A Palestinian financial crisis? Problems with donor countries? Economist Raja Khalidi offers some different explanations for the PA's fiscal problems.
1 August 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
By Amira Hass
"A financial crisis in the Palestinian Authority" - that is a convenient description of the situation where, on the eve of Ramadan, the Ramallah government is (again ) unable to pay the full salaries of its 150,000 public sector employees. This is a short, but very inaccurate description, however. The crisis, says economist Raja Khalidi, is in the status quo that Israel has enjoyed since the Oslo Accords: Israel is in control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip - and Palestinian society and the donor countries finance the cost of this domination.
The low salaries in the Palestinian enclaves (on average, less than NIS 2,000 per month ) and the PA's large-scale withholding of wages is not some Icelandic story: These - just like the cost of housing in Israel, our tycoons and the state's wealth vs. citizens' miserable salaries - are all linked to the comprehensive economical regime that has been designed by Israeli governments between the river and the sea. It is further evidence of the Israeli crisis, even if for pragmatic reasons it is not talked about in the tent camps.
Khalidi is a development economist who has been working with the United Nations for over 25 years, and has written widely on Palestinian economic conditions in the occupied territories and Israel. "The delays in Arab pledges should not be overstated," says Khalidi (who answered questions via email ). The immediate reasons for them may change, but, he says, "the roots of the chronic PA fiscal burden have more to do with the PA being forced in effect to shoulder the financial burden of occupation, both in terms of the costs of security and provision of public services, and appearing to the world as a 'state' government - with all the usual expectations that it will balance its finances and keep its public sector trimmed. There is not really a PA budget crisis: There is a crisis in the economic sustainability of the entire 'governance' project that has been in place since Oslo."
Isn't a public sector payroll of 150,000 (with more than 20,000 whose wages are paid by the Hamas government ) a bit inflated?
Khalidi: "The public sector payroll, at an estimated $1.7 billion, is almost 25 percent of the gross domestic product - double or triple the proportion in other countries in the region. But GDP is depressed structurally as a result of prolonged occupation and hence the public sector share of a small total GDP appears large. The public sector share of GDP even seems inflated. This is a deliberate policy, which was in fact introduced by [Prime Minister] Salam Fayyad himself in 2001 in the wake of the second intifada, when he was the International Monetary Fund representative in Yasser Arafat's PA. He designed the first 'budget support' program funded by donors (first Arab, later European ) for a very good Keynesian reason: In times of economic recession, government expenditure is needed to stimulate aggregate demand.
"So the continuation of the fiscal stimulus in place for 10 years is symptomatic not of a bloated PA public sector, but rather of a specific fiscal instrument that's still in place to combat the structural economic constraints created by occupation. It was a valid instrument 10 years ago and remains the only (limited, but still valid ) fiscal policy instrument the PA has at its disposal. Without it Israel and the world would be faced with a major economic crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory."
Does the current crisis mean the end of the effort to reduce to zero donor budget support?
"The idea that reliance on donor support must be reduced as a matter of principle - despite the conditions of occupation, with no Palestinian sovereignty or national rights on the horizon - is a bit of a diversion and is in fact unfair to an economy that has been deprived of its capacity to produce, trade, grow and develop for over 40 years. Before donor aid can be effectively and usefully removed, the economy needs to be equipped with the productive means, the infrastructure and the freedom to build and grow, which have been denied in various ways in Gaza and the West Bank. And as long as Israel sits on Palestinian trade routes and captures up to half of the potential import taxes that should be destined for the PA and its strained public revenues - then there is no alternative to sustained donor aid. The PA should neither be ashamed to be dependent on aid, nor should it aim to reduce it; rather it can consider more effective ways of using the aid."
Why does the West appear more committed to contribute than the Arab countries?
"Even two generations after 1948, no Western donor, especially European and American, can be oblivious to their historic responsibility, and to the immediate security and political interests that the continuation of this conflict implies. Hence anything needed to keep a lid on things is to be expected, and indeed comes without asking the cost. As for Arab donors, they do not feel at all the historic responsibility for this situation: Their support for Palestine is more a matter of showing solidarity with their Palestinian brethren - a solidarity that grows and wanes with the Palestinians' domestic situation, with the pliability of the regimes in question when pressured by the West to play their role in this or that peace process, etc. So it is naturally neither predictable, nor seen as a matter of national security or political interest as it is for Western donors. Thus, for the West aid is an obligation they cannot escape; for Arabs it is a duty they must fulfill."
And now the West has a historic responsibility vis-a-vis the Oslo promises that were not upheld?
"It should not be forgotten that essentially the same occupation (with perhaps slightly less excellent services, no five-star hotels and no secure PA jobs ), was maintained in 1993 with 22,000 employees, plus the Israeli army, plus around 120,000 Palestinians employed in Israel and contributing about the same share of the gross national product as PA expenditures do now. Today Israel doesn't have to provide Palestinians with jobs, public services or security while it continues to expand whenever it sees fit, thanks to a usually generous donor-funded PA budget. The very same budget which is now supposedly in 'crisis' because it cannot any longer maintain an arrangement which has allowed occupation to spread and deepen, and also costs less for Israel. It's basically a clever accounting trick, in light of the fact that the only party who should have a budget crisis is Israel, which otherwise gets a pretty good deal."
Mostrando postagens com marcador Oslo accords. Mostrar todas as postagens
Mostrando postagens com marcador Oslo accords. Mostrar todas as postagens
quarta-feira, 3 de agosto de 2011
quarta-feira, 6 de julho de 2011
600 Internationals to Challenge Israeli Blockade of West Bank on 8 July
6 July 2011, Alternative Information Center המרכז לאינפורמציה אלטרנטיבית
http://www.alternativenews.org (Israel)
Mark West
Approximately 600 European and American citizens, including numerous families with children, will land at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport this Friday, 8 July, in response to an impassioned 'call to action' by some 15 Palestinian civil society organizations.
Upon arrival, the activists will openly declare their wish to visit the occupied Palestinian territory and demand that Israel and the international community recognize the basic human right of entry to the occupied Palestinian territory.
Under the project title Welcome to Palestine, Mission from 8-16 July 2011, Palestinian civil society organisations have planned a week-long schedule of peaceful solidarity activities all throughout the West Bank, including a solidarity visit with the Al-Rowwad Centre of the Aïda refugee camp in Bethlehem, a tour of Hebron’s occupied and divided Old City and olive tree planting around Ramallah.
Insidiously dubbed 'the flightilla' by several Israeli media outlets, the planned solidarity visit is different from the thousands of visits by international solidarity activists since 2002 in only one respect: the plan to be open about the purpose of their visit with Israeli authorities, who control entry into the occupied Palestinian territory. Instead, the landmark event constitutes a unique international effort to promote the core idea that Israel and the international community "must recognize the basic human right of entering to Palestine by those who want to visit the Palestinian people". As such, the event falls within a wider framework of increasing non-violent popular resistance against Israeli oppression, including the Gaza flotillas and international BDS-movement, both aimed at the delegitimization and “denormalization” of the Israeli occupation and its control of Palestinian society.
Since the 1993 Oslo agreement, Israel has continuously tightened its hold on Palestinian and international movement in the oPt under the infinitely wide 'security'-umbrella. While the illegal limitations on Palestinian movement through legal constructs are widely documented, Israel has recently increased its attack on international human rights activists and tourists that want to enter the West Bank or Gaza – in particular those with Palestinian or Arab roots.
Through the use of 'Palestinian Authority Only' visas and the requirement for certain visiting internationals to sign a declaration stating they will not seek entry into the oPt under penalty of deportation and refusal of re-entry into Israel for up to ten years, the Israeli government aims to control and curtail international access to the Palestinian people.
"The Israeli government has no right to refuse us access to the Occupied Palestinian Territories," the French, Belgian, British, German, Italian and American participants write. "We are pacifists; we will have nothing dangerous in our bags. We call on our elected representatives and our governments, during the following months, to ensure that we shall be normally and properly treated on our arrival in Ben Gurion airport, as are Israeli citizens when they come to our countries."
In the face of the Israeli government’s hysterical reaction to the Welcome to Palestine Initiative, Palestinian Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh keeps his cool. "The week will continue as planned, no matter what happens," he told the Alternative Information Center. "In the unfortunate situation that all or some international participants are unable to enter, we will still continue our activities with hundreds of Palestinians."
http://www.alternativenews.org (Israel)
Mark West
Approximately 600 European and American citizens, including numerous families with children, will land at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport this Friday, 8 July, in response to an impassioned 'call to action' by some 15 Palestinian civil society organizations.
Under the project title Welcome to Palestine, Mission from 8-16 July 2011, Palestinian civil society organisations have planned a week-long schedule of peaceful solidarity activities all throughout the West Bank, including a solidarity visit with the Al-Rowwad Centre of the Aïda refugee camp in Bethlehem, a tour of Hebron’s occupied and divided Old City and olive tree planting around Ramallah.
Insidiously dubbed 'the flightilla' by several Israeli media outlets, the planned solidarity visit is different from the thousands of visits by international solidarity activists since 2002 in only one respect: the plan to be open about the purpose of their visit with Israeli authorities, who control entry into the occupied Palestinian territory. Instead, the landmark event constitutes a unique international effort to promote the core idea that Israel and the international community "must recognize the basic human right of entering to Palestine by those who want to visit the Palestinian people". As such, the event falls within a wider framework of increasing non-violent popular resistance against Israeli oppression, including the Gaza flotillas and international BDS-movement, both aimed at the delegitimization and “denormalization” of the Israeli occupation and its control of Palestinian society.
Since the 1993 Oslo agreement, Israel has continuously tightened its hold on Palestinian and international movement in the oPt under the infinitely wide 'security'-umbrella. While the illegal limitations on Palestinian movement through legal constructs are widely documented, Israel has recently increased its attack on international human rights activists and tourists that want to enter the West Bank or Gaza – in particular those with Palestinian or Arab roots.
Through the use of 'Palestinian Authority Only' visas and the requirement for certain visiting internationals to sign a declaration stating they will not seek entry into the oPt under penalty of deportation and refusal of re-entry into Israel for up to ten years, the Israeli government aims to control and curtail international access to the Palestinian people.
"The Israeli government has no right to refuse us access to the Occupied Palestinian Territories," the French, Belgian, British, German, Italian and American participants write. "We are pacifists; we will have nothing dangerous in our bags. We call on our elected representatives and our governments, during the following months, to ensure that we shall be normally and properly treated on our arrival in Ben Gurion airport, as are Israeli citizens when they come to our countries."
In the face of the Israeli government’s hysterical reaction to the Welcome to Palestine Initiative, Palestinian Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh keeps his cool. "The week will continue as planned, no matter what happens," he told the Alternative Information Center. "In the unfortunate situation that all or some international participants are unable to enter, we will still continue our activities with hundreds of Palestinians."
segunda-feira, 27 de junho de 2011
A limpeza étnica dos palestinos, ou Israel democrático em acção
26 Junho 2011, ODiario.info (Portugal)
Gideon Levy
“Enquanto ainda estamos desesperadamente ocultando, negando e reprimindo nossa principal limpeza étnica de 1948 – mais de 600.000 refugiados, alguns dos quais fugiram pelo temor às Forças Armadas de Israel e suas antecessoras, e outros que foram expulsos pela força – a realidade nos demonstra que 1948 nunca terminou, que seu espírito continua connosco”.
Ocorreu no dia seguinte ao Dia da Independência, quando Israel estava imerso quase que ad nauseam em loas a si mesmo e a sua democracia, e nas vésperas do (virtualmente fora da lei) Dia da Nakba, quando o povo palestino rememora a “catástrofe” – o aniversário da criação de Israel. Meu colega Akiva Eldar publicou o que sempre soubéramos, mas ignorávamos as chocantes cifras reveladas: No momento dos Acordos de Oslo, Israel tinha derrubado a residência de 140.000 palestinos da Cisjordânia. Em outras palavras, 14% dos residentes da Cisjordânia que ousaram viajar ao exterior tiveram seu direito de retornar a Israel e aqui viver negado para sempre. Em outras palavras, foram expulsos de suas terras e de seus lares. Em outras palavras: limpeza étnica.
Enquanto ainda estamos desesperadamente ocultando, negando e reprimindo nossa principal limpeza étnica de 1948 – mais de 600.000 refugiados, alguns dos quais fugiram pelo temor às Forças Armadas de Israel e suas antecessoras, e outros que foram expulsos pela força – a realidade nos demonstra que 1948 nunca terminou, que seu espírito continua connosco. Ainda continua connosco o objectivo de limpar esta terra de seus habitantes árabes o máximo possível, e até um pouco mais. Afinal, é a solução mais encoberta e desejada: a Terra de Israel para os judeus e só para eles. Algumas pessoas se atreveram a dizê-lo abertamente - o rabino Meir Kahane, o ministro Rehavam Ze’evi e seus discípulos, os quais merecem alguns elogios por sua integridade. Muitos aspiram a fazer o mesmo sem admiti-lo.
A revelação da política de negar a residência provou que este sonho secreto é efectivamente o sonho secreto do establishment. Não se carrega os árabes em caminhões como era feito antes, mesmo depois da Guerra dos Seis Dias; não se dispara sobre eles para afugentá-los - todos esses métodos são politicamente incorrectos no mundo novo. Mas, de facto, este é o objectivo.
Algumas pessoas pensam que é suficiente tornar miserável a vida dos palestinos nos territórios para forçá-los a irem embora, e muitos deles, com efeito, foram embora. Um êxito de Israel: de acordo com a Administração Civil, cerca de um quarto de milhão de palestinos abandonaram voluntariamente a Cisjordânia nos sangrentos anos 2000 – 2007. Mas isto não é suficiente. Portanto, vários e diversos outros meios administrativos foram acrescentados para transformar o sonho em realidade.
Qualquer um que diga que “não é apartheid” está convidado a responder: Por que um israelense tem permissão de sair de seu país pelo resto da vida e ninguém sugere cassar-lhe a cidadania, enquanto um palestino, um filho nativo, não tem essa permissão? Por que um israelense pode casar-se com uma estrangeira e esta recebe uma permissão de residência, ao passo que um palestino não tem permissão de se casar com sua ex-vizinha que mora na Jordânia? Isto não é apartheid? Através dos anos, documentei intermináveis e lamentáveis tragédias de famílias que foram separadas, cujos filhos e filhas não recebiam permissão de viver na Cisjordânia ou em Gaza devido a regras draconianas - só para os palestinos.
Vejamos o caso de Dalal Rasras, por exemplo, uma menina de Beit Omar com paralisia cerebral, que foi separada de sua mãe durante meses porque sua mãe nasceu em Rafah. Somente depois de que seu caso se tornar público é que Israel permitiu que ela regressasse para sua filha “apesar da letra da lei”, a cruel letra da lei que não permite que os residentes de Gaza vivam na Cisjordânia, mesmo se ali tiverem feito suas casas.
O clamor dos despossuídos agora foi traduzido em números: 140.000, apenas até os Acordos de Oslo. Estudantes que saíram para estudar em universidades estrangeiras, homens de negócios que foram tentar a sorte no exterior, cientistas que viajaram ao exterior para sua formação profissional, jerusalenses nativos que se atreveram a mudar-se temporariamente à Cisjordânia, todos correram a mesma sorte. Todos foram levados pelo vento e foram expulsos por Israel. Não puderam regressar.
O mais surpreendente de tudo é a reacção dos responsáveis pela política de limpeza étnica. Eles não sabiam. O major-general (na reserva) Danny Rothschild, ex-governador militar com o título eufemístico de “coordenador das actividades governamentais nos territórios”, disse que leu pela primeira vez sobre o procedimento no jornal Haaretz. Acontece que a limpeza étnica não apenas continua, senão que também continua sendo negada. Toda criança palestina sabe, só o general a desconhece. Até mesmo hoje ainda há 130.000 palestinos registados como “NLR”, um comovedor acrónimo das IDF (Israeli Defense Forces – Forças Armadas de Israel) para definir aos “já não residentes”, como se fossem voluntários, outro eufemismo para denominar aos “expulsos”. E o general, que se considera relativamente bem informado, não tinha conhecimento.
Há uma recusa absoluta em permitir o regresso dos refugiados - algo que poderia “destruir o Estado de Israel”. Também há uma recusa absoluta em permitir o regresso das pessoas recentemente expulsas. Para o próximo Dia da Independência provavelmente inventaremos mais regulamentações para a expulsão, e nas próximas férias conversaremos sobre “a única democracia”.
Tradução: Jair de Souza/Carta Maior
Publicado originalmente no jornal Haaretz
Gideon Levy
Ocorreu no dia seguinte ao Dia da Independência, quando Israel estava imerso quase que ad nauseam em loas a si mesmo e a sua democracia, e nas vésperas do (virtualmente fora da lei) Dia da Nakba, quando o povo palestino rememora a “catástrofe” – o aniversário da criação de Israel. Meu colega Akiva Eldar publicou o que sempre soubéramos, mas ignorávamos as chocantes cifras reveladas: No momento dos Acordos de Oslo, Israel tinha derrubado a residência de 140.000 palestinos da Cisjordânia. Em outras palavras, 14% dos residentes da Cisjordânia que ousaram viajar ao exterior tiveram seu direito de retornar a Israel e aqui viver negado para sempre. Em outras palavras, foram expulsos de suas terras e de seus lares. Em outras palavras: limpeza étnica.
Enquanto ainda estamos desesperadamente ocultando, negando e reprimindo nossa principal limpeza étnica de 1948 – mais de 600.000 refugiados, alguns dos quais fugiram pelo temor às Forças Armadas de Israel e suas antecessoras, e outros que foram expulsos pela força – a realidade nos demonstra que 1948 nunca terminou, que seu espírito continua connosco. Ainda continua connosco o objectivo de limpar esta terra de seus habitantes árabes o máximo possível, e até um pouco mais. Afinal, é a solução mais encoberta e desejada: a Terra de Israel para os judeus e só para eles. Algumas pessoas se atreveram a dizê-lo abertamente - o rabino Meir Kahane, o ministro Rehavam Ze’evi e seus discípulos, os quais merecem alguns elogios por sua integridade. Muitos aspiram a fazer o mesmo sem admiti-lo.
A revelação da política de negar a residência provou que este sonho secreto é efectivamente o sonho secreto do establishment. Não se carrega os árabes em caminhões como era feito antes, mesmo depois da Guerra dos Seis Dias; não se dispara sobre eles para afugentá-los - todos esses métodos são politicamente incorrectos no mundo novo. Mas, de facto, este é o objectivo.
Algumas pessoas pensam que é suficiente tornar miserável a vida dos palestinos nos territórios para forçá-los a irem embora, e muitos deles, com efeito, foram embora. Um êxito de Israel: de acordo com a Administração Civil, cerca de um quarto de milhão de palestinos abandonaram voluntariamente a Cisjordânia nos sangrentos anos 2000 – 2007. Mas isto não é suficiente. Portanto, vários e diversos outros meios administrativos foram acrescentados para transformar o sonho em realidade.
Qualquer um que diga que “não é apartheid” está convidado a responder: Por que um israelense tem permissão de sair de seu país pelo resto da vida e ninguém sugere cassar-lhe a cidadania, enquanto um palestino, um filho nativo, não tem essa permissão? Por que um israelense pode casar-se com uma estrangeira e esta recebe uma permissão de residência, ao passo que um palestino não tem permissão de se casar com sua ex-vizinha que mora na Jordânia? Isto não é apartheid? Através dos anos, documentei intermináveis e lamentáveis tragédias de famílias que foram separadas, cujos filhos e filhas não recebiam permissão de viver na Cisjordânia ou em Gaza devido a regras draconianas - só para os palestinos.
Vejamos o caso de Dalal Rasras, por exemplo, uma menina de Beit Omar com paralisia cerebral, que foi separada de sua mãe durante meses porque sua mãe nasceu em Rafah. Somente depois de que seu caso se tornar público é que Israel permitiu que ela regressasse para sua filha “apesar da letra da lei”, a cruel letra da lei que não permite que os residentes de Gaza vivam na Cisjordânia, mesmo se ali tiverem feito suas casas.
O clamor dos despossuídos agora foi traduzido em números: 140.000, apenas até os Acordos de Oslo. Estudantes que saíram para estudar em universidades estrangeiras, homens de negócios que foram tentar a sorte no exterior, cientistas que viajaram ao exterior para sua formação profissional, jerusalenses nativos que se atreveram a mudar-se temporariamente à Cisjordânia, todos correram a mesma sorte. Todos foram levados pelo vento e foram expulsos por Israel. Não puderam regressar.
O mais surpreendente de tudo é a reacção dos responsáveis pela política de limpeza étnica. Eles não sabiam. O major-general (na reserva) Danny Rothschild, ex-governador militar com o título eufemístico de “coordenador das actividades governamentais nos territórios”, disse que leu pela primeira vez sobre o procedimento no jornal Haaretz. Acontece que a limpeza étnica não apenas continua, senão que também continua sendo negada. Toda criança palestina sabe, só o general a desconhece. Até mesmo hoje ainda há 130.000 palestinos registados como “NLR”, um comovedor acrónimo das IDF (Israeli Defense Forces – Forças Armadas de Israel) para definir aos “já não residentes”, como se fossem voluntários, outro eufemismo para denominar aos “expulsos”. E o general, que se considera relativamente bem informado, não tinha conhecimento.
Há uma recusa absoluta em permitir o regresso dos refugiados - algo que poderia “destruir o Estado de Israel”. Também há uma recusa absoluta em permitir o regresso das pessoas recentemente expulsas. Para o próximo Dia da Independência provavelmente inventaremos mais regulamentações para a expulsão, e nas próximas férias conversaremos sobre “a única democracia”.
Tradução: Jair de Souza/Carta Maior
Publicado originalmente no jornal Haaretz
sexta-feira, 17 de junho de 2011
A Brown-haired Young Man
11 june 2011, Gush Shalom גוש שלום http://zope.gush-shalom.org (Israel)
Uri Avnery
MY HERO of the year (for now) is a young brown-haired Palestinian refugee living in Syria called Hassan Hijazi.
He was one of hundreds of refugees who held the demonstration on the Syrian side of the Golan border fence, to commemorate the Naqba – “Disaster” – the exodus of more than half the Palestinian people from the territory conquered by Israel in the war of 1948. Some of the protesters ran down to the fence, crossing a minefield. Luckily, none of the mines exploded – perhaps they were just too old.
They entered the Druze village of Majdal Shams, occupied by Israel since 1967, where they spread out. Israeli soldiers shot, killed and wounded several of them. The rest were caught and immediately deported back to Syria.
Except Hassan. He found a bus carrying Israeli and international peace activists who took him with them – perhaps they guessed where he came from, perhaps not. He does not look obviously Arab.
They dropped him near Tel Aviv. He continued his journey by hitchhiking and eventually reached Jaffa, the town where his grandparents had lived.
There, without money and without knowing anyone, he tried to locate the house of his family. He did not succeed – the place has changed much too much.
Eventually, he succeeded in contacting an Israeli TV correspondent, who helped him give himself up to the police. He was arrested and deported back to Syria.
Quite a remarkable exploit.
THE BORDER crossing of the refugees near Majdal Shams caused near panic in Israel.
First there were the usual recriminations. Why was the army not prepared for this event? Who was to blame – Northern Command or Army Intelligence?
Behind all the excitement was the nightmare that has haunted Israel since 1948: that the 750,000 refugees and their descendents, some five million by now, will one day get up and march to the borders of Israel from North, East and South, breach the fences and flood the country. This nightmare is the mirror-image of the refugees’ dream.
During the first years of Israel, this was a waking nightmare. On the day Israel was founded, it had some 650,000 Jewish inhabitants. The return of the refugees would indeed have swamped the young Israeli state. Lately, with more than 6 million Jewish citizens, this fear has receded into the background – but it is always there. Psychologists might say that it represents repressed feelings of guilt in the national psyche.
THIS WEEK, there was a repeat performance. The Palestinians all around Israel have declared June 5 “Naksa” Day, to commemorate the “Setback” of 1967, when Israel spectacularly defeated the armies of Egypt, Syria and Jordan, reinforced by elements from the Iraqi and Saudi armies.
This time the Israeli army was prepared. The fence was reinforced and an anti-tank ditch dug in front of it. When the demonstrators tried to reach the fence – again near Majdal Shams – they were shot by sharpshooters. Some 22 were killed, many dozens were wounded. The Palestinians report that people trying to rescue the wounded and retrieve the dead were also shot and killed.
No doubt, this was a deliberate tactic decided upon in advance by the army command after the Naqba day fiasco, and approved by Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak. As was said quite openly, the Palestinians had to be taught a lesson they would not forget, so as to drive any idea of an unarmed mass action out of their mind.
It is frighteningly reminiscent of events 10 years ago. After the first intifada, in which stone-throwing youngsters and children won a moral victory that led to the Oslo agreement, our army conducted exercises in anticipation of a second intifada. This broke out after the political disaster of Camp David, and the army was ready.
The new intifada started with mass demonstrations of unarmed Palestinians. They were met by specially trained sharpshooters. Next to each sharpshooter stood an officer who pointed out the individuals who were to be shot because they looked like ringleaders: “The guy in the red shirt…Now the boy with the blue trousers…”
The unarmed uprising broke down and was replaced by suicide bombers, roadside bombs and other “terrorist” acts. With those our army was on familiar ground.
I suspect very much that we are witnessing much the same thing once more. Again specially trained sharpshooters are at work, directed by officers.
There is a difference, though. In 2001 we were told that our soldiers were shooting into the air. Now we are told that they aim at the Arabs’ legs. Then the Palestinians had to jump high into the air to get killed, now, it seems, they have to bend down .
THE WHOLE thing is not only murderous, but also incredibly dumb.
For decades now, practically all talk about peace has centered on the territories occupied in the 1967 war. President Mahmoud Abbas, President Barack Obama and the Israeli peace movement all talk about the “1967 borders”. When my friends and I started (in 1949) to talk about the two-state solution, we, too, meant these borders. (The “1967 borders” are, in fact, simply the armistice lines agreed upon after the 1948 war.)
Most people, even in the Israeli peace movement, ignored the refugee problem altogether. They were laboring under the illusion that it had gone away, or would do so after peace had been achieved between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. I always warned my friends that this would not happen – five million human beings cannot be simply shut out. It is no use to make peace with half the Palestinian people, and just ignore the other half. It will not mean “the end of the conflict”, whatever might be stated in a peace agreement.
But through years of discussions, mostly behind closed doors, a consensus has been reached. Almost all Palestinian leaders have agreed, either explicitly or implicitly, to the formula of “a just and agreed upon solution of the refugee problem” – so that any solution is subject to Israeli approval. I have spoken about this many times with Yasser Arafat, Faisal al-Husseini and others.
In practice, this means that a symbolic number of refugees will be allowed back into Israel (the exact number to be fixed in negotiations), with the others to be resettled in the State of Palestine (which must be big and viable enough to make this possible) or receive generous compensation that will allow them to start a new life where they are or elsewhere.
TO MAKE this complicated and painful solution easier, everyone agreed that it would be best to deal with this matter near the end of the peace negotiations, after mutual trust and a more relaxed atmosphere had been established.
And here comes our government and tries to solve the problem with sharpshooters – not as the last resort, but as the first. Instead of countering the protesters with effective non-lethal means, they kill people. This will, of course, intensify the protests, mobilize masses of refugees and put the “refugee problem” squarely on the table, in the center of the table, before negotiations have even started.
In other words: the conflict moves back from 1967 to 1948. For Hassan Hijazi, the grandson of a refugee from Jaffa, this is huge achievement.
Nothing could be more stupid than this course of action by Netanyahu and Company.
Unless, of course, they are doing this consciously, in order to make any peace negotiations impossible.
Uri Avnery
MY HERO of the year (for now) is a young brown-haired Palestinian refugee living in Syria called Hassan Hijazi.
He was one of hundreds of refugees who held the demonstration on the Syrian side of the Golan border fence, to commemorate the Naqba – “Disaster” – the exodus of more than half the Palestinian people from the territory conquered by Israel in the war of 1948. Some of the protesters ran down to the fence, crossing a minefield. Luckily, none of the mines exploded – perhaps they were just too old.
They entered the Druze village of Majdal Shams, occupied by Israel since 1967, where they spread out. Israeli soldiers shot, killed and wounded several of them. The rest were caught and immediately deported back to Syria.
Except Hassan. He found a bus carrying Israeli and international peace activists who took him with them – perhaps they guessed where he came from, perhaps not. He does not look obviously Arab.
They dropped him near Tel Aviv. He continued his journey by hitchhiking and eventually reached Jaffa, the town where his grandparents had lived.
There, without money and without knowing anyone, he tried to locate the house of his family. He did not succeed – the place has changed much too much.
Eventually, he succeeded in contacting an Israeli TV correspondent, who helped him give himself up to the police. He was arrested and deported back to Syria.
Quite a remarkable exploit.
THE BORDER crossing of the refugees near Majdal Shams caused near panic in Israel.
First there were the usual recriminations. Why was the army not prepared for this event? Who was to blame – Northern Command or Army Intelligence?
Behind all the excitement was the nightmare that has haunted Israel since 1948: that the 750,000 refugees and their descendents, some five million by now, will one day get up and march to the borders of Israel from North, East and South, breach the fences and flood the country. This nightmare is the mirror-image of the refugees’ dream.
During the first years of Israel, this was a waking nightmare. On the day Israel was founded, it had some 650,000 Jewish inhabitants. The return of the refugees would indeed have swamped the young Israeli state. Lately, with more than 6 million Jewish citizens, this fear has receded into the background – but it is always there. Psychologists might say that it represents repressed feelings of guilt in the national psyche.
THIS WEEK, there was a repeat performance. The Palestinians all around Israel have declared June 5 “Naksa” Day, to commemorate the “Setback” of 1967, when Israel spectacularly defeated the armies of Egypt, Syria and Jordan, reinforced by elements from the Iraqi and Saudi armies.
This time the Israeli army was prepared. The fence was reinforced and an anti-tank ditch dug in front of it. When the demonstrators tried to reach the fence – again near Majdal Shams – they were shot by sharpshooters. Some 22 were killed, many dozens were wounded. The Palestinians report that people trying to rescue the wounded and retrieve the dead were also shot and killed.
No doubt, this was a deliberate tactic decided upon in advance by the army command after the Naqba day fiasco, and approved by Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak. As was said quite openly, the Palestinians had to be taught a lesson they would not forget, so as to drive any idea of an unarmed mass action out of their mind.
It is frighteningly reminiscent of events 10 years ago. After the first intifada, in which stone-throwing youngsters and children won a moral victory that led to the Oslo agreement, our army conducted exercises in anticipation of a second intifada. This broke out after the political disaster of Camp David, and the army was ready.
The new intifada started with mass demonstrations of unarmed Palestinians. They were met by specially trained sharpshooters. Next to each sharpshooter stood an officer who pointed out the individuals who were to be shot because they looked like ringleaders: “The guy in the red shirt…Now the boy with the blue trousers…”
The unarmed uprising broke down and was replaced by suicide bombers, roadside bombs and other “terrorist” acts. With those our army was on familiar ground.
I suspect very much that we are witnessing much the same thing once more. Again specially trained sharpshooters are at work, directed by officers.
There is a difference, though. In 2001 we were told that our soldiers were shooting into the air. Now we are told that they aim at the Arabs’ legs. Then the Palestinians had to jump high into the air to get killed, now, it seems, they have to bend down .
THE WHOLE thing is not only murderous, but also incredibly dumb.
For decades now, practically all talk about peace has centered on the territories occupied in the 1967 war. President Mahmoud Abbas, President Barack Obama and the Israeli peace movement all talk about the “1967 borders”. When my friends and I started (in 1949) to talk about the two-state solution, we, too, meant these borders. (The “1967 borders” are, in fact, simply the armistice lines agreed upon after the 1948 war.)
Most people, even in the Israeli peace movement, ignored the refugee problem altogether. They were laboring under the illusion that it had gone away, or would do so after peace had been achieved between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. I always warned my friends that this would not happen – five million human beings cannot be simply shut out. It is no use to make peace with half the Palestinian people, and just ignore the other half. It will not mean “the end of the conflict”, whatever might be stated in a peace agreement.
But through years of discussions, mostly behind closed doors, a consensus has been reached. Almost all Palestinian leaders have agreed, either explicitly or implicitly, to the formula of “a just and agreed upon solution of the refugee problem” – so that any solution is subject to Israeli approval. I have spoken about this many times with Yasser Arafat, Faisal al-Husseini and others.
In practice, this means that a symbolic number of refugees will be allowed back into Israel (the exact number to be fixed in negotiations), with the others to be resettled in the State of Palestine (which must be big and viable enough to make this possible) or receive generous compensation that will allow them to start a new life where they are or elsewhere.
TO MAKE this complicated and painful solution easier, everyone agreed that it would be best to deal with this matter near the end of the peace negotiations, after mutual trust and a more relaxed atmosphere had been established.
And here comes our government and tries to solve the problem with sharpshooters – not as the last resort, but as the first. Instead of countering the protesters with effective non-lethal means, they kill people. This will, of course, intensify the protests, mobilize masses of refugees and put the “refugee problem” squarely on the table, in the center of the table, before negotiations have even started.
In other words: the conflict moves back from 1967 to 1948. For Hassan Hijazi, the grandson of a refugee from Jaffa, this is huge achievement.
Nothing could be more stupid than this course of action by Netanyahu and Company.
Unless, of course, they are doing this consciously, in order to make any peace negotiations impossible.
segunda-feira, 30 de maio de 2011
ISRAEL’S SIEGE FREED GAZA’S YOUTH
26 May 2011, The Electronic Intifada (USA)
Mohammed Rabah Suliman* (Gaza Strip)
Palestinians were in disbelief over the news of a reconciliation deal between the two largest Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, brokered by Egypt which, meanwhile, repeated that ending the siege is a priority. Palestinian youth living in the besieged Gaza Strip were quick to start envisioning a new life in a Gaza free from both from the political divisions and the siege.
In 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections, beating Fatah into second place. Fatah has long dominated the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and controlled the Palestinian Authority since it was created after the 1993 Oslo accords. Hamas is not a member of the PLO.
A year later, a short-lived Palestinian national unity government uniting the factions fell apart amid US-supported efforts to undermine it, and Hamas ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip in a distressing fierce ground battle.
Ever since, the population of Gaza has been destined to live under severe hermetic siege imposed by Israel along with the former Egyptian government of ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
Plenty of reports were written addressing the humanitarian crisis that resulted from this siege, along with Israel’s aggressive policies toward Palestinian civilians. Solidarity convoys have cascaded into Gaza one after another in an attempt to alleviate the suffering inflicted upon the Palestinians as a result of the siege.
For the youth in Gaza, one thing, however, has been bizarrely disregarded, which is the positive side of Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip.
Despite its many severely negative results, Israel’s siege of Gaza has offered Palestinian youth a service none had offered before. It offered new paths for us in our struggle for freedom, deepened our patriotic sentiment and finally created an environment that fosters a collective sense of selflessness and cooperation. It has created a young generation that truly cares.
Back in 2006, when Israel’s policies to besiege Gaza were still new, the people of Gaza were still unable to estimate the magnitude of the debacle ahead of them. Shortly after, prices started to shoot up, crossing borders became difficult, ubiquitous power cuts mercilessly dominated every aspect of life.
It was unthinkable, even for the Palestinians in Gaza, that they would be able to carry on with their new life for a long time.
Perhaps that was Israel’s logic. They might have thought: “They won’t be able to tolerate the base life we will force them to live under, we will suffocate them from every direction, we will cause them so much pain to bear. Soon they will blow up from within.”
But we didn’t. And unexpectedly, almost four years since the siege has started, and despite pervasive misery, human suffering and collective punishment, life still goes on.
For us, the youth in Gaza, life under siege was profoundly different. Unable to cope with its oppressiveness, life at first was intolerably tormenting. Anger and frustration were the outcome of our dashed hopes each time we came to realize the fact that ending this siege was anything but foreseeable.
Helpless, we were left to the vast amount of darkness surrounding our minds and bodies. Every now and then, we could escape this suffering momentarily as we loosened ourselves of our oppressive surroundings. This meant spending some time by the Gaza seashore dotted with Israeli warships at night, or at some cafe nearby where the musical bubbling of our water pipes were inescapably mingled with the unnerving hums of a few frenzied power generators.
However, no matter how much we tried to separate ourselves from the political context surrounding us, we couldn’t. We were thrown back into it by the huge extent of misery imposed upon us.
Many of us thus were left with a political mindset which ultimately triggered us into fruit-bearing action.
Plenty of Gaza youth have had an interest in politics, following up on news, reading reports and analyses. Reading has become the last and sole resort when we had nothing else to do. Soon we were demanding more and more books to read.
Reading has struck a new light in the dark; it has blown new winds into the stillness, and added flavor to our humdrum lives. It was too beautiful to resist. Besides reading, many Gaza youth remarkably developed an interest in documenting Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians through writing, blogging, making films and networking. Israel was their interest. Everything that has to do with Israel was worth stopping for; it was a sign of sophisticated interest. On the ground, hyper-activism was largely manifest in the immense variety of activities carried out and administered by youth groups, social movements and networks.
One of the remarkable youth groups newly initiated inside Gaza is the Palestine Youth Advocacy Network “PYAN”— which is also a word in Arabic that could mean exposition, representation, rhetoric or radiance, all of which have to do with the nature of work the team undertakes.
The network defines itself as “a fresh movement towards democratic endeavors in Palestine and breaking misconceptions about the occupied territories through global dialogue and reporting from the ground.” It operates regularly, holding workshops in coordination with international and local institutions with the intention of “[playing] an innovative role in assisting the Palestinian youth get the knowledge and acquire the skills needed to be up to the challenge of advocating their cause and sacred rights in the face of the misinformation imposed by the western mainstream media.”
Samah Saleh, a cofounder of PYAN, told me what role the siege has played in setting up the advocacy network and the abundance of other youth groups:
“The siege has everything to do with the emergence of PYAN. Gaza has been under siege for about four years, quite the same years young Gazans my age [have] been busy attempting to understand the interaction of global, regional and internal politics on their lives. In Gaza, the siege was the elephant in the room and Gazans were on their own, living, defying the siege’s intrusion on their every life, no matter how simple. We formed PYAN to be the platform of Gaza’s youth that addresses their urgent need to bring their stories out of besieged Gaza to the world.”
It isn’t quite appealing to speak of the inhumane siege without focusing on Israel’s crimes against Palestinian civilians. But having already blasted away any cliched representation of ourselves as terrorists, we now refuse to be continuously framed as dying of hunger or retreating to a corner and sitting in the dark. Our ability to turn each suffering into a source of inspiration preserves our dignity and fuels our unstoppable determination.
*Mohammed Rabah Suliman, 21, is a Palestinian student and blogger from Gaza. He studies English Literature at the Islamic University and blogs at Gaza Diaries of Peace and War at http://msuliman.wordpress.com. He can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/imPalestine.
Mohammed Rabah Suliman* (Gaza Strip)
Palestinians were in disbelief over the news of a reconciliation deal between the two largest Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, brokered by Egypt which, meanwhile, repeated that ending the siege is a priority. Palestinian youth living in the besieged Gaza Strip were quick to start envisioning a new life in a Gaza free from both from the political divisions and the siege.
In 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections, beating Fatah into second place. Fatah has long dominated the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and controlled the Palestinian Authority since it was created after the 1993 Oslo accords. Hamas is not a member of the PLO.
A year later, a short-lived Palestinian national unity government uniting the factions fell apart amid US-supported efforts to undermine it, and Hamas ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip in a distressing fierce ground battle.
Ever since, the population of Gaza has been destined to live under severe hermetic siege imposed by Israel along with the former Egyptian government of ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
Plenty of reports were written addressing the humanitarian crisis that resulted from this siege, along with Israel’s aggressive policies toward Palestinian civilians. Solidarity convoys have cascaded into Gaza one after another in an attempt to alleviate the suffering inflicted upon the Palestinians as a result of the siege.
For the youth in Gaza, one thing, however, has been bizarrely disregarded, which is the positive side of Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip.
Despite its many severely negative results, Israel’s siege of Gaza has offered Palestinian youth a service none had offered before. It offered new paths for us in our struggle for freedom, deepened our patriotic sentiment and finally created an environment that fosters a collective sense of selflessness and cooperation. It has created a young generation that truly cares.
Back in 2006, when Israel’s policies to besiege Gaza were still new, the people of Gaza were still unable to estimate the magnitude of the debacle ahead of them. Shortly after, prices started to shoot up, crossing borders became difficult, ubiquitous power cuts mercilessly dominated every aspect of life.
It was unthinkable, even for the Palestinians in Gaza, that they would be able to carry on with their new life for a long time.
Perhaps that was Israel’s logic. They might have thought: “They won’t be able to tolerate the base life we will force them to live under, we will suffocate them from every direction, we will cause them so much pain to bear. Soon they will blow up from within.”
But we didn’t. And unexpectedly, almost four years since the siege has started, and despite pervasive misery, human suffering and collective punishment, life still goes on.
For us, the youth in Gaza, life under siege was profoundly different. Unable to cope with its oppressiveness, life at first was intolerably tormenting. Anger and frustration were the outcome of our dashed hopes each time we came to realize the fact that ending this siege was anything but foreseeable.
Helpless, we were left to the vast amount of darkness surrounding our minds and bodies. Every now and then, we could escape this suffering momentarily as we loosened ourselves of our oppressive surroundings. This meant spending some time by the Gaza seashore dotted with Israeli warships at night, or at some cafe nearby where the musical bubbling of our water pipes were inescapably mingled with the unnerving hums of a few frenzied power generators.
However, no matter how much we tried to separate ourselves from the political context surrounding us, we couldn’t. We were thrown back into it by the huge extent of misery imposed upon us.
Many of us thus were left with a political mindset which ultimately triggered us into fruit-bearing action.
Plenty of Gaza youth have had an interest in politics, following up on news, reading reports and analyses. Reading has become the last and sole resort when we had nothing else to do. Soon we were demanding more and more books to read.
Reading has struck a new light in the dark; it has blown new winds into the stillness, and added flavor to our humdrum lives. It was too beautiful to resist. Besides reading, many Gaza youth remarkably developed an interest in documenting Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians through writing, blogging, making films and networking. Israel was their interest. Everything that has to do with Israel was worth stopping for; it was a sign of sophisticated interest. On the ground, hyper-activism was largely manifest in the immense variety of activities carried out and administered by youth groups, social movements and networks.
One of the remarkable youth groups newly initiated inside Gaza is the Palestine Youth Advocacy Network “PYAN”— which is also a word in Arabic that could mean exposition, representation, rhetoric or radiance, all of which have to do with the nature of work the team undertakes.
The network defines itself as “a fresh movement towards democratic endeavors in Palestine and breaking misconceptions about the occupied territories through global dialogue and reporting from the ground.” It operates regularly, holding workshops in coordination with international and local institutions with the intention of “[playing] an innovative role in assisting the Palestinian youth get the knowledge and acquire the skills needed to be up to the challenge of advocating their cause and sacred rights in the face of the misinformation imposed by the western mainstream media.”
Samah Saleh, a cofounder of PYAN, told me what role the siege has played in setting up the advocacy network and the abundance of other youth groups:
“The siege has everything to do with the emergence of PYAN. Gaza has been under siege for about four years, quite the same years young Gazans my age [have] been busy attempting to understand the interaction of global, regional and internal politics on their lives. In Gaza, the siege was the elephant in the room and Gazans were on their own, living, defying the siege’s intrusion on their every life, no matter how simple. We formed PYAN to be the platform of Gaza’s youth that addresses their urgent need to bring their stories out of besieged Gaza to the world.”
It isn’t quite appealing to speak of the inhumane siege without focusing on Israel’s crimes against Palestinian civilians. But having already blasted away any cliched representation of ourselves as terrorists, we now refuse to be continuously framed as dying of hunger or retreating to a corner and sitting in the dark. Our ability to turn each suffering into a source of inspiration preserves our dignity and fuels our unstoppable determination.
*Mohammed Rabah Suliman, 21, is a Palestinian student and blogger from Gaza. He studies English Literature at the Islamic University and blogs at Gaza Diaries of Peace and War at http://msuliman.wordpress.com. He can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/imPalestine.
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