Translate

Feb 26, 2010

Israel approves 600 more homes in occupied East Jerusalem

 



Israel approves 600 more homes in occupied East Jerusalem

aletho | February 26, 2010 at 9:45 am | Categories: Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | URL: http://wp.me/pIUmC-1zc
Ma'an - 26/02/2010

Bethlehem - Israel's district planning commission approved the construction of 600 new settlement homes in occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli media reported on Friday.

The homes are tipped for construction near the illegal Pisgat Ze'ev settlement and the Palestinian neighborhood of Shu'fat, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

The number was scaled back to 600 from the original 1,100 when it was revealed that much of the land was owned privately by Palestinians, according to the daily.

Meanwhile, two homes in the adjacent Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Hanina were slated for demolition, while eight families in Silwan were handed orders announcing their homes were to be demolished, as Israeli municipality workers entered the area accompanied by military guards on Wednesday.

Settlement construction in East Jerusalem is deemed illegal under international law, as Israel's sovereignty over the eastern part of city, occupied in 1967, is not internationally recognized. Further settlement expansion in the city has sparked international condemnation, as Palestinians throughout the occupied part of the city are served with court ordered home evictions, despite Israeli courts lacking jurisdiction in the area.

The World Court has ruled that all the settlements Israel has built in occupied territory are illegal.

Add a comment to this post

--

Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com
Amazon's: DEBATING THE HOLOCAUST: A New Look At Both Sides by Thomas Dalton

__._,_.___
.

__,_._,___

Not pro-Israel enough -- GOP Senate race grows heated over Israel

 


GOP Senate race grows heated over Israel

Fiorina and DeVore question Campbell's level of commitment to the U.S. ally. Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz calls Campbell's support for the nation 'unwavering.'

By Seema Mehta

Los Angeles Times

February 25, 2010

In a dispute that commingles foreign policy and a quest for political advantage, U.S.-Israel relations have taken an unexpectedly central role in the California race for Senate.

Rivals in the race for the Republican nomination are questioning whether former Rep. Tom Campbell is sufficiently supportive of Israel. They base their criticisms on his voting record, statements about a Palestinian homeland and capital, and some of his past associates.

Their allegations have raised enough concerns for Campbell that he plans to meet Monday with the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He also is reaching out to other Jewish leaders. His campaign's honorary chairman, former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz, weighed in to call Campbell's support for the nation "unwavering."

"He clearly understands the very real threats facing the Israeli people, all the more urgent now as Iran rushes toward nuclear arms," Shultz said in a statement released to The Times. "Tom Campbell's record of action tells you where he stands, and I stand with him."

The two other major Republican primary contestants, former businesswoman Carly Fiorina and Orange County Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, have launched criticisms of Campbell. The rhetoric has grown so heated that a prominent supporter of Campbell's has accused Fiorina's campaign manager of calling Campbell an "anti-Semite." The campaign manager denies the accusation.

The debate over Campbell's Israel credentials, which has been roiling on Jewish and conservative websites, is a rare one in American politics, and even less frequent in Republican primaries compared with Democratic competitions, said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC and a former GOP political operative.

"Support for Israel is a pretty universal concept among Republicans," he said. "Support for Israel is a pretty broad-based concept in American politics."

But more than foreign policy appeared to be at play. Evangelical Christians have a strong affinity for the state of Israel, for political reasons and because they say support for it is emphasized in the Bible. For years surveys have shown evangelical support for Israel far outweighs that of the general population -- and evangelicals are a key bloc among Republican primary voters.

"The bigger concern for Campbell is less with Jewish voters than with religious conservatives," Schnur said.

The issue has sparked at least one dispute among prominent Republicans. Former California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson said in an interview that when he called Fiorina manager Marty Wilson to tell Wilson he planned to endorse Campbell, Wilson replied, "Bruce, how can you do that? He's an anti-Semite."

McPherson, who said he would have endorsed Fiorina if Campbell wasn't in the race, said he was stunned. He and Campbell have known each other for more than two decades, he said, and Campbell has never given any such indication.

"As a matter of fact, I know he's a strong supporter of the state of Israel," McPherson said.

Wilson denied making the comment. "That's not true, absolutely not," he said, adding that he does not believe Campbell is anti-Semitic. "That's crazy."

Wilson said he discussed the endorsement with McPherson but did not recall discussing Israel.

"It's uncharacteristic of Bruce to sit there and make that kind of a claim," Wilson said, adding that he had known McPherson for years.

Criticism of Campbell's voting record centers on efforts to reduce foreign aid for Israel. While in Congress, Campbell said, he supported military aid for Israel but twice sought to reduce economic aid. In the late 1990s, when foreign aid to other nations was being cut to help balance the budget, Israel's allocation was not affected. Campbell said he favored allowing the military aid to remain unchanged but supported slightly reducing economic aid.

A second instance occurred when he voted against giving Israel an additional $30 million in economic aid, which was to have been taken from funds set aside for the neediest nations, such as those in Africa. That money, he said, was on top of a $700-million aid request that he supported and an earlier $3-billion appropriation.

Campbell noted that he has traveled to various African nations to teach and has seen first-hand how much difference even a small amount of money could accomplish.

"I remember the mayor of a village in northern Malawi came out to thank us for a little water pump. It was probably under $50, and it allowed the water from the river to be brought to this area," Campbell said. "You don't forget things like that."

Campbell also drew criticism in the past for saying that Jerusalem should be the shared capital of both Israel and a Palestinian state. He said in the interview that he stands by that view.

His opponents also questioned Campbell's past associates, notably Sami Al-Arian, a former University of South Florida professor who pleaded guilty in 2006 to conspiring to help a terrorist organization. Al-Arian had donated $1,300 to Campbell's 2000 campaign for Senate. Campbell, who was the business school dean at UC Berkeley and now teaches at Chapman University, wrote a letter to the University of South Florida protesting its decision to fire Al-Arian over comments he made. He also visited Al-Arian's brother in jail.

Campbell said he did not know about Al-Arian's illegal activities at the time and said that if he had he would not have written the letter.

"None of that had come out," he said. Al-Arian was also photographed with George W. Bush during his first presidential campaign, Campbell noted.

Jewish leaders expressed confidence that Campbell is not anti-Semitic, but said he was not regarded as a "friend of Israel."

"He's a brilliant gentlemen and an engaging personality, and I don't think he's particularly pro-Israel," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, who has known Campbell since the 1980s. "I think there's enough there on the record that would send real alarms that this is someone who maybe doesn't fully understand, doesn't fully value or fully support a strong ongoing relationship with the state of Israel, an alliance with the state of Israel."

Campbell called his opponents' efforts to undermine his Israel record "unacceptable," and singled out Wilson's alleged comment to McPherson as "reckless and irresponsible."

"It's also personally hurtful," he added.

seema.mehta@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

s25774758118327.gif



--
Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com
Amazon's: DEBATING THE HOLOCAUST: A New Look At Both Sides by Thomas Dalton

__._,_.___
.

__,_._,___

RACHEL CORRIE TO GET HER DAY IN COURT

 


RACHEL CORRIE TO GET HER DAY IN COURT

desertpeace | February 26, 2010 at 11:25 am | Categories: Assassinations, Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Rachel Corrie, zionism | URL: http://wp.me/pahWK-2J2

Rachel Corrie Gets Her Day in Court

By Robert Naiman

On March 10, in the Israeli city of Haifa, American peace activist Rachel Corrie will get her day in court. Rachel's parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, are bringing suit against the Israeli defence ministry for Rachel's killing by an Israeli military bulldozer in Gaza in March 2003.

Four key American and British witnesses who were present at the scene - members of the International Solidarity Movement - will be allowed into Israel to testify, despite having been barred previously by the Israeli authorities from entering the country. This reversal by the Israeli authorities is apparently due to U.S. government pressure, the Guardian reports. (Three cheers for any U.S. officials who contributed to this pressure. What else could you make the Israeli government do?)

A Palestinian doctor from Gaza who treated Corrie after she was injured has not been given permission by the Israeli authorities to leave Gaza to attend. (This would seem to be important testimony concerning the nature of Rachel's injuries - did U.S. officials exert pressure for his appearance?)

This case isn't just about accountability for Rachel's death. It's a test case for the power of the rule of law in Israel, when the rule of law comes into conflict with the policies of military occupation.

When the rule of law in Israel comes into conflict with the policies of occupation, the rule of law often loses. But it does not always lose, particularly when the rule of law gets a boost from vigorous protest and political agitation. This month, Reuters reported, Israel began rerouting part of its "West Bank barrier" near the village of Bilin - the site of many Palestinian, Israeli, and international protests - in response to a petition filed in 2007 by Palestinians whose land was confiscated for the project. This was only a partial victory, because it only affected a minority of the confiscated land. But it shows that the rule of law in Israel is not totally impotent against the occupation, particularly when the rule of law is aided by protest and agitation.

It's also a test case for the power of nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation. It's a commonplace among some poorly informed commenters - Edith Garwood of Amnesty International cites Bono, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and President Obama as recent examples - that Palestinians should "find their Martin Luther King." But this commentary is foolish and retrograde, as Rahm Emanuel might say. A necessary condition for the ascendance of a King or Gandhi -type movement in Palestine is that if Palestinian nonviolence activists are killed by the Israeli occupation, the government of Israel pays a significant price for that killing. If the Israeli government can kill an American peace activist and pay little price, what chance do the Palestinian Kings and Gandhis have?

It's instructive to do a press search on the recent developments in the Rachel Corrie case. Searching on Yahoo News, I found Israeli and Palestinian press, Jewish and Arab press, British and Australian press. But outside of the Seattle Weekly - Rachel is from Olympia, and Brian Baird is her Representative - I found no general US press. Isn't it remarkable that we Americans have to read the British press to find out about developments in the case of our compatriot? Isn't this state of affairs something that Bono, Nicholas Kristof and President Obama ought to reflect on, especially given the fact that they have significant ability to do something about it?

The persistence of Rachel's case as a thorn in the side of the Israeli occupation authorities recalls the 1960s Costa-Gavras docudrama "Z," about the political fallout from the assassination by the U.S. - supported Greek government of the Greek parliamentarian and peace movement leader Gregoris Lambrakis. There is a powerful scene in the movie in which one of Lambrakis' associates visits Lambrakis' widow to deliver the news that four high-ranking military police officers have been indicted in the killing. On the way to meet her Lambrakis' associate passes a group of Greek students painting the letter "Z" on the sidewalk, meaning "he (Lambrakis) lives." Marveling at the students' determined activism in the face of mounting repression, Lambrakis' associate says, "It's almost as if he were alive."

They murdered her, and yet she dogs them. It's almost as if she were alive.

Originally appeared AT

Add a comment to this post

--


The World's Most Important Visual Holocaust Revisionist Website!

Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com

__._,_.___
.

__,_._,___