By Uri Avnery*
29 April, 2011, Countercurrents.org
IN ONE word: Bravo!
The news about the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas is good for peace. If the final difficulties are ironed out and a full agreement is signed by the two leaders, it will be a huge step forward for the Palestinians – and for us.
There is no sense in making peace with half a people. Making peace with the entire Palestinian people may be more difficult, but will be infinitely more fruitful.
Therefore: Bravo!
Binyamin Netanyahu also says Bravo. Since the government of Israel has declared Hamas a terrorist organization with whom there will be no dealings whatsoever, Netanyahu can now put an end to any talk about peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. What, peace with a Palestinian government that includes terrorists? Never! End of discussion.
Two bravos, but such a difference.
THE ISRAELI debate about Arab unity goes back a long way. It already started in the early fifties, when the idea of pan-Arab unity raised its head. Gamal Abd-al-Nasser hoisted this banner in Egypt, and the pan-Arab Baath movement became a force in several countries (long before it degenerated into local Mafias in Iraq and Syria).
Nahum Goldman, President of the World Zionist Organization, argued that pan-Arab unity was good for Israel. He believed that peace was necessary for the existence of Israel, and that it would take all the Arab countries together to have the courage to make it.
David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s Prime Minister, thought that peace was bad for Israel, at least until Zionism had achieved all its (publicly undefined) goals. In a state of war, unity among Arabs was a danger that had to be prevented at all costs.
Goldman, the most brilliant coward I ever knew, did not have the courage of his convictions. Ben-Gurion was far less brilliant, but much more determined.
He won.
NOW WE have the same problem all over again.
Netanyahu and his band of peace saboteurs want to prevent Palestinian unity at all costs. They do not want peace, because peace would prevent Israel from achieving the Zionist goals, as they conceive them: a Jewish state in all of historical Palestine, from the sea to the Jordan River (at least). The conflict is going to last for a long, long time to come, and the more divided the enemy, the better.
As a matter of fact, the very emergence of Hamas was influenced by this calculation. The Israeli occupation authorities deliberately encouraged the Islamic movement, which later became Hamas, as a counterweight to the secular nationalist Fatah, which was then conceived as the main enemy.
Later, the Israeli government deliberately fostered the division between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip by violating the Oslo agreement and refusing to open the four “safe passages” between the two territories provided for in the agreement. Not one was open for a single day. The geographical separation brought about the political one.
When Hamas won the January 2006 Palestinian elections, surprising everybody including itself, the Israeli government declared that it would have no dealings with any Palestinian government in which Hamas was represented. It ordered – there is no other word - the US and EU governments to follow suit. Thus the Palestinian Unity Government was brought down.
The next step was an Israeli-American effort to install a strongman of their choosing as dictator of the Gaza Strip, the bulwark of Hamas. The chosen hero was Muhammad Dahlan, a local chieftain. It was not a very good choice – the Israeli security chief recently disclosed that Dahlan had collapsed sobbing into his arms. After a short battle, Hamas took direct control of the Gaza Strip.
A FRATRICIDAL split in a liberation movement is not an exception. It is almost the rule.
The Irish revolutionary movement was an outstanding example. In this country we had the fight between the Hagana and the Irgun, which at times became violent and very ugly. It was Menachem Begin, then the Irgun commander, who prevented a full-fledged civil war.
The Palestinian people, with all the odds against them, can hardly afford such a disaster. The split has generated intense mutual hatred between comrades who spent time in Israeli prison together. Hamas accused the Palestinian Authority – with some justification – of cooperating with the Israeli government against them, urging the Israelis and the Egyptians to tighten the brutal blockade against the Gaza Strip, even preventing a deal for the release of the Israeli prisoner-of-war, Gilad Shalit, in order to block the release of Hamas activists and their return to the West Bank. Many Hamas activists suffer in Palestinian prisons, and the lot of Fatah activists in the Gaza Strip is no more joyous.
Yet both Fatah and Hamas are minorities in Palestine. The great mass of the Palestinian people desperately want unity and a joint struggle to end the occupation. If the final reconciliation agreement is signed by Mahmoud Abbas and Khalid Meshaal, Palestinians everywhere will be jubilant.
BINYAMIN NETANYAHU is jubilant already. The ink was not yet dry on the preliminary agreement initialed in Cairo, when Netanyahu made a solemn speech on TV, something like an address to the nation after an historic event.
“You have to choose between us and Hamas,” he told the Palestinian Authority. That would not be too difficult – one the one side a brutal occupation regime, on the other Palestinian brothers with a different ideology.
But this stupid threat was not the main point of the statement. What Netanyahu told us was that there would be no dealings with a Palestinian Authority connected in any way with the “terrorist Hamas”.
The whole thing is a huge relief for Netanyahu. He has been invited by the new Republican masters to address the US Congress next month and had nothing to say. Nor had he anything to offer the UN, which is about to recognize the State of Palestine this coming September. Now he has: peace is impossible, all Palestinians are terrorists who want to throw us into the sea. Ergo: no peace, no negotiations, no nothing.
IF ONE really wants peace, the message should of course be quite different.
Hamas is a part of Palestinian reality. Sure, it is extremist, but as the British have taught us many times, it is better to make peace with extremists than with moderates. Make peace with the moderates, and you must still deal with the extremists. Make peace with the extremists, and the business is finished.
Actually, Hamas is not quite as extreme as it likes to present itself. It has declared many times that it will accept a peace agreement based on the 1967 lines and signed by Mahmoud Abbas if it is ratified by the people in a referendum or a vote in parliament. Accepting the Palestinian Authority means accepting the Oslo agreement, on which the PA is based – including the mutual recognition of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. In Islam, as in all other religions, God’s word is definitely final, but it can be “interpreted” any way needed. Don’t we Jews know.
What made both sides more flexible? Both have lost their patrons – Fatah its Egyptian protector, Hosny Mubarak, and Hamas its Syrian protector, Bashar al-Assad, who cannot be relied upon anymore. That has brought both sides to face reality: Palestinians stand alone, so they had better unite.
For peace-oriented Israelis, it will be a great relief to deal with a united Palestinian people and with a united Palestinian territory. Israel can do a lot to help this along: open at long last an exterritorial free passage between the West Bank and Gaza, put an end to the stupid and cruel blockade of the Gaza Strip (which has become even more idiotic with the elimination of the Egyptian collaborator), let the Gazans open their port, airport and borders. Israel must accept the fact that religious elements are now a part of the political scene all over the Arab world. They will become institutionalized and, probably, far more “moderate”. That is part of the new reality in the Arab world.
The emergence of Palestinian unity should be welcomed by Israel, as well as by the European nations and the United States. They should get ready to recognize the State of Palestine within the 1967 borders. They should encourage the holding of free and democratic Palestinian elections and accept their results, whatever they may be.
The wind of the Arab Spring is blowing in Palestine too. Bravo!
*Uri Avnery is a former Knesset member and a co-founder of Israeli peace block Gush Shalom
sexta-feira, 29 de abril de 2011
ISRAEL CAN REDEEM ITSELF BY RECOGNIZING A PALESTINIAN STATE
29 april 2011, Haaretz EDITORIAL
Even if the Palestinians prove a disappointment and even if the move doesn’t yield immediate practical results, demonstrating goodwill would help Israel retrieve a moral standing in the eyes of the world.
A ghastly specter has Israel terrified − the specter of the Palestinian state. More accurately, this specter has been terrifying Israel’s leaders for the past four decades. It has now been replaced by a feeling of perplexity, which grows as we approach the day the Palestinian state is declared in the United Nations, with a sweeping international majority.
Despite Israel’s desperate efforts to stall the process, the die appears to be cast − a Palestinian state will be founded, and soon. Now the question is what Israel should do − beyond lobbyism, spreading horror and expressing fears.
It would be naive to see the establishment of the Palestinian state − especially without prior negotiations or an agreement with Israel − as a magic solution that will abruptly end the conflict. But it is no less naive to think that preventing its establishment is still possible or even helpful. Perhaps the opposite is true: If the land is destined to be divided, maybe Israel will benefit by standing genially beside the nascent Palestinian state’s cradle, even as one of its nurturers.
Israel can improve its status if it takes its fate into its own hands. It can be the first to welcome the establishment of a Palestinian sister-state, wish it luck, hold out its hand in peace and express a desire to discuss borders, refugees and settlements issues, this time on an entirely different level − as two sovereign states.
Perhaps such a courageous and generous step will help Israel shake off the stranglehold of delegitimization closing in on it, reduce the responsibility it has been charged with for the refugee problem and the occupation, and shift the conflict from the religious to the territorial dimension. On the tactical level, Israel will be able to pass the responsibilities required of a state to the Palestinian side as well, whatever its government.
As is his custom, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hastened to denounce the reconciliation agreement reached this week between Fatah and Hamas, instead of giving the Palestinian unity government a chance.
Even if the Palestinians prove a disappointment and even if the move doesn’t yield immediate practical results, demonstrating goodwill would help Israel retrieve assets it has long lost in the eyes of the world − a moral standing, good faith and honorable intentions.
Even if the Palestinians prove a disappointment and even if the move doesn’t yield immediate practical results, demonstrating goodwill would help Israel retrieve a moral standing in the eyes of the world.
A ghastly specter has Israel terrified − the specter of the Palestinian state. More accurately, this specter has been terrifying Israel’s leaders for the past four decades. It has now been replaced by a feeling of perplexity, which grows as we approach the day the Palestinian state is declared in the United Nations, with a sweeping international majority.
Despite Israel’s desperate efforts to stall the process, the die appears to be cast − a Palestinian state will be founded, and soon. Now the question is what Israel should do − beyond lobbyism, spreading horror and expressing fears.
It would be naive to see the establishment of the Palestinian state − especially without prior negotiations or an agreement with Israel − as a magic solution that will abruptly end the conflict. But it is no less naive to think that preventing its establishment is still possible or even helpful. Perhaps the opposite is true: If the land is destined to be divided, maybe Israel will benefit by standing genially beside the nascent Palestinian state’s cradle, even as one of its nurturers.
Israel can improve its status if it takes its fate into its own hands. It can be the first to welcome the establishment of a Palestinian sister-state, wish it luck, hold out its hand in peace and express a desire to discuss borders, refugees and settlements issues, this time on an entirely different level − as two sovereign states.
Perhaps such a courageous and generous step will help Israel shake off the stranglehold of delegitimization closing in on it, reduce the responsibility it has been charged with for the refugee problem and the occupation, and shift the conflict from the religious to the territorial dimension. On the tactical level, Israel will be able to pass the responsibilities required of a state to the Palestinian side as well, whatever its government.
As is his custom, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hastened to denounce the reconciliation agreement reached this week between Fatah and Hamas, instead of giving the Palestinian unity government a chance.
Even if the Palestinians prove a disappointment and even if the move doesn’t yield immediate practical results, demonstrating goodwill would help Israel retrieve assets it has long lost in the eyes of the world − a moral standing, good faith and honorable intentions.
Historical Document: AS A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR, AIPAC DOESN'T SPEAK FOR ME -- Hedy Epstein, 29 April, 2011
*Hedy Epstein is a Holocaust survivor, who writes and travels extensively to speak about social justice causes and Middle Eastern affairs.
By Hedy Epstein
29 April, 2011, Alternet.org
The vicious discrimination brought to bear against Palestinians in the occupied territories deserves no applause from members of Congress attending the AIPAC conference
At the end of one of my first journeys to the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2004, I endured a shocking experience at Ben-Gurion Airport. I never imagined that Israeli security forces would abuse a 79-year-old Holocaust survivor, but they held me for five hours, and strip-searched and cavity-searched every part of my naked body. The only shame these security officials expressed was to turn their badges around so that their names were invisible.
The only conceivable purpose for this gross violation of my bodily integrity was to humiliate and terrify me. But it had just the opposite effect. It made me more determined to speak out against abuses by the Israeli government and military.
Yet my own experience, unpleasant as it was, is nothing compared to the indignities and abuses heaped on Palestinians year after year. Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is based not on equal rights and fair play, but on what Human Rights Watch has termed a “two-tier” legal system – in other words, apartheid, with one set of laws for Jews and a harsh, oppressive set of laws for Palestinians.
This, however, is the legal system and security state AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee) will defend from May 22-24 at its annual conference. And, despite this grim reality, members of Congress will converge to hail AIPAC and Israel. The Palestinians’ lack of freedom is bound to be obscured at the AIPAC conference with its obsessive focus on security and shunting aside of anything to do with upholding fundamental Palestinian rights.
Several years ago near Der Beilut in the West Bank, I saw the Israeli police turn a water cannon on our nonviolent protest. As it happened, I recalled Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 and wondered why an ostensibly democratic society responded to peaceable assembly by trying, literally, to drown out the voice of our protest.
In Mas’ha, also in the occupied West Bank, I joined a demonstration against the wall Israel has built, usually inside the West Bank and occasionally towering to 25 feet in height. I saw a red sign warning ominously of “mortal danger” to any who dared to cross in an area where it ran as a fence. I saw Israeli soldiers aiming at unarmed Israelis, Palestinians and international protesters. I also saw blood pouring out of Gil Na’amati, a young Israeli whose first public act after completing his mandatory military service was to protest against the wall. I saw shrapnel lodged in the leg of Anne Farina, one of my traveling companions from St. Louis. And I thought of Kent State and Jackson State, where National Guardsmen opened fire in 1970 on protesters against the Vietnam War.
So as AIPAC meets and members of Congress cheer, I hold these images of Israel in my mind and fear AIPAC’s ability to move US policy in dangerous directions. AIPAC does a disservice to the Palestinians, the Israelis and the American people. It helps to keep the Middle East in a perpetual state of war and this year will be no different from last year as it keeps up a steady drumbeat calling for war against Iran.
AIPAC pretends to speak for all Jews, but it certainly does not speak for me or other members of the Jewish community in this country who are committed to equal rights for all and are aware that American interventionism is likely to bring further disaster and chaos to the Middle East.
Israel, of course, would not be able to carry out its war crimes against civilians in Lebanon and Gaza without the United States – and our $3 billion in military aid – permitting it to do so. At 86 years old, I use every ounce of my energy to educate the American public about the need to stop supporting the abuses committed by the Israeli government and military against the Palestinian people. Sometimes there are people who try to shout me down and scream that I am a self-hating Jew, but most of the time the audience is receptive to hear from someone who survived the Holocaust and now works to free the Palestinians from Israeli oppression.
The vicious discrimination brought to bear against Palestinians in the occupied territories deserves no applause from members of Congress attending the AIPAC conference. Instead, they should raise basic questions with Israeli officials about decades of inferior rights endured by Palestinians both inside Israel and the occupied territories. As for me, I will be across the road at an alternative convention called Move Over AIPAC. To sign up and join me, visit www.MoveOverAIPAC.org.
Take action by attending Move Over AIPAC, a gathering in Washington DC from May 21-24, 2011, to expose AIPAC and build the vision for a new US foreign policy in the Middle East! More information can be found at www.MoveOverAIPAC.org.
By Hedy Epstein
29 April, 2011, Alternet.org
The vicious discrimination brought to bear against Palestinians in the occupied territories deserves no applause from members of Congress attending the AIPAC conference
At the end of one of my first journeys to the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2004, I endured a shocking experience at Ben-Gurion Airport. I never imagined that Israeli security forces would abuse a 79-year-old Holocaust survivor, but they held me for five hours, and strip-searched and cavity-searched every part of my naked body. The only shame these security officials expressed was to turn their badges around so that their names were invisible.
The only conceivable purpose for this gross violation of my bodily integrity was to humiliate and terrify me. But it had just the opposite effect. It made me more determined to speak out against abuses by the Israeli government and military.
Yet my own experience, unpleasant as it was, is nothing compared to the indignities and abuses heaped on Palestinians year after year. Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is based not on equal rights and fair play, but on what Human Rights Watch has termed a “two-tier” legal system – in other words, apartheid, with one set of laws for Jews and a harsh, oppressive set of laws for Palestinians.
This, however, is the legal system and security state AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee) will defend from May 22-24 at its annual conference. And, despite this grim reality, members of Congress will converge to hail AIPAC and Israel. The Palestinians’ lack of freedom is bound to be obscured at the AIPAC conference with its obsessive focus on security and shunting aside of anything to do with upholding fundamental Palestinian rights.
Several years ago near Der Beilut in the West Bank, I saw the Israeli police turn a water cannon on our nonviolent protest. As it happened, I recalled Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 and wondered why an ostensibly democratic society responded to peaceable assembly by trying, literally, to drown out the voice of our protest.
In Mas’ha, also in the occupied West Bank, I joined a demonstration against the wall Israel has built, usually inside the West Bank and occasionally towering to 25 feet in height. I saw a red sign warning ominously of “mortal danger” to any who dared to cross in an area where it ran as a fence. I saw Israeli soldiers aiming at unarmed Israelis, Palestinians and international protesters. I also saw blood pouring out of Gil Na’amati, a young Israeli whose first public act after completing his mandatory military service was to protest against the wall. I saw shrapnel lodged in the leg of Anne Farina, one of my traveling companions from St. Louis. And I thought of Kent State and Jackson State, where National Guardsmen opened fire in 1970 on protesters against the Vietnam War.
So as AIPAC meets and members of Congress cheer, I hold these images of Israel in my mind and fear AIPAC’s ability to move US policy in dangerous directions. AIPAC does a disservice to the Palestinians, the Israelis and the American people. It helps to keep the Middle East in a perpetual state of war and this year will be no different from last year as it keeps up a steady drumbeat calling for war against Iran.
AIPAC pretends to speak for all Jews, but it certainly does not speak for me or other members of the Jewish community in this country who are committed to equal rights for all and are aware that American interventionism is likely to bring further disaster and chaos to the Middle East.
Israel, of course, would not be able to carry out its war crimes against civilians in Lebanon and Gaza without the United States – and our $3 billion in military aid – permitting it to do so. At 86 years old, I use every ounce of my energy to educate the American public about the need to stop supporting the abuses committed by the Israeli government and military against the Palestinian people. Sometimes there are people who try to shout me down and scream that I am a self-hating Jew, but most of the time the audience is receptive to hear from someone who survived the Holocaust and now works to free the Palestinians from Israeli oppression.
The vicious discrimination brought to bear against Palestinians in the occupied territories deserves no applause from members of Congress attending the AIPAC conference. Instead, they should raise basic questions with Israeli officials about decades of inferior rights endured by Palestinians both inside Israel and the occupied territories. As for me, I will be across the road at an alternative convention called Move Over AIPAC. To sign up and join me, visit www.MoveOverAIPAC.org.
Take action by attending Move Over AIPAC, a gathering in Washington DC from May 21-24, 2011, to expose AIPAC and build the vision for a new US foreign policy in the Middle East! More information can be found at www.MoveOverAIPAC.org.
quinta-feira, 28 de abril de 2011
Acordo entre palestinos provoca reação de Israel e EUA
28 abril 2011/Vermelho http://www.vermelho.org.br/
Após quatro anos de divisão, os grupos palestinos Hamas e Fatah anunciaram, na quarta-feira (27), terem chegado a um acordo de conciliação. Negociado no Cairo, o acordo prevê a formação de um governo interino, a fixação de uma data para eleições e a libertação de alguns presos.
A sinalização de unidade desagradou Israel, que ameaçou a Autoridade Palestina com um “vasto arsenal de medidas” de retaliação. As relações entre os dois movimentos políticos foram rompidas em 2007, com a disputa pelo governo da Faixa de Gaza, vencida à força pelo Hamas.
O conflito provocou a criação de duas administrações palestinas, uma em Gaza e outra na Cisjordânia, sob a liderança da Fatah, do presidente Mahmud Abbas, que controla a Autoridade Palestina.
"Digo ao povo palestino que chegou o fim da divisão. O que o povo em Gaza pedia foi cumprido hoje", afirmou o dirigente da Fatah, Azam al Ahmad, em entrevista coletiva na capital egípcia junto ao representante do Hamas, Moussa Abu Marzuk.
"Temos agora um acordo completo, concordamos em todos os assuntos", disse Ahmed. Em duas ocasiões anteriores os dois movimentos anunciaram acordos, mas recuaram da sua adoção em seguida. Na quarta, os dois movimentos disseram que Abbas e Khaled Meshal, líder do Hamas, assinarão o acordo no Cairo, no próximo dia 5.
Ahmad, líder do grupo parlamentar da Fatah na Assembleia Legislativa palestina, afirmou que a ideia de reunir os palestinos partiu da vontade de pôr fim à ocupação de Israel.
"Anteriormente Israel censurou (o presidente da Autoridade Nacional Palestina, Mahmoud) Abbas sobre este acordo, e Abbas respondeu em Moscou que a ANP deseja a reconciliação com o Hamas", lembrou.
O dirigente da Fatah denunciou ainda que "os Estados Unidos usaram a divisão como pretexto para evitar cumprir seus deveres". Ahmad destacou que "a ocupação aproveitou a divisão para 'judaicizar' Jerusalém, levantar o muro e separar grandes setores da Cisjordânia".
Ele respondeu assim ao primeiro-ministro israelense, Benjamin Netanyahu, que, diante da reconciliação, havia dito que a Autoridade Palestina deveria “escolher entre a paz com Israel e a paz com o Hamas”. "Não é possível a paz com os dois porque o Hamas tem a aspiração de destruir Israel, como já disse abertamente", esbravejou Netanyahu.
O nacionalista Avigdor Lierberman, ministro das Relações Exteriores e dirigente do partido extremista Yisrael Beitenu, foi mais longe, ao advertir Mahmud Abbas para o “vasto arsenal de medidas” de retaliação que o Estado sionista pode acionar.
Em declarações difundidas pela rádio militar, Lieberman considerou que Hamas e Fatah ultrapassaram “uma linha vermelha”. E fez ameaças: "Nós dispomos de um vasto arsenal de medidas retaliatórias, incluindo a supressão do estatuto de VIP a Mahmoud Abbas (presidente da Autoridade Palestina), assim como a Salam Fayyad (primeiro-ministro palestino)" – o que os impedirá de circular livremente na Cisjordânia.
Além daquelas retaliações, o chefe da diplomacia de Israel também brandiu ameaças de “congelamento das transferências dos impostos" para os cofres do poder executivo em Ramallah.
O acordo
O negociador do Hamas, Moussa Abu Marzuk, declarou que os dois grupos chegaram a um acordo em questões pendentes como as eleições, a comissão eleitoral, a data do pleito, assuntos de segurança, "a formação de um governo com personalidades independentes", além da continuação da Assembleia Legislativa.
Também foi solucionada a libertação de alguns presos, a reabertura de instituições fechadas e a consolidação de um ambiente para a realização de eleições livres e transparentes com observação internacional, acrescentou Marzuk.
O dirigente do Hamas ressaltou que todos esses temas devem ser cumpridos no prazo de um ano e que, durante as conversas, não foram discutidas as condições estabelecidas pelo Quarteto Internacional (EUA, ONU, UE e Rússia).
Marzuk explicou que seu grupo assinou o plano egípcio, lançando em 2009 e que foi rejeitado pelo Hamas em outubro desse ano por considerar que tinham sido incluídos pontos não discutidos previamente.
Por sua vez, Ahmad ressaltou que "a Liga Árabe se encarregará de acompanhar o cumprimento do acordo e o supervisionará", e que "o acordo obtido hoje responde a dúvidas do plano egípcio".
"Permaneceremos desde hoje no diálogo para resolver qualquer assunto que surja", afirmou Ahmad. "O diálogo é parte da vida e da história contemporânea palestina, todos aprendemos uma dura lição da divisão", prosseguiu.
O representante da Fatah acrescentou que hoje foi fechado um acordo para a formação de uma comissão suprema de segurança, integrada por oficiais e profissionais, e que nomeará uma comissão eleitoral central com o acordo das facções.
Em entrevista posterior à rede de televisão al-Jazira, Ahmad acrescentou que serão realizadas eleições presidenciais e legislativas conjuntas, um ano depois da data da assinatura do acordo.
Sabotagem em andamento
Diante da divulgação do novo acordo, os Estados Unidos já iniciaram a sabotagem do processo. "Os Estados Unidos apoiam a reconciliação palestina sob condições que promovam a causa da paz. O Hamas, no entanto, é uma organização terrorista que tem como alvo os civis", provocou o porta-voz da Casa Branca, Tommy Vietor, em comunicado divulgado na tarde de quarta.
A criação de um governo palestino provisório que reúna os dois principais movimentos políticos locais vai contra os anseios imperialistas dos Estados Unidos no Oriente Médio, de acordo com a nota divulgada pela Casa Branca.
"Para ter um papel construtivo em alcançar a paz, qualquer governo palestino deve aceitar os princípios do Quarteto e renunciar à violência, respeitar os acordos passados e reconhecer o direito de Israel de existir", ameaçou o porta-voz.
Israel e Estados Unidos são os dois maiores beneficiários da desunião entre forças políticas palestinas e não é de se estranhar a posição dos dois governos, que veem qualquer tipo de acordo intrapalestino como ameaça aos planos de dominação do imperialismo no Oriente Médio.
O últimos movimentos iniciados pelos Estados Unidos em torno de um "acordo de paz" entre israelenses e palestinos serviram apenas aos interesses da política interna norte-americana, visto que foram refutados de modo categórico pelo gesto de Israel, ao levantar a autoproclamada moratória que proibia a construção em assentamentos ilegais no território palestino. (Com agências)
Após quatro anos de divisão, os grupos palestinos Hamas e Fatah anunciaram, na quarta-feira (27), terem chegado a um acordo de conciliação. Negociado no Cairo, o acordo prevê a formação de um governo interino, a fixação de uma data para eleições e a libertação de alguns presos.
A sinalização de unidade desagradou Israel, que ameaçou a Autoridade Palestina com um “vasto arsenal de medidas” de retaliação. As relações entre os dois movimentos políticos foram rompidas em 2007, com a disputa pelo governo da Faixa de Gaza, vencida à força pelo Hamas.
O conflito provocou a criação de duas administrações palestinas, uma em Gaza e outra na Cisjordânia, sob a liderança da Fatah, do presidente Mahmud Abbas, que controla a Autoridade Palestina.
"Digo ao povo palestino que chegou o fim da divisão. O que o povo em Gaza pedia foi cumprido hoje", afirmou o dirigente da Fatah, Azam al Ahmad, em entrevista coletiva na capital egípcia junto ao representante do Hamas, Moussa Abu Marzuk.
"Temos agora um acordo completo, concordamos em todos os assuntos", disse Ahmed. Em duas ocasiões anteriores os dois movimentos anunciaram acordos, mas recuaram da sua adoção em seguida. Na quarta, os dois movimentos disseram que Abbas e Khaled Meshal, líder do Hamas, assinarão o acordo no Cairo, no próximo dia 5.
Ahmad, líder do grupo parlamentar da Fatah na Assembleia Legislativa palestina, afirmou que a ideia de reunir os palestinos partiu da vontade de pôr fim à ocupação de Israel.
"Anteriormente Israel censurou (o presidente da Autoridade Nacional Palestina, Mahmoud) Abbas sobre este acordo, e Abbas respondeu em Moscou que a ANP deseja a reconciliação com o Hamas", lembrou.
O dirigente da Fatah denunciou ainda que "os Estados Unidos usaram a divisão como pretexto para evitar cumprir seus deveres". Ahmad destacou que "a ocupação aproveitou a divisão para 'judaicizar' Jerusalém, levantar o muro e separar grandes setores da Cisjordânia".
Ele respondeu assim ao primeiro-ministro israelense, Benjamin Netanyahu, que, diante da reconciliação, havia dito que a Autoridade Palestina deveria “escolher entre a paz com Israel e a paz com o Hamas”. "Não é possível a paz com os dois porque o Hamas tem a aspiração de destruir Israel, como já disse abertamente", esbravejou Netanyahu.
O nacionalista Avigdor Lierberman, ministro das Relações Exteriores e dirigente do partido extremista Yisrael Beitenu, foi mais longe, ao advertir Mahmud Abbas para o “vasto arsenal de medidas” de retaliação que o Estado sionista pode acionar.
Em declarações difundidas pela rádio militar, Lieberman considerou que Hamas e Fatah ultrapassaram “uma linha vermelha”. E fez ameaças: "Nós dispomos de um vasto arsenal de medidas retaliatórias, incluindo a supressão do estatuto de VIP a Mahmoud Abbas (presidente da Autoridade Palestina), assim como a Salam Fayyad (primeiro-ministro palestino)" – o que os impedirá de circular livremente na Cisjordânia.
Além daquelas retaliações, o chefe da diplomacia de Israel também brandiu ameaças de “congelamento das transferências dos impostos" para os cofres do poder executivo em Ramallah.
O acordo
O negociador do Hamas, Moussa Abu Marzuk, declarou que os dois grupos chegaram a um acordo em questões pendentes como as eleições, a comissão eleitoral, a data do pleito, assuntos de segurança, "a formação de um governo com personalidades independentes", além da continuação da Assembleia Legislativa.
Também foi solucionada a libertação de alguns presos, a reabertura de instituições fechadas e a consolidação de um ambiente para a realização de eleições livres e transparentes com observação internacional, acrescentou Marzuk.
O dirigente do Hamas ressaltou que todos esses temas devem ser cumpridos no prazo de um ano e que, durante as conversas, não foram discutidas as condições estabelecidas pelo Quarteto Internacional (EUA, ONU, UE e Rússia).
Marzuk explicou que seu grupo assinou o plano egípcio, lançando em 2009 e que foi rejeitado pelo Hamas em outubro desse ano por considerar que tinham sido incluídos pontos não discutidos previamente.
Por sua vez, Ahmad ressaltou que "a Liga Árabe se encarregará de acompanhar o cumprimento do acordo e o supervisionará", e que "o acordo obtido hoje responde a dúvidas do plano egípcio".
"Permaneceremos desde hoje no diálogo para resolver qualquer assunto que surja", afirmou Ahmad. "O diálogo é parte da vida e da história contemporânea palestina, todos aprendemos uma dura lição da divisão", prosseguiu.
O representante da Fatah acrescentou que hoje foi fechado um acordo para a formação de uma comissão suprema de segurança, integrada por oficiais e profissionais, e que nomeará uma comissão eleitoral central com o acordo das facções.
Em entrevista posterior à rede de televisão al-Jazira, Ahmad acrescentou que serão realizadas eleições presidenciais e legislativas conjuntas, um ano depois da data da assinatura do acordo.
Sabotagem em andamento
Diante da divulgação do novo acordo, os Estados Unidos já iniciaram a sabotagem do processo. "Os Estados Unidos apoiam a reconciliação palestina sob condições que promovam a causa da paz. O Hamas, no entanto, é uma organização terrorista que tem como alvo os civis", provocou o porta-voz da Casa Branca, Tommy Vietor, em comunicado divulgado na tarde de quarta.
A criação de um governo palestino provisório que reúna os dois principais movimentos políticos locais vai contra os anseios imperialistas dos Estados Unidos no Oriente Médio, de acordo com a nota divulgada pela Casa Branca.
"Para ter um papel construtivo em alcançar a paz, qualquer governo palestino deve aceitar os princípios do Quarteto e renunciar à violência, respeitar os acordos passados e reconhecer o direito de Israel de existir", ameaçou o porta-voz.
Israel e Estados Unidos são os dois maiores beneficiários da desunião entre forças políticas palestinas e não é de se estranhar a posição dos dois governos, que veem qualquer tipo de acordo intrapalestino como ameaça aos planos de dominação do imperialismo no Oriente Médio.
O últimos movimentos iniciados pelos Estados Unidos em torno de um "acordo de paz" entre israelenses e palestinos serviram apenas aos interesses da política interna norte-americana, visto que foram refutados de modo categórico pelo gesto de Israel, ao levantar a autoproclamada moratória que proibia a construção em assentamentos ilegais no território palestino. (Com agências)
terça-feira, 26 de abril de 2011
YOUNG MIZRAHI ISRAELIS TO YOUNG ARABS: WE HAVE SO MUCH IN COMMON
Source: Jews for Justice for Palestinians (JFJFP) http://jfjfp.com
Sunday, April 24 2011|+972blog
Young Mizrahi Israelis’ open letter to Arab peers
Translated from Hebrew; English edited by Chana Morgenstern
In a letter titled “Ruh Jedida: A New Spirit for 2011,” young Jewish descendants of the Arab and Islamic world living in Israel write to their peers in the Middle East and North Africa
“We, as the descendants of the Jewish communities of the Arab and Muslim world, the Middle East and the Maghreb, and as the second and third generation of Mizrahi Jews in Israel, are watching with great excitement and curiosity the major role that the men and women of our generation are playing so courageously in the demonstrations for freedom and change across the Arab world. We identify with you and are extremely hopeful for the future of the revolutions that have already succeeded in Tunisia and Egypt. We are equally pained and worried at the great loss of life in Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, and many other places in the region.
Our generation’s protest against repression and oppressive and abusive regimes, and its call for change, freedom, and the establishment of democratic governments that foster citizen participation in the political process, marks a dramatic moment in the history of the Middle East and North Africa, a region which has for generations been torn between various forces, internal and external, and whose leaders have often trampled the political, economic, and cultural rights of its citizens.
We are Israelis, the children and grandchildren of Jews who lived in the Middle East and North Africa for hundreds and thousands of years. Our forefathers and mothers contributed to the development of this region’s culture, and were part and parcel of it. Thus the culture of the Islamic world and the multigenerational connection and identification with this region is an inseparable part of our own identity.
We are a part of the religious, cultural, and linguistic history of the Middle East and North Africa, although it seems that we are the forgotten children of its history: First in Israel, which imagines itself and its culture to be somewhere between continental Europe and North America. Then in the Arab world, which often accepts the dichotomy of Jews and Arabs and the imagined view of all Jews as Europeans, and has preferred to repress the history of the Arab-Jews as a minor or even nonexistent chapter in its history; and finally within the Mizrahi communities themselves, who in the wake of Western colonialism, Jewish nationalism and Arab nationalism, became ashamed of their past in the Arab world.
Consequently we often tried to blend into the mainstream of society while erasing or minimizing our own past. The mutual influences and relationships between Jewish and Arab cultures were subjected to forceful attempts at erasure in recent generations, but evidence of them can still be found in many spheres of our lives, including music, prayer, language, and literature.
We wish to express our identification with and hopes for this stage of generational transition in the history of the Middle East and North Africa, and we hope that it will open the gates to freedom and justice and a fair distribution of the region’s resources.
We turn to you, our generational peers in the Arab and Muslim world, striving for an honest dialog which will include us in the history and culture of the region. We looked enviously at the pictures from Tunisia and from Al-Tahrir square, admiring your ability to bring forth and organize a nonviolent civil resistance that has brought hundreds of thousands of people out into the streets and the squares, and finally forced your rulers to step down.
We, too, live in a regime that in reality—despite its pretensions to being “enlightened” and “democratic”—does not represent large sections of its actual population in the Occupied Territories and inside the Green Line border(s). This regime tramples the economic and social rights of most of its citizens, is in an ongoing process of minimizing democratic liberties, and constructs racist barriers against Arab-Jews, the Arab people, and Arabic culture. Unlike the citizens of Tunisia and Egypt, we are still a long way from the capacity to build the kind of solidarity between various groups that we see in these countries, a solidarity movement that would allow us to unite and march together–all who reside here–into the public squares, to demand a civil regime that is culturally, socially, and economically just and inclusive.
We believe that, as Mizrahi Jews in Israel, our struggle for economic, social, and cultural rights rests on the understanding that political change cannot depend on the Western powers who have exploited our region and its residents for many generations. True change can only come from an intra-regional and inter-religious dialog that is in connection with the different struggles and movements currently active in the Arab world. Specifically, we must be in dialog and solidarity with struggles of the Palestinians citizens of Israel who are fighting for equal political and economic rights and for the termination of racist laws, and the struggle of the Palestinian people living under Israeli military occupation in the West Bank and in Gaza in their demand to end the occupation and to gain Palestinian national independence.
In our previous letter written following Obama’s Cairo speech in 2009, we called for the rise of the democratic Middle Eastern identity and for our inclusion in such an identity. We now express the hope that our generation – throughout the Arab, Muslim, and Jewish world – will be a generation of renewed bridges that will leap over the walls and hostility created by previous generations and will renew the deep human dialog without which we cannot understand ourselves: between Jews, Sunnis, Shias, and Christians, between Kurds, Berbers, Turks, and Persians, between Mizrahis and Ashkenazis, and between Palestinians and Israelis. We draw on our shared past in order to look forward hopefully towards a shared future.
We have faith in intra-regional dialog—whose purpose is to repair and rehabilitate what was destroyed in recent generations—as a catalyst towards renewing the Andalusian model of Muslim-Jewish-Christian partnership, God willing, Insha’Allah, and as a pathway to a cultural and historical golden era for our countries. This golden era cannot come to pass without equal, democratic citizenship, equal distribution of resources, opportunities, and education, equality between women and men, and the acceptance of all people regardless of faith, race, status, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnic affiliation. All of these rights play equal parts in constructing the new society to which we aspire. We are committed to achieving these goals within a process of dialog between all of the people of Middle East and North Africa, as well as a dialog we will undertake with different Jewish communities in Israel and around the world.
We, the undersigned:
Shva Salhoov (Libya), Naama Gershy (Serbia, Yemen), Yael Ben-Yefet (Iraq, Aden), Leah Aini (Greece, Turkey), Yael Berda (Tunisia), Aharon Shem-Tov (Iraq, Iranian Kurdistan), Yosi Ohana (born in Morocco), Yali Hashash (Libya, Yemen), Yonit Naaman (Yemen, Turkey), Orly Noy (born in Iran), Gadi Alghazi (Yugoslavia, Egypt), Mati Shemoelof (Iran, Iraq, Syria), Eliana Almog (Yemen, Germany), Yuval Evri ((Iraq), Ophir Tubul (Morocco, Algeria), Moti Gigi (Morocco), Shlomit Lir (Iran), Ezra Nawi (Iraq), Hedva Eyal (Iran), Eyal Ben-Moshe (Yemen), Shlomit Binyamin (Cuba, Syria, Turkey), Yael Israel (Turkey, Iran), Benny Nuriely (Tunisia), Ariel Galili (Iran), Natalie Ohana Evry (Morocco, Britain), Itamar Toby Taharlev (Morocco, Jerusalem, Egypt), Ofer Namimi (Iraq, Morocco), Amir Banbaji (Syria), Naftali Shem-Tov (Iraq, Iranian Kurdistan), Mois Benarroch (born in Morocco), Yosi David (Tunisia Iran), Shalom Zarbib (Algeria), Yardena Hamo (Iraqi Kurdistan), Aviv Deri (Morocco) Menny Aka (Iraq), Tom Fogel (Yemen, Poland), Eran Efrati (Iraq), Dan Weksler Daniel (Syria, Poland, Ukraine), Yael Gidnian (Iran), Elyakim Nitzani (Lebanon, Iran, Italy), Shelly Horesh-Segel (Morocco), Yoni Mizrahi (Kurdistan), Betty Benbenishti (Turkey), Chen Misgav (Iraq, Poland), Moshe Balmas (Morocco), Tom Cohen (Iraq, Poland, England), Ofir Itah (Morocco), Shirley Karavani (Tunisia, Libya, Yemen), Lorena Atrakzy (Argentina, Iraq), Asaf Abutbul (Poland, Russia, Morocco), Avi Yehudai (Iran), Diana Ahdut (Iran, Jerusalem), Maya Peretz (Nicaragua, Morocco), Yariv Moher (Morocco, Germany), Tami Katzbian (Iran), Oshra Lerer (Iraq, Morocco), Nitzan Manjam (Yemen, Germany, Finland), Rivka Gilad (Iran, Iraq, India), Oshrat Rotem (Morocco), Naava Mashiah (Iraq), Zamira Ron David (Iraq) Omer Avital (Morocco, Yemen), Vered Madar (Yemen), Ziva Atar (Morocco), Yossi Alfi (born in Iraq), Amira Hess (born in Iraq), Navit Barel (Libya), Almog Behar (Iraq, Turkey, Germany)”
Sunday, April 24 2011|+972blog
Young Mizrahi Israelis’ open letter to Arab peers
Translated from Hebrew; English edited by Chana Morgenstern
In a letter titled “Ruh Jedida: A New Spirit for 2011,” young Jewish descendants of the Arab and Islamic world living in Israel write to their peers in the Middle East and North Africa
“We, as the descendants of the Jewish communities of the Arab and Muslim world, the Middle East and the Maghreb, and as the second and third generation of Mizrahi Jews in Israel, are watching with great excitement and curiosity the major role that the men and women of our generation are playing so courageously in the demonstrations for freedom and change across the Arab world. We identify with you and are extremely hopeful for the future of the revolutions that have already succeeded in Tunisia and Egypt. We are equally pained and worried at the great loss of life in Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, and many other places in the region.
Our generation’s protest against repression and oppressive and abusive regimes, and its call for change, freedom, and the establishment of democratic governments that foster citizen participation in the political process, marks a dramatic moment in the history of the Middle East and North Africa, a region which has for generations been torn between various forces, internal and external, and whose leaders have often trampled the political, economic, and cultural rights of its citizens.
We are Israelis, the children and grandchildren of Jews who lived in the Middle East and North Africa for hundreds and thousands of years. Our forefathers and mothers contributed to the development of this region’s culture, and were part and parcel of it. Thus the culture of the Islamic world and the multigenerational connection and identification with this region is an inseparable part of our own identity.
We are a part of the religious, cultural, and linguistic history of the Middle East and North Africa, although it seems that we are the forgotten children of its history: First in Israel, which imagines itself and its culture to be somewhere between continental Europe and North America. Then in the Arab world, which often accepts the dichotomy of Jews and Arabs and the imagined view of all Jews as Europeans, and has preferred to repress the history of the Arab-Jews as a minor or even nonexistent chapter in its history; and finally within the Mizrahi communities themselves, who in the wake of Western colonialism, Jewish nationalism and Arab nationalism, became ashamed of their past in the Arab world.
Consequently we often tried to blend into the mainstream of society while erasing or minimizing our own past. The mutual influences and relationships between Jewish and Arab cultures were subjected to forceful attempts at erasure in recent generations, but evidence of them can still be found in many spheres of our lives, including music, prayer, language, and literature.
We wish to express our identification with and hopes for this stage of generational transition in the history of the Middle East and North Africa, and we hope that it will open the gates to freedom and justice and a fair distribution of the region’s resources.
We turn to you, our generational peers in the Arab and Muslim world, striving for an honest dialog which will include us in the history and culture of the region. We looked enviously at the pictures from Tunisia and from Al-Tahrir square, admiring your ability to bring forth and organize a nonviolent civil resistance that has brought hundreds of thousands of people out into the streets and the squares, and finally forced your rulers to step down.
We, too, live in a regime that in reality—despite its pretensions to being “enlightened” and “democratic”—does not represent large sections of its actual population in the Occupied Territories and inside the Green Line border(s). This regime tramples the economic and social rights of most of its citizens, is in an ongoing process of minimizing democratic liberties, and constructs racist barriers against Arab-Jews, the Arab people, and Arabic culture. Unlike the citizens of Tunisia and Egypt, we are still a long way from the capacity to build the kind of solidarity between various groups that we see in these countries, a solidarity movement that would allow us to unite and march together–all who reside here–into the public squares, to demand a civil regime that is culturally, socially, and economically just and inclusive.
We believe that, as Mizrahi Jews in Israel, our struggle for economic, social, and cultural rights rests on the understanding that political change cannot depend on the Western powers who have exploited our region and its residents for many generations. True change can only come from an intra-regional and inter-religious dialog that is in connection with the different struggles and movements currently active in the Arab world. Specifically, we must be in dialog and solidarity with struggles of the Palestinians citizens of Israel who are fighting for equal political and economic rights and for the termination of racist laws, and the struggle of the Palestinian people living under Israeli military occupation in the West Bank and in Gaza in their demand to end the occupation and to gain Palestinian national independence.
In our previous letter written following Obama’s Cairo speech in 2009, we called for the rise of the democratic Middle Eastern identity and for our inclusion in such an identity. We now express the hope that our generation – throughout the Arab, Muslim, and Jewish world – will be a generation of renewed bridges that will leap over the walls and hostility created by previous generations and will renew the deep human dialog without which we cannot understand ourselves: between Jews, Sunnis, Shias, and Christians, between Kurds, Berbers, Turks, and Persians, between Mizrahis and Ashkenazis, and between Palestinians and Israelis. We draw on our shared past in order to look forward hopefully towards a shared future.
We have faith in intra-regional dialog—whose purpose is to repair and rehabilitate what was destroyed in recent generations—as a catalyst towards renewing the Andalusian model of Muslim-Jewish-Christian partnership, God willing, Insha’Allah, and as a pathway to a cultural and historical golden era for our countries. This golden era cannot come to pass without equal, democratic citizenship, equal distribution of resources, opportunities, and education, equality between women and men, and the acceptance of all people regardless of faith, race, status, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnic affiliation. All of these rights play equal parts in constructing the new society to which we aspire. We are committed to achieving these goals within a process of dialog between all of the people of Middle East and North Africa, as well as a dialog we will undertake with different Jewish communities in Israel and around the world.
We, the undersigned:
Shva Salhoov (Libya), Naama Gershy (Serbia, Yemen), Yael Ben-Yefet (Iraq, Aden), Leah Aini (Greece, Turkey), Yael Berda (Tunisia), Aharon Shem-Tov (Iraq, Iranian Kurdistan), Yosi Ohana (born in Morocco), Yali Hashash (Libya, Yemen), Yonit Naaman (Yemen, Turkey), Orly Noy (born in Iran), Gadi Alghazi (Yugoslavia, Egypt), Mati Shemoelof (Iran, Iraq, Syria), Eliana Almog (Yemen, Germany), Yuval Evri ((Iraq), Ophir Tubul (Morocco, Algeria), Moti Gigi (Morocco), Shlomit Lir (Iran), Ezra Nawi (Iraq), Hedva Eyal (Iran), Eyal Ben-Moshe (Yemen), Shlomit Binyamin (Cuba, Syria, Turkey), Yael Israel (Turkey, Iran), Benny Nuriely (Tunisia), Ariel Galili (Iran), Natalie Ohana Evry (Morocco, Britain), Itamar Toby Taharlev (Morocco, Jerusalem, Egypt), Ofer Namimi (Iraq, Morocco), Amir Banbaji (Syria), Naftali Shem-Tov (Iraq, Iranian Kurdistan), Mois Benarroch (born in Morocco), Yosi David (Tunisia Iran), Shalom Zarbib (Algeria), Yardena Hamo (Iraqi Kurdistan), Aviv Deri (Morocco) Menny Aka (Iraq), Tom Fogel (Yemen, Poland), Eran Efrati (Iraq), Dan Weksler Daniel (Syria, Poland, Ukraine), Yael Gidnian (Iran), Elyakim Nitzani (Lebanon, Iran, Italy), Shelly Horesh-Segel (Morocco), Yoni Mizrahi (Kurdistan), Betty Benbenishti (Turkey), Chen Misgav (Iraq, Poland), Moshe Balmas (Morocco), Tom Cohen (Iraq, Poland, England), Ofir Itah (Morocco), Shirley Karavani (Tunisia, Libya, Yemen), Lorena Atrakzy (Argentina, Iraq), Asaf Abutbul (Poland, Russia, Morocco), Avi Yehudai (Iran), Diana Ahdut (Iran, Jerusalem), Maya Peretz (Nicaragua, Morocco), Yariv Moher (Morocco, Germany), Tami Katzbian (Iran), Oshra Lerer (Iraq, Morocco), Nitzan Manjam (Yemen, Germany, Finland), Rivka Gilad (Iran, Iraq, India), Oshrat Rotem (Morocco), Naava Mashiah (Iraq), Zamira Ron David (Iraq) Omer Avital (Morocco, Yemen), Vered Madar (Yemen), Ziva Atar (Morocco), Yossi Alfi (born in Iraq), Amira Hess (born in Iraq), Navit Barel (Libya), Almog Behar (Iraq, Turkey, Germany)”
Historical Document: COMBATANT'S LETTER
Source: Courage to Refuse http://www.seruv.org.il/english
January 2002, a group of Israeli reserve officers and combat soldiers returned from their duty in the Gaza strip, and drafted a letter that would change the way Israelis conceive the military control of the occupied territories. This document came to be known as the Combatant's Letter.
• We, reserve combat officers and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, who were raised upon the principles of Zionism, self-sacrifice and giving to the people of Israel and to the State of Israel, who have always served in the front lines, and who were the first to carry out any mission in order to protect the State of Israel and strengthen it.
• We, combat officers and soldiers who have served the State of Israel for long weeks every year, in spite of the dear cost to our personal lives, have been on reserve duty in the Occupied Territories, and were issued commands and directives that had nothing to do with the security of our country, and that had the sole purpose of perpetuating our control over the Palestinian people.
• We, whose eyes have seen the bloody toll this Occupation exacts from both sides,
• We, who sensed how the commands issued to us in the Occupied Territories destroy all the values that we were raised upon,
• We, who understand now that the price of Occupation is the loss of IDF’s human character and the corruption of the entire Israeli society,
• We, who know that the Territories are not a part of Israel, and that all settlements are bound to be evacuated,
• We hereby declare that we shall not continue to fight this War of the Settlements.
• We shall not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people.
• We hereby declare that we shall continue serving the Israel Defense Force in any mission that serves Israel’s defense.
The missions of occupation and oppression do not serve this purpose – and we shall take no part in them.
January 2002, a group of Israeli reserve officers and combat soldiers returned from their duty in the Gaza strip, and drafted a letter that would change the way Israelis conceive the military control of the occupied territories. This document came to be known as the Combatant's Letter.
• We, reserve combat officers and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, who were raised upon the principles of Zionism, self-sacrifice and giving to the people of Israel and to the State of Israel, who have always served in the front lines, and who were the first to carry out any mission in order to protect the State of Israel and strengthen it.
• We, combat officers and soldiers who have served the State of Israel for long weeks every year, in spite of the dear cost to our personal lives, have been on reserve duty in the Occupied Territories, and were issued commands and directives that had nothing to do with the security of our country, and that had the sole purpose of perpetuating our control over the Palestinian people.
• We, whose eyes have seen the bloody toll this Occupation exacts from both sides,
• We, who sensed how the commands issued to us in the Occupied Territories destroy all the values that we were raised upon,
• We, who understand now that the price of Occupation is the loss of IDF’s human character and the corruption of the entire Israeli society,
• We, who know that the Territories are not a part of Israel, and that all settlements are bound to be evacuated,
• We hereby declare that we shall not continue to fight this War of the Settlements.
• We shall not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people.
• We hereby declare that we shall continue serving the Israel Defense Force in any mission that serves Israel’s defense.
The missions of occupation and oppression do not serve this purpose – and we shall take no part in them.
Brasil: TERRORISMO NA TRÍPLICE FRONTEIRA. A QUEM INTERESSA ESTA ILUSÃO?
26 abril 2011, Vermelho http://www.vermelho.org.br
Nilton Bobato *
O mês de abril de 2011 ficará marcado como o da retomada da tentativa de construção pelo gendarme do império no Brasil, a Revista Veja, de que a tríplice fronteira, composta por Foz do Iguaçu, Ciudad del Este e Puerto Iguazu, é foco de organização de terríveis terroristas islâmicos, agora acrescida da informação de que um maldoso professor iraniano recruta jovens terroristas no Brasil.
Isso parece história contada por filmes de espionagem para sessão da tarde, mas não é nada disso. Está a serviço da construção de uma imagem para justificar ações. Não é a primeira vez, mas talvez seja o princípio de uma ação mais organizada do que as anteriores, que visavam somente construir na opinião pública internacional a justificativa para guerras no Iraque, no Afeganistão, etc. Agora não é somente construir a imagem de árabes maldosos, perigosos para a democracia, para justificar os ataques na Líbia ou preparar uma campanha contra o Irã. Talvez estejam olhando para o próprio Brasil, para nosso crescimento, para o amadurecimento de nossa democracia.
Mas antes, vamos falar da estúpida história contada pela Veja. Na edição de 06 de abril, a revista ressuscita histórias antigas e devidamente esclarecidas para apontar supostos suspeitos de coordenarem ações de financiamento e organização de grupos terroristas islâmicos na tríplice fronteira. Citando o caso do senhor Sael Atari, um empresário que vive pacificamente há 23 anos da fronteira, liderança palestina, a revista o classifica como um perigoso falsificador do passaportes e diz que não o localizou, mas usou o mais pérfido método para conseguir uma foto do senhor Atari (enviou um jovem para dizer que fazia um trabalho acadêmico sobre os palestinos e tirou uma foto de um senhor Atari sorridente em frente a mesquita sunita).
Homenageamos o senhor Atari na Câmara de Vereadores local, como símbolo da estupidez jornalística daquele texto. O perigoso terrorista islâmico sentou-se ao lado de dois vereadores cristãos (o presidente e o secretário) na Casa de Leis de Foz do Iguaçu e recebeu a homenagem proposta por um vereador comunista.
Na semana seguinte, a mesma Veja traz em destaque a matéria sobre o professor iraniano que recrutaria jovens terroristas no Brasil e transforma uma viagem de estudantes do islamismo ao Irã num crime contra a humanidade.
Versões ingênuas, fantasiosas de jornalistas alucinados por um furo improvável? Claro que não, integra uma campanha muito bem articulada internacionalmente e que terá outros capítulos num futuro breve. Campanha financiada por recursos norte-americanos, conforme texto de Peter Blair e Khatarina Garcia, veiculado em 17 de fevereiro deste ano, que informa que o Congresso dos EUA aprovou aumento de valores com gastos para publicidade contra os líderes que ameacem o império. Parte destes recursos, US$ 120 milhões, seriam direcionados à mídia brasileira.
E segundo cartas vazadas pelo siteWikiLeaks, este reforço de imprensa no Brasil está ligado diretamente a uma ação para que o país se engaje em campanhas visando a difamação de religiões, como já ocorre na França e que tem como principal alvo os seguidores do islamismo. Classificá-los como terroristas, sanguinários, é uma boa forma de forçar campanhas contra a convivência pacífica que temos no país.
Protógenes
O deputado federal Protógenes Queiróz (PCdoB-SP), esteve na tríplice fronteira prestando solidariedade ao povo árabe e aos muçulmanos que vivem por aqui (a segunda maior colônia do país), mas mais do que solidariedade, como profundo conhecedor da vida na fronteira (foi responsável por investigações de lavagem de dinheiro na região no início dos anos 2000), declarou que não encontrou nenhum árabe ou brasileiro de descendência árabe envolvido com financiamentos de ações terroristas por estas bandas.
A passagem do deputado pela tríplice fronteira provocou uma grande mobilização da comunidade local e reuniu entre sunitas e xiitas, cerca de 800 pessoas num domingo à noite para protestar contra as ilações desta imprensa. A comunidade vai reagir, quebrou o silêncio e se organiza para não aceitar novas campanhas difamatórias sem resposta.
* Vereador do PCdoB em Foz do Iguaçu (PR), membro do Conselho Nacional de Política Cultural, professor e escritor.
Nilton Bobato *
O mês de abril de 2011 ficará marcado como o da retomada da tentativa de construção pelo gendarme do império no Brasil, a Revista Veja, de que a tríplice fronteira, composta por Foz do Iguaçu, Ciudad del Este e Puerto Iguazu, é foco de organização de terríveis terroristas islâmicos, agora acrescida da informação de que um maldoso professor iraniano recruta jovens terroristas no Brasil.
Isso parece história contada por filmes de espionagem para sessão da tarde, mas não é nada disso. Está a serviço da construção de uma imagem para justificar ações. Não é a primeira vez, mas talvez seja o princípio de uma ação mais organizada do que as anteriores, que visavam somente construir na opinião pública internacional a justificativa para guerras no Iraque, no Afeganistão, etc. Agora não é somente construir a imagem de árabes maldosos, perigosos para a democracia, para justificar os ataques na Líbia ou preparar uma campanha contra o Irã. Talvez estejam olhando para o próprio Brasil, para nosso crescimento, para o amadurecimento de nossa democracia.
Mas antes, vamos falar da estúpida história contada pela Veja. Na edição de 06 de abril, a revista ressuscita histórias antigas e devidamente esclarecidas para apontar supostos suspeitos de coordenarem ações de financiamento e organização de grupos terroristas islâmicos na tríplice fronteira. Citando o caso do senhor Sael Atari, um empresário que vive pacificamente há 23 anos da fronteira, liderança palestina, a revista o classifica como um perigoso falsificador do passaportes e diz que não o localizou, mas usou o mais pérfido método para conseguir uma foto do senhor Atari (enviou um jovem para dizer que fazia um trabalho acadêmico sobre os palestinos e tirou uma foto de um senhor Atari sorridente em frente a mesquita sunita).
Homenageamos o senhor Atari na Câmara de Vereadores local, como símbolo da estupidez jornalística daquele texto. O perigoso terrorista islâmico sentou-se ao lado de dois vereadores cristãos (o presidente e o secretário) na Casa de Leis de Foz do Iguaçu e recebeu a homenagem proposta por um vereador comunista.
Na semana seguinte, a mesma Veja traz em destaque a matéria sobre o professor iraniano que recrutaria jovens terroristas no Brasil e transforma uma viagem de estudantes do islamismo ao Irã num crime contra a humanidade.
Versões ingênuas, fantasiosas de jornalistas alucinados por um furo improvável? Claro que não, integra uma campanha muito bem articulada internacionalmente e que terá outros capítulos num futuro breve. Campanha financiada por recursos norte-americanos, conforme texto de Peter Blair e Khatarina Garcia, veiculado em 17 de fevereiro deste ano, que informa que o Congresso dos EUA aprovou aumento de valores com gastos para publicidade contra os líderes que ameacem o império. Parte destes recursos, US$ 120 milhões, seriam direcionados à mídia brasileira.
E segundo cartas vazadas pelo siteWikiLeaks, este reforço de imprensa no Brasil está ligado diretamente a uma ação para que o país se engaje em campanhas visando a difamação de religiões, como já ocorre na França e que tem como principal alvo os seguidores do islamismo. Classificá-los como terroristas, sanguinários, é uma boa forma de forçar campanhas contra a convivência pacífica que temos no país.
Protógenes
O deputado federal Protógenes Queiróz (PCdoB-SP), esteve na tríplice fronteira prestando solidariedade ao povo árabe e aos muçulmanos que vivem por aqui (a segunda maior colônia do país), mas mais do que solidariedade, como profundo conhecedor da vida na fronteira (foi responsável por investigações de lavagem de dinheiro na região no início dos anos 2000), declarou que não encontrou nenhum árabe ou brasileiro de descendência árabe envolvido com financiamentos de ações terroristas por estas bandas.
A passagem do deputado pela tríplice fronteira provocou uma grande mobilização da comunidade local e reuniu entre sunitas e xiitas, cerca de 800 pessoas num domingo à noite para protestar contra as ilações desta imprensa. A comunidade vai reagir, quebrou o silêncio e se organiza para não aceitar novas campanhas difamatórias sem resposta.
* Vereador do PCdoB em Foz do Iguaçu (PR), membro do Conselho Nacional de Política Cultural, professor e escritor.
Poll: More than half of Egyptians want to cancel peace treaty with Israel
26 April 2011, Haaretz
Only 36 percent of Egyptians are in favor of maintaining the treaty, according to U.S.-based polling company.
By The Associated Press
More than half of all Egyptians would like to see the 1979 peace treaty with Israel annulled, according to results of a poll conducted by the U.S.-based Pew Research Center released Monday.
According to the poll results, only 36 percent of Egyptians are in favor of maintaining the treaty, compared with 54 percent who would like to see it scrapped.
The poll highlights the deep unpopularity of the three-decade-old treaty, which was scrupulously adhered to by former President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted February 11.
The poll, based on interviews with 1,000 Egyptians around the country, was conducted between March 24 and April 7 as part of the Spring 2011 Pew Global. Attitudes survey that was conducted in 22 countries. The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Opinions varied according to income, with 60 percent of lower income Egyptians supporting the treaty's cancellation while only 45 percent of the wealthier classes thinking it should be done away with.
Only 40 percent of Egyptians with a college education thought the treaty should be scrapped, as well.
The poll also revealed that most Egyptians are optimistic about where the country is headed following the 18-day popular uprising, and they look forward to greater democracy in their country.
The country's youth-led pro-democracy movement, which rocked Egypt and reworked the political environment, had a dramatic effect on people's attitudes. The polls show a major rise in optimism and changing of national priorities.
In 2007, Egyptian were evenly split over which was more important, a strong leader or democracy, but in the recent poll 64 percent rated democracy higher.
Egyptians remained quite split on just who they wanted to lead them as new political forces emerge after the decades of repression. In September, elections will be held for a new parliament after the one overwhelmingly dominated by Mubarak's ruling party was dissolved.
The conservative Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and the largely secular April 6 movement - two groups closely involved in the uprising, had the highest approval ratings in society, with over 70 percent seeing them in a very or somewhat favorable light.
People also overwhelmingly approved of the army, which forced out Mubarak and is currently in the control of the country.
Of those whose names have been put forward as possible candidates for the upcoming November presidential elections, former Arab League head Amr Moussa was the most popular, with 89 percent giving him a very or somewhat favorable rating.
Former presidential candidate Ayman Nour trailed with a 70 percent rating while Nobel Prize Laureate and reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei only had 57 percent rating.
The United States continued to garner low approval ratings, with only 20 percent of Egyptians seeing it in a positive light, up from 17 percent in 2010.
Only 15 percent of those interviewed thought Egypt should have closer relations with the U.S. - as opposed to 43 percent who though the two countries could use some distance.
More on this topic
Egypt orders ex-energy minister to stand trial for natural gas deal with Israel
Only 36 percent of Egyptians are in favor of maintaining the treaty, according to U.S.-based polling company.
By The Associated Press
More than half of all Egyptians would like to see the 1979 peace treaty with Israel annulled, according to results of a poll conducted by the U.S.-based Pew Research Center released Monday.
According to the poll results, only 36 percent of Egyptians are in favor of maintaining the treaty, compared with 54 percent who would like to see it scrapped.
The poll highlights the deep unpopularity of the three-decade-old treaty, which was scrupulously adhered to by former President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted February 11.
The poll, based on interviews with 1,000 Egyptians around the country, was conducted between March 24 and April 7 as part of the Spring 2011 Pew Global. Attitudes survey that was conducted in 22 countries. The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Opinions varied according to income, with 60 percent of lower income Egyptians supporting the treaty's cancellation while only 45 percent of the wealthier classes thinking it should be done away with.
Only 40 percent of Egyptians with a college education thought the treaty should be scrapped, as well.
The poll also revealed that most Egyptians are optimistic about where the country is headed following the 18-day popular uprising, and they look forward to greater democracy in their country.
The country's youth-led pro-democracy movement, which rocked Egypt and reworked the political environment, had a dramatic effect on people's attitudes. The polls show a major rise in optimism and changing of national priorities.
In 2007, Egyptian were evenly split over which was more important, a strong leader or democracy, but in the recent poll 64 percent rated democracy higher.
Egyptians remained quite split on just who they wanted to lead them as new political forces emerge after the decades of repression. In September, elections will be held for a new parliament after the one overwhelmingly dominated by Mubarak's ruling party was dissolved.
The conservative Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and the largely secular April 6 movement - two groups closely involved in the uprising, had the highest approval ratings in society, with over 70 percent seeing them in a very or somewhat favorable light.
People also overwhelmingly approved of the army, which forced out Mubarak and is currently in the control of the country.
Of those whose names have been put forward as possible candidates for the upcoming November presidential elections, former Arab League head Amr Moussa was the most popular, with 89 percent giving him a very or somewhat favorable rating.
Former presidential candidate Ayman Nour trailed with a 70 percent rating while Nobel Prize Laureate and reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei only had 57 percent rating.
The United States continued to garner low approval ratings, with only 20 percent of Egyptians seeing it in a positive light, up from 17 percent in 2010.
Only 15 percent of those interviewed thought Egypt should have closer relations with the U.S. - as opposed to 43 percent who though the two countries could use some distance.
Egypt orders ex-energy minister to stand trial for natural gas deal with Israel
Next flotilla to Gaza renamed in honour of Vik
Written by Free Gaza Team, 15 April 2011
Freedom Flotilla 2 Steering Committee
The murder of human rights activist, Vittorio Arrigoni, is a tragedy for his family, for those of us who knew him, and for the Palestinians who loved and admired him. The Steering Committee of Freedom Flotilla 2 condemns this senseless murder and the people who are behind it. They took the life of one of the most passionate supporters of justice for Palestine. This murder is damaging to the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice as well as our work in support of that struggle.
In his honor, we are naming our next voyage, FREEDOM FLOTILLA – STAY HUMAN.
Nothing that we write can capture the man who was so full of the joy of life, a man with the pipe in his mouth and the captain’s hat always tilted at an angle on his head. The man with the big smile and gentle nature, someone who used his physical strength to hold small children in his arms, sometimes several at a time. His laughter and his last comments every time we saw him will ring in all of our ears as we board the boats to return to Gaza at the end of May.
“Stay Human,” he would say, then grin and clench his pipe in his teeth.
Vittorio had sailed with us from Greece on the first small fishing boat to enter Gaza in the summer of 2008, one of 44 activists sailing to protest the illegal blockade imposed by Israel against the 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza. We will do our best, Vik, to carry on the work you have done. The flotilla will return to Gaza in your honor.
Contact: Huwaida Arraf, Ramallah +972-598-336-215.
Espen Goffeng, Norway +47 90 13 14 94
Ramy Ramy, London +447728021097
Mother of Slain Italian Activist to Sail to Gaza, Flotilla Change Name in Honor of Vittorio
Gaza-PNN – Agidea Prata, the mother of Vittorio Arrigoni, the Italian activist and journalist killed in Gaza on Friday, said that she will be sailing to Gaza on May with the Free Gaza flotilla. Prata on Saturday told Italian news sources that “I want to see Gaza that my son loved and sacrificed for, I want to meet the good people living there that my son Vik always talked about”. She added that Vittorio work will go on though his friends.
Vittorio’s mother added that her son received death threats from a right wing American group on their website two years ago because of his photos published online and the pro Palestinian tattoo he has on his shoulder.
Vittorio first came to Gaza with the Free Gaza flotilla in 2008 and used to live in a single bedroom house near Gaza City coastline until he was kidnapped and murdered by a radical Salafists group calling itself Mohamed Bin-Mosliemah brigades.
Also on Saturday organizers of the Free Gaza flotilla announced that next voyage to Gaza will be named “ Freedom Flotilla – Stay Human” in Honor of Vittorio Arrigoni.
“The murder of human rights activist, Vittorio Arrigoni, is a tragedy for his family, for those of us who knew him, and for the Palestinians who loved and admired him. The Steering Committee of Freedom Flotilla 2 condemns this senseless murder and the people who are behind it. They took the life of one of the most passionate supporters of justice for Palestine. This murder is damaging to the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice as well as our work in support of that struggle.” The group said on their website.
Adding that ““Stay Human he would say, then grin and clench his pipe in his teeth. We will do our best, Vik, to carry on the work you have done. The flotilla will return to Gaza in your honor.”
According to the Free Gaza Movement the group will send a new flotilla to Gaza in May. Last year on May 30th Israeli navy attacked the freedom flotilla boats while sailing in international water to Gaza killing 9 aid workers and injuring 54.
Freedom Flotilla 2 Steering Committee
The murder of human rights activist, Vittorio Arrigoni, is a tragedy for his family, for those of us who knew him, and for the Palestinians who loved and admired him. The Steering Committee of Freedom Flotilla 2 condemns this senseless murder and the people who are behind it. They took the life of one of the most passionate supporters of justice for Palestine. This murder is damaging to the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice as well as our work in support of that struggle.
In his honor, we are naming our next voyage, FREEDOM FLOTILLA – STAY HUMAN.
Nothing that we write can capture the man who was so full of the joy of life, a man with the pipe in his mouth and the captain’s hat always tilted at an angle on his head. The man with the big smile and gentle nature, someone who used his physical strength to hold small children in his arms, sometimes several at a time. His laughter and his last comments every time we saw him will ring in all of our ears as we board the boats to return to Gaza at the end of May.
“Stay Human,” he would say, then grin and clench his pipe in his teeth.
Vittorio had sailed with us from Greece on the first small fishing boat to enter Gaza in the summer of 2008, one of 44 activists sailing to protest the illegal blockade imposed by Israel against the 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza. We will do our best, Vik, to carry on the work you have done. The flotilla will return to Gaza in your honor.
Contact: Huwaida Arraf, Ramallah +972-598-336-215.
Espen Goffeng, Norway +47 90 13 14 94
Ramy Ramy, London +447728021097
Mother of Slain Italian Activist to Sail to Gaza, Flotilla Change Name in Honor of Vittorio
Gaza-PNN – Agidea Prata, the mother of Vittorio Arrigoni, the Italian activist and journalist killed in Gaza on Friday, said that she will be sailing to Gaza on May with the Free Gaza flotilla. Prata on Saturday told Italian news sources that “I want to see Gaza that my son loved and sacrificed for, I want to meet the good people living there that my son Vik always talked about”. She added that Vittorio work will go on though his friends.
Vittorio’s mother added that her son received death threats from a right wing American group on their website two years ago because of his photos published online and the pro Palestinian tattoo he has on his shoulder.
Vittorio first came to Gaza with the Free Gaza flotilla in 2008 and used to live in a single bedroom house near Gaza City coastline until he was kidnapped and murdered by a radical Salafists group calling itself Mohamed Bin-Mosliemah brigades.
Also on Saturday organizers of the Free Gaza flotilla announced that next voyage to Gaza will be named “ Freedom Flotilla – Stay Human” in Honor of Vittorio Arrigoni.
“The murder of human rights activist, Vittorio Arrigoni, is a tragedy for his family, for those of us who knew him, and for the Palestinians who loved and admired him. The Steering Committee of Freedom Flotilla 2 condemns this senseless murder and the people who are behind it. They took the life of one of the most passionate supporters of justice for Palestine. This murder is damaging to the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice as well as our work in support of that struggle.” The group said on their website.
Adding that ““Stay Human he would say, then grin and clench his pipe in his teeth. We will do our best, Vik, to carry on the work you have done. The flotilla will return to Gaza in your honor.”
According to the Free Gaza Movement the group will send a new flotilla to Gaza in May. Last year on May 30th Israeli navy attacked the freedom flotilla boats while sailing in international water to Gaza killing 9 aid workers and injuring 54.
Egypt keen to help Palestinians unite
Egyptian government to ease siege on Gaza
Source: Jews for Justice for Palestinians (JFJFP) http://jfjfp.com
Cairo (Ma’an) April 22nd,2011 -The Egyptian government will apply new procedures at the Rafah crossing on the Egypt-Gaza border to ease travel for residents of the besieged coastal enclave, officials said Thursday.
During a meeting in Cairo, Baha Ad-Dusuqi, head of Palestinian affairs in the Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, informed Gaza government spokesman Taher An-Nunu that new measures would be in place at the terminal soon.
An-Nunu appealed to the Egyptian government to open the Rafah crossing swiftly.
Since Israel imposed an illegal blockade on the Gaza Strip, the Rafah crossing is the only gateway to the rest of the world for Gaza residents.
The officials also discussed internal Palestinian reconciliation, and the need to restore national unity between the Hamas-run government in Gaza and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
An-Nunu said the Gaza government was confident in Egypt’s ability to mediate an end to the division, and said national unity would empower Palestinians to deal with Israel’s occupation.
Ad-Dusuqi said Egypt was keen to help unity efforts. The new Egyptian government, in place since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in February, sought strong relations with Palestinians, the official added.
Egypt would not hesitate to support Palestinians’ rights in all areas, Ad-Dusuqi said.
An-Nunu said the Gaza government would support Egypt’s new leadership as it transitioned to full stability.
Source: Jews for Justice for Palestinians (JFJFP) http://jfjfp.com
Cairo (Ma’an) April 22nd,2011 -The Egyptian government will apply new procedures at the Rafah crossing on the Egypt-Gaza border to ease travel for residents of the besieged coastal enclave, officials said Thursday.
During a meeting in Cairo, Baha Ad-Dusuqi, head of Palestinian affairs in the Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, informed Gaza government spokesman Taher An-Nunu that new measures would be in place at the terminal soon.
An-Nunu appealed to the Egyptian government to open the Rafah crossing swiftly.
Since Israel imposed an illegal blockade on the Gaza Strip, the Rafah crossing is the only gateway to the rest of the world for Gaza residents.
The officials also discussed internal Palestinian reconciliation, and the need to restore national unity between the Hamas-run government in Gaza and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
An-Nunu said the Gaza government was confident in Egypt’s ability to mediate an end to the division, and said national unity would empower Palestinians to deal with Israel’s occupation.
Ad-Dusuqi said Egypt was keen to help unity efforts. The new Egyptian government, in place since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in February, sought strong relations with Palestinians, the official added.
Egypt would not hesitate to support Palestinians’ rights in all areas, Ad-Dusuqi said.
An-Nunu said the Gaza government would support Egypt’s new leadership as it transitioned to full stability.
sexta-feira, 22 de abril de 2011
Poster calling to boycott stores where Arabs work with Jewish women spotted in Jerusalem
22 april 2011, Haaretz
Campaign by right-wing group Lehava aims to prevent intimate relationships between Jews and Arabs.
By Adi Dovrat-Meseritz
"Do you want your grandson to be named Ahmed ben Sarah?" a street poster slapped on the walls of Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods inquires, in a not-so-subtle dig at the Yesh retail chain.
The problem the authors of the broadside (pashkevil, in Hebrew ) have is that Yesh, the Haredi arm of the Super-Sol supermarket chain, allows Arab men to work alongside Jewish women.
The poster features the Yesh logo next to a photograph of two employees chatting - or as the poster puts it, "An Arab man courting a daughter of Israel at the Givat Shaul branch."
TheMarker has discovered that the organization behind the pashkevil is Lehava, a Hebrew acronym for "Preventing Assimilation in the Holy Land." (Don't confuse it with the Finance Ministry division called Lehava, which is devoted to narrowing digital gaps in Israeli society.
"One of the biggest problems today is that Jewish employees at retail chains are assimilating with Arab employees," said Bentzi Gupstein, one of the anti-assimilation group's leaders. "Just two weeks ago a Jewish woman working at a branch of Shefa Shuk in Jerusalem left a Haredi home and went to live with an Arab employee she'd met at the store."
"We are publicizing the problem to make people understand that there is a problem, and to encourage people to buy from places that hire Jewish labor. The posters influence the Haredi community," Gupstein added.
As part of its efforts to prevent any romantic ties between Jewish women and Arab men, Lehava launched riots in Safed and Afula, and demonstrations in Bat Yam and the south Tel Aviv neighborhood of Hatikva.
Super-Sol issued a statement saying the Yesh chain condemns all violent and harmful acts against any sector.
"We will continue to serve all sectors and communities, and are glad to employ thousands of people from all parts of society," the chain said.
------- Please red also
IJV Demands Mainstream Jewish Groups Condemn Israeli Laws
April 10, 2011 Independent Jewish Voices – Canada http://ijvcanada.org
“Israel’s friends tout it as the only democracy in the Middle East. But at a time when democracy is breaking out in countries all over the region, Israel’s Knesset (the country’s parliament) has mounted a legislative attack on the fundamental freedoms of its Arab citizens and Israeli Jews who support them,” declared Sid Shniad, spokesperson for Independent Jewish Voices Canada.
“If they are seriously committed to the fundamental principles of democracy, we expect organizations like the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Canada-Israel Committee and B’nai Brith to condemn these outrageous, anti-democratic laws,” Shniad explained.
“On March 23, the Knesset adopted two of these loathsome laws,” explained. “The first allows the state to annul the citizenship of anyone found guilty of ‘security offences’. It is widely acknowledged that this law is designed to be used against Palestinian Israelis who take action against the discrimination they are experiencing,” he stressed.
“The second law allows small Israeli communities to exclude ‘unsuitable’ persons from taking up residence. This is clearly directed at preventing Palestinian Israelis from living in villages where the Jewish majority wishes to exclude them,” Shniad said.
“A third law that is in the final stages of receiving legislative approval outlaws the boycotting of products from Israel as well as areas under its control — in other words, products from Israeli settlements situated on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and Syria’s Golan Heights,” he noted.
“These Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. Yet under the terms of this new law, actions like the recent refusal by Israeli actors to perform in the illegal settlement of Ariel would be liable to criminal prosecution. We agree with Uri Avnery, the Israeli activist, who argues that this law amounts to a legislative annexation of the occupied Palestinian Territories,” he concluded.
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Shalom 1492 recommends:
Nazi Anti-Jewish Laws. www.adl.org/children.../about_nazi_law.asp
Left and right clash at Tel Aviv rally to support Palestinian state
Rally participated by 21 Israel Prize laureates was to culminate by signing declaration of Palestinian independence outside Tel Aviv's historical Independence Hall.
21 april 2011, Haaretz
Leading left-wing cultural leaders, including several Israel Prize laureates, were verbally accosted on Thursday during a rally in support of an independent Palestinian state.
The rally, taking place outside Tel Aviv's Independence Hall, was reportedly disrupted by right-wing activists equipped with bullhorns, who called out: "leftist professors, it will all blow up in your face," "Kahane was right," and "traitors."
Rally organizers and participants, who included 21Israel Prize laureates, said present police forces did not separate rally goers from objectors, as they usually do during right-wing events.
The speech by Israel Prize winning actress Hanna Maron was disrupted several times by right-wing counter-protesters, who yelled out "fifth column." Disruptions reportedly continued even after attempts by organizers to quell the anti-rally sentiment by mentioning Maron lost her leg during a 1970 terror attack on an El-Al flight.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak released a statement following the clash, saying disagreements must be solved "without the word' 'treason' and without violence."
"The state is facing fateful decisions and everyone wants a safe and strong Israel," Barak said. "I call on all to demonstrate responsibly."
Prior to Thursday's rally, protest organizers said they planned to sign their own written declaration to this effect, adding they intended to invite members of the general public to join them in signing the document.
"The Jewish people arose in the Land of Israel, where its character was forged. The Palestinian people is rising in Palestine, where its character was forged," the proposed document declared.
"We call on everyone who seeks peace and freedom for all peoples to support the declaration of Palestinian statehood, and to act in a way that encourages the citizens of the two states to maintain peaceful relations on the basis of the 1967 borders... The total end to the occupation is a fundamental precondition for the liberation of the two peoples," the statement continues.
Sponsors of the event insist it will not be a token protest, but rather part of a larger process that will lead to a legitimate alternative to Israel's current policies.
"Our initiative is not a naive one," said Sefi Rachlevsky, one of the initiators of the demonstration and a Haaretz columnist.
"Instead of Israel being the first to extend its hand and support Palestinian independence, it is trying to warn against it. That is not only a moral disaster, but it's also liable to bring about a practical catastrophe in which Israel will isolate itself and turn into a kind of South Africa."
More on this topic
Israeli public figures to sign document supporting Palestinian state
21 april 2011, Haaretz
Leading left-wing cultural leaders, including several Israel Prize laureates, were verbally accosted on Thursday during a rally in support of an independent Palestinian state.
The rally, taking place outside Tel Aviv's Independence Hall, was reportedly disrupted by right-wing activists equipped with bullhorns, who called out: "leftist professors, it will all blow up in your face," "Kahane was right," and "traitors."
Rally organizers and participants, who included 21Israel Prize laureates, said present police forces did not separate rally goers from objectors, as they usually do during right-wing events.
The speech by Israel Prize winning actress Hanna Maron was disrupted several times by right-wing counter-protesters, who yelled out "fifth column." Disruptions reportedly continued even after attempts by organizers to quell the anti-rally sentiment by mentioning Maron lost her leg during a 1970 terror attack on an El-Al flight.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak released a statement following the clash, saying disagreements must be solved "without the word' 'treason' and without violence."
"The state is facing fateful decisions and everyone wants a safe and strong Israel," Barak said. "I call on all to demonstrate responsibly."
Prior to Thursday's rally, protest organizers said they planned to sign their own written declaration to this effect, adding they intended to invite members of the general public to join them in signing the document.
"The Jewish people arose in the Land of Israel, where its character was forged. The Palestinian people is rising in Palestine, where its character was forged," the proposed document declared.
"We call on everyone who seeks peace and freedom for all peoples to support the declaration of Palestinian statehood, and to act in a way that encourages the citizens of the two states to maintain peaceful relations on the basis of the 1967 borders... The total end to the occupation is a fundamental precondition for the liberation of the two peoples," the statement continues.
Sponsors of the event insist it will not be a token protest, but rather part of a larger process that will lead to a legitimate alternative to Israel's current policies.
"Our initiative is not a naive one," said Sefi Rachlevsky, one of the initiators of the demonstration and a Haaretz columnist.
"Instead of Israel being the first to extend its hand and support Palestinian independence, it is trying to warn against it. That is not only a moral disaster, but it's also liable to bring about a practical catastrophe in which Israel will isolate itself and turn into a kind of South Africa."
Israeli public figures to sign document supporting Palestinian state
Rightist Attacks Peace Now’s Director in TV Studio, Israeli Professor Calls for His Execution
20 april 2011, Tikun Olam-תקון עולם http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam
You know something’s dreadfully wrong when a well-known Israeli professor says to a peace activist the equivalent of “up against the wall, mother-fucker.”
A week ago Peace Now director Yariv Oppenheim was slapped in the face before the airing of a TV interview which was supposed to include an Israeli right-wing activist, Dr. Mohr Altschuler. According to Peace Now and Al Jazeera, the attack was unprovoked and before slapping him she accused him of sending left-wing activists to interview her at her home a number of years earlier. Oppenheim refused to enter the TV studio until police were summoned. The authorities took witness statements from station personnel and Altshuler did not go on air.
However, another panel participant, a Likud MK accused Peace Now of participating in “an international campaign to generate delegitimization of Israel” by sharing with the U.S. embassy its reports about settlement activity in the Territories.
Apparently unsatisfied that Oppenheimer was only slapped and not punished severely enough, a far-right Bar Ilan professor, Moti Keidar, has called for Oppenheimer’s execution. Among the jewels contained in the letter of support he wrote to Altshuler:
“I learned with great satisfaction of your slapping Yariv Oppenheimer. Good for you! The time has come for someone with initiative to do what should be done to this dirty weakling squealer [against Israel], the least of which can be said about him that he is a traitor. In any normal nation he would’ve long ago been stood against a wall [and shot].”
Imagine that Kedar views Israel as an abnormal nation because no one has the guts to kill Yariv Oppenheim. What kind of sick souls does Bar Ilan and the entire Orthodox nationalist community nurture that they think its “normal” to execute those with whom you diagree?
In a subsequent TV interview Kedar told the reporter he was “proud” of what he wrote:
“He had it coming and has it coming. He has no idea what I see in the world. You have no idea what troubles we find ourselves in as a nation because of what he [Oppenheim] does, characterized largely by genuine lies.”
A spokesperson for Bar Ilan had the decency to say that Kedar did not reflect the University’s views in this matter (though I doubt you’ll find the president or board of trustees taking the good professor to task, because he likely reflects their views). Oppenheimer responded by challenging Bar Ilan to fire Kedar. Good luck with that.
If Kedar was a lone ranting lunatic it would be one thing. But aside from his prestigious academic position, he really represents the views of a large minority of Israelis. Every major opinion poll of Israelis confirms a decided willingness to limit free speech and the activities of NGOs which might endanger the State. It is far too short a walk from that to seeing such figures as traitors who deserve physical punishment and even death for their activities.
I’ve already written in this blog about a Yeshiva University senior administrator who told students in Israel that they should hang the prime minister (at the time) if he gave up one inch of Jerusalem. His punishment? The University sent him back home on the next plane to avoid further embarrassment. But as far as I know he wasn’t disciplined, again likely because he expressed precisely the views of many other senior leaders of the University.
Not to mention Yitzhak Rabin’s 1995 assassination at the hands of another far-right settler thug, Yigal Amir.
There is a strong undercurrent of violence among far-right Orthodox nationalists represented by the good rabbi and Professor Kedar. And truth be told, this group is in the political ascendancy in Israel. It may be only a short interval before some Jack Teitel nutcase actually does kill a peace activist like Oppenheimer. After all, it was Teitel himself who injured distinguished Hebrew University professor Zeev Sternhell with a poorly placed bomb outside his apartment front door.
What I wonder is–when such violence finally does happen, what will be the response? What will be learned? Which views will be renounced? Which groups, if any, will be tarnished by such violence? My guess is that no one who should pay a price, will; that Israel is incapable of learning any real lesson from such threats of violence or actual violence. Professor Kedar will continue opining to the world media and not be seen for the accomplice to murder that he really is. This is why my current views of the political situation inside Israel are so dreary and downcast.
Related posts:
- Rightist Ben Gurion Professor Derails Faculty Candidacy of Peace Activist
- Israeli Rightist Calls for Death of Palestinian MK
- Top Israeli Academics Censure Bar Ilan for Firing Professor Over Political Beliefs
- Israeli Security Labels American Professor Terrorist, Then Realizes It Was Mistaken Identity
- Bibi Names New Shin Bet Director, New Israeli Palestinian Arrest Under Gag
You know something’s dreadfully wrong when a well-known Israeli professor says to a peace activist the equivalent of “up against the wall, mother-fucker.”
A week ago Peace Now director Yariv Oppenheim was slapped in the face before the airing of a TV interview which was supposed to include an Israeli right-wing activist, Dr. Mohr Altschuler. According to Peace Now and Al Jazeera, the attack was unprovoked and before slapping him she accused him of sending left-wing activists to interview her at her home a number of years earlier. Oppenheim refused to enter the TV studio until police were summoned. The authorities took witness statements from station personnel and Altshuler did not go on air.
However, another panel participant, a Likud MK accused Peace Now of participating in “an international campaign to generate delegitimization of Israel” by sharing with the U.S. embassy its reports about settlement activity in the Territories.
Apparently unsatisfied that Oppenheimer was only slapped and not punished severely enough, a far-right Bar Ilan professor, Moti Keidar, has called for Oppenheimer’s execution. Among the jewels contained in the letter of support he wrote to Altshuler:
“I learned with great satisfaction of your slapping Yariv Oppenheimer. Good for you! The time has come for someone with initiative to do what should be done to this dirty weakling squealer [against Israel], the least of which can be said about him that he is a traitor. In any normal nation he would’ve long ago been stood against a wall [and shot].”
Imagine that Kedar views Israel as an abnormal nation because no one has the guts to kill Yariv Oppenheim. What kind of sick souls does Bar Ilan and the entire Orthodox nationalist community nurture that they think its “normal” to execute those with whom you diagree?
In a subsequent TV interview Kedar told the reporter he was “proud” of what he wrote:
“He had it coming and has it coming. He has no idea what I see in the world. You have no idea what troubles we find ourselves in as a nation because of what he [Oppenheim] does, characterized largely by genuine lies.”
A spokesperson for Bar Ilan had the decency to say that Kedar did not reflect the University’s views in this matter (though I doubt you’ll find the president or board of trustees taking the good professor to task, because he likely reflects their views). Oppenheimer responded by challenging Bar Ilan to fire Kedar. Good luck with that.
If Kedar was a lone ranting lunatic it would be one thing. But aside from his prestigious academic position, he really represents the views of a large minority of Israelis. Every major opinion poll of Israelis confirms a decided willingness to limit free speech and the activities of NGOs which might endanger the State. It is far too short a walk from that to seeing such figures as traitors who deserve physical punishment and even death for their activities.
I’ve already written in this blog about a Yeshiva University senior administrator who told students in Israel that they should hang the prime minister (at the time) if he gave up one inch of Jerusalem. His punishment? The University sent him back home on the next plane to avoid further embarrassment. But as far as I know he wasn’t disciplined, again likely because he expressed precisely the views of many other senior leaders of the University.
Not to mention Yitzhak Rabin’s 1995 assassination at the hands of another far-right settler thug, Yigal Amir.
There is a strong undercurrent of violence among far-right Orthodox nationalists represented by the good rabbi and Professor Kedar. And truth be told, this group is in the political ascendancy in Israel. It may be only a short interval before some Jack Teitel nutcase actually does kill a peace activist like Oppenheimer. After all, it was Teitel himself who injured distinguished Hebrew University professor Zeev Sternhell with a poorly placed bomb outside his apartment front door.
What I wonder is–when such violence finally does happen, what will be the response? What will be learned? Which views will be renounced? Which groups, if any, will be tarnished by such violence? My guess is that no one who should pay a price, will; that Israel is incapable of learning any real lesson from such threats of violence or actual violence. Professor Kedar will continue opining to the world media and not be seen for the accomplice to murder that he really is. This is why my current views of the political situation inside Israel are so dreary and downcast.
Related posts:
- Rightist Ben Gurion Professor Derails Faculty Candidacy of Peace Activist
- Israeli Rightist Calls for Death of Palestinian MK
- Top Israeli Academics Censure Bar Ilan for Firing Professor Over Political Beliefs
- Israeli Security Labels American Professor Terrorist, Then Realizes It Was Mistaken Identity
- Bibi Names New Shin Bet Director, New Israeli Palestinian Arrest Under Gag
quinta-feira, 21 de abril de 2011
FEPAL REAGE À DIFAMAÇÃO MIDIÁTICA DA COMUNIDADE ÁRABE NO BRASIL
17 de abril de 2011, Vermelho http://www.vermelho.org.br
A FEPAL – Federação Árabe Palestina do Brasil, frente a eventos recentes em que a comunidade árabe residente no Brasil é apresentada, por parte dos grandes veículos de comunicação de massa, como vinculada ao “terrorismo”, criminalizando-a por meio da demonização do islamismo, credo religioso de grande parte desta comunidade e majoritário nos países árabes, manifesta sua mais profunda preocupação, dada a gravidade dos mesmos.
Preocupa-nos ainda mais porque não são atos isolados. Integram um conjunto de táticas e estratégias de agentes externos que buscam alcançar justamente este objetivo, à semelhança do que já se dá nos EUA e em outros países, especialmente europeus.
Do que é mais recente, temos a reportagem da revista semanal Veja, notória inimiga de políticas externas não alinhadas à dos EUA e visível inimiga dos muçulmanos em geral e dos árabes em particular, mais particularmente ainda dos palestinos. A reportagem que deu a chamada de capa – “A REDE DO TERROR NO BRASIL” –, veiculada em sua edição de número 2211, de 6 de abril de 2011, simplesmente criminaliza toda a comunidade árabe e muçulmana residente no Brasil sem apresentar uma única prova, limitando-se, quando muito, a citar algumas agências de segurança e inquéritos que jamais versaram acerca do terrorismo e que, para muito além, até mesmo inocentaram os acusados daquilo que exclusivamente foram acusados.
Não bastasse isso, a revista cita investigações já arquivadas e personagens que vivem legalmente no Brasil, com seus negócios legais e abertos, ao quais se refere como se estivessem escondidos em algum bunker, com hilações tal qual o trecho do texto em que este veículo de comunicação afirma “…Ele (Khaled Hussein Ali) foi flagrado por Veja na porta de sua lan house”.
Mas isto partir da revista Veja, bem como de outros veículos de comunicação de massa, dentre os quais se destacam os veículos do Grupo Globo, não chega a ser novo ou assombroso, dado o papel negativo que cumprem no Brasil, basicamente veiculando informações validando as pollíticas dos EUA para o restante do mundo, o que tem implicado em ataque frontal à política externa brasileira, à atuação do Brasil em organismos multilaterais, como a Organização Mundial do Comércio (OMC) e a Agência Internacional de Energia Atômica (AIEA), ou no Conselho de Segurança da ONU e em suas comissões, dentre as quais a de direitos humanos.
O que preocupa é que estas veiculações estão articuladas a um plano de criminalizar a comunidade árabe-muçulmana residente no Brasil, do qual participam diretamente o Governo dos EUA e sua agência de inteligência, a CIA. E isto já não é assunto restrito aos afortunados pelas informações privilegiadas, especialmente em decorrência de duas informações, de fontes distintas, que desnudam esta ação direta dos EUA no Brasil.
Um exemplo paradigmático que oferece, no mínimo, indícios válidos desta estratégia, é texto analítico recente de autoria de PETER BLAIR e KHATARINA GARCIA, veiculado em 17 de fevereiro deste ano de 2011, no qual é desnudado que o Congresso dos EUA autorizou a Casa Branca a dobrar o valor dos recursos destinados à compra de espaço na mídia de diversos países com vistas à promoção de suas políticas e, claro, deslegitimação das políticas destes países alvo, dentre eles o Brasil, cuja política externa independente tem incomodado sobremaneira o governo estadunidense e os de alguns de seus aliados. Tanto incomoda que somente para o Brasil a verba prevista para 2011 é de gigantescos 120 milhões de dólares.
Um breve excerto deste texto assim expõe a questão: “O Congresso dos Estados Unidos autorizou a Casa Branca a dobrar os valores aprovados no orçamento de 2011 para gastos relativos a propaganda e meios de comunicação contra líderes que contrariam os interesses dos EUA no mundo, como é o caso de Muammar Khadafy, Mahmoud Ahmednejad, Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, Rafael Correa, Raul Castro, Daniel Ortega, Cristina Krischner, Fernando Lugo, Kim Jo II. Os recursos devem ser usados na compra de espaço na mídia dos países governados por estes líderes em jornais, rádios, revistas e redes de televisão, que devem sempre se referir aos mesmos como ditadores e receberem sempre orientação dos Adidos de Imprensa nos respectivos países ou senão houver relações diplomática com estes, pelos agentes da CIA no país. O orçamento total do projeto é de hum bilhão de dólares e só para o Brasil foram destinados 120 milhões para esse tipo de ação.”.
Ou seja: trata-se de violação da soberania do Brasil, já de plano, e um ataque inadmissível a suas instituições e interferência direta em sua política interna, algo inconcebível pelo perigo que isso carrega. Basta ter em conta que os EUA nunca atacaram militarmente um país soberano sem que antes tenham interferido diretamente em sua política interna e o demonizado por meio da propaganda mascarada de informação veiculada por veículos de comunicação de massa que apresentam como notícia o que unilateralmente produzem as chamadas “agências de notícias”, todas estadunidenses, francesas e inglesas.
Outra prova desta política é o recente vazamento do WikiLeaks de correspondência diplomática (telegrama) da embaixada dos EUA no Brasil ao Departamento de Estado, no qual informa das medidas adotadas, bem como as que, a seu ver, devem ser adotadas, com vistas a engajar o Brasil na difamação de religiões. Este texto desvenda como os EUA pretendem instrumentalizar a relevante temática dos direitos humanos para engajar o Brasil na difamação de religiões, bem como de que forma isto se fará, tendo os grandes veículos de comunicação de massa como instrumentos de proa. Aliás, sempre os mesmos veículos de comunicação que se opuseram vigorosamente, por exemplo, ao Estatuto de Igualdade Racial e a toda legislação de promoção da igualdade racial no Brasil, aí destacando-se a política de cotas.
Novamente, um pequeno excerto da correspondência tornada pública pelo Wikileaks ajuda a entender melhor como esta ação se dá: “Aumentar a atividade pela mídia e o alcance das comunidades religiosas parceiras: Até agora, nenhum grupo religioso no Brasil assumiu a defesa da difamação de religiões. Mas o Brasil é sociedade multirreligiosa e multiétnica, que valoriza a liberdade de religião. Um esforço para difundir a consciência sobre os danos que podem advir de se proibir a difamação das religiões pode render bons dividendos. Grandes veículos de imprensa, como O Estado de S. Paulo e O Globo, além da revista Veja, podem dedicar-se a informar sobre os riscos que podem advir de punir-se quem difame religiões, sobretudo entre a elite do país.
Essa embaixada tem obtido significativo sucesso em implantar entrevistas encomendadas a jornalistas, com altos funcionários do governo dos EUA e intelectuais respeitados. Visitas ao Brasil, de altos funcionários do governo dos EUA seriam excelente oportunidade para pautar a questão para a imprensa brasileira. Outra vez, especialistas e funcionários de outros governos e países que apóiem nossa posição a favor de não se punir quem difame religiões garantiriam importante ímpeto aos nossos esforços.
Essa campanha também deve ser orientada às comunidades religiosas que parecem ter influência sobre o governo do Brasil, quando se opuseram à visita ao Brasil do presidente Ahmadinejad do Irã, em novembro...”.
Mas é claro que estes textos e a análise que ensejam tem força apenas relativa se não confrontados com os fatos, ou seja, com o que de fato se dá no plano do terreno. E isto é facíl de aferir tomando como paradigmas dois eventos recentes.
Destacando-se que a correspondência diplomática referida veio à luz em 03 de abril deste ano de 2011, a primeira grande pista que temos de esta estratégia já estar em andamento é justamente a reportagem da revista semanal Veja – “A REDE DO TERROR NO BRASIL” –, veiculada em sua edição de 6 de abril de 2011, apenas três dias depois.
A segunda prova cabal de estar em andamento uma estratégia de difamação do islamismo e de demonização da comunidade árabe residente no Brasil são as injustificáveis ilações acerca do credo religioso de Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, que às 8 horas da manhã do último dia 7, quinta-feira, matou 12 crianças na Escola Municipal Tasso da Silveira, no Realengo, bairro da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Ainda que este tipo de crime seja marca registrada dos EUA, país no qual estes episódios contam-se às dezenas e cujos autores dentre eles não há nenhum muçulmano – aliás, nunca se informou o credo religioso seguido por estes criminosos estadunidenses –, rapidamente repórteres, apresentadores e portais de internet, sem nenhuma prova e baseando-se unicamente numa infamante boataria, buscaram associar o criminoso ao Islã.
Este ímpeto de difamação do islamismo e de demonização da comunidade muçulmana e árabe – esta, inclusive, não necessariamente apenas muçulmana – residente no Brasil restou em parte freada diante da ausência absoluta de menções a Maomé e Alá na carta deixada pelo criminoso. Mais curioso é que na carta eram fartas menções de Deus e Jesus, assim como era pontuada de não poucas citações e referências bíblicas. Misteriosamente, a partir desta constatação, inclusive vindo à luz a igreja que frequentava, desapareceu o interesse dos grandes veículos de comunicação pela fé do criminoso. As insinuações, entretanto, permaneceram pontuando o faccioso noticiário de alguns grandes veículos de comunicação.
Não menos perigoso é o ímpeto que estes mesmos veículos de comunicação, obedecendo à mesma estratégia já mencionada, buscam colocar em campos opostos os movimentos emancipatórios e de solidariedade das populações muçulmanas e árabes residentes no Brasil, notadamente a de palestinos imigrados e seus descendentes, e o movimento negro brasileiro. Na mesma reportagem da revista Veja de 6 de abril de 2011, seu texto busca incriminar um dos objetos de sua pretensa reportagem em crime de racismo, alegando que este teria disparado spams direcionados a sites dos EUA incitando o ódio a judeus e negros.
O objetivo desta estratégia é claro: dividir e, talvez pior ainda, colocar em campos opostos estes dois movimentos, que sempre foram aliados sinceros contra adversários e inimigos comuns, táticos ou estratégicos, verdade ainda vigente, especialmente frente ao papel cada vez mais agressivo que estes mesmos adversários e inimigos desempenham no mundo atual. Caso concreto e insofismável desta aliança sincera e desinteressada é o documento da FEPAL de apoio ao ESTATUTO DA IGUALDADE RACIAL e às COTAS RACIAIS no Brasil.
Por fim, esta estratégia tem também outras agendas ocultas, das quais uma é gravíssima: a aprovação pelo Brasil de legislação antiterrorista nos moldes exigidos pelos EUA para moldar o país à cruzada estadunidense desde os atentados de 11 de detembro de 2001 de intervenção armada mundo afora, sempre sob o eufemismo da “guerra ao terror”.
No entendimento da FEPAL, esta legislação é impensável porque visa única e exclusivamente criminalizar todos aqueles – pessoas ou movimentos – que se opõem às políticas militaristas e intervencionistas dos EUA, bem como criminalizar todos os movimentos sociais brasileiros que buscam afirmar seus direitos sociais e humanos, dentre os quais poderíamos destacar o Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra (MST), os movimentos de luta por moradia, os movimentos negro e indígena, para citar poucos.
Com esta mesma legislação até mesmo a soberania do Brasil restaria relativizada, visto que os EUA visam tornar, mesmo que artificialmente, todas as fronteiras brasileiras palco de criminalidade organizada e de tráfego de terroristas, plataforma discursiva já vigente para a triplice fronteira objetivando prejudicar a consolidação do Mercosul e a liderança natural do Brasil no continente.
Enfim, a FEPAL manifesta a este Conselho Nacional de Promoção da Igualdade Racial (CNPIR) sua profunda preocupação frente a estes eventos, razão pela qual requer seja o presente documento e seus anexos recebidos no mínimo como RECOMENDAÇÃO, a ser encaminhada à Ouvidoria da Secretaria de Políticas de Promoção da Igualdade Racial (SEPPIR), à Secretria de Direitos Humanos, ao Ministério da Justiça e ao Gabinete da Presidência da República, bem como aos demais órgãos governamentais e organizações aos quais entender necessário recebê-lo, para que tomem conhecimento desta manifestação e dos graves elementos que a consubstanciam e ensejam e adotem as medidas cabíveis com vistas à efetiva apuração destes e a adoção de medidas para coibí-los enquanto isto é possível.
Brasília-DF, 14 de abril de 2011.
FEPAL – Federação Árabe Palestina do Brasil
A FEPAL – Federação Árabe Palestina do Brasil, frente a eventos recentes em que a comunidade árabe residente no Brasil é apresentada, por parte dos grandes veículos de comunicação de massa, como vinculada ao “terrorismo”, criminalizando-a por meio da demonização do islamismo, credo religioso de grande parte desta comunidade e majoritário nos países árabes, manifesta sua mais profunda preocupação, dada a gravidade dos mesmos.
Preocupa-nos ainda mais porque não são atos isolados. Integram um conjunto de táticas e estratégias de agentes externos que buscam alcançar justamente este objetivo, à semelhança do que já se dá nos EUA e em outros países, especialmente europeus.
Do que é mais recente, temos a reportagem da revista semanal Veja, notória inimiga de políticas externas não alinhadas à dos EUA e visível inimiga dos muçulmanos em geral e dos árabes em particular, mais particularmente ainda dos palestinos. A reportagem que deu a chamada de capa – “A REDE DO TERROR NO BRASIL” –, veiculada em sua edição de número 2211, de 6 de abril de 2011, simplesmente criminaliza toda a comunidade árabe e muçulmana residente no Brasil sem apresentar uma única prova, limitando-se, quando muito, a citar algumas agências de segurança e inquéritos que jamais versaram acerca do terrorismo e que, para muito além, até mesmo inocentaram os acusados daquilo que exclusivamente foram acusados.
Não bastasse isso, a revista cita investigações já arquivadas e personagens que vivem legalmente no Brasil, com seus negócios legais e abertos, ao quais se refere como se estivessem escondidos em algum bunker, com hilações tal qual o trecho do texto em que este veículo de comunicação afirma “…Ele (Khaled Hussein Ali) foi flagrado por Veja na porta de sua lan house”.
Mas isto partir da revista Veja, bem como de outros veículos de comunicação de massa, dentre os quais se destacam os veículos do Grupo Globo, não chega a ser novo ou assombroso, dado o papel negativo que cumprem no Brasil, basicamente veiculando informações validando as pollíticas dos EUA para o restante do mundo, o que tem implicado em ataque frontal à política externa brasileira, à atuação do Brasil em organismos multilaterais, como a Organização Mundial do Comércio (OMC) e a Agência Internacional de Energia Atômica (AIEA), ou no Conselho de Segurança da ONU e em suas comissões, dentre as quais a de direitos humanos.
O que preocupa é que estas veiculações estão articuladas a um plano de criminalizar a comunidade árabe-muçulmana residente no Brasil, do qual participam diretamente o Governo dos EUA e sua agência de inteligência, a CIA. E isto já não é assunto restrito aos afortunados pelas informações privilegiadas, especialmente em decorrência de duas informações, de fontes distintas, que desnudam esta ação direta dos EUA no Brasil.
Um exemplo paradigmático que oferece, no mínimo, indícios válidos desta estratégia, é texto analítico recente de autoria de PETER BLAIR e KHATARINA GARCIA, veiculado em 17 de fevereiro deste ano de 2011, no qual é desnudado que o Congresso dos EUA autorizou a Casa Branca a dobrar o valor dos recursos destinados à compra de espaço na mídia de diversos países com vistas à promoção de suas políticas e, claro, deslegitimação das políticas destes países alvo, dentre eles o Brasil, cuja política externa independente tem incomodado sobremaneira o governo estadunidense e os de alguns de seus aliados. Tanto incomoda que somente para o Brasil a verba prevista para 2011 é de gigantescos 120 milhões de dólares.
Um breve excerto deste texto assim expõe a questão: “O Congresso dos Estados Unidos autorizou a Casa Branca a dobrar os valores aprovados no orçamento de 2011 para gastos relativos a propaganda e meios de comunicação contra líderes que contrariam os interesses dos EUA no mundo, como é o caso de Muammar Khadafy, Mahmoud Ahmednejad, Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, Rafael Correa, Raul Castro, Daniel Ortega, Cristina Krischner, Fernando Lugo, Kim Jo II. Os recursos devem ser usados na compra de espaço na mídia dos países governados por estes líderes em jornais, rádios, revistas e redes de televisão, que devem sempre se referir aos mesmos como ditadores e receberem sempre orientação dos Adidos de Imprensa nos respectivos países ou senão houver relações diplomática com estes, pelos agentes da CIA no país. O orçamento total do projeto é de hum bilhão de dólares e só para o Brasil foram destinados 120 milhões para esse tipo de ação.”.
Ou seja: trata-se de violação da soberania do Brasil, já de plano, e um ataque inadmissível a suas instituições e interferência direta em sua política interna, algo inconcebível pelo perigo que isso carrega. Basta ter em conta que os EUA nunca atacaram militarmente um país soberano sem que antes tenham interferido diretamente em sua política interna e o demonizado por meio da propaganda mascarada de informação veiculada por veículos de comunicação de massa que apresentam como notícia o que unilateralmente produzem as chamadas “agências de notícias”, todas estadunidenses, francesas e inglesas.
Outra prova desta política é o recente vazamento do WikiLeaks de correspondência diplomática (telegrama) da embaixada dos EUA no Brasil ao Departamento de Estado, no qual informa das medidas adotadas, bem como as que, a seu ver, devem ser adotadas, com vistas a engajar o Brasil na difamação de religiões. Este texto desvenda como os EUA pretendem instrumentalizar a relevante temática dos direitos humanos para engajar o Brasil na difamação de religiões, bem como de que forma isto se fará, tendo os grandes veículos de comunicação de massa como instrumentos de proa. Aliás, sempre os mesmos veículos de comunicação que se opuseram vigorosamente, por exemplo, ao Estatuto de Igualdade Racial e a toda legislação de promoção da igualdade racial no Brasil, aí destacando-se a política de cotas.
Novamente, um pequeno excerto da correspondência tornada pública pelo Wikileaks ajuda a entender melhor como esta ação se dá: “Aumentar a atividade pela mídia e o alcance das comunidades religiosas parceiras: Até agora, nenhum grupo religioso no Brasil assumiu a defesa da difamação de religiões. Mas o Brasil é sociedade multirreligiosa e multiétnica, que valoriza a liberdade de religião. Um esforço para difundir a consciência sobre os danos que podem advir de se proibir a difamação das religiões pode render bons dividendos. Grandes veículos de imprensa, como O Estado de S. Paulo e O Globo, além da revista Veja, podem dedicar-se a informar sobre os riscos que podem advir de punir-se quem difame religiões, sobretudo entre a elite do país.
Essa embaixada tem obtido significativo sucesso em implantar entrevistas encomendadas a jornalistas, com altos funcionários do governo dos EUA e intelectuais respeitados. Visitas ao Brasil, de altos funcionários do governo dos EUA seriam excelente oportunidade para pautar a questão para a imprensa brasileira. Outra vez, especialistas e funcionários de outros governos e países que apóiem nossa posição a favor de não se punir quem difame religiões garantiriam importante ímpeto aos nossos esforços.
Essa campanha também deve ser orientada às comunidades religiosas que parecem ter influência sobre o governo do Brasil, quando se opuseram à visita ao Brasil do presidente Ahmadinejad do Irã, em novembro...”.
Mas é claro que estes textos e a análise que ensejam tem força apenas relativa se não confrontados com os fatos, ou seja, com o que de fato se dá no plano do terreno. E isto é facíl de aferir tomando como paradigmas dois eventos recentes.
Destacando-se que a correspondência diplomática referida veio à luz em 03 de abril deste ano de 2011, a primeira grande pista que temos de esta estratégia já estar em andamento é justamente a reportagem da revista semanal Veja – “A REDE DO TERROR NO BRASIL” –, veiculada em sua edição de 6 de abril de 2011, apenas três dias depois.
A segunda prova cabal de estar em andamento uma estratégia de difamação do islamismo e de demonização da comunidade árabe residente no Brasil são as injustificáveis ilações acerca do credo religioso de Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, que às 8 horas da manhã do último dia 7, quinta-feira, matou 12 crianças na Escola Municipal Tasso da Silveira, no Realengo, bairro da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Ainda que este tipo de crime seja marca registrada dos EUA, país no qual estes episódios contam-se às dezenas e cujos autores dentre eles não há nenhum muçulmano – aliás, nunca se informou o credo religioso seguido por estes criminosos estadunidenses –, rapidamente repórteres, apresentadores e portais de internet, sem nenhuma prova e baseando-se unicamente numa infamante boataria, buscaram associar o criminoso ao Islã.
Este ímpeto de difamação do islamismo e de demonização da comunidade muçulmana e árabe – esta, inclusive, não necessariamente apenas muçulmana – residente no Brasil restou em parte freada diante da ausência absoluta de menções a Maomé e Alá na carta deixada pelo criminoso. Mais curioso é que na carta eram fartas menções de Deus e Jesus, assim como era pontuada de não poucas citações e referências bíblicas. Misteriosamente, a partir desta constatação, inclusive vindo à luz a igreja que frequentava, desapareceu o interesse dos grandes veículos de comunicação pela fé do criminoso. As insinuações, entretanto, permaneceram pontuando o faccioso noticiário de alguns grandes veículos de comunicação.
Não menos perigoso é o ímpeto que estes mesmos veículos de comunicação, obedecendo à mesma estratégia já mencionada, buscam colocar em campos opostos os movimentos emancipatórios e de solidariedade das populações muçulmanas e árabes residentes no Brasil, notadamente a de palestinos imigrados e seus descendentes, e o movimento negro brasileiro. Na mesma reportagem da revista Veja de 6 de abril de 2011, seu texto busca incriminar um dos objetos de sua pretensa reportagem em crime de racismo, alegando que este teria disparado spams direcionados a sites dos EUA incitando o ódio a judeus e negros.
O objetivo desta estratégia é claro: dividir e, talvez pior ainda, colocar em campos opostos estes dois movimentos, que sempre foram aliados sinceros contra adversários e inimigos comuns, táticos ou estratégicos, verdade ainda vigente, especialmente frente ao papel cada vez mais agressivo que estes mesmos adversários e inimigos desempenham no mundo atual. Caso concreto e insofismável desta aliança sincera e desinteressada é o documento da FEPAL de apoio ao ESTATUTO DA IGUALDADE RACIAL e às COTAS RACIAIS no Brasil.
Por fim, esta estratégia tem também outras agendas ocultas, das quais uma é gravíssima: a aprovação pelo Brasil de legislação antiterrorista nos moldes exigidos pelos EUA para moldar o país à cruzada estadunidense desde os atentados de 11 de detembro de 2001 de intervenção armada mundo afora, sempre sob o eufemismo da “guerra ao terror”.
No entendimento da FEPAL, esta legislação é impensável porque visa única e exclusivamente criminalizar todos aqueles – pessoas ou movimentos – que se opõem às políticas militaristas e intervencionistas dos EUA, bem como criminalizar todos os movimentos sociais brasileiros que buscam afirmar seus direitos sociais e humanos, dentre os quais poderíamos destacar o Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra (MST), os movimentos de luta por moradia, os movimentos negro e indígena, para citar poucos.
Com esta mesma legislação até mesmo a soberania do Brasil restaria relativizada, visto que os EUA visam tornar, mesmo que artificialmente, todas as fronteiras brasileiras palco de criminalidade organizada e de tráfego de terroristas, plataforma discursiva já vigente para a triplice fronteira objetivando prejudicar a consolidação do Mercosul e a liderança natural do Brasil no continente.
Enfim, a FEPAL manifesta a este Conselho Nacional de Promoção da Igualdade Racial (CNPIR) sua profunda preocupação frente a estes eventos, razão pela qual requer seja o presente documento e seus anexos recebidos no mínimo como RECOMENDAÇÃO, a ser encaminhada à Ouvidoria da Secretaria de Políticas de Promoção da Igualdade Racial (SEPPIR), à Secretria de Direitos Humanos, ao Ministério da Justiça e ao Gabinete da Presidência da República, bem como aos demais órgãos governamentais e organizações aos quais entender necessário recebê-lo, para que tomem conhecimento desta manifestação e dos graves elementos que a consubstanciam e ensejam e adotem as medidas cabíveis com vistas à efetiva apuração destes e a adoção de medidas para coibí-los enquanto isto é possível.
Brasília-DF, 14 de abril de 2011.
FEPAL – Federação Árabe Palestina do Brasil
quarta-feira, 20 de abril de 2011
Israeli public figures to sign document supporting Palestinian state
20.04.2011, Haaretz
Paper to be part of protest in which 17 Israel Prize winners will participate in front of Independence Hall on Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard.
By Ilan Lior
Dozens of public figures will stage a protest on Thursday at 2 p.m. in front of Independence Hall on Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard, where David Ben-Gurion declared Israel's statehood in May of 1948. Participants, including 17 Israel Prize winners, said they will express support for the declaration of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders.
The protesters also plan to sign their own written declaration to this effect, and will invite members of the general public to join them in signing the document.
"The Jewish people arose in the Land of Israel, where its character was forged. The Palestinian people is rising in Palestine, where its character was forged," the document declares.
"We call on everyone who seeks peace and freedom for all peoples to support the declaration of Palestinian statehood, and to act in a way that encourages the citizens of the two states to maintain peaceful relations on the basis of the 1967 borders... The total end to the occupation is a fundamental precondition for the liberation of the two peoples," the statement continues.
Sponsors of the event insist it will not be a token protest, but rather part of a larger process that will lead to a legitimate alternative to Israel's current policies.
"Our initiative is not a naive one," said Sefi Rachlevsky, one of the initiators of the demonstration and a Haaretz columnist. "Instead of Israel being the first to extend its hand and support Palestinian independence, it is trying to warn against it. That is not only a moral disaster, but it's also liable to bring about a practical catastrophe in which Israel will isolate itself and turn into a kind of South Africa."
Zionist standpoint
"Israel is acting this way out of the delusion that it's possible to continue its colonialist behavior, which is built on anti-democratic racism that contradicts [Israel's own] declaration of independence," he added.
"I am speaking from a Zionist standpoint," Prof. Yehuda Bauer explained. "Zionism sets as its goal the preservation of a Jewish national home with a solid Jewish majority - this was the dream of people from the left, right and center of classical Zionism. But the continuation of the occupation guarantees the nullification of Zionism - that is, it rules out the possibility that the Jewish people will live in its land with a strong majority and international recognition. In my eyes, this makes [Israel's] government clearly anti-Zionist."
Bauer said that he sees the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders as the "realization of genuine Jewish nationalism that exists in peace in the region, and within the international community."
Paper to be part of protest in which 17 Israel Prize winners will participate in front of Independence Hall on Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard.
By Ilan Lior
Dozens of public figures will stage a protest on Thursday at 2 p.m. in front of Independence Hall on Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard, where David Ben-Gurion declared Israel's statehood in May of 1948. Participants, including 17 Israel Prize winners, said they will express support for the declaration of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders.
The protesters also plan to sign their own written declaration to this effect, and will invite members of the general public to join them in signing the document.
"The Jewish people arose in the Land of Israel, where its character was forged. The Palestinian people is rising in Palestine, where its character was forged," the document declares.
"We call on everyone who seeks peace and freedom for all peoples to support the declaration of Palestinian statehood, and to act in a way that encourages the citizens of the two states to maintain peaceful relations on the basis of the 1967 borders... The total end to the occupation is a fundamental precondition for the liberation of the two peoples," the statement continues.
Sponsors of the event insist it will not be a token protest, but rather part of a larger process that will lead to a legitimate alternative to Israel's current policies.
"Our initiative is not a naive one," said Sefi Rachlevsky, one of the initiators of the demonstration and a Haaretz columnist. "Instead of Israel being the first to extend its hand and support Palestinian independence, it is trying to warn against it. That is not only a moral disaster, but it's also liable to bring about a practical catastrophe in which Israel will isolate itself and turn into a kind of South Africa."
Zionist standpoint
"Israel is acting this way out of the delusion that it's possible to continue its colonialist behavior, which is built on anti-democratic racism that contradicts [Israel's own] declaration of independence," he added.
"I am speaking from a Zionist standpoint," Prof. Yehuda Bauer explained. "Zionism sets as its goal the preservation of a Jewish national home with a solid Jewish majority - this was the dream of people from the left, right and center of classical Zionism. But the continuation of the occupation guarantees the nullification of Zionism - that is, it rules out the possibility that the Jewish people will live in its land with a strong majority and international recognition. In my eyes, this makes [Israel's] government clearly anti-Zionist."
Bauer said that he sees the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders as the "realization of genuine Jewish nationalism that exists in peace in the region, and within the international community."
ILLEGAL THEFT OF OLIVE TREES MUST BE STOPPED
For around a decade now, illegal trade in ancient olive trees - including uprooting, stealing and smuggling them from the West Bank into Israel - has reportedly been flourishing.
20.04.2011, Haaretz Editorial
The immoral wealthy have a new and tasteless toy: ancient olive trees adorning the gardens of their villas.
According to an investigative report by journalist Maya Zinshtein published in the Haaretz Hebrew edition on Monday, for around a decade now, illegal trade in ancient olive trees - including uprooting, stealing and smuggling them from the West Bank into Israel - has been flourishing.
It is a market worth millions of shekels a year, in which a single tree can command tens of thousands of shekels. The Haaretz report uncovered suspicions of criminal activities in this regard, along with an ugly greediness for pet trees that has nothing to do with the love of the land and its arboreal species.
Olive trees, one of the most beautiful and symbolic hallmarks of the land of Israel, have also become a status symbol for the upper thousandth percentile of the population. As a result, they are being uprooted from their natural surroundings, where they should have remained planted forever, ruining the landscape on both sides of the Green Line.
It is illegal to uproot and transport ancient trees without authorization. Many trees have been stolen from their owners in the territories, and in other cases, heavy pressure is brought to bear on Palestinian farmers to sell their trees, taking advantage of their powerlessness and making huge profits at their expense.
The government department in charge of enforcing the law pertaining to flora and fauna is partially paralyzed; a senior member of its staff owns a nursery, has a criminal record, and is suspected of taking bribes and of illegal trade in trees.
The state comptroller intends to soon publish a report on this department. But beyond the criminal nature of this commerce, the environmental and public aspects of this scandal cannot be ignored.
Uprooting ancient olive trees, which have been planted for centuries in public areas and have been an inseparable part of the scenery of the Galilee and the West Bank, and moving them to the private gardens of wealthy homeowners, rides roughshod over the landscape and heritage of this country.
Uprooting trees that farmers have tended for centuries and moving them to homes whose owners have no relationship to the land or to agriculture, is infuriating and improper. It is incumbent on the Agriculture Ministry and the Civil Administration to take immediate action to stop the theft of trees and the destruction of the landscape.
20.04.2011, Haaretz Editorial
The immoral wealthy have a new and tasteless toy: ancient olive trees adorning the gardens of their villas.
According to an investigative report by journalist Maya Zinshtein published in the Haaretz Hebrew edition on Monday, for around a decade now, illegal trade in ancient olive trees - including uprooting, stealing and smuggling them from the West Bank into Israel - has been flourishing.
It is a market worth millions of shekels a year, in which a single tree can command tens of thousands of shekels. The Haaretz report uncovered suspicions of criminal activities in this regard, along with an ugly greediness for pet trees that has nothing to do with the love of the land and its arboreal species.
Olive trees, one of the most beautiful and symbolic hallmarks of the land of Israel, have also become a status symbol for the upper thousandth percentile of the population. As a result, they are being uprooted from their natural surroundings, where they should have remained planted forever, ruining the landscape on both sides of the Green Line.
It is illegal to uproot and transport ancient trees without authorization. Many trees have been stolen from their owners in the territories, and in other cases, heavy pressure is brought to bear on Palestinian farmers to sell their trees, taking advantage of their powerlessness and making huge profits at their expense.
The government department in charge of enforcing the law pertaining to flora and fauna is partially paralyzed; a senior member of its staff owns a nursery, has a criminal record, and is suspected of taking bribes and of illegal trade in trees.
The state comptroller intends to soon publish a report on this department. But beyond the criminal nature of this commerce, the environmental and public aspects of this scandal cannot be ignored.
Uprooting ancient olive trees, which have been planted for centuries in public areas and have been an inseparable part of the scenery of the Galilee and the West Bank, and moving them to the private gardens of wealthy homeowners, rides roughshod over the landscape and heritage of this country.
Uprooting trees that farmers have tended for centuries and moving them to homes whose owners have no relationship to the land or to agriculture, is infuriating and improper. It is incumbent on the Agriculture Ministry and the Civil Administration to take immediate action to stop the theft of trees and the destruction of the landscape.
Dois suspeitos da execução de Arrigoni morrem após confronto com Hamas
19 abril 11, RTP.pt
Dois homens, suspeitos de participação no assassinato do ativista italiano Vittorio Arrigoni na semana passada, morreram e um terceiro ficou ferido, encontrando-se sob a alçada das forças do Hamas. A polícia refere que uma das mortes resultou de uma explosão provocada por outro dos elementos do grupo, que se suicidou de seguida. Três elementos das forças do Hamas ficaram feridos na operação de captura dos suspeitos.
Os três homens, alegados membros de um grupo radical islâmico salafita, próximo da Al Qaeda, foram cercados esta terça-feira por militares do Hamas numa habitação do campo de refugiados de Nuseirat, no centro da cidade de Gaza.
Houve troca de tiros após se terem revelado infrutíferas as tentativas de negociar a rendição dos fugitivos, entretanto cercados, descreveram testemunhas citadas pela France Press.
A operação chegou ao fim quando um dos suspeitos, de nacionalidade jordana, “lançou um engenho explosivo em direção aos seus dois camaradas, ferindo ambos, um deles com gravidade, antes de se suicidar com um tiro”, descreve, em comunicado, do Ministério do Interior. O ferido mais grave viria, aliás, a morrer posteriormente.
O movimento islâmico no poder em Gaza desde meados de 2007 prometeu “perseguir” e julgar os autores da morte do ativista de 36 anos, da ONG pró-palestiniana Solidariedade Internacional. Duas pessoas já haviam sido detidas no contexto desta investigação.
O ativista italiano foi encontrado morto sexta-feira num apartamento de Gaza, um dia após ter sido feito refém pelo grupo Al Tawhid Wal Jihad. Arrigoni deveria servir de moeda de troca com os membros do grupo que se encontram presos nas cadeias palestinianas.
O homem de 36 anos, chegado há três a bordo de um barco de ajuda internacional, vivia atualmente na cidade de Gaza, capital do território palestiniano governado pelos radicais do Hamas. O italiano trabalhava com agricultores e pescadores palestinianos, sendo membro assíduo nos protestos contra o bloqueio imposto por Israel à Faixa de Gaza.
O grupo Al Tawhid Wal Jihad já esteve envolvido em vários atentados contra turistas estrangeiros na península do Sinai, depois de se ter estabelecido na Faixa de Gaza em 2004. Desde então, tem confrontado o Hamas, que considera demasiado moderado.
Dois homens, suspeitos de participação no assassinato do ativista italiano Vittorio Arrigoni na semana passada, morreram e um terceiro ficou ferido, encontrando-se sob a alçada das forças do Hamas. A polícia refere que uma das mortes resultou de uma explosão provocada por outro dos elementos do grupo, que se suicidou de seguida. Três elementos das forças do Hamas ficaram feridos na operação de captura dos suspeitos.
Os três homens, alegados membros de um grupo radical islâmico salafita, próximo da Al Qaeda, foram cercados esta terça-feira por militares do Hamas numa habitação do campo de refugiados de Nuseirat, no centro da cidade de Gaza.
Houve troca de tiros após se terem revelado infrutíferas as tentativas de negociar a rendição dos fugitivos, entretanto cercados, descreveram testemunhas citadas pela France Press.
A operação chegou ao fim quando um dos suspeitos, de nacionalidade jordana, “lançou um engenho explosivo em direção aos seus dois camaradas, ferindo ambos, um deles com gravidade, antes de se suicidar com um tiro”, descreve, em comunicado, do Ministério do Interior. O ferido mais grave viria, aliás, a morrer posteriormente.
O movimento islâmico no poder em Gaza desde meados de 2007 prometeu “perseguir” e julgar os autores da morte do ativista de 36 anos, da ONG pró-palestiniana Solidariedade Internacional. Duas pessoas já haviam sido detidas no contexto desta investigação.
O ativista italiano foi encontrado morto sexta-feira num apartamento de Gaza, um dia após ter sido feito refém pelo grupo Al Tawhid Wal Jihad. Arrigoni deveria servir de moeda de troca com os membros do grupo que se encontram presos nas cadeias palestinianas.
O homem de 36 anos, chegado há três a bordo de um barco de ajuda internacional, vivia atualmente na cidade de Gaza, capital do território palestiniano governado pelos radicais do Hamas. O italiano trabalhava com agricultores e pescadores palestinianos, sendo membro assíduo nos protestos contra o bloqueio imposto por Israel à Faixa de Gaza.
O grupo Al Tawhid Wal Jihad já esteve envolvido em vários atentados contra turistas estrangeiros na península do Sinai, depois de se ter estabelecido na Faixa de Gaza em 2004. Desde então, tem confrontado o Hamas, que considera demasiado moderado.
terça-feira, 19 de abril de 2011
VITTORIO, JAMAIS AUSSI VIVANT QUE MAINTENANT
19 avril 2011, Association France Palestine Solidarité http://www.france-palestine.org
Egidia Beretta Arrigoni
Faut-il mourir pour devenir un héros, pour avoir la première page des journaux, les télés devant chez soi, faut-il mourir pour rester humains ?
Je me souviens du Vittorio de Noël 2005, emprisonné dans une cellule de l’aéroport Ben Gourion, les cicatrices des menottes qui lui ont scié les poignets, les contacts refusés avec son consulat, le procès farcesque.
Et cette Pâques de la même année quand, à la frontière jordanienne, juste après le pont d’Allenby, la police israélienne le bloqua pour l’empêcher d’entrer en Israël, le chargea dans un bus et, à sept, dont une femme policière, le tabassèrent « avec art », sans laisser de traces extérieures, en véritables professionnels qu’ils sont, le jetant ensuite à terre et, comme un dernier affront, lui lançant au visage les cheveux qu’ils lui avaient arrachés, avec leurs puissants amphibies.
Vittorio était un indésirable en Israël. Trop subversif, pour avoir manifesté avec son ami Gabriele, l’année précédente, avec les femmes et les hommes du village de Budrus contre le mur de la honte, en leur apprenant et en chantant avec eux notre plus chant de partisan : « O bella ciao, ciao… »
Je ne vis alors aucune télévision, pas même quand, à l’automne 2008, un commando donna l’assaut au bateau de pêche, au large de Rafah, dans les eaux palestiniennes, et Vittorio fut emprisonné à Ramle et ensuite expédié chez lui en combinaison et savates. Bien sûr, je ne peux maintenant que remercier la presse et la télé qui nous ont approchés avec courtoisie, qui ont « surveillé » notre maison avec égards, sans excès et m’ont donné l’occasion de parler de Vittorio et de ses choix idéaux.
Ce fils perdu, mais si vivant, comme il ne l’a peut-être jamais été, qui comme le grain qui pourrit et meurt en terre donnera des fruits luxuriants. Je le vois et je l’entends déjà dans les mots des amis, surtout des jeunes, certains proches d’autres très lointains, qui à travers Vittorio ont connu et compris, plus encore à présent, comment on peut donner un sens à « Utopie », comment la soif de justice et de paix, la fraternité et la solidarité ont encore droit de cité et que, comme disait Vittorio, « la Palestine peut aussi être sur le pas de sa porte ».
Nous étions loin de Vittorio, mais plus proches que jamais. Comme maintenant, avec sa présence vivante qui grandit d’heure en heure, comme un vent qui de Gaza, de sa mer Méditerranée chérie, souffle, impétueux, et nous apporte ses espoirs et son amour pour les sans voix, pour les faibles, pour les opprimés, en nous passant le témoin.
Restons humains.
Egidia Beretta Arrigoni
Faut-il mourir pour devenir un héros, pour avoir la première page des journaux, les télés devant chez soi, faut-il mourir pour rester humains ?
Je me souviens du Vittorio de Noël 2005, emprisonné dans une cellule de l’aéroport Ben Gourion, les cicatrices des menottes qui lui ont scié les poignets, les contacts refusés avec son consulat, le procès farcesque.
Et cette Pâques de la même année quand, à la frontière jordanienne, juste après le pont d’Allenby, la police israélienne le bloqua pour l’empêcher d’entrer en Israël, le chargea dans un bus et, à sept, dont une femme policière, le tabassèrent « avec art », sans laisser de traces extérieures, en véritables professionnels qu’ils sont, le jetant ensuite à terre et, comme un dernier affront, lui lançant au visage les cheveux qu’ils lui avaient arrachés, avec leurs puissants amphibies.
Vittorio était un indésirable en Israël. Trop subversif, pour avoir manifesté avec son ami Gabriele, l’année précédente, avec les femmes et les hommes du village de Budrus contre le mur de la honte, en leur apprenant et en chantant avec eux notre plus chant de partisan : « O bella ciao, ciao… »
Je ne vis alors aucune télévision, pas même quand, à l’automne 2008, un commando donna l’assaut au bateau de pêche, au large de Rafah, dans les eaux palestiniennes, et Vittorio fut emprisonné à Ramle et ensuite expédié chez lui en combinaison et savates. Bien sûr, je ne peux maintenant que remercier la presse et la télé qui nous ont approchés avec courtoisie, qui ont « surveillé » notre maison avec égards, sans excès et m’ont donné l’occasion de parler de Vittorio et de ses choix idéaux.
Ce fils perdu, mais si vivant, comme il ne l’a peut-être jamais été, qui comme le grain qui pourrit et meurt en terre donnera des fruits luxuriants. Je le vois et je l’entends déjà dans les mots des amis, surtout des jeunes, certains proches d’autres très lointains, qui à travers Vittorio ont connu et compris, plus encore à présent, comment on peut donner un sens à « Utopie », comment la soif de justice et de paix, la fraternité et la solidarité ont encore droit de cité et que, comme disait Vittorio, « la Palestine peut aussi être sur le pas de sa porte ».
Nous étions loin de Vittorio, mais plus proches que jamais. Comme maintenant, avec sa présence vivante qui grandit d’heure en heure, comme un vent qui de Gaza, de sa mer Méditerranée chérie, souffle, impétueux, et nous apporte ses espoirs et son amour pour les sans voix, pour les faibles, pour les opprimés, en nous passant le témoin.
Restons humains.
Brasil: Comunidade árabe de Foz organiza ato de repúdio à revista Veja
18 abril 2011/Vermelho http://www.vermelho.org.br
A cidade paranaense de Foz do Iguaçu realizou, na noite de domingo (17), na sede da Sociedade Beneficente Islâmica, um amplo ato de repúdio contra a revista Veja, pelas acusações de suposto envolvimento da comunidade árabe da tríplice fronteira com o terrorismo.
A cerimônia reuniu mais de 800 pessoas e contou com a participação do deputado federal Protógenes Queiroz (PCdoB-SP). Para o vereador da cidade, Nilton Bobato (PCdoB), “não é uma revista medíocre que vai abalar nossa relação (com a comunidade árabe), pelo contrário, nos une cada vez mais e nos fortalece para levantar esta bandeira da cultura da paz”, disse o vereador.
O ato, que contou também com a presença do vice-prefeito de Foz do Iguaçu, Chico Brasileiro (PCdoB), do Xeque sunita Mohsin Al Husseini, do Xeque xiita Mohamed Khalil e do militante e jornalista Aloizio Palmar, foi marcado por discursos que tiveram a tônica de resistência contra a opressão e perseguição promovida por grupos dominantes e imperialistas.
As ações de repúdio às acusações reiteradas da revista Veja em sua penúltima edição (3/4), sobre o envolvimento da comunidade árabe da tríplice fronteira com o terrorismo, repercutiram com uma dimensão incalculável em Foz do Iguaçu, onde vozes importantes, como a do deputado federal Protógenes Queiroz se somaram a outras diversas manifestações contra as informações consideradas difamatórias e discriminatórias promovidas pela revista.
Protógenes foi convidado por autoridades de Foz do Iguaçu após ter feito o pronunciamento no Congresso Nacional em defesa da comunidade árabe e em repúdio à matéria da Veja. Para o deputado, “este tipo de matéria não é feita de graça ou por diletantismo, mas patrocinada com o mesmo dinheiro usado para manter interesses espúrios”.
Protógenes, que já coordenou o escritório de Investigação da Codesul em Foz do Iguaçu, refuta as acusações de terrorismo na fronteira e afirma que a revista é quem pratica o terror contra os povos em favor de interesses imperialistas. “O Brasil abriga terroristas sim, mas não são os árabes; o terrorismo que existe em Foz é produzido pelos repórteres da Veja, patrocinados para escrever a matéria”, disse o deputado.
O deputado disse ainda que cifras milionárias são utilizadas pelos Estados Unidos para financiar veículos de comunicação e implantar o terrorismo contra os povos árabes.
O vice-prefeito Chico Brasileiro também vinculou a chamada “fabricação” da matéria aos interesses dos grupos econômicos aliados aos interesses imperialistas, e situou na história o compromisso da editora Abril, que edita a Veja, com as elites entreguistas do país: “A primeira edição da revista Veja foi em 11 de setembro de 1968, a capa da revista, nesta primeira edição, foi justamente para defender a ditadura militar implantada na época, e para dizer que o Brasil vivia uma ameaça terrorista comunista. Esta foi a primeira edição e demonstra que de 11 de setembro de 1968 para abril de 2011, ela não mudou em nada, ela continua sendo o mesmo agente do imperialismo e do terrorismo internacional”, disse Brasileiro.
A cidade paranaense de Foz do Iguaçu realizou, na noite de domingo (17), na sede da Sociedade Beneficente Islâmica, um amplo ato de repúdio contra a revista Veja, pelas acusações de suposto envolvimento da comunidade árabe da tríplice fronteira com o terrorismo.
A cerimônia reuniu mais de 800 pessoas e contou com a participação do deputado federal Protógenes Queiroz (PCdoB-SP). Para o vereador da cidade, Nilton Bobato (PCdoB), “não é uma revista medíocre que vai abalar nossa relação (com a comunidade árabe), pelo contrário, nos une cada vez mais e nos fortalece para levantar esta bandeira da cultura da paz”, disse o vereador.
O ato, que contou também com a presença do vice-prefeito de Foz do Iguaçu, Chico Brasileiro (PCdoB), do Xeque sunita Mohsin Al Husseini, do Xeque xiita Mohamed Khalil e do militante e jornalista Aloizio Palmar, foi marcado por discursos que tiveram a tônica de resistência contra a opressão e perseguição promovida por grupos dominantes e imperialistas.
As ações de repúdio às acusações reiteradas da revista Veja em sua penúltima edição (3/4), sobre o envolvimento da comunidade árabe da tríplice fronteira com o terrorismo, repercutiram com uma dimensão incalculável em Foz do Iguaçu, onde vozes importantes, como a do deputado federal Protógenes Queiroz se somaram a outras diversas manifestações contra as informações consideradas difamatórias e discriminatórias promovidas pela revista.
Protógenes foi convidado por autoridades de Foz do Iguaçu após ter feito o pronunciamento no Congresso Nacional em defesa da comunidade árabe e em repúdio à matéria da Veja. Para o deputado, “este tipo de matéria não é feita de graça ou por diletantismo, mas patrocinada com o mesmo dinheiro usado para manter interesses espúrios”.
Protógenes, que já coordenou o escritório de Investigação da Codesul em Foz do Iguaçu, refuta as acusações de terrorismo na fronteira e afirma que a revista é quem pratica o terror contra os povos em favor de interesses imperialistas. “O Brasil abriga terroristas sim, mas não são os árabes; o terrorismo que existe em Foz é produzido pelos repórteres da Veja, patrocinados para escrever a matéria”, disse o deputado.
O deputado disse ainda que cifras milionárias são utilizadas pelos Estados Unidos para financiar veículos de comunicação e implantar o terrorismo contra os povos árabes.
O vice-prefeito Chico Brasileiro também vinculou a chamada “fabricação” da matéria aos interesses dos grupos econômicos aliados aos interesses imperialistas, e situou na história o compromisso da editora Abril, que edita a Veja, com as elites entreguistas do país: “A primeira edição da revista Veja foi em 11 de setembro de 1968, a capa da revista, nesta primeira edição, foi justamente para defender a ditadura militar implantada na época, e para dizer que o Brasil vivia uma ameaça terrorista comunista. Esta foi a primeira edição e demonstra que de 11 de setembro de 1968 para abril de 2011, ela não mudou em nada, ela continua sendo o mesmo agente do imperialismo e do terrorismo internacional”, disse Brasileiro.
VITTORIO ARRIGONI, "HERO OF PALESTINE"
15 April 2011
Vittorio Arrigoni in Gaza, June 2010. (Lu Yingxu/Newscom)
Palestinians and international solidarity activists around the world are collectively mourning the shocking death of Vittorio Arrigoni, an Italian journalist and solidarity activist. Arrigoni was also an occasional contributor to The Electronic Intifada (see “Gaza’s record-breaking children,” 16 August 2010 and “No words to console Gaza child after mother is killed by Israeli shelling,” 26 July 2010).
Arrigoni, 36, was found dead early this morning in Gaza City, hours after a video of him blindfolded and apparently beaten had surfaced on the Internet. In the video, his captors threaten to execute Arrigoni unless the Hamas government in Gaza released the little-known group’s imprisoned leader.
Arrigoni was the first foreign national known to be kidnapped in Gaza since Hamas began administering the territory four years ago. Previously, there had been a number of kidnappings of journalists, international aid workers and other visitors to Gaza, all eventually released. BBC reporter Alan Johnston was the most high-profile and longest-held captive, held for 114 days by the Dughmush clan, which some observers say have operated opportunistically and criminally under the guise of Islamic piety.
While the identities of Arrigoni’s kidnappers and those responsible for his death and the reasons why they killed him are murky, Arrigoni himself was well-known and admired by those with whom he worked in solidarity with the Palestinian people. He first arrived to Palestine in 2002, his mother, Egidia Beretta, told the Italian news agency ANSA (“Hamas says it found body of Italian activist,” The New York Times, 15 April 2011).
Arrigoni was involved with the International Solidarity Movement, and had last entered Gaza in 2009 during one of the efforts to break the siege on Gaza by boat. Arrigoni was among a handful of international activists present during Israel’s winter 2008-09 attacks on the Gaza Strip, volunteering with the Palestine Red Crescent Society’s emergency medical worker teams, despite the very dangerous conditions they faced. He was frequently interviewed by Italian media during the three weeks of bombardment, as Israel had banned journalists from entering the Gaza Strip. His daily dispatches during those three weeks, during which 1,400 Palestinians were killed, the vast majority civilians, were published in 2010 in a book titled Gaza: Stay Human, translated into English by Daniela Filippin and with an introduction by Israeli historian and dissident Ilan Pappe.
Arrigoni had been injured and arrested several times by the Israeli military. According to the International Solidarity Movement, Arrigoni was injured when the Israeli navy fired a water cannon at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of Gaza. Palestinian fishermen have been repeatedly attacked — and sometimes killed — as Israel has imposed tight restrictions on how far out to sea Palestinians are allowed to fish (“ISM Rafah: Italian activist injured by Israeli navy off Gaza coast,” 16 September 2008).
A month later, Arrigoni was kidnapped along with 15 Palestinian fishermen and three accompanying international activists, from Palestinian waters. According to an International Solidarity Movement activist writing on her blog, “At the time of his abduction, he was electrically shocked while peacefully avoiding abduction by diving into Gaza’s cold waters” (“Vik: a friend, a brother, a humanist,” 15 April 2011).
Arrigoni, known as “Vik” by many, was also a familiar face in the refugee camps in Lebanon. He was one of a trickle of international solidarity activists who volunteered in Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon, which was destroyed during and after fighting between the Lebanese army and a fundamentalist group in 2007.
Arrigoni was long involved in human rights issues. The deputy mayor of Bulciago, Arrigoni’s hometown north of Milan, said that the activist “had worked in Eastern Europe and Africa before embracing the Palestinian cause” (“Hamas says it found body of Italian activist,” The New York Times, 15 April 2011).
The murder of Arrigoni comes just days after the assassination of Palestinian cultural figure Juliano Mer-Khamis, who was murdered by an unknown assailant outside of the Jenin Freedom Theatre, which he helped re-establish in the occupied West Bank refugee camp. Mer-Khamis’ killing, like that of Arrigoni, sent waves of shock throughout the Palestinian and solidarity communities.
Palestinian factions including the Hamas government in Gaza, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian People’s Party and the Popular Resistance Committees, all condemned the kidnapping and murder of Arrigoni (“Palestinian factions denounce murder of Italian activist,” Ma’an News Agency, 15 April 2011).
Arrigoni’s death also comes after a week of Israeli military attacks on the Gaza Strip, which claimed the lives of nearly twenty Palestinians.
In a press release distributed by the International Solidarity Movement and the Free Gaza Movement, before it was learned that Arrigoni had been killed, Khalil Shaheen — a friend of Arrigoni with the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights — said “Vittorio Arrigoni is a hero of Palestine” (“Palestinians call for release of Italian activist kidnapped in Gaza,” 14 April 2011).
Vigils and gatherings to mourn Arrigoni were ongoing in Gaza City, and in the occupied West Bank cities of Bethlehem and Ramallah at the time of publication. Similar actions were being organized in London and other international cities.
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