Joseph Dana writes:
Over the last several months, Israeli and international activists have made the small West Bank village of Safa a focus of the struggle for the rule of law in the occupied territories. The village is situated next to the settlement of Bat Ayin, which was the scene of a horrific murder of a twelve-year-old boy by a mentally disturbed resident of Safa in April 2009. In the wake of that crime–and now growing US pressure on Israel regarding settlements–Bat Ayin settlement has become increasingly violent towards its neighbors in Safa. This violence has been characterized by the burning and cutting down of Palestinian groves, severe beatings of Safa residents and activists and, just last week, the harassment of farmers and activists who attempt to work the land.
Safa residents depend on grape and olive trees that are located in a deep gorge between their village and Bat Ayin. The settlers often descend into the gorge and rampage through the farmlands as the IDF and police look on, doing nothing to stop it during or after the act. In 2006, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled in a landmark case that the IDF must do whatever possible to allow Palestinians access to their land and protection while they farm –which primarily means restraining settlers when need be. Israeli and international activists have been accompanying Palestinians to the farmlands over the past few months to ensure they can do their work safely, but we are consistently attacked by settlers, removed with excessive force by the IDF and often arrested.
Today, 27 June 2009, the IDF and Israel Border Police created a blockade at the entrance of the farmlands. As soon as we arrived, the IDF began using violent force against the forty to fifty Israelis, Palestinians and international activists on the ground. As we walked into the area, pleading with the army to allow us entry, we were beaten, thrown to the ground, attacked and insulted. We demanded to see legal authority for such actions. That only came later after we had been ‘removed’ from the area. Many of us suffered bruises and injuries, including an 18-year-old Israeli female whose arm was sprained and a Palestinian man who reportedly had his leg broken.
The IDF arrested 30 Israelis for violating a "closed military zone" order that, according to the 2006 Supreme Court ruling, cannot be used simply to prevent farming in Safa. The activists were detained for three hours and then released without being charged with any offense.
The events today in Safa are a major escalation in the IDF policy to intimidate and attack Israeli and international peace activists who wish to help Palestinian farmers maintain their livelihood, even as the IDF does nothing to restrain the settlers. No matter how much the state may sympathize with the settlers and feel the need to protect them, it must not allow this vigilante behavior to continue, as it only propagates the cycle of violence.
The video above is a visual record of the brutality we experienced today and of the army’s complete disregard for the laws of the State of Israel, the rights of its citizens, and basic moral conduct.
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They seem like a bunch of uncertain teenagers, unprepared for these events. The underlying fact is the theft of Palestinian land, but this demonstration seems like a Dance I attempt at kabuki rather than an atrocity. The basij or the Chicago PD would have handled it differently.
Yeah. They would be a lot more brutal. Like this maybe: http://www.nearinternational.org/alert-detail.asp... http://www.nearinternational.org/alert-detail.asp... http://www.nearinternational.org/alert-detail.asp... http://www.nearinternational.org/alert-detail.asp...
Sarah, perhaps you misunderstood me. I was commenting on the particular incident depicted, not trying to whitewash the occupation as a whole. A government that bombs and shoots children in the numbers in Gaza has much to answer for, as do those who arm that government.
And when was it established that the axe murderer of children was mentally disturbed?
Why do I see a double standard in Obama's outrage at iran's "crackdown" but his shocking silence on Israel's brutality toward Palestineans? I don't feel like a radical, I feel sad and embarassed for my country.
They look like a bunch of punks. Bullies beating up women and young activists. All to allow settlers to continue terrorizing Palestinians – in contravention of the Israeli supreme court's orders to protect them using "any means". What a wonderful example of the Israeli system of law that allows a rouge Army to operate with impunity, doing as it likes without fear of any consequence. I would be so proud if I was a pro-Israel racist….
Yes, as Truman famously said, in effect paraphrasing: I have to cater to my constituency and those who will fund my presidency effectively. Our foreign policy when it comes to Israel is a de facto domestic policy.
And its been so ever since, although JFK tried to fight it, and Bush I also made a narrower attempt to do so–with consequences for both duly noted by other presidents and presidential candidates: http://dissidentvoice.org/2007/12/iran-war-americ...
JFK was intensely angry as an American when the Zionists he met with apropos his 1960 presidential campaign vulgarly and directly promised to fund him if he would give them control of US foreign policy in the Middle East. He vowed privately to change this when he became president shortly after the evening meeting at a chief moneybags's home. At the time he was assassinated he was pushing Israel to stop building nukes.
He was also attempting to fix our scam financial structure and monetary system at its core.
The IDF would have handled it differently if, let's say, it had been a group of Palestinians instead of a bunch of Jewish Israelis and foreign activists with cameras. The kid gloves would have come off, the M16s and tear gas canisters would have come out and been warmed up a bit. Blood would have flowed instead of just a few arms being twisted. PM
You see a double standard in Obama's outrage because there IS a GLARING double standard in all American foreign policy moves in the Middle East. We shouldn't call it America's Foreign Policy in the Middle East, we should call it America's Double Standard in the Middle East. Phil ("my president") Weiss and the rest of the cheering section don't really want to shake things up too much; they like an Obama that is a bit progressive, but not so radical so as to be really fair to the indiginous people of the Middle East, and by that I do NOT refer to European Jews. PM
Oh, the "martyred Kennedy" myth rears its head. All the things he was going to do, yadda yadda. After all these years, it still makes me sick.
It's a form of ritual, of social exchange, in a state governed by law. The issue will really be decided in the High Court of Justice, in Jerusalem. Every one of those protestors has rights delineated by law, and was handled in accord with police procedure by a regulated authority. Real violence is Hama, is Beirut, where even the law of the jungle is not respected. Israeli sociologists have commented on the ritual character of demonstrations, and even demo violence, since Intifada One. I have often been afraid when taken into custody by the IDF, I have always been relieved not to die at the hands of the PA police. There is a slight difference.
Yes, the difference is you made sure the IDF knew you were a Jew. That made all the difference.
Are you denying he was attempting to force Israel to make transparent what they were doing regarding their nuke weapon program? Ditto, his actions to change USA fiat dollar system?
JFK's Letter To Israeli PM Eshkol July 5, 1963 Dear Mr. Prime Minister (Eshkol), It gives me great personal pleasure to extend congratulations as you assume your responsibilities as Prime Minister of Israel. You have our friendship and best wishes in your new tasks. It is on one of these that I am writing you at this time. You are aware, I am sure, of the exchange which I had with Prime Minister Ben-Gurion concerning American visits (ie: inspections -ed) to Israel's nuclear facility at Dimona. Most recently, the Prime Minister wrote to me on May 27. His words reflected a most intense personal consideration of a problem that I know is not easy for your Government, as it is not for mine. We welcomed the former Prime Minister's strong reaffirmation that Dimona will be devoted exclusively to peaceful purposes and the reaffirmation also of Israel's willingness to permit periodic visits (ie: inspections -ed) to Dimona. I regret having to add to your burdens so soon after your assumption of office, but I feel the crucial importance of this problem necessitates my taking up with you at this early date certain further considerations, arising out of Mr. Ben-Gurion's May 27 letter, as to the nature and scheduling of such visits. I am sure you will agree that these visits should be as nearly as possible in accord with international standards, thereby resolving all doubts as to the peaceful intent of the Dimona project. As I wrote Mr. Ben-Gurion, this Government's commitment to and support of Israel could be seriously jeopardized if it should be thought that we were unable to obtain reliable information on a subject as vital to the peace as the question of Israel's effort in the nuclear field. Therefore, I asked our scientists to review the alternative schedules of visits we and you had proposed. If Israel's purposes are to be clear beyond reasonable doubt, I believe that the schedule which would best serve our common purposes would be a visit early this summer, another visit in June 1964, and thereafter at intervals of six months. I am sure that such a schedule should not cause you any more difficulty than that which Mr. Ben-Gurion proposed in his May 27 letter. It would be essential, and I understand that Mr. Ben-Gurion's letter was in accord with this, that our scientist have access to all areas of the Dimona site and to any related part of the complex, such as fuel fabrication facilities or plutonium separation plant, and that sufficient time to be allotted for a thorough examination. Knowing that you fully appreciate the truly vital significance of this matter to the future well-being of Israel, to the United States, and internationally, I am sure our carefully considered request will have your most sympathetic attention. Sincerely, John F. Kennedy http://www.jfkmontreal.com/toc.htm
JFK's order to undermine political fiat dollar system: http://www.john-f-kennedy.net/executiveorder11110...
Grumpy Old Man, so what exactly makes you sick? Please clarify.
Good find Citizen. JFK's executive order 11110 allowed for the Federal Reserve System to distribute and exchange currency at lower denominations that met the growing economic need. The authoritative basis for the Order was substantially nullified in 1982 with the passage of Public Law 97-258. The Order was never directly reversed. In 1982 Ronald Reagan was pres. the man who brought Neocons into the White House. In the U.S. Const. art. II, § 1. These powers give the President broad constitutional authority to use military force in response to threats to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. Hello Iraq, will Iran be next? Rahm Emanuel, Dennis Ross, Susan Rice, Tony Lake, Several top advisers to Obama — including Tony Lake, UN Ambassador-designate Susan Rice, Tom Daschle, and Dennis Ross, along with leading Democratic hawks like Richard Holbrooke, close to Vice-President-elect Joe Biden or Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton — have made common cause with war-minded think-tank hawks at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and other hardline institutes. Last spring, Tony Lake and Susan Rice, for example, took part in a WINEP "2008 Presidential Task Force" study which resulted in a report entitled, "Strengthening the Partnership: How to Deepen U.S.-Israel Cooperation on the Iranian Nuclear Challenge." The Institute, part of the Washington-based Israel lobby, was founded in coordination with the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and has been vigorously supporting a confrontation with Iran. The task force report, issued in June, was overseen by four WINEP heavyweights: Robert Satloff, WINEP's executive director, Patrick Clawson, its chief Iran analyst, David Makovsky, a senior fellow, and Dennis Ross, an adviser to Obama who is also a WINEP fellow. http://www.alternet.org/world/109572/are_key_obam...
They had no idea, and I had guns in my face until they found my ID card. The Palestinians knew all the time, and I walked away because I was grabbed by PA police whose clan did not belong to AAMB, Jihad, or Hamas first and foremost. Maybe 30 percent of the PA police fit that description.
Why were you taken into custody by the IDF, Eurosabra? Why by the Palestinian Authority police?
"Every one of those protestors has rights delineated by law, and was handled in accord with police procedure by a regulated authority." Unlike the Palestinian involved. Different systems of law, applied to different groups based on their identity. This is apartheid. "The issue will really be decided by the High Court of Justice." The High Court has ruled against the route of the Wall. It has also ruled that closed military zone orders cannot be used to keep Palestinian farmers from accessing their land. It has also ruled against at least one of the house evictions that was subsequently carried out in East Jerusalem. In the U.S., Constitutional amendments and Supreme Court rulings "guaranteed" civil and voting rights for African Americans from 1865 onwards. We all know it took much more than that to end Jim Crow. It is a racist sensibility that does not see the denial of individual and collective rights as violence.