders for 1300 new buildings in
illegal Jewish colonial settlements in Arab East Jerusalem (contrary to
International law including the fourth Geneva Convention and a number of UN
Security Council Resolutions. This while Netanyahu is visiting the US
demanding they attack yet another sovereign country (Iran) to please his
agenda. Meanwhile, the human and material cost of the Zionist-inspired wars
on Afghanistan and Iraq continue to escalate.
[I cannot overemphasize how critical it is fior all people to watch this
hebrew language documentary (English subtitles). Simply stunning expose of
a history the Zionist movement worked very hard to suppress. The data here
should put the final nail in the coffin of the idea that Zionism is good for
those who believe in Judaism]. The Antisemitic Side of Zionism
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4452153918748081072#docid=902406897
2366598651
(Glilad Atzmon, ex-Israeli saxophonist comments on this film:
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/gilad-atzmon-the-anti-semitic-side-of-zionis
m-must-watch.html
[stunning and uplifting] This soulful song by the great Mahalia Jackson, and
accompanied by striking images, is dedicated to all the ordinary citizens of
the world, who have dared challenge the brutal blockade of Gaza. In
particular, it pays homage to the martyrs aboard Mavi Marmara, who were shot
in cold blood by the Israeli Defense Forces. The video was put together by
Sana Kassem of goldstonefacts.org http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDbZogbTY3Q
Israeli documents show deliberate policy to keep Gazans at near-starvation
levelsþ
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21799
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home
http://www.qumsiyeh.org
http://www.pcr.ps
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Pace of Israeli settlement construction four times faster than prior to freeze
The Israeli group Peace Now and the Associated Press estimate construction on 550-600 new homes in Israeli settlements has begun since the freeze expired Sept. 26.
By Dan Murphy,
Staff writer
Christian Science Monitor
October 21, 2010
Palestinian men work on a construction site in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, Wednesday, Oct. 20. Israeli settlers have begun work on at least 544 new homes since Israel's 10-month-old moratorium on West Bank housing starts expired three weeks ago, according to the Associated Press
Tara Todras-Whitehill/AP Photo
Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank – land expected to be at the nucleus of an independent Palestinian state in any peace deal with Israel – has surged since a partial freeze on settlement expansion expired on Sept. 26, says the left-leaning Israeli group Peace Now.
A spokesman for the group, which is opposed to settlement expansion in the occupied territories, told the BBC that settlers have begun construction on more than 600 new homes in the West Bank since Israel's 10-month moratorium on expansion expired. Peace Now estimates that the pace of growth is four times faster than prior to the freeze.The Associated Press offered a similar figure of 544, which, while not comprehensive, was based on visits to 16 settlements and phone calls to four dozen more.
"I estimate that work has started at about 600 housing units, and I'm looking to complete the survey in order to know the exact number," said Peace Now researcher Hagit Ofran, who is planning to finish a report on the settlements next week. "In some places, it is only leveling the ground that has started and in others, it's the very foundation that is now being dug."
That's another 100 units under way since the Monitor's Joshua Mitnick reported last week on a rapid spurt of new Israeli settlement building, in which settlers are trying to make up for lost time.
REPORT: Israeli settlement building surges as US pushes for a new freeze
Settlement expansion in the West Bank has become the most visible obstacle to peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials touted by President Obama. The Palestinians see the expanding settlements as creating "facts on the ground" that demonstrate Israel is unwilling to give up land conquered in 1967's Arab-Israeli war for peace.
The Obama administration leaned hard on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to temporarily halt construction again as a gesture to keep the Palestinians at the peace table. So far, Israel has refused to agree, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is now considering walking away from the latest round of talks – less than two months old – entirely.
Many analysts say such a freeze will do little good if the recently started homes are not included in the deal. During the last freeze, homes already under construction were not affected by the freeze, resulting in only a 16 percent slowdown in settlement expansion during the 10-month period.
"This 60-day extension is basically nonsense," Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli Consul General to New York, told the Monitor's Mr. Mitnick last week. "Logic dictates if you are going to delineate a border, you stop building now, or at an early stage in the negotiations, you agree on a border" – and thus agree on where it is permissible to build.
The near collapse of the peace talks, only recently restarted with much diplomatic fanfare, has Mr. Abbas and other Palestinian leaders considering radical and unilateral attempts to create an independent state, as the Monitor reported yesterday.
REPORT: Palestinians mull alternatives to peace talks, including UN recognition
Palestinian leaders say they're considering appealing to the UN Security Council to recognize an independent Palestine. The UN considers Israel's occupation of land won in the 1967 war as illegal, but has until now neither recognized nor been asked to recognize a Palestinian state on that land.
While such an effort is unlikely to bear fruit in the short term – the US has a veto on the council, and is both a staunch ally of Israel and opposed to the move – major steps in that direction could open up a complicated new front in the 60-year-old conflict.
"It's a legitimate question to ask: 'What if this doesn't work?' " Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib told the Monitor yesterday. "If this fails, why don't we look into direct support by the international community to establish this state?"
By Dan Murphy,
Staff writer
Christian Science Monitor
October 21, 2010
Palestinian men work on a construction site in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, Wednesday, Oct. 20. Israeli settlers have begun work on at least 544 new homes since Israel's 10-month-old moratorium on West Bank housing starts expired three weeks ago, according to the Associated Press
Tara Todras-Whitehill/AP Photo
Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank – land expected to be at the nucleus of an independent Palestinian state in any peace deal with Israel – has surged since a partial freeze on settlement expansion expired on Sept. 26, says the left-leaning Israeli group Peace Now.
A spokesman for the group, which is opposed to settlement expansion in the occupied territories, told the BBC that settlers have begun construction on more than 600 new homes in the West Bank since Israel's 10-month moratorium on expansion expired. Peace Now estimates that the pace of growth is four times faster than prior to the freeze.The Associated Press offered a similar figure of 544, which, while not comprehensive, was based on visits to 16 settlements and phone calls to four dozen more.
"I estimate that work has started at about 600 housing units, and I'm looking to complete the survey in order to know the exact number," said Peace Now researcher Hagit Ofran, who is planning to finish a report on the settlements next week. "In some places, it is only leveling the ground that has started and in others, it's the very foundation that is now being dug."
That's another 100 units under way since the Monitor's Joshua Mitnick reported last week on a rapid spurt of new Israeli settlement building, in which settlers are trying to make up for lost time.
REPORT: Israeli settlement building surges as US pushes for a new freeze
Settlement expansion in the West Bank has become the most visible obstacle to peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials touted by President Obama. The Palestinians see the expanding settlements as creating "facts on the ground" that demonstrate Israel is unwilling to give up land conquered in 1967's Arab-Israeli war for peace.
The Obama administration leaned hard on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to temporarily halt construction again as a gesture to keep the Palestinians at the peace table. So far, Israel has refused to agree, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is now considering walking away from the latest round of talks – less than two months old – entirely.
Many analysts say such a freeze will do little good if the recently started homes are not included in the deal. During the last freeze, homes already under construction were not affected by the freeze, resulting in only a 16 percent slowdown in settlement expansion during the 10-month period.
"This 60-day extension is basically nonsense," Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli Consul General to New York, told the Monitor's Mr. Mitnick last week. "Logic dictates if you are going to delineate a border, you stop building now, or at an early stage in the negotiations, you agree on a border" – and thus agree on where it is permissible to build.
The near collapse of the peace talks, only recently restarted with much diplomatic fanfare, has Mr. Abbas and other Palestinian leaders considering radical and unilateral attempts to create an independent state, as the Monitor reported yesterday.
REPORT: Palestinians mull alternatives to peace talks, including UN recognition
Palestinian leaders say they're considering appealing to the UN Security Council to recognize an independent Palestine. The UN considers Israel's occupation of land won in the 1967 war as illegal, but has until now neither recognized nor been asked to recognize a Palestinian state on that land.
While such an effort is unlikely to bear fruit in the short term – the US has a veto on the council, and is both a staunch ally of Israel and opposed to the move – major steps in that direction could open up a complicated new front in the 60-year-old conflict.
"It's a legitimate question to ask: 'What if this doesn't work?' " Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib told the Monitor yesterday. "If this fails, why don't we look into direct support by the international community to establish this state?"
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Arab states: World must put an end to 'Israeli arrogance'
57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference condemns Israel for renewing settlement construction in East Jerusalem, says it's a 'provocative step intended to sabotage peace process.'
By Haaretz Service
The Organization of the Islamic Conference condemned Israel on Saturday for renewing settlement construction in East Jerusalem and urged the international community to put an end to what it called "Israeli arrogance."
According to Israel Radio, the 57-nation OIC, the world's largest pan-Islamic grouping based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, said that Israel's approval of nearly 240 new housing units in East Jerusalem is a provocative step intended to sabotage the peace process.
Palestinian man works at a construction site in a West Bank settlement on Monday, September 27, 2010.
Photo by: AP
The OIC's secretary general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in a statement that Israel's behavior requires action by the international community to put a halt to Israel's arrogance.
Earlier Saturday, Egypt said that Israel's building permits for 238 new housing units in East Jerusalem are a sign that direct peace talks could collapse. On Friday, the Arab League said it may ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state if Israel goes ahead with building settlements.
The United States on Friday also expressed 'disappointment' by Israel's approval of new settlement construction, saying "it is contrary to our efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties."
By Haaretz Service
The Organization of the Islamic Conference condemned Israel on Saturday for renewing settlement construction in East Jerusalem and urged the international community to put an end to what it called "Israeli arrogance."
According to Israel Radio, the 57-nation OIC, the world's largest pan-Islamic grouping based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, said that Israel's approval of nearly 240 new housing units in East Jerusalem is a provocative step intended to sabotage the peace process.
Palestinian man works at a construction site in a West Bank settlement on Monday, September 27, 2010.Photo by: AP
The OIC's secretary general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in a statement that Israel's behavior requires action by the international community to put a halt to Israel's arrogance.
Earlier Saturday, Egypt said that Israel's building permits for 238 new housing units in East Jerusalem are a sign that direct peace talks could collapse. On Friday, the Arab League said it may ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state if Israel goes ahead with building settlements.
The United States on Friday also expressed 'disappointment' by Israel's approval of new settlement construction, saying "it is contrary to our efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties."
Saturday, October 16, 2010
The Jewish 5th Column in our Israeli Occupied Congress: Congressional Democrat supports building in Jerusalem
By RONEN SHNIDMAN
10/16/2010 11:46
US Congressman Ackerman says "Israeli construction in Jerusalem is neither a show of bad faith, nor a justification for avoiding negotiations."
A Democratic congressman from New York released a statement late Friday criticizing those in the US and abroad who have criticized a recent ministerial decision authorizing the sale of 240 plots of land for new housing units in the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Ramot and Pisgat Ze'ev.
“Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. It is not a settlement," said Rep. Gary Ackerman Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. "As such, the resumption of construction in Jerusalem is not a justification for a crisis, a showdown, a meltdown or even a hissy fit. Ramot and Pisgat Zeev are going to be part of Israel in any conceivable final status deal and to pretend otherwise is pointless."
Fischer: We will intervene to cope with housing market
"As I have said, those who earlier complained about the inadequacy of Israel’s unilateral and uncompensated settlement freeze, who chose to waste those ten months instead of diving aggressively into direct talks on peace, cannot reasonably now turn around and complain that the end of the freeze and the resumption of Israeli construction in Jerusalem is either a shock or an insurmountable obstacle to peace."
Ackerman continued to add, "the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians are not going to be achieved by violence and they’re not going to be achieved by the equivalent of holding their breath until their lips turn blue. Direct negotiations are sole pathway to their goal and the sooner they recognize this fact, the better.”
Congressman Ackerman's comments on Friday came shortly after the State Department expressed disappointment at the 240 new housing units approved in Jerusalem.
“We were disappointed by the announcement of new tenders in east Jerusalem yesterday. It is contrary to our efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties,” said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley to assembled reporters at a weekly briefing.
Earlier on Friday, the Housing Ministry and Israel Lands Authority announced the sale of some 4,000 plots for building housing units, 240 of which are in the northern Jerusalem neighborhoods of Ramot and Pisgat Ze'ev located east the Green Line.
The Prime Minister's Office commented on the move stating that the decision came from Housing Minister Ariel Attias, Army Radio reported. According to the report, the PMO reiterated that there is currently no building moratorium in Jerusalem, only a delay by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to "prevent surprises by the sensitive timing, as in the past."
Jpost.com staff and Associated Press contributed to this article.
Why is do we allow our Congress to be Israeli Occupied Territory? Why do we allow Jewish congressmen to put Israel ahead of U.S. interests? Why do we allow Congress and the President to continually break the Constitution's guarantee that our government will not allow the U.S. to support the establishment of any religion or religious state, except this is all ignored when that religious state is Jewish Israel. Congressmen Ackerman should be impeached for breaking the Constitution and acting as an agent for a foreign government.
10/16/2010 11:46
US Congressman Ackerman says "Israeli construction in Jerusalem is neither a show of bad faith, nor a justification for avoiding negotiations."
A Democratic congressman from New York released a statement late Friday criticizing those in the US and abroad who have criticized a recent ministerial decision authorizing the sale of 240 plots of land for new housing units in the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Ramot and Pisgat Ze'ev.
“Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. It is not a settlement," said Rep. Gary Ackerman Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. "As such, the resumption of construction in Jerusalem is not a justification for a crisis, a showdown, a meltdown or even a hissy fit. Ramot and Pisgat Zeev are going to be part of Israel in any conceivable final status deal and to pretend otherwise is pointless."
Fischer: We will intervene to cope with housing market
"As I have said, those who earlier complained about the inadequacy of Israel’s unilateral and uncompensated settlement freeze, who chose to waste those ten months instead of diving aggressively into direct talks on peace, cannot reasonably now turn around and complain that the end of the freeze and the resumption of Israeli construction in Jerusalem is either a shock or an insurmountable obstacle to peace."
Ackerman continued to add, "the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians are not going to be achieved by violence and they’re not going to be achieved by the equivalent of holding their breath until their lips turn blue. Direct negotiations are sole pathway to their goal and the sooner they recognize this fact, the better.”
Congressman Ackerman's comments on Friday came shortly after the State Department expressed disappointment at the 240 new housing units approved in Jerusalem.
“We were disappointed by the announcement of new tenders in east Jerusalem yesterday. It is contrary to our efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties,” said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley to assembled reporters at a weekly briefing.
Earlier on Friday, the Housing Ministry and Israel Lands Authority announced the sale of some 4,000 plots for building housing units, 240 of which are in the northern Jerusalem neighborhoods of Ramot and Pisgat Ze'ev located east the Green Line.
The Prime Minister's Office commented on the move stating that the decision came from Housing Minister Ariel Attias, Army Radio reported. According to the report, the PMO reiterated that there is currently no building moratorium in Jerusalem, only a delay by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to "prevent surprises by the sensitive timing, as in the past."
Jpost.com staff and Associated Press contributed to this article.
Why is do we allow our Congress to be Israeli Occupied Territory? Why do we allow Jewish congressmen to put Israel ahead of U.S. interests? Why do we allow Congress and the President to continually break the Constitution's guarantee that our government will not allow the U.S. to support the establishment of any religion or religious state, except this is all ignored when that religious state is Jewish Israel. Congressmen Ackerman should be impeached for breaking the Constitution and acting as an agent for a foreign government.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Chinese veteran politicians call for reform
BBC
13 October 2010
Last updated at 11:04 ET
Liu Xiaobo - 28 Oct 2008 Liu Xiaobo was jailed for 11 years in December 2009
A group of 23 Communist Party elders in China has written a letter calling for an end to the country's restrictions on freedom of speech.
The letter says freedom of expression is promised in the Chinese constitution but not allowed in practice.
They want people to be able to freely express themselves on the internet and want more respect for journalists.
The call comes just days after the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
Mr Liu was sent to prison for 11 years in 2009 for expressing his desire to see peaceful political change in China.
The letter's release also comes ahead of a key party meeting that is expected to promote future leaders and shape policy for the next few years.
Specific demands
The authors of the letter describe China's current censorship system as a scandal and an embarrassment.
The signatories describe the propaganda department as "invisible black hands".
Continue reading the main story
Eight demands for change
* Dismantle system where media organisations are all tied to higher authorities
* Respect journalists, accept their social status
* Revoke ban on cross-province supervision by public opinion
* Abolish cyber-police; control Web administrators' ability to delete/post items at will
* Confirm citizens' right to know crimes and mistakes committed by ruling party
* Launch pilot projects to support citizen-owned media organisations
* Allow media and publications from Hong Kong and Macau to be openly distributed
* Change the mission of propaganda authorities, from preventing the leak of information to facilitating its accurate and timely spread
The letter says: "They violate our constitution, often ordering by telephone that the works of such and such a person cannot be published, or that such and such an event cannot be reported in the media.
"The officials who make the call do not leave their names, and the secrecy of the agents is protected, but you must heed their phone instructions."
Many who signed the letter were once influential officials.
They include a former personal secretary to the revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, and a former editor of the People's Daily, the official Communist Party newspaper.
The letter, addressed to China's parliament, makes a number of proposals for change.
Censorship should be ended; restrictions on book publishing abolished, they say.
Journalists should be given protection and support when they investigate official corruption and a new media law should be drawn up to ensure they do their job responsibly, it says.
The signatories complain that people who lived in Hong Kong while it was still a British colony enjoyed more freedom than is currently allowed in mainland China.
The BBC's Chris Hogg in Beijing says open letters like this rarely produce enough pressure to change policy.
Often they get the signatories into trouble, although most of those who signed are retired or quite elderly and probably believe the authorities can't do much to harm them, our correspondent says.
Twitter users in China report that references to the letter on different internet message boards are already being deleted.
The censors appear to be doing what they always do, seeking to wipe away any traces of criticism of the party that would soil its reputation amongst ordinary people, our correspondent says.
13 October 2010
Last updated at 11:04 ET
Liu Xiaobo - 28 Oct 2008 Liu Xiaobo was jailed for 11 years in December 2009
A group of 23 Communist Party elders in China has written a letter calling for an end to the country's restrictions on freedom of speech.
The letter says freedom of expression is promised in the Chinese constitution but not allowed in practice.
They want people to be able to freely express themselves on the internet and want more respect for journalists.
The call comes just days after the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
Mr Liu was sent to prison for 11 years in 2009 for expressing his desire to see peaceful political change in China.
The letter's release also comes ahead of a key party meeting that is expected to promote future leaders and shape policy for the next few years.
Specific demands
The authors of the letter describe China's current censorship system as a scandal and an embarrassment.
The signatories describe the propaganda department as "invisible black hands".
Continue reading the main story
Eight demands for change
* Dismantle system where media organisations are all tied to higher authorities
* Respect journalists, accept their social status
* Revoke ban on cross-province supervision by public opinion
* Abolish cyber-police; control Web administrators' ability to delete/post items at will
* Confirm citizens' right to know crimes and mistakes committed by ruling party
* Launch pilot projects to support citizen-owned media organisations
* Allow media and publications from Hong Kong and Macau to be openly distributed
* Change the mission of propaganda authorities, from preventing the leak of information to facilitating its accurate and timely spread
The letter says: "They violate our constitution, often ordering by telephone that the works of such and such a person cannot be published, or that such and such an event cannot be reported in the media.
"The officials who make the call do not leave their names, and the secrecy of the agents is protected, but you must heed their phone instructions."
Many who signed the letter were once influential officials.
They include a former personal secretary to the revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, and a former editor of the People's Daily, the official Communist Party newspaper.
The letter, addressed to China's parliament, makes a number of proposals for change.
Censorship should be ended; restrictions on book publishing abolished, they say.
Journalists should be given protection and support when they investigate official corruption and a new media law should be drawn up to ensure they do their job responsibly, it says.
The signatories complain that people who lived in Hong Kong while it was still a British colony enjoyed more freedom than is currently allowed in mainland China.
The BBC's Chris Hogg in Beijing says open letters like this rarely produce enough pressure to change policy.
Often they get the signatories into trouble, although most of those who signed are retired or quite elderly and probably believe the authorities can't do much to harm them, our correspondent says.
Twitter users in China report that references to the letter on different internet message boards are already being deleted.
The censors appear to be doing what they always do, seeking to wipe away any traces of criticism of the party that would soil its reputation amongst ordinary people, our correspondent says.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Dalai Lama criticises China over its Nobel opposition
Liu Xiaobo - 28 Oct 2008 Liu Xiaobo was jailed for 11 years in December 2009
The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has criticised the Chinese government for its opposition to the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
He said the Chinese government did "not appreciate different opinions". Building an open society was "the only way to save all people of China", he told Japanese media.
Meanwhile, Mr Liu's wife has apparently been placed under house arrest after he dedicated the award to the "martyrs" of Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Mr Liu was a key figure in the protests. He was also involved in drafting Charter 08 two years ago - a document which called for multi-party democracy and respect for human rights in China.
In 2009 he was jailed for 11 years for "inciting subversion".
Communication cut
China said the decision to honour Mr Liu was an "obscenity".
Beijing said relations with Norway, where the peace prize committee is based, may be damaged. It summoned the Norwegian ambassador to hear a formal protest.
On Monday, the Norwegian Embassy said a fisheries meeting in China had been cancelled but refused to give a reason.
The Dalai Lama, who won the peace prize in 1989, said that China's government "must change".
He made his comments to Kyodo news agency, while passing through Tokyo's airport on his way to the US from India.
Meanwhile, human rights groups say that Mr Liu's wife, Liu Xia, has been placed under house arrest.
A US human rights group, Freedom Now, said she was allowed to visit her husband in jail on Sunday and has not been able to leave her home since.
The BBC Chinese service said Mrs Liu had been able to speak on her mobile phone for only two sentences after returning to Beijing before the line was blocked.
Armed guards are also reportedly on duty outside her home.
There are also reports that more political activists in Beijing have had their movements restricted, including Zhou Duo, who was with Mr Liu during the Tiananmen Square protests.
Israeli academic: Loyalty oath resembles racist laws of 1935
Over 100 people demonstrated against loyalty oath in Tel Aviv; warn 'Israel is becoming a fascist state.'
By Asaf Shtull-Trauring
Haaretz
Israeli artists, writers and intellectuals held on Sunday a demonstration against the cabinet's approval of a controversial amendment to the citizenship bill, requiring non-Jews seeking citizenship to pledge allegiance to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
Actress Hana Maron speaks at demonstration against loyalt oath in Tel Aviv Oct. 10, 2010--Photo by: Moti Milrod
Over 100 people gathered in front of Independence Hall in Tel Aviv and protested against what they called 'the continuous erosion of Israeli democracy.'
Actress Hana Maron read from the Declaration of Independence: "I will read this again:' [the state of Israel] will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex'. This makes me want to cry. What has become of us?" said Maron.
The amendment to the citizenship bill is one of the promises Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made to Yisrael Beitenu in the coalition agreements. Since coming into government Yisrael Beitenu has advanced a long list of "loyalty" laws, which many consider to be discriminatory against Israel's Arab citizens.
Author Sefi Rachlevsky said that "a country that invades the sacred space of the citizen's conscience, and punishes him for opinions and beliefs that are not in line with the authorities … ceases to be a democracy and becomes a fascist state."
Rachlevsky read from a document titled "the declaration of independence from fascism".
"We, citizens of Israel… have gathered here to announce that we shall not be citizens of the country purporting to be the state of Israel," said Rachlevsky.
Israeli educational psychologist Prof. Gavriel Solomon said that "the idea of Judenrein (Jew free zone), or Arab-rein is not new... Some might say 'how can you compare us to Nazis'. I am not talking about the death camps, but about the year 1935. There were no camps yet but there were racist laws. And we are heading forward towards these kinds of laws. The government is clearly declaring our incapacity for democracy."
Sculptor Dani Karavan, who created a famous relief in the Knesset assembly hall, said that he was "ashamed of this wall… it is a disgrace for me as an artist that a creation of mine serves as the setting for such legislation."
Netanyahu's Labor coalition partners believe that his support for the loyalty oath is a sop to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, aimed at winning his Yisrael Beiteinu party's support for an extension on a settlement construction freeze that expired late last month. The U.S. and EU have urged Israel to extend the construction freeze, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has warned that he will quit the current round of peace talks if the moratorium on new building in the West Bank is allowed to expire.
By Asaf Shtull-Trauring
Haaretz
Israeli artists, writers and intellectuals held on Sunday a demonstration against the cabinet's approval of a controversial amendment to the citizenship bill, requiring non-Jews seeking citizenship to pledge allegiance to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
Actress Hana Maron speaks at demonstration against loyalt oath in Tel Aviv Oct. 10, 2010--Photo by: Moti Milrod
Over 100 people gathered in front of Independence Hall in Tel Aviv and protested against what they called 'the continuous erosion of Israeli democracy.'
Actress Hana Maron read from the Declaration of Independence: "I will read this again:' [the state of Israel] will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex'. This makes me want to cry. What has become of us?" said Maron.
The amendment to the citizenship bill is one of the promises Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made to Yisrael Beitenu in the coalition agreements. Since coming into government Yisrael Beitenu has advanced a long list of "loyalty" laws, which many consider to be discriminatory against Israel's Arab citizens.
Author Sefi Rachlevsky said that "a country that invades the sacred space of the citizen's conscience, and punishes him for opinions and beliefs that are not in line with the authorities … ceases to be a democracy and becomes a fascist state."
Rachlevsky read from a document titled "the declaration of independence from fascism".
"We, citizens of Israel… have gathered here to announce that we shall not be citizens of the country purporting to be the state of Israel," said Rachlevsky.
Israeli educational psychologist Prof. Gavriel Solomon said that "the idea of Judenrein (Jew free zone), or Arab-rein is not new... Some might say 'how can you compare us to Nazis'. I am not talking about the death camps, but about the year 1935. There were no camps yet but there were racist laws. And we are heading forward towards these kinds of laws. The government is clearly declaring our incapacity for democracy."
Sculptor Dani Karavan, who created a famous relief in the Knesset assembly hall, said that he was "ashamed of this wall… it is a disgrace for me as an artist that a creation of mine serves as the setting for such legislation."
Netanyahu's Labor coalition partners believe that his support for the loyalty oath is a sop to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, aimed at winning his Yisrael Beiteinu party's support for an extension on a settlement construction freeze that expired late last month. The U.S. and EU have urged Israel to extend the construction freeze, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has warned that he will quit the current round of peace talks if the moratorium on new building in the West Bank is allowed to expire.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Israel's proposed 'Jewish oath' for new citizens sparks racism row
Loyalty pledge criticised as 'fascist' and an affront to country's Arab minority, which makes up 20% of population
Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk,
Sunday 10 October 2010 18.20 BST
Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, has campaigned for a loyalty pledge for years. Photograph: Gali Tibbon/AFP
The Israeli cabinet today approved a bill requiring new non-Jewish citizens to swear an oath of allegiance to Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state", in a move that has brought accusations of discrimination against Israel's Arab minority. One dissenting cabinet minister referred to a "whiff of fascism".
The bill, originally promoted by the rightwing foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who has made the issue of loyalty a hallmark of his political career, was passed by a big majority despite the opposition of Labour party members.
The loyalty oath will be required of non-Jews seeking to become Israeli citizens, mainly affecting Palestinians from the West Bank who marry Palestinian citizens of Israel.
The latter, who make up 20% of Israel's population, have vigorously criticised the proposal – which needs approval from the Knesset before becoming law – as provocative and racist. It has also drawn protests from Israeli Jews, including those in the cabinet.
Isaac Herzog, the social affairs minister, told Israel's army radio: "There is a whiff of fascism on the margins of Israeli society. The overall picture is very disturbing and threatens the democratic character of the state of Israel. "There have been a tsunami of measures that limit rights ... We will pay a heavy price for this."
Lieberman campaigned in last year's election for a loyalty oath to be required of all existing Palestinian citizens of Israel. However the bill put to the vote today drew back from that, applying only to future citizens. "I think this is an important step forward. Obviously this is not the end of the issue of loyalty in return for citizenship, but this is a highly important step," Lieberman said.
At the start of the cabinet meeting, the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, said: "The state of Israel is the national state of the Jewish people and is a democratic state in which all its citizens – Jewish and non-Jewish – enjoy full equal rights ... Whoever wants to join us, has to recognise us."
It was suggested that Netanyahu backed the bill as a quid pro quo for support from rightwing parties within his coalition government should he bow to US pressure to extend the freeze on settlement construction. The moratorium, which expired two weeks ago, is threatening to scupper talks on a peace deal with the Palestinians.
Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli-Arab member of the Knesset, condemned the cabinet's decision. "The government of Israel has become subservient to Yisrael Beiteinu [Lieberman's party] and its fascist doctrine," he said. "No other state in the world would force its citizens or those seeking citizenship to pledge allegiance to an ideology."
The speaker of the Knesset, Reuven Rivlin, also criticised the proposal. "This law will not assist us as a society and a state," he said. "On the contrary, it could arm our enemies and opponents in the world in an effort to emphasise the trend for separatism or even racism within Israel."
Likud cabinet members Dan Meridor, Benny Begin and Michael Eitan opposed the bill along with Labour ministers.
Writing in today's Haaretz, liberal commentator Gideon Levy said: "Remember this day. It's the day Israel changes its character ... From now on, we will be living in a new, officially approved, ethnocratic, theocratic, nationalistic and racist country."
Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk,
Sunday 10 October 2010 18.20 BST
Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, has campaigned for a loyalty pledge for years. Photograph: Gali Tibbon/AFP
The Israeli cabinet today approved a bill requiring new non-Jewish citizens to swear an oath of allegiance to Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state", in a move that has brought accusations of discrimination against Israel's Arab minority. One dissenting cabinet minister referred to a "whiff of fascism".
The bill, originally promoted by the rightwing foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who has made the issue of loyalty a hallmark of his political career, was passed by a big majority despite the opposition of Labour party members.
The loyalty oath will be required of non-Jews seeking to become Israeli citizens, mainly affecting Palestinians from the West Bank who marry Palestinian citizens of Israel.
The latter, who make up 20% of Israel's population, have vigorously criticised the proposal – which needs approval from the Knesset before becoming law – as provocative and racist. It has also drawn protests from Israeli Jews, including those in the cabinet.
Isaac Herzog, the social affairs minister, told Israel's army radio: "There is a whiff of fascism on the margins of Israeli society. The overall picture is very disturbing and threatens the democratic character of the state of Israel. "There have been a tsunami of measures that limit rights ... We will pay a heavy price for this."
Lieberman campaigned in last year's election for a loyalty oath to be required of all existing Palestinian citizens of Israel. However the bill put to the vote today drew back from that, applying only to future citizens. "I think this is an important step forward. Obviously this is not the end of the issue of loyalty in return for citizenship, but this is a highly important step," Lieberman said.
At the start of the cabinet meeting, the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, said: "The state of Israel is the national state of the Jewish people and is a democratic state in which all its citizens – Jewish and non-Jewish – enjoy full equal rights ... Whoever wants to join us, has to recognise us."
It was suggested that Netanyahu backed the bill as a quid pro quo for support from rightwing parties within his coalition government should he bow to US pressure to extend the freeze on settlement construction. The moratorium, which expired two weeks ago, is threatening to scupper talks on a peace deal with the Palestinians.
Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli-Arab member of the Knesset, condemned the cabinet's decision. "The government of Israel has become subservient to Yisrael Beiteinu [Lieberman's party] and its fascist doctrine," he said. "No other state in the world would force its citizens or those seeking citizenship to pledge allegiance to an ideology."
The speaker of the Knesset, Reuven Rivlin, also criticised the proposal. "This law will not assist us as a society and a state," he said. "On the contrary, it could arm our enemies and opponents in the world in an effort to emphasise the trend for separatism or even racism within Israel."
Likud cabinet members Dan Meridor, Benny Begin and Michael Eitan opposed the bill along with Labour ministers.
Writing in today's Haaretz, liberal commentator Gideon Levy said: "Remember this day. It's the day Israel changes its character ... From now on, we will be living in a new, officially approved, ethnocratic, theocratic, nationalistic and racist country."
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