Senior Fellow at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs Alon Ben-Meir’s balanced piece on two fundamental issues that condition Israeli-Palestinian talks cuts through the process noise and supposed dramas between Netanyahu and Obama being echoed back and forth between US and Israeli media and zeroes in a bottom line, if not the bottom line. Ben-Meir writes:

The Palestinians, including Hamas, must accept the fact that the prospect of establishing a state of their own is intertwined with Israel’s national security. Meanwhile, Israel must drop the illusion that it can insure its national security while maintaining even a semblance of the occupation. Neither side can realize what they want unless they accept this basic bitter-sweet reality.

+ here

Norman Finkelstein, a Jewish American political scientist and author, specializing in Jewish-related issues and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was invited to give a speech at the University of Waterloo in which a Jewish girl threw the Holocaust card to silence criticisms of the Israeli government’s crimes against the Palestinian people. 

And here is what Dr. Finkelstein had to say in response.

[via:bradicalmang]

Is Israel an Apartheid State?

An interesting segment from The Real News that features an Israeli human rights lawyer who shows how their are two different applications of justice and law - one for Israeli Jews and one for Palestinians. He doesn’t go so far has saying that Israel is an apartheid system, but that indeed apartheid is being practiced in the West Bank.

[via:palestinetoday]

Israeli daily, Haaretz, reports the confiscation of oxygen machines that en route to hospitals in Gaza by Israeli authorities as they were deemed as “possible use for non-medical purposes.” The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health has appealed to the Norwegian Development Agency, who supplied the machines, to intervene for the release of the medical equipment.

Come on, Israel, really? This is non-sense.

[via:clingtomymouth]

Bold, provocative, and perhaps effective?

The “Jewish Boat to Gaza” will sail next month from an undisclosed location carrying passengers from the United States, Germany and Britain. At least one passenger is reported to be a Holocaust survivor.

American Jews for a Just Peace announced last week that it will serve as the U.S. coordinator for the Jewish boat. The other groups participating in the flotilla include “Judische Stimme” (”Jewish Voice” for a Just Peace in the Near East) and Jews for Justice for Palestinians, a British organization.

More here.

The diplomatic fallout continues between Israel and Turkey as Ankara, the Palestinian and Hamas has rejected the committee formed by the Netanyahu government that does not include international observers, reported The Jerusalem Post. The paper writes:

PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who met in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, told reporters that the committee that was announced by the Israeli government “did not meet the demand of the United Nations Security Council.”

This statement conflicts with an earlier unconfirmed report from Haaretz.com that Abbas allegedly told President Obama that he “opposed [to] lifting the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip because this would bolster Hamas.” However, the paper did not report a source.

With the possibility of Turkey severing diplomatic ties with Israel, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reportedly sent an envoy to Washington to discuss the matter with President Barack Obama.

Moreover, not everyone in Netanyahu’s cabinet appears on the same page with regards to the configuration of the commission:

Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon, who was quoted as being critical of the decision-making process in the flotilla episode, said the committee needed to provide an answer to the US and the international community, and as such, the inclusion of two international observers was a price worth paying.

But, he said, the establishment of the committee was not in lieu of the need for the political echelon to conduct an internal investigation to improve the decision-making process.

Minister Ya’alon’s intelligent call for transparency and accountability is a progressive move that could help mitigate further isolation of Israel by the international community.

It’s shit like this that made me “leave” the Democratic Party. Salon.com reports the unconscionable propagandizing by pseudo-progressive Democrats against the activists, charities, diplomats and politicians who participated in the Freedom Flotilla.

The Democrats who were a party to the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York’s press conference that was the stage for such abject moral failure are:

• Anthony Weiner
• Charlie Rangel
• Carolyn Maloney
• Jerry Nadler
• Eliot Engel
• Christine Quinn

Instead of basing their conclusions on sound evidence regarding IHH and confirmed reports on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, these New York politicians have decided to spread mis-information regarding the participants of the flotilla and the political position of the PA on the blockade. (An earlier unconfirmed report from Haaretz said that Abbas supported the blockade, while a later, conflicting report from The Jerusalem Post reiterated Abbas stance on ending the blockade.)

But then again, Weiner and Maloney supported going to war in Iraq on another great piece of “sound evidence”: Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. It’s a shame that Rangel and Nadler, who voted against George W. Bush’s war, has joined this shameful chorus.

Lindsey Hilsum, UK’s Channel 4 News International Editor

Hilsum challenges the rationale behind banning of the aforementioned items not allowed into the Gaza Strip by Israel’s blockade. If the interests for the blockade were solely for self-defense (as many apologists are quick to argue), then what does a prohibition of chocolate, pencils and notebooks have anything to do with stopping missiles from being fired into Israel? It doesn’t, because the blockade is a means to a political objective. As Joshua Holland, editor and senior writer from AlterNet put it, “The siege of Gaza is, and always was, meant to crush Gaza’s economy, impose severe suffering on the population and ultimately make it impossible for Hamas to govern.” By the use of such collective punishment, Israel wields a brutality that comes ever closer to another instance of collective punishment that Israel, by her existence, does not let the world forget.

Gisha, an Israeli legal advocacy non-profit dedicated to protecting the right to movement of Palestinians, compiled the following list of prohibited and permitted items into the Gaza Strip as a result of the blockade imposed by the Israeli government.

They note:

The following list is approximate and partial, and it changes from time to time. It is based on information from Palestinian traders and businesspersons, international organizations, and the Palestinian Coordination Committee, all of whom “deduce” what is permitted and what is banned based on their experience requesting permission to bring goods into Gaza and the answers they receive from the Israeli authorities (approved or denied). It is not possible to verify this list with the Israeli authorities because they refuse to disclose information regarding the restrictions on transferring goods into Gaza. It should be noted that Israel permits some of the “prohibited” items into Gaza (for example: paper, biscuits, and chocolate), on the condition that they are for the use of international organizations, while requests from private merchants to purchase them are denied. For more information, see: Gisha, Restrictions on the Transfer of Goods into Gaza: Obstruction and Obfuscation, January 2010 (available at: www.gisha.org).

Prohibited Items*
sage
cardamom
cumin
coriander
ginger
jam
halva
vinegar
nutmeg
chocolate
fruit preserves
seeds and nuts
biscuits and sweets
potato chips
gas for soft drinks
dried fruit
fresh meat
plaster
tar
wood for construction
cement
iron
glucose
industrial salt
plastic/glass/metal containers
industrial margarine
tarpaulin sheets for huts
fabric (for clothing)
flavor and smell enhancers
fishing rods
various fishing nets
buoys
ropes for fishing
nylon nets for greenhouses
hatcheries and spare parts for hatcheries
spare parts for tractors
dairies for cowsheds
irrigation pipe systems
ropes to tie
planters for saplings
heaters for chicken farms
musical instruments
size A4 paper
writing implements
notebooks
newspapers
toys
razors
sewing machines and spare parts
heaters
horses
donkeys
goats
cattle
chicks

*Some of these items are permitted if they are for the use of international organizations.

Permitted Items

flour
sugar
sweetener
rice
salt
cooking oil
semolina
yeast
pasta
chickpeas
preserves beans
kidney beans
lentils
peas
Burgul wheat
corn
lupini beans
powdered milk
dairy products
margarine
hummus paste
frozen meat, fish, and vegetables
vitamins and oil for animal feed
empty bags for flour
medicine and medical equipment
diapers
feminine hygiene products
toilet paper
baby wipes
shampoo & conditioner
soap & liquid soap
toothpaste
laundry detergent
softener
dish soap
glass cleaner
floor cleaning fluid
cleaning liquid for bathroom use
greenhouses chlorine
insecticide for household use
coffee
tea
salami meat
canned meat
canned fish
sponges for cleaning dishes
sponges for washing
mopping rags
cleaning rags
all canned food except canned fruit
za’atar spice
black pepper
sesame
powdered chicken stock
blankets
matches
candles
brooms
mops
dustpans
trash cans
aniseed
chamomile
cinnamon
wastewater purification powder
glass - 200 trucks
water coolers + heaters
mineral water
Tahini (sesame paste)
hair brushes
hair combs
shoes
clothes
wood (for doors and window frames)
aluminum
soft plastic bags
fruit
vegetables
hay
fertilized eggs
pesticides for agriculture
soil for agriculture
particles for soil dilution
chemical fertilizer
plastic buckets
plastic crates for fruits and vegetables
plastic chicken cages

US Vice President Joe Biden has offered the Obama administration’s strongest defence of Israel’s Gaza flotilla raid to date, in a interview on US television this evening, saying: “Israel has an absolute right to deal with its security interest.”

Appearing on PBS’s Charlie Rose Show, Biden defended Israel’s action in boarding the Gaza flotilla as “legitimate”. After suggesting the flotilla’s cargo of aid could have been unloaded elsewhere, Biden appears to brush off the international criticism, asking: “So what’s the big deal here? What’s the big deal of insisting it go straight to Gaza?”

He then makes it clear that Washington is happy for Israel to conduct its own investigation of the incident that led to nine deaths and dozens of injuries, although Biden added: “but we’re open to international participation”.

Here’s a section of the transcript, courtesy of Politico:

Joe Biden: Look, you can argue whether Israel should have dropped people onto that ship or not and the – but the truth of the matter is, Israel has a right to know – they’re at war with Hamas – has a right to know whether or not arms are being smuggled in. And up to now, Charlie, what’s happened? They’ve said, “Here you go. You’re in the Mediterranean. This ship – if you divert slightly north you can unload it and we’ll get the stuff into Gaza.” So what’s the big deal here? What’s the big deal of insisting it go straight to Gaza? Well, it’s legitimate for Israel to say, “I don’t know what’s on that ship. These guys are dropping eight – 3,000 rockets on my people.” Now, the one thing we have to do is not forget the plight of these Palestinians there, not Hamas – they’re in bad shape. So we have put as much pressure and as much cajoling on Israel as we can to allow them to get building materials in, glass…

Charlie Rose: That’s what they’re trying to bring in, building materials.

Biden: Yes, we know that, but they could have easily brought it in here and we’d get it through. And so now the question is what do we do? Well, we had made it clear, the President of the United States has spoken three times, yesterday with Bibi, or the day before yesterday, he’s spoken once yesterday with a guy that I have spent a fair amount of time with, with Prime Minister Erdogan in Turkey; the Turks, we passed a resolution in the UN saying we need a transparent and open investigation of what happened. It looks like things are…

Rose: International investigation?

Biden: Well, an investigation run by the Israelis, but we’re open to international participation, just like the investigation run on the sunken sub in – off the coast of Korea. That was run by South Korea, but the international community joined in that investigation. And so that is very possible here as well. I might add by the way for all those who say the Israelis, you know, you know, you can’t trust them, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled today that every one of the people on those ships had to be released immediately.

(Above, US Vice President Joe Biden: defending Israel’s Gaza flotilla raid. Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty)

[via:peoplesmovement:guardian.co.uk]