Yesterday’s Global edition of the NY Times had an op-ed by one David Keyes from the organization, Advancing Human Rights. Keyes informs us of the anti-democratic tendencies and outright corruption of the Palestinian Authority and Mahmoud Abbas. He talks of detentions, arrests, convictions and jail sentences for those who have dared to criticize or insult Abbas.
No doubt Palestinians have many legitimate complaints against their leadership. But is it appropriate for the Times to have Keyes complain on their behalf? Needless to say, if Keyes were truly concerned with the welfare of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, he would be a prominent opponent of the Israeli occupation far more than Palestinian repression and corruption.
But the op-ed doesn’t mention the occupation. Instead, Keyes reveals his own agenda, and it is more about protecting Israel than Palestinians:
A good indicator of how committed a government is to upholding peace with its neighbors is its commitment to protecting the human rights of its own citizens. Nations that disregard the freedoms of their own people are not likely to care much about maintaining peace with their historic enemies. Palestinian human rights, in other words, are key to the peace process.
This is just a variation of the “no partner for peace” mantra. If the Palestinian leaders can’t respect civil rights in their own society, Keyes asks, how can Israel hope to make peace with them?
Then Keyes takes a swipe at Palestinian reconciliation:
Rather than repudiating such genocidal rhetoric [allegedly made by a Hamas official], when an Al Jazeera interviewer asked Mr. Abbas last year if there were political and ideological differences between his party, Fatah, and Hamas, he replied, “In all honesty, there are no disagreements between us.” But there should be enormous — indeed unbridgeable — gaps between any potential peace partner and a terrorist organization that acts tyrannically and calls for the annihilation of a people.
Keyes closes by urging ”the West” to “stand firmly with Palestinian democrats” by “linking Western economic aid to the Palestinian Authority’s respect for free speech.” His recipe for relieving oppression of ordinary Palestinians is to starve the Palestinian economy.
And who is this David Keyes who presumes to speak on behalf of beleaguered Palestinians? He’s the Executive Director of Advancing Human Rights, a relatively new organization started by Human Rights Watch founder Robert Bernstein. Bernstein abandoned HRW because of its criticism of Israel, which he could no longer tolerate. The problem apparently was that HRW’s Middle East and North Africa Division (MENA) was devoting a full 28% of its attention to Israel/Palestine. Shocking! The work done by HRW’s other divisions – Africa, Asia, The Americas, the U.S., and Europe/Central Asia – and the other 72% of MENA was not enough to make up for this unfair “singling out” of Israel. So Bernstein started AHR, apparently deciding against the more accurate but cumbersome title “Advancing Human Rights For All Except Palestinians”. And it’s a good thing, because AHR’s present executive director has found a way to feign concern for Palestinians while absolving Israel of any blame.
AHR has assembled an interesting collection of board members, including Irwin Cotler, the fanatical pro-Israel Canadian MP known for howling about the “dangers of a genocidal and nuclear Iran”; Britain’s retired Colonel Richard Kemp, most known for declaring that “during Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in the combat zones than any other army in the history of warfare," a quote that Alan Dershowitz never tires of repeating. Then there is Keyes himself, who was the Coordinator of Democracy Programs under Natan Sharanksy at the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies funded by guess who and was located at the right-wing Shalem Center in Jerusalem. Keyes also was the founder of CyberDissidents.org, an organization apparently devoted to the human rights of all Arab dissidents, with the exception of Palestinians whose human rights have been denied by Israel. Who else is on the AHR Board? Toni Morrison, yes the same Morrison who co-signed a 2006 letter along with Chomsky, Pinter, Saramago, Arundhati Roy, Vidal, Zinn, Naomi Klein, Thomas Keneally (author of Schindler’s List) and others that condemned Israel’s “long-term military, economic and geographic practice whose political aim is nothing less than the liquidation of the Palestinian nation.” Go figure.
Keyes’s efforts on behalf of Palestinian dissidents oppressed by fellow Palestinians is reminiscent of similar pronouncements by the likes of Michael Oren, who bemoan the plight of Christian Palestinians at the hands of Muslims only. These impostors pretend to care about Palestinians while actually working to undermine their freedom and sentence them to perpetual domination by a foreign military. Do Palestinians suffer from corruption, mismanagement, oppression and malfeasance of their leaders? No doubt they do, but wouldn’t it be far more enlightening to let them speak for themselves rather than enlist a pro-Israeli voice to speak on their behalf?
I quite agree. Israel has a consistent record of disregarding the freedoms of its own (non-Jewish) people and has a lousy record of upholding peace with its neighbours. Perhaps it’s the Palestinians who don’t have a “partner for peace” and the Israelis who shouldn’t be allowed a country.
“A good indicator of how committed a government is to upholding peace with its neighbors is its commitment to protecting the human rights of its own citizens. Nations that disregard the freedoms of their own people are not likely to care much about maintaining peace with their historic enemies.”
What nonsense. Iran – under both the Shaw and the Ayatollahs was and is hardly a paragon of protecting the human rights of its own citizens, but has never been involved in a war, other than the war started against it by Saddam Hussein. Other similar examples – post Soviet Russia, China (no wars since the end of the Korean war), Egypt (no wars since 1973), Saudi Arabia, …
The U.S. – which relatively speaking does protect the human rights of its citizens – has been involved in dozens of wars – many (most?) of which it started.
Superbly researched post!
NYT a sicko? Shocking! (Must have run a pro-Palestine op-ed in last while or planning to).
Then Keyes takes a swipe at Palestinian reconciliation
david, not sure if you had a chance to read ‘US Congress seeks to thwart Palestinian reconciliation — hearing WINEP testimony’ link to mondoweiss.net
just saying, this is front and center on the lobbies agenda right now. the timing of this is not a coincidence. great report!
It’s interesting before the hasbara bots used to say that the Palestinian can’t have a state because there are dividend and first needs to reconcile between hamas/fatah before they can expect Israel to agree to a Palestinian state. Than once this starts the hasbara bots switch clicks to Fatah must never reconcile with hamas and if it does the Palestinian can’t have a state because hamas is a terrorist group. Than when such fails the hasbara bots than go back to saying Fatah and Hamas must reconcile first.
Rise, Repeat.
yes I did Annie. It’s always something. How can Israelis negotiate when the Palestinian leadership is divided, or when Iran poses an existential threat, or when Palestinian leadership is moving toward reconciliation, or when the country is mourning over the loss of a favorite Downton Abbey character? Now we have the double whammy of Palestinian reconciliation and denial of human rights to their own people. No wonder Avigdor says there will be no peace for decades. The next four excuses are nearing the end of the planning stage, and new ones are going into production as we speak.
Ah yes, shoot the messenger. While not disputing a single point of the op-ed.
They are not messengers, but paid propagandists. There is not a single point in their op-ed worth the paper it is written on, because it is pure propaganda. That is the point which sailed over your little head.
Try this,
link to advancinghumanrights.org
Control F Israel
1 match from Today back to June 2012
““A lot of Egyptians don’t see eye to eye with his policies, since he’s pro-normalization with Israel,” ”
Than
link to advancinghumanrights.org
The above goes back to sept 2011
3 matchs Quoting “Times of Israel” “Israel Hayom” nothing on Israeli Human Rights violations. So this groups and such groups like UN watch created such organizations because Israel (in there mind) was attack to much, yet over 1.5+ years there have reported zero human rights violations by Israel(according to there own news and press releases).
In the weeks prior to [ ..... ] being declared a state, the civil war was escalated by a number of disparate [ ...... ] militant and terrorist factions actively dispossessing non-[ .... ], razing non-[ ...... ] homes, villages, farms in territory slated for the [ ...... ] State and in territory slated for their neighbour.
At the time [ ..... ] was declared a state, [ ...... ] forces were inside and outside the territory being declared as the State of [ ..... ] , busy dispossessing non-[ .... ] , razing non-[ ...... ] homes, villages, farms and many of its un-elected leaders were from disparate terrorist and militant organizations
At the time the State of [ ..... ] was recognized and accepted into the UN, it was at war “outside of the State of [ ..... ] “ (by its own admission), dispossessing non-[ .... ] , razing non-[ ...... ] homes, villages, farms. Many of its leaders at the time were from the disparate terrorist and militant organizations who had become its military
64 years later, the State of [ ..... ] is still at war in territory outside its sovereign extent. It has yet to hold legal elections, under a constitution. It is in breach of hundreds of USNC resolutions, has committed numerous war crimes and continues to purposefully encourage its citizens to live in “territories occupied” in breach of GC IV, thereby endangering them and their children.
In the 64 years of [ ......]‘s existence, it has created so many illegal ‘facts on the ground’ and has assisted so many of its citizens to settle in territories outside the actual legal extent of its sovereignty, it can no longer afford to adhere to International Law and UN Charter without being sent bankrupt for decades paying compensation for its illegal activities while attempting to relocate hundreds of thousands of its citizens back into its own territory.
The only way out of the illegal hole [ ...... ] has created for itself, is to plea bargain with the neighbour whose territory it covets. Instead [ ...... ] maintains an illusion of moral superiority, makes demands on its neighbour that have no basis in law, makes demands on the International community that are contrary to the UN Charter, attempts to justify its actions with irrelevant nonsense and continues to lie to itself, its citizens and the rest of the world.
States constitute a sole person in the eyes of international law. As a sole person [ ...... ] should be in a padded cell, in a maximum security prison for the criminally insane.
On the first page of the Daily Beast’s listing of David Keyes’s contributions, I see nothing about Israel. I do, however, see this: Palestinian Hunger Striker Khader Adnan Is No Hero:
Thanks lysias, good find. Apparently Keyes has no problem with Palestinians held in administrative detention by the Israeli military without charge indefinitely. It is only when Palestinians are oppressed by their own civil judicial system that Keyes becomes concerned for their welfare. What a spokesman for Palestinian rights!
HRW founder Bernstein left because of differences over Israel. You could not make that up.
Nothing could even come close. Greenpeace founder takes job with Koch bros would not be credible . But Israel is such a not
massive Jewish blind spot innit ?And the Weiss seder table appears to me in a vision.
RE: “Keyes informs us of the anti-democratic tendencies and outright corruption of the Palestinian Authority and Mahmoud Abbas.” ~ David Samel
MY COMMENT: But . . . but . . . but, Israel and the U.S. have consistently worked to undermine Abbas and the Palestinian Authority! ! !
FROM WIKIPEDIA [Palestinian National Authority]:
SOURCE – link to en.wikipedia.org
RE: “He talks of detentions, arrests, convictions and jail sentences for those who have dared to criticize or insult Abbas.” ~ David Samel
MY COMMENT: But . . . but . . . but, the Palestinian Authority’s storm troopers were trained by the U.S. and they are often accused of doing Israel’s bidding! ! !
FROM WIKIPEDIA [United States security assistance to the Palestinian National Authority]:
SOURCE – link to en.wikipedia.org
P.S. CONTINUED FROM WIKIPEDIA [United States security assistance to the Palestinian National Authority]:
P.P.S. CONTINUED FROM WIKIPEDIA [United States security assistance to the Palestinian National Authority]:
SOURCE – link to en.wikipedia.org
“Palestinians are too corrupt to deserve a state”
Then don’t give them one. Give them full and equal rights in a unified state from the Jordan to the sea.