.
One-metre-square cement roadblocks used to restrict Palestinian vehicle access at one of the entrances to Beit Ummar village, near Hebron, West Bank; one of 50 such block sites used to obstruct Palestinian vehicle access to settlements and to prevent bypassing of checkpoints when entering controlled access routes: photo by Harry Pickets, 6 July 2006
All
the great
ideologies
of the
world
are
predicated
on Malthus’
assumption
that
there is
not
enough
to sustain
both
you
and me.
"All / the great / ideologies...": from TC: Smack, 1972
Supermarket packaged food aisles, the new Fred Meyer on Interstate on Lombard, Portland: photo by Lyzadanger, 23 December 2004
U.S.: Israel's West Bank land grab 'counterproductive' to two-state solution (Haaretz, 1 September 2014)
An Israeli settlement in the Etzion bloc, in the West Bank, April 2014: photo by Eyal Toueg via Haaretz, 1 September 2014
State Department urges Israel's government to reverse its decision to lay claim to land belonging to five Palestinian villages: Reuters and Chaim Levinson, Haaretz, 1 September 2014
Israel announced the massive land
appropriation on Sunday in the Etzion settlement bloc near Bethlehem
just days after Gaza ceasefire.
A Palestinian official said the latest land grab by Israel would cause only more friction after the Gaza war that left more than 2,000 Palestinians dead and over 10,000 injured.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Israel to cancel the appropriation. "This decision will lead to more instability. This will only inflame the situation after the war in Gaza," presidential spokesman Abu Rdainah said.
A US State Department official called the announcement "counterproductive to Israel's stated goal of a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinians".
"We urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision," the official said in Washington.
Peace Now group, which opposes Israeli settlement activities in the West Bank, territory the Palestinians seek for a state, said the appropriation was meant to turn a site where 10 families now live adjacent to a Jewish seminary into a permanent settlement.
International criticism
Construction of a major settlement at the location, known as "Gevaot", has been mooted by Israel since 2000. Last year, the government invited bids for the building of 1,000 housing units at the site.
Peace Now said the land seizure was the largest announced by Israel in the West Bank since the 1980s and that anyone with ownership claims had 45 days to appeal. A local Palestinian mayor said Palestinians owned the tracts and harvested olive trees on them.
Israel has come under international criticism over its settlement activities, which most countries regard as illegal under international law and a major obstacle to the creation of a viable Palestinian state in any future peace deal.
Israel has said construction at Gevaot would not constitute the establishment of a new settlement because the site is officially designated a neighbourhood of an existing one, Alon Shvut, several kilometres down the road.
About 500,000 Israelis live among 2.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territory that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
A Palestinian official said the latest land grab by Israel would cause only more friction after the Gaza war that left more than 2,000 Palestinians dead and over 10,000 injured.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Israel to cancel the appropriation. "This decision will lead to more instability. This will only inflame the situation after the war in Gaza," presidential spokesman Abu Rdainah said.
A US State Department official called the announcement "counterproductive to Israel's stated goal of a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinians".
"We urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision," the official said in Washington.
Peace Now group, which opposes Israeli settlement activities in the West Bank, territory the Palestinians seek for a state, said the appropriation was meant to turn a site where 10 families now live adjacent to a Jewish seminary into a permanent settlement.
International criticism
Construction of a major settlement at the location, known as "Gevaot", has been mooted by Israel since 2000. Last year, the government invited bids for the building of 1,000 housing units at the site.
Peace Now said the land seizure was the largest announced by Israel in the West Bank since the 1980s and that anyone with ownership claims had 45 days to appeal. A local Palestinian mayor said Palestinians owned the tracts and harvested olive trees on them.
Israel has come under international criticism over its settlement activities, which most countries regard as illegal under international law and a major obstacle to the creation of a viable Palestinian state in any future peace deal.
Israel has said construction at Gevaot would not constitute the establishment of a new settlement because the site is officially designated a neighbourhood of an existing one, Alon Shvut, several kilometres down the road.
About 500,000 Israelis live among 2.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territory that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
An Israeli flag waves on a hill near the West Bank Jewish settlements of Elazar (rear L) and Efrat (rear R), in the Etzion settlement bloc near Bethlehem May 22, 2011: photo by Ronen Zvulun / Reuters, 22 May 2014
A settlement, seen through separation fence: photo by T, from Nablus: Palestine, The Occupation, 7 July 2009
Children climb on a slide at a
playground in a Jewish settlement in the Etzion settlement bloc, near
Bethlehem, August 31, 2014. Israel announced on Sunday a land
appropriation in the occupied West Bank that an anti-settlement group
termed the biggest in 30 years and a Palestinian official said would
cause only more friction after the Gaza war. Some 400 hectares (988
acres) in the Etzion settlement bloc near Bethlehem were declared "state
land, on the instructions of the political echelon" by the military-run
Civil Administration. Construction of a major settlement at the
location, known as "Gevaot", has been mooted by Israel since 2000. Last
year, the government invited bids for the building of 1,000 housing
units at the site: photo by Ronen Zvulun / Reuters, 31 August 2014
Israeli women walk in a Jewish
settlement known as "Gevaot", in the Etzion settlement bloc, near
Bethlehem, August 31, 2014. Israel announced on Sunday a land
appropriation in the occupied West Bank that an anti-settlement group
termed the biggest in 30 years and a Palestinian official said would
cause only more friction after the Gaza war. Some 400 hectares (988
acres) in the Etzion settlement bloc near Bethlehem were declared "state
land, on the instructions of the political echelon" by the military-run
Civil Administration. Construction of a major settlement at the
location has been mooted by Israel since 2000. Last year, the government
invited bids for the building of 1,000 housing units at the site: photo by Ronen Zvulun / Reuters, 31 August 2014
Jewish
settlers put up plywood walls to a home in the Gush Etzyon block of
Jewish settlements in the West Bank in 2005: photo by Olivier Fitoussi-Flash 90 /
European Pressphoto Agency via Los Angeles Times, 1 September 2014
Israeli settlements in the West Bank: photo by Zee Media Bureau/Supriya Jha via Zee News, 1 September 2014
Palestunian youth throw stones at an Israeli military tower during
clashes near Aida refugee camp in the West Bank town of Bethlehem in
protest of Israeli military strikes on Gaza: photo by ActiveStills, 15 November 2012
Mahmoud Darwish: O those who pass between fleeting words
An olive tree, Bi'lin, West Bank: photo by elena martinez, 12 June 2009
O those who pass between fleeting words
Carry your names, and be gone
Rid our time of your hours, and be gone
Steal what you will from the blueness of the sea
And the sand of memory
Take what pictures you will, so that you understand
That which you never will:
How a stone from our land builds the ceiling of our sky.
O those who pass between fleeting words
From you the sword -- from us the blood
From you steel and fire -- from us our flesh
From you yet another tank -- from us stones
From you tear gas -- from us rain
Above us, as above you, are sky and air
So take your share of our blood -- and be gone
Go to a dancing party -- and be gone
As for us, we have to water the martyrs' flowers
As for us, we have to live as we see fit.
O those who pass between fleeting words
As better dust, go where you wish, but
Do not pass between us like flying insects
For we have work to do in our land:
We have wheat to grow which we water with our bodies' dew
We have that which does not please you here:
Stones or partridges
So take the past, if you wish, to the antiquities market
And return the skeleton to the hoopoe, if you wish,
On a clay platter
We have that which does not please you: we have the future
And we have things to do in our land.
O those who pass between fleeting words
Pile your illusions in a deserted pit, and be gone
Return the hand of time to the law of the golden calf
Or to the time of the revolver's music!
For we have that which does not please you here, so be gone
And we have what you lack: a bleeding homeland of a bleeding people
A homeland fit for oblivion or memory.
O those who pass between fleeting words
It is time for you to be gone
Live wherever you like, but do not live among us
It is time for you to be gone
Die wherever you like, but do not die among us
For we have work to do in our land.
We have the past here
We have the first cry of life
We have the present, the present and the future
We have this world here, and the hereafter
So leave our country
Our land, our sea
Our wheat, our salt, our wounds
Everything, and leave
The memories of memory
O those who pass between fleeting words!
Mahmoud Darwish (13 March 1941-9 August 2008): O those who pass between fleeting words, 1988; translator unknown, via Jerusalem Post, 2 April 1988
Beit Ummar, West Bank, Palestine: photo by Palobserver, 2 April 2011
Barrier gate at Bi'lin, near Ramallah, West Bank: the gate is the only means of entry for the villagers who have been separated from their families by the Israeli West Bank barrier; one of 25 such fences, totalling 37,600 metres, built to impede Palestinians from traveling over major roads to the main cities: photo by Harry Pockets, 6 July 2006
Bi'lin Separation Wall, near Ramallah, West Bank; the wall separates the village of Bi'lin from sixty percent of its farmland: photo by elena martinez, 12 June 2009
A settlement, seen through barrier fence near village of Bi'lin, West Bank: photo by elena martinez, 12 June 2009
Protestors fleeing IDF tear gas attack during demonstration against security barrier in Bi'lin, West Bank: photo by socksasgloves, 2005
View from Nablus side of Huwwara checkpoint, with people waiting to travel south; one of nine permanent checkpoints in the Nablus region, West Bank, used by the IDF to control pedestrian and vehicle access: photo by Harry Pockets, 10 August 2006
'Biggest in 30 years': Israel expropriates 400 hectares of West Bank land: photo via Haitham Sabbah on twitter, 1 September 2014
Palestinian protesters and a photographer run from tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers, Bi'lin, West Bank: photo by Reuters via Rachel P on twitter, 29 August 2014
The settler division of the IDF throwing rocks at Palestinians in the West Bank, while peace-keeping IDF look on: photo via Israel Defence Force on twitter, 20 August 2014
In the West Bank with VicCNN: funeral today, kids throwing stones -- soldiers respond with stun grenades: photo via Saima Mohsin on twitter, 9 August 2014
More Israeli soldiers coming out onto the road. Still only kids throwing stones -- more stun grenades: photo via Saima Mohsin on twitter, 9 August 2014
Children of the 42-year-old killed in clashes in the West Bank show us a picture of their father: photo via Victoria Eastwood on twitter, 9 August 2014
Shame!! Israeli forces shoot dead Palestinian child in West Bank: photo via Solidarity Gaza, 11 August 2014
Is an explosion of the West Bank closer than we think?: photo via Solidarity Gaza on twitter, 31 August 2014
4 comments:
For a uniquely thoughtful and authoritative perspective on Israeli policy in regard to Palestine, consider the commentary of Henry Siegman, who has been familiar with the issues and the major players for a very long time.
Henry Siegman is president of the U.S./Middle East Project. He served as senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and non-resident research professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London, and is a former national director of the American Jewish Congress.
Israel Provoked This War: It's Up to President Obama to Stop It: Henry Siegman, Politico, 22 July 2014
A week after that piece came out, Mr Siegman was interviewed at length. What he has to say is of great interest. A brief excerpt, with link to the full video and transcript given below.
__
Henry Siegman is former executive director of the American Jewish Congress, long described as one of the nation’s "big three" Jewish organizations along with the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League. Henry Siegman was born in 1930 in Frankfurt, Germany. Three years later, the Nazis came to power. After fleeing Nazi troops in Belgium, his family eventually moved to the United States. His father was a leader of the European Zionist movement, pushing for the creation of a Jewish state. In New York, Siegman studied and was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi by Yeshiva Torah Vodaas. He later became head of the Synagogue Council of America. After his time at the American Jewish Congress, Siegman became a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He now serves as president of the U.S./Middle East Project.
Over the years, Siegman has become a vocal critic of Israel’s policies in the Occupied Territories and has urged Israel to engage with Hamas. He has called the Palestinian struggle for a state "the mirror image of the Zionist movement" that led to the founding of Israel in 1948.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And Henry Siegman, what do you think the Obama administration has done since his first administration? And what do you think he ought to be doing differently, on the question of Israel-Palestine and, in particular, his response to this most recent military assault on Gaza?
HENRY SIEGMAN: Look, I have written about this for years now. It’s not all that complicated. It is quite clear that, left to its own devices, if Israel—if the United States says to the Palestinians, "Hey, you guys have got to talk not to us; you’ve got to talk to the Palestinians—to the Israelis, and you have to come to an understanding that’s how peace is made, but we can’t interfere. You know, we cannot tell Israel what to do"—left to their own devices, there will never be a Palestinian state. And the question is—I have very serious doubts that we have not gone beyond the point where a Palestinian state is possible. The purpose of the settlement movement was to make it impossible. And I believe they have succeeded: That project has achieved its goal.
AMY GOODMAN: The Jewish settlements.
HENRY SIEGMAN: The Jewish settlers have achieved the irreversibility of the settlement movement, in terms of the vast infrastructure that has been put in place. So, even if there were a leftist government, so-called leftist government, that came to power, it would not be able to do it, because of the upheaval that would be necessary to create such a state.
[continues:]
There is only one thing—as far as I’m concerned, there are only two things that could happen that could still, perhaps, produce a Palestinian state. The first one is for the—because the United States remains absolutely essential in terms of Israel’s security, to its continued success and survival. If at some point the United States were to say, "You have now reached a point—we have been your biggest supporters. We have been with you through thick and thin. And we have based—we have treated you"—you know, a lot of people say, criticizing the U.S. and the international community, that we have double standards, that we expect things of Israel that we don’t expect of the rest of the world. We do have double standards, but it works the other way around: We grant Israel privileges and tolerate behavior that we would not in other allies. We may say there’s nothing we can do to change that, but we don’t give them billions of dollars. And we don’t go to the U.N., at the Security Council, to veto when the international—efforts by the United Nations to prevent that bad behavior. So we have double standards, but it works the other way. But if the United States were to say to Israel, "It’s our common values that underlie this very special relationship we have with you and these privileges that we have extended to you, but this can’t go on. We can’t do that when those values are being undermined. The values—what you are doing today contradicts American values. We are a democratic country, and we cannot be seen as aiding and abetting this oppression and permanent disenfranchisement of an entire people. So, you’re on your own." The issue is not America sending planes and missiles to bomb Tel Aviv as punishment; the issue is America removing itself from being a collaborator in the policies and a facilitator, making it easy and providing the tools for Israel to do that. So, if at some point the United States were to say what is said in Hebrew, ad kan, you know, "So far, but no further. We can’t—this is not what we can do. You want to do it? You’re on your own," that would change—that could still change the situation, because the one thing Israelis do not want to do is have the country live in a world where America is not there to have their back.
And the other possibility, which I have also written about, is for Palestinians to say, "OK, you won. You didn’t want us to have a state. We see that you’ve won. You have all of it." So our struggle is no longer to push the border to—to maintain a '67 border, where nobody is going to come to their help, because borderlines—international opinion doesn't mobilize around those issues. But this is a struggle against what looks and smells like apartheid—we want citizenship, we want full rights in all of Palestine—and make that the struggle. If Palestinians were to undertake that kind of a struggle in a credible way, where the Israeli public would see that they really mean it and they are going to fight for that in a nonviolent way, not by sending rockets, for citizenship, I am convinced—and I’ve seen no polls that contradict that belief—that they would say to their government, "Wait a minute, that is unacceptable, in fact, for us, and we cannot allow that. We don’t want a majority Arab population here." I’ve talked to Palestinian leadership and urged them to move in that direction. There is now a growing movement among younger Palestinians in that direction. And that, I hope, may yet happen. Now, it has to be a serious movement. It can’t just be a trick to get another state, but only if it is serious, where they are ready to accept citizenship and fight for it in a single state of all of Palestine, is it possible for the Israeli public to say, "This we cannot want, too, and we have to have a government that will accept the two states."
[continues:]
AMY GOODMAN: Henry Siegman, I wanted to ask you about media coverage of the conflict right now in Gaza. In a comment to close the CBS show Face the Nation on Sunday, the host, Bob Schieffer, suggested Hamas forces Israel to kill Palestinian children.
BOB SCHIEFFER: In the Middle East, the Palestinian people find themselves in the grip of a terrorist group that is embarked on a strategy to get its own children killed in order to build sympathy for its cause—a strategy that might actually be working, at least in some quarters. Last week I found a quote of many years ago by Golda Meir, one of Israel’s early leaders, which might have been said yesterday: "We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children," she said, "but we can never forgive them for forcing us to kill their children."
AMY GOODMAN: That was the host, the journalist Bob Schieffer, on Face the Nation. You knew Prime Minister Golda Meir.
HENRY SIEGMAN: Yes, I did. I wasn’t a friend of hers, but I knew her, and I heard her when she made that statement. And I thought then, and think now, that it is an embarrassingly hypocritical statement. This statement was made by a woman who also said "Palestinians? There are no Palestinians! I am a Palestinian." If you don’t want to kill Palestinians, if that’s what pains you so much, you don’t have to kill them. You can give them their rights, and you can end the occupation. And to put the blame for the occupation and for the killing of innocents that we are seeing in Gaza now on the Palestinians—why? Because they want a state of their own? They want what Jews wanted and achieved? I find that, to put it mildly, less than admirable. There is something deeply hypocritical about that original statement and about repeating it on the air over here as a great moral insight.
Henry Siegman: A Slaughter of Innocence (full video interview with transcript, recorded 29 July 2014)
For another view on the settlements, seen from the kindlier light of an observer initially quite impressed with the wonders of early (pre-WW II) Zionist colonialist expansionism, the British travel writer Robert Byron:
"This morning we went to Tel Aviv as the guests of Mr. Joshua Gordon, chief showman of the Jewish agency. At the municipality... the walls were hung with portraits of the apostles of Zionism: Balfour, Samuel, Allenby, Reading. A map showed the development of the place by years, from a struggling Utopia of only 3,000 people to a bursting community of 70,000. Over Jaffa hock in the Palestine Hotel, I tried the Arab arguments on Mr. Gordon. He was contemptuous. A commission had been set up to look after landless Arabs. It could only find a few hundred. Meanwhile, the Arabs of Trans-Jordania were begging the Jews to go there and develop the country.
"I asked if it might not pay the Jews to placate the Arabs, even at inconvenience to themselves, with a view to peace in the future. Mr. Gordon said no. The only possible basis of an Arab-Jewish understanding was joint opposition to the English, and this the Jewish leaders would not countenance. 'If the country is to be developed, the Arabs must suffer, because they don't like development. And that's the end of it.'
"They [the Jews] are pouring in. Last year permission was given for 6,000: 17,000 arrived, the extra 11,000 by frontiers which cannot be guarded. Once in Palestine, they throw away their passports, and so cannot be deported... The cloud on the horizon is Arab hostility."
-- Robert Byron, from September 1933 Middle East travel diary, in The Road to Oxiana (1937).
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