The drumbeat continues, inside and outside Israel. Adam Horowitz reports:
An important report was released yesterday by the the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), an established and widely-respected Israeli NGO, founded in 1972. Each year, ACRI publishes a "State of Human Rights Report" describing the condition of human rights inside Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
In introducing this year's report ACRI notes that "It is disturbing to note that not only have the troubling trends that we cited a decade ago not diminished, they have in fact grown worse." [my emphasis] The introduction continues:
Hovering above all this is the dark shadow of occupation and the separation regime ever more entrenched in the Occupied Territories. For forty-one years, Israel has denied fundamental rights to four million Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Even the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in the mid-1990s and Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2005 did not change the fundamental imbalance of power in which Israel controls the lives of the Palestinians, and is responsible for the daily, severe, and ongoing violations of their rights. Under the domination of Israel, which defines itself as a democracy, live several million people who are denied their rights under military occupation in which no rights are guaranteed: not the right to life, personal security, or freedom of movement, not the right to earn a livelihood, to freedom of expression, or to health. [Weiss: Let these truths be trumpeted from every altar, minaret and synagogue!!] In the reality of the Occupied Territories, particularly since the second Intifada in late 2000, most rights have long lost their meaning.
Later in the report, ACRI describes the occupied territories:
This is a big step for ACRI who have declined to use the term apartheid before. From a good article in The Independent:
The group decided to drop its previous reluctance to use the South Africa comparison, often invoked by those pressing for an international boycott of Israel, because "things are getting worse rather than better" according to spokeswoman Melanie Takefman.
In particular, Ms. Takefman cited what ACRI views as the Israeli supreme court's endorsement of the idea of separate road systems for Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank. Last March, the court ignored an ACRI petition that it rule on the legality of the continued barring of Palestinians from Highway 443, an alternate route between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv that slices through expropriated Palestinian West Bank land. To justify the expropriations, the state had said during the 1990's the road would be for Palestinian benefit. But the road is now entirely an Israeli commuter route, with Palestinian villagers who formerly used it to access health, education and jobs in Ramallah barred since 2002 when it was closed to them after attacks on Israeli motorists. Instead, authorities are building a separate road for Palestinians. "The judges's turning a blind eye and approving a separate road system was a very depressing and ominous sign," Ms. Takefman said.
The report has been covered in the Israeli press in YNET and Ha'aretz. Ha'aretz also ran an editorial about it. They said:
Witty has stated on this blog that this situation is not in any way comparable to the "separate but equal" principle that makes me
think of water fountains, schools, and restaurant counters.
This in turn makes me think of Witty's take on John Brown and his conduct. What is it?
Just more words. Just another report. No one does anything about this.
Things might change this January, however, when Israel stands with its hand out for another $10 billion from American taxpayers, payable in full (as in the past) by the end of January.
The anger over the Big 3 exhibited last week, and after what the Illinois Gov did this AM might change the admin's proclivity to throw taxpayer dollars across the pond. I know I will petition the Obama administration to stop funding the apartheid.
Off topic:Belated response to yesterdays post with a photo. . . . I offer to fix any images you send me for insertion into a post, or to locate an appropriate image for a post you have.
The congress is already committed to 30 billion to Israel over the next ten years. What fool thinks this pork will not stand?