I am a Jewish Israeli woman who was born in Tel Aviv and has been living in Ramallah and Nablus in the occupied Palestinian territories for the last 12 years. When Israelis, or people who have spent a lot of time with Israelis, hear where I live they often ask me "aren't you scared?" And I tell them the truth. Yes, I am sometimes scared of Israeli soldiers and even more of Israeli settlers. But other than that I feel more at home than I do anywhere else in the world.

But this was not always the case. When I first started visiting the occupied Palestinian Territories I was, like most Israelis, terrified of Arabs. It took me years to chip my way through this fear. Years in which again and again my heart would race, and I would think that the Arabs around me, want to kill me, only to discover time after time, that people had other things on their minds rather than me. And that if they did interact with me it was in a way that was more open and honoring than what I was used to.

It is for this reason that I was shocked, but not surprised, by the images of an angry Tel Aviv mob attacking African immigrants. The vehement racism was very familiar it was only it's target thats shifted. For example a slogan on a woman's t-shirt read: "Death to the Sudanese", an obvious rehash of the well worn "Death to the Arabs". Ilan Tsion chairman of the Israeli advocacy group "Fence For Life" said in a panel in Ramlah that, "The migration from Africa and the Palestinain Authority and Arab countries is about to sentence every single one of us to death". Tsion explained:

"I have figures here prepared by demographic experts showing that if the present situation continues then by the year 2030 there will be a drastic reduction in the percentage of Jews in the population of Israel ...we are a country surrounded by twenty enemy countries that want to annihilate us. They are just waiting for a moment that our army will grow weak. For the moment that foreigners take control of the army so they can overcome us and murder us."

"Fence for life," which has advocated for the creation of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank and for preventing family reunification of Palestinian families both In Israel and in the occupied territories, is now advocating for the expulsion of African immigrants from Israel. Their argument for all these issues are identical. They maintain that the existence of non-Jews in and around Israel is a mortal danger. This so called logic is something the vast majority of Israelis can relate to, at least on an emotional level. Most Israelis agree with Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak's statement they are living in "a villa in the jungle".

I often wondered where all this fear came from? In my case, while it was true that I was exposed to the Israeli media that only presents Arabs as terrorists, was fed similar propaganda at school, and thus saw the world through a Holocaust paradigm, all these things could not explain the scope and depth of my fears. Eventually, I realized that despite the fact that no one talked about the expulsion of the Palestinians in 1948 while I was growing up, my fear came from knowing that I was living on someone else's land. It came from knowing that the people who's houses and graves and trees and cactus plants I see everywhere around me are not allowed to be in this land but I am. I realized that this fear is not different than the fears that any colonialist or beneficiary of a racist system must develop towards the colonized or oppressed people in order to keep his peace of mind. The fact that this process happens unconsciously only makes it stronger.

My Israeli friend David lives with his family on a house surrounded by 5-6 dunams of land in Pardes Hanna near Haifa. David is exceptionally aware of his motivations. He told me that when he considers being engaged or opposed to what Israel was doing to the Palestinians, he asks himself, "Would I be willing to share what I have with a Palestinian refugee?" and since the answer is, "no", he does nothing. I think that it is essential to understand that it is greed, the desire to possess another's land and resources, and not fear that lies at the root of the Israeli-Arab conflict. The fear comes later, to justify having and not sharing what belongs to someone else.

But I no longer feel this way. I feel blessed that choices that I have made in my life have allowed me to remain in the country of my birth without feeling like I am stealing or taking the place of another people. This has allowed me to let go of the fear of the people around me and to enjoy and become a part of the Arab world in which I live.

A two-state solution that does not include the right of return of the Palestinian refugees is not only an unjust solution that would leave Palestinians with a non-viable, non-contiguous, so called state but it would leave Israelis trapped in their ethnocracy. As long as Israel wants to be a Jewish state, every non-Jewish ethnic minority is a threat to the "Jewishness" of the state, non Jewish Wombs are perceived as ticking bombs, babies as weapons in a never-ending demographic war.

firebombed kindergarden April 2010. (Photo: ActiveStills)

The Netanyahu government will impose fines on mayors who hire migrant workers, pushing a slight tactical difference between him and the mob-riling Knesset members responsible for the violent attacks earlier this week. Whereas rightist MK incited a riot, Netanyahu is looking to legislate non-Jewish immigrants out of the country. Interior Minister Eli Yishai announced the city officials would "personally" pay the penalties, an equivalent punishment for crimes such embezzlement.

"We will also start to enforce this so that they do not employ infiltrators. They will employ Israelis instead, the place of infiltrators is in the countries that they came from," said Yishai speaking to Israeli News Channel 2.

After the government's announcement the city of Tel Aviv fired back to Haaretz, using the same rightist patois to describe migrants.

'The municipality does not employ illegal infiltrators and has even approached contracting companies it works with to request they act according to the law, and not employ infiltrators.'

Separately, Netanyahu also distanced himself from the mob-like fiasco incensed by members of his political party, but re-affirmed their anti-migrant sentiment in an announcement yesterday. Speaking in Tel Aviv, the prime minister said "We will complete construction of the fence within two months, and soon we will begin sending infiltrators back to their countries of origin."
 

Ethnic Cleansing / Land Theft & Destruction / Occupation & Apartheid / Exile & Restriction of Movement / Refugees

Report: Israel issued 13,000 demolition orders against Palestinian real estate
Haaretz newspaper said the Israeli civil administration issued 13,000 demolition warnings against Palestinians accused of unlicensed construction in Area C of the West Bank.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli military order expels Palestinian family from its land
The Israeli occupation forces expelled on Friday a Palestinian family from an area south of Al-Khalil, claiming that it is a closed military zone in which Palestinians are not allowed to live.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

And another day in Gaza

Another day in Palestine

A day in prison

And we live on

Despite Israel’s very much identified flying objects

That we see more than our family and friends

And despite Israel’s death sentences

Like lead

Cast upon the head

As we sleep

Like acid rain

Gnawing at our life

Clinging to it like a flea to a kitten

And stuffed in our throats

The moment we say ‘Amen’

To the prayers of old women and men

Despite Israel’s birds of death

Hovering only two meters from our breath

From our dreams and prayers

Blocking their ways to God.

Despite that.

We dream and pray,

Clinging to life even harder

Every time a dear one’s life

Is forcibly rooted up.

We live.

We live.

We do.

On Friday, the head of the U.S. negotiation team, undersecretary of state for political affairs Wendy Sherman, arrived in Israel along with officials from the White House National Security Council working on the Iran nuclear issue – Gary Seymour and Puneet Talwar.

...

According to the U.S. official, the Israeli government was the first to be updated by them on what happened in Baghdad after the talks were over. "We updated the Israelis in detail before we updated our own government," the official said.

Hundreds of Palestinians, led by Scouts from throughout the besieged Gaza Strip, marched in Rafah today to demand that Israel release Mahmoud Sarsak and Akram Rikhawi, two detainees still on hunger strike.

(Photo: Joe Catron)

Yesterday, the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, whose attorney Mona Neddaf was able to visit Sarsak and Rikhawi Wednesday, reported their conditions:

25-year-old Mahmoud Sarsak is on his 67th consecutive day of hunger strike today, in protest of being held without charge or trial under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law, which provides even fewer legal protections than Palestinians held in administrative detention. Despite claims that he would be released in July, Israeli authorities have yet to provide Mahmoud with an actual release date. During the visit with Ms. Neddaf, Mahmoud’s health was in such grave condition that he could only speak with her for a matter of moments.

Akram Rikhawi remains on hunger strike as well, currently on his 43rd day. Akram has been in Ramleh prison medical center since his arrest in 2004, as he suffers from ailments such as asthma, diabetes and osteoporosis. Due to his pre-existing conditions, Akram’s hunger strike has been even harder on his body, and he is now in very fragile condition.

(Photo: Joe Catron)

Also yesterday, the family of Sarsak, a national football star and resident of the Rafah refugee camp, appealed for international action to secure his release and save his life:

For us it is unbearable to see Israel has been awarded the hosting of the UEFA Under 21s football championship in 2013 and gears up to participate in the London Olympics, while it routinely arrests, tortures, imprisons and kills Palestinians, including football players, without consequence. This is not fair play. Sports should show solidarity.

As Mahmoud’s family, we call on all people of conscience to demand his immediate release, and to pressure governments and international organisations to force Israel’s compliance with the most basic standards of international law. In particular we ask fellow football players and athletes to speak out in support of Mahmoud – don’t be silent when Israeli cruelty and arbitrariness has destroyed the aspirations of a rising athlete and keeps thousands under inhumane conditions in their jails. We ask sports teams and anti-racist fan clubs to organize in support of Mahmoud and all the other Palestinian political prisoners. Your voice can contribute to saving his life and to a little victory against injustice.

It is time to end Israeli crimes carried out with impunity, and to demand the release of all Palestinians held illegally by Israel, including the other Palestinian prisoners who, along with our beloved Mahmoud, are hunger striking for their dignity and freedom.

(Photo: Joe Catron)
 

Senate fight today over Palestinian ‘refugees’
Thirty U.S. senators will vote today over whether there really are 5 million Palestinian "refugees" or just around 30,000 -- a hot-button issue that has already become the subject of a vigorous international debate involving Israel and its Arab neighbors. When the Senate Appropriations Committee takes up the fiscal 2013 State Department and foreign operations appropriations bill today, senators will vote on an amendment crafted by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) that would require the State Department to report on how many of the millions of people currently supported by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) are actually people who were physically displaced from their homes in Israel or the occupied territories, and how many are descendants of original refugees.
link to thecable.foreignpolicy.com

UK: Israel’s Settlements Harm its International Standing
The WAFA News Agency reported today a UK Foreign Office statement issued on Wednesday. British Foreign Secretary William Hague told his visiting Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman that Israel’s settlement expansion in Jerusalem and the West Bank harms its international standing.
link to www.imemc.org

Senate fight today over Palestinian ‘refugees’
Thirty U.S. senators will vote today over whether there really are 5 million Palestinian "refugees" or just around 30,000 -- a hot-button issue that has already become the subject of a vigorous international debate involving Israel and its Arab neighbors. When the Senate Appropriations Committee takes up the fiscal 2013 State Department and foreign operations appropriations bill today, senators will vote on an amendment crafted by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) that would require the State Department to report on how many of the millions of people currently supported by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) are actually people who were physically displaced from their homes in Israel or the occupied territories, and how many are descendants of original refugees.
link to thecable.foreignpolicy.com

Health ministery: Gaza hospitals still threatened by the power and fuel crisis
The health ministry warned that the medical work in Gaza hospitals is still endangered by the power crisis and there is no sufficient fuel even to operate their generators in the coming days.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Haaretz reports on Avigdor Lieberman's trip to speak at a Jewish National Fund event in London. Lieberman has been taken aback by criticism of his invitation from Zionist activists in the UK:

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday to a Jewish audience in London that he expects Jewish communities around the world to support whatever Israeli government is in power, regardless of its views.

Lieberman who was speaking at an event sponsored by the British branch of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) responded to the controversy within the Jewish community in London, following the objections of Jewish groups, including the Habonim Dror youth movement and the Reform and Liberal rabbis organizations, to his appearance.

"It is not my responsibility to give advice," said the foreign minister, who was greeted upon arrival at the Pillar Hotel in North London, by demonstrations of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups outside, "but my expectations from all Jewish communities is first of all to support any government in Israel. It doesn't matter whether it's dovish or right wing, it's democratically elected.

"All Jewish people have a right to be in this discussion and I respect their right to protest but I expect all Jewish communities to support whatever Israel government there is," he added.

Got it? Only Jews "have a right to be in this discussion" and only as long as they support the Israeli government. Until then worldwide Jewry (and everyone else), shut yer piehole.

Here's video from his trip (didn't know Avigdor had a soft side, did you?):

It is hard to know what Shalom Eisner -- an Israeli army officer -- was thinking when he brutalized a Danish bike protester several weeks ago. Probably his thoughts tracked what he was doing -- which is to say they weren't anything out of the ordinary. The Israeli officer was acting normally, on a normal day, in the normalized context of Israeli occupation. The only exceptional thing about the episode was the reaction it elicited.

The Israeli leadership quickly condemned the episode and the officer - who served in good standing until then - received a formal rebuke and was dismissed.

Why did a relatively minor incident provoke a big reaction from the authorities in Tel Aviv and why did the Israeli commentariat pile on in the way they did? Without minimizing the five victims' pain, injury and trauma, the image of a Dahlesque figure atavistically wielding an M-16 was a little comical, after all.

So what happened?

It was only three-and-a-half years ago that the Israeli army killed 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza - almost a third of whom were children. At the time the Israeli public barely reacted. The country's media covered the massacre in a way that either reflected or enabled a 94% approval rating for what was happening - within sight - in the name of the whole nation.

It wasn't until Judge Richard Goldstone recommended that Israel and Hamas both investigate potential war crimes (14 Israelis were killed; four of them by friendly fire) that some people began to worry. But just a little. And not enough to prevent the killing of 9 unarmed Turkish human rights activists in international waters.

The "elite" Israeli commandos commandeered the flotilla and returned home. They were saluted and lionized in the press - but only in Israel. Elsewhere, Zionists struggled to explain the Israeli line to skeptical publics. Justifying an invasion in international waters proved impossible. The til-then-unnoticed, unrecognized, or unacknowledged deterioration in Israel's legitimacy suddenly accelerated. And not just in Europe.

Today, the conversation about Zionism in America is dramatically different from what it was only a few years ago. Few credible people are willing to insist that the Palestinians and Israelis engage in "negotiations." The fiction that underpinned the call for a "peace process" - that the two parties are mutual antagonists to a symmetrical dispute - has been unraveled.

Israel occupies the Palestinians. It seizes their property and locks them away. It builds Jewish-only roads and frets about the the number of non-Jewish babies being born. Americans are beginning to know these things and they want to learn more. Television programs like 60 Minutes are helping to spread the news.

The old peace process bureaucrats - people like Dennis Ross - are approaching irrelevance in 2012. The credibility they once enjoyed is gone. It was undermined by an objective reality which is increasingly being conveyed by intrepid bloggers and news reports.

Who can deny that the Oslo process was engineered to facilitate the preservation of Jewish privilege? Who can deny that Jewish privilege has meant rapacious self-indulgence and apartheid? And who can deny that Zionism - the rickety scaffolding upon which the entire project teeters - is approaching its rational conclusion?

The decline of the ideational influence of the Oslo crowd is linked to the decline in the effectiveness of the Israel Lobby. Today, the facile and sloppy application of the "anti-Semitism" charge is an exercise in self-caricature. The heavy-handed-back-channel or elite-access approach is no longer as effective as it once was, certainly not at 60 Minutes.

President Obama may still believe in the power of Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban's money. Decades spent mired in Washington's campaign finance muck have likely imprinted some basic premises on his mind. But those same premises are not shared by the next generation of American leaders.

American support for Israel is eroding - and not only because of Israeli policies. More than ever the state's basic substance is being debated. Young Americans increasingly ask, if multiracial and multicultural, non-sectarian and non-religious democracy is good enough here, why isn't it good enough in Israel?

There is no good answer to that question.

Does the Israeli leadership understand what's happening? Was the reaction to a relatively minor incident an implicit acknowledgment of Zionism's increasingly precarious position? Was it recognition that the camel is overladen - and that the marginal straw doesn't have to be a particularly big one?

And if it understands all that, what does it plan to do about it?

The Israel Land Administration (ILA), the powerhouse behind Jewish territorial expansion, is being challenged in Israel's high court over race and gender discrimination. Yesterday a judge gave the government agency and steward over state-owned lands 60 days to come up with an explanation as to why women and Palestinians should not be appointed to their high council.

The petition [in Hebrew] against the ILA's high council was submitted in 2010 by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and Itach-Maaki: Women Lawyers for Social Justice (IM). At the time of filing the suit, all of the council's 22 members were Jewish men, and 10 are currently representatives of the Jewish National Fund (JNF).

On Tuesday, ACRI and IM issued the following press release:

The Supreme Court issued the interim decree yesterday (21 May) in a case filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and Itach-Maaki: Women Lawyers for Social Justice. At a previous stage in the proceeding, the State proposed appointing women and Arabs as deputy members of the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) Council. In her reply, ACRI Attorney Rawia Aburabia argued that the State's proposal does not meet the legal requirements for due representation, and that standing members from these groups should also be appointed.

The State now has 60 days to explain why the Council should not appoint permanent Arab and women members in a manner ensuring due representation of these populations.

Founded in 1960, the ILA is an administrative dumping ground for territory expropriated by the Absentee Property Laws and a spillover Ottoman "dead lands" statue. In the early years of Israeli statehood, land funneled into the ILA was then strategically leased to Jewish residents, businesses, kibbutzim, and moshavim. The land transfers were then regulated by the state, making "the desert bloom" (after disenfranchising the original inhabitants) in accordance with a larger Zionist dream.

As a result of the state land confiscations the ILA now controls 93% of the territory inside of Israel's 1967-borders, of which 13% is shared with the JNF. Over the Green Line, the ILA also administers land leased to Israel’s "legal" Israeli settlements and the four "national parks" in the West Bank.

Aside from charges of discrimination in the high council, the ILA is also under fire for targeting Bedouins in cases of home demolitions. Most notably the ILA ordered 38 demolitions against the same village, al-Arakib, and authorized the aerial spraying of pesticides over their crops.

In 2011 the government also approved the ILA's Prawer Plan, a blueprint for transferring 30,000 Bedouins out of their Negev villages. For decades, the ILA has claimed ownership of the land tracks, citing a 1950s transfer of ownership to the state. At the time, tens of thousands of Bedouin residents–some with valid property titles—were rounded up and re-settled near Beersheba. The internal displacement was ordered as part of Israel's eight-year formal military occupation over its Palestinian citizens. When the internal occupation ended in 1956, Bedouin landowners had lost their land titles to the ILA vis-à-vis the Absentee Property Laws. Today, these communities in the Negev now make up the 45 "unrecognized villages" populated by 80,000 Bedouins.

In an escalation, last month the ILA's Prawer Plan was backed by a 100-officer, eviction trained, police force. The unit will begin Bedouin home demolitions this summer in order to clear the space for perspective Jewish tenants.