Civil and Human Rights Looking Deeper into the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Israel is portrayed as a democracy that shares American values. Is this true? Do all its citizens enjoy the same civil rights before the law? What about the human rights of those under occupation?
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Israel at 60: The Cost of US Support - CommonDreams.org Thursday, May 15, 2008 | by Ida Audeh
Israel’s 60th anniversary is an opportune occasion to question why the U.S. government offers unlimited support to a country that persistently and routinely violates principles that Americans hold sacred.
The U.S. government finances an illegal military occupation in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. Since October 1973, total direct U.S. aid to Israel amounts to well over $140 billion in 2003 dollars. What does this aid buy? Illegal Jewish-only settlements built on confiscated Palestinian land. Palestinian towns and villages encircled by walls more monstrous in most places than the Berlin wall. Israeli checkpoints and roadblocks between Palestinian towns that bring the normal movement of people and goods to a standstill and constitute daily humiliations. Gaza sealed and under siege, with food and fuel withheld. Since the second intifada started in September 2000, at least 4,719 Palestinians have been killed and 32,213 wounded.
Israel’s strategy seems to be to make life so unlivable for Palestinians that those with options will leave, and those without options are controlled by the Jewish state. Is this a strategy that Americans can support?
Israel’s supporters excuse Israel’s appalling violations of international law and human rights by insisting that it is a democracy and thus shares a lot with the United States. But that is not true.
Israel distinguishes between citizenship rights, such as the right to vote, which is available to non-Jewish citizens of the state, and nationality rights, which are reserved for Jews. This is not a feature of democracy as we know it.
Several laws have been enacted in Israel whose intention is clearly to maintain Jewish numerical superiority and to reinforce the Jewish character of the state, all of which belie the claim that Israel is a democracy. Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, has identified more than 20 laws in Israel that discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel by working the Jewish character of the state into the text of the law. Israel defines “public good” in ethno-religious terms; lands expropriated from Palestinians for the “public good” benefit Jewish citizens only. The 20 percent of the population that is Muslim and Christian are regarded as a demographic threat. Obsession over the ethnic and religious composition of a country is also not a typical characteristic of democratic societies.
Support for Israel is garnered under false pretenses and enforced through coercive tactics. Americans should consider the effect of these strong-arm tactics on our public life.
A small but powerful lobby has had an inordinate influence on the executive and legislative branches of the government, on the media, and on our public culture. Neither a former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner like Jimmy Carter, or establishment professors from prestigious universities like John Mearsheimer (University of Chicago) and Stephen Walt (Harvard University), are immune from charges of anti-semitism if they question Israel’s policies.
These assaults on the personal integrity of people who express non-mainstream political views has had a profoundly corrosive effect on free speech and public debate.
Members of Congress of both parties accept pro-Israel political action committee money and in return, they support and initiate legislation in support of Israel.
Both the public and the media have been trained to accept without question the unseemly spectacle of presidential candidates and elected officials who swear allegiance to a foreign country, as though this should inspire the trust of U.S. voters.
Israel’s illegal policies toward Palestinians and its neighbors have been the subject of more than 65 U.N. resolutions. Israel routinely ignores General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, and its intransigence is defended by the United States. Supporting Israel puts the United States at odds with most of the people of the world, and it also means that the U.S. government grows accustomed to defending violations of international law. Yet neither Israel nor the United States is above the law.
Pro-Israel organizations and individuals have led the campaign promoting anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry in this country. Generalizations and smears that would be easily identified as bigotry if African Americans or Latinos were the subject trigger no objections when they are made about Arabs and Muslims.
Palestinians in growing numbers are demanding equal rights for all residents of Mandate Palestine.
Americans can hardly oppose this demand while at the same time claiming to be a beacon of freedom and democracy for all peoples.
Ida Audeh is a Palestinian who grew up in the West Bank and now works as an editor in Boulder.
Israel’s 60th anniversary is an opportune occasion to question why the U.S. government offers unlimited support to a country that persistently and routinely violates principles that Americans hold sacred.
The U.S. government finances an illegal military occupation in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. Since October 1973, total direct U.S. aid to Israel amounts to well over $140 billion in 2003 dollars. What does this aid buy? Illegal Jewish-only settlements built on confiscated Palestinian land. Palestinian towns and villages encircled by walls more monstrous in most places than the Berlin wall. Israeli checkpoints and roadblocks between Palestinian towns that bring the normal movement of people and goods to a standstill and constitute daily humiliations. Gaza sealed and under siege, with food and fuel withheld. Since the second intifada started in September 2000, at least 4,719 Palestinians have been killed and 32,213 wounded.
Israel’s strategy seems to be to make life so unlivable for Palestinians that those with options will leave, and those without options are controlled by the Jewish state. Is this a strategy that Americans can support?
Israel’s supporters excuse Israel’s appalling violations of international law and human rights by insisting that it is a democracy and thus shares a lot with the United States. But that is not true.
Israel distinguishes between citizenship rights, such as the right to vote, which is available to non-Jewish citizens of the state, and nationality rights, which are reserved for Jews. This is not a feature of democracy as we know it.
Several laws have been enacted in Israel whose intention is clearly to maintain Jewish numerical superiority and to reinforce the Jewish character of the state, all of which belie the claim that Israel is a democracy. Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, has identified more than 20 laws in Israel that discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel by working the Jewish character of the state into the text of the law. Israel defines “public good” in ethno-religious terms; lands expropriated from Palestinians for the “public good” benefit Jewish citizens only. The 20 percent of the population that is Muslim and Christian are regarded as a demographic threat. Obsession over the ethnic and religious composition of a country is also not a typical characteristic of democratic societies.
Support for Israel is garnered under false pretenses and enforced through coercive tactics. Americans should consider the effect of these strong-arm tactics on our public life.
A small but powerful lobby has had an inordinate influence on the executive and legislative branches of the government, on the media, and on our public culture. Neither a former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner like Jimmy Carter, or establishment professors from prestigious universities like John Mearsheimer (University of Chicago) and Stephen Walt (Harvard University), are immune from charges of anti-semitism if they question Israel’s policies.
These assaults on the personal integrity of people who express non-mainstream political views has had a profoundly corrosive effect on free speech and public debate.
Members of Congress of both parties accept pro-Israel political action committee money and in return, they support and initiate legislation in support of Israel.
Both the public and the media have been trained to accept without question the unseemly spectacle of presidential candidates and elected officials who swear allegiance to a foreign country, as though this should inspire the trust of U.S. voters.
Israel’s illegal policies toward Palestinians and its neighbors have been the subject of more than 65 U.N. resolutions. Israel routinely ignores General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, and its intransigence is defended by the United States. Supporting Israel puts the United States at odds with most of the people of the world, and it also means that the U.S. government grows accustomed to defending violations of international law. Yet neither Israel nor the United States is above the law.
Pro-Israel organizations and individuals have led the campaign promoting anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry in this country. Generalizations and smears that would be easily identified as bigotry if African Americans or Latinos were the subject trigger no objections when they are made about Arabs and Muslims.
Palestinians in growing numbers are demanding equal rights for all residents of Mandate Palestine.
Americans can hardly oppose this demand while at the same time claiming to be a beacon of freedom and democracy for all peoples.
Ida Audeh is a Palestinian who grew up in the West Bank and now works as an editor in Boulder.
RACISTS FACING A DILEMMA IN ISRAEL « DesertpeaceMay 12, 2008
‘What are we to do?? There are Arab children enrolled in Jewish nursery schools in this neighbourhood.’ Such is the dilemma facing the rabbinical council in Jerusalem. They have been pressing the ‘alarm’ button as more Palestinians move into neighbourhoods in the northern part of Jerusalem.
Just what is an ignorant racist to do when there is a development such as this? Last night a small (poorly attended) meeting took place in my neighbourhood, a meeting called to determine just what can be done about this ‘problem’. One heard words like ’staus quo’, and how we must not allow that to change. In other words, ‘we have a ghetto here and we like it!”. Well, if the truth is to be known, most of the locals in my area don’t like it! Heaven forbid we all live together, get to know each other and thereby eradicate the possibilities of war…. is that what they are afraid of? It sure seems so.
Brings to mind an incident in my own building when a real estate agent requested I do something about a Palestinian’s name appearing on one of the mailboxes. Seems she was having a problem selling one of the apartments because of that. I assured her that I would do something… I assured her that I would get the other 5 Palestinian families in the building to put their names on the boxes as well. Just to show you the type of neighbourhood I live in, read THIS. Needless to say, I would have nothing to do with the encouragement of an apartheid system in my own building…
‘What are we to do?? There are Arab children enrolled in Jewish nursery schools in this neighbourhood.’ Such is the dilemma facing the rabbinical council in Jerusalem. They have been pressing the ‘alarm’ button as more Palestinians move into neighbourhoods in the northern part of Jerusalem.
Just what is an ignorant racist to do when there is a development such as this? Last night a small (poorly attended) meeting took place in my neighbourhood, a meeting called to determine just what can be done about this ‘problem’. One heard words like ’staus quo’, and how we must not allow that to change. In other words, ‘we have a ghetto here and we like it!”. Well, if the truth is to be known, most of the locals in my area don’t like it! Heaven forbid we all live together, get to know each other and thereby eradicate the possibilities of war…. is that what they are afraid of? It sure seems so.
Brings to mind an incident in my own building when a real estate agent requested I do something about a Palestinian’s name appearing on one of the mailboxes. Seems she was having a problem selling one of the apartments because of that. I assured her that I would do something… I assured her that I would get the other 5 Palestinian families in the building to put their names on the boxes as well. Just to show you the type of neighbourhood I live in, read THIS. Needless to say, I would have nothing to do with the encouragement of an apartheid system in my own building…
Bedouni village: State of Israel provides Qiryeh al-Sir with no roads, no sewage, no schools, and no social services. ... no electrcity, no land title
Palestinian al-Nakbah at 60: The Case of Unrecognized Villages | Sharat G. LinMay 17, 2008
Sixty years after the terrorist catastrophe that drove over three quarters of a million Palestinians from 531 villages and towns during the Israeli war for independence in 1948, walls of division continue to be built, inhabited houses continue to be demolished, and an entire population in Gaza is being slowly starved of food, fuel, and medicine. The incessant siege mentality and ubiquitous security infrastructure are ever more eroding the social fabric of Palestinian and Israeli societies alike. Ending the siege and occupation are crucial preconditions to the future security of both peoples. No matter what peaceful solution ultimately emerges, the futures of Palestinians and Israelis are inseparably intertwined.
...
Sipping a cup of Arabic tea on the carpeted earthen floor of his tent, the Sheikh recalls how 90 per cent of Bedouins were evacuated from the Negev to Jordan in 1948 as part of al-Nakbah. In 1953, Israel imposed military rule in the Negev, he says. Had the remaining Bedouins not abandoned their once nomadic lifestyle, they too would have been expelled, losing their claims to their houses and fixed lands under military occupation. Even then, they resisted expulsion under threats of death. Those who fled and later tried to return to their pre-1948 settlements were killed, he said.
Sheikh Ibrahim complains that 21 Palestinian houses were demolished here just the week before this interview. Israel never offered land for legal settlement in Qiryeh al-Sir, which has a population of 4000. While Israel strictly prohibits Palestinians from digging water wells, it never offered to provide a water connection to the village. Only after years of struggle, the village finally negotiated a supply of water from an industrial pipeline that runs through the village.
In fact, the State of Israel provides Qiryeh al-Sir with no roads, no sewage, no schools, and no social services. Even though a thermal power plant was built in the midst of the village and a myriad of high voltage transmission lines tower above its houses, Qiryeh al-Sir receives none of that electricity. Instead villagers must use generators to supply their electricity needs. This is despite the fact that residents pay all Israeli taxes, except property tax since the Israeli government does not recognize Bedouin claims to the land. In contrast, Jewish settlers — many arriving for the first time directly from foreign countries — are provided will all services and leasehold titles before they even move in, Sheikh Ibrahim laments.
In Ottoman times, Bedouins used to move from hill to hill, grazing their flocks, within territorial limits that were registered by the Ottoman administrators. But Israel has persistently refused to recognize Ottoman and British land titles, even when presented with written documents. The only pre-Israeli land titles recognized are those issued by Jordan during its administration of the West Bank from 1949 to 1967. ...
Friday, May 02, 2008
Jonathan Cook: Academic Freedom? Not for Arabs in IsraelFebruary 29, 2008 | "Honor the Israeli Army Uniform," Lecturer Told | in Nazareth
In the strange world of Israeli academia, an Arab college lecturer is being dismissed from his job because he refused to declare his "respect for the uniform of the Israeli army". The bizarre demand was made of Nizar Hassan, director of several award-winning films, after he criticised a Jewish student who arrived in his film studies class at Sapir College in the Negev for wearing his uniform and carrying a gun.
The incident raises disturbing questions about the freedom of Israeli academics, sheds light on the veneration of the military in Israeli public life, and exposes the close, verging on incestuous, ties between the army and Israeli academia.
Meanwhile, for many of Israel's 1.2 million Palestinian citizens, who are nearly a fifth of the country's population, Hassan's treatment confirms their fears that decades of discrimination, especially in higher education, are far from over. ...
...
Under growing pressure, the college's Academic Council suspended Hassan without offering him a hearing. It also appointed for the first time in the college's history an academic committee to investigate the incident and report on what disciplinary action should be taken. ...
In the strange world of Israeli academia, an Arab college lecturer is being dismissed from his job because he refused to declare his "respect for the uniform of the Israeli army". The bizarre demand was made of Nizar Hassan, director of several award-winning films, after he criticised a Jewish student who arrived in his film studies class at Sapir College in the Negev for wearing his uniform and carrying a gun.
The incident raises disturbing questions about the freedom of Israeli academics, sheds light on the veneration of the military in Israeli public life, and exposes the close, verging on incestuous, ties between the army and Israeli academia.
Meanwhile, for many of Israel's 1.2 million Palestinian citizens, who are nearly a fifth of the country's population, Hassan's treatment confirms their fears that decades of discrimination, especially in higher education, are far from over. ...
...
Under growing pressure, the college's Academic Council suspended Hassan without offering him a hearing. It also appointed for the first time in the college's history an academic committee to investigate the incident and report on what disciplinary action should be taken. ...
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Voices - Human Rights Violations in Israel and Palestine03/31/08 | Stephen Lendman
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) publishes annual reports on the state of human rights in Israel and occupied Palestine. ...
...
Ever since the 1994 National Health Insurance Law passed, health services have eroded in violation of its guarantee. The Adva Center advocates for policy changes favoring disadvantaged Israelis. It tallied the damage through last year and found a 44% decline in health service funding with gaps made up for by supplemental insurance. Over 70% of the public have it while the rest rely solely on dwindling national health services that often fail to deliver.
Most disadvantaged Israelis lack supplemental insurance: one-third are age 65 or older; 53% are Israeli Arabs; 42% are Jews of Russian origin; while 11% are from the Hebrew-speaking community. A 2007 Physicians for Human Rights report describes how various population groups are disadvantaged. Those furthest removed from Israel's social center got poorest access. They include: low wage earners; "unrecognized" Negev Bedouins; East Jerusalem Palestinians; Israelis married to Occupied Territory Palestinians; prisoners; Palestinian spouses of Israeli Arabs; migrant workers; refugees and asylum-seekers; and victims of human trafficking. In total, these groups comprise about 1.25 million men and women.
...
Subcontracted employment is a growing trend in Israel, the practice exploits workers, labor laws are violated, and human rights organizations are taking note. On average, subcontract wages are 60% of standard, few or no benefits are gotten, and worker rights are routinely violated. Most common abuses include: wages below minimum, illegal overtime without pay, firings without severance, social benefits withheld, leave time disallowed or no pay while on leave, lower pay because of illegal deductions and fines, and organizing efforts crushed.
...
[Palestinian Israelis] They get no rights afforded Jews even though Israeli Arabs are citizens, have passports and IDs and can vote in Knesset elections. Even so, they're nonpersons, are systematically abused, neglected, and are confined to 2% of the land plus another 1% for agricultural use.
...
They get no rights afforded Jews even though Israeli Arabs are citizens, have passports and IDs and can vote in Knesset elections. Even so, they're nonpersons, are systematically abused, neglected, and are confined to 2% of the land plus another 1% for agricultural use.
...
Existing communities are circumscribed on a map with blue lines around them. Areas inside can be developed. Those outside cannot. Great latitude is shown Jewish communities, so new ones are added. In contrast, Palestinian areas are severely constricted with no allowed room for expansion. Their land was reclassified as agricultural meaning no new construction is allowed. It means entire communities are "unrecognized" and all homes and buildings there are illegal, even the 95% of them built before the 1965 law passed. They're subject to demolition and their inhabitants displaced at Israel's discretion. It's so new land for Jews can be provided with Arab owners helpless to stop it.
As a result, no new Palestinian communities are allowed, and existing "unrecognized villages" are denied essential services like clean drinking water, electricity, roads, transport, sanitation, education, healthcare, postal service, telephone connections, refuse removal and more because under the Planning and Construction Law they're illegal. The toll on people is devastating:
-- clean water is unavailable almost everywhere unless people have access to well water;
-- the few available health services are inadequate;
-- many homes have no bathrooms, and no permits are allowed to build them;
-- only villages with private generators have electricity that's barely enough for lighting;
-- no village is connected to the main road network,
-- some villages are fenced in prohibiting their residents from access to their traditional lands; and
-- education is limited, achievement levels are low, and dropout rates high.
It's worse still when home demolitions are ordered. It may stipulate Palestinians must do it themselves or be fined for contempt of court and face up to a year in prison. They may also have to cover the cost when Israelis do it under a system of convoluted justice penalizing Palestinians twice over for being an Arab in a Jewish state.
In 2007, around 200 Bedouin homes were demolished, compared to much lower numbers in previous years: 23 in 2002, 63 in 2003, 15 in 2005 and 96 in 2006. Most of the homeless are "invisible," the media hardly covers them, Jews are largely uninformed, and planned Negev Judaization assures things will get worse. It's to be a "A Miracle in the Desert" with a clearly defined aim - to populate the area with a half million Jews in the next decade. Plans are for 25 new communities and 100,000 homes on cleared Bedouin land. Unless efforts coalesce to stop them, the human toll will be horrific.
...
Since 2003, the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) denies legal status to Palestinian spouses of Israeli citizens. Israeli Arabs suffer the most as they maintain marriage and family ties with their relatives in the Territories. In May 2006, the High Court rejected petitions opposing the law and determined that it serves an essential security purpose. As a result, although the law is temporary, it's been extended several times, most recently through July 2008.
In addition, the law's scope has been expanded and now prevents family member spouses from Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and other government-designated "enemy states" from getting status. Tougher immigration rules for non-Jews were also in a government-proposed draft bill stipulating that illegal Israeli residents must leave for a multi-year "cooling off" period before being eligible to return. The law is far-reaching on issues of family life; equality for spouses of Israeli citizens and residents; parents of Israeli minors; elderly parents; minor children of Israeli citizens and residents; indigenous Negev Bedouins with no formalized status; asylum-seekers; women victimized by trafficking; and many others.
....
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) publishes annual reports on the state of human rights in Israel and occupied Palestine. ...
...
Ever since the 1994 National Health Insurance Law passed, health services have eroded in violation of its guarantee. The Adva Center advocates for policy changes favoring disadvantaged Israelis. It tallied the damage through last year and found a 44% decline in health service funding with gaps made up for by supplemental insurance. Over 70% of the public have it while the rest rely solely on dwindling national health services that often fail to deliver.
Most disadvantaged Israelis lack supplemental insurance: one-third are age 65 or older; 53% are Israeli Arabs; 42% are Jews of Russian origin; while 11% are from the Hebrew-speaking community. A 2007 Physicians for Human Rights report describes how various population groups are disadvantaged. Those furthest removed from Israel's social center got poorest access. They include: low wage earners; "unrecognized" Negev Bedouins; East Jerusalem Palestinians; Israelis married to Occupied Territory Palestinians; prisoners; Palestinian spouses of Israeli Arabs; migrant workers; refugees and asylum-seekers; and victims of human trafficking. In total, these groups comprise about 1.25 million men and women.
...
Subcontracted employment is a growing trend in Israel, the practice exploits workers, labor laws are violated, and human rights organizations are taking note. On average, subcontract wages are 60% of standard, few or no benefits are gotten, and worker rights are routinely violated. Most common abuses include: wages below minimum, illegal overtime without pay, firings without severance, social benefits withheld, leave time disallowed or no pay while on leave, lower pay because of illegal deductions and fines, and organizing efforts crushed.
...
[Palestinian Israelis] They get no rights afforded Jews even though Israeli Arabs are citizens, have passports and IDs and can vote in Knesset elections. Even so, they're nonpersons, are systematically abused, neglected, and are confined to 2% of the land plus another 1% for agricultural use.
...
They get no rights afforded Jews even though Israeli Arabs are citizens, have passports and IDs and can vote in Knesset elections. Even so, they're nonpersons, are systematically abused, neglected, and are confined to 2% of the land plus another 1% for agricultural use.
...
Existing communities are circumscribed on a map with blue lines around them. Areas inside can be developed. Those outside cannot. Great latitude is shown Jewish communities, so new ones are added. In contrast, Palestinian areas are severely constricted with no allowed room for expansion. Their land was reclassified as agricultural meaning no new construction is allowed. It means entire communities are "unrecognized" and all homes and buildings there are illegal, even the 95% of them built before the 1965 law passed. They're subject to demolition and their inhabitants displaced at Israel's discretion. It's so new land for Jews can be provided with Arab owners helpless to stop it.
As a result, no new Palestinian communities are allowed, and existing "unrecognized villages" are denied essential services like clean drinking water, electricity, roads, transport, sanitation, education, healthcare, postal service, telephone connections, refuse removal and more because under the Planning and Construction Law they're illegal. The toll on people is devastating:
-- clean water is unavailable almost everywhere unless people have access to well water;
-- the few available health services are inadequate;
-- many homes have no bathrooms, and no permits are allowed to build them;
-- only villages with private generators have electricity that's barely enough for lighting;
-- no village is connected to the main road network,
-- some villages are fenced in prohibiting their residents from access to their traditional lands; and
-- education is limited, achievement levels are low, and dropout rates high.
It's worse still when home demolitions are ordered. It may stipulate Palestinians must do it themselves or be fined for contempt of court and face up to a year in prison. They may also have to cover the cost when Israelis do it under a system of convoluted justice penalizing Palestinians twice over for being an Arab in a Jewish state.
In 2007, around 200 Bedouin homes were demolished, compared to much lower numbers in previous years: 23 in 2002, 63 in 2003, 15 in 2005 and 96 in 2006. Most of the homeless are "invisible," the media hardly covers them, Jews are largely uninformed, and planned Negev Judaization assures things will get worse. It's to be a "A Miracle in the Desert" with a clearly defined aim - to populate the area with a half million Jews in the next decade. Plans are for 25 new communities and 100,000 homes on cleared Bedouin land. Unless efforts coalesce to stop them, the human toll will be horrific.
...
Since 2003, the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) denies legal status to Palestinian spouses of Israeli citizens. Israeli Arabs suffer the most as they maintain marriage and family ties with their relatives in the Territories. In May 2006, the High Court rejected petitions opposing the law and determined that it serves an essential security purpose. As a result, although the law is temporary, it's been extended several times, most recently through July 2008.
In addition, the law's scope has been expanded and now prevents family member spouses from Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and other government-designated "enemy states" from getting status. Tougher immigration rules for non-Jews were also in a government-proposed draft bill stipulating that illegal Israeli residents must leave for a multi-year "cooling off" period before being eligible to return. The law is far-reaching on issues of family life; equality for spouses of Israeli citizens and residents; parents of Israeli minors; elderly parents; minor children of Israeli citizens and residents; indigenous Negev Bedouins with no formalized status; asylum-seekers; women victimized by trafficking; and many others.
....
