| nettime's digest on Wed, 10 Apr 2002 09:54:53 +0200 (CEST) |
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| <nettime> Palestina [4x] |
Table of Contents:
Re: <nettime> Palestina [3x]
Florian Cramer <[email protected]>
Re: <nettime> Palestina [3x]
Daniel Kligerman <[email protected]>
FWD: An appeal from Neta Golan from within the compound
Gita Hashemi <[email protected]>
FWD: A Letter to the IDF's Paratrooper Commander
Gita Hashemi <[email protected]>
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 15:54:21 +0200
From: Florian Cramer <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: <nettime> Palestina [3x]
Am Tue, 09.Apr.2002 um 02:58:32 -0400x schrieb Nettime:
> Lev Grinberg (Director of the Humphrey Institute for Social Research
> at Ben Gurion University) sums up the situation: "Suicide bombs
> killing innocent citizens must be unequivocally condemned; they are
> immoral acts, and their perpetrators should be sent to jail. But they
> cannot be compared to State terrorism carried out by the Israeli
> Government. The former are individual acts of despair of a people that
> sees no future, vastly ignored by an unfair and distorted
> international public opinion. The latter are cold and "rational"
> decisions of a State and a military apparatus of occupation, well
> equipped, financed and backed by the only superpower in the world."
How naive can a person be in order to make such a statement? How can
suicide bombings be "individual acts of despair" as opposed to "state
terrorism" when the former are clearly triggered by political-religious
organizations, which in turn are the puppets of Anti-Israeli secret
services and governments, including Arafat and his own "Fatah"
organization? How naive can one be to assume that Anti-Israeli terrorism
would stop if the Westbank would be given to an independent Palestinian
state?
I'm not defending dirty warfare against civilians, but those who simply
put the blame on Israel grossly reduce the complexity of the conflict.
It's just as simplistic as siding with the catholics and the IRA in
Northern Ireland and putting all blame on the unionists and the U.K.
government.
My pessimistic guess is that the Israel-Palestine conflict is as likely to
be resolved as the one in Northern Ireland, which translates into:
probably not in the next few centuries. (And probably not by anyone whose
culture roots in one of the three belief systems which have all their
"origins" and "sacred places" in that region.)
Florian
- --
http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~cantsin/homepage/
http://www.complit.fu-berlin.de/institut/lehrpersonal/cramer.html
GnuPG/PGP public key ID 3200C7BA, finger [email protected]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 11:03:28 -0400
From: Daniel Kligerman <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: <nettime> Palestina [3x]
Dear Nettime,
I feel the messages contained in this posting contain statements that are
blatently biased, false, and hateful. While I understand that opinionated
postings are the purpose of this forum, I do not agree that you should be
spreading hateful or discriminatory material.
That is my opinion, and I thought I would convey it to you.
I have also unsubscribed from nettime-l, as I do not wish
to have any part of a moderated list that feels this type
of post is appropriate.
Sincerely,
Dan Kligerman
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 13:08:48 -0400
From: Gita Hashemi <[email protected]>
Subject: FWD: An appeal from Neta Golan from within the compound
- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Gush Shalom" <[email protected]
To: "List" <[email protected]
Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2002 12:42 PM
Subject: [GushShalomPress] An appeal from Neta Golan from within the
compound
GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - http://www.gush-shalom.org/
[The following article comes from Arafat's compound and was written by
Israeli human shield activist Neta Golan, together with the journalist Ian
Urbina. It is a most powerfull appeal for international intervention. We
found it on http://www.palestinechronicle.com/; it was published
yesterday by Merip (Middle East Research and Information Project).]
=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=
An Israeli View from Arafat's Compound Saturday, April 06 2002 @ 06:51
PM GMT
By Neta Golan and Ian Urbina
=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=
It is not Israeli actions which have surprised the international peace
observers currently holed up within Arafat's presidential compound. It is
the inaction of the international community that most shocks us. Inside
the pock-marked building surrounded by Israeli tanks and snipers, there is
one question on everyone's mind: how many international laws does Israel
need to break before the UN demands a full and immediate withdrawal?
The list of violations is reaching unprecedented levels, even for a
conflict with a long history of ugly behavior on both sides. International
law absolutely forbids the building of the settlements, but 34 new
settlements have been constructed in this year alone. Collective
punishment is illegal. But Israel has now escalated from interrupting food
shipments to completely shutting off water to the Palestinian city of
Ramallah, endangering the lives of 120,000 people. The shelling of
innocuous Palestinian civilian structures such as power plants, schools,
and sewage facilities, is occuring at an alarming rate. Unarmed civilians
are being killed practically on a daily basis.
There are also growing reports of Israeli troops raiding hospitals and
firing on ambulances and journalists. These are grave breaches of
international convention. The recent experience of American newspaper
correspondent, Anthony Shadid, is hardly uncommon. First, he was shot
while in a zone under full Israeli control. The area was quiet and there
was no crossfire in which to be caught. Shadid was wearing the required
signs on his back and front indicating that he was with the official press
as he walked away from an interview in our building. Soon after Shadid
arrived to the hospital, Israeli troops raided it with machine guns drawn.
He was subsequently transferred for further medical treatment, and his
ambulance came under fire by Israeli soldiers manning a checkpoint.
Israel is making a mockery of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the
foundinglegal document of international human rights law, and by its tacit
acceptance, the UN is severely eroding its credibility in the region and
beyond.
Those of us inside the presidential compound need help desperately. But
not half as much as those on the outside who are facing the full brunt of
the mass round-ups and house-to- house raids. The situation can not
deteriorate much further. Medical supplies have run out. Food is scarce.
Pressure from abroad is essential, even when only on a person-by-person
basis. Boycotts and letter writing work. The presence of international
"human shields" throughout the Occupied Territories has been very
important in limiting the indiscriminate nature of Israeli military
actions. But nothing short of a UN demand for a full withdrawal to the
1967 UN recognized borders will succeed in restoring calm and opening the
and the Palestinian refugees. Simply pulling the troops out of the
recently invaded regions will not suffice.
It is not just the Palestinians and foreigners within the compound who
have been calling for a full withdrawal. Even sectors within the Israeli
military have put forward this option as the only chance for peace and
security for the Israeli people. In a formal "Letter of Refusal" to
Sharon, several hundred Israeli soldiers, most with combat experience,
advocated a full withdrawal and have stated their unwillingness to serve
in the West Bank or Gaza Strip.
But Sharon does not want to listen. And in the meantime we in the
compound are left, not without fear, wondering whether the international
community will allow the permanent expansion of the already illegal
occupation and the exile if not assasination of the Palestinian leader.
Neta Golan, an Israeli, is among the 40 international peace observers
occupying Arafat's besieged office. Ian Urbina is Associate Editor of
Middle East Report, a foreign policy magazine in Washington DC. This
article was first published by the Middle East Research and Information
Project (MERIP)
----
NB: Full transcript of the war crimes panel available on the Gush site
For Hebrew http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/forum.html
For English http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/forum_eng.html
French available at request.
Also on the site:
photo's - of action or otherwise informative
the weekly Gush Shalom ad - in Hebrew and English
the columns of Uri Avnery - in Hebrew, Arab and English
(and a lot more)
http://www.gush-shalom.org
If you got this forwarded, and would like to receive our emails directly
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- --
We must organize against the seige of Palestinian people by the
Israeli army. Our silence implicates us in the genocide.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 15:13:32 -0400
From: Gita Hashemi <[email protected]>
Subject: FWD: A Letter to the IDF's Paratrooper Commander
From counterpunch.org.
- ----------------------------
April 8, 2002
A Letter to the IDF's Paratrooper Commander
Colonel Aviv Kohavi, How Did You Become a War Criminal?
By Dr. Neve Gordon To Colonel Aviv Kohavi Brigade Commander of the Israeli
Defense Forces Paratroopers I presume you remember me. In any event, I
remember you. We first met in the paratrooper brigade. I was a platoon
sergeant in the corporals company; you were a young platoon officer. Even
then friends of mine who were serving with you in the same post in Lebanon
related that you were a sensible, serious, and above all decent officer.
The better part of our acquaintance occurred, though, at Hebrew
University. We were studying towards our B.A. in Philosophy--you in
preparation for a career in the military, I as a human rights activist.
During that period we had more than one political discussion. I couldn't
help but admire you. I found you to be a thinking person, imaginative, and
judicious--quite different from the typical army officer that one meets at
the university, one who registers merely to snatch a degree and to run
off. Looking back, I believe that you really enjoyed your studies, a
number of which, it should be noted, dealt with ethical theory. Years have
passed since we last met. You became the paratroopers' brigade commander,
I a lecturer in the department of politics and government at Ben Gurion
University. On Thursday, March 1, 2002 I once again saw you, not face to
face, but on television. You were on the news program: the commander of
the troops that entered Balata refugee camp, near Nablus. You solemnly
explained that at that very moment your soldiers were transmitting a
forceful message to the Palestinian terrorists: the Israeli army will hunt
them down in every nook and cranny. In the days after the interview, news
began to trickle about what took place in the camp: prior to the incursion
the Israeli military reigned terror on the inhabitants employing
helicopters and tanks; then, Aviv, you imposed a curfew on the camp, blew
up the electric transmission lines, cutting off electricity to 20,000
civilian inhabitants; bulldozers ruined the water supply pipe lines. Your
soldiers, Aviv, then moved from house to house by smashing holes in the
interior walls; they destroyed furniture and other property, and riddled
bullets in water tanks on roof tops. The soldiers spread terror on the
inhabitants, most of whom were women, elderly, and children. But that
wasn't all. I learned that your soldiers also used inhabitants as human
shields. Also, in the first few hours of the incursion the Palestinians
had 120 wounded, and that you, Aviv, refused to allow ambulances to enter
and leave the camp. There were, of course, several battles in the camp
during the incursion; two Palestinians and one of your soldiers were
killed. You also reported that you confiscated weapons and that your
operation prevented future terrorist acts from happening. But you totally
ignored the connection between Israeli military violence perpetrated in
the Occupied Territories and Palestinian violence in Israel, as if the
incursions into the camps and the reign of terror that you and your
soldiers imposed do not drive Israel/Palestine into a blood bath from
which none can escape. How, Aviv, do you think that your incursion
affected the children whom you locked up for hours with other members of
their families, while you searched their house and blasted holes through
their walls? Did your incursion contribute a smithereen to peace, or did
it instead spread seeds of hatred, despondence, and death in the crowded,
poverty stricken, hopeless refugee camp? I have not stopped thinking about
you since that television interview, trying to understand what was going
on in your mind. What caused you to lead your soldiers --soldiers of the
paratrooper brigade -- to a war against a civilian population? Aviv, I am
presently teaching a course entitled "The Politics of Human Rights." One
of the topics I discuss during the semester is the intifada and its
lessons with respect to human rights. From the standpoint of international
conventions, at least, your acts in Balata constitute blatant violations
of human rights. Such acts are, in fact, war crimes. Aviv, what happened
to the sensible and judicious officer? How did you become a war criminal?
Dr. Neve Gordon Department of Political Science Ben-Gurion University Beer
Sheva, Israel - -- ======
We must organize against the seige of Palestinian people by the
Israeli army. Our silence implicates us in the genocide.
------------------------------
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