Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Photo: Ahed al Tamimi.
From the King David Hotel to US embassy in Jerusalem One hundred years after the Balfour declaration giving Zionism a home in Palestine, and 70 years after recognition of Israel, the United Nations has voted against US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Is this a vote in favour of Palestinian self-determination? The most powerful settler states opposed the resolution along with tiny countries that have bought out or threatened. Others abstained, including Australia which is effectively a vote for Trump’s shift to the right. In the 20th century Lord Balfour and the United Nations denied Arab nationalism in favour of Jewish nationalism.
Even the UK voted against the US and Israel - after all, the British were driven out of Jerusalem after Israeli terrorists bombed their embassy at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946.
A two-state solution once favoured by the UN lies in tatters. There can be no such thing as East and West Jerusalem, just as there was no such thing as East and West Berlin, people proved that. There can’t be two states - one (Israel) has all the power including total control over the occupied territories in Palestine. But change is coming as UN voting shows.
UN vote against Jerusalem as capital of Israel.
Balcony over Jerusalem ‘Balcony over Jerusalem’. It is a memoir of an occupation and is by John Lyons (former correspondent with The Australian) with Sylvie Le Clezio (filmmaker). Excerpts from this book and Palestinian news sources reveal the brutal nature of the occupation endured daily by the Palestinian people.
View east from John Lyons and Sylvie Le Clexio’s balcony in Jerusalem
“So much of this conflict happened quietly. From our balcony, if we looked really carefully at the rolling hills between us and Jordan, we could see a tiny Palestinian house 300 metres in front of us, in East Jerusalem. It had a single light, and two or three goats in the yard. From a distance, we got to know this family - its habits, its movements, its celebrations. We'd see the children head off to school each morning. During the day their father herded goats on the hill.
The oldest child was doing his final year at school, and there's a Palestinian tradition that if a student graduates the family lets off fireworks. It's a way of letting the neighbourhood know the news. We knew what day the results of the final exams were due so we watched to see whether fireworks were let off that night.
We saw several other homes in the valley celebrating - then came fireworks from the little house. The boy had passed.
Then one morning the little house was gone. The Israeli Army had come while we were asleep and bulldozed it, claiming it was an illegal structure. The little house had been a part of our lives. Sylvie, Jack and I decided to walk down the valley to speak to the family.
The army had demolished everything except the stairway. When we arrived we found the owner sweeping it.
It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. A broken man sweeping his stairway to nowhere.”- from 'Balcony over Jerusalem' Al-Quds - the holy place “The battle in the Old City of Jerusalem. The aim of some Israeli hardliners is to 'Judaise' the Palestinian parts of the Old City - to get as many Jewish families as possible into houses currently occupied by Palestinians.
By doing this, they can improve the 'demographic balance' of the Old City.
There are powerful groups behind this Judaisation, such as Ateret Cohanim, whose funding comes from Jewish groups in countries such as Australia and the US. Ataret Cohanim operates in the shadows - run by an Australian, Daniel Luria (see interview with Daniel Luria by Louis Theroux above). It works to create a Jewish majority in the Old City as well as in East Jerusalem." - from 'Balcony over Jerusalem'
Cruelty not Security “Another reality which to me suggested cruelty rather than security was Israel's 'cemeteries by numbers'. These cemeteries are located in military bases and are filled with small metal headstones with numbers but no names. Each number accords with the name of a dead Palestinian. Often if a Palestinian prisoner dies before their sentence is finished, Israel keeps the remains in these cemeteries until the full term is completed - sometimes a burial can be delayed for 20 years.” - from 'Balcony over Jerusalem'
Occupation
“In Hebron, Palestinians have put wire over their market stalls to stop them being hit when Jewish settlers living above them throw bricks, chairs, dirty nappies and rotting chickens onto them. Israeli soldiers will sometimes decide, without notice, to lock the Palestinians into the old part of the city at night, behind big security gates that look like cages.” - from 'Balcony over Jerusalem'
Sniper “On 25 February 1994, US-born doctor Baruch Goldstein left his settlement of Kiryat Arba and drove to nearby Hebron, where he entered the Ibrahimi mosque and shot dead 29 people as they prayed. Goldstein's tomb carries the epitaph 'He gave his life for the people of Israel, its Torah and land. His hands are clean and his heart good.' In 1999, the Israeli Government passed a law outlawing monuments to terrorists. After pressure to dismantle Goldstein's tomb, the army took down the shrine but left the tombstone. Israel's District Court ruled that 'lauding' Goldstein does not constitute incitement. The BBC covered the sixth anniversary of Goldstein's massacre, when settlers dressed up as Goldstein, wearing doctors' coats and fake beards.” - from 'Balcony over Jerusalem'
The Slap Ahed al Tamimi is a Palestinian activist from the village of Nabi Salih. Ahed is on trial in an Israeli military court. The fifteen charges against her include aggravated assault of a heavily armed soldier, threatening a soldier, preventing soldiers from carrying out their duties, incitement, disturbing the public peace and stone throwing. Ahed is not guilty of these charges, she is defending Palestine and its people from occupation.
A soldier trespassing into a courtyard (owned by the Tamimi family) on occupied land in breach of international law is not acting in the execution of his duty. From what I can see in the video of the incident, Ahed asks Israeli soldiers to leave her courtyard, the soldier refuses so she slaps him ... her Mum comes out to give support and to make sure the girls don't get hurt. Together they push the Israeli soldiers out of their yard. Last time I heard, the girl and her Mum were locked up. They should be let go, an apology given, and reparations made. The soldiers should leave their village. Prior to the slap: 1. Israeli forces fired tear-gas canisters directly at the Tamimi home, which broke several windows. 2. Moments earlier, Ahed Tamimi's 14-year-old cousin, Mohammad, had been hit point-blank in the face by a rubber bullet fired by the Israeli soldiers. 3. Ahed, was telling the soldiers to get away from our home, Bassem said. She was trying to force them to leave to prevent the soldiers from hurting anyone else.
That gives the young woman and her family the right to expel the soldier(s) from their property using appropriate force. The force used by the girl was a slap, a few kicks and some pushing by her Mum and sister accompanied by entreaties in Arabic for the soldier to respect their rights - their force is very mild. The soldiers eventually leave because they had no cause to be there, they were not investigating anything, they were provocatively lounging in the family’s courtyard. During the exchange on the video I heard a loud noise like a weapon being discharged. Members of the family have been shot by rubber bullets, some have been detained, there is a pattern of ongoing harrassment by the occupatiion army.
Ahed is not guilty of assault, Ahed was merely exercising her rights. In Australia we have some pretty draconian laws because we too are a settler state. For example, our military assists the US drone program in targeted assassinations in the Middle East.
Who killed Ibrahim Abu Thuraya, why did he die and who is guilty?
The shooting of Ibrahim Abu Thuraya is a war crime. The Israeli soldier who shot the young man may have been assisted by drones seen in the area.
Only days after the assassination, several Israeli bulldozers entered into the “buffer zone” along the border with the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday (19 Dec 2017), where they leveled lands under heavy military protection.
Locals told Ma’an News that four Israeli D9 bulldozers entered into eastern Deir al-Balah in central Gaza from the nearby Kissufim military site and leveled lands in the area.
Israeli military drones were reportedly flying overhead during the incursion.
Israeli military incursions inside the besieged Gaza Strip and near the “buffer zone," which lies on both land and sea sides of Gaza, have long been a near-daily occurrence.
The Israeli army also regularly detains and opens fire on unarmed Palestinian fishermen, shepherds, and farmers along the border areas if they approach the buffer zone, as the authorities have not made clear the precise area of the designated zone.
The practice has in effect destroying much of the agricultural and fishing sector of the blockaded coastal enclave, which has been under an Israeli air, land, and sea blockade for 10 years.
Israeli authorities claim there was a riot when Ibrahim Abu Thuraya was shot. Law enforcement officers with unfetted rights is one hallmark of fascism, their job is to protect the people from crime not to stomp on people’s rights by arresting them without cause or by shooting unarmed defenceless people like Ibrahim Abu Thuraya. Israeli soldiers attack even medical staff to prevent them from saving the victims.
Who killed Abu Thuraya, why did he die, and who is guilty? Not me says the politician / Who knows closing Gaza wins elections / His death we do regret /But building settlements is what we said / A legless man had no right to waive a Palestinian flag / It is just too bad that young man died / It wasn't me that shot him in the head / So you can't blame me now he's dead. The Permit System “The most significant fact I discovered, which even most Israelis seemed not to realise, was that Israel has 101 different permits for Palestinians. Not one applies to Israeli settlers. The information about the permits was obtained by B 'Tselem under Freedom of Information.” -John Lyons, journalist with The Australian.
So Israel is an apartheid state by virtue of a racist permit system … just like the pass laws in South Africa! Some in Australia have the benefit of learning from aboriginal people who experienced their own form of apartheid and who have never ceded sovereignty, always was, always will be, aboriginal land. Have you been to Hebron? Its like Dresden. “According to Bruce Guthrie, the Managing editor of the Age (a large Australian daily), Hebron is like Dresden after the bombing, with acts of cruelty by settlers beyond human comprehension. Even our local Murdoch Press (a strong supporter of Israel) published a story about the occupation:
“In Hebron, Palestinians have put wire over their market stalls to stop them being hit when Jewish settlers living above them throw bricks, chairs, dirty nappies and rotting chickens onto them. Israeli soldiers will sometimes decide, without notice, to lock the Palestinians into the old part of the city at night, behind big security gates that look like cages.” - from 'Balcony over Jerusalem'
Jenin in April 2002, Israeli soldiers shot unarmed people who were denied medical treatment. As a result many died. Many of killings were unlawful, such as the death of a 57-year-old wheelchair bound man who was shot and run over by a tank despite having attached a white flag to his wheelchair. - From wikipedia The film “Jenin Jenin" depicts a small girl standing on the rubble of her town saying that when she heard that former Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, was coming to the Camp she was so angry she burst into tears because she had a great desire to take revenge on him.
She tells us how legendary is the cowardice of Israeli soldiers who hide inside their tanks when children throw stones and who dropped bombs that fell like rain on her family’s house and nearby houses for two weeks during the devastation of Jenin.
“What is my life worth?” she asked as she stood there in the rubble and then tells us that she and all her people will resist and win the struggle for their homes and their lives.
"Jenin Jenin" is dedicated to Iyad Samoudi, the executive producer, who was murdered by Israeli soldiers at Alaymoun on 23 June 2002 at the close of shooting of the film ‘Jenin’. Its director, Mohammad Bakri, is being prosecuted by the Israeli Attorney Mendelblit and an army reservist in an effort to shut up the Palestinian film-maker.
Conclusion The proposed two-state solution by the United States, the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority has failed.
Settlers in Hebron have taken ‘Jewish nationalism’ to a level of evil that cannot endure … no occupation can last, least of all an occupation propped up by US aid, a permit system that has crippled the economy; the discontent is too great. How else could one sniper shoot a baby and another a legless man waving a Palestinian flag? And 29 people while they are praying in a mosque? Zionists wanted a Jewish State to defend Jews from racism like the Nazi Holocaust. Europeans, in their guilt, gave them Palestine. The British had already collaborated with the Zionists in 1917 (Lord Balfour, sic). Only a couple of years after the bombing of the King Davide hotel, the British administration fled Palestine. Since the UN declared the state of Israel in 1948, Zionists have created an evil, racist state with walls, detention of children, nuclear weapons and so on. Nationalism is no way to conduct human affairs. Australian aborigines got by without it for 60,000 years. Why can’t ‘humane and civilised’ Europeans learn from that?
We need real tangible actions (not UN resolutions to be ignored by Israel) to take place, support for Israel is waning and change must come soon. Perhaps a co-ordinated march on Jerusalem from all the supporters of Palestine may help achieve this. I was thinking of an international solidarity march from all border crossings: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt - highly co-ordinated to increase pressure on Israel. There have been marches before but not from all points of the compass, by land and sea. To show how, no matter how many soldiers, even with nuclear weapons Israel is weak and cowardly, and people are strong. That would be a revolution, real change, if nuclear armed Israel were unable to stop a march on Jerusalem.
Ian Curr 27 Dec 2017 References Most of the excerpts are from ‘Balcony over Jerusalem’ is by John Lyons (former correspondent with The Australian) with Sylvie Le Clezio (filmmaker) Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers ISBN: 9781460707425 Release date: July 24, 2017
Who Killed Ibrahim Abu Thuraya? Why did he die and who is guilty? Not me said the humble voters Israeli flag wrapped around their shoulders He should demonstrate the proper way "Fuck off we're full" is what we say It's not our fault he was on the run If he wasn't locked up in Gaza then terrorists would come I am sorry that stranger died If I knew him I would have cried. Who Killed Ibrahim Abu Thuraya? Why did he die and who is guilty? Not me said the Prime Minister I didn’t choose this open air prison For my voters I do my best Right of return, what they do expect I am not responsible for what happen to him I am not to blame for every soldier's sin Any inquiry you will see There are others complicit before it comes to me
Who Killed Ibrahim Abu Thuraya? Why did he die and who is guilty? Not I said the big world leader Who prosecutes the "war on terror" I am keeping the world safe for you It is what leaders are appointed to do The Palestinians that have to flee Are not my responsibility Don't point your finger at me He was in that prison to keep you free Who Killed Ibrahim Abu Thuraya? Why did he die who is guilty? Not me said the TV presenter That Mark Regev wrap around their fingers I reported how they said he died Anyway they won't let us inside I believe in the public's right to know But you can't take cameras where they can't go I am not responsible for any death We report the news with what rates best Who Killed Ibrahim Abu Thuraya? Why did he die and who is guilty? Not me said the sniper from the IDF They put our security under stress It is what I was contracted to do Cruel and dirty job for you He should have accepted his fate Gone back before it was too late Don't say murder don't say kill I was doing my job you pay the bill
Put a rag deep in your face For now is time for tears Who Killed Ibrahim Abu Thuraya?
