18 March 2012, Jewish Voice for Peace http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org (USA)
info@jewishvoiceforpeace.org
Max Blumenthal Demolishes Talking-Points About Israel’s ‘Liberal Democracy’
Key members of Israel’s opposition parties say Israel’s rightward-turn poses a threat to its democracy.
By Joshua Holland*
AlterNet 12.03.12
Terror wars tend to lead to blow-back on domestic populations. Not only do they come with almost inevitable restrictions of civil liberties, but hard-right political factions also capitalize on the specter of terrorism to gain legitimacy and win power. Israel is no exception – the country’s far-right has gained an enormous amount of influence in recent years, and has used it to enact a series of laws that many on the left call a dire threat to Israeli democracy.
This week, Max Blumenthal – author of Republican — appeared on the AlterNet Radio Hour to explain what is happening to “the only democracy in the Middle East.” Below is a transcript that has been lightly edited for clarity (you can also listen to the show here ).
Joshua Holland: Max, I don’t want to talk about Iran today. I don’t want to talk about the Israeli lobby in the United States, and I don’t want to talk about the Occupation. I want to talk about something I don’t think gets enough attention in this country, which is the sharp rightward turn of the Israeli government.
One of the great non-sequiturs of our political discourse is that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. And I say it’s a great non-sequitur because it’s usually used as a response to, for example, criticism of the Occupation. You say this Occupation is terrible, and people say it’s the only democracy in the Middle East.
Anyway, Tzipi Livni, the leader of the opposition Kadima Party, accused Benjamin Netanyahu recently of, “an attempt to transform Israel into a type of dictatorship.” Kadima lawmakers said that recent legislation passed by the Knesset represented, “the gravest challenge to democracy since the establishment of the state in 1948.” Tell me about the sharp rightward lurch. When did this happen, because I remember when I was a kid Israel was almost a socialist country.
Max Blumenthal: Well, by not wanting to talk about Iran you’re an anti-Semite and I condemn that.
JH: Max, I’m a self-loathing Jew — please get this straight.
MB: Part of Netanyahu’s goal in focusing on Iran is taking the Palestinian question off the table, and so it’s good that you’re talking about this. Israel has never been a democracy in the sense that we think about a democracy. It’s a settler, colonial state that privileges the Jewish majority, which it created through violent methods of demographic manipulation over the indigenous Palestinian outclass.
That’s true even inside Israel. So when you hear people like Tzipi Livni — who is for now the head of the Kadima Party but soon to be ousted, and actually came out of the Likud Party and was aide to Arial Sharon – when you hear liberal Zionists, people on the Zionist left, warning that Israel is turning into a fascist state what they’re talking is the occupation laws creeping back over the green line, and that these right-wing elements are actually starting to crack down on the democratic rights that have been afforded to the Jewish master class inside Israel. So Jews who are left-wingers, who are dissidents and speak out against state policy are actually beginning to feel a slight scintilla of the kind of oppression that Palestinians have felt since the foundation of the state of Israel. That’s where this criticism is coming from.
I think we really need to get beyond the discourse of occupation and the discourse of fascism, and instead to talk about institutional discrimination and apartheid, which is what has been present since the foundation of the state of Israel.
Now I want to talk about some of the specific measures that have been proposed, some of which have passed. There are some things that have been pulled back or tabled temporarily due to international pressure, and other have actually gotten through and become law. Tell be about the crackdown on NGOs.
Well first of all, all of these laws we’re going to talk about — there’s a new anti-democratic law every week, and these are mostly advanced by right-wing parties — are applying sinew to a pre-existing skeleton that was created upon the establishment of the state Israel and has maintained the colonial relationship between Jews and Palestinians.
One of the most extreme of these new laws, and there are several laws targeting human rights NGOs inside Israel like B’Tselem, is designed to force them to reveal who their foreign funders are, thereby making it easy to portray them as traitorous to the Jewish state of Israel. These are laws pushed mostly by Avigdor Lieberman’s mostly Russian Yisrael Beiteinu party, but Netanyahu has given a lot of verbal support, rhetorical support for punishing NGOs, even attacking NGOs like the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
Then you have to recognize that these are organizations that really represent the Zionist left in Israel. These are people who believe in a Jewish state who run these NGOs, and they go to the occupied territories and document abuses by the Israeli army because they want Israel out of the West Bank. They want a partition, which I think is no longer possible. So the attack on them is really to consolidate Israel’s hold the West Bank, and in turn what they’ve done is create a sense among the Zionist left, among the enlightened public in Israel that they are victims of a kind of fascist onslaught.
Now this measure specifically goes after leftist human rights organizations, but it is on its surface ostensibly content-neutral. My understanding is that the reason it effectively targets NGOs on the left is that they rely on overseer funding from organizations like the European Union, whereas the right-wing non-governmental organizations are generally funded by private donors and domestic sources.
Right, but that’s false. I was actually a witness to a Knesset debate in which some left-wing members of the Knesset demanded that the bill be politically neutral, which would then force groups like Im Tirtzu, which is a right-wing student group which has created blacklists of supposedly traitorous professors on Israeli campuses, to disclose its funding from groups like Pastor John Hagee, who is the head of Christians United for Israel and the leading Christian Zionist figure in Israel [see end note]. So these pro-settlement organizations and right-wing organizations are also getting foreign funding, but it’s clearly targeted politically at left-wing groups.
What is the Nakba Law? Tell me about that.
Well the Nakba refers to the ongoing dispossession of Palestinians, which began with the ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians in 1947 and 1948 to make way for a demographically contiguous Jewish state. It is forbidden in Arab schools in Israel for teachers to teach about the Nakba or to teach the Palestinian narrative. Now through legislation proposed by Yisrael Beiteinu, this ultra-nationalist party run by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman which controls 18 seats in the Knesset out of 120, there’s been a proposal which has been approved and written into law that applies financial penalties for anyone associated with an NGO or a non-profit organization who observes the ceremonies associated with the Nakba where Palestinians mourn this dispossession. This is an attack on the Arab sector and their civil society inside Israel. It’s designed basically to defund them and to consolidate their image even further as a fifth column or a Trojan horse for Arab nationalism inside Israel.
There’s increasing calls to boycott the occupied territories. A law has been passed, I believe has been passed and is on the books, banning calls for boycotting Israel or, “any of its settlements built in occupied territory.” Tell me about the details on this one.
There’s a movement called the BDS movement, the movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel, which has had a lot of success in forcing businesses to move out of the Occupied Territories. It also calls for Israel to obey international law, which challenges Israel’s status as a Jewish exclusivist state. It’s considered a threat to the Jewish state of Israel, and legislation has been enacted and approved by the prime minister after passing through the Knesset to establish civil penalties for anyone who calls for BDS who is a citizen of Israel.
So if I’m a citizen of Israel and I say that Israeli businesses who do business in the occupied territories should be boycotted; if I just say that or I write an op-ed in the newspaper about that, then any settler who runs a business in the West Bank, any Israeli, can sue me even without evidence in a civil court and seek financial penalties claiming that I damaged his or her business. So the law is designed to create a chilling effect and attack freedom of speech, and it’s been approved and it’s on the books. I’m not sure if there are any other laws like this in Western democratic countries.
Now I want to talk about another measure that I believe is on hold. You can tell me the status. According to Adrian Bloomfield in the Telegraph, “Members of the Kadima, the principal opposition party, waved black flags to mourn the death of democracy after Israel’s Parliament passed two bills that will tilt the balance of the country’s Supreme Court sharply to the right. The legislators involved had their flags confiscated before being expelled from the chamber.”
Tell me what’s going on with the courts.
Well, the court has been tilting to the right since Aharon Barak, who attempted to create some kind of basic laws that protected human rights in Israel and the occupied territories. Barak by the way had always sided with the army and given it carte blanche to pretty much do what it wanted in the occupied territories. So these rulings were always just kind of suggestions. Now you have a Supreme Court that is increasingly packed with right-wing figures. For the first time there’s a kippah-wearing settler on the Supreme Court.
One of the things the Supreme Court recently did was it made permanent a law, which it had validated in 2003 temporarily, and was passed through the Knesset, called the law of Entry and Return. This law bans Palestinians who live in the West Bank from marrying Palestinians who are citizens of Israel or uniting with family members who live there. Israel has always said these kinds of rulings are for security purposes. They need to limit their freedom of movement for security reasons. Really, for the first time the Supreme Court’s ruling on this law acknowledged that demographics were the reason. They can’t allow more Palestinians to marry and form families inside Israel and maintain Israeli citizenship because the greatest threat to the Jewish and democratic state is gestating Arab fetuses.
You say that the court has tilted to the right, but at the same time there have been a number of decisions in terms of land use issues that have gone against settlers. The increasingly conservative Knesset has talked about proposals to seek limits for who can petition the court. This is court-stripping, basically, closing the courthouse doors to litigants. Another law would require justices to have served in the Israeli military. What does that do, effectively?
By requiring justices to have served in the Israeli military you prevent any Arabs from serving on the court. There’s one Arab there who is there for symbolic reasons like Clarence Thomas replacing Thurgood Marshall, and his rulings carry very little weight as a representative of the Arab sector inside Israel.
There was another ruling recently — you mentioned land rights in the West Bank — the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that Israel can annex or expropriate Palestinian land in the West Bank to establish quarries and conduct mining that will profit companies that exist inside Israel proper. Another occurrence in the Supreme Court recently was the Arab justice I mentioned refused to stand for Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, because it is an anthem that really is an ode to Jewish nationalism, which does not acknowledge the Arab minority inside Israel. There are now efforts in the Knesset to strip him of his position on the Supreme Court for doing that.
And of course the definition of democracy is not only majority rule, but also protection of minorities.
Tell me about land use. I think this is a poorly understood issue. William Quandt of the University of Virginia said on NPR, “Israel was established as a state for Jews. It has a minority who of course has citizenship rights, but the specific way in which land is owned in Israel is predominately that the Jewish agency purchases land on behalf of the Jewish people, and then leases it out to its Jewish citizens.”
Can you unpack that for me?
This is very complex. To understand apartheid in Israel you have to understand the land laws, which do not specifically refer to Arab or Jew. First of all, Palestinian citizens of Israel are citizens, but they have no national rights. On their ID cards it will identify them as Arab. On an Israeli Jew’s ID card it will identify them as Jewish. There is no Israeli national identity. It’s one of the only countries in the world like that. Palestinians who live inside Israel are unable to lease land because the land is controlled by the Israeli Land Authority, which is itself controlled by the Jewish National Fund.
Through legislation passed by the Knesset the Jewish National Fund controls seven out of the 13 seats on the Israeli Land Authority’s Board, a majority. The Jewish National Fund’s mission, it says it on its Web site, is to provide land for the Jewish people, which means it’s Jews-only land. So the JNF, Jewish National Fund, officially controls only 20 percent of land in Israel, which is some of its best and most arable land. But through its control of the Israeli Land Authority, it actually controls far more.
The state of Israel has not allowed a single Arab town to be established since its foundation. The only Arab towns it has allowed to be created have been to, “concentrate the Bedouin population” after they ethnically cleanse them from their land in the Negev desert, something that the Jewish National Fund is currently doing right now with a village called Al-Araqeeb, a Bedouin village of people who are supposedly citizens of Israel. And their village has been demolished 32 times. I’ve seen it be wiped off the map. They’re planning to build a pine forest funded by an evangelical television station called God TV. In place of the Bedouins they will place small Jewish communities for army veterans who have just had children. The Knesset recently passed a law called the Communities Acceptance Law to kind of consolidate the exclusive nature of these communities. It allows communities of under 500 people in Israel to discriminate on the basis of ethnicity.
That’s a very condensed version of Israeli land law. To say that Palestinian citizens of Israel are second-class citizens really misses the point. They have absolutely no national rights and no property rights.
That’s Max Blumenthal talking to us about the only democracy in the Middle East. Max, thank you so much for joining us, we’re about out of time.
*Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet. He is the author of The 15 Biggest Lies About the Economy: And Everything else the Right Doesn’t Want You to Know About Taxes, Jobs and Corporate America.
For more information on Pastor John Hagee, Christians United for Israel (CUFI) and his End of Days theology see
CUFI home website; CUFI in wikipedia; Undercover at CUFI
Mostrando postagens com marcador Kadima. Mostrar todas as postagens
Mostrando postagens com marcador Kadima. Mostrar todas as postagens
quinta-feira, 22 de março de 2012
segunda-feira, 28 de novembro de 2011
NGO says teenage prostitution worsening in Israel
28 November 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
Elem - Youth in Distress identifies about 620 young people as young as 12 who have been involved in prostitution this year, compared with 126 last year, though part of rise can be attributed to organization's stepped up efforts to find victims.
By Dana Weiler-Polak
More and more teenagers are working as prostitutes around the country, according to the nonprofit organization Elem - Youth in Distress.
Elem has recorded a five-fold increase this year in the number of young people working as prostitutes, though it says that some of the rise can be attributed to the group's stepped-up efforts to find victims of prostitution. Elem will present the data today at the Knesset's Subcommittee on the Trafficking in Women.
(Photo: Sex workers in Tel Aviv. Photo by: Nir Kafri)
This year Elem has identified about 620 young people as young as 12 who have been involved in prostitution, compared with 126 last year. The organization believes the scope of the problem is much wider, involving thousands of young people whom the social welfare agencies don't even know about.
Elem says Israel lacks a central government agency responsible for identifying and treating these young people, about 75 percent of whom are girls. Another 20 percent are boys and the remaining 5 percent are transgender.
"Most young people who fall into prostitution have experienced great distress, physical, sexual or emotional abuse, a major rejection or serious neglect," said Reli Katzav of Elem. "Unfortunately, we encounter many cases in which prostitution begins at 12," she said, adding that the state only provides treatment to girls working as prostitutes but not boys or transgender youth.
"Our clients, who come from all strata of society, are breaking the law, but they are not punished and most of the [legal] files opened by the police and the prosecution are closed on the grounds of a lack of public interest or a lack of evidence."
According to a report by the Knesset's Research and Information Center last year, law enforcement efforts to address the problem have been lax in the 10 years covered by the study. The police opened only two cases against customers of juvenile prostitutes during that period, and both cases were closed, one for a lack of evidence and one on the grounds that there was no public interest in prosecuting the case.
In addition, three of the eight cases opened for pimping involving minors between 2000 and 2009 were closed. Criminal charges were not pursued in 19 of the 35 cases that the police opened during that period for commercial exploitation of a minor. Usually the reason was a lack of evidence or a determination that the suspect was not guilty.
"The data presented to the committee and the cases dealt with by Elem are just the tip of the iceberg of the shocking phenomenon of youth prostitution in Israel," said MK Orit Zuaretz (Kadima), who heads the Knesset subcommittee.
"The main failing is that a year after the previous [subcommittee] session on the subject ... the responsible ministries have not presented a plan and are still developing ways to deal with this 'new' phenomenon of juvenile prostitution." She said the phenomenon was largely driven by poverty and the need for these young people to support themselves.
Elem - Youth in Distress identifies about 620 young people as young as 12 who have been involved in prostitution this year, compared with 126 last year, though part of rise can be attributed to organization's stepped up efforts to find victims.
By Dana Weiler-Polak
More and more teenagers are working as prostitutes around the country, according to the nonprofit organization Elem - Youth in Distress.
Elem has recorded a five-fold increase this year in the number of young people working as prostitutes, though it says that some of the rise can be attributed to the group's stepped-up efforts to find victims of prostitution. Elem will present the data today at the Knesset's Subcommittee on the Trafficking in Women.
(Photo: Sex workers in Tel Aviv. Photo by: Nir Kafri)
This year Elem has identified about 620 young people as young as 12 who have been involved in prostitution, compared with 126 last year. The organization believes the scope of the problem is much wider, involving thousands of young people whom the social welfare agencies don't even know about.
Elem says Israel lacks a central government agency responsible for identifying and treating these young people, about 75 percent of whom are girls. Another 20 percent are boys and the remaining 5 percent are transgender.
"Most young people who fall into prostitution have experienced great distress, physical, sexual or emotional abuse, a major rejection or serious neglect," said Reli Katzav of Elem. "Unfortunately, we encounter many cases in which prostitution begins at 12," she said, adding that the state only provides treatment to girls working as prostitutes but not boys or transgender youth.
"Our clients, who come from all strata of society, are breaking the law, but they are not punished and most of the [legal] files opened by the police and the prosecution are closed on the grounds of a lack of public interest or a lack of evidence."
According to a report by the Knesset's Research and Information Center last year, law enforcement efforts to address the problem have been lax in the 10 years covered by the study. The police opened only two cases against customers of juvenile prostitutes during that period, and both cases were closed, one for a lack of evidence and one on the grounds that there was no public interest in prosecuting the case.
In addition, three of the eight cases opened for pimping involving minors between 2000 and 2009 were closed. Criminal charges were not pursued in 19 of the 35 cases that the police opened during that period for commercial exploitation of a minor. Usually the reason was a lack of evidence or a determination that the suspect was not guilty.
"The data presented to the committee and the cases dealt with by Elem are just the tip of the iceberg of the shocking phenomenon of youth prostitution in Israel," said MK Orit Zuaretz (Kadima), who heads the Knesset subcommittee.
"The main failing is that a year after the previous [subcommittee] session on the subject ... the responsible ministries have not presented a plan and are still developing ways to deal with this 'new' phenomenon of juvenile prostitution." She said the phenomenon was largely driven by poverty and the need for these young people to support themselves.
terça-feira, 30 de agosto de 2011
Israeli intellectuals back Palestinian state; Women to march in Qalandia
29 August 2011, Communist Party of Israel המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית http://maki.org.il
A newly established cooperation between Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol and Arab-Palestinian poet in Israel Taha Muhammad Ali has led to a petition calling on intellectuals on both sides to support the foundation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.
According to Sobol, the petition – distributed by email in recent days – has been signed by more than100 artists and academics, Jews and Arabs. It says that "the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 border, which will live in peace with Israel, is a crucial interest both for Israel and the Palestinians.
(June 4, 2011 demonstration in Tel-Aviv for a Palestinian state. Photo: Al Ittihad)
"All Arab countries and most of the world's countries support this solution for the conflict. According to the Arab Summit Conference in Beirut in 2002, all Arab countries and 60 Muslim countries would recognize the State of Israel and establish diplomatic relations with it if Israel were to recognize the '67 borders as the borders of just, comprehensive and sustainable peace with the future Palestinian state.
"These borders will gain the recognition of the UN and the countries of the world, as well as international guarantees." Sobol and Muhammad Ali warn in the petition that the ongoing political stalemate will create fertile land for extreme forces, who they say seek to drag the region's people into bloodshed and disastrous wars, which "create destruction, perpetuate backwardness and prevent any option of normalization of life and furthering social justice."
Talking about social justice, the two say that the recent popular protests movements in Arab countries and Israel express the aspirations for normalization of life that will exist in the region in times of peace, which will guarantee the fulfillment of the existential interests of the citizens of Israel and the Palestinian state and allow economic prosperity and social justice for all of the region's nations.
"For all these reasons, we the undersigned welcome the establishment of a Palestinian state within the '67 borders, including east Jerusalem, and call on its leadership and on the Israeli leadership to resume – immediately upon the foundation of the Palestinian state – the negotiations for ending the conflict based on UN resolutions and the international legitimization of a sustainable peace settlement between the two countries."
A women's march to be held in Qalandia checkpoint
Thousands of peace and left-wing women, from Israel and Palestine are expected to march through Qalandia checkpoint in east Jerusalem, Saturday, September 17 at 11 am. Among them Hadash, Communist Party of Israel and Tandi (Women's Democratic Movement in Israel) members, in support of an independent Palestinian state ahead of a declaration of statehood at the UN.
The demonstration will call for recognition of the Palestinian right to an independent state, with Jerusalem as its capital. The demonstration will be held in the two sides of the Qalandia checkpoint, with the participation of the General Union of Palestinian Women activists. March organizers were expecting thousands of Israeli and Palestinian women to participate.
On June 4, some 25,000 people marched through the streets of Tel Aviv in a demonstration calling for the creation of a Palestinian state. Setting out from the city’s central Rabin Square, protesters affiliated with the Hadash, Meretz, Peace Now, the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement and the Geneva Initiative slowly made their way along an unusually long route to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, where a rally was held. Speakers included MKs from the Hadash, Meretz, Labor and Kadima parties.
Accompanied by a small but loud amateur marching band composed of youths from the Communist Party, activists carrying Israeli, Palestinian and red flags marched past Dizengoff center, making their presence known with amplified chants of: “Israel and Palestine, two states for two peoples”; “Yes we ‘ken’” (the Hebrew word for “yes”); and “Bibi and Barak, peace isn’t a game,” referring to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu by his nickname.
(in Hebrew and Arabic): http://2states.org.il/independent
A newly established cooperation between Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol and Arab-Palestinian poet in Israel Taha Muhammad Ali has led to a petition calling on intellectuals on both sides to support the foundation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.
According to Sobol, the petition – distributed by email in recent days – has been signed by more than100 artists and academics, Jews and Arabs. It says that "the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 border, which will live in peace with Israel, is a crucial interest both for Israel and the Palestinians.
(June 4, 2011 demonstration in Tel-Aviv for a Palestinian state. Photo: Al Ittihad)
"All Arab countries and most of the world's countries support this solution for the conflict. According to the Arab Summit Conference in Beirut in 2002, all Arab countries and 60 Muslim countries would recognize the State of Israel and establish diplomatic relations with it if Israel were to recognize the '67 borders as the borders of just, comprehensive and sustainable peace with the future Palestinian state.
"These borders will gain the recognition of the UN and the countries of the world, as well as international guarantees." Sobol and Muhammad Ali warn in the petition that the ongoing political stalemate will create fertile land for extreme forces, who they say seek to drag the region's people into bloodshed and disastrous wars, which "create destruction, perpetuate backwardness and prevent any option of normalization of life and furthering social justice."
Talking about social justice, the two say that the recent popular protests movements in Arab countries and Israel express the aspirations for normalization of life that will exist in the region in times of peace, which will guarantee the fulfillment of the existential interests of the citizens of Israel and the Palestinian state and allow economic prosperity and social justice for all of the region's nations.
"For all these reasons, we the undersigned welcome the establishment of a Palestinian state within the '67 borders, including east Jerusalem, and call on its leadership and on the Israeli leadership to resume – immediately upon the foundation of the Palestinian state – the negotiations for ending the conflict based on UN resolutions and the international legitimization of a sustainable peace settlement between the two countries."
A women's march to be held in Qalandia checkpoint
Thousands of peace and left-wing women, from Israel and Palestine are expected to march through Qalandia checkpoint in east Jerusalem, Saturday, September 17 at 11 am. Among them Hadash, Communist Party of Israel and Tandi (Women's Democratic Movement in Israel) members, in support of an independent Palestinian state ahead of a declaration of statehood at the UN.
The demonstration will call for recognition of the Palestinian right to an independent state, with Jerusalem as its capital. The demonstration will be held in the two sides of the Qalandia checkpoint, with the participation of the General Union of Palestinian Women activists. March organizers were expecting thousands of Israeli and Palestinian women to participate.
On June 4, some 25,000 people marched through the streets of Tel Aviv in a demonstration calling for the creation of a Palestinian state. Setting out from the city’s central Rabin Square, protesters affiliated with the Hadash, Meretz, Peace Now, the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement and the Geneva Initiative slowly made their way along an unusually long route to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, where a rally was held. Speakers included MKs from the Hadash, Meretz, Labor and Kadima parties.
Accompanied by a small but loud amateur marching band composed of youths from the Communist Party, activists carrying Israeli, Palestinian and red flags marched past Dizengoff center, making their presence known with amplified chants of: “Israel and Palestine, two states for two peoples”; “Yes we ‘ken’” (the Hebrew word for “yes”); and “Bibi and Barak, peace isn’t a game,” referring to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu by his nickname.
(in Hebrew and Arabic): http://2states.org.il/independent
terça-feira, 16 de agosto de 2011
DICHTER'S LAW
13 August 2011, Gush Shalom גוש שלום http://zope.gush-shalom.org (Israel)
Uri Avnery אורי אבנרי
“THE PEOPLE Demand Social Justice!” 250 thousand protesters chanted in unison in Tel Aviv last Saturday. But what they need – to quote an American artist - is “more unemployed politicians”.
Fortunately, the Knesset has gone on a prolonged vacation, three months. For as Mark Twain quipped: “No man’s life or property is safe while the legislature is in session.”
As if to prove this point, MK Avi Dichter submitted, on the very last day of the outgoing session, a bill so outrageous that it easily trumps all the many other racist laws lately adopted by this Knesset.
“DICHTER” IS A German name and means “poet”. But no poet he. He is the former chief of the secret police, the “General Security Service” (Shin-Bet or Shabak).
(“Dichter also means “more dense”, but let’s not dwell on that.)
He proudly announced that he had spent a year and a half smoothening and sharpening this particular project, turning it into a legislative masterpiece.
And a masterpiece it is. No colleague in yesterday’s Germany or present-day Iran could have produced a more illustrious piece. The other members of the Knesset seem to feel so, too – no less than 20 of the 28 members of the Kadima faction, as well as all the other dyed-in-the-wool racist members of this august body, have proudly put their name to this bill as co-authors.
The very name - “Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People” - shows that this Dichter is neither a poet nor much of an intellectual. Secret police chiefs seldom are.
“Nation” and “People” are two different concepts. It is generally accepted that a people is an ethnic entity, and a nation is a political community. They exist on two different levels. But never mind.
It is the content of the bill that counts.
WHAT DICHTER proposes is to put an end to the official definition of Israel as a “Jewish and Democratic State”.
He proposes instead to set clear priorities: Israel is first and foremost the nation-state of the Jewish people, and only as a far second a democratic state. Wherever democracy clashes with the Jewishness of the state, Jewishness wins, democracy loses.
This makes him, by the way, the first right-wing Zionist (apart from Meir Kahane) who openly admits that there is a basic contradiction between a “Jewish” state and a “democratic” state. Since 1948, this has been strenuously denied by all Zionist factions, their phalanx of intellectuals and the Supreme Court.
What the new definition means is that the State of Israel belongs to all the Jews in the world – including Senators in Washington, drug-dealers in Mexico, oligarchs in Moscow and casino-owners in Macao, but not to the Arab citizens of Israel, who have been here for at least 1300 years since the Muslims entered Jerusalem. Christian Arabs trace their ancestry back to the crucifixion 1980 years ago, Samaritans were here 2500 years ago and many villagers are probably the descendents of the Canaanites, who were already here some 5000 years ago.
All these will become, once this bill is law, second-class citizens, not only in practice, as now, but also in official doctrine. Whenever their rights clash with what the majority of the Jews considers necessary for the preservation of the interests of the “nation-state of the Jewish people” – which may include everything from land ownership to criminal legislation –their rights will be ignored.
THE BILL itself does not leave much room for speculation. It spells things out.
The Arabic language will lose its status as an “official language” – a status it enjoyed in the Ottoman Empire, under the British Mandate and in Israel until now. The only official language in the Nation-State etc will be Hebrew.
No less typical is the paragraph that says that whenever there is a hole in Israeli law (called “lacuna”’ or lagoon), Jewish law will apply.
“Jewish law” is the Talmud and the Halakha, the Jewish equivalent of the Muslim Sharia. It means in practice that legal norms adopted 1500 years ago and more will trump the legal norms evolved over recent centuries in Britain and other European countries. Similar clauses exist in the laws of countries like Pakistan and Egypt. The similarity between Jewish and Islamic law is not accidental - Arabic-speaking Jewish sages, like Moses Maimonides (“the Rambam”) and their contemporary Muslim legal experts influenced each other.
The Halakha and the Sharia have much in common. They ban pork, practice circumcision, keep women in servitude, condemn homosexuals and fornicators to death and deny equality for infidels. (In practice, both religions have modified many of the harsher penalties. In the Jewish religion, for example, “an eye for an eye” now means compensation. Otherwise, as Gandhi so aptly said, we would all be blind by now.)
After enacting this law, Israel will be much nearer to Iran than to the USA. The “Only Democracy in the Middle East” will cease to be a democracy, but be very close in its character to some of the worst regimes in this region. “At long last, Israel is integrating itself in the region,” as an Arab writer mocked - alluding to a slogan I coined 65 years ago: “Integration in the Semitic Region”.
MOST OF the Knesset members who signed this bill fervently believe in “the Whole of Eretz-Israel” – meaning the official annexation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
They don’t mean the “One-State solution” that so many well-intentioned idealists dream about. In practice, the only One State that is feasible is one governed by Dichter’s law - the “Nation-State of the Jewish People” - with the Arabs relegated to the status of the Biblical “hewers of wood and drawers of water”.
Sure, the Arabs will be a majority in this state – but who cares? Since the Jewishness of the state will override democracy, their numbers will be irrelevant. Much as the number of blacks was in Apartheid South Africa.
LET’S HAVE a look at the party to which this poet of racism belongs: Kadima.
When I was in the army, I was always amused by the order: “the squad will retreat to the rear – forward march!”
This may sound absurd, but is really quite logical. The first part of the order relates to its direction, the second to its execution.
“Kadima” means “forward”, but Its direction is backward.
Dichter is a prominent leader of Kadima. Since his only claim to distinction is his former role as chief of the secret police, this must be why he was elected. But he has been joined in this racist project by more than 80% of the Kadima Knesset faction – the largest in the present parliament.
What does this say about Kadima?
Kadima has been a dismal failure in practically every respect. As an opposition faction in parliament it is a sad joke – indeed, I dare say that when I was a one-man faction in the Knesset, I generated more opposition activity than this 28-headed colossus. It has not formulated any meaningful stand on peace and the occupation, not to mention social justice.
Its leader, Tzipi Livni, has proved herself a total failure. Her only achievement has been her ability to keep her party together – no mean feat, though, considering that it consists of refugees (some would say traitors) from other parties, who hitched their cart to Ariel Sharon’s surging horses when he left the Likud. Most Kadima leaders left the Likud with him, and – like Livni herself – are deeply steeped in Likud ideology. Some others came from the Labor Party, arm in arm with that unsavory political prostitute, Shimon Peres.
This haphazard collection of frustrated politicians has tried several times to outflank Binyamin Netanyahu on the right. Its members have co-signed almost all the racist bills introduced in recent months, including the infamous “Boycott Law” (though when public opinion rebelled, they withdrew their signature, and some of them even voted against.)
How did this party get to be the largest in the Knesset, with one more seat than Likud? For left-wing voters, who were disgusted by Ehud Barak’s Labor Party and who dismissed the tiny Meretz, it seemed the only chance to stop Netanyahu and Lieberman. But that may change very soon.
LAST SATURDAY’s huge protest demonstration was the largest in Israel’s history (including the legendary “400,000 demo” after the Sabra-Shatilah massacre, whose real numbers were slightly lower). It may be the beginning of a new era.
It is impossible to describe the sheer energy emanating from this crowd, consisting mostly of 20-30-year-olds. History, like a gigantic eagle, could be felt beating its wings above. It was a jubilant mass, conscious of its immense power.
The protesters were eager to shun “politics” – reminding me of the words of Pericles, some 2500 years ago, that “just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean that politics won’t take an interest in you!”
The demonstration was, of course, highly political – directed against Netanyahu, the government and the entire social order. Marching in the dense crowd, I looked around for kippa-wearing protesters and could not spot a single one. The whole religious sector, the right-wing support group of the settlers and Dichter’s Law, was conspicuously absent, while the Oriental Jewish sector, the traditional base of Likud, was amply represented.
This mass protest is changing the agenda of Israel. I hope that it will result in due course in the emergence of a new party, which will change the face of the Knesset beyond recognition. Even a new war or another “security emergency” may not avert this.
That will surely be the end of Kadima, and few will mourn it. It would also mean bye-bye to Dichter, the Secret Police poet.
Uri Avnery אורי אבנרי
“THE PEOPLE Demand Social Justice!” 250 thousand protesters chanted in unison in Tel Aviv last Saturday. But what they need – to quote an American artist - is “more unemployed politicians”.
Fortunately, the Knesset has gone on a prolonged vacation, three months. For as Mark Twain quipped: “No man’s life or property is safe while the legislature is in session.”
As if to prove this point, MK Avi Dichter submitted, on the very last day of the outgoing session, a bill so outrageous that it easily trumps all the many other racist laws lately adopted by this Knesset.
“DICHTER” IS A German name and means “poet”. But no poet he. He is the former chief of the secret police, the “General Security Service” (Shin-Bet or Shabak).
(“Dichter also means “more dense”, but let’s not dwell on that.)
He proudly announced that he had spent a year and a half smoothening and sharpening this particular project, turning it into a legislative masterpiece.
And a masterpiece it is. No colleague in yesterday’s Germany or present-day Iran could have produced a more illustrious piece. The other members of the Knesset seem to feel so, too – no less than 20 of the 28 members of the Kadima faction, as well as all the other dyed-in-the-wool racist members of this august body, have proudly put their name to this bill as co-authors.
The very name - “Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People” - shows that this Dichter is neither a poet nor much of an intellectual. Secret police chiefs seldom are.
“Nation” and “People” are two different concepts. It is generally accepted that a people is an ethnic entity, and a nation is a political community. They exist on two different levels. But never mind.
It is the content of the bill that counts.
WHAT DICHTER proposes is to put an end to the official definition of Israel as a “Jewish and Democratic State”.
He proposes instead to set clear priorities: Israel is first and foremost the nation-state of the Jewish people, and only as a far second a democratic state. Wherever democracy clashes with the Jewishness of the state, Jewishness wins, democracy loses.
This makes him, by the way, the first right-wing Zionist (apart from Meir Kahane) who openly admits that there is a basic contradiction between a “Jewish” state and a “democratic” state. Since 1948, this has been strenuously denied by all Zionist factions, their phalanx of intellectuals and the Supreme Court.
What the new definition means is that the State of Israel belongs to all the Jews in the world – including Senators in Washington, drug-dealers in Mexico, oligarchs in Moscow and casino-owners in Macao, but not to the Arab citizens of Israel, who have been here for at least 1300 years since the Muslims entered Jerusalem. Christian Arabs trace their ancestry back to the crucifixion 1980 years ago, Samaritans were here 2500 years ago and many villagers are probably the descendents of the Canaanites, who were already here some 5000 years ago.
All these will become, once this bill is law, second-class citizens, not only in practice, as now, but also in official doctrine. Whenever their rights clash with what the majority of the Jews considers necessary for the preservation of the interests of the “nation-state of the Jewish people” – which may include everything from land ownership to criminal legislation –their rights will be ignored.
THE BILL itself does not leave much room for speculation. It spells things out.
The Arabic language will lose its status as an “official language” – a status it enjoyed in the Ottoman Empire, under the British Mandate and in Israel until now. The only official language in the Nation-State etc will be Hebrew.
No less typical is the paragraph that says that whenever there is a hole in Israeli law (called “lacuna”’ or lagoon), Jewish law will apply.
“Jewish law” is the Talmud and the Halakha, the Jewish equivalent of the Muslim Sharia. It means in practice that legal norms adopted 1500 years ago and more will trump the legal norms evolved over recent centuries in Britain and other European countries. Similar clauses exist in the laws of countries like Pakistan and Egypt. The similarity between Jewish and Islamic law is not accidental - Arabic-speaking Jewish sages, like Moses Maimonides (“the Rambam”) and their contemporary Muslim legal experts influenced each other.
The Halakha and the Sharia have much in common. They ban pork, practice circumcision, keep women in servitude, condemn homosexuals and fornicators to death and deny equality for infidels. (In practice, both religions have modified many of the harsher penalties. In the Jewish religion, for example, “an eye for an eye” now means compensation. Otherwise, as Gandhi so aptly said, we would all be blind by now.)
After enacting this law, Israel will be much nearer to Iran than to the USA. The “Only Democracy in the Middle East” will cease to be a democracy, but be very close in its character to some of the worst regimes in this region. “At long last, Israel is integrating itself in the region,” as an Arab writer mocked - alluding to a slogan I coined 65 years ago: “Integration in the Semitic Region”.
MOST OF the Knesset members who signed this bill fervently believe in “the Whole of Eretz-Israel” – meaning the official annexation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
They don’t mean the “One-State solution” that so many well-intentioned idealists dream about. In practice, the only One State that is feasible is one governed by Dichter’s law - the “Nation-State of the Jewish People” - with the Arabs relegated to the status of the Biblical “hewers of wood and drawers of water”.
Sure, the Arabs will be a majority in this state – but who cares? Since the Jewishness of the state will override democracy, their numbers will be irrelevant. Much as the number of blacks was in Apartheid South Africa.
LET’S HAVE a look at the party to which this poet of racism belongs: Kadima.
When I was in the army, I was always amused by the order: “the squad will retreat to the rear – forward march!”
This may sound absurd, but is really quite logical. The first part of the order relates to its direction, the second to its execution.
“Kadima” means “forward”, but Its direction is backward.
Dichter is a prominent leader of Kadima. Since his only claim to distinction is his former role as chief of the secret police, this must be why he was elected. But he has been joined in this racist project by more than 80% of the Kadima Knesset faction – the largest in the present parliament.
What does this say about Kadima?
Kadima has been a dismal failure in practically every respect. As an opposition faction in parliament it is a sad joke – indeed, I dare say that when I was a one-man faction in the Knesset, I generated more opposition activity than this 28-headed colossus. It has not formulated any meaningful stand on peace and the occupation, not to mention social justice.
Its leader, Tzipi Livni, has proved herself a total failure. Her only achievement has been her ability to keep her party together – no mean feat, though, considering that it consists of refugees (some would say traitors) from other parties, who hitched their cart to Ariel Sharon’s surging horses when he left the Likud. Most Kadima leaders left the Likud with him, and – like Livni herself – are deeply steeped in Likud ideology. Some others came from the Labor Party, arm in arm with that unsavory political prostitute, Shimon Peres.
This haphazard collection of frustrated politicians has tried several times to outflank Binyamin Netanyahu on the right. Its members have co-signed almost all the racist bills introduced in recent months, including the infamous “Boycott Law” (though when public opinion rebelled, they withdrew their signature, and some of them even voted against.)
How did this party get to be the largest in the Knesset, with one more seat than Likud? For left-wing voters, who were disgusted by Ehud Barak’s Labor Party and who dismissed the tiny Meretz, it seemed the only chance to stop Netanyahu and Lieberman. But that may change very soon.
LAST SATURDAY’s huge protest demonstration was the largest in Israel’s history (including the legendary “400,000 demo” after the Sabra-Shatilah massacre, whose real numbers were slightly lower). It may be the beginning of a new era.
It is impossible to describe the sheer energy emanating from this crowd, consisting mostly of 20-30-year-olds. History, like a gigantic eagle, could be felt beating its wings above. It was a jubilant mass, conscious of its immense power.
The protesters were eager to shun “politics” – reminding me of the words of Pericles, some 2500 years ago, that “just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean that politics won’t take an interest in you!”
The demonstration was, of course, highly political – directed against Netanyahu, the government and the entire social order. Marching in the dense crowd, I looked around for kippa-wearing protesters and could not spot a single one. The whole religious sector, the right-wing support group of the settlers and Dichter’s Law, was conspicuously absent, while the Oriental Jewish sector, the traditional base of Likud, was amply represented.
This mass protest is changing the agenda of Israel. I hope that it will result in due course in the emergence of a new party, which will change the face of the Knesset beyond recognition. Even a new war or another “security emergency” may not avert this.
That will surely be the end of Kadima, and few will mourn it. It would also mean bye-bye to Dichter, the Secret Police poet.
quarta-feira, 3 de agosto de 2011
Israelis respond to new housing law: Protests and more protests
3 August 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
Leaders of protest movement criticize passage of controversial housing law; demonstrations planned for Thursday and Saturday.
By Ilan Lior, Gili Cohen and Haaretz
Leaders of the housing protest movement that has been gaining momentum across Israel in recent weeks criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government on Wednesday following the passage of a controversial housing bill that will set up national committees to approve new housing projects.
Protesters are planning large demonstrations on Thursday and Saturday.
The chairman of the National Students Union, Itzik Shmuli, said that the government's approval of the hosuing law "defied the public and choked the chance for trust and dialogue".
The Dror Yisrael movement said, "As we gathered to formulate our positions for dialogue with the government, we received a resounding slap from Netanyahu and his government. It seems that the prime minister's statement on establishing a team for dialogue with us was merely a facade or an attempt to dismantle opposition with sweet talk."
The Kadima party said in response to the passage of the law that, "The most bloated government in the history of Israel has proven that it is also the most opaque in the history of Israel. Government ministers speak of the close attention they are paying to the public protest but spit on them from the Knesset."
Protesters on Wednesday blocked roads in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva and Kiryat Shmona. New protest tents were established in Tiberias and Taibeh.
More on this topic
Knesset approves controversial housing bill over protest leaders' objections
Leaders of protest movement criticize passage of controversial housing law; demonstrations planned for Thursday and Saturday.
By Ilan Lior, Gili Cohen and Haaretz
Leaders of the housing protest movement that has been gaining momentum across Israel in recent weeks criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government on Wednesday following the passage of a controversial housing bill that will set up national committees to approve new housing projects.
Protesters are planning large demonstrations on Thursday and Saturday.
The chairman of the National Students Union, Itzik Shmuli, said that the government's approval of the hosuing law "defied the public and choked the chance for trust and dialogue".
The Dror Yisrael movement said, "As we gathered to formulate our positions for dialogue with the government, we received a resounding slap from Netanyahu and his government. It seems that the prime minister's statement on establishing a team for dialogue with us was merely a facade or an attempt to dismantle opposition with sweet talk."
The Kadima party said in response to the passage of the law that, "The most bloated government in the history of Israel has proven that it is also the most opaque in the history of Israel. Government ministers speak of the close attention they are paying to the public protest but spit on them from the Knesset."
Protesters on Wednesday blocked roads in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva and Kiryat Shmona. New protest tents were established in Tiberias and Taibeh.
Knesset approves controversial housing bill over protest leaders' objections
quarta-feira, 27 de julho de 2011
¿BOICOT AL FASCISMO?
Políticas que han frustrado a los palestinos durante años son aplicadas a israelíes de clase media
27 Julio 2011, Rebelión http://www.rebelion.org (México)
Mark LeVine*
Al-Jazeera. Traducido del inglés para Rebelión por Germán Leyens
Durante la semana pasada indignados jóvenes residentes de Tel Aviv han estado realizando una sentada, o, para ser más exactos, una ‘tiendada’, a lo largo del elegante Rothschild Boulevard para protestar porque los precios en el mercado de la vivienda han subido tanto que han dejado de ser asequibles en la capital cultural y económica de Israel. Las manifestaciones han llamado la atención de los medios internacionales e israelíes, y The Guardian incluso comparó a los manifestantes con los revolucionarios por la democracia en Egipto y otros países árabes.
Las protestas podrán ser algo nuevo, pero el proceso contra el que los habitantes de las tiendas protestan existe en Tel Aviv, como en otras ciudades del mundo, desde hace por lo menos dos décadas. Hasta hace poco, las principales víctimas de los altos precios de las viviendas no eran jóvenes judíos israelíes de clase media que ya no se pueden permitir vivir cerca de la acción cultural y económica en Tel Aviv, sino residentes palestinos pobres en Jaffa, expulsados por la elitización y que no tuvieron ningún otro sitio al que ir.
Después de la guerra de 1948, cuando Jaffa, como la mayoría de las otras ciudades y aldeas palestinas fueron vaciadas de la vasta mayoría de su población, la otrora orgullosa ciudad se convirtió en un pobre y decrépito vecindario de Tel Aviv y pasó por un proceso de judeización, y solo quedaron 5.000 de por lo menos 70.000 palestinos. Esa población aumentó varias veces en las décadas siguientes, pero cuando Jaffa se convirtió repentinamente en un vecindario de moda para la emergente clase yuppie judía de Israel desde fines de los años ochenta, los precios comenzaron a aumentar.
Mediante una serie de mecanismos legales y económicos la creciente población palestina fue expulsada de los restantes vecindarios de Jaffa como Ajami y Jebaliya, que eran bastante interesantes por su ubicación al borde del mar. Los residentes se quejaron de una clara política de judeización mediante la planificación y otros mecanismos, pero fueron rechazados cuando llevaron su caso a la municipalidad de Tel Aviv.
“¿Qué podemos hacer? – el mercado es el mercado”, declaró más de un funcionario. En otras palabras, no era una política del Estado, sino más bien fuerzas naturales del mercado las que estaban expulsando a palestinos de clase trabajadora, y a sus vecinos judíos, de esos vecindarios.
Por cierto, ese argumento carecía de sentido. El Estado israelí ha estado profundamente involucrado en la neoliberalización de la economía del país, de la cual Tel Aviv era el epicentro natural. Como parte de este proceso tendía a utilizar las así llamadas “fuerzas del mercado” como parte de sus instrumentos para posibilitar una mayor penetración judía en las ciudades y vecindarios palestinos que eran considerados como prioridades para la judeización. El que judíos también hayan sido víctimas no era relevante, ya que eran reemplazados por aún más judíos, y los que eran excluidos siempre tenían “algún otro sitio” donde ir.
Jóvenes judíos podían “colonizar” ciudades vecinas como Bat Yam – el equivalente a mudarse de Manhattan a partes menos deseables pero que pronto serían elitizadas de Brooklyn o Queens en los años ochenta. Los palestinos, sin embargo, no tenían literalmente ningún sitio al cual ir excepto unas pocas ciudades palestinas que también sufrían de escasez de viviendas.
La resistencia fue generalmente fútil; más de una familia palestina colocó tiendas para vivir en los mal mantenidos parques de Jaffa después de ser expulsados de sus casas, como protesta contra su expulsión y porque no se podían permitir vivir en otra parte. Las tiendas se convirtieron en parte del paisaje después de un tiempo, pero terminaron por desaparecer.
Mientras tanto, la elitización mantuvo su ritmo, sea mediante falsas monstruosidades de la era otomana como el área de Andromeda Hill o el aún más perverso Centro Peres por la Paz, construido –significativamente– sobre terrenos expropiados a refugiados de Jaffa, incluso en el cementerio del vecindario, cuyas lápidas restantes se tambalean sobre el cerro a lo largo del límite sur del Centro.
Mientras tanto, a fines del año pasado, la Corte Suprema israelí aprobó la construcción de una urbanización para viviendas de un grupo religioso sionista en el corazón de Ajami, en terrenos de refugiados que les fueron cedidos en arriendo por la municipalidad y la Administración de Tierras Israelíes, a pesar de enérgicas protestas de los residentes locales palestinos y de grupos israelíes por los derechos humanos.
Y mientras se desarrolla este proceso, las partes árabes restantes de Ajami, sufren por la droga, la violencia y la negligencia del gobierno (como lo ilustra la cinta Ajami de 2010), mientras activistas que presionan con demasiada fuerza contra la situación pueden contar con ser objeto de diversos grados de la “educación Shabak” que palestinos a ambos lados de la Línea Verde siempre han sufrido cuando cuestionan las premisas básicas del régimen israelí.
¿De mercados a boicots?
Mientras este proceso se limitaba a Jaffa, la mayoría de los israelíes, incluidos los residentes de Tel Aviv no se preocupaban mucho del tema. Después de todo, lo que sucedía en Jaffa era lo que había pasado en todo el país durante décadas; era el modus operandi para el cual se creó el Estado de Israel.
¿Qué es diferente ahora? Actualmente, los que son obligados a irse son israelíes de clase media y no tienen dónde ir; por lo menos no a algún sitio de su gusto. Ricos expatriados judíos y judíos de la Diáspora, que han comprado gran parte de las viviendas de Ajami, se encuentran ahora entre los más importantes compradores de apartamentos en Tel Aviv, mientras se dice a los jóvenes judíos askenazíes que viven actualmente en tiendas que deben mudarse a la “periferia” y colonizar partes muchos menos interesantes del país que las ciudades satélite de Tel Aviv.
Activistas gay se quejan de que solo se sienten en casa en Tel Aviv, mientras pretendientes a ser creadores culturales sienten poco deseo de mudarse a ciudades en desarrollo pobladas por judíos Mizrahi de clase trabajadora o recientes inmigrantes de la antigua Unión Soviética o Etiopia.
Podréis pensar que es una historia fascinante. ¿Pero qué tiene que ver con un artículo sobre “boicot al fascismo”, como dice el título? Resulta que tiene mucho que ver. El sufrimiento de jóvenes israelíes a manos del mercado de la vivienda de Tel Aviv ilustra un fenómeno más amplio que afecta actualmente el tejido de la sociedad israelí en su conjunto: Procesos y políticas que durante años o incluso décadas han sido desplegados sobre, o han afectado a, la comunidad palestina a ambos lados de la Línea Verde, también afectan negativamente ahora a israelíes judíos de la corriente dominante. Pero casi nadie entiende la génesis del problema, y por lo tanto la cólera es dirigida en la dirección equivocada o se disipa porque, después de todo, el mercado es el mercado: ¿qué le vamos a hacer?
Otro ejemplo de este proceso es el debate que rodea la aprobación en la semana pasada por la Knéset [parlamento israelí] de la así llamada ley “Antiboicot” que ahora ilegalizó que israelíes apoyen o participen en el boicot de Israel o incluso de los asentamientos o productos hechos en los asentamientos, y que permite que los objetivos de boicots demanden a los partidarios de estos por daños sin tener que demostrar el verdadero daño sufrido.
La nueva ley ha causado una tormenta de protestas dentro y fuera de Israel, y críticos izquierdistas afirman que llevará a extranjeros a peguntarse si “hay realmente democracia aquí” y, aún más dañino, a argumentar que su aprobación presagia la llegada del fascismo a Israel, sea “silencioso” o “intenso y palpable”.
Se argumenta que una ley semejante restringe la libertad de expresión, refleja una clara tiranía de la mayoría dentro de la política israelí, borra la distinción entre Israel y los Territorios Ocupados, lesionará los esfuerzos de varios grupos por la paz por ayudar a resucitar el moribundo proceso de paz, y forma parte de un proceso más amplio para despojar a la Corte Suprema israelí de su independencia. De un modo más amplio, en las palabras del usualmente conservador columnista de Maariv, Ben Caspit, representa una derecha que “se vuelve frenética” y que amenaza la supuesta estructura democrática de Israel.
Pero igual que el problema de la vivienda en Tel Aviv, esas afirmaciones solo son válidas si se considera a la sociedad israelí judía. Para los ciudadanos palestinos de Israel, y mucho más aún para los palestinos en los Territorios Ocupados, Israel siempre ha sido – usando la palabra como si estuviera jugando– fascista.
¿El problema es fascismo o nacionalismo?
La fórmula básica para el fascismo, el de un Estado corporativista altamente militarizado, que maneja las relaciones entre los trabajadores y el capital en nombre de un “pueblo” míticamente definido que excluye a todos los que considera como no pertenecientes al colectivo, lo que define bien el tipo de etnonacionalismo que ha dominado durante mucho tiempo la ideología sionista.
Además, el tipo de exclusivismo que está en el corazón de todas las identidades nacionalistas es aumentado con esteroides ideológicos en los discursos autoritarios nacionalistas que subyacen al fascismo, cómo han demostrado trágicamente las experiencias italiana y alemana. Los etnonacionalismos, y particularmente los que emergen en escenarios de asentamientos coloniales como en Israel, Sudáfrica, EE.UU., Australia y Argelia Francesa, también se basan en formas extremas de exclusivismos y expansionismo territorial que tienen que negar los derechos básicos e incluso la humanidad a poblaciones indígenas a fin de lograr su objetivo de asegurar su control y / o soberanía sobre la “patria”.
El geógrafo israelí Juval Portugali define nacionalismo como el “orden social generativo” del sionismo, que consolida la relación entre el pueblo judío/israelí y el territorio que reivindica. Este orden generativo ha sido históricamente exclusivista con mucha más frecuencia de lo que ha sido abierto a identidades plurales, por lo cual la (re)emergencia de nacionalismos ha causado con tanta frecuencia la guerra – especialmente cuando se les ha sumado un proyecto de asentamiento colonial.
En Israel este proceso es evidenciado en el poderoso papel del Estado y del ejército israelíes en todos los aspectos de la vida del país, desde el período dominado por socialistas laboristas antes de 1948 hasta el presente neoliberal. Ha conformado una realidad política en la cual los palestinos, sean ciudadanos del Estado israelí o habitantes de Cisjordania y Gaza ocupados, siempre han tenido menos derechos, por ley y costumbre, que los judíos.
Por lo tanto no es sorprendente, para recordar las quejas de los que critican la nueva ley antiboicot, que los palestinos a ambos lados de la Línea Verde hayan sido privados desde hace tiempo de los derechos civiles y políticos de la igualdad de ciudadanía. Su libertad de expresión ha sido limitada durante mucho tiempo en diversos grados, siempre han sufrido la tiranía de la mayoría judía, nunca ha habido una distinción entre los Territorios Ocupados e Israel (de ahí la masiva expansión de la empresa de los asentamientos incluso durante Oslo), y la Corte Suprema nunca se ha apartado del consenso político dominante en Israel en apoyo a la ocupación – sea en Jaffa o Jerusalén Este.
En resumen, la izquierda se ha “vuelto frenética” en los territorios igual que la derecha. Por cierto, toda la noción de que exista una diferencia básica entre la izquierda y la derecha sionista ha sido históricamente poco más que la estrategia retórica del “buen policía y el mal policía” para confundir a los extranjeros sobre su acuerdo básico con los temas cruciales que rodean el control sobre el territorio de la Palestina del Mandato.
Por cierto, los palestinos lo han comprendido hace tiempo, incluso si estadounidenses y europeos han preferido mantener su ignorancia más o menos intencionalmente. Laboristas, Likud o Kadima; la ocupación continúa. (Al escribir estas líneas Ha’aretz informa que la Administración Civil y el ejército israelí están involucrados en otro importante robo de tierras en el corazón de Cisjordania, tratando de que grandes áreas, incluidas las que contienen puestos avanzados “ilegales”, sean declaradas tierras estatales para que Israel se pueda apoderar permanentemente de ellas antes de cualquier acuerdo de paz.)
El futuro de los boicots
Contra este nivel a largo plazo de dominación y discriminación institucionalizadas, los palestinos han probado muchos medios de resistencia, ninguno de los cuales ha tenido mucho éxito hasta ahora. En un artículo reciente discutí algunos de los medios de resistencia de base cultural, no violentos, que podrían lograr un cierto éxito contra el poder del Estado israelí.
Como señala Yousef Munayyer en su reciente artículo de opinión, la nueva ley antiboicot ha tenido el efecto saludable de estimular más interés por el boicot y un movimiento de BDS más amplio. También, con razón, que ya que la ocupación no puede existir sin el apoyo masivo del Estado israelí, toda la premisa de la mayoría de los movimientos contra los que se dirige la ley –grupos izquierdistas israelíes que tratan de boicotear productos de los asentamientos o instituciones culturales / educacionales– es extremadamente deficiente, ya que solo al enfrentar todo el aparato del Estado israelí un movimiento de boicot puede esperar lograr detener la fuerza implacable de la ocupación.
El desafío que enfrenta un movimiento semejante, sin embargo, es que ideologías que comparte el ADN del fascismo están genéticamente predispuestas a creer que el mundo está en su contra y que su existencia está en constante peligro desde el interior y el exterior. En el caso israelí, mientras más exitoso llegue a ser un movimiento de boicot, más se sentirá justificado el Estado israelí para defenderse, con el apoyo de una gran parte del público, utilizando cualesquiera medios a su disposición –desde el tiroteo contra manifestantes desarmados al lanzamiento de masivas campañas de propaganda.
Además, sus dirigentes y sus seguidores de menor cuantía están cada vez más dispuestos a satanizar e incluso a actuar contra miembros del colectivo que cuestiona la ideología y las políticas oficiales. Es, desde luego, algo que no se aplica solo a Israel actual, ni a los regímenes autoritarios del mundo árabe, como deja en claro el artículo de opinión de William Cook del 21 de julio, que describe similitudes entre las subversiones de la libertad de expresión del gobierno israelí y del estadounidense.
Contra un adversario tan poderoso, los palestinos y sus partidarios en el movimiento de BDS tendrán que elaborar un conjunto extremadamente creativo y persuasivo de argumentos, y las estrategias para difundirlos en todo el globo, a fin de tener una probabilidad de superar las abrumadoras ventajas que poseen el gobierno israelí y sus partidarios. En mi próximo artículo, consideraré algunos de los principios, estrategias y tácticas clave del movimiento en la actualidad y exploraré cómo sus fuerzas y sus debilidades auguran el futuro próximo de la lucha contra la Ocupación.
*Mark Le Vine es profesor de historia en la UC Irvine e investigador en el Centro de Estudios del Oriente Medio en la Lud University en Suecia, y autor, hace poco de Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the soul of Islam (Random House 2008) e Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989 (Zed Books, 2009).
Fuente: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/07/201172594733901222.html
27 Julio 2011, Rebelión http://www.rebelion.org (México)
Mark LeVine*
Al-Jazeera. Traducido del inglés para Rebelión por Germán Leyens
Durante la semana pasada indignados jóvenes residentes de Tel Aviv han estado realizando una sentada, o, para ser más exactos, una ‘tiendada’, a lo largo del elegante Rothschild Boulevard para protestar porque los precios en el mercado de la vivienda han subido tanto que han dejado de ser asequibles en la capital cultural y económica de Israel. Las manifestaciones han llamado la atención de los medios internacionales e israelíes, y The Guardian incluso comparó a los manifestantes con los revolucionarios por la democracia en Egipto y otros países árabes.
Las protestas podrán ser algo nuevo, pero el proceso contra el que los habitantes de las tiendas protestan existe en Tel Aviv, como en otras ciudades del mundo, desde hace por lo menos dos décadas. Hasta hace poco, las principales víctimas de los altos precios de las viviendas no eran jóvenes judíos israelíes de clase media que ya no se pueden permitir vivir cerca de la acción cultural y económica en Tel Aviv, sino residentes palestinos pobres en Jaffa, expulsados por la elitización y que no tuvieron ningún otro sitio al que ir.
Después de la guerra de 1948, cuando Jaffa, como la mayoría de las otras ciudades y aldeas palestinas fueron vaciadas de la vasta mayoría de su población, la otrora orgullosa ciudad se convirtió en un pobre y decrépito vecindario de Tel Aviv y pasó por un proceso de judeización, y solo quedaron 5.000 de por lo menos 70.000 palestinos. Esa población aumentó varias veces en las décadas siguientes, pero cuando Jaffa se convirtió repentinamente en un vecindario de moda para la emergente clase yuppie judía de Israel desde fines de los años ochenta, los precios comenzaron a aumentar.
Mediante una serie de mecanismos legales y económicos la creciente población palestina fue expulsada de los restantes vecindarios de Jaffa como Ajami y Jebaliya, que eran bastante interesantes por su ubicación al borde del mar. Los residentes se quejaron de una clara política de judeización mediante la planificación y otros mecanismos, pero fueron rechazados cuando llevaron su caso a la municipalidad de Tel Aviv.
“¿Qué podemos hacer? – el mercado es el mercado”, declaró más de un funcionario. En otras palabras, no era una política del Estado, sino más bien fuerzas naturales del mercado las que estaban expulsando a palestinos de clase trabajadora, y a sus vecinos judíos, de esos vecindarios.
Por cierto, ese argumento carecía de sentido. El Estado israelí ha estado profundamente involucrado en la neoliberalización de la economía del país, de la cual Tel Aviv era el epicentro natural. Como parte de este proceso tendía a utilizar las así llamadas “fuerzas del mercado” como parte de sus instrumentos para posibilitar una mayor penetración judía en las ciudades y vecindarios palestinos que eran considerados como prioridades para la judeización. El que judíos también hayan sido víctimas no era relevante, ya que eran reemplazados por aún más judíos, y los que eran excluidos siempre tenían “algún otro sitio” donde ir.
Jóvenes judíos podían “colonizar” ciudades vecinas como Bat Yam – el equivalente a mudarse de Manhattan a partes menos deseables pero que pronto serían elitizadas de Brooklyn o Queens en los años ochenta. Los palestinos, sin embargo, no tenían literalmente ningún sitio al cual ir excepto unas pocas ciudades palestinas que también sufrían de escasez de viviendas.
La resistencia fue generalmente fútil; más de una familia palestina colocó tiendas para vivir en los mal mantenidos parques de Jaffa después de ser expulsados de sus casas, como protesta contra su expulsión y porque no se podían permitir vivir en otra parte. Las tiendas se convirtieron en parte del paisaje después de un tiempo, pero terminaron por desaparecer.
Mientras tanto, la elitización mantuvo su ritmo, sea mediante falsas monstruosidades de la era otomana como el área de Andromeda Hill o el aún más perverso Centro Peres por la Paz, construido –significativamente– sobre terrenos expropiados a refugiados de Jaffa, incluso en el cementerio del vecindario, cuyas lápidas restantes se tambalean sobre el cerro a lo largo del límite sur del Centro.
Mientras tanto, a fines del año pasado, la Corte Suprema israelí aprobó la construcción de una urbanización para viviendas de un grupo religioso sionista en el corazón de Ajami, en terrenos de refugiados que les fueron cedidos en arriendo por la municipalidad y la Administración de Tierras Israelíes, a pesar de enérgicas protestas de los residentes locales palestinos y de grupos israelíes por los derechos humanos.
Y mientras se desarrolla este proceso, las partes árabes restantes de Ajami, sufren por la droga, la violencia y la negligencia del gobierno (como lo ilustra la cinta Ajami de 2010), mientras activistas que presionan con demasiada fuerza contra la situación pueden contar con ser objeto de diversos grados de la “educación Shabak” que palestinos a ambos lados de la Línea Verde siempre han sufrido cuando cuestionan las premisas básicas del régimen israelí.
¿De mercados a boicots?
Mientras este proceso se limitaba a Jaffa, la mayoría de los israelíes, incluidos los residentes de Tel Aviv no se preocupaban mucho del tema. Después de todo, lo que sucedía en Jaffa era lo que había pasado en todo el país durante décadas; era el modus operandi para el cual se creó el Estado de Israel.
¿Qué es diferente ahora? Actualmente, los que son obligados a irse son israelíes de clase media y no tienen dónde ir; por lo menos no a algún sitio de su gusto. Ricos expatriados judíos y judíos de la Diáspora, que han comprado gran parte de las viviendas de Ajami, se encuentran ahora entre los más importantes compradores de apartamentos en Tel Aviv, mientras se dice a los jóvenes judíos askenazíes que viven actualmente en tiendas que deben mudarse a la “periferia” y colonizar partes muchos menos interesantes del país que las ciudades satélite de Tel Aviv.
Activistas gay se quejan de que solo se sienten en casa en Tel Aviv, mientras pretendientes a ser creadores culturales sienten poco deseo de mudarse a ciudades en desarrollo pobladas por judíos Mizrahi de clase trabajadora o recientes inmigrantes de la antigua Unión Soviética o Etiopia.
Podréis pensar que es una historia fascinante. ¿Pero qué tiene que ver con un artículo sobre “boicot al fascismo”, como dice el título? Resulta que tiene mucho que ver. El sufrimiento de jóvenes israelíes a manos del mercado de la vivienda de Tel Aviv ilustra un fenómeno más amplio que afecta actualmente el tejido de la sociedad israelí en su conjunto: Procesos y políticas que durante años o incluso décadas han sido desplegados sobre, o han afectado a, la comunidad palestina a ambos lados de la Línea Verde, también afectan negativamente ahora a israelíes judíos de la corriente dominante. Pero casi nadie entiende la génesis del problema, y por lo tanto la cólera es dirigida en la dirección equivocada o se disipa porque, después de todo, el mercado es el mercado: ¿qué le vamos a hacer?
Otro ejemplo de este proceso es el debate que rodea la aprobación en la semana pasada por la Knéset [parlamento israelí] de la así llamada ley “Antiboicot” que ahora ilegalizó que israelíes apoyen o participen en el boicot de Israel o incluso de los asentamientos o productos hechos en los asentamientos, y que permite que los objetivos de boicots demanden a los partidarios de estos por daños sin tener que demostrar el verdadero daño sufrido.
La nueva ley ha causado una tormenta de protestas dentro y fuera de Israel, y críticos izquierdistas afirman que llevará a extranjeros a peguntarse si “hay realmente democracia aquí” y, aún más dañino, a argumentar que su aprobación presagia la llegada del fascismo a Israel, sea “silencioso” o “intenso y palpable”.
Se argumenta que una ley semejante restringe la libertad de expresión, refleja una clara tiranía de la mayoría dentro de la política israelí, borra la distinción entre Israel y los Territorios Ocupados, lesionará los esfuerzos de varios grupos por la paz por ayudar a resucitar el moribundo proceso de paz, y forma parte de un proceso más amplio para despojar a la Corte Suprema israelí de su independencia. De un modo más amplio, en las palabras del usualmente conservador columnista de Maariv, Ben Caspit, representa una derecha que “se vuelve frenética” y que amenaza la supuesta estructura democrática de Israel.
Pero igual que el problema de la vivienda en Tel Aviv, esas afirmaciones solo son válidas si se considera a la sociedad israelí judía. Para los ciudadanos palestinos de Israel, y mucho más aún para los palestinos en los Territorios Ocupados, Israel siempre ha sido – usando la palabra como si estuviera jugando– fascista.
¿El problema es fascismo o nacionalismo?
La fórmula básica para el fascismo, el de un Estado corporativista altamente militarizado, que maneja las relaciones entre los trabajadores y el capital en nombre de un “pueblo” míticamente definido que excluye a todos los que considera como no pertenecientes al colectivo, lo que define bien el tipo de etnonacionalismo que ha dominado durante mucho tiempo la ideología sionista.
Además, el tipo de exclusivismo que está en el corazón de todas las identidades nacionalistas es aumentado con esteroides ideológicos en los discursos autoritarios nacionalistas que subyacen al fascismo, cómo han demostrado trágicamente las experiencias italiana y alemana. Los etnonacionalismos, y particularmente los que emergen en escenarios de asentamientos coloniales como en Israel, Sudáfrica, EE.UU., Australia y Argelia Francesa, también se basan en formas extremas de exclusivismos y expansionismo territorial que tienen que negar los derechos básicos e incluso la humanidad a poblaciones indígenas a fin de lograr su objetivo de asegurar su control y / o soberanía sobre la “patria”.
El geógrafo israelí Juval Portugali define nacionalismo como el “orden social generativo” del sionismo, que consolida la relación entre el pueblo judío/israelí y el territorio que reivindica. Este orden generativo ha sido históricamente exclusivista con mucha más frecuencia de lo que ha sido abierto a identidades plurales, por lo cual la (re)emergencia de nacionalismos ha causado con tanta frecuencia la guerra – especialmente cuando se les ha sumado un proyecto de asentamiento colonial.
En Israel este proceso es evidenciado en el poderoso papel del Estado y del ejército israelíes en todos los aspectos de la vida del país, desde el período dominado por socialistas laboristas antes de 1948 hasta el presente neoliberal. Ha conformado una realidad política en la cual los palestinos, sean ciudadanos del Estado israelí o habitantes de Cisjordania y Gaza ocupados, siempre han tenido menos derechos, por ley y costumbre, que los judíos.
Por lo tanto no es sorprendente, para recordar las quejas de los que critican la nueva ley antiboicot, que los palestinos a ambos lados de la Línea Verde hayan sido privados desde hace tiempo de los derechos civiles y políticos de la igualdad de ciudadanía. Su libertad de expresión ha sido limitada durante mucho tiempo en diversos grados, siempre han sufrido la tiranía de la mayoría judía, nunca ha habido una distinción entre los Territorios Ocupados e Israel (de ahí la masiva expansión de la empresa de los asentamientos incluso durante Oslo), y la Corte Suprema nunca se ha apartado del consenso político dominante en Israel en apoyo a la ocupación – sea en Jaffa o Jerusalén Este.
En resumen, la izquierda se ha “vuelto frenética” en los territorios igual que la derecha. Por cierto, toda la noción de que exista una diferencia básica entre la izquierda y la derecha sionista ha sido históricamente poco más que la estrategia retórica del “buen policía y el mal policía” para confundir a los extranjeros sobre su acuerdo básico con los temas cruciales que rodean el control sobre el territorio de la Palestina del Mandato.
Por cierto, los palestinos lo han comprendido hace tiempo, incluso si estadounidenses y europeos han preferido mantener su ignorancia más o menos intencionalmente. Laboristas, Likud o Kadima; la ocupación continúa. (Al escribir estas líneas Ha’aretz informa que la Administración Civil y el ejército israelí están involucrados en otro importante robo de tierras en el corazón de Cisjordania, tratando de que grandes áreas, incluidas las que contienen puestos avanzados “ilegales”, sean declaradas tierras estatales para que Israel se pueda apoderar permanentemente de ellas antes de cualquier acuerdo de paz.)
El futuro de los boicots
Contra este nivel a largo plazo de dominación y discriminación institucionalizadas, los palestinos han probado muchos medios de resistencia, ninguno de los cuales ha tenido mucho éxito hasta ahora. En un artículo reciente discutí algunos de los medios de resistencia de base cultural, no violentos, que podrían lograr un cierto éxito contra el poder del Estado israelí.
Como señala Yousef Munayyer en su reciente artículo de opinión, la nueva ley antiboicot ha tenido el efecto saludable de estimular más interés por el boicot y un movimiento de BDS más amplio. También, con razón, que ya que la ocupación no puede existir sin el apoyo masivo del Estado israelí, toda la premisa de la mayoría de los movimientos contra los que se dirige la ley –grupos izquierdistas israelíes que tratan de boicotear productos de los asentamientos o instituciones culturales / educacionales– es extremadamente deficiente, ya que solo al enfrentar todo el aparato del Estado israelí un movimiento de boicot puede esperar lograr detener la fuerza implacable de la ocupación.
El desafío que enfrenta un movimiento semejante, sin embargo, es que ideologías que comparte el ADN del fascismo están genéticamente predispuestas a creer que el mundo está en su contra y que su existencia está en constante peligro desde el interior y el exterior. En el caso israelí, mientras más exitoso llegue a ser un movimiento de boicot, más se sentirá justificado el Estado israelí para defenderse, con el apoyo de una gran parte del público, utilizando cualesquiera medios a su disposición –desde el tiroteo contra manifestantes desarmados al lanzamiento de masivas campañas de propaganda.
Además, sus dirigentes y sus seguidores de menor cuantía están cada vez más dispuestos a satanizar e incluso a actuar contra miembros del colectivo que cuestiona la ideología y las políticas oficiales. Es, desde luego, algo que no se aplica solo a Israel actual, ni a los regímenes autoritarios del mundo árabe, como deja en claro el artículo de opinión de William Cook del 21 de julio, que describe similitudes entre las subversiones de la libertad de expresión del gobierno israelí y del estadounidense.
Contra un adversario tan poderoso, los palestinos y sus partidarios en el movimiento de BDS tendrán que elaborar un conjunto extremadamente creativo y persuasivo de argumentos, y las estrategias para difundirlos en todo el globo, a fin de tener una probabilidad de superar las abrumadoras ventajas que poseen el gobierno israelí y sus partidarios. En mi próximo artículo, consideraré algunos de los principios, estrategias y tácticas clave del movimiento en la actualidad y exploraré cómo sus fuerzas y sus debilidades auguran el futuro próximo de la lucha contra la Ocupación.
*Mark Le Vine es profesor de historia en la UC Irvine e investigador en el Centro de Estudios del Oriente Medio en la Lud University en Suecia, y autor, hace poco de Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the soul of Islam (Random House 2008) e Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989 (Zed Books, 2009).
Fuente: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/07/201172594733901222.html
segunda-feira, 25 de julho de 2011
Tens of thousands marched in Tel Aviv in protest against the housing shortage: 'Bibi go home'
24 july 2011, Communist Party of Israel המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית http://maki.org.il
Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched yesterday (Saturday night) in central Tel Aviv as part of a large-scale protest movement against the housing shortage and high rent prices in Israel. One of the protest organizer, Yigal Rambam, addressed the prime minister directly in his speech, saying: "Mr. Netanyahu, we shall have to part as friends, we're parting ways; you're fired!" Meanwhile, those in attendance were chanting "Bibi go home."
43 demonstrators were arrested by police after they blocked the intersection of Kaplan and Ibn Gvirol streets and Dizzengoff street in central Tel Aviv after the mass rally. Following the rally, thousands of activists blocked several streets. Mounted police clashed with the protesters and used smoke and gas grenades.
The beginning of the protest yesterday 9:00 p.m at Habima square (Photo: Activestills)
The protest was an extension of the "tent cities" which have sprouted up across the country as part of an organized effort led by a cross-section of Israeli society - including the working class, young people, students, Holocaust survivors, and the elderly. The demonstrators marched from the tent city on Rothschild Boulevard toward the Tel Aviv Museum, where they heard speeches from various protest leaders calling on the government find a sustainable solution to the housing crisis.
Protestors carrying hundreds of Hadash signs like "People before profits", "Netanyahu go home" and Israeli and red flags began to gather at Habima Square Saturday evening, where hundreds of tents had been set up in protest in the past week. The head of the protest, Dapni Leef, led the march alongside elderly Israelis and Holocaust survivors expressing their support for the protesters.
During the march, demonstrators yelled slogans such as "proper housing, legitimate prices", "the power is with the citizen", and "this generation demands housing". Most of the marchers called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation. Several Knesset members, including the chairman of Hadash (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality – Communist Party of Israel), Muhammad Barakeh , MK Dov Khenin (Hadash), former MK Tamar Gozansky (Hadash), Ilan Gilon (Meretz), Nino Abesadze (Kadima), and Rachel Adato (Kadima), Hadash secretary Ayman Odeh as members of the Communist Party of Israel Central Committee could be found among the demonstrators.
"I'm proud of the vast number of participants, especially the young people who give me great hope for real change," MK Barakeh said. He added that he hoped that the demonstration marked "the beginning of a process to replace the current government with a government that is socially sensitive and has a perception of true peace." MK Khenin added: "It's the largest social demonstration in years, people from around country march from Habima Square to Tel Aviv Museum, chanting 'we want social justice, not charity' and 'Bibi go home'"
Meanwhile, doctors and medical interns were also protesting in the city after a 110-day strike that has not yet led to a breakthrough in negotiations with the government. A large group of dairy farmers also joined the housing protestors with signs slamming dairy product prices and government inaction on the issue.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched yesterday (Saturday night) in central Tel Aviv as part of a large-scale protest movement against the housing shortage and high rent prices in Israel. One of the protest organizer, Yigal Rambam, addressed the prime minister directly in his speech, saying: "Mr. Netanyahu, we shall have to part as friends, we're parting ways; you're fired!" Meanwhile, those in attendance were chanting "Bibi go home."
43 demonstrators were arrested by police after they blocked the intersection of Kaplan and Ibn Gvirol streets and Dizzengoff street in central Tel Aviv after the mass rally. Following the rally, thousands of activists blocked several streets. Mounted police clashed with the protesters and used smoke and gas grenades.
The protest was an extension of the "tent cities" which have sprouted up across the country as part of an organized effort led by a cross-section of Israeli society - including the working class, young people, students, Holocaust survivors, and the elderly. The demonstrators marched from the tent city on Rothschild Boulevard toward the Tel Aviv Museum, where they heard speeches from various protest leaders calling on the government find a sustainable solution to the housing crisis.
Protestors carrying hundreds of Hadash signs like "People before profits", "Netanyahu go home" and Israeli and red flags began to gather at Habima Square Saturday evening, where hundreds of tents had been set up in protest in the past week. The head of the protest, Dapni Leef, led the march alongside elderly Israelis and Holocaust survivors expressing their support for the protesters.
During the march, demonstrators yelled slogans such as "proper housing, legitimate prices", "the power is with the citizen", and "this generation demands housing". Most of the marchers called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation. Several Knesset members, including the chairman of Hadash (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality – Communist Party of Israel), Muhammad Barakeh , MK Dov Khenin (Hadash), former MK Tamar Gozansky (Hadash), Ilan Gilon (Meretz), Nino Abesadze (Kadima), and Rachel Adato (Kadima), Hadash secretary Ayman Odeh as members of the Communist Party of Israel Central Committee could be found among the demonstrators.
"I'm proud of the vast number of participants, especially the young people who give me great hope for real change," MK Barakeh said. He added that he hoped that the demonstration marked "the beginning of a process to replace the current government with a government that is socially sensitive and has a perception of true peace." MK Khenin added: "It's the largest social demonstration in years, people from around country march from Habima Square to Tel Aviv Museum, chanting 'we want social justice, not charity' and 'Bibi go home'"
Meanwhile, doctors and medical interns were also protesting in the city after a 110-day strike that has not yet led to a breakthrough in negotiations with the government. A large group of dairy farmers also joined the housing protestors with signs slamming dairy product prices and government inaction on the issue.
segunda-feira, 13 de junho de 2011
Legislation against human rights groups is political persecution
The new legislative initiative which would ban human rights organizations from employing national service volunteers ignores their democratic mission.
13 June 2011, Haaretz הארץ Editoral (Israel)
Kadima MK Israel Hasson's new initiative under which human rights organizations would be denied the right to employ national service volunteers is pure political persecution.
The proposal is based almost entirely on the claim that these organizations "besmirched the Israel Defense Forces, its officers and its soldiers."
According to Hasson, certain organizations - first and foremost, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the local chapters of Physicians for Human Rights and Amnesty, and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel - sought to persuade Judge Richard Goldstone to investigate whether Israel committed war crimes during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in early 2009, and even urged the UN inquiry committee he headed "to accuse Israel of anti-humanitarian activity and of grave violations of human rights."
Hasson is ignoring the nature of the mission that human rights organizations have taken upon themselves - namely, a constant battle to uphold the ethical, humanist values without which a democratic society cannot exist, or, at the very least, could not maintain its democratic image.
Demanding an investigation of the army is neither treason nor slander, as Hasson and his supporters are trying to paint it. Indeed, given that both the army and the political decision-makers shunned a courageous and thorough probe of what happened during Cast Lead - an operation in which hundreds of Palestinians were killed - their application to Goldstone was essential.
Moreover, it's clear that their involvement with the Goldstone Report is nothing but a transparent excuse on which Hasson sought to hang his desire to embitter the lives of these organizations and intensify the delegitimization campaign against them. And he is not alone. He is supported by more than just a handful of Knesset members, most of them from the extreme right.
But Hasson, the bill's sponsor, is not a delusional extremist; he belongs to a party that defines itself as Israel's main centrist party. Yet so far, Kadima chairwoman and opposition leader Tzipi Livni has not responded to Hasson's proposal. Her silence is particularly worrying because she has until now been viewed as a rock standing firm against the recent wave of anti-democratic legislation.
If Livni truly sees herself and her party as an alternative to the present government, she can no longer remain silent in the face of this campaign of silencing and intimidation.
13 June 2011, Haaretz הארץ Editoral (Israel)
Kadima MK Israel Hasson's new initiative under which human rights organizations would be denied the right to employ national service volunteers is pure political persecution.
The proposal is based almost entirely on the claim that these organizations "besmirched the Israel Defense Forces, its officers and its soldiers."
According to Hasson, certain organizations - first and foremost, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the local chapters of Physicians for Human Rights and Amnesty, and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel - sought to persuade Judge Richard Goldstone to investigate whether Israel committed war crimes during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in early 2009, and even urged the UN inquiry committee he headed "to accuse Israel of anti-humanitarian activity and of grave violations of human rights."
Hasson is ignoring the nature of the mission that human rights organizations have taken upon themselves - namely, a constant battle to uphold the ethical, humanist values without which a democratic society cannot exist, or, at the very least, could not maintain its democratic image.
Demanding an investigation of the army is neither treason nor slander, as Hasson and his supporters are trying to paint it. Indeed, given that both the army and the political decision-makers shunned a courageous and thorough probe of what happened during Cast Lead - an operation in which hundreds of Palestinians were killed - their application to Goldstone was essential.
Moreover, it's clear that their involvement with the Goldstone Report is nothing but a transparent excuse on which Hasson sought to hang his desire to embitter the lives of these organizations and intensify the delegitimization campaign against them. And he is not alone. He is supported by more than just a handful of Knesset members, most of them from the extreme right.
But Hasson, the bill's sponsor, is not a delusional extremist; he belongs to a party that defines itself as Israel's main centrist party. Yet so far, Kadima chairwoman and opposition leader Tzipi Livni has not responded to Hasson's proposal. Her silence is particularly worrying because she has until now been viewed as a rock standing firm against the recent wave of anti-democratic legislation.
If Livni truly sees herself and her party as an alternative to the present government, she can no longer remain silent in the face of this campaign of silencing and intimidation.
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