EGYPT! - The Uprising.

The uprising in Egypt has caught most - if not all - of us by surprise.

The material provided below should give a glimpse into events on the ground; some analysis regarding who the participants are; the US role in the propping up of the Mubarak regime, and further resources and links for the reader to consult.

First, a deeply moving youtube piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hBV0ApIh_4&feature=player_embedded#
I thins it's important to get clued into the emotional significance of the unfolding events, and this piece does an especially good job at conveying this.

Next, links to two pieces by Joel Beinin. The first provides a short history of US-Egypt relations, and the second elaborates on Obama's position, so far, in regards to the the ongoing events in Egypt:
http://www.salon.com/news/egyptian_protests/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/01/29/egypt_america_alliance
http://www.salon.com/news/egyptian_protests/?story=%2Fpolitics%2Fwar_room%2F2011%2F01%2F30%2Fobama_military_aid

We received permission to post an email from Shana Minkin, a professor of Middle East history at Swarthmore College. Shana wrote the email to family and friends the day before yesterday. Since she wrote it, a number of things have changed, including: opposition groups including the Muslim Brotherhood have come together in support of Mohamed El Baradei as the leader of a transition government; protests have spread to the south of Egypt; there have been reports of prison breaks, some of which suggest that political prisoners are being released (members of the Muslim Brotherhood) and others that the regime is opening up the prisons to generate chaos, so that people think their only choice is between chaos or Mubarak's iron fist; there's been looting, and reports suggest that a lot (most?) of it has been done by the thugs (the baltagiah, literally "thugs" who are plainclothes police) - again, so that people think that their choice is either chaos (looting and lawlessness) or Mub
arak,
and
people have organized neighborhood patrols in response; the US continues to equivocate; and the protests are just getting stronger. Air force jets flew over Tahrir Square today, but Al Jazeera reports that hundreds of thousands of people are still out protesting.

In a situation that will undoubtedly continue to change, we think this email is very useful in providing historical and political context for the revolution we're witnessing.

Racheli Gai.

Shana Minkin writes:

Many of you have asked me for some of my thoughts about Egypt. I am going to address a few things here – and would be happy to answer specific questions – and attach a few links. There is much more where this is coming from, but I didn't want to overwhelm with too many articles. For any of you on facebook, I have been purposefully filling my facebook page with articles and photos (and some videos) about Egypt. If you can't read everything I've piled on here, I would recommend you at least read some of the overviews of the situation from the newspaper of your choice – and that you read the Merip piece about the US administration. It is an incredibly important piece of journalism for understanding our role as American citizens (those of us who are).

So, a few of my thoughts: The Egyptian people have been under a state of emergency law for 30 years now, with increasing oppression and decreasing quality of life. The state is complete chaos and a completely unreliable and random bureaucracy. A good, if very old, movie about how Egypt functions is called "Terrorism and Kabab." The Mugamma, or government building, in this movie is on Midan Tahrir, or Liberation Square, which has been the focal point of so many of the protests.

Several factors have led up to these protests. The terrible conditions have been around – and deteriorating – for years, but this past year has marked some major events.

1. The killing of Khaled Said. The police killed Khaled Said in June 2010. (See http://www.arabist.net/blog/2010/6/14/the-murder-of-khaled-said.html for more information - the Arabist is also a good blog in general about what is going on). He was beaten to death in Alexandria when police tried to extort him and he refused (or had no money). The police then tried to paint him as a drug user/dealer at various moments.
2. The spectacularly corrupt elections in December. The regime didn't even try to pretend these weren't rigged. See http://www.merip.org/mero/mero122910.html.
3. The new years eve bombing in Alexandria. There has been increasing sectarian violence in Egypt in the last year, and the government refuses to recognize it as such. Instead the government claims its al-Qaeda working in Egypt. See http://www.merip.org/mero/mero011111.html. It is worth noting that following these bombings, many Muslims went to surround churches on Coptic Christmas a few days later. And unconfirmed reports had Coptic Christians surrounding Muslims at prayer yesterday in the same sign of solidarity. Who knows what will come of sectarian relations should the revolution succeed???
4. Tunisia. Tunisia is an inspiration, undoubtedly.

The protests began on January 25, or National Police Day. The Great Cairo Fire was Jan 26, 1952, but the National Police Day was set the day before. The fire is seen as one of the first steps leading to the ousting of the King and the British in 1952 and thus a worthy celebration. The protest of the police is particularly poignant because the police are the regime's internal army. There is a strict split between the police and the army, with the army focused on external only. The police, on the other hand, are known to be especially brutal and nasty towards Egyptian citizens. They are the ones who torture political dissidents and others, who are the general on-the-street repressors. No one in Egypt goes to a police for anything – I never even asked a police for directions; it was known the police would leer at you and wouldn't protect you. Also, a note: there is within the police the battalion of thugs – literally, their name means thugs in Arabic. They are the plai
n
clothes
police who travel with batons and spiked sticks and who are responsible for general mayhem in a way that the regular police don't want to be connected to – it was the Thugs who molested several women during the round of democracy protests in 2005. They would corner women protesters, rip off their clothes, fondle them, and then announce to everyone that these women were now "used sluts." A very close friend of mine was one of the women fondled and later interviewed on CNN. You can probably find it archived if you're interested. Point is, the Thugs have been around for years, doing the things that allow the regime to claim a need for emergency law.

But you don't need to go that far back to see what the thugs do. Many reports on the ground currently claim that the thugs are setting fires to cars, looting, and causing general mayhem, allowing the regime to blame it on the protesters. See this blog for some details: http://inanities.org/.

Another note about the protesters – these are NOT the Islamists. They are not the Brotherhood. They are representative of all the people of Egypt. Or, I should say, the people of Northern Egypt. For some reason – and I neither know why nor have I found anyone writing about it – the protests haven't spread south. It is a leaderless protest for the most part – meaning there are some natural leaders of the opposition, such as el-Baradei. But el-Baradei smartly said, when he returned Thursday, that he was there as an ordinary citizen and not to lead. Ayman Nour, the last prominent opponent of Mubarak's (see articles about the 2005 elections – www.merip.org is a good place to start) was smashed in the back of his head yesterday and is in the hospital in critical condition. No one knows his update. See also a really interesting article that just came out about why this is NOT an Islamic revolution:
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/guest_bloggers/4133/4_reasons_why_egypt's_revolution_is_not_islamic/.

Returning to the protesters, equating them with the regime's violence is wrong and dangerous. It allows for a continuation of the notion of Arabs as violent and irrational. The protests have been for the most part violence-free and the protesters are loudly chanting that they are there for peaceful purposes. Equating the regime and the protests is one of many mistakes – serious, dangerous mistakes in my opinion – of the American government. See the analysis I've attached below for more information. It is worth noting that during the burning of the National Democratic Party headquarters threatened the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities last night, throngs of Egyptians protected it, putting their bodies between the museum and fires and the museum and would-be looters.

Speaking of the Brotherhood, although they joined Friday, they are clearly NOT in charge. Their chants weren't heard, 350 of their leadership was arrested before the protests began. They are the best-organized opposition, but they aren't the only one. And they certainly are but a fraction of what we see going on in the streets. I don't believe that they will be able to simply take over Egypt in the event of a vacuum – for starters; they have no relationship with the military. But I also don't believe they are an ultimate evil. (Merip also has a series of wonderful articles on the Brotherhood by Samer Shahata and Joshua Stacher dating from a few years back – again, itswww.merip.org).

The latest news, by the way, as of 8am EST is that some of the police have entered the political prisons where the Brotherhood leaders are being held and have started to shoot randomly. Its thought that between 40-70 are dead, but this is unconfirmed.

And speaking of the US, I believe that our government is on the side of wrong here. Standing with the regime delegitimizes anything America may want from the Arab world in the future and further delegitimizes America in the eyes of many Arab citizens. Telling the protesters that they have a fundamental right to twitter – and that they have the fundamental right to twitter complaints about their dictator – is not an answer from our administration. We don't know what's going on behind the scenes, of course, but perception is a large part of any political battle – and the Obama administration has certainly lost the perception battle in this one. See the merip article attached below for more on this. However, it is worth noting that Marc Lynch, a preeminent analyst at Foreign Policy, thinks the administration is doing a great job on the policy/governance/government level. You can read his latest analysis, "Obama's handling Egypt Pretty Well," at
http://lynch.foreignpolicy.com/.

A note about Israel, as well - the assumption that keeping 80 million people under a "state of emergency" with no civil or political rights for 30 years will keep Israel safer suggests that some people are less equal, or less human. It may be rationalized as a harsh realist stance, but it is a counterproductive one. Not only do I politically disagree, but also I think it's an untenable solution. Those who approach the Middle East from the point of view of what's good for Israel should be focused on democracy and freedom for all peoples. And this is not a revolt about Israel. It's about Egypt alone.

As of now, reports have at least 50,000 people in Midan Tahrir. There are still protests in Alexandria, Suez and several other cities despite a 4pm curfew (9am EST) throughout the country. The business leadership (whatever that means) has left the country on private jets. Gamal Mubarak's closest confidante has quit the National Democratic Party. Mubarak's shallow, arrogant, irrelevant offer to force a puppet government to resign and replace it with a new puppet government has been rejected by all but the US administration (publicly – again, who knows what is happening privately). People apparently literally laughed at it – well, Egyptians have always been known for their sense of humor! (Joke that went around yesterday: Why was the speech by Mubarak so delayed? He sent an aide out for more black hair dye and the aide joined the protests). Omar Suleiman is the new Vice President but is thought of as a regime man. Ahmed Shafiq is the new Prime Minister. We haven't see
n the
end
of this one; that was just the end of the beginning of this revolution in my estimation.

So I hope this helps. I have written this quickly and apologize for any ambiguity or unanswered questions – please let me know if you have any more questions or what your thoughts/reactions to Egypt are. Unfortunately I can't spend another day watching only al-Jazeera and twitter as I have to get some other work done (lectures about the Ottoman Empire unfortunately don't write themselves), but I will try to get back to you asap.

I want to leave by saying that I am so incredibly proud of the courageous people of Egypt. I don't think it's easy for us as Americans to understand protests like this – our lives have simply been too cushy and lucky from the get-go. I am exhilarated and scared, wanting to cry with joy and throw up with fear. I have been calling and emailing my representative, senators, the President and Secretary Clinton repeatedly. I hope you will, too.

White House: 202-456-1111 (whitehouse.gov – click "contact us")
Secretary of State: 202-647-4000

Overviews of Jan 28th:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/28/AR2011012806404.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/robert-fisk-a-people-defies-its-dictator-and-a-nations-future-is-in-the-balance-2197769.html

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/28/egypt-revolution-inside-a-cairo-street-protest.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/ (The Guardian has been amazing. See the audio from their correspondent, Jack Shenker, from Jan 25th. Shenker was arrested and beaten and managed to get most of the long ride in the police van and subsequent escape on his Dictaphone.)

And of course www.nytimes.com - (the NYTimes has been very good as well, considering. Look for articles with either a byline or reporting by Liam Stack). I happen to especially like this one:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/world/middleeast/29alexandria.html (I appreciate the father's explanation of why he is protesting).

About the army:
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/494/why-mubarak-won't-go

Very important piece about the administration:
http://www.merip.org/mero/mero012911.html

Another good commentary on Biden:
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/01/27/biden_on_mubarak_i_would_not_refer_to_him_as_a_dictator?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d422618e6fba16b%2C0
And speaking of Foreign Policy, I would watch for commentaries from Blake Hounshell and Marc Lynch. Both are very good.

Photographs of Jan 28th:
http://blogs.sacbee.com/photos/2011/01/rioting-and-chaos-engulfs-egyp.html#mi_rss=The%20Frame%23storylink=scinlineshare

Videos of Jan 25th and 28th:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHBzdLSneDc (the boy is yelling a very popular chant – one that I have heard countless times – which rhymes in Arabic and translates to: Freedom, Freedom, Where are you? Where are you? Hosni Mubarak is between you and me)

http://www.euronews.net/2011/01/25/from-tiananmen-square-to-cairo/ This has been called the Tiananmen Square moment – men taking the water cannon for themselves to try to stop the truck. It's from Jan 25th.

Finally, for the best continual coverage, try Al Jazeera English live on line. No one can touch them on this one – this is their moment in news-speak.

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Jewish Peace News editors:
Joel Beinin
Racheli Gai
Rela Mazali
Sarah Anne Minkin
Ofer Neiman
Lincoln Z. Shlensky
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Alistair Welchman
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Jewish Peace News archive and blog: http://jewishpeacenews.blogspot.com
------------
Jewish Peace News sends its news clippings only to subscribers. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or manage your subscription, go to http://www.jewishpeacenews.net

Ali Abunimah: A dangerous shift on 1967 lines / english.aljazeera.net

This is an article of major importance. Ali Abunimah has been given access to the "Palestine Papers" - a trove of documents
Al Jazeera has gotten hold of by way of a leak. In this piece he examines and analyses the way the US position in regards to the 1967 border
has shifted in an ominous way under the leadership of Obama.

By effectively repudiating the Road Map "which has formed the basis of the "peace process" since 2003", writes Abunimah, the US under Obama "has backed away even from commitments made by the George W. Bush administration, and blown an irreparable hole in the already threadbare "two state solution".
The article demonstrates US refusal to stand by the international consensus regarding the 1967 border, and thereby opens the door to Israel's less-than-hidden ambitions to re-draw the border in such a way that many of its own Palestinian citizens will find themselves removed to "Palestine", so that Israel can keep its mission of creating an ethnically pure "Jewish State". Needless to say, the subjects of this ethnic cleansing are not to be consulted in the matter.

Abunimah concludes by saying: "This is not only catastrophic for Palestinian rights and the prospects for justice, but represents a return to nineteenth century notions, banished in the wake of two world wars, that population groups can be traded between states without their consent as if they were mere pieces on a chess board."

Racheli Gai.

http://english.aljazeera.net/palestinepapers/2011/01/201112411450358613.html

The Palestine Papers

Ali Abunimah: A dangerous shift on 1967 lines.

One of the more astonishing revelations in The Palestine Papers -- detailed records and minutes of the Middle East peace process leaked to Al Jazeera -- is that the administration of US President Barack Obama effectively repudiated the Road Map, which has formed the basis of the "peace process" since 2003. In doing so it has backed away even from commitments made by the George W. Bush administration and blown an irreparable hole in the already threadbare "two-state solution."

But even worse, the US position perhaps unwittingly opens the door to dangerous Israeli ambitions to transfer -- or ethnically cleanse -- non-Jewish Palestinian citizens of Israel in order to create an ethnically pure "Jewish state."

Shortly after it took office in January 2009, the Obama administration publicly called on Israel to freeze all settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. After months of grueling shuttle diplomacy by US envoy George Mitchell, Obama eventually made do with an Israeli promise of a ten-month partial settlement moratorium excluding Jerusalem.

While those talks were ongoing, frustrated Palestinian negotiators tried repeatedly to wrestle a commitment from Mitchell that the terms of reference for US-brokered peace negotiations that were to begin once the settlement moratorium was in place would be for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 line with minor, agreed land swaps between the Israeli and Palestinian sides. This, the Palestinians argued, was the position the Bush administration had endorsed and was contained in the Road Map peace plan adopted by the Quartet (US, EU, Russia and the UN) in 2003.

But in apparently contentious meetings between Mitchell and Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and their respective teams in September and October 2009 -- whose detailed contents have been revealed for the first time -- Mitchell claimed the Bush administration position was nonbinding. He pressed the Palestinians to accept terms of reference that acquiesced to Israel's refusal to recognize the 1967 line which separates Israel as it was established in 1948 from the West Bank and Gaza Strip where Palestinians hoped to have their state.

Dropping the 1967 border

On 23 September 2009, Obama told the UN General Assembly that his goal was for "Two states living side by side in peace and security -- a Jewish state of Israel, with true security for all Israelis; and a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967, and realizes the potential of the Palestinian people."

Related

Expelling Israel's Arabs, without their consent

In 2008, Israeli negotiators - including then-foreign minister Tzipi Livni - proposed "swapping" some of Israel's Arab villages into a future Palestinian state, even though a vast majority of Israeli Arabs oppose such a plan.

But this did not satisfy the Palestinians. The next day during a meeting at the US Mission to the United Nations in New York, Erekat refused an American request to adopt Obama's speech as the terms of reference for negotiations. Erekat asked Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Hale why the Obama administration would not explicitly state that the intended outcome of negotiations would be a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with a third party security role and a staged Israeli withdrawal. Hale responded, "You ask why? How would it help you if we state something so specific and then not be able to deliver?" according to Palestinian minutes of the meeting.

At the same meeting, which Mitchell himself later joined, Erekat challenged the US envoy on how Obama could publicly endorse Israel as a "Jewish state" but not commit to the 1967 borders. Mitchell, according to the minutes, told Erekat "You can't negotiate detailed ToRs [terms of reference for the negotiations]" so the Palestinians might as well be "positive" and proceed directly to negotiations. Erekat viewed Mitchell's position as a US abandonment of the Road Map.

On 2 October 2009 Mitchell met with Erekat at the State Department and again attempted to persuade the Palestinian team to return to negotiations. Despite Erekat's entreaties that the US should stand by its earlier positions, Mitchell responded, "If you think Obama will force the option you've described, you are seriously misreading him. I am begging you to take this opportunity."

Erekat replied, according to the minutes, "All I ask is to say two states on 67 border with agreed modifications. This protects me against Israeli greed and land grab – it allows Israel to keep some realities on the ground" (a reference to Palestinian willingness to allow Israel to annex some West Bank settlements as part of minor land swaps). Erekat argued that this position had been explicitly endorsed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice under the Bush administration.

"Again I tell you that President Obama does not accept prior decisions by Bush. Don't use this because it can hurt you. Countries are bound by agreements – not discussions or statements," Mitchell reportedly said.

The US envoy was firm that if the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not agree to language in the terms of reference the US would not try to force it. Yet Mitchell continued to pressure the Palestinian side to adopt formulas the Palestinians feared would give Israel leeway to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank without providing any compensation.

At a critical 21 October 2009 meeting, Mitchell read out proposed language for terms of reference:

"The US believes that through good faith negotiations the parties can mutually agree on an outcome that achieves both the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state encompassing all the territory occupied in 1967 or its equivalent in value, and the Israeli goal of secure and recognized borders that reflect subsequent developments and meets Israeli security requirements."

Erekat's response was blunt: "So no Road Map?" The implication of the words "or equivalent in value" is that the US would only commit to Palestinians receiving a specific amount of territory -- 6258 square kilometers, or the equivalent area of the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- but not to any specific borders.

"Two states for two peoples"

This is an earthquake. It not only up-ends the two-state solution as it is conventionally understood, but opens the door to possible future American acceptance of Israeli aspirations to create an ethnically-pure Jewish state by "exchanging" territories where many of Israel's 1.4 million Palestinian citizens are concentrated. This would be a violation of these Palestinians' most fundamental rights and a repudiation of the universally-accepted self-determination principles established at the Versailles Conference after World War I. It potentially replaces the two-state solution with what Israeli officials call the "two states for two peoples solution."

Then Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni elaborated what this would look like during a November 13, 2007 negotiating session with Palestinian officials, confidential minutes of which were also revealed among The Palestine Papers:

"Our idea is to refer to two states for two peoples. Or two nation states, Palestine and Israel living side by side in peace and security with each state constituting the homeland for its people and the fulfillment of their national aspirations and self determination."

Livni stressed, "Israel [is] the state of the Jewish people -- and I would like to emphasize the meaning of 'its people' is the Jewish people -- with Jerusalem the united and undivided capital of Israel and of the Jewish people for 3007 years."

Livni thus makes clear that only Jews are guaranteed citizenship in Israel and that Palestinian citizens do not really belong even though they are natives who have lived on the land since before Israel existed. It negates Palestinian refugee rights and raises the spectre of the expulsion or "exchange" of Palestinians already in the country. Yet Livni's troubling statement appears to reflect more than just her personal opinion.

A 29 October 2008 internal Palestinian memorandum titled "Progress Report on Territory Negotiations" states that Palestinian negotiators rejected the notion that Palestinians could be included in land swaps. But, according to the document, "the Israelis continued to raise the prospect of including Palestinian citizens of Israel" in such swaps, during negotiations between Palestinian officials and the government of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

In September last year, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman presented a plan the UN General Assembly in which Israel would keep West Bank settlements and cede to a future Palestinian state some lands with highly concentrated populations of non-Jewish citizens. "A final agreement between Israel and the Palestinians," Lieberman said, "has to be based on a program of exchange of territory and populations."

While Lieberman heads the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, and Livni the Kadima opposition (often inaccurately perceived as more "moderate" than Israel's current government), the two politicians' views are symptomatic of increasingly overt racism within Israeli society.

The Obama administration's failure to press Israel to accept the international consensus that the Palestinian state would be established on all the territories Israel occupied in 1967, except for minor adjustments, dooms the two-state solution. It may well be that a US administration that came to office promising unparalleled efforts to bring peace, ends up clearing the path for Lieberman's and Livni's abhorrent ideas to enter the mainstream.

This is not only catastrophic for Palestinian rights and the prospects for justice, but represents a return to nineteenth century notions, banished in the wake of two world wars, that population groups can be traded between states without their consent as if they were mere pieces on a chess board.

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Jewish Peace News editors:
Joel Beinin
Racheli Gai
Rela Mazali
Sarah Anne Minkin
Ofer Neiman
Lincoln Z. Shlensky
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Alistair Welchman
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Jewish Peace News archive and blog: http://jewishpeacenews.blogspot.com
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Jewish Peace News sends its news clippings only to subscribers. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or manage your subscription, go to http://www.jewishpeacenews.net

What Lies Beneath - Israeli Civics Teachers Ring the Alarm

As most of the readers probably know, a large group of Israel Rabbis, civil servants serving as senior Rabbis of various cities across the state, has recently issued an edict against renting homes to Arabs. The Rabbis remain in office, and the Israeli Attorney General is still "examining" the case, as if there is much to investigate.

Beneath this very salient tip of the iceberg, there lies the iceberg itself. From time to time, one is able to gauge its size. The following report provides a sneak preview of the future Jewish-Israeli collective mindset, and the calamities it may produce.

Are Israeli decision makers alarmed by the findings? Not really, according to their reactions, or lack thereof. After all, these youths will make excellent, obedient soldiers.

Independent young minds will always be found among Israel's youth, but most of these youths are not expected to defy their government's apartheid and occupation policies any time soon.

What shall one do? Along with attempting to introduce alternative ideas to the rotten fruit that Israel's official and parental(!) education systems bear, one is driven to the conclusion that only pressure from the outside can force the majority of the Jewish-Israeli public to take a look in the mirror and see the beast.

Ofer Neiman

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4015645,00.html

Tomer Velmer: Student's answer on civics test: Death to Arabs
January 19, 2011

Teachers tell Ynet of hatred and racism spreading among students, which has turned classrooms into battlefields. 'Teachers skip controversial chapters to avoid disruption,' says Myriam Darmoni, head of civics faculty at CET

Three weeks after the publication of a petition calling on Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar to take action against racism spreading within schools and the general public, teachers told Ynet about the harsh reality they are forced to face daily.
State of Education
School principal prohibits students from speaking Arabic / Hassan Shaalan
Dozens of Jaffa residents protest outside integrated school attended both by Arab, Jewish students. 'I dare you to prohibit Lieberman from speaking Russian at the Knesset,' city councilman says
Full Story

In one case, a 12th grade student of a northern Israeli school wrote "Death to the Arabs" on a test in civics class. In another case, a high school student from Tel Aviv stood up during class, and to the horror of his teacher declared that his dream is to volunteer for the Border Guard, "so that I can spray Arabs to death." His friends welcomed the announcement with applause.

Moreover, civics teachers around the country have been finding graffiti on the walls of their classrooms, bearing slogans ranging from "Kahane was right" to "A good Arab is a dead Arab." Other statements incite against the ultra-Orthodox sector and against refugees.

'Political discourse to blame for incitement'
According to an Education Ministry source, the recent incidents reflect an escalation in racism among Israeli students. He primarily blamed politicians for encouraging hatred.

"We're not talking about a minority, or children from families that have extreme political views, but about normal children who are afflicted with ignorance," he said. "The political discourse in recent years has given them the legitimacy to be prejudiced."

The source also noted that the student who wrote "Death to Arabs" on his test is an honors student who is proficient in the material – a fact that raises a red flag.

He said the school in question dealt with the student in an uncompromising manner and the student did express deep regret for his actions. Regardless, the source asserted that it was not just an isolated practical joke but a trend widespread among Israel's youth.

A civics teacher from central Israel said she is constantly faced with racism emanating from the behavior of her pupils.

"When we have a discussion in class about equal rights, the class immediately gets out of control," she said. "The students attack us, the teachers, for being leftist and anti-Semitic, and say that all the Arab citizens who want to destroy Israel should be transferred."

She noted that expressions of hatred increase especially when she discusses the Kfar Kassem massacre, namely the significance of the "Clearly Illegal Order," a military command that is expressly against the law and should not be obeyed.

"It's very sad, but the students justify the massacre and say, 'A good Arab is a dead Arab,'" she said. "Often students who want to speak on behalf of human rights are either scared to do it because of the reactions of their friends, or apologetically clarify they don't like Arabs."

'We must raise generation free of hatred'
Myriam Darmoni-Sharvit, who heads the civics faculty at the Center for Educational Technology, often hears her colleagues complaining that the situation in the classrooms has become unbearable.

"The teachers are truly despaired, they are exhausted, and some of them feel that mentally, dealing with the students is difficult," she said. "When they are in the classroom, they feel like they are in a battlefield, which is why they often act to 'survive' and choose to skip chapters or teach the material through dry dictation in order to keep the calm."

The Education Ministry said in response that teachers should convey to the students the difference between a disagreement or a dispute and between hatred, stereotyping and the deligitimization of humanity.

The ministry also stressed that the education system's goal is "to raise a generation free of racist attitudes, which is able to manage social tension and disagreement in a manner that respects the values of Judaism and democracy, on which our State is founded."

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Jewish Peace News editors:
Joel Beinin
Racheli Gai
Rela Mazali
Sarah Anne Minkin
Ofer Neiman
Lincoln Z. Shlensky
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Alistair Welchman
------------
Jewish Peace News archive and blog: http://jewishpeacenews.blogspot.com
------------
Jewish Peace News sends its news clippings only to subscribers. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or manage your subscription, go to http://www.jewishpeacenews.net

Israel's witch-hunt against leftist organizations

Numerous public figures and organizations -- from leftists and liberals in Israel and the US, to centrist journalists and mainstream Jewish Diaspora organizations -- have sharply condemned the Israeli Knesset's January 5th decision, passed by a lopsided 47-16 margin of lawmakers, to investigate the funding sources of Israeli leftist organizations. Many of the following commentaries (links below) discuss the bill's alarming ramifications for Israeli democracy, even if the planned parliamentary committee never actually conducts the threatened "investigation." Some see this as a disgraceful Israeli equivalent to the infamous anti-communist investigations of the US House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s and its proceedings against political activists in the 1960s.

Among the views of these commentators: veteran Israeli political activist Uri Avnery points out that many senior figures in the Netanyahu government, including the Prime Minister himself, cravenly absented themselves from the vote. Blogger Mitchell Plitnick, formerly of JPN, argues that the vote is one more sign that extreme-rightist politician Avigdor Lieberman is quickly becoming the gravitational center of Israeli political discourse. Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, one of the targets of the bill, points out that the organization's funding sources are already transparent, so the bill's actual aims have nothing to do with its stated intentions. A number of the commentaries denouncing the bill have pointed out that pro-settlement organizations are funded much more lavishly than Israeli human rights groups by American donors -- in apparent contravention of US tax laws regarding charitable donations to organizations that contravene US political policies. And Israeli blogger-journalist Rechavia Berman issues perhaps the sharpest jeremiad against the deterioration of Israeli democracy and human rights discourse that the bill signals, declaring that he cannot be faithful to a state that so brazenly trammels civil and human rights.

Israeli journalist and activist Roi Maor, in an analysis of the bill, offers one unexpected note of optimism: if the Israeli government is so bent on bullying leftist organizations, jailing non-violent activists (such as Jonathan Pollack), and obfuscating its clear responsibility in the killing of innocents (such as Bil'in activist Jawaher Abu Rahma), then it must feel itself deeply threatened -- a sign that rights-activism is having its effect and must be increased.

Ofer Neiman, who recently came aboard JPN as an editor, articulates another perspective: "Many Israeli human rights activists agree that if and when the State of Israel decides to turn on its 'blue-eyed' dissidents, western public opinion will become more open to calls (emanating from Palestinian civil society as well as from Israeli and international groups) to step-up the boycott, divestment and sanctions efforts against the Israeli economy and Israeli institutions."

Boycott, divestment and sanctions efforts are undeniably appearing with vigor in unexpected places, such as the halls of Israeli academe, as Haaretz recently reported <http://bit.ly/hQphX7>, where 155 university and college faculty members have signed a petition calling for an academic boycott of Ariel University, a newly established institution in the Israeli settlement of Ariel.

Commentators such as Plitnick have suggested, in turn, that European sanctions against Israeli settlement activity could be a convenient vehicle for the US administration to exert pressure on Israel indirectly without running afoul of American domestic political realities <http://bit.ly/hf5zX3>. The Obama administration, as Plitnick and others point out, can send a strong signal simply by not blocking international efforts to nudge the Israelis into a peace agreement -- by, for example, not vetoing a soon-to-be-proposed UN Security Council resolution declaring Israeli settlements illegal. As in other cases where states drag out an occupation due to entrenched interests -- Indonesia's former occupation of East Timor comes to mind -- international pressure can be at once legitimate and useful.

--Lincoln Z. Shlensky


Links to commentaries on the Knesset's recent vote to investigate leftist organizations that have been critical of the government and military:

B'Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights: "The Knesset's decision is what harms Israel's international status"
http://www.btselem.org/English/Press_Releases/20110105b.asp

Mitchell Plitnick: "Is Lieberman the New Israeli Mainstream?"
http://mitchellplitnick.com/2011/01/08/is-lieberman-the-new-israeli-mainstream/

Roi Maor: "Knesset Committee on un-Israeli activities"
http://972mag.com/knesset-committee-on-un-israeli-activities/

Rechavia Berman: "To such an Israel I shall be a traitor"
http://972mag.com/to-such-an-israel-i-shall-be-a-traitor/

The American Jewish Committee: "AJC Urges Knesset to Reconsider Measure"
http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=2818289&ct=8995985&notoc=1

Uri Avnery: "Hi, Joe [McCarthy]!"
http://www.avnery-news.co.il/english/index.html

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Jewish Peace News editors:
Joel Beinin
Racheli Gai
Rela Mazali
Sarah Anne Minkin
Ofer Neiman
Lincoln Z. Shlensky
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Alistair Welchman
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Jewish Peace News archive and blog: http://jewishpeacenews.blogspot.com
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Jewish Peace News sends its news clippings only to subscribers. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or manage your subscription, go to http://www.jewishpeacenews.net

Richard Falk: Hopes of Gaza cast in lead/english.eljazeera.net

As we commemorate two years since the deadly attacks on Gaza known as "Operation Cast Lead" has taken place, there are growing warnings of "a new massive attack on the beleaguered people of Gaza": "It's not a question of if, but rather when", an undisclosed senior Israeli military officer shared with Ron Ben-Yishai.
Unfortunately, is seems that only international civil society seems to care.

Racheli Gai.

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/01/2011147844745636.html

Israel is gearing up for another major offensive into Gaza, yet the world community still remains bafflingly silent.

Richard Falk: Hopes of Gaza Cast in Lead

It is mainly through civil society acts of defiance, like the Mavi Marmara and the Freedom Flotilla, that offer the appropriate responses to the injustices occurring in Gaza [EPA]
It is dismaying that during this dark anniversary period two years after the launch of the deadly attacks on the people of Gaza - code-named Operation Cast Lead by the Israelis - that there should be warnings of a new massive attack on the beleaguered people of Gaza.

The influential Israeli journalist, Ron Ren-Yishai, writes on December 29, 2010, of the likely prospect of a new major IDF attack, quoting senior Israeli military officers as saying "It's not a question of if, but rather of when," a view that that is shared, according to Ren-Yishai, by "government ministers, Knesset members and municipal heads in the Gaza region".

The bloody-minded Israeli Chief of Staff, Lt. General Gabi Ashkenazi, reinforces this expectation by his recent assertion that, "as long as Gilad Shalit is still in captivity, the mission is not complete". He adds with unconscious irony, "we have not lost our right of self-defence".

More accurate would be the assertion, "we have not given up our right to wage aggressive war or to commit crimes against humanity".

And what of the more than 10,000 Palestinians, including children under the age of 10, being held in Israeli prisons throughout occupied Palestine?

Red herrings

Against this background, the escalation of violence along the Gaza/Israel border should set off alarm bells around the world and at the United Nations.

Israel in recent days has been launching severe air strikes against targets within the Gaza Strip, including near the civilian-crowded refugee camp of Khan Younis, killing several Palestinians and wounding others.

Supposedly, these attacks are in retaliation for nine mortar shells that fell on open territory, causing neither damage nor injury. Israel also had been using lethal force against children from Gaza, who were collecting gravel from the buffer zone for the repair of their homes.

As usual, the Israeli security pretext lacks credibility. As if ever there was an occasion for firing warning shots in the air, it was here, especially as the border has been essentially quiet in the last couple of years, and what occasional harmless rockets or mortar shells have been fired, has taken place in defiance of the Hamas effort to prevent providing Israel with any grounds for the use of force.

Revealingly, in typical distortion, the Gaza situation is portrayed by Ashkenazi as presenting a pre-war scenario: "We will not allow a situation in which they fire rockets at our citizens and towns from 'safe havens' amid [their] civilians."

With Orwellian precision, the reality is quite the reverse: Israel from its safe haven continuously attacks with an intent to kill a defenceless, entrapped Gazan civilian population.

Silence is complicity

Perhaps, worse in some respects than this Israeli war-mongering, is the stunning silence of the governments of the world, and of the United Nations.

World public opinion was briefly shocked by the spectacle of a one-sided war that marked Operation Cast Lead as a massive crime against humanity, but it has taken no notice of this recent unspeakable escalation of threats and provocations seemingly designed to set the stage for a new Israeli attack on the hapless Gazan population.

This silence in the face of the accumulating evidence that Israel plans to launch Operation Cast Lead 2 is a devastating form of criminal complicity at the highest governmental levels, especially on the part of countries that have been closely aligned with Israel, and also exhibits the moral bankruptcy of the United Nations system.

We have witnessed the carnage of 'preemptive war' and 'preventive war' in Iraq, but we have yet to explore the moral and political imperatives of 'preemptive peace' and 'preventive peace.' How long must the peoples of the world wait?

It might be well to recall the words of one anonymous Gazan that were uttered in reaction to the attacks of two years ago: "While Israeli armed forces were bombing my neighbourhood, the UN, the EU, and the Arab League and the international community remained silent in the face of atrocities. Hundreds of corpses of children and women failed to convince them to intervene."

International liberal public opinion enthuses about the new global norm of 'responsibility to protect,' but not a hint that if such an idea is to have any credibility it should be applied to Gaza with a sense of urgency where the population has been living under a cruel blockade for more than three years and is now facing new grave dangers.

And even after the commission of the atrocities of 2008-09 have been authenticated over and over by the Goldstone Report, by an exhaustive report issued by the Arab League, by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, there is no expectation of Israeli accountability, and the United States effectively uses its diplomatic muscle to bury the issue, encouraging forgetfulness in collaboration with the media.

Truths

It is only civil society that has offered responses appropriate to the moral, legal, and political situation. Whether these responses can achieve their goals, only the future will tell.

The Free Gaza Movement and the Freedom Flotilla have challenged the blockade more effectively than the UN or governments, leading Israel to retreat, at least rhetorically, claiming to lift the blockade with respect to the entry of humanitarian goods and reconstruction materials.

Of course, the behavioural truth contradicts the Israeli rhetoric: sufficient supplies of basic necessities are still not being allowed to enter Gaza; the water and sewage systems are seriously crippled; there is not enough fuel available to maintain adequate electric power; and the damage from Operation Cast Lead remains, causing a desperate housing crisis (more than 100,000 units are needed just to move people from tents).

Also, most students are not allowed to leave Gaza to take advantage of foreign educational opportunities, and the population lives in a locked-in space that is constantly being threatened with violence, night and day.

This portrayal of Gaza is hardly a welcoming prospect for the year 2011. At the same time the spirit of the people living in Gaza should not be underestimated.

I have met Gazans, especially young people, who could be weighed down by the suffering their lives have brought them and their families since their birth, and yet they possess a positive sense of life and its potential, and make every use of any opportunity that comes their way, minimising their problems and expressing warmth toward more fortunate others and enthusiasm about their hopes for their future.

I have found such contact inspirational, and it strengthen my resolve and sense of responsibility: these proud people must be liberated from the oppressive circumstances that constantly imprisons, threatens, impoverishes, sickens, traumatises, maims, kills.

Until this happens, none of us should sleep too comfortably!

Richard Falk is Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and Visiting Distinguished Professor in Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has authored and edited numerous publications spanning a period of five decades, most recently editing the volume International Law and the Third World: Reshaping Justice (Routledge, 2008).

He is currently serving his third year of a six year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights.

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Jewish Peace News editors:
Joel Beinin
Racheli Gai
Rela Mazali
Sarah Anne Minkin
Lincoln Z. Shlensky
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Alistair Welchman
------------
Jewish Peace News archive and blog: http://jewishpeacenews.blogspot.com
------------
Jewish Peace News sends its news clippings only to subscribers. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or manage your subscription, go to http://www.jewishpeacenews.net