Israel’s War Against Palestine: Documenting the Military Occupation of Palestinian and Arab Lands

November 2009

Right-wing Arutz 7 (Israel National News) Poll: “What’s the best solution for the Arab-Israeli conflict?” 53% said “Transfer of Palestinians to another Arab country,” 31% said “two-states for two peoples,” and 14% said “Jordanian citizenship.”

Israel prevents equipment meant for bettering the internet industry from entering the Palestinian Authority – equipment such as servers and routers. Moreover, Israel is delaying giving a permit to Wataniya, a second cell phone and internet provider in the West Bank, which bolsters the existing company PalTel’s monopoly.

Joe Klein: Israelophilia

19 November 2009

Dov Hikind is not only a U.S. citizen, but also a member of the NY state legislature… and he wants to buy property in an illegal Jewish settlement, in an East Jerusalem neighborhood that the U.S. government considers a disputed area where no additional construction should be taking place? Indeed, it is an area that would be the capital of Palestine, if and when we achieve a two-state solution.

IOA Editor: Irrespective of the warped comment on “the deal negotiated by Bill Clinton (and foolishly rejected by the Palestinians),” a view common in US media and among those not doing critical, careful fact-checking – including Klein, “a lifetime supporter of the Jewish state,” who feels the need to state it – this commentary shows the changes currently underway in how Israeli aggression is covered in the US.

For facts and myths on the Bill Clinton “deal,” see Gush Shalom’s presentation: Barak’s “Generous Offers”

[T]here is a gradual mobilizing, galvanizing of public opinion such that… you can see the writing on the wall, that Israel is getting closer and closer to being held accountable… And in that respect you can say the Goldstone report marked a qualitative change. They recognized now for the first time that the shadow of accountability is hanging over them.

Marwan Barghouti, former Fatah leader in West Bank, says in interview from his prison cell that peace talks with Israel have failed and now Palestinians must launch popular and diplomatic campaigns to achieve statehood.

Read on Ynetnews.com

The threats uttered against a possible Palestinian declaration of independence by our leaders… let the Israeli sanctimony (usually tedious and belabored) drop to the floor for a moment… It exposed the ugly skeleton of force that gives only us freedom of speech… We are allowed to reiterate Israel’s Declaration of Independence over and over. You are not allowed to do so with yours.

Obama’s fury was over not only the principle, but also the way Netanyahu handled the crisis… U.S. embassies in Arab countries are reporting that Obama’s charms are wearing off as it becomes clear that nothing has changed since his June speech in Cairo.

It seems Israel is taking full advantage of the crisis in the peace process to push its anti-peace agenda… It is a rogue state, in contravention of international law, occupying another people’s land in contempt of human rights law and common decent standards of human behaviour… Israel has been given a free pass for too long. Without returning occupied land, it cannot arrive at peace with the Palestinians and there can be no comprehensive peace in this region.

At noon, Mr. Hikind, [a member of the New York State Assembly,] led a group of about 50 American Jews in laying a cornerstone for the next phase of Nof Zion, with construction scheduled to start next spring. “I want to buy here,” Mr. Hikind said. “I might make a deal while I am here this time.”

IOA Editor: This Jerusalem ground is “contested” and the territory “disputed” only in the American media: all international organizations, and the vast majority of countries – including, most of the time, the US – treat East Jerusalem as occupied territory.

Despite the hype, [the new Mofaz "peace" plan] turned out to be nothing more than recycling of familiar worn-out schemes, repeatedly put forward by Israel and then abandoned: a Palestinian state with “temporary borders” on 50 to 60 percent of the West Bank with large Jewish-only settlement blocs annexed to Israel.

“President Obama should not interfere with the rights of the Jewish people to live in Jerusalem,” said Danon. “This… is a racist demand, saying that Jews cannot live in Jerusalem, only Arabs.”

IOA Editor: Israeli decision-makers know that the surest way to ignite the ME and stop the “peace process” is to expand Jewish development activities in East Jerusalem. Is this why they’re doing just that? Your move, Mr. President.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: “This is a clear decision and a clear message… that Israel is not willing and is not ready to stop settlement activities and… that they are not ready for peace.” And: “The Americans should take seriously what is going on,” he added. “The whole situation is deteriorating. The Americans this time should change their policy, the change which we have been promised by President Obama.”

IOA Editor: Again, your move, Mr. President.

“I was just one among thousands of Palestinians who more often than not, are prosecuted and harassed for no crime but claiming their natural right to practice protest against occupation, racism and
discrimination.”

Police are investigating suspicions of document fraud involving the chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, MK David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu), secretary general of the Amana settlement housing group, Ze’ev “Zambish” Hever, and prominent settlement leader Yoel Tzur.

IOA Editor: Historically, fraud has had a key role in the process of Zionist acquisition of Palestinian lands – predating statehood. It continues today, where Israel deceives the world community and international institutions; settlers and their support organizations deceive the Israeli government and public – with the support of Israeli officials and IDF officers who help from within; and, finally, Israel along with the US – its financial partner and the enabler of the Occupation, and the EU, in the guise of the “peace process,” together deceive the Palestinian people – robbing them of their land, resources, and national future.

If to Israelis, “what goes for East Jerusalem goes for Tel Aviv,” as Netanyahu says, then as far as the Palestinians are concerned, “what goes for East Jerusalem goes for Ramallah,” as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says. A freeze on Jewish construction in East Jerusalem therefore was and remains the key to the peace process.

The results of the study show the textbooks are full of spelling and grammatical errors, and that a direct link can be demonstrated between the poor quality of the books and the poor level of Arabic among first and second graders.

An Israeli commentator writing on an Egyptian commentator’s position on cultural normalization – the opposite of a Boycott – between Egypt and Israel. Simple it is not: “We have to get to know the enemy, to understand his strengths and weaknesses, so that I can know how he thinks and what he is plotting against us,” he explained, offering an excuse for translations into Arabic.

IOA Editor: Egyptians who read English are welcome to read what Israelis say right here, on the pages of the IOA.

The outrageous treatment of the 21-year-old Bethlehem University student, Berlanty Azzam by the Israeli military is the latest incident in a long list of brutalities carried out by one of the longest and most brutal military occupations in history. Returning to Bethlehem in the West Bank, after a job interview in Ramallah, Berlanty… was detained at a military checkpoint, blindfolded, handcuffed, loaded into a military jeep and deported to Gaza.

Brooklyn-based Hebron Fund supports violent, racist Israeli settlers in Israeli-occupied Hebron who are taking over Hebron’s Old City in violation of international law, and driving out the Palestinian residents. The NY Mets are aiding the Hebron Fund by allowing it to hold a fundraiser at Citi Field.

White House press secretary responds to plan to build 900 new housing units in Jerusalem neighborhood, says ‘neither party should engage in efforts or take actions that could unilaterally preempt, or appear to preempt, negotiations’

Gilo neighborhood reaction: “Who are they to decide for us where to build?” And “[t]his is a neighborhood within Israel and it hurts me to see that the Americans, who are operating in Iraq without blinking, tell us what to do inside Israel.” More: Ynetnews story

IOA Editor: And Occupations will be had by all.

The chairman of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ office, Dr. Rafiq Husseini, on Monday urges all Arab countries to cancel their business ties with two French companies – Veolia and Alstom – involved in the construction of a Jerusalem-based light railway which passes through the West Bank.

About half of the public is concerned that government policies will force them into poverty while only a quarter of the population expresses a sense of security about their economic situation

An influential Jewish community leader and Democratic state assemblyman from New York is currently heading a mission of about 50 Americans through the West Bank and East Jerusalem to promote home purchases in the area and to protest U.S. President Barack Obama’s Middle East policy.

[U]nlike the Hamas government, our government does not pay the salaries of rabbis who advocate the killing of babies. Is that so? Not really. For example, government ministries regularly transfer support and funding to a yeshiva whose rabbi determined that it is permissible to kill gentile babies “because their presence assists murder, and there is reason to harm children if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us … it is permissible to harm the children of a leader in order to stop him from acting evilly…”

[Jaffa,] a part of [Tel Aviv] where half of the population is Arab, and which has some 400 streets, only five are named after Arabs.

Residents of Ras Hamis, an East Jerusalem neighborhood east of the separation fence, say two children died in a house fire two weeks ago while a fire crew had to wait 200 meters away at a checkpoint for lack of Border Police or army escort.

The banner referred to 1994 Nobel Peace Prize, which Peres won together with former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for the peace talks that resulted in the Oslo Accords.

Protesters say the Israel Defense Forces used live ammunition from Ruger rifles last Friday to disperse a demonstration near the separation fence at the West Bank town of Na’alin. In 2001, the military advocate general ordered a halt to the use of such rifles for crowd control.

[[M]ost Israeli respondents were not comfortable with the prospect of one of their own children marrying an Ethiopian. Fifty-seven percent said it would be entirely unacceptable for their daughters to marry an Ethiopian, and 39 percent said so regarding their sons.

This signals an improvement in the currently strained Turkish-Israeli relations, as Ankara excluded Israel at the last minute from the Anatolian Eagle international maneuvers

“[W]e must strengthen the community and character of every town that sees Zionist values and the heritage of Israel as the heart of its existence and way of life and seeks to bring in people who view these values as dear to their hearts. We don’t see this as racism, just as we don’t see Zionism as a racist movement.

For 21 years and a day, since the Palestine Liberation Organization declared independence in Algiers, its leaders have not lowered their price: recognition of Israel and an end to hostilities in exchange for a Palestinian state within the June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem the capital.

Peres is our beautiful and misleading face. Equipped with the ability to delude, one of the founders of the settlement movement has turned into Israel’s Mr. Peace.

Palestinian officials have said they are preparing to ask the United Nations to endorse an independent state without Israel’s consent because they are losing hope they can achieve their aspirations through peace talks. The announcement drew a harsh rebuke from Israeli officials.

Prof. Shlomo Sand: “I don’t define myself as an anti-Zionist… but I’m not a Zionist… I don’t put into question the existence of Israel… I compare when I am speaking before Arab students the birth of the Israeli state to an act of rape. But even the son that was born of the act of rape… you have to recognize him… the existence of Israel I don’t put in question today.”

“The PLO central committee will discuss the options to avoid a constitutional vacuum” at its meeting due to take place on December 15, Mohammed Dahlan told reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

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